Julie: Alter-A-Bag kit

Hi there you.

Have you seen the latest project kits available in the shop? There's:

• the 'Alter-A-Bag' kit and
• the 'Alter-A-T-shirt' kit,

... and they come complete with everything you need to create your own bird-cage themed customised project.

In previous posts Effie, Jean and Jan have all shown you theirs ... now it's my turn to show you mine:

This particular project kit is one of Effie's mini-masterpieces which she created and shared with all of us who attend 'Efermera Ink' our monthly, local crafting group a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed making my birdie bag at the time, so it's nice to get to share it with you now:

While you don't actually get Effie herself posted out to you in person to help you make your bag/T-shirt, you do get full details, instructions and photos to show you what's what! I faithfully and obediently followed Effie's demonstrations except for when it came to adding my bird. Call me contrary ... but ...

... when I looked at everyone elses birds facing into their cages, I decided to have mine hopping out instead, a decision which possibly tells you quite a lot about me!!

I loved making the flower [above] but I won't spoil it for you by telling just what the technique is used to achieve such a professional look [you'll get the instructions in the kit]. Again, it's one of Effie's gems of crafting wisdom! Like the way she introduced me to iron-on dyes:

I didn't know there was such a thing as dyes you could iron-on until I started attending Effie's crafting group. And yes, it is as much fun as it sounds!

All you need is a regular iron, the kind you use for ironing clothes - if you can imagine doing such a thing - and you can create surface patterns and colours that you would have thought you had to go to art college to learn about.

I enjoyed using the Kemtex dye colour sheets so much that Effie let me take some home to play with ... she's kind to me like that! And play I did.

In fact I played for so long that I think I might have worn out my iron as it now makes strange growling noises when it gets hot ... they're a lot of fun ... don't say I didn't warn you!

So, for all of those of you who don't get to attend Effie's workshops in person, why not let Jean provide you with the next best thing through one of the bag or the T-Shirt kits.

Really the only thing missing is the tea and laughter we also have when we all get together ... it's a shame we haven't found a way to send you some of that in the mail ... but we're working on it ...

See you soon.

Julie :)