4 craft project I’ve made recently!

2023, crafting

Hello!

The start of 2023 has been a unique one, that’s for sure – I’m still unemployed, so it’s my first year in a while that I’m not getting back into the swing of work and just a couple of weeks into the year, my husband managed to have an accident on an electric scooter going 15 mph (which doesn’t sound fast, but resulted in seven stitches in his eyebrow, a fractured elbow and a lot of bruises and swelling!).

So it’s been a much slower start to the year – I’m back in therapy and I’ve just started working with a career coach so I have no doubt that I’m giving myself the right tools to get back into the workplace in the best frame of mind. As well as making the most of the time I have at home at the moment to work on lots of crafty projects and doing some offline activities -reading, learning to play the piano again and completing a 1000 piece puzzle! I’m putting a picture in because it was incredibly satisfying.

Figuring out where all the frame pieces went is **way** harder than it looked!

But having really got into using my Cricut at the end of last year, I’ve already made a start on some exciting new projects this year! Having shared the exciting potential with friends and family, two of these projects were requests from other people and two were personal projects. They’re all really easy, as I’m definitely still a beginner, so if I can do them anyone can!

1 – Kitchen Jar Labels

My first request came from my mum, who wanted labels for the jars in her new kitchen – she sent me a photo of the jars, I asked a few questions about the kind of font she wanted and colours and together we came up with the following.

The photo doesn’t show it very well but there are two layers of vinyl – a white drop shadow with a royal blue offset on top. They’re not perfectly aligned as it was my first time trying using vinyl this way (and I had a slight mishap with the vinyl cutting that missed the top of the ‘C’ in ‘Coffee’) but I’m so pleased with how these turned out and I think they’re going to look amazing when they’re put on the jars!

I’ll probably post a picture on my Instagram next time I visit my mum and transfer the stickers to their new homes!

2 – A Lunchbox Decor

My friend uses a tin ammunition box as a lunch box, mostly because it’s funny but also conveniently practical and hardy. He messaged me around the new year asking if I could make labels for his box that said ‘L.U.N.C.H’ in a stencil font with an acronym underneath and I’m absolutely thrilled with how these turned out.

I just bought myself some new fine point blades on Amazon because mine was so blunt and I was totally invigorated by how easy these were to make now that I was working with a sharp blade! I’m so pleased with how these came out and I think they really suit the vibe – the font goes really well with the army green and they genuinely look like they’ve been spray painted on!

And considering I completely eyeballed the placement I’m honestly thrilled with how it turned out and so was my friend!

3 – A Mood Board of my 2023 Goals

I made one of these in 2021 and I really loved it – I had it on the wall in my office and I loved having a nice selection of pictures that were all aesthetic and pretty and reminded me of the things I was working towards and I was passionate about. It was the year I went back to dance classes and started my bookstagram account and I included a bunch of nice Pinterest photos from my favourite franchises – some Doctor Who, some Spider-Man some space stuff, it brought me great joy.

The beginning of 2022 was a bit chaotic so I never got round to making another one, but this year I was determined! With my newfound Cricut skills I was so read to make it pretty and artsy.

Honestly? I prefer the design of my 2021 board, but I like the little titles and I got to use some pretty patterned paper that I’ve had saved for ages so I like the general vibe, I just think it would look better if it had more pictures and less gaps. The patterned paper hurts my eyes a little bit but I’m glad I tried something new and I’ve learnt for next time

(note: I did not tear up an innocent book just to use in this project – it was a well read book that had been water damaged so I’m using it to the best of my crafty abilities)

4 – A Galaxy Rocket Jacket

I used some vouchers I’d built up through my many Hobbycraft purchases to buy my first sheets of Infusible Ink, which is essentially a step up from Iron-On Vinyl as it actually bonds with the fabric rather than sitting on top of it (if that makes any sense at all).

It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that I got the galaxy infusible ink, because I’m a basic white girl with a space aesthetic and I’m not ashamed.

