I went a little crazy...

Do you remember a few posts ago when I showed off the blocks and goofball that I made for my sister-in-law's baby shower? Well, as the baby shower came closer I found more and more tutorials that I wanted to try - I had the material, so I thought why not? ;-) So here's what I ended up making...

I had a couple of singlets put away that were a more t-shirt like material than your general singlet type ribbed material. So I decided to add a couple of sleeves and applique the middle...

(I'm actually working on my first ever tutorial to show you how to make these sleeves... Hopefully it will be up soon!)

A shirred baby skirt from Creation Corner... Yes I am a little addicted to shirring...

A pair of Big Butt Baby pants from the pattern by Made By Rae. These pants are designed with an extra panel in the back to be able to fit over cloth nappies. These are probably more like 3/4 length on a newborn, and I've added a couple of rows of shirring to the legs to make a cuff (yes, more shirring again ;-D)

A nursing cover from the pattern by Christina from Sometimes Crafter:

And I pulled out my Stampin' Up! supplies to make a card and decorate a gift bag:

It was so much fun to go a little crazy :-)

Antiqued Brisbane Temple picture

A few months ago while blog-surfing I came across this tutorial to make a temple block using an antiqued picture of the temple. And Kristyn from Lil' Luna was offering to antique other temple pictures. So I emailed a picture of the Brisbane Temple that Jason had taken. It took a little while, but the antiqued picture of the Brisbane Temple is finally there!

They also have the picture available with no words, and instructions for editing the picture to add your own phrase. Head on over and check it out!

A present for my niece

I've been bitten by the sewing bug in a big way lately. (I've borrowed my mum's overlocker which is helping!) One of my nieces is turning 3 in a couple of weeks, and the dress I had bought her turned out to be too short. So I decided that I could probably make one. I found this pattern from MADE and thought it looked easy enough to do quickly in the limited time I get for sewing. I'm so glad I did. The pattern explains shirring so well that I've become a little addicted to it because of its ease and how effective it looks. For the bodice I cheated and bought a girls t-shirt from Target ($4 on sale) and sewed the shirred dress onto it. Then added a couple of yo-yo's and buttons and a row of broderie anglaise to the hem. I'm so glad with the way it turned out. I hope my niece likes it too!

Teaching my kids to be crafty

I was reading a blog the other day (I really wish I could remember which blog it was) where they wrote about how they felt that they were creative as an adult because their parents were both creative and allowed them access to art and craft materials to do whatever they want. It made me think about whether I am raising my kids to be creative. Son #1 definitely has an active imagination - its amazing what he can imagine something as simple as a skirt hanger to be - today it was a trumpet, previously its been a pogo stick or a conductors baton. But I struggle to let him be crafty - mostly because I hate the idea of having to clean up after him... (painting is a very special treat) and because I am such a hoarder that its hard to let him use things that I've been collecting for "just in case". But inspired by the aforementioned post and by the Useful Box on Playschool I put together a box with some of my collected craft items (pipe cleaners, ribbon, wool and stickers), paper and other items from around the house (like cupcake papers and cotton balls) to be used as his Useful Box. It's been a hit so far - he loves playing with his useful box. Granted that mostly at the moment it involves a lot of glue and not much else - luckily I only let him use a glue stick! And I'm still struggling with the whole "mess" aspect. But hopefully it will help my kids develop their own crafty sides.

Check out Christy's blog

Christy from the blog "A Christy Production" is hosting a great giveaway. Christy makes all sorts of crafty things - she sews, beads and makes cards and all sorts of things. Head over there and check it out for your chance to win her giveaway

Fathers Day card

I was trying to tidy up my craft desk the other day (cleaning up lasts about 5 mins... then I start a new project and you can't see the desk again) when I came across some Stampin' Up! demonstrator newsletters from my time as a demonstrator. In one they had an article all about punch art and had an example of this little house. So I decided to use the little house on my father's day cards. The quote you may recognise as the chorus from the song "Fathers" from the Children's songbook. I wanted to have that verse typed, but we had major computer issues over the past week. So I had to stick with handwriting. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out - I'm so grateful for the fathers in my life - my father, father-in-law and most of all for my husband and the amazing job he does as the father of our children :-)

Wardrobe update... part 1

I've reached the point following Baby No 2's birth that maternity clothes look far too big, but my poor stretched abdominals aren't holding my stomach in well enough to look nice in my "normal" clothes (Physiotherapy started yesterday...). So I decided it was time to make myself some new shirts. I found this pattern on sewingpatterns.com - a US website which sell paper patterns for so much cheaper than you can find them in Australia, and then on top of that they often have sales eg all Simplicity patterns for $US1.99. This was Butterick pattern B5356 - a really simple design - the latest one I made I was able to make over 2 days (borrowing mum's overlocker helped too!). The purple floral material was a remnant I found at Big W, and the light purple stripe was from Spotlight.

I'm really happy with the way these turned out, and how flattering they are for my body shape at the moment. I think this will become one of my favourite patterns :-)

Two birthday cards

We've had a couple of birthdays in our family recently so I sat down and made a couple of cards. I've use the same technique to make the flowers as in the framed flowers post. The smaller flowers are made using the largest flower on the Stampin' Up! Boho Blossoms punch. These cards were so quick and easy to put together (I love using my Big Shot to help things go quicker!)

Easy baby presents

My sister in law's baby shower is coming up, so I thought I'd put my crafting "skills" ;-) to good use and make a few things for the new baby. I found this tutorial on Obsessively Stitching for goofballs and had a go at it. Once again I didn't read the instructions all the way through (I'll learn one day) which is probably why my goofball looks more like a goof-egg... but it still works :-)

Then I saw this post on Skip to my Lou for fabric building blocks. This was such an easy thing to make - I actually managed to do them without making a mistake :-) The only thing I would do differently in future would probably be to use some sort of interfacing on the block to help it look more block shaped. I added a couple of little bells inside.

I hope the baby likes them!

Why I craft

I was looking through all the craft blogs I read (which is more than the list you see over there...) and I found this post on the blog "Cluck, Cluck, Sew". It summarises exactly why I craft - especially the last paragraph:

"Also I want to add (like this post isn’t long enough), that sewing is an important part of my day. Its the only thing that stays finished. Tomorrow I will get up and do this whole routine all over again, but that quilt top? Its FINISHED. There will always be toys to pick up, meals to cook, and toilets to scrub. Sewing is my sanity….and worth every minute."

Crafting is my release from the demands of two little boys and all the things that come with running a home. The neverending pile of laundry and trying to find that one missing sock (I wonder where it is...). The constant calls of "Mummy" and trying to toilet train. Trying to clean the house and think of what to cook for dinner. I love the chance to spend a few minutes to have some me time! Its my way of recharging my batteries.

This talk from President Dieter F Uchtdorf - "Happiness, Your Heritage" - also gives some more reasons as to why I enjoy crafting. I love being able to create things with my hands to help make my home life more beautiful. I hope that I will continue to have the opportunity of being able to craft and to share what I make with others.