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.

Sketchy details

Apart from being a lovely sewist/quilter, Wendy is a clever arty person who has a second blog, all about art for children, and how to encourage their creative endeavours.

Love the little details here - the apples on the tree, with a ladder for picking them and the roll down shade in the window complete with pull-cord.

I recently commented on this post about how I am given many works of art during the course of a day/week, and while they are lovely, I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume coming from three very creative small people.

A rainbow and a field of rosebuds below it.

Wendy recommended I do exactly as suggested in the blog post and get them each a sketch book to use for all their artwork.

The benefits are twofold - less loose pieces of paper floating around the house and a permanent record of the progression in their art that I can keep for years to come.

A picture of concentration here! Painting is a very serious business.

I grabbed these large spiral bound books while at Zart the other day and the first thing they each wanted to do was decorate the cover - so they can tell who each one belongs to.

I look forward to now seeing the pages filled with pastings, collage, painting, drawing and anything else the girls can think of to express themselves.

Thanks Wendy!

PS - I promise there have been some creative efforts by me too - more in the next post!

Blowing in the wind

I've spoken before about how there are 'makers' and 'creators', the kid below is definitely a creator.

She comes up with an idea then sits down with pencils, paper, card, scissors, string, sticky-tape and usually glitter, to bring it to life.

Today it was kite making.

One for her...

One for her little sister...

Then, Miss A sees and likes the idea and conjures up her own - she's like me - a maker. 

She's able to follow a plan or pattern, but not usually the one to come up with the idea!

Here's their 'artwork' up close, glitter, streamers and of course a smiley face and some repurposed toilet rolls.

Often it means I am left with this...

But I think it's worth it.

PS - excuse the lawns!! A bit of rain and lots of sunshine and it's now growing like a jungle!

Dodgy Disney craft

I've made it known before that I am not a big fan of the whole 'Disneyfying' of all things kid related.

Why does every bandaid, tube of toothpaste, biscuit and toy have to be plastered with Princesses and Fairies??

Anyway - I digress...

The older two girls were given lots of gifts for their birthday that forced me to 'embrace the Disney' in their lives a little.

A friend of mine pretty much told me to 'suck it up' and ride the wave - that they will be bored of it all within 18 months.

So here goes....

One of their gifts was this 'Make a Princess Dress' kit that involves putting a small transparency into a rather elaborate 'projector' that then projects the image down onto the paper below.

The child traces the dress design, cuts it out and then puts it onto the doll for a dress with a layered look.

Of course sequins and glitter are then added...

Sometimes with great effort it seems!!
And you're done.

I know she's mine - but gosh this kid has amazing eyes!!

As you can see - the finished result delights small girls everywhere.

So the wrap up:
This kit was incredibly easy for the girls to use - with very little help from me.

They made the dolls and dressed and undressed them for hours (literally) - they played all sorts of imaginative games with the finished dolls (that's the bit I like!!).

All you need to replenish it is more paper for different dresses and we haven't even used all that was in the kit.

While this is not something I would have ever bought for the girls - they LOVE it and the finished results were quick and easy to achieve, and bought lots of pleasure to them.

What about you?
Do your kids do or have or play with anything that doesn't quite sit well with you??

Crafty fun

There's nothing we like better than getting into some craft - maybe it's hereditary!

I grabbed these two books when they were for sale recently at kinder and they have some great projects in them.

We'd previously borrowed the fairy one from the library.

The girls decided they wanted to start with this project.



I think I have mentioned before that Miss L's philosophy on decorating is "more is more!"
It took me some time to clean up the glitter.

They were pretty happy with the results and they are now hanging in their rooms.

The holidays are flying past, too quickly for my liking, but apparently these projects are on our 'to do' list as well.

Wish me luck!

Flowery fun

I was supposed to have this finished before Christmas to go with the pettiskirts - but you know how that goes, Christmas madness and all.

