Valentines inspiration for all year round

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We don't really celebrate Valentines in our house, It's not that I am the Valentines grinch but a former florist and I used to dislike the day a LOT. My hands would get ravaged by rose thorns and generally speaking I thought the day was a whole lot of over-priced, commercial hype and stress. But I do enjoy images from around the web and the creative ideas that go with it... lovely ideas to store away for a special occasion or for no reason at all. I'd like to receive breakfast in bed on this tray - above.


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Popcorn invite for a cosy night in from Eat, Drink, Chic - love it! If you can't get a baby sitter for a date night out - why not make your 'night in' a little more special?!


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Ok this bag is a freebie from Twig and Thistle and definitely dedicated to Valentines day but too cute not to include!


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Lastly a beautiful image to enjoy from A Creative Mint!

Free Tutorial - Ruffled Scarf

In the spirit of the last minute Christmas gift....I present to you my ruffled scarf! This may serve those in the Northern Hemisphere better for the month of December but book mark it for your DIY 'must-do' list for winter for the rest of us. Inspired by my sister-in-laws cool black scarf on her last visit from NZ I went straight to the fabric store then straight to work.



Cut yourself a 2m length of a stretch knit fabric (mine is 187cm) and 30cm wide for the base of the scarf. Then cut approximately 35 strips of the same fabric, my pieces were about 30-35cm width and 7-8cm long. Cut them wider than 35cm if you want more of a ruffle than I have here.



Without finishing edges of anything sew the small strips of fabric across the width of the scarf base, layering them as you go. I didn't pre-gather the strips as I wanted a subtle ruffle on this scarf but might try a lighter knit next time with more of a gather. I just pinched little pleats almost in places along the strips and sewed a straight stitch across and Voila! You could always use elastic in your bobbin to get more volume :-)

Ed's note:

The re-purposed jumper

How very cool are these? Dana from Made is one clever lady - she brings endless creativity to my living room. Her ideas are very achievable for the basic sewer to the more experienced. Yes, in Australia we tend to call them jumpers not sweaters, I have no idea why!?



Dana is generous in her FREE patterns and has done some great 'celebration' series you may have seen; Celebrate the Boy, Mum and Yellow :-) Being a visual person - I am also a huge fan of fabulous images on a blog and Dana knows how to take them too. Enjoy browsing - but be warned you could be there a while.

images courtesy of Made

Friday Freebies

With garlands on the brain I found a few freebies and ideas to share. Pop on over to see my friend Jordan of Polkadot Prints if you want the above gorgeous free downloadable Advent garland!



Or visit Twig & Thistle for a cute Magnet Advent Calendar DIY. A fun project to keep the kids busy over the weekend. I haven't visited T&T for a while and I was reminded what great taste Kathleen has... if only I had more time for blog surfing! Enjoy your weekend.

Free printable thread organisers

I found these cute little free downloads pictured above from Wild Olive on How about Orange! I am reluctantly packing up my craft supplies all but some work fabrics for the big move in a couple of weeks. I just printed out the PDF on card stock and away I went! I have to say I was actually inspired by my cousin Yana's new and tidy embroidery box! Don't you love the colour co-ordination?!



Now for storing my ribbons.... any suggestions?

Patchwork Easter Egg tutorial

There is a very cute tutorial on how to make Patchwork Easter Eggs by Purl Bee. Easily something the kids could help with... even if it is just decorating the fabric before and after! A nice weekend activity and something lovely to make that doesn't involve Chocolate! I thought I would get in early as Easter will be here before we know it! I also got some cute easter cookie cutters to make some biscuits with Anya! We might try and get a bit more creative with icing this time...

DIY Wedding Ideas

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I have been helping a lovely friend with some DIY ideas for her wedding - I don't tire of weddings these days - maybe because the frequency has slowed down somewhat! It was crazy there for a good 5-10 yrs! I have been a bridesmaid 8 times, a flower girl once and even managed to find time to get hitched myself.


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Enjoy some of these lovely images and ideas I have found while surfing the net! The best thing is they don't necessarily have to be for weddings!


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Most of these I found through this great find called Weddinggawker! They also have foodgawker and craftgawker - cool!

