DIY Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" Notebook

Hey Folks,

So I made this a little while ago for a Disney fan, it was inspired by the story book at the beginning of Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"- here is the original:

This currently on display at "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" Exhibition at The Ronald Reagan Library, California.

And here's my version:

Of course, my version is no where near as fancy as the original jewel encrusted masterpiece above! ^_^


Here's how I made my simpler version though:


You Will Need:

• A New Hard Back Notebook 
• Old Paintbrush 
• PVA Glue 
• Gold Paint (Metallic) 
• Flat Back Little Gems 
• Shoelaces, Thick String. 
• Newspaper 
• Deco Or Scotch Tape
• Mod Podge (Optional) 

Step 1
Get your materials together and prepare your crafting area. You'll need to put down some newspaper as you'll be painting.

Step 2
Cover the inside cover and the page edges with newspaper and deco tape (or scotch tape)- to protect from the paint.

Step 3
Cut out strips of laces/thick string and stick them down on the notebook using the silicone glue- to form the letters "Sleeping Beauty". This will give a cool 3D embossed look to the letters. I cut the tips of the laces into points to make the lettering look better.

Step 4
Cover the letters with a layer of PVA glue using an old paintbrush- make sure you get in the cracks to help it stick to the book! Wait for the glue to dry- about 30 mins or until it turns completely clear.

(Tip: Not essential, but I added a layer of mod podge after this stage for good measure)

Step 5
Cover the whole cover of the book (back and front) in gold paint.You should add about 3 layers of paint to make it nice and shiny! If you want it to look a bit more of a bronze gold- mix a drop of brown paint to the gold.

Step 5
Then add your gems! Even though mine were sticky back, I used a dab of silicone glue to stick each one down. You can find the basic round gems in any good craft shop, but ebay has a great selection of rhinestones in different sizes and shapes also.

And you're done!

If you wanted to go all out (and you're a dab hand at painting or stenciling which unfortunately I am not), you could even try to recreate the inside first pages of the book as featured in the film:





Hope you liked the tutorial! It took a good couple hours, but I'm more or less pleased with it!


-Hayley S xxx


P.S- I will be doing my very first blog giveaway very soon! (How exciting), Once the blog hits 2000 views, I will be opening up a giveaway competition to members of Hayley's Craft Blog, so please- go forth and recommend the blog to anyone you think may like it, and keep watching this space for details coming soon!

More Ghibli Stuff!

Hey Folks, 

 I'm way behind on my blogs! I've been really busy crafting so i'm going to attempt to play catch up here and post up my latest projects- Here's a bunch of Studio Ghibli stuff I made for a crafting buddy of mine late last year: 

 Jiji the Cat
This is a model of Jiji the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service! He's made from black polymer clay- oven baked and then painted.

Totoro Photo Album

This is based on the Totoro's from "My Neighbour Totoro"- I created the image by cutting out felt and using hot glue. 

Kiki's Delivery Service Mini Tote

This little felt bag is only about 12 inches tall- it's actually totally useless as a bag, but it looks cute so- yeah. It could be used for keeping small things in though- or it could be used by a cat...I digress. It's all handsewn as it was before I figured out how to thread and use my sewing machine!

I'll be posting up more projects so, and hopefully a little bit more regularly from now on. 

Ta ta for now, 

Hayley x

Easy Chocolate Orange Fudge!

Screw the new years diet- lets make fudge! 


See Easy Chocolate Orange Fudge and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Doctor Who Felt Tardis!

Hi Folks,
Just sharing something I made for someone for Christmas- its a Tardis made from felt! Sits about 13 inches high and was completely hand-sewn- so it took about 6 hours! But it was worth it I think, just a bit sad I didn't get to keep it myself!

Hayley xx

Quick Homemade Christmas Cards

I wanted to make all my cards this year- not an easy feat when you have 7 brothers and sisters and the boyfriend has a large Irish family! So I decided to make these little hanging cards (to go on the tree). It still took an evening to make all 20+ but I used a book of Christmas Stickers and some pre-cut colored cardboard squares to make it a little quicker. Just thought it was a nice way to make something unique and cute for everyone, here are the pics:

 Happy Holidays x

Christmas Dotee Dolls!

Hey Folks, 

Its been a little while since I posted- I've been crafting as much as possible to get everything ready for Christmas! I'll be posting up all the gifts I've made soon, but for now- here are a couple of Dotee dolls I made for the Christmas Dotee Doll Swap I hosted on CO+K- 


Dotee Dolls are usually about 3-7 inches tall, they have a loop at the top so they can be hung up (in this case- on the Christmas tree!), and they usually have a beaded or embellished tail. Traditionally they are made, given a name and then sent to a friend. 

If you've not heard of Dotees before, here are some good resources to find out more information and for inspiration too! 


The Creator Of Dotees Blog 
How-to make A Dotee on You Tube 
And a Flickr Group


This first one I made was for a lady in the Netherlands- the doll is called Grandma Christmas: 
                                                                                           

And the second is called Connie (like Conifer- get it?) and was for a lady in Washington, USA

And ->Here<- is the link if you want to check out what everyone else made in this swap.

More Christmas crafts coming soon!

Happy Holidays, 
Hayley xx

Organize your crafts on the run up to Christmas!

Okay, I've just seen it with my own eyes- The Coca Cola Truck is on its way- The T.V says so, which MEANS.....

Its finally time to start getting excited about Christmas!!!! Yay!!!!!

Family, friends, colleagues maybe even neighbours- for many of us, when you add it all up you've got a fair amount of people on the Christmas list, and if like me you have a lot of loved ones (I have 6 brothers and sisters!) then you'll need to start planning and organizing what you'll be making and for who. 

Depending on how many people you're planning on making homemade gifts for and how complex the gift is to make, planning and creating all your gifts could easily take a month or two! But don't panic if you haven't started yet- with a little organisation and (of course) a handy spreadsheet, planning your homemade crafts doesn't look so daunting after all.

You can't go wrong with a list, but other factors you'll need to consider are if you need to buy any materials before you start and how long (realistically) the project will take- I usually go by number of evenings as I work full time, this is when I do most of my crafting. 

I've made an example spreadsheet, close to the one I use that can be found on googledocs here:

Christmas Crafts Plan

I'd recommend filling out all your gifts and how long it will take, then using the filter function on the table you can sort out what will take the longest (and therefore what you should start soonest) and what projects you don't have to worry about for a little bit! 

Happy Crafting, 

Hayley x