Clapper Board Cards

Hey kids, Satch here. 

On Tuesday, it was our friend Nathy Nath's birthday. I spent the afternoon making his present (a mix CD of the Perks of Being a Wallflower songs, if you're interested) and was getting ready to leave the house and go see him when I realised I hadn't got him a card - shock! Horror! 

To be honest, he probably wouldn't have cared, but it was the principle! (I'd like to point out that Salt totally didn't make him one :P) I had like ten minutes before I had to leave so, if you've got a bunch of craft stuff knocking about your house - as I do - this may be a good quick card to have up your sleeve in case of a card-mergency. That's totally a thing. Also, it helps if the person you're making the card for likes films...but who doesn't?!

You will need: 
Black Card
A Ruler
A White Pencil (I considered chalk but figured it would rub off. If you have more time, paint would show up better.) 

To be honest, this doesn't need a whole lot of explaining. I copied a google image of a clapper board, and then filled in the spaces with personal details. (If you care, I put James and Naomi on the camera slot because they have cameras - and were the other two people there on Tuesday - the date is Nathan's birthday, it's scene 1 because we're going out on saturday and take 23 because he turned - you guessed it - 23.) 

There you have it! 

Until next time, 
Satch. 

Sketch Cards

Hey Kids, 

Satch here. For our bestie bucket list, one of the things we have to do it learn to draw three new things. This one was actually my idea when Jacklin and I were originally writing the list for Salt, because I had spent that evening learning how to draw Winnie-the-Pooh, because, you know, I'm just so rock and roll. 

Therefore this one was a bit easy for me because I can already draw a pretty cracking Pooh bear, and pretty much any superhero because you don't have to do the eyes, but I thought I'd challenge myself to do three new things. I've still got one thing to do but I have learnt to draw a scruffy dog, and the back of Ryan Gosling! Even better, I've turned them into crafts! 

 I don't know if you've seen Drive, but Ryan Gosling (among doing a cracking acting performance) is HOT in that film! When a group of us were watching it a few weeks ago, my cousin Nimz got particularly excited about this 10 seconds of footage where you see Ryan's lovely back as he's carrying a cute little kid. Needless to say, we all fell in love with him a bit more after this film, and so I thought I'd recreate the moment for Nimz's birthday card.

Here's a close-up. The spanish kid went a bit gammy, so we're not counting that as one of my learning to draw things, but let's be honest, that's not the bit we care about, is it?  

The other one I've done since bucket-listing was Cobb's Valentines Day card. Neither of us are particularly gushy and you just can't find a good joke card these days so I thought I'd draw him a picture of something he loves more than me: shaggy dogs! 

As you can see, I made my dog a bit more smiley and he ended up with a slightly disproportionate head than the original, but I still like it.

Drawing a picture on a home-made birthday card, or as a present, is a great idea because it's cheap and has that personal touch, especially if you have friends who are a bit unusual and difficult to shop for. The personal touch also means you don't worry about writing a personal message so much inside, because the person can see the effort you've gone to already (which is great because I never know what to write!) 

Here are some other of my sketch cards/presents from days gone by for inspiration: 

This one was for my Mum's birthday, it's her favourite things; tea, books and piano.

This one was for my Dad, who is a big Donald fan.

This was for my friend Kay who is a little bit obsessed with Alice in Wonderland!

Even if you're not the best sketcher in the world (is sketcher a word?) if you get your image of choice up on your laptop, the lit-up screen makes things very easy to trace (which, I'll admit, I did do on the Donald Duck card - but only becasue I was in a terrible hurry!) Apart from Alice, I copied mine from other pictures which can help with details and proportions and stuff.

In terms of what to draw, I'm not so good on faces and hands so I tend to go for objects, cartoon characters or superheroes, and lots of websites give you instructions of how to draw them, if you're not too keen on just making it up from memory or copying it from a picture. But really, the sky's the limit, so get sketching!

Until next time, Kids. 
Satch
x

Happy Birthday Salt!

Satch here. 

If you read Salt’s wonderful Happy Birthday blog post to me a few months back, you’re probably wondering why, now 12 days after Salt herself had a birthday, there’s been no birthday blog in return from yours truly. Had I not been spending that special day surprising my bloggy bestie in Cardiff (why yes, I am a great friend. Thank you for noticing.) I would have returned the favour. However, as the lady is soon to get on a train for her hometown celebrations, I thought now would be the perfect time! 

When I was in Cardiff, Salt and I established that we’ve been doing this dance of friendship now for 9 years (not including that time we sang together for the school choir and I thought she was a stuck-up cow – largely because she got to stand in the middle of me and another tiny girl – and, for obvious reasons, she thought I was slightly petty). The good news is, a few years later, we reconciled our differences and I think a few photos through the ages are in order, to celebrate 9 weird and wonderful years with the birthday girl. 

2004 - My Auntie Dawn's Wedding

2006 - My 15th Birthday (for some reason, no photos exist from 2005...and yes, that is blue eye shadow and hoop earrings I'm rocking there.)

