Santa sacks

 I've finally made Santa sacks out of the Australian animal fabric panels I bought a couple of years ago - they match the panel I bought for this bunting.

I originally bought two of the panels because I wanted the red on both sides, but after washing the fabric it warped so I had to do the blue on one side and red on the other. And then I just had to deal with the wonkiness and the fact that they aren't actually nice even rectangles. Now I have two exactly the same... handy for Santa to quickly swap the empty sack for a full one!

Lily loves the empty sack, so I'm sure she'll love it even more when she wakes up to it full of presents on Christmas morning! So far she is excited for all things Christmas - except the train we attempted to put under the tree (it's just as scary as the robot vacuum).

Paint, Xmas stamps and paper bags

 We get groceries delivered and with Woolies no longer using plastic bags we have a ridiculous number of paper bags! So with a little creativity, a 3D printer, a little paint and a 2 year old, I now have some cute Christmas great gift bags!

The green paint definitely covers the green logo better so I'll have to remember that for next year.

These stamps (there are lots, so I've just linked the creators bio for you) are actually meant for cookies but I added this handle to turn them into stamps suitable for a toddler. If you want to print your own, I scaled the stamps up to 110% and the handle down to 80%.

Definitely my go to wrapping for gifts from now on - easier for me, and a fun activity for Lily.  We just wrote the recipients names using a white crayon, but I think next year I'll make name stamps or use a paint pen.

Christmas furoshiki

 Well I've finally made some fabric wrapping paper so I could do Furoshiki for our Christmas gifts this year. I actually completely forgot about this plan until I had already wrapped a few presents. 

I still need a lot of practice but I'm really enjoying using the fabric and not wasting so much paper! I've just been using everyone's intial in marker on all the paper wrapped presents, for fabric ones I used the 3D printer to make reusable tags.

If you're wondering, I used 1/4" hem and mitered the corners. If you have a 1/4" seam foot it makes things so much easier - especially when there is a toddler sitting on your lap while you sew!

I didn't prewash like I normally do, simply to make it easier cut, fold, etc.

Deciding on what sizes was the hardest part so I've just been making a few at a time then trying them out before making more. So far I have found 50cm a pretty good size and 70cm is a little big for most of our presents so far.

I still have another 2m of reindeer fabric so I might try some 60 or 65cm ones next.

Versailles dresses

 I still have fabric leftover from these nibling presents I made forever ago and decided to make Lily a Versailles dress before she outgrew the pattern without me ever sewing it!

This fabric is so cute with the little bird, bunny and mouse line drawings. For some reason I thought it wouldn't be a cute dress, but I love it, so much so that I decided to make her Christmas dress with this pattern.

And it turned out so beautiful! I made them in size 4 so they're a bit big but they should fit her next Christmas - although no doubt they'll be too short. I did cut some strips of the red fabric from her Christmas dress so I can add a band around the bottom as Lily grows. I think it's something I'll try and plan for on any future dresses so they can continue being dresses rather than tops!

I added pockets using LLK's free pocket pattern to the Christmas one - amazing that I actually remembered this time. My plan is to tell Lily that it has pockets while we're doing her Christmas photos - hopefully I get a good shot of her - pockets are very exciting for a two year old. To be fair, I also get excited if my dresses have pockets!

My one gripe with this pattern is trying to figure out which way to cut, and sew the ruffle with a directional fabric. Which is precisely why I chose to use a solid red for the Christmas dress.

Christmas Bunting

 One of the first things we packed into a storage shed in preparation for our move was the Christmas decorations. There is no chance we're pulling everything out to get to it so our house is not very Christmassy this year - I'll make up for that next year! 

Luckily I hadn't packed up all of my fabric until recently so I was able to pull out the Christmas bunting panel which I bought in the boxing day sales last Christmas.

It was actually quite fun to make, repetitive but nice and easy. I might even make a birthday one for our daughter! It would have been easier to use premade bias binding but I didn't think to get that out of the shed. Strips of a newly purchased mistletoe Christmas fabric (it's all on sale already!) worked well enough... but I now have more fabric to pack! 

