Felt Woodland Animals

I've been making a solid effort with homemade gifts in order to be organized with my gift giving. If I have a heap of gifts ready to go, this saves me money and it gives me something to do in the evenings. I find sewing really relaxing and it keeps my hands and mind busy.

One of the teens youth group leader is having a baby shower in April so I starting to think what would make a unisex gift. I picked up a $1 blanket from the op shop and thought this would be cute with something added to it. I found out the parents to-be are having a woodland animal theme so started researching ideas online.

I came across these cute fox and squirrel  felt toys. There was no pattern, just a picture so Miss 17 traced the images on a piece of paper for me. You just need the outline, the tail, facial features and tail details. All are separate pieces. I also asked her to sketch up another 3 templates for an owl, bear and rabbit to complete the set. It is quite easy to draw up your own templates, even if it takes a few attempts!

I was originally going to make these into a banner for the nursery and add some green felt leaves, but haven't fully decided yet. I also think these would make a lovely set of toys for a small child along with some natural blocks perhaps.

What have you been crafting lately? x

Superhero Cape and Mask

This year my goal has been to be more organized with gift giving and I am aiming to make as many homemade gifts for Birthday's and Christmas as I can, and also to check what items I might have on hand to make said gifts-before going out and buying anything new.

I have spent many hours online and have an impressive craft bookmarked on my computer of ideas ready to go. Once time and motivation presents itself of course!

While chatting to my best friend who lives interstate, she mentioned her toddler daughter is right into superheros at the moment. I remembered I had bookmarked a cape as a potential kid gift idea so I offered to make one for Miss K's 3rd birthday coming up in May. The birthday girl had requested a blue cape, so I had a look in my material stash. Nope no blue fabric there. I made a plan to call into the fabric store next time I was driving Mr 9 to his drama class in a few days as it was on the way.

I ended up calling into the op shop while picking up some free bread and decided to check out the material they had there. I came across a blue double bed valance, which was a perfect shade of medium blue. And it was only $4! I would need to cut the pleats off, but I knew in the middle there would be enough fabric for a few items.

The tutorial I used for the cape is here on How Does She which was the one I found that had the easiest instructions.

The only variation I made was after cutting out the 2 pieces of material, I drew up a star template and cut a yellow star out of felt. I hand stitched it onto the middle of one side of the cape (I'm a sucker for hand sewing and find it relaxing).

I also decided to make a superhero mask from felt. I couldn't find a decent sized template so used the Captain America one I found here at Cutesy Crafts and just omitted the wings and letter A. This site also has other adorable superhero masks to make. For the mask I cut out the template and pinned it onto some blue felt from my stash.

I cut out 2 masks and stitched a little yellow star in each corner. I did consider using felt but thought it would be too fiddly. Then I used blanket stitch I sewed the 2 pieces together and stitched in 25 cm of elastic on each side as I went.

Homemade Cards

Black card with a wallpaper sample and grey embossed cardboard. I coloured in the chandelier.

I have been inspired by Annabel's Christmas Challenge and Wendy's card making . 
I went through all my craft supplies and made a list of what items I have on hand to make gifts. I aim to use what I have before buying anything. One of the things I have a lot of is card stock, scrap booking papers and stickers. When the teens were young some friends and I would get together for scrap booking sessions. I no longer do this craft, but many of the supplies are perfect for card making. I have a friend who makes fabulous cards and has a Sizzix machine, so I decided to invite her over for a pot luck lunch and card making day.

We had a great time sharing supplies, ideas and made lots of cards ready for the year. Mr 14 thinks card making is a "Nanna hobby" but I love it and have already sorted though my papers and have folded cardboard ready to make more!

I found I was a bit slow to get started but once I did, I made heaps! I like to first find what colour card I'm going to use and then add at least 2 other elements like layered paper in a similar tone and wording or a sticker.

Here are some of the cards I made:

My basic first card. A green card with yellow corrugated card and a cut out tag.

I added scrapbook paper to the front, a stamp and then a border sticker in the middle.

This is one of my favourites. A silver card with red scrap booking paper an Alice in wonderland cutout and frame sticker.

A grey card with black corrugated cardboard, brads and a printed quote.

Purple background with yellow chevron card and a cutout.

Pink card with vellum paper, a ribbon, mini peg and embellished tag.

Orange card with a printed scrap book paper and a pre cut quote.

A brown background with embossed cardboard, and layered pictures.

White card with textured scrap booking paper & embellishments.

Orange card with scrap booking paper, orange brads and stamped white card.

Blue card with scrap booking paper and a cut out quote.

Brown card with, layered scrap booking papers and a sticker word. 

Do any of my readers make cards?

Felt Birthday Crown

I thought I would share this felt crown I made for my niece. I also made one for Mr 9 when he was a toddler. My idea was that his would be a "Birthday crown" which could be worn every year on the child's Birthday. Unfortunately I didn't take photos as I completed this project, this is more just a few pictures to inspire. Below are the instructions:

I made my own crown template on paper.

Then pinned the template to the felt and cut out 2 different colours of felt. One for the back and front.

I decided what colour I wanted to be my front and cut out some small felt hearts and a letter for the birthday girls name and stitched them on. I also added a few buttons. Doing this part now is so the treads will be hidden inside the crown.

Then I sewed the back and front together. I hand stitched along the bottom, sewing the two pieces of felt together. Then as I came up to the sides about half way up, I inserted a piece of elastic and sewed it in. Then finished sewing the top of the crown.

