my creative space: a little house

I finally got my hands on a copy of the book "Scandinavian Stitches" by Kajsa Wikman, from our local library.

I've seen this book on lots of blogs and it is just gorgeous with heaps of cute projects, my favourite being the little houses.  I was even lucky enough to receive a house from Leonie as part of the kiwi christmas ornament swap which is now on my notice board in my craft space.

So I made a little house for my kitchen, just a bit bigger than the one in the book.

Kajsa's blog is so beautiful and inspiring too- check it out here http://syko.typepad.com/, her facebook page here www.facebook.com/sykodesign and take a look at some of the things in her Etsy shop- how cute is this little village!

 

Little Village

Love machine art print

For more creative spaces, head on over to Our Creative Spaces here

Megan x

my creative space: more busy book pages

Some more busy book pages for your perusal...made before I had Jack in case you are thinking "how has she got time to make these??!!"

The cute Red Riding Hood fabric on the left from Stitchbird fabrics was the inspiration for me to create these pages.  I'd seen some other busy book pages that had a 'weaving' page so first off I thought of making a basket weaving page to go with the Red Riding Hood theme. 

For the second page I appliqued a little Red Riding Hood and made it a page to practice tying bows.

Looking forward to making more pages when I get a chance! If you're interested in making your own busy book and would like to take part in a swap. check out Rochelle's awesome idea here

And for more creative spaces today, click here

Megan x

PS: a big thank you to

Juliet at Craft and nappies

Rochelle at Focussed Lenz

Sarah at Fit, Phat and Fabulous

for nominating me for a blog award lately- much appreciated thank you ladies!

my creative space: two more 'busy book' pages

It was so neat to read all the lovely comments about the first few pages of my busy book the other week, thank you! I've finished a couple more pages so here are some pics.  Both of these pages were inspired by some fabric I already had- a lovely flower corduroy and a babushka print.

I've seen lots of examples of the 'button on flower' page on other busy books- such a great idea for little hands to practice their buttoning skills! For my page I appliqued on some 'grass' and stitched some flower stems and leaves, then sewed on some buttons...

...then I made some flowers out of Felt and cut the button holes. 

I used two layers of felt to make the flowers as I knew they would get plenty of wear so I wanted them to be nice and strong!

With the babushka page I wanted to do something similar to the nesting dolls idea so I decided to make little pockets on two of the babushka's so they fit inside each other from smallest to biggest. 

I also sewed on a dome to keep the babushka's on the page (and to practice using a dome too!) 

I wanted to have some threading practice in my book too so I sewed on some little rings around the babushka's and tied some cord onto one of the rings.  A little bit random but the more to do on the page the better I think!

 

I've made a page on my blog with all of my busy book pages so I'll add each new page there too. There's a link to a site I found with a list of ways to develop fine motor skills on there too :)

And Rochelle from "Through a Focussed Lenz" has come up with a great idea if you are keen to make a busy book for your little ones - a 'busy book page swap where "someone might take zips, some one clips, a person for threading etc. Each participant makes a number of pages in their "theme" and we post off to each other."She'll be posting about it soon so stay tuned!

For more creative spaces, head over to Kootoyoo here

It's my due date today but no sign of baby yet, I was overdue 8 days and 6 days with my first two so maybe 4 this time!

Megan x

my creative space: a busy book

I should start this post with a warning....this is a crafty project that is very addictive and can end up consuming quite a lot of your thoughts and time!
I've been wanting to make a fabric 'busy book' (they're also called 'quiet books') for ages now and decided to get going and make one for Stella's birthday. She is, like a lot of 2 year olds, obsessed with clips so I thought she'd love a book with lots of different fasteners like zips, buttons and clips to play with.  But once I got started I realised I had no chance of getting it finished in time for her birthday so I've decided to just work on it whenever I get a chance and give it to both girls when it's finished.
I've made three pages so far (with a few more nearly finished) so I thought I'd share them today and share the rest as I finish more. I got heaps of ideas from this blog http://quietbook.blogspot.com which has links to lots of other busy books. And these quiet books were also very inspiring http://thethornocks.blogspot.com/2008/12/quiet-encyclopedia.html and http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/06/finished-quiet-book.html

