Accucut & hotflex t-shirt

So after a rather prolonged hiatus I've been "making stuff" again. My personal creative journey had deviated away from paper & now includes fabric, ceramic, sublimation, t-shirt and baby designs - all kinds of stuff really. Today I'm showing you a t-shirt that I made for my DD to wear as a beachshirt (as it reaches past her knees). I picked it up in the sale in Penney's for €1.50 and I've used die cut hotflex to decorate. Accucut are currently running a competition using their products - details are here  A couple of years ago, I splashed out and bought an accucut Grande Mark and some wedding stationery dies - I have to confess I've never really used it to anything like its potential. And the cost of postage on new dies has stopped me buying any more of them, the postage is all but the same as the cost of a die :-(   So the T is decorated with black and gold hotflex die cut with my 4 inch Black Tie uppercase alphabet (I just love these dies & drool over the 1 1/2 inch version & nearly swooned at the prospect of a massive 7 inch alphabet! ) The scalloped detail on the letters are made by die cutting scraps of hotflex with the scalloped frame die and trimming to size. Scraps of flex were used to cut the various flowers as well. All were heat pressed into position. I might add some hotfix jewels to the letters when it goes through the wash (daughter was too impatient to wait and the T is currently outside being used as paddling pool attire & already in need of washing.) Hope you're enjoying the sunshine - we are -paddling pool & a picnic in Coole park later. Happy Days. P.S If there is anyone else using accucut dies please get in touch - I'd love to do a die lend/swap to try new ones.

Mami Doodles the BIG FAREWELL Blog Hop

L is for Living, Loving and Looking.

I've resurrected my blog so that I can pay tribute to the truly lovely Elisa. In the time I have known her online she has left me some really inspiring, thoughtful and encouraging comments on some of my makes and I admire her work immensely.
I have not been keeping up with online friends much in the last 12 months and so I went off to have a little blog stalk of Elisa's recent endeavours. For those who don't know, she is also a talented scrapbook artist and keen photographer.  While LOOKING at her fabulous photographs (she's doing the 365 challenge and I had found a link to all her photos so far but now I have lost it ) - I realised that she has the ability to actually SEE things, past the actual and into a world of light and form.
And through her photos I see Elisa's LOVE for the every day - as she captures and documents those fleeting moments that we can so easily overlook or forget about when we're doing our daily LIVING. Those also obvious joy and love in the hearts of her precious and oh so photogenic children - her photos really do make me smile.
I guess it's trying to keep the balance in LIFE that has led to Elisa's decision to close Mami Doodles. Like Elisa herself - SIMPLY LOVELY just about sums it up.
So for Elisa - a couple of little cards  and a little compilation mug I have made from my recent blog stalk of your latest postings using my latest toy - a sublimation printer and press. It shows Elisa's fave pic of her children this month, her scrapbook blog header, Mami Doodles, a self portrait and her word of the year - Focus. LIVING, LOVING, LOOKING.
The cards are paper pieced - I used publisher to make some simple patterned and coloured  digi papers and made the Mum to be digital image into a transparency in photofiltre, then overlaid it onto the patterned digi papers. I did the same with the bed quilt on the second card.Apologies for poor images - late night and baaaad lighting - also I can't get blogger to leave my photos the right way up - they were when uploaded ... oh I forgotten how to do this!
And for everyone else - leave a comment for a chance to win a Mami Doodles Digi and a lace, ribbon and flower embellishment pack (crammed with over 30 metres of ribbon and lace) - and all you have to do to win is leave a comment below this post.
Oh and you can also snap up some more lovely Mami Doodle digis over at the Mami Doodles Shop with 50% off all images - but hurry, the shop will close it's doors forever on March 16th.

There are more Mami Doodles images to be won - just check out the blog hop list below and keep hopping! It's off to Stephanie now and don't forget to leave a comment to be in a chance of winning my blog hop prize.


Deirdre Frances Jackie Jenn Lisa Manuela Pam Ren-Yi Sarah Stephanie Trinh