I actually bought a few of their cheap Christmas fabrics to do Furoshiki for our daughters gifts in the future. We'll see how I go with learning the folding technique and I might start doing it for everyone's gifts. I'll keep you updated, I'm not quite sure what sizes would be best to make, or how they wrap large gifts. Perhaps we'll hide any that are too big for the fabric wrap and do a treasure hunt for them instead!

Christmas Dress

 I'm cutting it close with Christmas this year, I finally finished my daughter's Christmas dress, once it is washed we can get her Christmas photos done!

This pattern is Simplicity 7017, it was my grandma's pattern and it looks like she has made a few versions! 

This is the first one I made which is a size 1/2, although its more like size 1. Now that she is so tall it is a top! The Christmas one I made size 1, again seems more like size 2, but I used the length of the size 3, next year it might still fit as a top!

I was a bit lazy and opted to gather them rather than do the pleats - I tried for the Christmas one but couldn't work out the instructions. I also added a second set of buttons/snaps so they would fit her sooner.

Merry Christmas

Since we have a busy few days coming up and will be travelling on Christmas Day I thought it best to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas a little early. It is going to be a very different Christmas this year for many people all over the world, so I hope everyone can get some enjoyment this year even if traditions and large family gatherings have to be missed this year due to covid.

Luckily since Archie is a dog he was able to get his first cuddle with Santa this year unlike many children. He was incredibly excited but surprisingly calmed down long enough for this cute photo!

Christmas 2013

Since I've been busy (by that I mean slack at updating my blog) I realised I never shared my handmade gifts for Christmas 2013!

I had been a little obsessed with woodburning, which meant everyone got a wooden spoon for Christmas! I made up a vine/leaf design and sketched it onto each wooden spoon before I started burning them.

With the wooden spoon I also gave a tea towel and I made everyone a jar of sweet chilli sauce using my favourite recipe.

Oh and of course everyone got to enjoy my rumballs - I think they are expected every year now!

Rumballs Recipe Card

I'm not really into cooking and even when I feel like cooking I don't really use my recipe books. If I find a recipe I want to follow, it normally gets written on a piece of paper because I don't want to get food all over my books. Inevitably I lose those little pieces of paper, so I decided to use my new scrapbooking software to create beautiful recipe cards! 

I have most of my favourite recipes typed up on my computer already, which I have printed and laminated, but printing on plain white paper with no photos isn't very nice to look at! 

So for my first ever recipe card I decided to use my rumball recipe. Every Christmas I make these rumballs... and force my husband to help because it always takes longer than the time I have allocated! At Christmas there are a lot of different parties to attend which means a lot of rumballs to make - I normally do three or four batches each year. 

I love my recipe book stand, but the bottom bit that stops the books sliding off is always blocking the recipe text. Now with my recipe card I can just use pegs to hold it at the top and I won't have any trouble reading my recipes! 

Since this is a Christmas recipe I decided to use some star embellishments and hints of red. I love the ripped effect you can add to the photo in this scrapbooking software - it looks like the photo has been ripped out of a magazine! And as you can see I had fun with the word art for this layout, the curve of the text works well with the photo. 

Do you want a copy of my rumballs recipe card so you can make some for Christmas this year? Just click on the recipe card below to bring it up in full size, then right click and select save image as! 

I just took it to Kmart to have it printed as a 5x7 photo which I then laminated when I got home. Now if I spill something on my recipe I can easily wipe it clean and as a bonus it will be a lot harder to lose! 

Linking up here: 

Friday Favs Party @ Nap Time Crafters Cowgirl Up! Link Party @ The Ivy Cottage Blog Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts We Did It Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado Wildly Original Link Party @ I Gotta Create!

Handmade Christmas Gifts 2012

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 

I have been meaning to share the Christmas presents I made this year. I have been so busy this month, I really need to be more organised - between Christmas and all the birthdays at this time of year, I am quickly running out of time to finish birthday gifts! 