On Saturday night we had an engagement party to go to so I whipped out all the pieces of satin I had previously cut and curled the edges of and put this together with the hot glue gun in (literally) ten minutes - maybe less.

I asked Miss L if she thought it should have one flower or two - she went with two of course, she's a girl who believes more is more, and who can fault her.

It looks seriously adorable with her pettiskirt and amazing blue eyes the colour of the small flower - really.

Whip one up for yourself - it's Ashleys great idea.

Priceless...

Plastic compartment box - $2.98

Pack of coloured toothpicks - $3.97

Googly eyes of assorted sizes - $5.67

Spending 40 minutes chatting with the 4-year-old while we sorted it all into compartments - Priceless!

Topping up the crafty supplies for the kids crafting space with the above and some holographic paper cut into squares, triangles and rectangles (disco paper according to Miss L!), and a pack of cut out puffy shapes that include ducks, flowers, hearts and rabbits.

All from Officeworks.

My Creative Space : Lurgy alert

There's been way too much of this in my creative space for this week...

Sick kids + sick husband + sick me = too little serious crafting.

Being indoors a lot means there's been some kid-based craft though.

Apart from stamping, play dough-making and drawing there's been some scissor action.

A new cooktop for in the 'home corner', inspired by Childhood 101's efforts with boxes and stuff you find around the house.

If I had the space I'd be attempting something far more grand like this one on Childhood 101.

(If you are a stay-at-home parent and haven't checked out this blog then seriously - do it now!)

One of the girls asked for a computer, which she has now set up next to the Mickey Mouse phone to make up her study, where she answers very important calls (of course!).

The other asked for a TV, for which she then made up a remote control and a series of changeable programs which include Spot and a beach scene.

The sporting program that's on was chosen especially for Sal!

I love that the girls will play with these 'household' things in an imaginative way - something you can't get from a battery operated version of the same thing.

Watching how they make-up new games all the time with such simple things is really inspiring, and part of why I love being able to stay home with them and watch them grow.

Check out some folk who are into more grown-up creative pursuits over at Kirsty's place.

I will be back soon though with that wrap up of the little carry-along house - as soon as I can drag myself out from under the pile of tissues here!

Which one are you??

During the Christmas/New Year period I took a little time to embellish a shirt I had using the technique of 'thread sketching' that Gina introduced me to on her blog.

You'll see that my bird, while not as nicely shaped, greatly resembles hers.

That's because I have determined that there are two main types of crafty folk - the 'makers' and the 'creators'.

I'm the former. In the past couple of years I have become quite good at 'making'.

I can follow most patterns with relative ease and make an item according to a set of instructions provided, using a design that someone else has created, but I can't wing it.
My brain doesn't seem to function that way.

I don't 'create' as such, I'm not brimming with clever ideas of how to make new things from items others have discarded, like Kirsty.

I don't come up with musical instruments and games for the kids like Nikki.

And there's no way in the world I could develop a pattern from scratch like Nikki does.

So I loosely copied Gina's bird (she states on her thread sketching page that this is OK!) and stitched him onto a comfortable and loose plain cotton shirt I had.

And while I will in no way claim the idea or the technique to be my own, I really love wearing this little bird shirt and am very gratefully for people like Gina, Kirsty and the two Nikki's for sharing the clever things they come up with.


So, which are you?
A 'maker' or a 'creator'??

Making a list, checking it twice

I'm a list maker - what can I say.

I like to cross things off - preferably with red texta.
I've been known to add something I have done to a list purely for the joy of crossing it off.
Sad isn't it!

When the smallest had just been born and we were all finding our way with each other, I felt that I was accomplishig little in a day so started keeping a list of what I had done, rather than what I hoped to do.
It was a great way to make me realise where all that missing time had been going.

This new list is for Christmas, but you probably guessed that by the title didn't you.

I made another list back here - and still need to get onto some of those things too, but I am hoping most, if not all the girls gifts will be handmade this year, so there's a bit to be done.

I found this great book at my local library.



