Fabric fabric fabric!!

I'm so excited!! 

Recently a friend of mine taught me how to use a design program and enabled me to do something that I have been interested in for a while... design fabric!

I have been doing a bit of screen printing research as well and so I took the liberty of screen printing my new design and I LOVE IT!!

My design is called Dandelion Wisps (I feel super fancy now that I've named it.) I did it in grey and mint.

Here is what I made with my new fabric: 

They are diaper (nappy) changing bags for your purse or diaper bag (so that you don't need to lug a huge bag into the changing rooms every time you go on an outing.)

Being able to design my own fabric (although I'm still on super beginner phase) has caused my creative mind to get so fired up that it exploded and left a pretty rainbow splatter on my wall. 

Sometimes small children get so excited that their excitement bursts out in a squeal. 

I can totally relate right now.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

Blessings

DIY cake stands

My beautiful sister-in-law got married recently, and I made some decor for her bridal shower.

A dilemma that I had was a lack of cake stands. 

Seeing as I believe that most things are DIY-able, I made some. 

 Here is what you need: 

 (I always seem to forget things out of these photos, but you get the idea)

A cardboard box

Glue (I used "no-more-nails" but wood glue works too)

A can of food of preferred height

Pretty paper (I used two sheets of scrapbooking paper per stand)

A border punch

Scissors, Pencil, Ruler

Double sided tape 

1. Cut a circle out of the cardboard box. I used a big bowl as a "template". Make sure that it is not too big otherwise the stand won't be stable enough to hold the cake/cupcakes. 

2. Make sure that you leave enough space for the top of your cake stand then cut strips of paper from the rest. I made my strips approx three and a half centimeters (1.4inches). The size of the cake stand top is going to determine how many strips you will need. I needed 2 and a teeny bit. 

3. Use the border punch to make the edges pretty.

4. Stick double sided tape to the ends of the strips and stick then together to make one long strip. 

5. Place glue (sorry I forgot to take that photo) all around the edge of the cardboard and then stick the long strip to the edge. Making sure the flat edge of the strip is level with the table (you should be doing this on newspaper - I just removed it for the photo, but for some reason, that I can't remember now, I seemed to have left my scissors in there as a model...)

6. Place it on the can/extra can to dry.

7. Take the can and measure its length, roll it along the paper as you measure it to make sure there is enough paper to go all the way around.

8. Cut it out and place double sided tape on the edges as well as on the top and bottom of the can. (if you look veeeery carefully you can see my double sided tape on the can)

9. Stick the paper to the can.

 10.Place the top of the cake stand on your scrapbooking paper and trace around it (it is okay if you leave a bit of an edge, rather too much than too little)

11. Cut it out and stick double sided tape to the paper or cardboard, which ever you prefer. 

12. Stick the paper on to the cardboard and use your scissors to trim the edges. 

13. Put some glue on the bottom of the cake stand top, where you will be placing your can. Be very generous. 

14. Place your can on the glue and put something heavy on top while the glue dries. 

repeat steps 1-14 as many times as you wish. 

and..

TA DA!!

 

This should have been a photo of pretty treats in a beautifully decorated room, BUT in all the bridal shower busy-ness, I forgot to take photos :(

I will learn from my mistakes. 

Have a great week!

Blessings

 

And the winner is....

Congratulations to:

ALISSA!!

 You have won yourself a whole lot of ribbon!!!

I will be in contact with you super soon!!

I'm sorry if random.org didn't let you win this time - but come and visit again, there will be more giveaways :)

Blessings

Fabric scraps #2

I know that many people don't agree with me but I never grow tired of bunting. There are so many different types (they don't always need to be triangles) and its just so functional. I had to make some quick bunting with fabric scraps for an event at church and I thought I'd share it with you. Another fabric scraps tutorial is overdue anyway ;) Here is my previous fabric scraps tutorial: Fabric scraps #1

Sometimes you really want bunting but you really don't feel like taking the whole day to do it. So you cheat ;) and use glue!

You will need: 

Fabric scraps

Twine/string/ribbon

Glue (I used wood glue because that is what I had)

Scissors

Ribbon Giveaway

It has taken me awhile (about two years) but I have finally created a facebook page for Bee-inspired.
So to celebrate I am having a giveaway!!

Sadly this giveaway is over. 

Here is what I am giving away:

 8 Rolls of ribbon (of which most of them are made in South Africa)
Each roll is 3 meters (3,3 yards) long so in total you could win 24meters (26,2 yards) of ribbon!!

The 4th ribbon from the left is actually a two in one ribbon - let me show you:

You can hold the middle, thin teal ribbon and ruffle the rest! Isn't that incredible. A ribbon woven into a ribbon - genius!!

So if you would like to win this ribbon hamper here is what you need to do:

There are two ways to enter.

