Toddler wrapping paper

 Toddlers, well mine at least, love painting! I've been getting her to paint useful things as Ray is getting quite the stack of Lily paintings on his desk.

This one was just from a roll of brown kraft paper that I normally use as wrapping paper with some pretty ribbon. But this time I put blobs and swirls of paint on the paper (cut to size for the intended present) and let Lily do whatever she wanted with the brush or her fingers, then repeated with the next colour.

For the cards and envelopes we do the same thing, but let it dry in between.

The kids presents for Christmas were painted and stamped the paper grocery bags, and we have done the blob and swirl technique on them as well, but they weren't big enough for this gift.

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.

Mother's day candle holders

 We live 15 minutes from a main town, but it really is limited with what shops there are, as well as what they stock. Needless to say I am very quickly learning that I have to be a lot more organised - unless I feel like driving 40 minutes to the bigger shops - which I don't as I hate driving!

Unfortunately I was not organised as usual, so while I planned to paint terracotta pots with Lily for her Grandmother's and Great Grandmother's, we had to settle on these candle holders from Kmart. Which made the zygocactus I bought a bit pointless (yes, I am great at buying plants without even thinking about pots).

Our two year old did a bit of painting once or twice a day until we had enough paint on there (if this pot happens to move into the brush that the toddler is holding,  she is still the one painting right?!). They turned out pretty cute, and we already have our plan for next year, assuming I buy everything in advance!

Isabella Romper and Skirt

 I've been going through my photos and found a little romper and skirt that I made using the Isabella Mini fabric from Frankie Bear.

This little romper was one of the first ones I made and it is the Daphne from Bebekins. In the blur of caring for a newborn I don't really remember making this pattern other than having a tough time wrapping my head around how to do the straps! I also made a matching bib for this one but unfortunately didn't take a photo before packing it all away.

This skirt is another one from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom - I've shared the Sunflower and the Galaxy skirts I've made in the past. The only change for this one was that I made it a bit shorter since it was a gift for a toddler and I feel the other ones I've made are quite long.

Baby Art Card

 I was just going to let my daughter scribble all over a blank card for my husbands birthday but then I found this cute giraffe cut out from a previous project and this was the end result...

It turned out pretty cute and most importantly the baby had loads of fun playing with crayons and markers!

Pig tshirt!

 I found this cute little pig colouring page and put the graphic on a tshirt for my dad, he told us he wanted a pig so now it's a theme for all of his gifts - I don't think he'll ever tell me what he likes again!

This is an easy project if you have a Silhouette to cut the stencil for you, otherwise you can use a craft knife to cut it by hand. I use contact/vinyl adhesive used for covering school books and fabric paint that I sponge on. Once it's dry I peel off the stencil and depending on which paint I used, either iron it or just leave it to dry flat for the required time before washing.

Galaxy Matching Outfits

 Christmas 2021 I made all the nieces, nephews and sibling in laws matching clothes using this galaxy fabric. I love this fabric, it works for both male and female, and I have enough leftover to make myself something one day!

For my daughter and her little cousin I made matching Overall Playsuits from OhMeOhMy. I shortened the straps and the front top by one inch since it's already too long for my tall baby. If you want to see what changes I make when sewing this pattern you can read my other post here.

For my little nephews, I used the Sycamore shorts pattern from Sew Like my Mom. I was lazy and didn't add the pockets, but I did a size bigger and added buttonhole elastic to the back so it will fit them longer.

For my nieces, I used the elastic waist skirt tutorial from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. I made a size bigger for my nieces and added buttonhole elastic to the back as well.

For the pocket tshirts I used the tutorial from See Kate Sew, before you cut your fabric, just hold the template up to your shirt as I found them to be too big.

And for my newest sister in law I tried adding flutters to this cute store bought romper, I didn't take into account the fraying edges until I'd already started. It's probably not going to be a problem since babies outgrow clothes so fast, but if I ever do this again I will use lace since it doesn't fray.

Pocket Tshirts

 Making pocket tshirts is a quick gift idea, perfect for kids and adults! I think these are going to be my go to Christmas gifts, they don't cost much in time or money so they're perfect for the most expensive time of year!

I used the scraps from the pillowcases I made for the kids birthday presents for their pockets since I already knew they liked my fabric choice. Even my almost adult nephew said he wanted a spiderman one!

I used the tutorial and template from See Kate Sew, I did find them too big so just hold the template up to the tshirt to make sure you're happy with the size before you cut your fabric.

Reusable Gift Tags

 I realised that each Christmas I spend a lot of time writing out name tags, which isn't great for the environment. Since Ray has a 3D printer I played around and started designing 3D printed name tags that can be reused.

For birthdays I use brown paper and either twine or I go through my stash of ribbons I've saved from gifts, a quick iron removes the creases. One day I will look into using fabric for gift wrapping.

I've uploaded this to Thingiverse, and I'll slowly add more names as I get time.

Orange Gourd Birdhouses

I finally played with some gourds to make a birthday present for someone whose favourite colour is orange!

