more Christmas making....



I discovered that its really easy to alter bought Christmas decorations ....

 

I bought these little heart decs , they were gold and purple and then I found some cool glitter birds...

 

 

no before pics sorry....

 

 

 

I simply pulled the caps of the hearts and cut the cord on the birds and then sprayed with white paint ... any paint would do....

 

 

 

then I covered them with little scraps of napkin [ I layer]  and tissue....using gel medium [or modge podge would do]

 

.....a bit of kindy glitz, blinged them up ....:)

 

 

the craft girls got their hearts stuck to their enves with  gorgeous gold washi tape from Blue Bazaar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as the the birdies were foam underneath, it was easy to stab a  hole in back and hot glue a wire hanger  in.....

 

 

 then I packaged the birdies into gelli enevelopes for the MMgirls....

 

 

 

such a great way to use your gelli papers and any excuse to use some more washi :)

 

Christmas Making...

 

Hey there,  I hope you all had a Happy Christmas, we certainly did !

 

Lots of Christmas making has been going on here over the past two months.....

 

I couldn't resist these gorgeous Christmas prints for Spotlight and made these cute little pillowslip dresses for some little girls who live overseas :).

 

There are absolutely oodles of free patterns all over the web , I didn't even draft a pattern just drew straight onto the wrong side of my fabric...

 

size 2

 

 

size 3

 

 

 

 size 6

 

size 8.....ran out of contrast fabric so was waiting on some more for the tie :)

 

 

 

 

and then a cute little Christmas onesie , cant let the boys miss out !!

I traced the tie pattern off the computer screen , again , heaps of free patterns out there :)

 

 

 

 

then I made some cushions also using these lovely Australian native prints.....I don't usually like Australian fabric... I think they are pretty ugly generally but loved these....also from Spotlight in Furnishings.......

 

 

piped and zipped.......

 

 

 

 

                                                              zippers do my head in......

 

 

                                                                           aaaargh......

 

 

 

 

and then I found this gorgeous set of 3 tea towels and made them into some aprons for me to wear at work and for gifts....

 

 

......this one gave me the idea to make an apron...it had a built in waist band :)

 

 

 

 

I  traced the deer head off the computer and graphed it up....

 

love how it turned out....

 

 

and then i made this tote to gift overseas,  it has a plastic front and made from Melbourne material.... 

 

the blotch in corner is where the iron leaked ((( it dried ok tho.....

 

 

 

 

 first time I have done these adjustable straps and would do them again, they look way more professional :)

 

 

 

I've really enjoyed getting back into the sewing however there has been lots inking, beading and collage happening...next post :)

 

a not very sparkly Christmas post :)

 

so right now I could crawl into bed and not wake up til Christmas morning :) (its 5pm Christmas Eve !) I think the two quick glasses of Baileys may have had something to do with that ;)

 

its been a big week of making, shopping,  cooking,  cleaning and packaging ......late nights, early starts.....somehow its all got out of hand again......next year it will go back to being simple and stress free again.....

 

I look at the news reports and how there is all night shopping and the crowds in the shopping malls and think ...do we really need all this stuff ? do we have to have the latest of everything....?

 

what's so important that you cant be home with your family doing family stuff? isn't that what Christmas is all about......

 

surely our kids would rather you be home and actually spend some time with them, playing old fashioned games , baking or watching Christmas movies together....how did we get it all so wrong....its just pure commercialism and I hate it......

 

I do think part of its guilt too for working mums and dads......over compensating for working long hours and not being there but its a vicious circle.....work more , spend more because you don't have to cook, so you buy take away , throw money at the kids cos its easy entertainment................blah,  blah, blah

 

our work life balance is down the crapper !!!

 

I've wanted to phone people and catch up with them but have so busy there has been no time and that's sad, cos to me that's what Christmas is all about.... letting the people in your life know that you care about them and being with the ones you love....

