LifeSavers

I finished this a couple of days ago. It's for a plush team project for our exhibition which will be at hot*pop in Milwaukee in January.

finally - a space to be creative

Those of you who regularly read my blog will know that very soon - like in about 10 days we are moving from Mostar to Jajce. I'm excited about moving for lots of reasons, new challenges, new start, new opportunites, meeting new people, exciting times, living in a beautiful part of the world and somewhere new to live.

We found a place to live in Jajce about a month ago and over the last couple of weeks we've been moving our furniture there and getting it ready for when we move in. It's a really great place - probably the biggest place we've lived in in our 12 years of being married which means that we have space to be creative! No more wool and amigurumi stuff all over the sofa and the living room floor. No more guitars sleeping in the spare bed or camping out in the living room. Finally we have enough space so that everything can have it's place :)

This is one corner of my space - there's another corner too but it's not finished yet. Oh and the view from the window is amazing - but that can be another blog post!

Cute and Cuddly Cushions

Cute and Cuddly Cushions - my first treasury in a while. Click here to see the real thing and make sure you check out the shops of all the amazing people who made these cushions - you can do it by clicking on each individual picture.

Making curtains is not for me!

Last night and today I've been making curtains for our new place. It has a weird curtain system with clips instead of curtain hooks or tabs so in theory it's all really simple and all you need to do is hem around big rectangles of fabric, clip them up and you've got your curtains. The thing is that straight lines are just so hard to do - especially when they have to be 2 metres long! I have to say that I didn't enjoy making them at all cos I knew that they were all wonky and there was nothing I could do to make it right! The fabric was so slippy and stretchy it was hard to keep the tension right and I had to use the lines on the living room floor as a guide to pin up the hems! Anyway they're finished now and tomorrow we will try hanging them up and see if they work...

And the winner of the Autumn/Fall giveaway is...

Like last time I put my list of all the entries into the list randomizer at random.org and then I generated a random number to find the winner. Here is the list and the winning number. I still can't work out how to get the list bigger but it's there so you can see I did it!

Those of you with amazing vision will be able to read from the list who is number 5, but for the rest of us who can't see it I would like to announce Fiona as the winner of that Autumn/Fall giveaway thus proving that the saying 'better late than never' is true as she was the last person to enter just one minute before the giveaway closed!

Thank you to everyone who entered and look out for the Christmas giveaway coming at the beginning of November :)

How to customise your pin-board and pins

Have you just gone back to school or college or do you just feel the need to get organised? Well here's a cheap and funky way to do it!

You need: (pictures a&b)

• a cheap pin-board
• metal tacks
• glue
• buttons
• paint

Choose a selection of buttons in a nice colour scheme and in different sized and then glue them to the metal tacks. (picture a)

While you are leaving them to dry paint the frame of the pin-board. Use masking tape to protect the cork whilst you paint. I got the polka-dot effect by dipping the wrong end of a paint brush in white paint and then using it as a stamp.

When the paint is dry remove the masking tape, put the pins in the board and hang it up somewhere. (pictures c&d)

Need a little brightness in your office?

I wasn't planning to make any more Christmas stuff just yet but last week we went to the DIY store and I saw these tiny terracotta flower pots. They inspired me to make mini Christmas trees so I had to buy them and make the trees!

Will your office need a bit of brightening up during the holiday period? Then these little desktop Christmas trees are just what you need. They stand 3in/9cm tall and at $10 each what more could you ask for? You can check them out here and here.

And don't forget if you want to win a pumpkin enter the giveaway. It closes tomorrow at midnight.

Trying New Things

One of my best friends is having a baby very soon and because there isn't much choice of funky baby stuff available here in Bosnia Herzegovina we're making it all ourselves! She has decided that 'Owls' is the theme for the baby's room. This is my first attempt at making plush using a sewing machine and I think it came out ok. I'll keep going and make a few more and see which one turns out best!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway if you want the chance to win a super cute pumpkin!

Autumn Fall Giveaway

It's time for the Autumn Fall giveaway. Although for many of you Autumn has already arrived, in my part of the world it feels nowhere near Autumn. I'm still wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops everyday, but October is not far away and overnight Autumn will be upon us.

I made Polly Pumpkin for theitsybitsyspider's crochet along . She is a very cute and happy pumpkin and would love to help decorate your house for the Autumn/Fall time.

So to what do you have to do to get the chance to win Polly Pumpkin? Each of these things gives you one entry into the giveaway. The links are all there for you to find my facebook page etc... just click!

1. leave a comment on this blog

2. follow this blog

3. leave a comment on the outoftheframe facebook page

4. 'Like' the outoftheframe facebook page

5. Tweet this giveaway

6. follow me on twitter

7. heart my Etsy shop

make sure you let me know which of these you have done and that I have a way to contact you if you win!

The giveaway will close at midnight Central European Time on Monday 20th September and the winner will be announced very soon after.

Enjoy :)

Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers

Here are my latest Christmas Creations Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers! They are both available in my Etsy Shop.

Janey works in the post room sorting all the letters that come in for Santa. She opens the letters, reads them and then sorts them according to continent then country, town and street. She loves reading the letters and seeing what people write and she can reveal that some people who are in their 60s and 70s still write to Santa - who says he's not real?

Travis works in the packing department making sure all the orders are boxed up correctly and sent to the right address. In quiet moments he enjoys popping the bubbles in the bubble wrap.

so have you joined the crochet-along?

So have any of you joined theitsybitsyspider's crochet-along? I've just been on holiday and I used the time I had relaxing by the pool, looking over the Adriatic to get started on my pumpkin. I actually finished it but I haven't got any good photos of the finished thing yet. Hopefully I'll have something to show you in the next couple of days. If you've joined the crochet-along let me know how you're doing - share a blog link or something. I you haven't joined - then what are you waiting for?

Join the Crochet-Along

The Itsy Bitsy Spider is hosting another Crochet-Along. This time it is with an Autumn theme and we will all be making pumpkins like in this picture. If you want to join in click here and you will be taken to the Itsy Bitsy Spider's blog where there are more instructions. It's free to join in, you get a free copy of the pattern to work from and step-by-step lessons on her blog. When you are done you can submitt your photos to the Crochet-Along flickr group and you might even win a prize! So what are you waiting for? Sign up now...

a new way of life...

Yesterday we came back to Mostar after spending a few days in Jajce preparing our apartment for when we move in -sometime in the next month or so. Jajce is the smallest and most rural kind of place I have ever lived - not that I live there yet, but when I do it will be! Anyway, everyone there heats their homes with woodburning stoves so part of our work these last few days was to stack 7 metres of wood into the store room. Considering how big the pile looked when we started it didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it was tiring and messy, especially the second day when the other half arrived and it was pouring with rain. Change is always fun and I like new challenges so I'm looking forward to this new way of life.