2007 - This move is known as "I'm waiting for the milkman."

2007 - Hard Rock Cafe, Barcelona.

2008 - Posey fun on the beach

2009 - I told you we didn't always get on!

2009 - Here we may be serenading each other with a bit of Michael Buble...(who Salt now hates because he has "Paedo eyes.")

2010 - Yes, we had matching plastic rain ponchos...at least mine was only 25p!

2011 - Intermission drinks at Legally Blonde, the Muscial (Salt's 21st Birthday present from me, big Jacklin and little Jacklin - tickets, not the drinks!)

2011 - Acting out the complext relationship of Zeus and Hercules in an Athens airport...

2012 - Rocking the luggage, turtle-style, on our way to Isle of Wight Festival

2012 - Salt's birthday last year in St. James' Park (don't worry, we know the guy behind her - it wasn't some random. It was, however, hilarious.) 

And now....2013!

  
Happy birthday Salt! Here's to the next 9 years (but let's call it quits after that because you are a stuck-up cow). Love you xxx

Tissue Paper Cards

Hola Kiddiewinks, 

Satch here. I thought I'd actually written this blog post but it turns out I only planned what I was gonna say in my head while I was in the bath...whoops. 

About a month ago, I was sitting in my room when I suddenly realised that the next day was a) the last time I'd see Sophie Davis for a year and b) my and Cobb's 4 year anniversary. That, my friends, is a desparate card-making situation! Luckily, I have crap-loads of card making supplies in case of just such a crisis, and tissue paper is my go-to, no-time-at-all medium of choice. 

Let's start with my card for Cobb. You will need: 

Card
Two different colours of tissue paper (preferably left over from something else so the planet will like you more and bake you cookies)
PVA glue (or just pritt-stick if you're not weird like me) 

Start by slathering (great word!) your card with glue, and rip up your tissue paper into strips. 

Then layer the strips over each other. It doesn't have to be super neat, as the ripped-up thing is part of the look. (And if you're wondering, yes, that is wrapping paper left over from Christmas, but Cobb likes Christmas, and snow, so deal with it!)  

When I finished the vertical stripes, I was going to just write 'Happy Anniversary' but there just wasn't a good focal point on the card. I looked down at my left-over paper, and noticed that one of the grey chucks was vaguely in the shape of a '4'. Luckily, we've been together 4 years, so this was perfect. I whacked the grey bit in the corner, and rolled up a few strips of red to make a 3D 4, which gave the card a bit more depth.

For Sophie Davis' "Don't leave me or the Cupcake gets it" card - which you just cannot find in shops these days - you will need: 

Card
Pretty tissue paper
A picture of something cool (preferably from old wrapping paper) 
Glue
Permanent Marker

 Start the same way you would for the other card, but as for this one I only used one colour of paper, it doesn't really matter what size/shape the tissue paper strips are. 

Then, crack on with the pasting until the whole thing is covered. You might need to add more glue to places where the tissue overlaps. I decided half-way through that I didn't like the polkadots being so shiny, so I went for an extra layer of glue at the end to calm it down a bit. Then stick on your picture of a cupcake, and outline it with permanent marker to make it stand out from the paper.

 They turned out pretty well, and 'Sorry you're leaving to go live in a commune' and 'yeah, we're in love but we don't bang on about it' are quite difficult occasions to get a card for, so these were perfect. 

There's a whole bunch of designs you could try. I once made our friend Reb one using strips of various shades of pink, and then cut out the letters of her name from wrapping paper to give it a bit of texture. I also did this one for my friend Gillet, and stuck a picture of the inside of the tardis in the card. 

If you're thinking 'Yeah, Satch, that's great but what about all that left over tissue paper?' I found a use for that too. I wrapped Cobb's pressie up but decided it was a bit bland, so used some of the left over strips and glued on some 'ribbon' and a make-shift bow.

And with Sophie Davis' card I re-used an envelope, so tissue-papered over where my name was so I could replace it with hers. However, if you are going to do this, don't be a plum (like me) and write on it before the glue dries!

 

Tissue paper - who knew, right? 

Until next time,
Satch x

DIY Citrus Body Scrub

Hello one and all, Salt here.

As any of you who have read my other blog will know, I'm a sucker for beauty products. One thing I'm not a sucker for though, is the huge price tag that goes with them.

I saw this little recipe on another blog, and decided to tweak it and give it a go myself. I made this for Mummy Salt for Mothers Day, but obviously had to do a little quality control batch for myself too.

Ladies (and Gents) I give you, Lemon and Grapefruit Body Scrub.

Surprisingly simple to make, and honestly, I think it works as well as any branded ones I've paid for recently.

What you'll need:
A jar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (This can be swapped for an essential oil if you'd rather, but they cost more!)
1 grapefruit
1 lemon
Coarse Sea Salt




 The original recipe calls for:
5 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp oil
1/2 lemon

But this makes a really tiny amount, so I filled the jar with salt, and counted it in tablespoons as I put it in the mixing bowl.

