Christmas Goodies

Warning: Picture heavy post...

So here's what "Santa" made for Christmas this year for some of the family members...

Top and skirt set for a 4 year old - the buttons and ribbon I used for trimming were actually from Stampin' Up (The free Ice-Cream Parlour bundle that came free during the year)

Ballet Neck Toddler dress from the "One-Yard Wonders" book - I made two of these for my 5 and 6 year old nieces:

Top and skirt - I can't find the tutorial I used for the skirt, but its very similar to this skirt here.

Shorts made from the Champion Cargos pattern by Make It Perfect:

The Junebug Dress by Craftiness is Not Optional:

A Mommy and Mia Apron from Sew Much Ado for my sister:

Kids Messenger Bag from One Yard Wonders:

A freezer-paper stencilled shirt for my brother:

And some Stick By Me goodies...

This one is a tile bought from Bunnings which I've stamped with Staz On in and Fifth Avenue Floral stamps from Stampin' Up. I had to be so careful not to smudge, but I'm really happy with how it turned out :-)

And a block set with the Stick by Me stickers:

And the biggest thing I learned from all this... if you want a handmade Christmas, you probably have to start in June! :-)

Birthday presents for the nieces

In the lead up to Christmas we have several family birthdays as well (from the end of November to the beginning of February we have 12 family birthdays from both sides). Here's what I made for the three nieces birthdays.

This first one was for a 4 year old. I found some shirts on clearance at Target for $2.86 (I bought some for my husband as well :-D), and intended to make a Shirt dress from MADE. However the material was a slightly thicker polyester and when I tried to make the shirred Shirt Dress the fabric didn't shirr that well. So I made a simple skirt instead, and took the pocket from the shirt to applique onto a plain white t-shirt. I've sewed up the buttons on the front of the skirt for modesty reasons :-) and added a broderie anglaise border to make the skirt a little more girly. The felt flower is cut out using the Big Shot.

The next set was for my little 1 year old niece. Its a simple shirred shirt and pair of shorts. I added a ruffle to the shorts to make them more girly.

The last dress was made using Simplicity 2320. One of my 6 year old nieces had been asking her mum for a "rainbow" dress, and I had this material left over from a trolley cover my mum made for me. I think it fits the bill of a "rainbow" dress :-)

Getting ready for Sunday :-)

My boys needed new shirts for church, and after searching for an inexpensive white shirt for my eldest son I decided to face my fears of sewing a button-up white shirt and actually give it a go. (I've been having issues with my automatic button-hole foot... ending up with buttonholes that are way too big for the button and lots of unpicking...) And to my surprise, it turned out really well :-)

Then I tried making a tie using the toddler tie tutorial from Lil' Blue Boo. And things didn't go so well with that. As you can see, its a bit too long for my boy, I used an interfacing that was a little too thick so the tie is really stiff, and I didn't hand sew the top (I did the elastic version) so now the tie has pulled out from under the knot. Oh well. It only took me about an hour or so from start to finish to make the tie so I know what to do next time :-)

And for son No 2 I appliqued some tie shapes onto onesies - the easiest way to wear a tie :-)

"Charlie" Pyjamas

Next up on the crafting catch-up is some pyjamas I made for my eldest son using the "Charlie Tunic" pattern from Made by Rae. I've used a couple of Rae's patterns now (the Buttercup Bag, the Big Butt Baby pants and now this one) and find them so easy to use. The only thing I had to tweak on these was that the placket was far too low on my boy - it reached almost down to his tummy. I've made it shorter on the short-sleeved version and it fits a lot better. Add some matching basic pants and ta-da - new rocket pj's for the 4 year old :-)

Time flies when you're...

Well, its the start of a new year - I don't know about anyone else, but 2011 just went a little too fast for me! Looking back over this blog I finished so many craft projects in 2011, but I still have so many UFO's to work on :-) And after this week's sale at Spotlight... lets just say my sewing machine will be running hot in 2012 (hopefully!). I'm looking forward to it :-)

I can offer a couple of excuses for the lack of posting leading up to Christmas. The main one being that any crafting I was doing was most likely for presents. And the second is linked to my current "creating" project... Baby No 3 who will be joining us in July this year. I'm spent much of the lead up to Christmas (and Christmas itself) laid low with morning sickness, but I *think* its starting to ease off now, and I can resume crafting again.

