We wish you a Merry Christmas

Things are getting busy so I am not certain I will get back here before the man in the red suit arrives...

I'd like to wish you and those you love a very Merry Christmas.

I hope it's a time filled with peace and joy for you and the chance to spend time in the company of good friends, family and people you love, doing the things you love to do.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Thanks for sharing the journey of my sewing adventures, and life in general, throughout this year - I look forward to getting to know you more next year.

Best wishes
Karen
x

Animal lover

This one loves animals.

A walk to the park takes much longer because we have to ask every dog owner we meet along the way if we can pat their dog.

Recently she got the chance to snuggle up to some rabbits, guinea pigs and ducklings at a petting zoo, she was there for about 30 minutes swapping from one animal to the next.

It's especially exciting when the guinea pig starts to munch on the carrot.

And she is in luck that there is a long-haired guinea pig and two chickens awaiting her arrival at kinder next year!! (poor animals, she might just love them to within an inch of their lives!)

Recently the excuse for her not getting a dog for Christmas had to be made.
Santa is not able to carry live animals in his sleigh - phew!

Trimming the ahh tree??

What were we decorating again???

Puppet show

I've mentioned before that Miss L loves all things creative and is constantly wandering off with a glint in her eye to the craft table  to make something.

There's another Christmas project we are working on that I will show you in the next few days that inspired her to make some puppets today. 

It's Showtime!

She draws all the characters and set - including the sun, grass, sky, moon and a tree and sticks them all onto sticks and then puts on a show.

A brother and sister playing hide and seek featured in the show today

And of course, inspired by her sister, the three-year-old had to get in on the action!!

I love seeing little minds at work.

Advent at last!

Ok so I know that a fair chunk of December has gone already - I am a bit behind.

But better late than never, right?!

Cutting and pasting can be quite therapeutic

Even though I started my 'fancy-keepsake-handmade-in-felt-advent-calendar' in May - I never got it done...

Easy to make and inexpensive too.

So in the last few days I made up a cheap, quick and easy advent using readily available items; card, paper punches, bakers twine, pegs and envelopes.

One of the messages is to do a family dance - that one was fun!!

The messages inside are things that we will do for fun, things that involve family and togetherness and things that encourage our children to live the spirit of Christmas by giving to those who have less than them, or sharing Christmas experiences with those who may not have many others around them to do so.

Lined up and ready to hang

It was really easy to make.
I printed out the gorgeous free decorations from Allsorts.

Cut them in a circle with a paper punch then did a series of numbers that I cut with a flower-shaped paper punch.

Oops - 24 looks about to slip off!

I glued some bakers twine that I got from here between the two pieces in a loop - so it looked like a medal.

Put a message in each envelope - looped the string around and pegged them onto some more twine that I hung up.

Excuse the bad lighting - in the day the blind is transparent so it's hard to photograph.

And there you have it - done!

Cathie made a really cute calendar using noodle boxes, go and check it out (and drool over her baking while you are there!)

Let me know if you made one too and I will share the link.

A gathered gift

A lovely lady recently had a special birthday and while I wanted to respect her 'no gifts' request - I couldn't resist a little handmade something for her, as I know handmade is something she appreciates.

I also felt it was an appropriate way to acknowledge our friendship based on the fact that we met at SIT in Sydney earlier this year, something for which I'd like to thank Sheridan!

I'd read lots of great reviews about Noodlehead's free 'Gathered Clutch' tutorial and was keen to give it a go as it seemed like a useful and cute gift.

So I trawled through many colour combo's in my stash before deciding on the earthy tones of this Sandi Henderson water lily print teamed with a dot.

The perfect size for a party. 

A splash of Sandi Henderson Henna Garden colour on the inside because she's a girl for bold colour combo's!

Inside divider and pockets too, these came out a little loose!

And a little something that smells good slipped inside for luck! (Mor lychee flower soap).

If you haven't tried their products, do yourself a favour and do! Luscious is the word that best describes them.

This clutch is the perfect size to take to a party when you are child-free and just want to take keys, credit card/money, tissues and some lip gloss.

It was a well written tutorial and very enjoyable to sew.
In fact, the only thing I'd change next time is I don't know that I would put the internal divider or pockets in as they came out a little loose in my version and I don't really know that they are necessary in a small clutch such as this.

I hope the birthday girl likes it and that she had a wonderful birthday.

Still here, paddling hard!

Just letting you know I am still here, just been a little snowed under...

All smooth and calm on the surface but I am paddling sort of hard beneath it!

I am working on a little (slightly belated) Christmas crafting so I will be back soon with some pretty pictures, though this fluffy yellow duckling is kind of cute!