my first tutorial

Fabric jewelery is becoming more popular and with that in mind I want to get in on this trend and make myself some wonderful pieces.



And yesterday I finished my first attempt at creating fabric jewelery. I'd say it was a success. I am happy with the end product and have already synced it with my wardrobe.
Just to fit in with other crafters on the net I have decided to do a tutorial on my version of 'the fabric necklace'.



You'll need:
-7 pieces of material (I've used 5 blue and 2 white)
optional:
-beads (I've used 3 beads, all wooden)
and this is so simple it could be either hand or machine sewn.

Step 1.
Cut out the 5 pieces you want to use for the necklace part.
Mine were about 40cm, but you could make them varying lengths to add variety. I also ripped them so they had raw edges. If you wanted your necklace to look neater you could over lock the edges.

Step 2.
Cut out the 2 pieces of white fabric, making sure one edge will match the width of the blue material.

Step 3.
Take the white fabric and fold it in half, making sure the right side of the fabric is facing inwards. Sew a seam along the raw edge. Turn the fabric inside out. Iron.

Step 4. (optional)
Add some beads to the blue fabric. You'll have to make sure the holes in the beads are big enough to fit the fabric in. It took me a few tries and I did have to change the size of the beads before I found some that fitted properly. (I chose the wooden beads to represent drift wood ad this version is inspired by the ocean and waves).

Step 5.
I twisted the blue fabric so that the pieces didn't I guess sit 'neatly'. You could keep them in order or twist them. If you're a neat freak you can over lock the edges or you can just sew a seam to hold them in place. Do this on both sides.

Step 6.
Pin the white straps to the blue fabric and sew and/or over lock. Make sure that you have the seam on the same side of both sides.

Step 7.
I tied the ends of the straps in knots but you could leave them raw. You could even add some matching beads before tying the knots.

I am pleased with my first attempt and feel like making more. Other themes could include forest, shells, futuristic or something eclectic.

Something I discovered about the necklace....

It doubles as a scarf. Sorry about the dodgy pictures, I just wanted to get pictures up on the net quickly. When I've made some more I'll definitely be uploading them to my deviantART page
www.amyyy-xd.deviantart.com/

need a good laugh?

Ahaha. Check out Robbie Williams. And after just winning the Outstanding Contribution to Music BRIT award why wouldn't you cuddle up in your jim jams? The 36 year-old posted these pics of himself to say thank you for supporting him throughout his 20 year career.
"What better way to celebrate a lifetime achievement award than in an £8 Primark all in one... come on!" he wrote on his official website alongside the pic.

He has had a pretty interesting and successful career. I remember staying up late to watch the uncut version of the video clip to Rock DJ. Controversial or what, aye.
I am still of Robbie after all these years, even if he does dress and act like a div sometimes.

Vanities

I know I'm not the most up-to-date blogger on the net but I have just discovered something; the Vanity Fair 'Vanities'.
The girls are gorgeous, the photography is brilliant, what more could you want?



Amanda Seyfried. Gorgeous.



Mila Kunis



Freida Pinto
etc.

lady gaga

She's certainly made a name for herself with her music and her outrageous fashion statements. That's probably why my very clever friend has decided to have a 'gaga' party for her 18th. Basically you dress up as one of Lady's more memorable outfits.

i used to think that Lady GaGa had an incredible eye for detail and trends, that was until I read an article that she hasn't gone shopping for herself in over a year and therefore obviously doesn't pick out her own clothes. She has 'GaGa fairies' as she calls them.
Nevertheless, she still has a back catalogue of stylish and sometimes terrible outfits. In reference to my friends party, I of course can't be the best GaGa, that's the job for the birthday girl, and I don't exactly have the same tight and toned body that GaGa does.



So I did some research into her wardrobe and came up with this little collage to try help me decided. I think some of her earlier stuff (ie Just Dance and Poker Face) seem to be more up my alley. So it's either the animal print shawl or disco mask and black jumpsuit. Tough decision.

Just to keep up to date with Ms. GaGa I'm following Lady GaGa Style blog http://lady-gaga-style.blogspot.com/
She may not have the best singing voice, and people accuse her of being part male but she's damn intriguing.
Viva La GaGa, I say.

whats going on in the bedroom?

absolutely zip. I mean like my room and everything but it just isn't doing it for me anymore.
So I have been reading magazines, searching the internet and racking my brain for beautiful and inexpensive ways to make my room my haven.

What I want to achieve for my bedroom:
1. enhance creativity and relaxation
2. be my retreat after a busy or boring day
3. reflect me
4. showcase my creativity
5. make use of the small space

My room isn't the smallest in the house (I made sure I shotgunned the largest bedroom I could when we moved), but because of the position of the door, wardrobe and window it does make re-arranging my existing furniture a little hard.
so my biggest plan is basically starting over again. I don't need my desk anymore (and it does take up a lot of space) so i'll put that into storage. Hopefully convince my rents to let me move my sewing desk (which i pleaded my parents for) to be moved into the office. That just leaves my book case and bed.
My book case is fine, that'll be staying but my bed... well it's a single. and considering that my younger brother even has a double bed, I think it's time i upgraded. I know this will take up a lot of space so I have invested my time and knowledge into finding ways to use space efficiently.





Other problems with bedroom:
1. no ceiling fan
2. no bed side lamp

Everything will just be a matter of pestering the rents and them letting me turn my dingy bedroom into a wondrous retreat.
Well if I have any breakthroughs blogspot will be the first to know.

polyvore.com

Ahh, Polyvore. Can I just say that I really like this site?
Just what the creative types out there need, a quick and easy way to collage ideas and styles.
I had a crack at the theme of Spring. Check it out below.

spring time by amyyy.xd featuring Sass & Bide shorts

You can check them out at
www.polyvore.com
OR
www.blog.polyvore.com

The ones they have on the site and blog are much better than my poor attempt. So for all you creative types that haven't yet been involved in Polyvore; get to it.

Anti-Valentine's day

So another Valentine's day has rolled around and as usual I'm alone, naturally. I can admit that I am anti-valentines but I guess this is only because I have no significant other to share it with. But while I was cuddled up watching 'Love Actually' with my sister I realized that "love actually is all around". But thanks to the commercialism of the day the only love that seems to matter is love between boyfriends and girlfriends. Thinking about it, I have never seen an "I love you, mum" card made for Valentines day. Maybe you have, or maybe I'm not looking hard enough. When today begun I thought to myself "well I seem to be the only person who loves me, I'll treat myself" Breakfast was a great place to start so I made myself a stack of home-made pancakes. Yum!

When I was almost finished cooking my mum came up and asked me about the pancakes and being the selfish person I am i said they were all for me. I guess my main motive behind this was my wanting something nice for myself, and whats wrong with that? In the end I did end up giving my mum some pancakes but she wasn't happy with me. I guess my attitude wasn't canceled out with my nice gesture. I've even managed to piss off my dad with my selfish behaviour. Looking back, it would probably have been the more valentine-esque notion to make a beautiful batch of pancakes for my whole family just to say on this day-of-days that I love them. So once again I have had a pretty terrible Valentine's day but this time it wasn't solely because I was alone, it was because I didn't appreciate the different kinds of love, like the love my parents have for me. All I can say now is that this anti-valentines day mentality isn't the answer nor an excuse, because we all have someone who loves us or who we love. So give some hugs, share the love and never forget; love really is all around, you just have to open your eyes.