Anyway, over the next few days I'll post a few things I completed in the last few months (so you don't get one HUGE post filled with lots of pics)

To start off - here's some sewing I completed for myself before I became sick... I needed a few more shirts that would hide my pre-baby expanding tummy - and they've come in very useful now that I have an excuse for getting fatter ;-)

The first two are variations on Simplicity pattern 2599 - inspired by the series on the Presser Foot blog of One Pattern - 7 ways. The pattern is a simple tunic pattern that I've altered a bit to give more room around my tummy. The first I added a yoke with gathering underneath.

And the second I added a fully gathered "skirt" to the bodice. I've found these shirts really flattering to my shape, and there is also room to grow a little bit more.

The third shirt is a pattern I've used several times before - Butterick B5356. The material this time was from a skirt my mother had HAND-SEWED when she was 13. I loved the material and I've actually received a compliment on my shirt from a total stranger. It's great how well the fabric has held up over about 50 years - and I hope it can last a lot longer :-)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Please excuse the big blogging break. I've been sewing and sewing and crafting in order to enjoy a slightly more stress-free Christmas. I had hoped to be finished everything by now, but I still have a few things to do :-)

Anyway, over the last couple of days I dusted off my Stampin' Up demonstrator skills, sorted through my abundance of cardstock and put together my own little stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards. It was a great time to catch up with friends and start on my own Christmas cards for this year. Here's what we made:

My favourite is definitely the last card with Mary and Joseph. I found the idea on Splitcoast Stampers and there is a tutorial with all the folding measurements on lavenderthoughts.wordpress.com.

My first Printable

I've seen a few printables around in the blogosphere, and when a friend posted this quote on Facebook the other day I decided to have a go at making my own using the instructions from I am Momma - Hear me Roar. As you can see, its a pretty basic printable at the moment, but it leaves a lot of room for doing your own thing to it :-) As an aside, the reason I love this quote so much is because it accurately portrays both my husband and myself :-)

Christmas in July Stampin' Up! class

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Christmas in July Stampin' Up! class with my demonstrator Deb. And instead of Christmas cards (which is what I was expecting) this is what we completed:

A ring using 2 buttons held together with a brad and attached to a ring

A message holder with matching pen:

A test tube holder card complete with mini test tube filled with skittles:

A gift card holder to hang on the tree:

A little box with...

Earrings made out of brads!

And my favourite - little shrink charms for phones etc using stamps and punches. (I went a little crazy with these - instead of making the two we were supposed to I made 5!)

I love all these simple, easy ideas and hope to be able to use them soon :-)

More cards

We've had a few birthdays and an engagement party recently - here are the cards I made:

Engagement card -

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

DSP: Greenhouse Gala

Stamps: Love Owl-ways, Cute By the Inch

Punches: 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" circle punches

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Real Red and Garden Green markers

Whisper White Ribbon

Birthday Cards -

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Dream Wheel

Cardstock: OHT sheets (instead of window sheets), Lovely Lilac and Pixie Pink cardstock (now retired), Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, White Staz On

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Scallop Square Die

Top Note die

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

DSP: Bella Rose (retired)

Punches: 1 1/4" Square punch, Word Window punch

Stamp: Sweet Birthday

Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Brads

Square Lattice embossing folder

Circles #2 die

Punches: Two Step Bird, Oval and Large Oval punches

Stamps: Sweet Birthday, Punch Potpurri

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip

Bashful Blue Ribbon

Initial Wall Art Tutorial

I made some wall art for some of my nephews recently, and decided to share how I did it :-)

You will need:

12" x 12" framed canvas (I picked up mine from Big W for about $5)

Sheet of Scrapbook paper

Mod Podge

Acrylic Paint - I used black and white

Assorted paint application tools - I used a roller, a paintbrush and a foam brush for the Mod Podge

Craft wood Letter (I found mine a Lincraft during a sale, they have them at Bunnings too)

Step 1 - Paint the top and edges canvas - I painted mine black as I was using dark colour scrapbook paper. If using a light colour you could just leave it white or paint it a matching colour. Here are my assistants painting the canvas ;-) Tip - Using a roller gives you much more even coverage.

Step 2 - Paint your letter. I used white to paint my letter. Again you can choose whatever colour you like. I had to give mine a couple of coats to get it looking nice.

Leave both the canvas and the letter dry for a couple of hours.

Step 3

Attach your scrapbook paper to your canvas with Mod Podge.

Allow the first coat to dry. Try to remove as many bubbles as you can!

Step 4

Cover the canvas and paper with a coat of Mod Podge. Don't forget the sides!

Allow time to dry.

Step 5

Use the Mod Podge to glue your letter into the centre of the canvas

Again, allow time to dry.

Step 6

Finish with another coat (or two) of Mod Podge all over, allowing drying time between coats.

And there you have it! A nice, simple decoration for a boy's room :-)