 

I don't think its just me that feels this way , I have talked to  lot of my customers this week and its amazing how all Christmas means to them is STRESS...........and yet we continue to do it year in , year out..........

 

next year it STOPS for me :)

 

next year it will different :)

 

not sure how yet but it will be ......!

 

I don't mean this post to be judgemental in any way , we all do what we think is best for our family :)

 



 

so all my lovelies, wishing all the joy of the season, hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day and get lots of hugs......

 

I do hope you get a little spoilt cos you all deserve it :) 

 

and remember ...no stress , what gets done does, and what doesn't,  there is always next year :)

Happy weekend........

I have to admit to finding it a bit of an effort keeping up with my blog these days and then I get behind and I have so much to share that it puts me off even more ..lol....I wish I wasn't such a procrastinator.....

A couple of weekends ago, I went on our annual craft weekend away to Heathcote...what a ball we all  had......and I was so glad I got time to spend with jenny before she left for Queensland to live ....

booo hooo....

Anyhow we had a fantastic time , lots of laughs, lovely food , op shopping and quite a bit of creating done....

 

our craft room is the old squash court, so its huge.....

 

 

 

 

 

........and this is a pic of the Fawlty Towers dining room.....:)

 

 

  Heathers gorgeous quilt ......

 

 

 

    and finished a few weeks later ...its just stunning !

 

 

Tan holding her little felty owl.....

 

 

Jenny doing her thing.....

 

 

 

and me?

 

I got my quilt practically finished ....laying it out.....

wooohoooo, I just have to tie the layers together now....I LOVE how it turned out.......it took a lot of fabric that I collected over 6 months when  it was on sale or on clearance.....I couldn't decide on a color theme so I went with anything goes... and chose my favourite fabrics....

 

love its mismatched, vintagy  look.....

 

 

 

 

I also made this little wire birdcage, its rough as ...the wire was really hard to bend with your fingers....and I didn't have right tools with me..

 

 

 

I made this one after I got home....

 

 

 

 I wanted a more substantial bird so found these cheap Christmas decs at Big w.....they didn't  cover  very well with paint ( 4 coats and they were still pink)  but covered well with paper and napkins....

 

 

 

 

 

and this little [ big] is the latest addition to our family....born 3 weeks ago and still unnamed.......

 

 

 

 

the only surviving one with whole milkbar to himself....

 

 

 

 

a little whippet puppy....

 

 

 

                                                who is very cuddly and starting to develop a personality....

 

........eyes open :)

                                                            dozing tonight on my lap.....

 

he has certainly brought a lot of joy into the house :)

 

 

Happy Times....

Last weekend [I cant believe its been a week already !!!] the mixed media gals hit the beach....

 

photo courtesy of Wendy of Jenny and I dying to dip our toes in :)

 

 

 

 

Lynne flew down from Queensland and we hired a car and took off to a friends beautiful beach house which looks out over a lake.... its a bit like a Tardis house, looks really small and unassuming from the outside but is huge, light and airy inside :)

 we shopped in Castlemaine, visited not 1 but 3 art shops and Kaisercraft in Geelong .....

 

 and then we got down to business...eating, painting, drawing and laughing........ lots of laughing :)

we made books, drew faces, painted....

 and painted a collaborative cloth........that was absolutely the best time I have had arting with friends.....so much laughter and paint flying everywhere....

 

 

some close ups courtesy of Clare.....

 

we all ended up with 50 cm piece :)

We walked on the beach.......

 

 

admired the beach art....

 

 

and ate in nice coffee places....

 

 

clares skelly coffee...

 

 

 

 

ate Italian

 

as well as  fish and chips on the beach...

 

 

 

 and went for a walk around the lake...

 

 

I shall really treasure the memories we created with lovely fun group of ladies......

especially trying to get this photo :)

 

 

and next weekend is my Heathcote retreat with my craft girlies....

 

its been a good month has September :)