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community craft design event Vancouver Volunteering

Rooftop Reindeer

‘T’was the week before Christmas (ish.) What could you make with cardboard, no storage, borrowed paint and a handful of volunteers? Turns out, you can pull off a stage set for an Early Years Winter concert!

After my initial idea was ruled out as the Production Manager was super busy (concerts upon concerts!) and couldn’t let us use the wooden stage flats, I had to come up with another plan. I decided on rooftops made of cardboard to host the reindeer and the sugar plum fairies. This was a modular solution that we could make in a small area and store until the show, and didn’t require volunteers to have specific skills to be able to help out. I asked parents to cut up rectangles of card at home of specific dimensions, and these were turned into roof shingles. The school facilities chaps were so helpful when I kept stealing the recycling, and I visited Michaels on delivery day to snag some of their large scale packing card.

In between running around Christmas shopping some of the parents popped in to help as I set up in a corner of the school and constructed and painted the rooftops, using kitchen sponges to print brick texture. Karen, another Mum introduced me to Tuck Tape which was amazingly reliable for construction – (I won’t use anything else now!) apparently its used for actual home construction. Karen also made cute curtains which we hung inside cardboard dormer windows and lit from within.

The final set looked lovely with the addition of some fir trees (just like West Vancouver!) but the real show stoppers were undoubtedly the children, we were all so proud of their performance!

Categories
Book community craft event Vancouver Volunteering

Enchanted Forest of Books

This year, the Scholastic Autumn Book Fair theme was ‘Enchanted Forest’. I volunteered to decorate a section of the school library as part of its magical transformation.

Considering the space, I was inspired to create some enchanted ‘flying’ books to hang above the readers. I hollowed out discounted children’s hardbacks and using Mod Podge to glue the pages open at different states, and hung them with nylon wire.

The signage was really fun to make, I painted wooden boards with freehand calligraphy and added autumnal detail and glass eyes for a touch of fantasy. I made headdresses for the librarians and signage for the cashiers to match.

Boards painted as signposts to imaginary destinations

I prepared faux foliage garlands and festooned the trees and windows, which looked beautiful with the light shining through the Fall colours. I added details to the trees such as battery-operated candles in lanterns, LED lights, sparkling rhinestones and strings of pretty ribbon with tags for the students to write on their book fair ‘wishes’.

Decoration for the book donation boxes
Our lovely librarians getting into the spirit!
Categories
art community craft culture Decoration event Mexico paper cut Party Vancouver

Dia de los Muertos party

DIY Day of the Dead decorations, skulls, calavera, photo booth
Luis rocking the calavera and Adeline with her newly-crafted headdress

I love an opportunity to decorate for a party, and even more so if I get the chance to make the decorations myself! The last few years we have hosted a Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) party, inspired by the Mexican holiday and the annual festival in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

So many faux candles and sparkles to use! I love this holiday

For this year’s party I used some foam core on which I hand-painted bright calavera (skull) motifs. I created a skull and lace backdrop with twinkly lights and garlands with faux marigolds and lace ribbon, with plenty of hot glue. I painted and collaged a large polystyrene skull and a vintage sombrero that Chris bought from a work auction, which were fun decorative items and photo props. Papel picado was the inspiration for some cut paper-style foam core signs.

Gabriela with over-sized ‘papel picado’-style signage!
More calacas

We also set aside a maker space and I led a craft session for my friends teaching them how to make calavera headdresses to wear, which was so fun even for the craft-reluctant!

Categories
art craft culture Decoration event fashion Mexico Vancouver

Calavera headdresses

This season I have been busy making scores of headdresses for Dia de los Muertos, and led a craft session to teach my friends how to make them too – such fun!

I used sturdy headbands, (either wide plastic or thin metal work well) and with hot glue, added a felt strip as a base to add the decoration. I provided a lovely selection of faux flowers and foliage, plastic and polystyrene skulls and rhinestones, and we dived in, cutting up some dollar store lace tablecloths as mantillas.

Top hat with a brim of lace, ribbon, netting, faux floral and bejewelled skeletons

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craft

Go Jetters Souvenir Selfie

Go Jetters was a great theme for a 4th birthday party! It is a lovely show on CBeebies in the UK about a group of dynamic little world travellers, fun and educational.

