DIY PU leather pocket t shirt

It's been a little while since I've done a craft post so I thought I would show you something I made the other day. I love leather details on tops and had my eye on one from Missguided but thought I would have a go at making it myself first.

I picked up this top from Primark for £4. It's a slouchy loose fit top and already has a pocket on the front which makes adding the leather much easier! I also got it in a cream colour which I may also add a pocket too.

I ordered a PU leather sample off eBay for £1 which has a different fabric on the other side. I then got a piece of grease proof paper and drew around the shape of the pocket and then cut that pattern out and drew around it on the leather sample but on the opposite side.

I then cut out that shape and then began to stitch it over the pocket of the t shirt using a black thread and small stitches. I did consider using a similar colour to the t shirt to make it stand out but I'm not that confident in my sewing yet! When doing this be careful you don't stitch through both sides (sounds stupid but easily done!) also be careful where you put a stitch as when you pierce the leather it will leave an obviously hole. I think I could have done my stitches neater but overall I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out!

Christmas Crafts and Cards

After getting another set of blood tests me and Dad had a quick look around the charity shops near the hospital in Stevenage and ended up buying almost the whole shop in one! Its good to be able to walk around and get things done after blood tests as when I got them done when I was very aneamic it used to really take it out of me and I would need a rest. I got these stamps for £1.50 (middle picture) which I cant wait to find a project to use them for. Another shop had individual wooden stamps starting at £4 each so these were a bargain! Its a shame I've wrapped all my presents otherwise I would have stamped everyone's names onto the brown paper in some red paint, I will need to remember that for next year! I also got this Christmas Crafts book for £2.50 which gave me some great ideas for my dinner party. It also showed me how to make these Christmas cards. The top cards are so easy to do, you simply follow the template to pierce the holes in the card and then push the ribbon through. I used red and gold ribbon and then stuck gold card to make the base and a button for the decoration on the top. The second cards are plain cards I bought in the sale last year and then stuck buttons on using my glue gun and drew a line in black pen to make them look like baubles hanging from the top. I'm really happy with them! We also ended up buying 20 James Bond DVD's for £2 each, a photo frame, the Keith Lemon book, a Christmas hits CD (wouldn't be Christmas without one!) and lots of other bits. Charity shops are amazing for gifts! 

Pamper Hamper

I have spent today doing some more making and wrapping for Christmas and decided to do something about the Pamper Hamper I mentioned in another post. The whole thing including the box cost me about £3.75 which I'm pretty happy with as it looks a lot more! 
The box contains the soaps I got from the jumble sale and nail varnishes with cuticle sticks and files from M&S that came in a huge gift box. I won these on a tombola along with a turquoise scarf that will make a good present for my Nan. I've added 2 shell candles which you can see how to make in a previous post!

The other picture is the smaller items added, the bracelet was from the jumble sale and only cost 25p! I saw one exactly like it in boots for £4 so that was a good find. The photo frame came as a pair that I found in a charity shop with the label still on saying £8 just for that one and £12 for the other! I paid a pound for this one and the other will go as part of another present. The little heart I made loads of last year with some left over fabric, they cost virtually nothing but if you spray some perfume on they hold the smell well and make nice smell hearts to be hung on a draw or a door knob. 
I would quite like to receive this as a gift so I hope the person receiving it like it! 

Shell Candles

These shell candles are one of my Christmas crafts, I am planning on giving them away as gifts for the ladies in my family as most of them are quite girly! I already had the wax pellets left over from a previous craft where I made teacup candles. One thing I learnt from those is that the wick sustainers are really important in keeping the wick in place! I think the wax cost me around £6 and out of that I made 3 small teacups and 8 shell candles so it was good value for money. The shells are actually scallop shells that I washed and sterilised. We ate the scallops but you could ask at the supermarket if they had any shells they were throwing away, there are lots of crafts that could be done with them! To make the candles I fixed the wicks to the sustainers and put them in the right place on the shell. I then used a double boiler (one pan of boiling water with a smaller pan over the top) and added the wax pellets, stirring until they were fulling melted. After taking it off the heat I added a few drops of vanilla room fragrance and poured the wax into the shells. They set very quickly especially in a cold house but its helpful to stir them occasionally to get rid of any bubbles. This time I completely forgot but they have turned out okay, a very cheap but good looking Christmas gift!