1. For one entry you can like my facebook page and then leave a comment here (not on the facebook page) telling me that you did :)

  2. For another entry you need to either be a follower/become a follower of this blog, and leave a comment saying which of the ribbons is your favourite.

You can do either 1 or 2 or both which would equal 2 entries.

And that is all.

The giveaway ends on Thursday the 14th of March 5pm PST.

I will choose a winner randomly and announce the winner on the 15th of March.

Anyone from anywhere can enter as the prize includes postage:)

Thank you for stopping by and good luck!
I have limited stock of ribbons but if you want to buy some me, please send me an email to inspired.gabi@gmail.com and I will forward you the catalogue.

Blessings

Free March 2013 Desktop calendars!

We are already 3 days into March and for once I don't feel like I'm still scrambling to catch up!

So here are some free desktop calendars for you in case you haven't had the time to find one for yourself.

  

You can download it here at the Love Mae Blog.

 This one is from Free People.

 My favourite one for the month is from Nicole's Classes.

The blackboard calendar from Design is YAY!

I hope you've had a great start to your month!

Blessings

Some fun free prints

I am always looking for some good freebies and who doesn't like stationery. So what better than a combination of the two :)

Here are a few to brighten up your day!

 

Lunch box notes from Whipperberry

 

Journaling cards from Persnickety Prints

Journaling tags from Dainty Dream

Camera Prints from A Sorta Fairytale

(I love this one sooo much!!) 

Mason jar labels from Southern Weddings

And lastly my favourite for the day:

52 (yes that is right 52) free printables from This Kalil Life

Have a great day!!

Blessings

DIY ribbon/fabric tape spool

In my previous post on DIY fabric tape I said that I would give you a quick tutorial on how to make your own spool for tape/ribbon. Just to help you in the ongoing battle against craft supply chaos ;)

So here goes: 

You will need: 

Cardboard

A toilet roll tube

Scissors

A ruler

A punch for the circular parts (or just use scissors again;) )

Glue

A heavy book

I used a punch to make the round flat parts - but if you don't have a suitable punch in your craft corner you can just trace around a jar lid and cut it out with a pair of scissors.

Then measure your tape or ribbon to see how wide it is. Add 2mm and mark it off on the toilet roll tube. It helps if you mark it all the way around and then cut it with the scissors or carpet knife/utility knife.

Place some glue on the edge of the toilet roll tube piece and stick one of the round flat parts to it. Do the same with the other side of the toilet roll tube piece. (you have to look quite carefully to see the glue in both these pictures, but I promise its there :)

Once you have glued both flat round pieces to either side of the piece of toilet roll tube, place a book on it and leave it till the glue dries. Above is a photo of the glue that I used.

And you are done!!

 And you recycled in the process - give yourself a pat on the back ;)

Blessings

Fabric tape (scraps #1)

A while back I showed you my fabric scrap stash and promised to start doing some projects with it. Well here is the long awaited first project.

By this time you know about washi tape and if you live in SA you have probably deprived yourself of a meal or two to be able to save the cash to buy some ;)

Here is an alternative - Fabric tape. 

You will need: 

Some double sided tape (I used a width of 1,5cm)

A strip of fabric

A pair of Scissors

1. stick the double sided tape to the fabric, smoothing it out as you go. (you should iron your fabric first but I was lazy)

2. Use your scissors to cut down the one side of the double sided tape. Try and stay as close to the tape as possible.

3. Cut down the second side as well.

And you are done.

TA DA!!

 Here is the tutorial for the cardboard spool that I wrapped my tape around ;)

Blessings

Sailor sailor

Just a quick DIY garland for days that you just feel like folding something.

Here are the directions for each boat. 

 Thanks to Arch Academy of design

To make these small boats I used A4 paper and folded it in 4. 

So fold the page in half length wise and then in half width wise.

This should leave you with four rectangles. Cut on the folds and then use the directions above for each rectangle. 

I then took needle and string and threaded it through the tip of each boat. You can secure it with tape but I used prestik/blu tack on the inside of each tip.

And you're done!

Blessings.

xxx 

Fabric scraps

After about 6 months of non-stop sewing I am finally sort-of on vacation.

Its been a crazy, fun, tough, exciting time and I wouldn't change any of it.

And after all of the craziness I'm left with fabric scraps.

Tons (ok maybe kilograms) of scraps. I'm not a hoarder but if something is pretty, no matter how small it is, I think it deserves a chance to be something. So I haven't thrown away any scraps yet - When I start drowning in them I might.

Most blogs I look at seem to only generate scraps like this...

 Mine seem to look like this....(these are not all the bags ;)

So I've decided to save what I can and try make something of all these little pretty pieces. In my head I'm planning on doing hundreds of beautiful sewing projects that will be uplifting to many. In reality I might make one or two small things before I move on and close my scrap cupboard door for another few months where the scraps will probably grow to double the size. 

