So This Was Christmas

A little Christmas over view from our house....

"What is it? Give it back!  It's mine!"

This dog is really cool.  You read the book & he responds on certain parts with a bark or a howl.  So cute. Plus the dog is really cute anyway.  

"oh wow!  It's Thomas!"

Chocolate letters, yumm...  table place cards this year!  Poor BJ had been bitten all over on the Friday & of course his eye swelled up more on Christmas Eve as is quite obvious here.  

Lots of fun playing Pop Ball with mum.

Our Little Family

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

Brothers

Big & Little = BJ & DJ

Hanging out together already....

Kids Handmade Christmas

The resources available online are amazing these days.  I've had a bit of a browse around blogland this week & found some terrific tutorials for all sorts of things.  One page that really had me hooked though was minieco.  

There are a whole load of things there for kids to do.  Not just big kids but some a bit littler too.  So, we had a go at these bird feeders!  I had everything in the house!  I had bird seed left over from our feeder that broke.  I think our visitors got too fat & the bottom fell off the top!  So along with the plastic cups that I had 4 of after making jelly last week & some lolly pop sticks & twine, I even found a block of lard in the fridge. Ready set go!  To see details check out the bird feeder details.  It really is easy!  BJ managed it quite well.  I did get the cups ready.  He did all the mixing & spooning into the cups yesterday.   They have been in the fridge over night.  

Here we have one ready revealed bird feeder.  We have 3 which is pretty cool, so each set of grandparents will get one on Christmas Day.

BJ wrote some tags & I tied them up ready.  They look pretty cute.  I have left them in the fridge though.  It's pretty warm at the moment & I don't really know how well they are going to hold up in the summer.  They probably really are more sensible for the winter but oh well, if that is the case it was fun all the same & it is something that BJ has made himself.

I can't believe it is almost Christmas already!  Only 3 more big sleeps!  But who is counting!  lol  

More Decorations

 Like we need more, but I can't help but buy these MDF pieces from Kaiser each year.  They brought out this cute sleigh this year.  Well I hadn't seen it before if it was out before.  I got it awhile ago & on the weekend had the sudden urge to make stuff.  So I went through my stash of scrapbook papers (yes I have a stash of those too, not because I scrapbook as I don't, but because I like them.  It's the paper version of fabric is it not?)  So I was very good & used what I had even though I didn't have much in the way of Christmas paper left & I certainly wasn't thrilled with the ones I had as I am sure there are much nicer ones available again but I was good & went with what I had.  So there you go.  I got to use some ricrac on the sleigh & some gold bells & ribbon which are on the front & you can't quite see the bow but can slightly see a bell.  It was good.  I am quite please.  At the moment it is under the tree, hopefully it will survive the week there.  On Christmas day it will go on the table with a few little sleigh pressies in it.  I do this now as a tradition instead of Christmas crackers full of rubbish.  So this is fun.  I get to find a little gift for the people that are coming for dinner.  All good fun!


I had to do DJ his own decoration with his initial on it too, so he got a gingerbread man.  These are the ones I did last year for the dinner guests.  I can't have him being the only one in the house without his initial on the tree.

 Then I found these Kaiser craft stockings.  They are quite large & probably too big for the tree but the boys won't care.  So once again, whipped up with stuff I had, mini ricrac, paper, alpha-stickers & cute green check ribbon!  Good fun!  So that's that done & I have had a little creative time during the weekend.  Yay!

Jelly Isn't Boring!

Especially if you are a kid!  We have been having the usual Christmas parties for the playgroups & stuff.  So what do you do for a bring a plate to a barbeque with dozens of kids?  Something easy for the kids to manage & hygenic for everyone without child handled food on the table ( I really hate that idea!)  Well most kids love jelly.  I had these plastic cups still from some other event.  So make a stack of green jelly, add to cups.  I got over-excited & then went & added ribbons to them all.  I got some of that squirty whipped cream.  I don't think I have ever bought that stuff before.  I had them all on a tray & added the cream before serving because it goes flat quickly.  The put the tops on & put a candy can through the hole in the top.  Quite cute & festive & it seemed the kids loved them.  Oh I did do some without cream too...  I know for sure that the idea is going to be used again for other parties next week, so there you have it - Festive Jelly Cups!


