Appliance Art...?

So I found this today and I just had to share.

Love it or hate it? They come in magnet or sticker options for your appliances.

Woulda put a picture up to show you, but the images are copyrighted and won't allow a good old right click action.

Peanut Butter Cups = YUMMO

Today I have been kitchen crafting :)

The first thing I made were these scrumptious Peanut Butter Cups. Pretty good if I say so myself! Check out Mom. Undecided. for the recipe. A good blog, too! Mine were messy looking, but still DELISH.

Earlier today I saw another recipe, this time for a homemade beauty recipe. I'm a sucker for a nice homemade or handcrafted beauty treatment, so thought "why not"? After all, it was ten past three and I had nothing better to do (housework doesn't count, I said BETTER hehe).

I whipped up the Parsley Facial Toner from Homemade Mamas. They have heaps more projects that I will be trying in future, too.

I don't have acne, or oily skin, but I thought I would give it a go and see how it works on my sensitive skin, which is prone to breakout with some commercial products if they are too harsh. There's no nasties in this recipe, so I was keen to try it.

If you have parsley growing in your garden; and an electric kettle like me, this will take you barely any time at all.

Sewing with leather

Recently, I had the good fortune to get some small pieces of really good quality leather. This stuff is thick and so, so soft. The texture is just beautiful. I decided I would have to try to sew with it; it would be an absolute shame to ignore it :)

I decided I would try my hand at making an I-pod pouch for the hubs; it's small but useful, and in leather I think they seem like they are a little luxury in your day.

I've never sewn with leather before, so it was a learning experience. Expecially as this leather was extremely thick and soft. These are my two very first attempts, which I think are not bad for a first try!

I decided to use the red as a contrast rather than to be matchy matchy.

I added a press stud closure to one pouch, the other I left as a simple leather pouch.

Basically I just measured an I-pod and left enough room to sew a seam.

Now I think I've got the hang of making them and figured out how to do even better with my next lot. As I practicised making these, I was able to improve the straigtness of my seams (the leather can slip around a bit so it takes patience) and the overall appearance.

Here are some tips I have found for anyone who wants to sew with leather:

Use a proper leather needle

Sew slow

Use a longer stitch length than normal

One tip I have heard is to dust leather lightly with baby powder so it slides through your machine easier.

Please take caution with this, do it at your own risk. I tried it and think it worked for me. If you have a Teflon foot for your machine, you probably won't need to do this.

Don't use pins, they mark the leather. Try pegs or paper clips if you need to keep it in place.

You can't unpick (will leave marks) so SEW SLOW! :)

Whaddya think?

Stuff

Here at Tempest Ahoy, I love sewing. When it comes to knitting, however, my best is a garter stitch scarf. The sewn/other crafts in the shop are mine, all the knitted items in the Tempest Ahoy Etsy store have been made by my Etsy partner; who has just started a new blog about her knitting adventures.

Please head over and give her some bloggy love! Her blog is only brand new, so I'm sure she would love it.

And if you haven't been to stick beak at the Etsy shop, I would really appreciate it if you would and pass on any feedback to me at tempestahoy (at) gmail.com...any and all opinions most welcomed and considered. Perhaps you have some advice or recommendations, or just your impressions...

Although I will blog about the Etsy shop here occasionally, I'll still be blogging about other stuff as usual. The place where I will be sharing most of my day to day shop updates and perhaps hosting some secret giveaways in the future is our Facebook fan page - http://www.facebook.com/tempestahoy.

New friends here at Tempest Ahoy

Check out my new buddies. They'll be helping us model stuff here and there when we add stuff to our Etsy shop, and basically for our amusement in general.

Meet Prudence.

She's a classy gal, if a little immodest. Geez.

That's better. Sheesh.

We're also getting a little help from her friends, Priscilla and Cecil.

Talk about attitude!

Psst. If you are on 'the' Facebook, search for our fan page, Tempest Ahoy :) It's the one listed as 'Company'. Be sweethearts and 'like' it and I will love you all forever hehe.

Tempest Ahoy Etsy Bound!

Hi there! I've opened up shop on Etsy with a family member to share some of our crafty projects here and there, as well as some gorgeous vintage cards we recently were lucky enough to obtain.

I'm not the pushy sales type :) but I would love it if you would like to check it out (see gallery to the right) and feel free to 'heart' or favourite our shop if you are an Etsy customer already. The stock that is currently online will keep being added to over the next few weeks, so please check back regularly.

We're just brand new and only just starting to announce to friends and family! Naturally, I had to blog about it as soon as possible. Let me know what you think, but please be gentle! Friends and lovely peeps, please feel free to share our link! Will be establishing a Facebook page for the shop very soon.

At the moment, we've got some cute dinosaur hats and crayon rolls for the kidlets as well, and will be offering more flowers etc very soon. Please bear with us as we add to the range!

We can be found at http://etsy.com/shop/tempestahoy.

Tempest Ahoy's CSN Giveaway Winner

The winner of the CSN Stores Giveaway for a $40 voucher is...DRUM ROLL...

The delightful Mandi!!! Never win, eh? Looks like your luck is changing!

Stay tuned, everyone,  in the next few days I will be announcing some HUGE news for Tempest Ahoy!

More ruffles

My cute new bag. Inside is blue with a red polka dot pocket and a magnetic snap. 'Upcycled' yesterday from a boring cloth grocery bag I bought at a craft shop for around $1. Needs a little more ironing, maybe.

Once you ruffle...you know the line.

US/Canadian readers: Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Only a few days to go!

Felt pillow

I've been working on a felt pillow yesterday and today, on and off. I saw some great ones in Target that I wanted to emulate:

Yes, that is a picture of a picture on my phone. Sorry! My phone and I...well, it hates me. It doesn't like to perform basic functions like emailing photos, or you know, picking up calls sometimes. So I am getting a new one soon. Anyway, I'm hoping the picture is good enough for you to see the pleated rufflly goodness. That was my plan. Picture fixed! Pleated ruffly goodness.

Unfortunately, when I started to cut out the pillow, I noticed that there was not enough of the same coloured felt to copy this. You need quite a bit of length in the strips you are going to ruffle to do this kind of effect. Ah, well. Next time.

THIS time I decided to make do rather than run down to the craft shop and do some normal ruffles and sew them  in a random fashion on at each end. I am very pleased with the result!

I even made the closure all fancy like (he he) with an exposed zip in the back rather than the flap I had initially planned on. It's not perfect, but it's OK. Functional!

I'm thinking of doing another pillow with either a cut out in the felt or a cylindrical pillow with a single ruffle down the middle to match. Also thinking of taking some better pics this weekend. Stupid lighting!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway before you leave! Good luck.

Some cute new floral fun

I've been having fun making more satin and felt flowers recently.

This blue one is attached to a ribbon headband.

 Headbands and clips and pins, oh my.