My creative space... Back on the hook

My creative spaces have been all about birthdays lately and I was having SEVERE hooky withdrawals!  I was actually getting a little concerned that I might have forgotten how but lo and behold, it's just like riding a bike!  My hooky claw hand came right back within moments - there must be some kind of crochet muscle memory!

I have been vegging out these last couple of nights in front of Offspring repeats (thank you Channel 10 - it's just as funny the second time round!) and churning out these snowflakes and christmas trees.  A friend requested some to be made into a garland for her tree so I do hope she likes them.

I follow the most excellent and free tutorial over at The Royal Sisters.

Go here for trees and here for snowflakes.

And because I couldn't leave without mentioning the Rainbow Party that will be happening in three sleeps...

...the cake bunting is ready!

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shhh... i may have watched breaking dawn

last night, i may have gone to the cinema by myself.  i may have watched breaking dawn in secret.  i am fairly certain i know that several of my friends would disown me if they new of my dirty little twilight obsessed secret.  i may have had the entire cinema to myself which meant there was no-one to witness me eating my way through a large tub of popcorn, a large bag of m&ms, or drinking my way through a litre of diet coke out of my special edition breaking dawn drink bottle.  clearly there was also no-one to see me taking naughty pictures on my iphone of freaky bella vampire eyes.  and my verdict.... it was sooooooo bad it was good.

It's beginning to look a lot like (a babushka) Christmas!

The tree has gone up a few days early.  Our tree tends to be a mixture of cute ornaments I have come across over the years, things the kids make at school and sweet christmassy babushka's people have given me!

The Christmas Advent bunting has been hung and is waiting to be filled with goodies.  This is the second one of these I made I loved them sooo much!  One was sent off to the Haby Goddess' Handmade Kris Kringle and then of course I needed one for our house.  I saved time on mine though by just hot glue gunning those numbers onto the pockets rather than sewing them (the hot glue gun and I are friends again!).

This babushka advent box is sitting next to the tv.  How cute is she?!  Her drawers are sooo tiny though I am not sure what to put in them.  Suggestions???

Presents have begun appearing under the tree (babushka wrapping paper and stickers from David Jones).

And the Little People nativity scene has been dusted off!

Are you ready for Christmas?

My creative space... Rainbow Party Prep!

Even though the rainbow party is still a week or so away, the cakes had to be baked (and are now sitting colourfully frozen in the freezer)!  We are just a bit snowed under at the moment with Christmas, Birthdays, School, Prep Transition, the sale of our beach house and the need to clean it out by early December, my new job, my husbands work travel.... I could blather on but I imagine that many of us are all in the same boat, yes?

So yes, those babies got baked early and they are soooo pretty!  If you look closely in the background you can see that my baking methods rely quite heavily on drinking alcohol and baking butter cakes from packet mix (dont tell!!!).

I finished these babies too this week.... and yes they are Cloudy Rainbow Ribbon Dancing Wands!  They were quite simple to do although they involved a number of glue gun burns.  Those things are tricky to manage!

The rainbow cake and the rainbow ribbon wand tutorials can be found on my rainbow pinterest board.

You can join in 'my creative space' too if you like. 

Wordless Wednesday

Hello Lovers!

Red Saltwater Sandals!

Play along with Wordless Wednesday

(btw - I only ordered these yesterday and they arrived today!!!  How good is that!!!  Miss M needed some plain white sandals to go with her birthday clothes and I've heard the raves about these babies and of course when I discovered they did grown up sizes too, how could I not!?  I got them online with Little Pinwheel)

Christmas advent bunting...Yes please!

After some fairly intense nights of sewing, I have finally finished my gift for The Haby Goddess' Handmade Kris Kringle!  The theme was red and white and while I was originally thinking I'd go down the crochet pathway, once I'd seen the link for this Christmas Advent Bunting I changed my mind.  While it was fairly straightforward, there was lots of cutting, pinning and sewing which took me ages but I am sooooo impressed with how good it looks I have started making one up for myself to keep!  The pockets are the perfect size for advent treats although I can imagine it might get a little heavy when full!  I really hope my 'Kris Kringler' loves it... and has room to hang it!  It's pretty long!!!

Click here if you are interested in the tutorial for this or if you would like to get your hands on some of those fabulous fabric advent numbers!

My creative space....

This post should be called... 'My failed attempt at using a hot glue gun!'  I am making some rainbow ribbon wands for Matilda's birthday next month...

Source: icingdesignsonline.blogspot.com via Sonia on Pinterest

...and the instructions say to just use a glue gun to stick your two pieces of fluffy cloud together.  Sounds simple enough.  I did a quick Bunnings run, purchased said glue gun, plugged it in and gave it a test run!  I must say, there must be some knack for using one of these without burning your fingers, having messy strings of hot glue attach themselves to everything but the thing you want them to and then having the hot glue harden and firm before you get anything glued to it!  Any tips from seasoned hot glue gun users????

I am totes just going to sew around these babies instead!