Glad we have run out of Christmas parties as the boys are just worn out already from all the excitement!

Where have the days gone?

Far out the days are just flying by aren't they? I have been trying to get on here to post this for a few days but life has taken me in other directions each time. I've had a sick big boy last week & a sick little boy this week so it hasn't left much time for anything else when all you can do is hold, snuggle, rock, comfort, not sleep & do a lot of sitting around.

Anyway, this is the finished Hitchhiker scarf that I did finish last month. I am quite please with it. I love the colours. I love the simplicity of the pattern & I love the effectiveness of it to wear. Come winter it should be quite warm & snuggly I think. In the mean time it is sitting at work on display. I used Magic Garden Classic Prints in 4ply from Naturally for it & really enjoyed using that stuff. It feels nice. I need to find something else I can use some of it for.

Last week I finally started a new ripple. Ahhh... the soothing & relaxing motions of a ripple blanket. Love it... I have been itching to start it for a few months now, but had to get my colours right. I have started now though ever so slowly with all that has been going on. But it's all good. I am just happy to be able to ripple away for even five minutes if that is all I get in one sitting. This ripple is for Dylan, so there isn't any hurry for it anyway as he isn't in a big bed for a long while. I just needed an excuse to start one, though since when I need an excuse I will never know! lol

Well it is a sunny Sunday so I should get the day started properly & see what the day brings - other than a treat in the Advent Calendar which BJ is thoroughly enjoying every day. At least I can get him to eat his breakfast quickly these days as he isn't allowed the treat until after he's eaten that. I really love this calendar though. I feel quite clever each year when I get it out again. I have to get another one now to make for Dylan I think. They are too nice not to have one each for them I think, though I don't think they are quite as nice as this one.

Happy Sunday to you!

Choose Handmade this Christmas

Have you done all your Christmas shopping yet? Or rather, is Santa organised at your house? If not, you have to check out madeit.com.au

Support people in Australia that make handmade stuff. There are lots of great things available there & you can do more refined searches if you are after something to suit a particular person. Here are some of my favourites!

This is a cute variation on a bus scroll poster. I like it!

These superheroes are just cute as can be... pity Santa is too organised here, else I would need these right now.

Check out all of Halle Jay's customised jewellry. The picture here is of my customised necklace. I got it last year, but recently had the additional child added. It also got cleaned & looks like new when it was away. It looks terrific! If you would like to see some terrific keepsakes check her out as she has a variety of different styles to pick from.

These bus destination posters are all the rage these days.

I just love this necklace. What more can one say - it's cute!

I still have my shop open & will list a couple more sets of blocks too as soon as the boys allow me a second to do so! Check there soon for a couple of new sets!

Octonauts Treasure

Well finally BJ's long awaited special gift arrived, well after his reward chart was finished with what he needed to achieve for the gift. But he doesn't understand time like that so it was probably more of an issue to me than him. But it was well worth the wait. The Gup-A is prized possession right now. In fact, it is sitting right next to him in bed so he can see it right away when he wakes. It really is great! He is super impressed that it came especially to him in a plane from a long long way away.

Also whipped up some cute pants for DJ this morning. I just had to make use of this fabric. It is the cutest ever. It is from a range called World of Susybee. If you click that it will take you to the website for her gorgeous artwork & textile collection. Wow! They are totally terrific! I am in love with the murals she has done on bedroom walls! The dolphin room at the Sick Kids Hospital is gorgeous! Then check out the textiles. This is Lewe the sheep range of fabric.
We have part of the range at work & I had to get this stuff for sure. I am still thinking who I could make the cot quilt for. DJ has enough really so he sure doesn't need one. I will get the panel anyway as I am sure it won't last long.

I really like the growth chart for Zoe too. How cool is that giraffe? For anyone that likes giraffes this one is for you. The cot panel, the growth chart, the stripe, all totally gorgeous. I love the cot panel for Zig too. We only have the sheep at work though so I had better stick with that for the moment. The pattern for the pants anyway are from Made By Rae again. Too easy. Two pieces of fabric & a wee bit of sewing! It took me longer this morning to put the elastic in than to sew them up, that's how quick they are! DJ isn't going to fit this pattern for long though. I have added inches to all sides & about 3 to the length!

Have a great weekend! I will, although a wet one by the sound of it!

Coffee 'n' Knittee

Yep, a bit of coffee & knitting. I dropped the big boy off at day care this morning & then went to a nice scenic spot for a pram walk with the little boy. At the turning point of the walk I stopped for a latte & a bit of knitty time. Working away on my Hitchhiker scarf & loving it! Of course the wee one wanted a feed inbetween there too so I just got to sit & enjoy the scenery...

But who could complain with scenery as pretty as this today! One direction & then the other direction had a couple of tugboats at the mouth of the river waiting for a ship to come in. Oh & King Neptune on the right was hanging out waiting to make sure all was good in water world! lol

More creativity is going on over here.

Sleep Stories

I am constantly amazed at the imagination & thoughts my 3­½ year old has. Everyday something else he says or his play acting really amazes me. I swear I will remember each & every moment but I know that is not likely. A video camera is on hand but still doesn't catch those sudden moments that are just that - sudden & unexpected. This morning in the car on the way to his Gran's place he was telling me about his Sleep Story. (Something about Daddy & his face doing weird things! hmmm...) We got to Gran's & he started on about his Sleep Story again. I just find this fascinating. What a great name for a dream that is. I am wondering if he has seen it on some TV show recently that I have missed it. But it is a good name. If he saw it on TV & he worked out it is a dream then that is pretty cool. If he has come up with the name all by himself I am not sure, but it is a pretty cool thing if he did! Anyone know what it may have come from if on TV?

We have been enjoying a bunch of great books from the library lately. So many cool books out there for kids & for shaping their minds even more. I have so many books myself to read at the moment though it's crazy! Got 2 at Kmart today for just $4 each - bargains! You may remember recently I was reading this one...

I really enjoyed it. A nice chick lit book with inspiration in the embroidery details at the start of each chapter. I thought this was too nice a book to keep & there are plenty of people out there that would appreciate the embroidery parts in it as well as an easy read. So I thought I would have a giveaway for it. I really hope that whoever gets it that they themselves will pass it on again when they are done with it. But that's up to them of course, but it's a nice thought. So if you would like to have a read of this book leave a comment with some info about a good book you have read recently & I will give it until Saturday & BJ can draw it for me then. Probably it will only be mum that will end up with it (Hi mum!) cos she's about the only one I know that reads this regularly anyway. But as long as I can share it with someone somewhere I don't care! lol Sorry, but I need to keep it within Aussie.

Discovering "Color Issue"

I Love it when I come across lovely blogs via a bunch of blog hopping moments. This one is really nice! Really really Nice.

Colour is such an important thing in our daily lives & also in craft things. My work involves lots of colour, helping people find their perfect fabric combinations, or even threads to co-ordinate with a current project. It's all good! It's all colour! This blog is really gorgeous with all sorts of colour inspirations. Even if you don't read it all, look at the pictures! I really need to brush up on my photography skill next. Mine are crap.

What are you waiting for? Go check it out...

Loving Spring

Finally we have some action on the chicken coop! Stuart got a bit of a start today with a little help from BJ of course.