One of the good things about this project is that if you're a bit of a crafter you can find heaps of things to use from your craft supplies and fabric stash and other things around the house so you don't need to buy much to make it. These books are also great for developing fine motor skills, and your imagination is the limit as to what other things you can teach using the book, eg: colours, shapes, counting, alphabet etc. A lot of the crafters that made the books I've seen on blogs were inspired by their own mum's fabric books so it's pretty neat to think that maybe it'll be a book that future grandkids might play with too!

So here's the first page I made... I found this alphabet ribbon among my ribbon stash so I stitched it on and added a little duck bead on some thread so the girls could practice spelling their names and recognising letters.  Next I threaded some beads on a ribbon for some counting practice,  and the little lion slides along the spotty ribbon just for fun! I made the lion from the book "Felties" about a year ago and have had it on my noticeboard just waiting for a project like this!

Next I made Stella's 'clip page'- just need her to learn how to undo the clips now as well!

I saw the idea for this 'puzzle block' page somewhere in blogland but when my hard drive crashed I lost all my links and I can't for the life of me find where I originally saw it. If you think you know where the idea came from please let me know and I'll link back to it. This was a pretty quick page to make as it's all made from felt. I just cut out a whole lot of the same size squares and then played around cutting them into a few different shapes. The part that took the longest was probably stitching on the little flower buttons! My nearly 4 year old played with this page for nearly half an hour when I finished it so it's definitely a winner!

I made a zip pocket on another page to keep all the pieces in.

If you know of any links to some great busy/quiet books you've seen or have made yourself I'd love to see them.

A big thank you today as well as to Wendyl Nissen for featuring my blog, along with this lovely one, in her email newsletter this week. I think I've read every newsletter she's written since she started out on her 'Green Goddess' journey so it was very exciting to see my name in her latest one. You can read it here, and if you're wanting to get a weekly dose of  Wendyl's "It's okay to be a Nana" inspiration, sign up to her newsletter on her home page here.

And musn't forget... the winner of the eco-friendly cleaning goodies from last week's challenge is Leonie

Congratulations Leonie, hope you enjoy your treats, and thank you so much everyone for your comments and tips- I can't wait to get into making some more products now. And wasn't it neat to see that your comments made Wendyl's day!

For more creative spaces this week, visit Kootoyoo here

Thanks for visiting,

Megan x

my creative space: christmas stockings and gift tags

Well, it's a busy day today with Amelie's swimming lesson, my 20 week scan, general kid wrangling and getting organised for a bonus day at work tomorrow, doing a day's relieving in one of the classes I teach in on a Tuesday.
Crafting wise, I'm working on two christmas stockings for a friend's two little girls at the moment and I've finished two as well- one for Amelie and one for a friends baby girl.

 

And if I get a chance I'm going to make some more christmas gift tags, including a few for my crafty christmas giveaway I'm having soon!

Visit Kirsty's at Kootoyoo for more creative spaces....I'm loving seeing all the creative christmas ideas out there in blogland!
Thanks for visiting!
Megan

a handmade christmas stocking

 I had a lovely crafty christmas morning on Saturday with a few friends. It was great enjoying a cuppa and some baking (kid free!!),  sharing ideas for some christmas crafts and getting started on a few projects. There was a cute top being made for a 7 year old using shirring elastic (which looked so easy I can't wait to give it a go), a lovely navy and white spot apron whipped up, and for me a start on a christmas stocking for Stella.  It was so nice hearing the sewing machines going and chatting away, definitely a lovely way to spend a morning!

I made this stocking out of cotton duck which I love the look of especially when it's been washed- it looks a bit like antique linen. I went for a bit of a vintage look to the stocking so the girls will hopefully keep them for ever- I still use my stocking that my mum's friend made us when we were little!

