Crafty Loops

My First Patchwork Quilt My First Patchwork Quilt Don't look at it too closely!  It's my first attempt at anything like this and only my 2nd ever sewing project...so be gentle with me.  It's a bit wibbly wobbly and not the straightest looking of quilts.....but its handmade with love which excuses me from all flaws and mistakes made....teehee Do you remember a few months ago I showed you my first ever sewing project?  It was a Halloween costume for my sister that I made a couple of years ago, a Dorothy Gale dress with a pair of sparkly ruby slipper.  Well, that was my first attempt at sewing anything.  And I honestly mean that.  I didn't even know how to turn on a sewing machine or thread it....but I still managed to make my sisters dress by learning as I went.....thank goodness for YouTube!  So since I was able to do that, I thought to myself, "Why not try something that experienced, well established sewers do, something that has taken them many hours of sewing

Hey folks.  I just want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy, healthy and fun 2015.  I know I haven't been about much this year but I will do my very best to be a better blogger next year, I promise.  And as a Thank You for all your support and sticking with me, in the New Year I am planning on doing a Giveaway.....or two.   You know me, I never like to give away crafty goodness to just one person.  So there will be a few goodies up for grabs after Christmas. Anywho, I hope you all have a safe and fabulous Christmas.  See you in 2015!! And just like I shared last year........here's a photo of the perfect furry Christmas Present, teehee.  So cute!  And just before you freak out......I did not receive my cat, wrapped in a box, lol.  This was an order that arrived to my home and no sooner had I the box opened, Nimbus was in there like swimwear, jumping into the box before I could even get the order out of the box.  Such a wee weirdo!

Clean and Simple Birthday Card Don't judge me!  Cards are nowhere near my forte but alas.......here is one anyway.  I am going to put my hands up, wave them frantically around in the air and admit that this design is not mine.  I do not make cards therefore have no imagination or any semblance of creative design that magically pops into my noggin when making them.  So I rely on the creativity of others to inspire my cards, lol.  In fact, I make it my crafty mission to avoid card making at all cost.  But an unfortunate few do get through the "No card making" barrier every so often and some poor sod ends up receiving one of my disastrous card creations ( Maddy ..... you know all about that... remember my button Xmas tree card??).  More often than not, it's usually Scrubby Loops or my poor wee Daddy who ends up getting one of them for some reason.  And oh how I laugh when I watch them try to make a surprised "Oh wow that's so good" expression on their fac

How to make a soft cover wrap around book Doth my eyes deceive me?  Is that a Crafty Loops blog post I see?  Yes, yes I can hear you all from here, lol.  But finally, my gas heating is now installed.  Yippeeeeee!  Which means my house was turned upside down and there was dust and dirt that would make the Sahara Desert blush!  Our attic had to be emptied because we needed new loft insulation, which meant the majority of my house sat in the back garden whilst the work was carried out.  Who knew we had so much crap up there!  Out of sight, out of mind definitely applies to my attic. As if having our house turned upside down and sitting in my back garden wasn't enough, there of course needed to be a little drama added to the mix - this is the Loops Household after all.   When the guys were installing the new gas pipes in the attic, one of them slipped and his leg came thundering through the roof!  Scrubby Loops said all he could see was a leg dangling from the hall ceiling.  Then a

Altered Extendible Cutlery Tray - Made into a Storage Unit BEFORE I GET STARTED:  You may have noticed that when you come over to my blog that the address may redirect to www.craftyloops.com.....that's because I bought the domain name.....Yippee.  However, nothing has changed.  If you put in my blogspot address, you will still find me.  It just redirects the name to my dot com address.  But I'm still a blogger girl.  Everything I do is still run by Blogger.  And in case you want to know where I was able to buy my dot com domain name from (for just £2 a year), I got it from godaddy .  I have not been sponsored to advertise for them....this is simply where my 13 year old brother told me to go and buy my domain name......and if he tells me where to go and buy it from, then I listen.  He's a child prodigy, lol. I haven't been crafting as I'm sure you are aware by my distinct lack of attendance in Blogland.  I have been doing out my craft room.....new furniture going

Photographer in the Making.......Sorry I've been MIA DO NOT ADJUST YOUR PC, LAPTOP, SMARTPHONE OR TABLET SCREENS (Phew!!).....This is indeed a Blog Post from Crafty Loops! I realise that when you see my name coming up in your blog roll, that it may cause some form of whiplash as you spin around to take a second glance at your blog post viewing apparatus and actually check if what you saw was indeed a blog post from me.  All I can do is sincerely apologise for any harm you may have come to whilst reading this post.  Teehee. Yes, I will hold my hands up, arms up......ears up and even my pig tails up (yes I have multiple pig tails.....my hair goes down to my waist, I have to do something with it) and admit it......I have been a TERRIBLE blogger, not only this year but half of last year too.  But I was busy with my brother's wedding last year.  Still......that's no excuse for this year now is it??  Did I promise to show you the stationery I made for my brother's wedding

Ever wondered where I like to crafty shop.....? Ok.....a bit of a strange blog post, admittedly.  But I know that I always love to see what new crafty bits and bobs people buy, where they buy them, where the best deals are, best customer service, what crafts items are up and coming etc., etc.  So, for exactly that reason, I have set up a "Places I Love to Shop" page here on my blog.  You may have seen it, sitting up there at the top of my page, you may not have seen it.  But, now that I have added a few of my favourite places, I thought I should give you a heads up about them. Now, before anyone starts thinking that these shops have paid me in craft supplies or that I am on a Design Team or something.........I'm not.  And in any case........no matter what, I would NEVER recommend a shop for either of those reasons.  If a shop goes up on that page........its because I have received excellent customer service, great prices and I think those shops or sellers warrant havin

How to make an inset window in a Wedding Photo Album Hi everyone.  A very Happy New Year to you all.  We have just had a lovely quiet day today at home.  Its blowing a gale and pelting it down outside.  It looks like the sun didn't even bother to come out today at all.  Looks like it popped its head up, saw the wind and the rain and decided to hide back under the covers! Anywho, I promised that I would come back with the tutorial showing you how I did the window in the wedding photo albums I made for my brother and sister-in-law.  It is really very easy to do and really quick.  But I stuck the camera on whilst I was making it, so I thought I'd share it with you too.  Of course, like everything I make, I had never done anything like this before.  So these 2 albums for my brother were my guinea pigs, lol.  But they ended up looking really nice.  And both sets of parents loved them once Karen had them full to the brim with gorgeous wedding photos. Without further ado, here is