I chose to add a little rocket to my denim jacket because my husband and I, at one point, were considering merging our names when we got married and becoming ‘Rockett’ – we decided against the idea but have still kept it as a little thing for us. It also goes well with my space aesthetic.

So now I have a galaxy rocket jacket!

It’s a little bit faded and hasn’t transferred very evenly, but I think it looks kind of retro and worn in and I love it!

I’m seriously considering doing a bigger space themed piece on the back with some stars in a silver glitter iron on vinyl I have, but I’m definitely not going to rush into it.

I’m over the moon (lol) with how this came out and can’t wait to customise literally all of my clothes now.

So considering we’re only three weeks into the year, I’m pretty pleased with everything I’ve made so far! I’m seriously tempted to open a little Etsy store for custom items, but I don’t think I’m good enough at it yet. For now I’m going to stick with my own practice projects and making things for my friends!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

my recent craft projects

2021, crafting, creativity

Hello!

I’ve been very vocal about how much I’ve been loving crafts since all of this started with the initial lockdown last March, but cross stitch, knitting, sewing and paper craft have become part of my routine where I try to get away from screens. It’s been lovely for spending more time offline and learning a new skill in the process!

So I thought I’d share with you some of my most recent projects as a nice little diary of what I’m doing, maybe something sweet to look back on!

monthly bullet journal collages

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A post shared by Sophie (@sophiesreading)

2020 was the year of discovering that I still love cutting and sticking things like a primary school art project – call it a mood board, a mind map, whatever! I very much enjoy finding pictures on Pinterest that represent my intentions, my goals and generally a nerdy picture of something Marvel or Harry Potter related, sticking them all together and using it as a monthly divider in my bullet journal.

My next step is to invest in more washi tape and stickers. Maybe some stamps!

face mask sewing

My mum very kindly bought me a sewing machine for Christmas and although it took me a couple of months to find the time (and the courage) to actually start using it, I’m actually getting better at it! Usually if I’m not perfect at something straight away I find it very difficult to want to put the time in to build the skills to get better but already I’ve seen progress.

I’m getting to know the machine by sewing face masks – I’ve been sewing face masks by hand for about six months now, I’ve tried a few different patterns and I got a kit from Hobbycraft that I really liked and I have a few leftover material patterns to practice with.

Now I’ve found a different pattern that I prefer, my mum has sent me a bunch of material samples that I can practice with and I can already see that I’m getting to know my machine better and how it works! I’m going to keep practicing face masks, I’m considering starting an Etsy story but that will be a little while down the line for sure.

taking in a skirt

Another thing I wanted to use my sewing machine for was adapting some of the clothes in my wardrobe rather than ‘giving up’ on them and passing them on. I bought this green circle skirt from a charity shop before the first lockdown – it’s from ASOS curve and it’s lovely but I was optimistic that ‘a couple of sizes wouldn’t make a difference’… they did.

I had to wear it rolled up like I was in secondary school trying to make my skirt shorter or wear it with a belt that was very uncomfortably gathered.

But I took it in! It’s not the most professional job and it definitely doesn’t hang quite the same as the rest of the skirt but it now fits me! I’m still figuring out how to style it though.

knitting a ‘scarf’

I really like knitting – it’s a really relaxing, repetitive task that I can sit and do whilst I’m watching TV to occupy my hands.

But it turns out I just like doing the one basic stitch that I know how to do over and over again rather than following a pattern and actually making something functional…

So I’m calling it a scarf, but it’s just rows and rows of the same stitch because I find that kind of repetitive knitting very calming and a perfect thing to do just before bed with some evening telly. (and having both my hands occupied makes it harder to snack)

Next month I want to:

Start a new cross stitch project
Finish my knitting project
Sew something other than face masks

I’ll no doubt be sharing what I’m working on over on Instagram because I get overexcited and proud when I finish something, so if you’re interested that’s the best place to get the latest updates!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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top tips for photo albums and scrapbooking!

2019, creativity

Hello!