I've also decided to try my hand at quilting this week (cue laughter!!!!).  Surely it can't be that hard, right???  I've had two packs of these squares (moda little apples by Aneela Hoey) in my fabric stash...

 ...for a wee while and was going to crochet into them to make a combination crochet/quilt but have decided instead to try this tutorial for an easy (!!!????) mini quilt.

Source: gingercake.typepad.com via Sonia on Pinterest

Please don't ask me why I am starting new crafty projects 5 seconds out from Christmas with absolutely no actual Christmas shopping done.  I of course am not really prepared for this Rainbow party in early December either and am supposed to be finishing off my handmade kris kringle gift.  I started a new job last week too, my house looks like a pigsty and there was so many clothes sitting in my foldups/ironing chair that tonight instead of folding and ironing it I picked it all up and delivered it to the couch in the front room where I didn't have to look at it anymore. Please tell me I am not alone in this!

Possibly more organised creative types hang out at Our Creative Spaces every Thursday.

Editing to add this:

One finished quilt top!!!!  Now what's the next step again???

Krafty Kris Kringle





The panic button has been hit!  I had done no planning for my handmade kris kringle, all of a sudden realising it is supposed to be posted in the next week or two.  A wee search on Pinterest has of course delivered, and I have settled on making these....

Source: sewtogether.com.au via Sonia on Pinterest

....which wouldn't be complete without also including some of these premade numbers....

Source: lesliekeating.com via Sonia on Pinterest

And then of course I decided it was going to look so good I'd need one as well so I have spent the last two nights cutting out 100 pieces of bunting flag! 

Time consuming. Monotonous.  But fabulous tv craft!

What's your tv craft?  Have you joined in the Handmade Kris Kringle?

Winner of my wee lego giveaway

Oh look, only 5 people to randomly pick from! 

Brenda, tis you!

Thanks to those fabulous four other people for entering (insert embarrassed giggles from my clear lack of bloggy popularity)!

Lego giveaway

Oh dear, only 4 people have commented so far!

Go over here and leave me a comment to win this...

Finishes tonight!!!!

This week I'm grateful for...

Oh the joy of returning to work!  I get to wear grown up lady shoes!  Necklaces!  Pretty clothes!  I get to talk to other grown ups!  Use my brain!   Earn some of my own money!

And most importantly, I get to go to the loo on my own and you just gotta be grateful for that!!!

(btw - those wedges are from Keds and they have to be the most comfortable things ever!!!)

Dont forget to enter my wee lego giveaway.  It finishes on Monday night.

Choc chips and sweetened condensed milk

I think the only thing to do after having a tantrum filled morning today was to bake

 and these are the yummiest choc chip cookies ever!  I always tend to eat way too much cookie mixture before they even make it into the oven!  Apart from the choc chips, I think the reason lies with the sweetened condensed milk.  I've had a fond relationship with sweetened condensed milk since my Grade 8 school camp where we went to a place called Digaloo (!!!! and yes, you really did have to dig a loo if you needed to go, which I didn't for the 3 days we were there...) and were encouraged to do our own grocery shopping for the event.  I believe my groceries consisted of chocolate, yoghurt (which of course went off) and several tubes of sweetened condensed milk!

This makes bunches if you keep your cookie balls a reasonable size.

250g butter, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla essence

2/3 cup caster sugar

200ml of sweetened condensed milk

2 1/2 cups SR flour

375grams of choc bits

Line some baking trays with baking paper and heat up your oven to arround 180.  Using your electric mixer cream the buitter, sugar, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk till its well combined.  Add the flour and choc bits and roll into nice balls.  Pop them on your trays, give them a little press with a fork and bake away for around 12-14 minutes.  Let them cool a bit on the tray before transferring them to a wire rack.

Eat 1 or 2 or praps 3 with a nice coffee or tea and reflect on the joys a 3 year old full on tantrum in the middle of the NAB can bring you!

Just discovered this....

Tantrums are clearly exhausting!

My creative space... I can sew a rainbow!

When I spied this Rainbow skirt tutorial over at Aesthetic Nest I knew I had to attempt one for Miss Matilda's rainbow party next month!

image from Aesthetic Nest

The problem was the whole wrap around concept that this tutorial uses was a little mindboggling for me (it required making a buttonhole and me and buttonhole making have not got a good relationship at all) and I really wasn't too fussed about the whole white ribbon tie at the side.  I figured I could create a simple elastic waisted skirt by modifying it a wee bit and this is what I have come up with.

I mostly followed Anneliese's tutorial right down to step 2.  Her instructions for working out the measurements you need for each panel of colour are easy to follow.  I think you should read through her tutorial as it is much clearer than mine and it might make what I have done make more sense if you see where I was coming from.  Also, I have used 12 colours in my skirt because that's how many were in the fat quarter bundle of fabric I purchased at Spotlight for a bargain!