Decorating wooden letters tutorial

I covered the letter 'J' in this lovely paper for my nieces birthday. Just something simple and sweet to go on her door now she has her own bedroom. She is turning 10! Hard to believe how quickly she has grown up, I remember with great excitement the day she was born. I love being an Auntie! Jess also has the creative bug that I will be nurturing as she grows :-)

What you need to cover a wooden letter:

• Wooden letter/s (Lincraft or Spotlight, craft stores) [approx $3-4]
  
• 1 x A4 sheet of lovely paper - I got mine from Eckersley's [approx $2]
• Paint
  
• Can of adhesive spray (craft glue may do - but spray keeps your surface lump-free)
• Craft lacquer - optional (I used Craft Smart Glaze Paste)
• Self-healing mat / craft knife
  

1. Paint the back & sides of the letter in a complimentary colour, allow time to dry
   
2. Spray front of letter with adhesive
3. Spray paper with adhesive
4. Lay paper down on flat surface, adhesive side up
5. Press your letter onto the paper, adhesive side down & wait till dry
   
6. On a self-healing mat or thick cardboard, cut around the shape of the letter with a sharp craft/stencil knife (one for parents to do)
7. Paint over paper with a clear lacquer to give a nice shiny surface and a 'finished' look
8. Attach with 3M adhesive wall stickers

A very quick and easy way to let your kids express themselves by doing something creative! Of course you could add ribbon, buttons, sequins or motifs to a lovely plain textured paper also.

Craftig - another wonderful pool of tutorials

I discovered Craftig just before Christmas. What a great idea from Kristen Magee, a self-confessed craft junkie :-) Basically it is a big round up of links to various free tutorials. They are grouped into themes, i.e: Crochet, Eco Friendly, Bridal etc.. with the ability to subscribe to an RSS feed for individual categories - very handy!! You would all agree there are sooooooo many tutorials and free craft ideas out there but not enough hours to find them all. More info on how to register and submit ideas here. Now what to make first??? I love this ruffled shirt by Tea Rose Home.

Easy Christmas decorations / gifts...

I made these stars on Saturday when my girl slept - a mummy only project :-) They were super easy, definitely a craft to do with kids but I wanted some creative therapy all to myself for this one. The longest part was waiting 24hrs for the clay to dry and turn white.

Materials:

• Air dry clay - Bunnings (Hardware store)
  
• Star cookie cutters - Spotlight (sewing store)
• Stamp set - Lincraft (sewing store)
  
• Skewer - kitchen drawer :-)
• Rolling pin
  

I rolled the clay with Anya's plastic playdough rolling pin - approx 3mm, cut out shapes, imprinted stamp design, engraved my initials and the year on the back and finally poked a hole through the top so I can thread ribbon through to hang, once they have dried.

Monday Meanderings - Tara Dennis

Macro Mondays are taking a break for a while!!! Over the weekend we had some visitors from Sydney stay which was lovely. We love hosting laid back guests :-) It always means we eat really well over the weekend too!!! Weekends are generally lazy for me & cooking. On the Sunday we went out to Crace display village and saw Tara Dennis give a talk on decorating, the basics of "where to start". She put together a story board for making over a room, based on a colour palette found in a fashion magazine. Since fashion is always ahead of home furnishings in colour trends it is a good way to 'future proof' your home... (in Tara's words). The photo of the paper lantern is one of the free craft projects found on Tara's website. There are a few Christmas themed crafts - it's not too early to start people :-) Hope you had a nice weekend.

FREE - Craft Projects

While I am on the Bloesem kids bandwagon, I may as well point you in the direction of their free projects section! So many cool crafts/projects to do with your kids, suitable for a mix of ages! Great for school holidays or at home with your under 5's!

Sewn

I totally forgot to mention that Sarah from SEWN came and took some photos at the Handmade market and has featured a couple of mine on their site. If you go to the gallery section, then Handmade market in Bloom you will see some lovely goodies that were on offer. I am picture 14 and Gret was picture 13. Sewn has some great features including interviews, find a fabric search tool, sewing and quilting glossary (great for beginners), free patterns, tutorials - what isn't to love?!

'My Place' now has a blog

The lovely store My Place at Bowral in the Southern Highlands, now has a lovely little blog. Add it to your google reader, I am sure they will feature some lovely things there - I downloaded my free apron pattern just this morning!

Friday favourites - Moda

I'm a bit slow it seems, as I didn't discover Moda's fabulous blog with so many awesome tutorials till recently!!! They even give you printer friendly versions (note to self - "GOLD"). They also have a flickr pool where you can upload your completed Moda projects. There are so many great little online communities for sewers, new and experienced alike. Another is SewMamaSew where you can get the skinny on pattern reviews and help out your fellow sewers! Nice.