Here they all are in a more sorted, trimmed fashion. Still not like the first photo but way better than the second ;)

Come back and visit to see what I decided to do with them :)

Blessings

xxx

A bit of home decor

Let's pretend that I haven't been missing for 6 months and pick up where we left off ;)

In between starting a business I haven't had much time for decorating the apartment that we are renting. I drove past a second hand store a few months ago and saw a beautiful old ladder that only has one side. (I have been wanting one for a while and thought that I was going to have to make it.)

After convincing the owner that it would fit in my car, (and removing some things from my car that shouldn't be removed) I had the ladder and was ready to start my project. 

We are not allowed making holes in the walls in this apartment that we are renting and so I decided that I would have to make a plan to display some of our beautiful traveling photos.

Here is the end product: 

 

All it took was a few frames that fit into each gap, some hooks and some fishing line. 

Let me show you the back so that you can do it yourself.

Screw two small hooks into the back of each frame (space them well) and then do the same on the rung of the ladder above the frame. And attach with some fish line. Do the same for all the frames.

And you are done!

xxx

Inspirations

Life on this side is a bit too fast for me to keep up so I have decided to step out and take a breather. Luckily blog land never fails to leave me feeling inspired and amazed by all the creativity out there. 

If you don't have time to take a relaxed stroll through all the beautiful blogs out there, here are some goodies to give you your weekly fix. 

1. A DIY ruler table runner from Country living.

2. A collection of packaging ideas from oh, hello friend.

3. (YAY free stuff) Printable mason jar labels (they even have blank ones) from Limeshot Design.

4. DIY paper airplane garland from Studio DIY.

If you have any special blogs that have inspired you, on this busy Monday, please feel free to mention them in your comments. I would love to take a look. 

I hope you have a great week. 

Blessings

Puppy finds a home.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and all the lovely names that were given. 
I might have to give each of the puppies I make a different name because I was given so many good options. (I must say one of my favourites was Jack McBarkington;) 
But this lucky puppy is called Gilbert.

And the winner is...

Cherilyn. 
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Check your inbox because you've got mail.

If you would still like to take your own puppy home, I will be putting them on our website over at Pickalilly from the 2nd week in June. 

Pop in again anytime - I love visitors.

Blessings

Sew mama sew giveaway week

 Sorry this giveaway is over.
Its giveaway week over at Sew Mama Sew and I'm excited. (Welcome to everyone visiting)

A friend and I recently started a business for handmade baby clothes and accessories. It's called pickalilly. Go on over and take a look.

I have been designing a few new items for our online shop and today I will be giving away one of them.

Here he is. He is still in the process of being named. If you would like to give this puppy a home you need to do the following: 

1. Leave a comment with name suggestion for our friend in the picture.

2. If you are not a follower please leave an email address (you can type it like this: inspired(dot)gabi(at)gmail(dot)com) so that I can let you know if you have won - I will not spam you ;)

3. For an extra entry follow/like us on facebook and let me know by posting an extra comment.

The giveaway ends on the 25th of May 5pm PST.

I will choose a winner randomly and announce the winner on the 27th of May.

Anyone from anywhere can enter :)

Thank you for stopping by and good luck!

Blessings

A new look!

As you can see Bee-inspired has a new look. I absolutely LOVE IT!!! 

A few months ago I was getting really frustrated with my blog design and I really wanted a custom design. I first tried doing a ton of free tutorials and after HOURS (more like days) of trying all I had was a sad attempt, which is what was on my blog before. 

I want this blog to be a source of inspiration for others and I was super uninspired by the design so I prayed about it (yes I pray about anything and everything) and a week later I found a competition for a custom blog design by (my now new friend) Jennie from click.snap.swoosh.laugh. I was sure I was going to win. 

I didn't. 

BUT a few weeks later she messaged me and said she wanted to do it for me. She is an amazing women with many talents and has more than one blog (she seems like bit of a super women to me.)

So here is the end result of her hard work. 

THANK YOU Jennie you were REALLY an answer to prayer.

  Here are her two blogs - go and take a look and say hi.

   

Here's to more exciting changes in the future.

Blessings 

Inspirations

I'm back from all my travels in the States and SA and I will still blog about it when life returns to perceived normalcy. 

For now here are a few inspirations. 

1. DIY hand lettered gift wrap from The Sweetest Occasion. 

2. How to sew with knit fabrics from Ask Dana on Made (if you haven't been to her website yet you are missing out - she is possibly one of my favourite bloggers.)

3. DIY fabric labels from Just Love.ly

4. Make your own photo props from The Letter 4.

I will be back soon and watch this space because some exciting changes are going to be happening on bee-inspired in the near future. 

Blessings