 My jar held 15tbsp of salt, so I adjusted the quantities as follows:

15tbsp salt
3 tbsp oil
1/2 lemon
1/2 grapefruit










First, mix the oil in with the salt. Make sure its all fully coated (add extra if you need). The oil protects the salt from the lemon, so if you skip out this stage, your salt will dissolve and all you'll have is mush, albeit a lovely smelly mush.

I then zested the grapefruit and the lemon to make a more rustic scrub, and to give it a bit of colour.
Then I added the juice of half a lemon, and half a grapefruit and mixed that in with the salt and oil.
I had too much juice, and ended up not using quite a bit of it, so best to do this bit in stages.

Pop it in a jar, tie a bit of ribbon around it, and voila! A lovely homemade gift.
The whole jar must have cost me less then £3 to make too, and it smells so lovely and citrus-y. The shelf life is a little less than your shop bought scrub - about six weeks, but no need to refrigerate.

If you give it a try, let me know how it works! I'd love to try some different flavours!

How to Give an Old Tee New Life

Hey Kids, 

Satch here. My parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas and now I have given up TV for Lent, I have plenty of time to use it. This means that I've managed to finally do some of the little projects that have been sitting in a pile in my room for months, like this one! 

I bought this T shirt a few years ago and I absolutely love it. It's cute, it's punny and, more than that, it's ironic because I'm actually dairy intolerant! However, it's always been just a little bit too see-through for my taste (why haven't they invented a white T shirt that doesn't do that yet?) and you can't quite see but at the top it has started to go a bit yellowy and gross. However, I wasn't quite ready to throw it away so here's how I gave it a new lease of life. 

You will need: 

One old T shirt with a motif you love
Another T shirt/Vest top (preferably the same colour) 
A Sewing Maching/A needle and thread and a lot of time on your hands! 
Thread the same colour as your chosen Tee. 

Start by cutting out the bit you want to keep from your old tee. This was my first proper go on my sewing machine so I cut out the picture a bit wonky on purpose because I knew it was not going to be perfectly neat! 

Then, pin it to the new tee. Make sure you stretch both pieces of material as much as possible so it doesn't get all bunched up. 

 Then, whack it on your sewing machine and sew it in place. I used a zig-zag pattern so it would hold down the edges and not have any little flaps. If you're sewing by hand, I'd recommend doing a loop stitch but, then again, I'm no expert! Also, fair warning, that will take AGES.

 And hey presto! Even though there was a few patchy areas where it got bunched up and I missed a few stitches, I'm so pleased with the results! (And I don't much care about things looking neat anyway.)

One of a few whoopsies!

The finished product!

What do you reckon? Also, be impressed with my leggings in the photo just above - my 75-year-old Grandma chose them! Isn't she down with the kids?! 

Until next time,
Satch x

Shirt Pillow Covers

Hey Kids, 

Satch here. As you're probably aware, we've just survived Valentines Day. Whilst Cobb and I aren't really into it (our anniversary is on Feb 1st so we don't have much need for another lovey holiday two weeks later), I do think Valentines is a good day to show the people in your life how much you care (though you should be doing that all the time anyway!) 

My cousin Nimz has a bit of a thing about swallows. She even has a swallow tattoo, which is why I was so confused when she gave me a bag of old clothes, and this shirt was included. 

She said she'd bought it because she loved the pattern and the colour, but the collar didn't look right and she couldn't make it work. I took it home and looked at it, to see if I could adapt it for her (with half a mind to keep it myself...) but when I realised my sewing skills weren't quite up to scratch to make a new top out of it, I decided to upcycle it into a pillow and give it to her for a Valentines Day treat!

You will need: 
An old button-up shirt
A pillow
A sewing machine / a needle and thread

Firstly, make sure your shirt is big enough to fit the pillow by buttoning it up and shoving the pillow inside. A man's shirt would probably be easier to work with because men are more square than women are, but it doesn't really matter. 

Then, take the pillow out and turn the shirt inside out, making sure the buttons are done up. At both ends, pin the sides together in a straight line, so you make a square. You might want to trim off the extra material at the top and the bottom of the shirt at this point, but I left it on there because there were no sleeves or anything getting in the way, and it gives you more wiggle room if you go wrong! 

Then, sew the sides together in a straight line, as near to the edge as you can manage. 

You can see that my line looks a bit wonky, but this is because the shirt was curved at the bottom, so I sewed in a straight line and then trimmed off the curved bits. 

Do this on both sides, and then unbutton the shirt, turn it outside in, stuff in the pillow and hey presto! 

Because the buttons were already on the shirt, it makes the pillow cover so much easier to make and you can take it off to wash it, if you were so inclined. Nimz was really pleased with it and it genuinely took me more time to change the thread on my sewing machine than it did to actually make the pillow! 

So what do you reckon of my first foray into upcycling? Anyone know how to do it with a shirt that doesn't have buttons? I could not work that out! 

Until next time,
Satch x