Game of Thrones Snowflakes - Pinterest Wednesday

Yeah I know, it's another snowflakes post haha I just really love these, and I'm cheating too as I didn't see these on Pinterest (although mine will be on there in a second). It's Christmas though, so I'm bending the rules ;-p

I had planned on doing a Pinterest food post this week, but it's been SO hectic getting everything ready for Christmas and for college this weekend, so I thought I would share these instead =)

These Game of Thrones templates are by Krystal Higgins and can be downloaded from her website here:

http://www.kryshiggins.com/free-game-of-thrones-inspired-snowflake-patterns/

So here they are, I decided on Targaryen, Stark, Baratheon and Lannister :

I LOVE how they've turned out! I'm putting them up with my star wars ones from my previous blog post

As it is Christmas Day in a weeks time, there will be no Pinterest Wednesday as I will be stuffing my face with my beautiful Husband and seeing family and friends.

I hope you all have an absolutely magical Christmas and I'll see you in 2014 ♥

I'll leave you with a little bit of Michael Buble =)

xxxxxxxxxxx

Print your own wrapping paper - Pinterest Wednesday

I got the idea to print my own wrapping paper after seeing this potato print pin:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212756111/

I decided to give the potato print a try, and am really happy with the results, but I found the cutting of the potato quite fiddly, and the tree part and base ended up in 2 parts. This actually ended up working better though as I was able to print the tree and base without bleeding the paint together:

I then decided to try using a stencil, and decided to try using the star wars snowflakes I did a couple of weeks back (previous post here: http://www.emilyjoan.co.uk/2013/11/star-wars-snowflake-christmas.html )

and here are the results:

I love the storm trooper one! That has already been earmarked for one of my Father in laws presents and the Darth Vader one is pretty cool too, but looks better in the flesh.

I'm going to continue to try out more and more of these and will post the results in my 'homemade Christmas' post in the new year.

Is anyone else making anything as gifts, cards or wrapping? If so, I'd love to see it! Please feel free to message me a link on Twitter or Facebook, or leave a comment below =)

Here is a fantastic Christmas lights show to the sounds of the metal band, Machine Head =)

Make your own Christmas cards - Pinterest Wednesday

I try to make my own Christmas cards each year, if I don't have the time then I buy some charity ones. This weeks pinterest post is more inspired by pinterest, rather than me copying a post.

Here are some fantastic ideas for making your own Christmas cards, starting with the one that inspired me to make the ones I have:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212756152/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212849004/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212829408/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212756084/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212645061/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212247264/

So to make mine, I used some A4 white card (folded in 2 to make A5), a glue stick, scissors, a compass and pencil, some different colour sharpies, some 'Merry Christmas' hearts that I had typed on my typewriter, some gorgeous tear out patterned paper from Craftseller magazine and a couple of pieces of awesome wrapping paper from gifts I've received that I thought was too beautiful to throw away.

Here are 4 cards that I have made already. I think they're awesome, so I hope the people receiving them think so too. I love the fox, owl and mushroom ones particularly. I just cut out the headshapes from the wrapping paper and glued them to the card. For the other baubles, I used the compass and pencil to draw the circles, cut them out and then stuck them to the card. I decided to do 4 per card as I didn't want to over clutter the cards. I then used a ruler to draw the lines with the sharpies and drew a little bow on the top of each bauble =)

I have left the inside of the cards blank to write a personal message.

I hope you like them and that this has given you some ideas to make your Christmas a little more 'homemade'. 

It's only 3 WEEKS TO GO!!!! I cannot wait!!! =D

Here's a little Shakin' Stevens to make you feel all Christmassy:

Star Wars Snowflake Christmas decorations - Pinterest Wednesday

I'm sat here listening to Christmas songs and Christmas has taken over all the shops, there is no avoiding it, 4 weeks today will be Christmas Day! =D

For me, that means I need to start planning, in fact I feel a little behind already! I have bought a few pressies so far, but am no where near finished. I'm also starting to think about the food, etc. I'm making alot of Christmas presents this year. I won't be able to post them all as I know a few friends and family read this blog, so it'll spoil the surprise, but I will do a 'home-made Christmas' blog post after the festivities.

My first Christmas Pinterest post is Star Wars Snowflakes after seeing this pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212810368/

The guy that designed them is called Anthony Herrera and he is kind enough to allow us to download them for personal use for free. Check out all his designs here: http://www.anthonyherreradesigns.com/index.php/8-ahd-blog/8-star-wars-snowflakes-2013

I love the way they've turned out, although mine are far from perfect, they were great fun to make =)

and here is a little Run DMC to get you in the festive mood:

Batteries - Pinterest Wednesday

I saw this pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212677393/ The one where you cut open an Energizer battery and find it is made up of watch batteries.

I've been meaning to see if this works for a while, but didn't have any Energizer batteries, so I tried it with a Duracell and a Sony battery.

The first one is the Sony and the second one was the Duracell (which was a bit leaky :-/). As you can see, neither of those brands are made up of the smaller batteries. They had both run out, so I didn't waste a battery. If I happen to come across an Energiser battery that has run out, I will open it up to see, but it did say on the pin that you must use that brand and model and that they couldn't guarantee any other brand, but I wanted to have a look to see anyway =)

Make your own Sketch Books - Pinterest Wednesday

I saw this pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212740978/ for designing the covers of your sketch books, but I thought I would take it one step further, using some of the skills I learnt on a recent course and thought I would do a blog post on making your own sketch books.

Depending on what type of paper you want to use (for this example, I used regular copy paper, but for a sketch book, I'd use good cartridge paper. Saying that though, it's your sketch book, so you could use it to collect pictures, magazine cut outs, etc. Anything at all really, even fabric)

What you'll need is some paper, linen thread (for this I used 15 inches, but it will depend on the thickness of your paper and how many sheets you're putting together), a tapemeasure, and a book binding needle.

To start with, fold the paper in half. Along the fold find the centre point and then measure 2 dots to either side at 3/4 of an inch interval:

Then, using your book binding needle, pierce a hole through each dot:

Thread the needle with your linen thread and start by going through the centre hole on the outside:

Then sew over to the next hole, bringing it through the other side:

 Then back up the next hole:

And so on:

 When you come back to the centre, you skip over it, and then go on to do the other side in the same way:

When you've sewn together the other side, you bring the thread up through the centre:

When you start to bring the thread up through the centre, bring it up on the other side of the thread, so that you can tie a knot around to secure the thread running through the middle:

Like so:

You can also bind many of these together to make a thicker, more secure book. This is the first one I made at college:

Then to decorate your sketch pad, draw a pattern that you like and decide which colours you'd like to use:

Voila!

In the New Year, I am planning to start doing some YouTube tutorial videos. I will do a video of this as I think it's a great little skill to have. I've found it really useful personally since I've started my Foundation Diploma in Art & Design as I can create sketchbooks with a theme.

I hope you find it useful. If you plan on making one also, please feel free to share a link to it, I'd love to see it =) x

Arty doodles - Pinterest Wednesday

Yes, on a Thursday again :-/ so sorry, I have been SO busy it's been ridiculous! I am going to try to be uber organised this week and make sure next weeks is written and ready on Wednesday!

While browsing through Pinterest this week, I came across this pin:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/365706432212714149/

I really like this as I love to doodle. I've also been experimenting with pattern alot at college, so this sprang out at me to give a go!

Here is my attempt that I put together whilst sat in front of the TV: