{Hoot Hoot - House Guest Alert}

Today I had my brother over and we were just chatting and laughing as we often do. We were joking around about something and before we knew it, we were mocking up a pattern and a design to create someone very special. Before we knew it, there it he was. He still doesn't have a name, but he has a home for sure. And hasn't he made himself at home very quickly ;)





But there is one slight problem, my 4 year old informed me that he was lonley and needed friends.....I think I might need to spend some more time creating some new little friends for our new housemate (he needs a name too....hmmmmm).

Enjoy;
Lauren x

Spring Lovliness :)

I found a new blog - there are SOOO many wonderful ideas out there in cyberspace. Here is "Celebrate Yellow Made" (found via my fav Jack and Izzy)and there are some really cool tutorials I have added to my to-do list, these would make wonderful craft night activities (speaking of which I need to organise the next one - hmmm.....slightly sidetracked lol).

I haven't blogged about crafty projects for a little while (but have been doing plenty of projects behind the scenes). So, since we are launching into spring, lets celebrate with spring flower craftiness. SO GORGEOUS!

Check out these:

No sew flowers

Paper flower decorations

Aren't they darling! For full totorials and more photos of the projects - click on the links :)

Lauren x

Fathers Day ::: The iDad

For Fathers day this year, the boys and I took daddy out to dinner and made him a very special card. For a guy that loves technology and being a dad - the iDad was a PERFECT mix.

(back of the card)

I saw a similar idea somewhere a while a go, but I lost the website so I had to wing it a bit.

Here is how I made it.

I used:
2 sheets of black cardstock
1 sheet of plain A4 paper
1 printed sheet of iPad icons that I had printed off in colour
1 craft knife (like a scalpel) double sided tape and glue
1 silver pen

Step 1: Using my iPad I traced around it on the black cardstock.

Step 2: Glue or tape down a sheet of white paper on one sheet of the black card. This is to give you a background to draw and write on under the icon flaps. Step 3: Using the internet, locate and print off some icons in colour. Step 4: Cut out the icons one by one and then place them on the other black cardstock and lay them out before glueing them down. Make sure you are happy.

Step 5: Using the craft knife (AND a self healing mat or VERY thick cardboard so you dont slice your table) cut around the sides and bottom of each icon so it lifts up. I also printed out in blue font iDad and cut that out to go on the back of the card (see image at top).

Step 6: Once all flaps are cut out, tape or glue the cards together so the white paper is in the middle and teh icons are on top.

Step 7 : To make the iDad more 'authentic' you can add details like battery, reception and the menu button etc... with a silver pen.

Step 8: Now comes teh part with the kids, get them to lift the flaps and write their messages and draw pictures under them.

This gift card has been wonderful because we are a little bit of an "iHouse" here (yes even the kids - especially my savvy 4 year old). Also because as my hubby read the card it was like reading a lift the flap book, so a winner all round for daddy and the kids!

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Lauren X

Tutorial : Getting crafty with headbands!

At my craft night this week, I made two headbands a black and a white one. I love them so much and will put some instructions up. I didn't take step by step photos unfortunatley.....but will try to make the steps clear.

Black Head Band
Need:
- black elastic to fit head
- hot glue gun - black lace
- black tulle netting
- black felt
- a black button

Steps:
1. Measure elastic to fit your head and sew together. You could probably hot glue this if you don't sew, but I think sewing is more secure.
2. Cut a circle of your felt 9about 5 cm) and this will be a base for you to attach the lace to.
3. Place a dot of hot glue on the edge of your felt circle and affix the lace to the dot, keep glueing the lace around the edge until you get back to the starting point and do another loop until you reach the centre.
4. Cut out a few circles of similar size from the tulle netting. It doesn't matter if they arent perfect and different sizes, in fact that will make it more interesting ;)
5. Lay out your tulle circles on top of each other, make sure part of each of them touch at some point, but overlap them any way you want.
6. Turn your felt/ lace circle over (felt side up) and place some hot glue on the back of it. Lay the tulle circles on it. If you want to do another felt circle here to finish it off you could, but i was experimenting with every step and didn't do this.
7. Glue a black button onto the centre of the lace circle.
8. Glue the piece to the elastic using the seam so that you don't see it when on.



White Head Band
Need:
- White elastic
- Fake flower
- White felt
- Hot glue gun
- Pearl button
- Sewing machine

Steps:
1. Measure elastic to fit head and then sew it together. Make sure to reverse stitch over itself a few times so it is secure.
2. Take the fake flower off its stem and take each petal layer apart so you have the flower in pieces. When doing this make sure you keep the petal layers in the same order they were when the flower was assembled.
3. Cut a circle from the white felt.
4. Put some hot glue on the centre of the felt circle and put the largest petal onto it. Repeat with all the petal layers so that the flower is re-assembled on the felt circle. In the centre of the flower, put a dot of glue and affix the pearl button in the centre. 5. Fianlly, glue the felt circle to the seam on the elastic.



The thing I love about this tutorial is that you can adapt it for any colour that you feel like and even sizes for the little girls in your world!

Enjoy;
Lauren x

Oh My - I want!!!!