I have made a few of these now, and think they make a great child's gift.

Back of the crown. This felt is quite stiff.

Side view.

Close up of the stitching.

Dancing Ribbon Ring For Toddlers

 I remember when my kids were little, they loved dancing. I found this dancing ribbon idea online and thought it would make a great gift, and it is so very simple!

The wooden part is just one of those old curtain rings, which is the perfect size for little hands to hold. My house had that style of curtains when we moved in so I kept a few for crafts. I've also seen bags of them sold at the op shop for pretty cheap.

Then I just cut 6 lengths of ribbon- you want them quite long. And tie them onto the ring. The one I saw had lovely rainbow colours, but of course I wanted to use what I had in my craft stash.

Enjoy!

Bleach Resist Tee

I'm not a fan of mass produced printed tee shirts. Neither are my kids, they want unique clothing. Bleach resist is a great and cheap way of customizing plain coloured shirts. When sprayed on, the bleach pulls some of the colour out of the fabric and leaves behind beautifully muted totes of colour. I I recently bought a heap of tee shirts-purely to bleach resist, which were marked down to $2 each. I think these would also make great gifts. So here's how we did it.

Gather your supplies. You will need:

Bleach- I buy the Coles Smart Buy 2lt bottle for $1.30
Empty spray bottle
Elastic bands
Gloves-optional

Over a sink, carefully pour some bleach into the spray bottle, you will need 2 parts bleach to 1 part water.

Shake the bottle up well.

First spread the tee shirt out flat onto the table, then gather it up lengthways and secure it every inch or so with the elastic bands. Here's some other ideas on tie dye effects if you're not into the "bamboo" look we did, you could do swirls or knot the fabric just like you would for tie dying.

 

Next take it outside or into a well ventilated area and spray the entire shirt with the bleach and water mix. Leave it for half an hour or so. You should be able to see some colour change already. If not give it all another thorough spray. The more bleach you add, the better the effect. Once you are happy with the result, remove the elastic bands and place the tee shirt in the washing machine on a wash cycle. Then hang out to dry.

Enjoy your customized bleach resist tees!

Nappy Cake Tutorial

 I love receiving homemade gifts, and in turn also love to make them for friends. 

Over the weekend I went to a friend's baby shower. I am all about giving practical gifts, so wanted to get nappies, wipes, lotion- things that will be needed. There's no easy or pretty way to wrap these items up, so I decided to make a nappy cake.

I looked at a few images online and decided I prefer the look of a traditional rolled nappy cake. I couldn't find a website with clear instructions so I improvised and designed my own. My friend already had found out the sex of her baby so I used colour themed accessories to brighten up the cake.

The basis of the cake is nappies and baby wipes, then you can add whatever else you like. They beauty of this gift is you can make it 1 or 2 tiers, depending on your choice and budget. This cake was very much trial and error,  though I had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look. I purchased a blue teddy bear to go on top and structured my idea on that. In the end the cake looked small compared to the teddy so I added another row of nappies around each layer. If you want a small cake, I recommend buying a small toy for the top.

The baby products and outfits used in the cake can be varied

Here's what you will need:

Nappies  (Around 72 for a small cake, 97 for a large]
A packet of baby wipes
A teddy bear or toy (For the topper)
Baby wash
Baby shampoo
Nappy cream (Or any other baby products)
Muslin wrap
Baby hat
Onesie
Small elastic bands, and 2 large
2 metres of thick ribbon
Cellophane
Cake board
Cardboard letters


Open the nappy packet and grab out a  nappy. With the front of the nappy facing up and the open part toward you, roll the nappy up tightly. Secure with an elastic band. Repeat this process for all of the remaining nappies.

Roll each nappy up tightly.

All ready to go!

Then place the packet of nappy wipes on it's side. This forms the core of the cake and gives it solidarity. Place a large elastic band around the packet. This is to hold the nappies in place around the outside.

Place a large elastic band around the packet first, then add the nappies around the outside.

Pull the large elastic band towards you and in the gap, slot the nappies around one by one. This will be the base. Add more nappies around the outside until you are happy with the size of the cake. I made the base 3 nappies wide.

Now for the second layer. Start the second layer as the first, by adding another large elastic band around the packet of wipes. Keep adding nappies around the outside until it is the size you want. I did this tier 1 nappy wide.

Second tier. 

Now you can start adding the baby products and accessories to go on your cake. Play around with it and see what you like the best. Add some ribbon and its good to go.

Here's how I finished it off: I took out a couple of nappies from the front and added the baby wash and powder. At this stage I thought the large teddy looked out of place on the top, so I decided to add another row of nappies to both the bottom and top layers. 

There are 97 nappies in this cake.

Because of the extra layers I added the cake no longer fit on a regular cake board. Luckily hubby had an old MDF tabletop in the garage and painted it white for me. I chose to put the baby powder, wash, hat and onesie around the bottom. I tucked these into the large elastic band first. Then I folded up the muslin wrap and used it around the top layer. The teddy was then place on top, with the baby cream secured with some masking tape. I wrapped ribbon around the outside of each layer to cover up the elastic and added some cardboard letters to the board.

Then the entire thing was wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon to hold it in place.  I forgot to take an earlier photo of it wrapped, so this was taken on my way to the party. 

This was a really fun and fairly easy to make project, plus it was made for a fraction of the cost of buying one.

Congratulations to the Mum-to-be!