Freebie Time! :)

** Mediafire who I usually use for hosting are down at the moment so I have changed the link to another filehost temporarily. When you click it, choose download as free user and then download. :)

Last year I took part in a project on Digital Scrapbook Place called "9 on the 9th" Every month for the entire year I took 9 photographs on, yes, you guessed it, the 9th of the month.
To keep some consistency throughout I designed a template which I used each month for my 9 photos.
Since then I have used this same template numerous times, it's amazing how many different looks you can get with the one template! Rotate it, flip it, chop it and end up with loads of totally different looks!
Here it is in use -

For the background and elements I usedWaterworld page kit, by Tina Chambers (Splash recoloured and some flowers recoloured and chopped about!)Available from the store at DSP

SO, you will be saying, yes, yes, all very nice, but where's the freebie?!

Here it is! 9 Photo Template  

I am giving you my trusted template, download it, unzip it, play with it. Do what ever you like with it, within reason!
Before you download here are a few common questions you may be wondering about;
YES you may use the template for your commercial projects.
YES you may use the template to display images on your blog or website.
YES  you may use the template to create storyboards/canvasses/collages for clients.
YES I will do it for you if you don't have the time/inclination/know how, for a small fee. :)
YES you may use the template to create a scrapbook page about the time Uncle Fred danced in his Y fronts with a traffic cone on his head...but please, you really do not need to share that one! No. Really ;)
BUT please credit Fantail Digital Art and add a link back to my blog when possible.
NO you may not download my template, re-package it, add your name and sell as your own. Because, well, that's just not nice.
Don't forget to let me know how you use this, I'd love to see!

The Results...

After my previous post, where I was practicing with using white vinegar to set ink jet prints, I thought Id give you an update.
After soaking in vinegar for 10 mins, I left the images to dry naturally. I then ironed them, with the iron set to high, but no steam. I pressed each image for a few minutes, moving the iron around so as not to burn the fabric. Once they were totally cool I hand washed them.

The ballerina I washed in hot water, with handsoap. There was no marked difference, no ink leakage and I was getting quite excited, until I got a bit rough with it and gave it a good scrub,

then I found a slight smudging around the image, and slight fading to the colour. (please excuse dreadful photo!)

I took the fabric with the Tui and the cabbage tree on, and washed by hand in warm water, gently, no scrubbing just gently squeezing it in the soapy water.

There was very little damage done, very little if any fading, but perhaps very slight smudging around the edges, although this is not all over.

Next I took the seagul, again washed gently in warm water with soap.

The poor little guy did not come out too well! The image has faded to grey with a pink tinge to the edges, and all pale areas and detail have all but gone.

I compared these results to a sheep image, which has not been soaked in vinegar, but was ironed with a hot iron prior to washing in warm soapy water, and then accidentally got left on top of a damp facecloth for a couple of days. (don't ask, anything is possible in this house!)

As you can see, the ink has run, but mainly just the colours. The red has come out of the black, and the green of the leaves has seperated into blue and yellow and smudged around the image.

SO the conclusion to all this madness? Vinegar soak works to a certain extent. It is definitely worth doing more investigating into this method.
It works best on solid black images, probably as there is some loss of colour, but this isn't noticed as much on a solid black image. For items that are going to be constantly in the wash it probably is not going to work, but for things like labels in bags, or pictures that are not going to be washed often, and then can be washed with care it seems to be fine.
I am going to try this again, as there are several factors that may have affected my results.
1. I did not have a lot of vinegar left, so used the same bowl of vinegar for each image one after the other.
2. It was a dull day, and my hairdryer was broken, so I was unable to dry the fabric with heat immediately after soaking and rinsing, maybe this makes a difference? Next time I will tumble dry or iron them right after rinsing.
3. The sheep is not a good comparison to the other images, as it is highly likely that being left damp for a couple of days is what did most of the damage rather than the washing!

So there you have it. If you give this a go I'd love to hear any tips or success stories, in the mean time I will continue to test and search for a natural product that make the images totally colour fast.
I'd like to say a big thank you to Sarah from Dolls and Daydreams who got me started on this with her fabulous tutorial!

The wonders of White Vinegar!

White Vinegar, such an unassuming, quiet little thing, yet with so many talents!
Use it for household cleaning,  window cleaning, deodorizing, toilet cleaner, as a rinse aid, to kill weeds, and slugs, discourage cats from using your flower bed as their private toilet, get rid of ants, as an antiseptic for grazes, removing rust, keeping flies away... and after that lot, have a well deserved sit down with a bowl of hot chips sprinkled with vinegar!
These are just some of the uses I know of and use, there will be many, many more, what do you use white vinegar for?
You will notice that my bottle is empty, I'm sure the supermarket must think I drink it, or own a chip shop, I seem to buy a bottle every time I go near the place!
The reason it is empty today is that I have been trying out an exciting new use for it, which I read on Dolls And Daydreams Blog after reading their post on Facebook. Setting ink after printing with an ink jet printer onto fabric!!