My version of this fabulous skirt starts here:

Once you have measured, snipped and joined your rainbow panels together and cut out your lining fabric piece to the same size, place them right sides together and sew only the bottom long length together.

Here I have spread the entire skirt out flat so it is one big rectangle with the coloured panels on one half and the white lining on the other.

Next, fold the two short sides of your rectangle together like so...

...and stitch from the top of the white fabric through to the bottom of the rainbow panelled section.  In the picture above this would mean from the top right corner down to the bottom right corner.

You should have a big cylindrical shape skirt that you then need to fold so that the wrong side of the rainbow panel and the wrong side of your lining fabric are together.  This will give you your bottom hem.  Below is a picture of my sausage fingers holding that bottom hem open (even though it's at the top of the picture!).

Now to make that hem nice and secure follow Annaliese's instructions again and sew right around the bottom of your skirt very close to the edge.  Just like I am doing below!

Now, look how messy and untidy the top of my skirt is?

Solve this by sewing the lining fabric and the rainbow panels together about a centimetre from the top and then just snip all those dags right off!  Highly professional sewing going on right here!

Ok, the next bit involves gathering the top of your skirt together so it fits the small person it is intended for.  This involves a basting stitch which my sewing maching and I don't love.  I discovered the best thing for me is to use a nice strong cotton and hand sew a long running stitch across the top right around then grab the two ends of this cotton and gather and spread your material to your hearts content.

Well, gather until it's as wide as it needs to be anyway!

To create your waistband cut yourself a nice wide piece of your lining fabric.  I used the above 12 inch gathered waist measurement, doubled it and then sewed the two ends together.  It was about 5 inches thick.  In the picture below you can see I have ironed some creases into it (kinda of like you are creating bias binding) so all your messy edges are hidden away.  Pin and sew one edge of your waistband to the inside of your skirt and then you can remove that basting stitch we made because your waistband is now holding all those nice gathers together.

Fold your waistband over to the outside of your skirt and pin and sew again leaving a nice little spot to insert your elastic into the waistband.

Sew your elastic ends together, neatly sew your waistband gap closed and

TA DA....

One gorgeous Rainbow Skirt!

Or two!

The smaller one is of course for Miss Matilda and the bigger one is my very first piece of commissioned sewing that someone is going to actually pay me money for!!!  Yay me!  Although I really don't know how many $$$$ I should be asking.  Any thoughts?  What would you expect to pay?

Hope these instructions are clear enough for you but if you have any questions feel free to ask.  I would also like to make it really clear that the original Rainbow Skirt idea and fabulous tutorial comes from Anneliese at Aesthetic Nest.  This is just my modified version of it.

Have you signed yourself up for my wee lego giveaway to be drawn on Monday 14th November?

Other creative people hang out every Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday: Proud Mama Moment

Student of the Month!

Join in with other Wordless Wednesdays

My Mini Lego Giveaway

A little giveaway

For no other reason than I have been cleaning up after one party ready to move onto the next, I decided these might like to go to a new home...



One pale grey lego man t-shirt size 6 (The yellow man has been ironed on then sewn on for good measure!)

Some paper lego men bunting which alternate between blank men and happy birthday men

One lego minifigure

The t-shirt and the minifigure are leftovers from Isaac's party.  My boys have sooooo much of the stuff I dont think they'll miss one little man!  The lego men bunting I had printed on some firm quality paper at Officeworks.  We have strung some up in Isaac's room post party which he thinks is pretty cool.

Would you like them?

They can be yours if you:

follow my blog, leave me a comment (about anything really) and live in Australia!

I'll randomly draw a winner next Monday night (14/11/2011).

Good luck.

Rats.

Oh tis Sunday night and I am OVER it, officially like.  Family member number four has come down with the gastro and I am fairly certain my entire house must smell like a combination of poop and vomit.  Nice.

Add to this, my husband informed me this evening that the stain on our loungeroom roof that we thought was rain leaking through the roof tiles, is not actually rain. 

It is a dead, decomposing rat.

Now, anyone want to come over for coffee and cake this week?

(how could I possible include a picture with this post???  What on earth would it be of???)

This week I'm grateful for...

Oooh, how I'm struggling today.
We are in the midst of a sea of gastro - me and two of the smalls - and since I can't post a picture of my new best friend, the toilet bowl, I thought I'd include one of Matilda's best friend, Maya.

I'm grateful that my baby girl has some friends of her own, mostly younger siblings of her older brother's friends!  Having little play dates on their own is teaching her so many things, all in preparation for three year old kinder next year.  There is less parallel play and more interaction with each other.  Both these little ladies have strong personalites and it's sooooo interesting listening to them decide who is the leader in any particular game!

Have to keep this short - the toilet bowl is calling!

Head over to Happy Bron for more grateful and less gastro!

Wordless Wednesday...

"why, I'd be delighted to put my needs last again"

Saw this card at the shops this morning.  Did not have the $5.95 needed to purchase it and put it front and centre on my fridge.  Will have to go back for it when I actually have money.

Wordless Wednesday