I saw this post on The Pleated Poppy. I fell in love with this post and SO want to make some little pouches to organise my handbag! GORGEOUS! Gosh, SO many crafty projects to do :)







Enjoy;
Lauren x

Daniels 1st Birthday "Twinkle Twinkle" Party - Part Three

Why should the kids be the only ones who have the fun right??? So, I made the adults their own party favours. I made normal vanilla biscuits and tinted fondant icing a gentle shade of yellow. Then I packaged the star biscuits in cello bags and cardboard toppers just made it look so much cuter!

Tips:
* Bake biscuits and let cool.
* Using food prep gloves, put some food colouring drops into fondant icing and massage through with hands untill you get the colour you require....you can always add more colour, so do it slowly.
* Using icing mixture, roll out with rolling pin and use the same cookie cutter shape to cut out the icing shape.
* With pastry brush, dip lightly in water and brush a little water onto biscuit and place icing onto biscuit.
* Using your fingers, smooth edges and set aside to dry.
* Then I came across the cello bags to fit and measured cardstock to fit into a topper. Then to hide the staples, I punched stars in contrasting colour using punches from Stampin' Up.

Daniels 1st Birthday "Twinkle Twinkle" Party - Part One

I decided that I didn't want to give lolly bags for favours at Daniels party. So, I embarked on the journey of making these darling bean bag parcels for the kids with a card attached with Bean bag challenges. It didn't cost ver much to make, except in time of course.
I paced myself making all 38 of them! So here is a brief tutorial in case you want to do some yourself at home. I appologise for the poor lighting in some of the photos....the light in the room where I was sewing wasn't very bright.

I made a template out of cardboard and it measured 15cmx30cm. I decided to do it this way (rather than two 15cmx15cm squares) to lower the cutting needed.



Fold the material in half (make sure the pattern is inside) and iron flat.



This bean bag will be sewn twice which will give it extra strength. Place the sewing material on the machine with the folded side to the left. Start sewing from the opposite side to the fold about 2/3 way down.




Make sure you reverse stitch the seam at this point to reinforce. This is important as you will be turning the bean bag inside out on this seam, so it will weaken if you forget this step.



Sew right to the edge and leaving the needle in, turn the corners untill you get back to the side you started on.



When you get back to the starting side sew down leaving a gap from the starting seam and also reverese sew over that seam too. Cut the thread.



Cut the corners off the square. This will eliminate bulk when turning inside out.



Gently turn the bean bag insideout (right side out lol).

I used a chopstick to push out the corners so it is square. Then iron it flat again.


Then sew around the three closed sides. Then I placed a funnel in the hole and filled the bean bag about 3/4 full with rice or dried beans. Place 2-3 pins to stop the rice faling out and also to steady the seam. Sew up the last side and DONE!!! {in my case repeat x40 hehehe}. The end result?????


TAAA-DAAA!
I bundled up bean bags in to lots of 2 per kid and then tied it up with ribbon.
I also printed off a card entitled 'Bean Bag Challenges' and pop it in the bundle giving parents and kids ideas and games to play with the bean bags.

Made By Joel - LOVE IT!!!

I came across this blog "made by joel" that is by a guy called Joel (derr) who has 2 gorgeous kids and makes lots of things for his them. I love that he sews, but his projects are simple and things I could attempt since I am on my L-Plates.
What I love about the creations he shows, are that the toys are fairly basic and let the kids imagination use them in all sorts of settings. The applications for these "kid-powered" toys are endless and want to try a few of these when I get a machine at home :)

Slotted building discs to create anything!!!

"Toy Bench" satisfies my love of simple wooden toys that can create anything and modern simplicity decorating in one!!!!

This toy zoo mat allows the kids to get out toy animals and create a world of animal fueled imagination.

These wooden cars are adorable as they all fit into the cute little tin and would provide many hours of entertainment!

I saved the best till last!!! With two boys in the house that love 'playing house' this modern house would definitley be a welcome addition to the "role play" that we do so often but without the 'tissy' pink touched synonomus with typical doll houses!!!! Must show hubby and send SUBTLE hints ;)

GONE CRAFT MAD!!!

It doesn't atter what type of craft it is - paper craft, scrapbooking, card making sewing (very new to this) or even knitting (I don't know how to, but was veeeerry tempted in spotlight the other day). I am just feeling very much like locking myself in my study/ craft room and staying there for a long time ;) Of course that isn't possible...craft time is usually found somewhere between nap time, making vegemite sandwhiches, putting band-aids on 'ouchies' and changing nappies.

Since I got my supplies out of storage, I had a card making morning and taht satisfied the craft urge. They are bad photos because I took them on my phone before I gave them away to people and realised I hadn't taken a photo yet! lol ;)

I am not sure if your the crafty type, but it is taking over my world :)))
Lauren xo

I would love a stampin' up wheel stamp, but i used flower stamp with pink ink on pink paper to create similar effect for the back ground.

I just love this blue/ grey colour against the deep red and the button with the happy birthday stamp. The little monkey was a perfect choice for a little boy birthday card.

{ p.s. Appologies for the blurry photos, will use proper camera next time! }

Inspiration that takes my breath away

Hubby and I have our eyes set on a beautiful piece of acerage that we would LOVE to aquire in the near future.

Cute Footprint Memories

I saw this craft project on 'brown paper packages' and just thought it was SOOO cute!!!! What a way to keep the memory of your family alive. ADORABLE!!!!! You could even make it a "green" project by re-purposing a wooden stool you have at home.....for details, click on the blog link above and see their instructions - this is DEFINITLEY going on my to do list!!!!