I used a pinky red gingham for the top, some lace trim and a lovely floral fabric for the star which was appliqued with the S. I lined the stocking and added some ric rac too. To make the stocking I just  used the same tutorial I've used before from Ruby in the Dust for a child's satchel bag but without the straps and a stocking shape instead!

Lots of fabrics and trims to choose from here...onto Amelie's next! 

And if you are looking for some christmas craft inspiration my crafty friend Rosie forwarded this link to me

http://inspireco.blogspot.com/2010/11/inspired-ideas-christmas-issue.html

Have a great week, thanks for visiting!

Megan

my creative space: red and white polka dots

I think one of the best things about becoming a crafter is being able to make my own gifts- it is so much fun thinking about what I am going to make, choosing fabrics, planning the design, and putting it all together. I went into a couple of gift shops yesterday, saw some gorgeous things and it was so neat to think....'I could make that!'
Here is a little something I have just finished for Amelie, my nearly 3 year old's birthday next week. A while ago I made a personalised pillow case for a little boy  so I decided to make one for Amelie too.  I  appliqued her name and then embroidered the hearts and the words 'Good night sweetheart' onto the pillowcase. It was so tricky pushing the needle through the two layers of fabric I think I ended up with bruised thumbs!

I learnt a good lesson doing this project..... gather all your supplies before starting a project.  I stitched about 6 of the hearts using the last of my favourite pinky red embroidery thread I had, then went to Bernina the next day to get some more and it wasn't there. So I had to choose a different red and unpick the hearts I'd already done! And I forgot another lesson from last time too...check the iron is clean before ironing onto white fabric!!
I'm pretty sure she is going to like her new pillowcase and I think I will be making lots more of these for my friends children :)

And for more polka dots....I made a different type of waterproof zip purse last night, using oil cloth for the outside and parka nylon for the inside. I boxed the corners for this one- it was a lot quicker to make than my plastic covered ones so I might have to put some of these on my Felt shop too!

Right, I'm off to the fabric shop now while my sister takes the girls around the Mount- lucky me!!! She is starting a new job next week though so my creative Thursday mornings will be a bit different soon!
To see what other crafters are up to in their creative spaces visit Kirsty's here
Megan x

a little bag for a little girl

On Sunday I made another little satchel bag from the tutorial at 'Ruby in the Dust' for my toddler's friend Lily. I bought the flower fabric from Bernina for the lining and I used a design from the book "Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty" by Helen Dardik for the flower but just changed it slightly so there was a bit of applique to match the lining. I really like this little bag :)

Megan

25/02/10

A fab website 'Lil Magoolie' posted about my bag with links to Helen Dardik's blog and website- both are absolutely gorgeous!

thrifty + crafty gifts for a small boy

I have been busy today finishing off my handmade gifts for my toddler's friend Alex. I found two blue check pillowcases at the Salvation Army which have been perfect for these gifts. First I appliqued a pillowcase with his name and a couple of stars (I used a cookie cutter for the star stencil). Then I appliqued a tshirt from Baby Factory. I made some shorts from my hubby's old t-shirt from this great tutorial www.rookiemoms.com/make-some-easy-kids-pants   If someone had told me a month ago that I would be able to sew a pair of shorts I would have been amazed but this tutorial does make it seem quite easy. I also made him a softie using the two pillowcases, a bit of felt and ricrac.  I have had heaps of fun practicing some of my new crafty skills and it's been a great 'saving money' pressie too as the only things I needed to buy were the white t-shirt and the pillowcase.

Some things I've learnt/need to do next time

• when doing the applique do everything in order using the same colour thread so you don't have to keep re-threading the machine for all the different bits
• I need to adjust the pattern for the shorts - they are a bit short in the crotch!
• learn how to ladder stitch to close my softie opening
• be more careful sewing around the rounded bits on the top of the softie
• check that the iron is clean before ironing onto white fabric!!
• meausure twice before cutting

I am going to make a label and call the gifts a "Time For Bed" parcel :)

Megan