I had a little creative play time. I was actually doing the ironing & then had it in my head to find something & ended up pulling fabrics out to make a pair of pants instead for DJ. I had actually received an email regarding one of Made By Rae's patterns & I hadn't looked at her blog for a while so off I went to browse. Well that was it as I found the free pattern for baby pants. DJ is in desperate need of something cooler right now. I have lots of clothes for him from BJ but they are all turning into the wrong season clothing. Bother. He is going to miss out on wearing some really nice stuff! Anyway, I used this pattern for her Basic newborn pants & these are the first result.

They are quite tight on the chubby & long boy. So I made another pair & cut them about an inch wider & about 2 inches longer & ended up with a perfect fit - for now anyway! At the rate this boy is growing they won't fit long. They are roomy enough for the cloth nappy underneath though so that is good. The first pair will fit better with a disposable.

I have pulled out some more left over fabrics that I have enough of to make a couple of other pairs & I think he will be right for a wee while in the pants department. Yay, it was nice to have a little play, it was nice to be (easily) distracted from the ironing, & nice to have a finished piece.

This one is just for the cute factor.

Reminiscing

Did you watch The Waltons way back in it's hey day? I have series 1 & have been watching that lately, just for the sake of something to listen to while working away on blocks. I've actually really enjoyed watching it again. It's nice, simple easy watching stuff. Nice to have a bit of that now & then.

I haven't had much craft time as I have spent all my in between moments & evenings most of all working on blocks trying to get them done. They are almost so I will be pleased as I have been itching to start the Hitchhiker scarfy thing over on ravelry. In the meantime, I will have a restock of sets in my madeit shop in a few days so stay tuned for some great Christmas ideas. Poky Little Puppy is my most popular set & it will be there too. It seems to be the most popular Golden Book for a very long time to a lot of people!

What was your favourite Golden Book? I don't remember having Poky Puppy but we probably did have it. Can't remember it though. It isn't in the collection I have now though that I have kept all these years. I think my favourite was The Golden Egg Book, not that I remember what it was about. I will have to read it to BJ sometime. I also remember The Wait-For-Me Kitten. Must read that too. We have a large collection of these books now as we have mine & Stuart's on the shelf in BJ's room so there is no shortage of variety either as we both had quite different tastes! Guess mine were girl tastes & his were boyish types. I will have to dig a couple out for bedtime reading for BJ. I find reading to him quite a nice relaxing part of my evening these days. Happy reading!

Our Creative Spaces

Today I am sharing creativity with BJ. Yesterday we stopped at Spotlight & he spotted a couple of things in the craft corner that I thought would be nice for us to decorate & stuff. He was quite excited. So this morning it was just about our first thing of the day of course. He concentrates on it quite well for a time, but I did have to finish it off. Plus he doesn't like getting his hands dirty so heaven forbid he actually got a spot of paint on his fingers! Anyway, the yellow pig money bank is outside drying still. His feet will need a touch up. I wonder what we will end up decorating him with next. Stickers or painted spots or something?

If the pig wasn't enough, he actually wanted this wand as well. So I gave in & bought a wand! It is actually a Pirate Wand of course. We tried to find pirate things in the shop yesterday to go on it but didn't find anything, so I will raid my scrapbook papers as I have some there. (yes I have scrapbook papers. No I don't scrapbook but I do buy the paper cos I like them. I wish more of the designs were on fabric! )

Some how in the middle of this & a baby that won't sleep much for me today ( & me who desperately would like to sleep!) I am also trying to get through a couple dozen sets of blocks for an order & to get some more in my shop for Christmas shoppers. So there are loads on BJ's farm table for lack of anywhere else at the moment to put them all. Oh well, it's only temporary.

Check out some other creative people today won't you!

ETA I keep trying to add comments on others but am getting the message I don't have permission to the view the page. Don't know if it is me or not. Some are working just fine!

It's Friday

1. Trying to find time to get some blocks done & into my madeit shop.
2. Finally saw all of The Proposal. Not often I get to watch a chick flick these days & usually not all in one hit like this time. lol Sandra is one of my favs!