The show introduces a lot of world landmarks so I added several in an illustrative style with acrylic on foam core for a backdrop.

One of the regular segments of the show is the ‘souvenir selfie’ which gave me the idea to create a large photo prop for the party. I painted the characters, cutting out an aperture for the guests to become part of the picture. Adding some disco elements completed the theme, with a piñata to represent Ubercorn the funky unicorn!

Categories
art Ceramics colour craft Laguna Beach

Raku Resistance

Another Raku vessel I decorated with wonderfully unpredictable craquelure slip. Fun experimenting with colour and resist techniques on the circular forms, using some humble hole punch stickers.Raku vessel

Categories
craft fashion Los Angeles Textile

Pirate Booties, Arr

Pirate booties

Ive been indulging in some crafting, with felt and embroidery!

Vintage booties

booties1

I constructed the booties from felt using a vintage Simplicity 1948 pattern as a guide, choosing two styles, one resembling a sort of moccasin and the other more of a sand boot.

When it came to decorating them I decided to embroider them with a variety of stitches, using my own designs doodled freehand rather than using those on the pattern. On one set I added some vintage mother-of-pearl buttons that I bought at the Rose Bowl flea market.

Categories
Africa craft Los Angeles pattern Textile

Jolly Fabric Bunting Tutorial

It’s a bit of an English tradition to break out the bunting for a happy occasion, so why not make your own in fabric as a keepsake? Here’s how to make jolly fabric bunting with lettering that you can use for a nursery or display on the mantelpiece to celebrate a holiday or changing seasons!

Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles

You will need:

Scissors, pinking shears or a rotary fabric cutting wheel and mat
Ruler
Card or stiff paper to make a template
Cotton fabric – pick a few different patterns and colours that you are drawn to!
Thin iron-on batting for padding
Double width bias binding tape (I used quilting bias but a thinner one will also do) I used 2x 3ft packages.
Iron-on lettering (if desired)
Sewing machine and thread

Method

Cut a template based on the size you would like for your bunting. I used 6 x 7 inch triangles.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
Cut the cotton into triangles with your scissors pinking shears or rotary cutter, add a quarter of an inch all around larger than the template for a margin.
Cut batting into triangles half an inch smaller than your template all the way around.
Choose two triangles of fabric, you can use the same fabric or mix it up. Pin two triangles back to back wrong side out. Sew the two sides together on the quarter inch margin, leave the short side open.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty AnglesAdd a triangle of batting and iron it on.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
Push the triangle the right way round, use something to poke the pointy end to a point, I found a chopstick was good for this. Iron the pennants so they are nice and flat.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
Arrange your triangle pennants in the order you would like them to appear on the bunting and tuck the top part inside the bias tape. Pin them in position, placing them 1 inch apart. Make sure you leave equal amounts of tape at each end of the banner for hanging.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
Take the bias tape and sew the the tape together all along its length close to the edges until you get to the pennants, then carefully removing the pins as you go, continue to sew along the edge of the tape, to secure the pennants in place.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
Voilà! your bunting is complete!
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
It looks really fun to add lettering, perhaps a baby’s name or a phrase, (congratulations?, happy birthday?) or something to welcome a season or a holiday. You can buy letters from Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann craft shops in the US, or online – I ordered 2 inch letters from Laughing Lizards, I like them because they have a masculine letterman feel but still shiny and fun, and were easy to iron in place.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles
You could also consider hand embroidering lettering or perhaps your sewing machine has an embroidery feature? Another way to add lettering is to hand or machine appliqué some fabric or add iron-on fusible web to cotton or felt. T-shirt transfer paper is also worth a try, cutting the letters out from a template you can create on your computer from any typeface that you like.

For my nursery bunting, I chose not to go with pastel shades and instead selected some African fabric from Ashanti Fabrics in the LA Fashion District and threw in some chevron patterned cotton from Michael Levine. I love how these Dutch wax cottons look so fun clashing together, and the rest of the room has a brightly coloured African-influenced theme.
Jolly bunting with clashing African Fabrics - Jaunty Angles