You may remember that I have been experimenting with this, using Jac paper when I had no freezer paper to attach the fabric to, and printing my desgins and the images I created for my wall graphics onto fabric to stitch onto the pile of bags I have sitting here patiently waiting to be used. All went well until it came to setting the ink...

...the chemical laden products that you can buy are not only expensive but hard to find, so I was really excited to see this post, claiming that good old White Vinegar does the trick!! Needless to say, I dashed off right away, grabbed my faithful bottle, a bowl and my images and set to it soaking them one by one.

They are now all hanging up to air dry.

No I'm not trying to prove how patient I am, believe me the idea of using the hairdryer as suggested by Sarah on the blog, is more than appealing, but sadly my hairdryer blew up, quite spectacularly actually, with an odd bang-pop-whoosh sound and a big flash,  a few days ago when my daughter turned it on, so that option is a no go. (Oh yes, she's fine, thanks for worrying, it shorted out, gave her a fright but no electrocution!)
So now I wait, hoping that the sun will come out and trying to resist the urge to take the fabric outside onto my deck and dance around waving it in the air. Once they are dry I'm going to set to it trying to get the ink out, wash it, scrub it, put it through all the rigorous tests I can think of, and see what happens!
I have some cards to collect from the printers so I might go and do that to take my mind off the waiting. Funnily enough the printers is right next door to the chip shop and all this playing with vinegar has left me hungry...!

Little Visitors!

You may remember this post about the cute little Harry Potter finger puppets I won from  New Zealand Handmade's draw. They were made by the extremely talented Joy of Kazzleblue.
Well, today I had decided to tackle the accounts and figures for Mr Taxman, not something I look forward to doing, and have been putting off for some time! After 4 hours of wading through receipts etc my head was pounding and I was more than ready for a break when I heard a knock at the door...

 

Look who it was!

WOOOHOOOO!! 

After excited introductions hellos and hugs we went out on the deck for a photo shoot. 

 

They were a little wary of Cassie-Cat, and quickly headed back inside.

After a little snack

they came with me into the office to help me finish some work.

At first they were well behaved and watched quietly..

but it wasn't long before they started being a little mischievous

 

 

so I let them go off and explore their new home

 

Harry lead the fearless expedition team as they encountered many strange lifeforms

 

and climbed enormous mountains

By this time they were exhausted 

and I found them all snuggled up on the sofa for an afternoon nap

 

so I tucked them in and went back to finishing some work while they slept!

THANK YOU! To New Zealand Handmade and Kazzalblue for my new little friends! The photos really do not do them justice, they are quite adorable, made with so much attention to detail, and just amazing! 

My kids got home from school just now and were both ooohing and aaahhhing over them! Yes, even 16 year old boy was impressed, and summed it up perfectly with a "WOW!COOL!"

Friday Felt Faves!

It's blowing a gale outside, it's 9.30am and I still have the lights and the heater on in the house. So what else would I decide to choose for my theme this week other than Springtime, we can all dream! :)
Check out these beautiful items by clicking on any of them for a closer look. You also won't be able to resist having a little browse around each shop as you go, maybe even get some gifts or treats for youself along the way! :) What better way to brighten up this dull and dismal day?!

Kimono Flower Croche...

crochetbury

$4.00

Painting Daisies Wir...

bobbiepene

$36.00

Stunning Upcycled Re...

riverbed

$38.00

Black Filigree Earri...

songbird

$12.00

Heartfelt - Handmade...

feelathome

$30.00

Invitations To Fit A...

fantailDA

$2.00

WOOHOOO!!!

I'm so excited! I just heard that I won the giveaway at New Zealand Handmade to celebrate their reaching over 200 fans on Facebook! The extremely talented and generous Joy at Kazzalblue has made some gorgeous little Harry Potter Finger Puppets!
They are just adorable and I can't wait to play with them! The description says "they are perfect for toddlers pretend play... and just the right size for little fingers" I have 2 little fingers and lots of imagination so I'm sure we will get on fabulously! :) I may even let visiting toddlers try them out, if they are careful of course!

Sparkling Spoons

A while ago I mentioned that I was going to try out some recipes from The Frugal Kiwi Blog, including this one for dishwasher powder.
I have tried a complicated natural dishwasher concoction before, which involved baking soda and a lemon, amongst other things, but it really didn't cut the mustard, literally.

I made up a batch of this dishwasher powder, so simple and easy that I really did wonder if it was going to just be a waste of the $10 spent on Borax and Baking soda. How wrong could I be? I have been using it for almost a week now, and can honestly say we have got better results over the past week than is normal with the chemical laden 'Active" dishwasher powder I normally buy. EVERYTHING is coming out spotless and sparkling, no piles of plates that still have marks on them, or mugs with cocoa remains in the bottom dumped by the sink, I still can't quite believe it but so far the results are amazing!

 I still have to try out the washing powder. I bought all the ingredients, but I may have got a bit carried away and just mixed them all together without reading the instructions HERE  again...! I'll try and botch my way through that one next, and report back on the results!