Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Nutcracker paper garlands




My little boy has always loved nutcrackers. For Christmas just after he had turned 2, it was all the wanted. Anytime anyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas he always answered, a nutcracker.
This year  he is now four, and just beginning to get into craft in a big way. I drew some  nutcrackers for him on the computer. We cut them out, and pieced them together in the same way as the paper angels, using tiny paper fasteners. And then glued bits of cotton wool on as their beards.
He just loves them.

And you can download the templates so you can print and make your own garlands below!






Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Doodling...


and embroidering,  little woollen felt birds for my Christmas tree.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Christmas Fairy Garland Tutorial


A long time ago, I made some paper fairies for my niece's birthday. She is old enough now to make them all on her own. So I thought I'd put together a little Christmas Fairy craft kit to send over to her and her sister in England, with a more Christmas feel to them, with their glittery organza skirts.
And you can click on the link below and follow the tutorial if you would like to make them too.

Things you'll need:
Card stock and printer
Scissors
Sharp tool such as a large needle
Paints/crayons/pens
Scraps of fabric
Scraps of pretty paper for the wings
Mini paper fasteners
Japanese MT tape (or other decorative tape)
Glue stick
 

 First of all, you'll need to print off the template onto card stock. You can download the template here.
Once you've printed it, you can begin to paint the fairies. I used watercolours, pencil crayons and even some Japanese MT tape. You can use whatever you have.
And you don't need to worry about going outside the lines.....it's all going to be cut out later.


Once the fairies are all decorated, using a sharp tool (such as a large needle) poke holes in the paper, where the grey dots are, on each arm, leg, hip, shoulder and hand. Do this before cutting them out, it's quite tricky to do later.
Cut each fairy out carefully, try to cut a little inside the lines, so you can't see them once cut out.


You are now ready to assemble them, using a mini paper fastener to join arms and legs to the body.
The next step is to add their skirts. I gave mine double layered skirts. For the underneath I cut out tiny scraps of fabric about 3 cm by 5 cm. I gently gathered the fabric in my fingers and attached it to the fairy using some Japanese MT tape that I had cut in half horizontally ( to make it quite narrow)

On top of that I cut out some glittery Christmasy organza fabric, about 8cm x 5 cm. Again, I gently gathered the fabric with my fingers and attached it using another layer of tape.
Then I cut out the wings from some pretty metallic paper and glued them on to the back of the fairies using a glue stick.

Join the hands together with more paper fasteners, and your garland is now ready to hang!



( I only made 3 for the purposes of this tutorial,  but a garland of 6 or more looks best)



Sunday, May 27, 2012

A chicken quilt


A new quilt for a new niece, the aim is to try and finish it before she gets too big!

I spent a lovely Saturday with a friend of mine. We went to our favourite fabric shop in the morning, and managed to while away nearly 2 hours browsing the shelves, lost in the possibilities of all we could do. Beofre heading to the city for afternoon tea followed by more shopping... it felt very luxurious for both of us to have the day to ourselves without little ones in tow.

I bought a selection of Liberty fabrics for the baby quilt



And I'm so inspired to get crafting again, I started to applique some chickens for the quilt


Chickens, because my little boy Toby calls his new niece Audrey Chicken.
Why? I asked.
Because she is so delicious I want to eat her all up, he replied. Of course.
So a chicken themed quilt it is.

Friday, December 16, 2011

New Spoonflower fabrics



I designed some new prints recently, and sent them off to Spoonflower.  I'd kind of forgotten all about them, until they arrived yesterday....







* Edited:  I've had a few requests to buy these fabrics - they are for sale through Spoonflower  - please follow this link!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Christmas card making



Dusted off my print gocco, I haven't used it since I printed this fabric (2 1/2 years ago now!)
I drew my design in a special carbon pen, and exposed my mini screen and literally within minutes I was printing.
The first colourway I kind of liked, but I thought the green tree would have come out a few shades lighter than it did.
And then today, while my little one took himself off for a nap (most unusual for him, but he did work really hard in his swimming lesson this morning!) I decided to try a different colourway, I quite like these ones, bit of a shame the white tends to lighten off quite a bit once it's dry.






Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christmas has begun

Little m and I are very excited about Christmas this year.
I remember reading something somewhere on another blog, where the girl was writing about loving all the excitement of Christmas, all the preparations, all the planning, but feeling a little bit let down by the actual day itself. I know what she means. Especially since being here in Australia, the Christmases don't feel like those of my own childhood in England. No fires in the living room, twinkling fairy lights lighting up the house by half past three as it's so dark outside. Frost crunching underfoot in the mornings, the excitement and possibilities of snow, icicles hanging off the windows, and cold, how I miss the cold at Christmas!
But of course there are positives here too. Sunshine, lots of it. Light, warmth, long days, cider on the roof terrace, barbeques, eating seafood.


So this year I decided that we'll make the most of the excitement of Christmas, and spread it out over the whole month. I have finally (nearly!) finished making Toby his advent calendar. Just 2 more felt ornaments to go. But it's hanging up. It's being used and loved.
Everyday a new felt ornament to hang on the fabric tree, and a little surprise for him in the pocket too. Yesterday he couldn't believe it when he found a large gold (chocolate) coin, and that he was allowed to eat it before breakfast! And today an even bigger surprise, a tiny letter from the Christmas fairy, a small chocolate coin and a Lego skateboarder. He was beside himself with excitement! And he's been re-counting the story of how he found everything in his advent calendar, how the Christmas fairy had left it all there for him while he slept, all morning to anyone who'll listen.




This is what Christmas is all about for me. Magic, family, the sharing of excitement, anticipation.