The good news is that I have decided on most of my Christmas gifts for 2013. Even better I can get started on them whenever I like... lets see how many I have wrapped and ready before December 2013! 

So this year I decided to make good use of my fabulous new sewing machine to make all of my Christmas gifts. The added bonus was that I got to practice my sewing skills and I now have a nice variety of scrap fabric. 

Because I like to make things fair, I had to think of a Christmas gift that would be suitable for all 22 people on my list. So I opted for cushions with the thought that they can be used in either the bedroom or lounge room, as well as being suitable gifts for kids. Sure guys might not appreciate the decorative aspect of cushions, but they do appreciate the many ways they can use a cushion! 

I ended up sewing most of the inserts for the cushions, and have decided I really need a couple of the rectangular ones for myself! 

The hardest part was choosing fabric for everyone, but everyone seemed pretty happy with their cushions. 

For my husbands Opa and Oma (centre photo) I opted to make a little scrap section on the backs featuring fabric from their kids and grandkids cushions. The bird fabric I used for the front of their cushion will also be used in our 2nd anniversary quilt (when I get started on it). 

At least couples were a little easier as they got matching cushions. On some cushions I opted to use a feature colour as the zip, rather than just plain black or white. 

Overall it was a fun project, but rather stressful - I'm glad it is over!

German Paper Stars

I went a little overboard recently when I found a tutorial for a really cute paper star! I was orginally looking for origami Christmas ornaments when I found some instructions on how to make these German Paper Stars. The instructions I found were far to confusing but after a little more searching I found a great YouTube tutorial. I still had to pause and go back a few times but it was easy once I worked it. 

And after cutting far too many strips of paper, I now have some new ornaments to add to my tree... 

I haven't decided what to do with the little stars yet, maybe a garland for the window - I may have to make more though and I'm not sure I'm up to it anymore! 

If you are up for a paper folding/weaving challenge you really should give these stars a try. And might I suggest you don't start making them with 6mm paper strips like I did. I really don't know what I was thinking when I cut all those strips! 

I have lots more of my crafting adventures to share with you, once I get the time. You gotta love Christmas...

Holly Collar Tutorial

Here is the tutorial to make your own felt holly collar for your pet, as modelled by Trixie!

1. Cut a piece of the red felt long enough to fit around your dogs neck – remember to take into account the overlap for the Velcro – and 4cm wide (choose the width based on what you think will look best on your dog).
   Trixie’s neck is 33cm and my piece of Velcro is 3cm = 36cm long x 4cm wide piece of felt.
   Cut 1 piece of interfacing slightly smaller than your red piece of felt and iron on. For your holly leaves, draw the design onto your interfacing then iron the interfacing to your green felt. This will make it easier to cut out your holly leaves
2.  For this step I chose to sew along the long edges of the red felt and down the centre of my holly leaves. I didn’t sew down the centre of the holly leaves on the cats collars so take a look at their photos to see what you prefer.
3.  Attach your Velcro to the collar – making sure you attach one end to the front on the collar and the other end to the back of the collar. I just used tacky glue but you could sew it if you prefer.
4. Next you need to sew your holly leave onto the collar – you could glue this part as well if you prefer.
5.  For this collar I used some 2cm baubles as I didn’t have enough of my big bells. Just sew a couple of loops of thread through the hanging holes of each bauble (or bell).
6. All finished – a very cute and quick Christmas craft project!

Christmas Collars

Well I have been busy making all my Christmas gifts for this year. I have also made collars for the cats and the puppy!
For Trixie I made the Holly Ascot Collar tutorial that I found on the Martha Stewart site.
Link here.
Trixie looks very cute in her Christmas collar and it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

As for the cats I used some felt scraps to make theirs and some tiny little red bells. I plan on making one of these for Trixie as well as I think it looks much cuter and at the same time I will make a tutorial so everyone can make a simple collar for their pets.
I think the little holly leaves and bells would look cute as a hair piece as well!