3. Getting inspired by this book but no time to make use of inspirations. Each chapter starts with something about a particular embroidery stitch. I discovered I have been doing Berlin stitch all these years as apparently that is the original name for cross stitch.

4. Watching DJ grow so fast & making new discoveries.

5. Listening to new music.

Eye Tests

It's been a while since I played along with My Creative Space. In fact there is a place just for every one's creative spaces now.

At the moment I am fiddling around with this doll I have made up. Just a Geisha kind of doll that I had in my head & just wanted to see if I could create. It's going ok after a bunch of scrappy tests. I felt very designery playing with scraps & experimenting etc. But I am fiddling with the face now. I am experimenting with faces. Eyes are hard I have discovered, but one thing I have already figured out playing with this is that more simple if often best, so I need to get the needles & pencils & threads & whatever else back out again & try to get some uninterrupted time to figure out what face looks best. We'll see what happens, as I don't want it to look like creepy or anything. Eyes are hard!

Seems the day for eyes, as BJ has to go for a quick visit to the eye place. It's been a drag over the last 2 years, as they don't do anything. Hopefully it will be simple & the last one! Hopefully I can follow that up with a quick eye test here on dolly!

Anyway, go & visit the creative space link above to check out some other clever clog people! Happy Thursday!

Bit of This and That

I have been fiddling around with bits & pieces. Trying new crochet patterns out & ripping them out. Trying out different yarn I bought at a bargain price probably for good reason but I am determined to use it. It's quite alright, I am just not used to using thicker yarns for crochet yet.

Anyway, I finally finished all 3 of these cats from the first Meet Me at Mike's book. I finished one off awhile ago as it went as a present already. While I was making that I did another one for a baby due any day now. I also did one for DJ as he doesn't have one & they are simple enough, I just didn't rush with these 2. I was determined to finish stuff off now though before starting a few new things.
I also got quite excited by a book BJ got at the library today. It's this one...

Now for any crafty folk that have small children & are reading this, this book is for you too! Check out this link from amazon where you can look inside a few pages. It seems all the books illustrated by Clare Beaton are done with sewing collage pictures using felt, fabric, buttons, sequins, you name it, she uses it. This one is awesome, plus at the end it gives you info on each of the animals found in the north of the world so that is nice for us lot down on the bottom of the world. Just the cover of Secret Seahorse had me sucked in & I had to look through the preview for that one. Well there is one illustrator that I would enjoy looking at picture books of that is for sure.

Okey dokey, that's for me the day. Time to go & read a grown up book in bed. Hahaha... I just realise I am reading a book about sewing too! Laura's Handmade Life - nice easy relaxing read for the busy mum! Seeya!

More Animals

Well after complaining about the frog in the last post I made another. Ok, so it was easy really, but the toes are a real pain, not hard, just a pain! This frog is going to be heading interstate. Hopefully it doesn't breed & go mad over there to become a problem like the cane toads! At least this one is cute though. I still have enough green Dimple fabric to make another I reckon but I won't. (well not unless I find I need a fast present for someone!)

I also did the duck! He is from the same company of patterns. He is really cute but boy, I am feeling quite clever after making him. He wasn't so easy, what with little pieces here & funny shapes there & sew along line M to N & cut holes in it & stick the legs in with some hand sewing & crazy things like that. But over all, he wasn't hard. The directions were really good & as long as you took the time to follow them it went easily. I don't think I had any mistakes to unpick or anything along the way. He is a cute duck that I am sure DJ will like one day.

& so a lesson came of having to teach the big kid that not all the things I make will be for him now. BJ got the frog the other day & of course wanted the duck. So if you have the duck DJ will have the frog. But no he wants both of them of course. Sorry, but the lesson is a valuable one which after a third discussion he may get a little bit more & is quite happy to let DJ have a turn playing with some of his toys since he knows then he can play with DJ's. Life is tough when you are 3.