So I grabbed a few supplies from Winterwood when I was there to make the wind wands shown above and in action on the cover and also some finger puppets which I think I might make to resemble each of the girls.

But then there's this one, simple and sweet...

And this, which actually made Miss L gasp when she saw it and would make good use of my new snap press.

I saw a similar dolly carrier ages ago on Naomi's blog and wasn't able to get my hands on the pattern as it was a vintage one.

So now you see why the list is growing....

Have you got any crafting plans with a December 25th deadline???

Oh what a feeling

Come on - we've all had that feeling of joy when completing a project.

Satisfaction, happiness and a sense of pride at acomplishing something.

You can see it here in Miss L's face, holding up her first item of sewing. (which she later taped to the window in our study she was so pleased with it!)

I debated whether to ask the 'man in the red suit' to bring the girls a small sewing machine for Christmas but received advice to the contrary from my online sewing buddies.

Instead it was suggested by Cass that I teach them to use my machine properly.

This was met with a sense of amazement from a few of my friends as even they expressed fear at the sight of that sharp needle bobbing up and down and after all my older two girls are only three and half years old.

But with careful guidance (use your hands to guide the fabric, don't push it through or hold it tight, don't drop the presser foot lower it down) and establishing safety rules (never put your foot near the foot pedal until you are ready to sew, only ever use the machine with Mama there to help as it is not a toy) the girls took to it like ducks to water.

I placed the machine on their little table and they sat on their stool to sew so everything was at an appropriate height for them, making it easy to control.

Now I fear only a couple of things, my fabric stash being diminished for doll clothing and not getting enough time on my machine for me!

One more sleep

Til the babe's birthday.

I recently met Leah at Kirsty's HAC session and on perusing her blog found a little Russian doll was the motif of choice for her little girl when she recently turned one.

Leah kindly said I could 'adopt' her idea if I wanted to, so on the weekend I made a shirt for the little miss to wear tomorrow - the actual day of her birthday.

Because my machine sewing in the contrast colour looked seriously crap on the small letters, I opted for some hand sewing in front of the telly on Friday night with a friend.

Wonder how long it will take for it to get covered in cake?

Thanks Leah for your great idea!

Cracking good

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be one of eight crafty-types who got together with Kirsty for her HAC (Have A Crack) craft session.

The aim was to make, as she says, "something from nothing" with her.

The very handy something is a multi-tasker that Kirsty designed, and which uses a large number of recycled/reclaimed items in the construction.

Most used vintage or op shopped fabric but this piece of Aunty Cookie fabric took my eye immediately, mmmm lovely!

So we traced, cut, sprayed, measured, glued and pegged our multi-taskers into shape over the course of the afternoon.

It wasn't all hard work and no play of course, there was champagne, cheese and biscuits to sustain us through the afternoon! And there was chatting and getting to know each other too of course.

This fabulous tool can be used for all manner of things such as tracing onto fabric (the sandpaper surface), it has a cutting mat, a leatherette surface which can be used to assist in piecing fabric and when you open it out and turn it over it's an irnoning board.

It had it's first run on Saturday night and proved perfect for ironing and cutting interfacing for the smallest's birthday shirt and is on the kitchen bench as I write this waiting for the iron to heat up for some bias binding to be ironed.

Check out all the gals here.

Thanks for a fab afternoon Kirsty.

Hooked?

I have to say, it wasn't love at first sight.

At first I found you complicated, hard to grasp, tight and frustrating.

But as time goes on I find you're growing on me.


I'm not as tense and anxious, so you end up looking better; looser, more relaxed.

And you are pretty versatile; very portable, able to picked up and put down at a moments notice, suitable for car trips and nights in front of the telly.

I suspect that by the time you are a finished hat I will have grown to love you.

How these clever ladies whip through you like they do I will never understand.
I was pleased to hear though, that I am not the only one to find you trying!

Thanks Shelley for introducing me to your time-consuming friend - crochet.
And persevering with my jumbled stitches!