School holidays have started here in Western Australia and we are looking forward to a slower pace of life over the next two weeks. I have spent a few hours in my sewing room this weekend, and have made a start on a new quilt.
I was inspired by Tonya's wonderful quilt. I am using Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric, with some Sandi Henderson Farmers Market thrown in for good measure.
Hope to be back here soon with a finished quilt!
* Decorate Lolly Bags
* Customise some simple Tea Lights
* wrap a vase
* and wrap some presents
No celebration would be complete without some yummy food including Meringues
Mini Cheesecakes (I couldn't resist the polka dotted baking cases)
Cupcakes
and Mini Quiches, plus some other delicious goodies.
We now have one week of the school term left, before we start a two week school holiday. We are looking forward to a slower pace and an opportunity to do some spring activities such as catch up on the gardening and spring clean. It is a good opportunity to get organised before the final school term of the year and the busy festive season.
It has been a couple of weeks since I have been able to get into any sewing. I have a few projects lined up and hope to make it back into my sewing room before long.
Posted by Lisa
To top it all off, I arrived home yesterday to find my sample copy of Lark Books Sweet Nothings, waiting on the doorstep. It is a beautiful book with wonderful styling of each of the projects. It is being released in October 2009.
I designed some sleep shorts with a matching appliqued tank.
There are lots of lovely designs for panties, camisoles, PJ's and robes. I am glad I have some holidays coming up to try some of the projects. Here are some of my favourite designs:
Sarah and I would like to thank Elizabeth from La Toriana for featuring us on her site. Her blog is about Babies, Kids and Whole Lot more!
Posted by Lisa
Thanks for all the lovely comments about our Master Chef Party. It features in the latest edition of Silver Magazine, along with some ideas for an Enchanted Forest Party. We had a lot of fun putting together ideas and projects for kids parties. Now my children are older (12 and 15 years) I don't have a lot of opportunity to be as creative with their birthdays. Sarah enjoyed collaborating with me on this issue and did all the graphics (i.e the invitations, recipe cards, cupcake toppers etc). We make a great team!
Here are are some of the photos and text from the Magazine, in case you want to plan your own Enchanted Forest Party!
Preschoolers will love the magic of the Enchanted Forest Party! (All images in this post are taken from Silver Magazine).
Lollipop Centrepiece
(You might remember this project from the peeks I gave here and here. )
Decorate your party table with this sweet centrepiece!
Materials:
Felt
Buttons
Bamboo skewers
Cotton
Plant pot
Floristry foam
Lollipops
Jelly beans
Cut flower shapes out of the felt. Using a button as the flower centre, stitch onto a bamboo skewer. Fill the flower pot with a piece of floristry foam. Arrange the felt flowers in the pot. Add a few lollipops, and cover the foam with assorted jelly beans.
Invitation Wands
If you are hand delivering the invites, wands are the perfect choice!
Materials:
Colour card
Dowel – cut into 30 cm lengths for each wand
Glitter
Ribbon
Cut out a star shape from the card and write the party details on it. Attach it to a length of dowel and decorate it with glitter and ribbon.
Mushroom Bag
Make a fabric mini tote bag as a thank you for guests.
Materials (per bag)
Printed cotton fabric, 20 cm x 50 cm (for bag)
Assorted plain fabric, approx 10 x 15 cm (for pocket)
Cotton Twill, 50 cm
Coloured card
Small peg
To make the pocket, fold over 1 cm at the top edge, press. Fold over another 1 cm, and stitch in place. On the remaining three sides, press 0.5 cm under. Position the pocket on the front of the bag, and top stitch close to the edge of the pocket. Fold the printed cotton in half with right sides facing. Sew the side seams using an overlocker (serger). Fold under 1.5 cm at the bag opening, and press. Fold under another 1.5 cm and stitch in place. Cut the twill into two lengths of 25 cm for the handles. Stitch the handles in place. Write the child's name on a piece of card and attach to the pocket with a small peg.
Flower Cupcakes
These colourful cupcakes are sure to delight.
Materials:
Coloured card
Coloured lollies
Bamboo skewers
Cupcakes
Green frosting
Green sprinkles
Bake up a batch of basic vanilla cupcakes. Frosting with green icing and decorate with sprinkles. Cut out assorted flower shapes out of coloured card. Place two flower shapes on the end of a skewer and secure with a lolly. Place the flowers in the cupcakes close to serving.
Water Bottles
Make it easy for children to identify their drink with personalised water bottles.
Materials:
Water bottles
Scrap booking paper
Double sided tape
Die cut apples
Curling ribbon
Remove the existing label on the water bottle. Cover the centre of the water bottle with a length of scrap booking paper cut to fit and secure with double sided tape. Write the child’s name on the apples and attach to the water bottle. Finish off with some curling ribbon.
We have a busy weekend planned here so it may be a few days before I get to my ever growing list of emails! There is now only two weeks of the school term left and we are counting down to our two week break. Sarah and I have lots of crafts planned including these adorable Sticky Note Mini Clipboards.