I started off cleaning three just in case something went wrong as they seem rather thin and delicate now that they're all dried out. First one got kicked from the cleaning process as I found a big crack. The one on the left also has a crack in the bottom so I used it as my practice before making the one on the right for the gift. The reason for finishing off the one on the left was that I figured it would be good to stick it in the garden as an experiment to see how long they last outside.

Not a bad project when I feel like doing something different, but scrubbing (or rather scraping) them clean does take quite awhile - even after soaking them first. I used spray paint with primer that was suitable for wood and the wire is just galvanised wire from the fencing section at Bunnings. I doubt any wild birds will move into it once I put it in the garden but I added drainage holes to the bottom just in case.

Jar Labels

Every year I make sweet chilli sauce to give out as gifts. It started because I used to have a slight obsession with growing different chilli varieties even though we don't eat them! Plus now I have a sweet chilli sauce that I actually like and I can make it seedless, plus everyone I've gifted it to seems to like it.

If you're interested in making it yourself, I use this recipe but I use white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar and halve the ginger. Since we don't like our food to burn our mouths I use approximately 2/3 medium heat chillis and the rest is a sweet, mild chilli. Of course this changes depending on what chillis I have grown each year. I make a double batch so I have enough for gifts and our own consumption for the year - although if I run out again I'll have to triple it next year!

Originally I started out just using a sharpie to label the jars each year but then I started using my silhouette to make stickers. They look so much nicer that I did the same for the little gift jars of honey as well. Although after weeding all of those stickers I'm thinking next year I'll just do printable labels to make my life easier!

First Honey Harvests

Awhile ago we harvested two frames of honey from the brood box before we put our super on using the crush and strain method. I made a huge mess but we got just over two litres of honey and a nice chunk of beeswax as well! It was my first time harvesting honey and rendering beeswax and I had fun, but I'm sure it would get monotonous after awhile.

Last week I got to harvest from the 2 of the flow frames for the first time. We ended up with 1.9 litres from the first frame and 2 litres from the last frame. So much easier, far less mess and no wax to render when you have flow frames!

I also made up some little jars of honey to give away at Christmas and they look so cute!

Another Crochet Blanket

I've been unwell lately so I decided I would finally do my youngest nephews crochet blanket. I did blankets for 3 of my other nieces/nephews in the multicolour yarn so picked this nice green and blue mix. It's amazing how fast this one was finished since I spent a lot of time watching netflix! His birthday isn't until September so I'm feeling super organised!

Tie Dye!

This year for Christmas gifts I'm doing tie dye tshirts and I've started already so I can do some shirts for us as well! 

Since I prefer just one colour for my tie dye I don't do it the correct way, I use normal clothes dye where you soak the fabric in a bucket. I always have spare onesies on hand as there is always room in the bucket for some tiny baby clothes - plus they make great gifts for baby showers.

Bamboo Salad Hands

These were a birthday gift last year and I wish I had bought more of them because they turned out great! Unfortunately when I went back to buy more they had none left.

Bamboo is a little difficult to burn, especially thick lines so this simple monstera leaf worked out well.

Pillowcase dress

 I'm trying to be organised this year so I've started planning all the kids Christmas presents, and I want to get all of this years birthday presents finished!

So here is a December birthday present finished and ready to wrap for a 2nd birthday present.

I used this tutorial if you wanted to try sewing one yourself. The binding is a little tricky, but I just sewed really slow and I'm happy with how it turned out. I opted to make size 3, as I figured it's better to be too big rather than too small.

Colour In Cushion

I had forgotten about this fabric I bought from Ikea many years ago and decided to turn it into cushions for all the kids birthdays this year. Since I just finished the last one I thought I'd better get a photo before I wrapped it. So far the two kids who have received their cushions have loved them!

And now that it is done, I think I need one for myself as well. We just bought a daybed for our lounge room so I'm in need of lots of comfy, new cushions, for now we just have a whole lot of pillows with pillowcases on them. One by one those pillows will get turned into cushions - if you can't find a cushion insert just grab a pillow by the short end, one hand on each corner and flick it so all the stuffing compacts at the other end. A standard cheap polyester filled pillow will compact enough to fit into a cushion cover.

Cards from Colouring Books

Does anyone else have a stack of adult colouring books that you haven't touched for awhile? As a kid I loved colouring in, but as an adult I find it a waste to colour in without a purpose for the finished pages. So since I love stamping and colouring in cards I figured why not colour in my books and stick them on blank cards.

I coloured these in using alcohol ink pens - they don't show up the darker sections where the ink overlaps like sharpies and markers do. For the bigger ones I cut to size first then used double sided tape. The smaller tags are blank business cards. I covered the card with a glue stick, pressed onto the paper and once dry I trimmed it with scissors to match the card.

Etched Tree Glasses

For Christmas 2015 I decided that I'd etch sets of glasses for everyone. I chose trees as my theme so everyone got a different tree for their set just to make them all slightly different.

This year I forced my poor husband to help since these were the gifts for his side of the family and after all, they're from him too! He got the job of washing off the cream and removing the stencils, it was great as it went so much faster :)

They all look pretty similar so I won't bore you with photos of each set. And as you can see, I still haven't had much luck photographing the glasses, maybe one day I'll figure it out!