Scrapbooking and photo albums are such easy ways of keeping memories – saving concert tickets, postcards from holidays and printed photos is such a nice physical representation of what’s important to you to sit and flick through with family and friends.

For some, it’s as simple as something to stick down and a bit of tape, for the more creative of us there’s patterned paper, coloured pens, washi tape, stickers, stencils, stamps and all sorts of other bits and bobs to take it from memories on a page to something that is much more of a creative outlet.

That’s what scrapbooking and making my photo albums is for me – it’s a couple of hours in an afternoon a couple of times a month saving memories for generations down the line to browse through. So I thought I’d have a little ramble of how it works for me and a few tips and tricks.

[ s c r a p b o o k i n g ]

I started my scrapbook because I wanted somewhere to put all of my photos and posters that I’d had to take down from bedroom wall before I moved to uni. I spent maybe an hour on it in first year (yes, 2015) and then didn’t really touch it till I moved home after graduating. But then I went all out! I’d build up quite the collection of memories at this point and I spent a couple of days pouring my heart and soul in these pages to get up to date.

Now I just update it whenever I’ve got something I want to stick in or I’ve been on a trip and collected lots of memories – like when I took my boyfriend to Paris earlier this year.

Something I’ve learnt now that I will definitely implement in my future scrapbooking is not getting too heavy with layering things on top of each other – sticking stuff onto every page is already going to make your scrapbook fat enough but you still want to be able to close it.

But otherwise, I don’t really have any tips or tricks to share – scrapbooking is an incredibly personal thing and whether you’re simply sticking things in or you’ve got stickers and magic tapes galore, it all looks good and serves the same purpose – it’s all just about what you want from your scrapbook.

[ p h o t o a l b u m s ]

My photo albums started as a way to capture university memories – I used a website called photobox to print polaroid-ish photos with little captions and I hung them up in my room on my fairy lights. In second year, after I worked (and lost my job) at Paperchase (still bitter, ngl) I bought one of their beautiful self adhesive photo albums which were perfect for four photos per page, lovely quality, fantastic.

I did my last photobox order after I finished university as by then, my mum had found an app called Snapfish which offers 50 free 6×4 prints a month (but only on the app, not the website) and I started ordering from there.

So I went from a self adhesive album, to a more scrapbook like album, to another self-adhesive Paperchase album, to an actual scrapbook.

Yeah, this is where it all starts to crossover.

I remembered I had a scrapbook that I had given to my Nan as a Christmas present and my uncle had given it back to me after she passed away. I was keeping it for ‘something special’ and it just kind of hit me that if I kept saving it I was never going to use it. So I flicked through the pages she had used, typed up a little letter of context (for any future generations who are obviously deeply concerned about the story behind the scrapbook…) and started sticking in my 2019 photos!

Personally I really like using photo corners because I think they’re the easiest way to make sure the photos stay secure without damaging them and they can look really cute too.

My biggest tip is don’t be drawn in to all the really expensive photo albums on the market – though the self adhesive ones can have really pretty designs and be ‘so convenient’, it’s significantly cheaper to buy an A3 scrapbook and some funky photo corners. But like the scrapbooking, it’s down to personal preference.

[ t h e p l a n ]

From here, I’m going to keep filling photo albums until I finish my scrapbook and then I’m going to combine the two. I was finding I was having to print multiples of the same photo to put in each memory book so I’m just going to keep printing photos and keep the memorabilia to work in to combine them all.

It’ll make my photo albums more creative, it’ll stop duplicates in my scrapbook and all round, it’s something I’m really excited about. It’s going to be so cute.

At the end of the day, I design all of these because I’m an incredibly sentimental person who is absolutely in love with the idea of my family, generations down the line looking back through my soppy memories of the beginning of my relationship, growing up, dumb things that make me laugh and the creativity I put into it, it’s so much fun. But all completely recyclable too so there’s always that.

If you’ve got any scrapbook or photo album tips please do let me know in the comments! I love looking at pictures of other peoples journals and albums!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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