Lisa and Sarah
Sarah and I have put together some ideas for a Master Chef Party that children of all ages will love. Provide a few simple recipes, colourful aprons, and Chef hats, and they will be cooking up a storm in next to no time!
Tea Towel Apron
This apron is quick to sew up using a tea towel.
Materials(for each apron):
Tea towel (approx size 45 x 70 cm)
1.5 m Twill Tape
Fabric scrap
Vliesofix
Using a ready made apron as a template, cut off the top corners of the tea towel to form an apron shape. Overlock the raw edges and turn under a 1 cm hem and stitch in place. Cut a piece of twill tape that measures 40 cm and stitch each end to the top of the apron to form a loop for the neck. Cut the remaining twill tape in half, and stitch a tie to each side of the apron. Trace a star onto the paper side of a piece of vliesofix. Cut the star out and iron it on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. Peel off the paper backing, and iron the star onto the front of the apron. Stitch around the star using a buttonhole stitch.
Chef’s Hat
Party guests will feel like little chefs with these hats.
Materials (for each hat):
White card 10 cm x 60 cm
White bin liner
Needle and thread
Packaging tape
Double sided tape
Coloured card
Star and circle punch
Shape the strip of white card into a cylinder shape to fit your child’s head, and secure with tape. Cut a 60 cm diameter circle out of the bin liner. Sew a large gathering stitch around the circumference of the circle with a needle and thread. Gather the circle slightly so that it fits the circumference of the cylinder, and tape in place to the inside of the hat. Punch out three circles and three stars out of card, and attach them to the hat with double sided tape.
Cupcake Toppers
Little chefs will love these sweet cupcakes.
Materials:
White card
Coloured card
Circle punches – small, large
Tape
Toothpicks
Cupcakes with white frosting
Print clip art images onto white card and punch out with a small circle punch. Punch out a larger scalloped circle out of coloured card. Tape the small circle to the large circle. Affix a toothpick to the back of the card with tape, and insert into cupcakes when ready to serve.
Invitations
Team the invitation with a matching recipe card and cookie cutter to fit the theme!
Use your computer to design the invitation. Images of a chef can be found in Clip Art. Type up your child’s favourite cookie recipe and enclose with the invitation.
Party Food ideas
Getting the kids involved in the cooking and food preparation will keep them busy. Make sure that the food is simple for the chefs to prepare. It is a good idea to measure and prepare all the ingredients before the party so everything runs smoothly. Suggested foods include: mini pizza's, mini quiches, decorating cupcakes, fruit kebabs, chocolate crackles. Look in children’s recipe books for inspiration.
Party Games
Party games that suit the chef theme include:
* Pin the wooden spoon on the Chef
* Taste Testing - blind fold the children and get them to guess a range of foods (e.g. marshmallows, sultanas, strawberries, cheese etc).
* Guess the number of lollies in the jar
Prizes
Visit your local discount shop and supermarket for inexpensive prizes such as cookie cutters, mini whisks, jelly moulds, colourful patty pans, kids cook book, coloured sprinkles, tubs of frosting, packs of cake mix etc. Send the kids home with some recipe cards of the food they have made and some baking supplies to let them continue the fun at home.
We would like to thank Craft Gossip for featuring our Quick Fathers Day Gift.
Posted by Lisa and Sarah
It can be difficult to think of quick gift ideas for men. This afternoon I have made my Dad a bin bag for his car using some Newsprint fabric.
It has the following features:
Best of all, it can be made in well under an hour if you need a last minute gift idea!!
Materials:
Method:
1. Position plastic bag in the margarine container, and secure bag opening with rubber band. (Refer to photo). This is the rubbish bag liner unit.
2. Fold the external fabric in half with the right sides together. Sew down the side and bottom to form a bag shape. Clip corners and turn out the right way. Press.
3. To make fabric ties, fold the long edges of the fabric in to the middle, and fold again to form a strip that is 0.5 inch wide. Press. Stitch along edge. Cut in half to form two ties.
4. Sew lining strip in half with right sides together to form a tube shape. Sew a hem along the bottom edge.
5.With right sides together, sandwich the ties between the lining and the external fabric and stitch around the top opening. Turn bin bag right side out and Press. Position the plastic bag liner unit in the fabric bin bag.
I decided to make a second one for our car using some cute Japanese Candy Bar fabric that we won last year from Sarah at Pink Petal Designs. I think I will make some more for Christmas gifts.
Sorry we have been a bit slow in answering emails and leaving comments this week. We are all a bit under the weather with the flu. Hopefully we will feel brighter next week!
Posted by Lisa
They also had some other great recycling decoupage ideas - using stamps, postcards, and envelopes.
I love the use of coloured pencils in this project! Note the stars on the wall.
Remember the lemon butter I made last week? I had some egg whites left over so have been working on my piping skills - meringues always remind me of children's birthday parties, but my family were happy to eat them even without a reason to celebrate.
Following on from my recent lemon butter making, a friend gave me a pile of fresh limes from her tree! I made up a batch of lime curd which is equally delicious. I found the recipe here.
Lisa at Cubby House Crafts has made up some Scrappy Loyalty Card Wallets - check out the fantastic fabric combinations she has used!
Posted by Lisa
