Monday, January 31, 2011

Pass it on, project 1 update.

An update on the first of my Pass it on project. I showed you a sneak peak (here) the other day but was actually unable to deliver it that day. Today I got my butt out of the house and drove around the corner to drop it off. As for what it was?

I present to you Stacey’s Tea Time Apron.

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It’s not much on the hook but I think it’s pretty cute and I hope she does too.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The naughty mat :o(

A wonderful lady I know is going back to teaching pre-primary after 8 1/2 months off for Maternity leave with her beautiful baby girl and wanted to know where we got our naught mat from as she needed to set up her brand new classroom.

Our naught mat came from IKEA

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but as there wasn’t enough time for a trip up north to the IKEA store I said I would make one for her.

The naughty mat of course has to be red, not sure why I always think this but I am guessing it has to do with traffic lights, red = stop and I thought since it was for pre-primary students I would make it a little cute so this is what I came up with….

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I have backed it with denim to keep it solid and as it is going on vinyl flooring I have padded it just a little (don't want the naughty little people getting too comfy)

Michael liked it so much he has asked if we can have a naughty mat just like Aunty Marteenas classroom. I am not sure I am going to make him one, I don’t want him to enjoy it when I put him there :oS

Thursday, January 27, 2011

One down.

I have finished the first of my Pass It On handmade gifts and I have to admit I am really nervous about giving it to the person I have made it for. When I create things it’s usually for either myself or for kids. I am going to deliver it tomorrow but feel stressed about it. I will post a photo of it after they receive it but here is a sneak peak

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Sunday, January 23, 2011

COOKIES!!!

We have a visitor for 3 days last week, Wednesday we made muffins and on Thursday we made funny face cookies. They are definitely not healthy and making them will leave you house looking like a confectionery and icing bomb went of but they are soooooo much fun and the kids love it.
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This is the basic cookie dough recipe that I use
  • 180g butter
  • 11/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon imitation vanilla essence
  • 1 egg
  • 3 cups plain flour
  • 11/2 tsp baking powder
1. Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Sift flour and baking powder into creamed mixture. Mix well.
2. Divide mixture in half. Roll into a sausage shape about 3cm in diameter. Wrap each roll in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm.
3. Unwrap. Slice thinly using a sharp knife. Place on greased baking trays. Allow room for spreading. Bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on trays for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

My little pleasure

So every now and then a miracle happens and Michael our 4 year old has a nap. Today is one of those days and I thought I would share with you the little pleasure I indulge in when this happens. Its nothing shocking just something that we all deserve to do every now and then…. I have a lunch date with myself :o)

I make myself something yummy for lunch, pour myself a drink in a nice glass

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and sit down and watch a movie. Its nothing fancy but its relaxing. Next time you have some peace at lunchtime have a date with yourself.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

When little men ask so sweetly….

Little men get :o)

I have had a couple of days away from the sewing machine since I hurt my hand on Sunday afternoon (awwww sad face) but our littlest man (Zachary aged 2) has been asking if I would make him a bag. I told him I would but couldn’t do it straight away. It broke his little heart, he even brought the material to me out of the box and tried to pick up the sewing machine. So I sucked it up, worked through the pain and made him a messenger bag of his own.

I turned a few rectangles

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Into a happy little 2 year old

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I have also made Zac’s so that I can make the shoulder strap longer as he grows.

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I like to line mine but you don’t have to and you can make it as big or as small as you want.

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Messenger bags are really very easy to make, they are just a couple of rectangles. If you would like instructions comment below and I will post them.

Friday, January 14, 2011

What do you do when you can’t find what you want?

You make it!!!

I have been looking for a makeup brush roll for so long that I decided today to make one instead because I couldn’t find one that I loved. I had some very luxurious black fabric that I have never used because I didn’t want to cut it up and found some really cute travel fabric at Spotlight the other day.

I created a pocked then used my makeup brushes to measure the pockets for the brushes. I have even included a spot for lip liner, eyeliner and mascara or something else I may find I can’t live with out.

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Pass it on…

"I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011". Ready, set, GO!

Another blogger I know posted this tonight and I love the idea so I am passing it on.

Looking forward to making some handmade gifts this year…. comment away :o)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Its that time again

Each month I sit down and do a meal plan. This means that I plan out Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea and Dinner for every day. From this plan I create my shopping list and do my shopping online It saves me from dragging 2 boys around the shops and a whole bunch of time and stress. It also saves us a bit of money on impulse buying and it means we spend less on junk food and take away as everything is planned out for us.

So I thought I would share with you this months meal plan.(January Meal Plan 2011) Its a PDF Document so you will need a PDF View such as Adobe Acrobat to read it.

Its hot and the last thing I feel like doing at the moment is cooking so we have a lot of meals that I can BBQ and have salad with. We are going camping this month so I have planned for that as well (yay really looking forward to this)

I know its not creative but I hope it inspires you :o)

Monday, January 10, 2011

I love this time of day

I love this time of day, Zachary has gone down for a nap

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Michael is watching old school cartoons (Felix the cat) in the theatre room

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and I get to have some peace. With 2 very active and full on boys in the house its a rare commodity that I will take whenever I can get it. So I have decided to use this time and some of the fabric I picked up on my last trip to Spotlight with Michael when we got the material for his library bag (check it out here)

I start a new semester of uni shortly and as much as I drool over stationery I can never justify getting those really pretty notebooks, I go through them too fast as I take copious amounts of notes and much to my husbands disgust and dismay can’t get out of the habit of writing my assignments and notes on paper before I type them up. So instead of spending a fortune on pretty notebooks I have made myself a notebook cover.

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It’s time to get ready for school!!!

 

So since I have shared my goals for this year I thought I should update when I actually make a step towards them so, this week I joined the gym closest to us and have actually been four times since I signed up. This involves me getting up at 5:30am to drag myself out of bed and get there for the 5:50am classes. As a result I hurt but I am determined to look good for Bali.

Friends of our are heading off for a year to travel and work and since I am all creative at the moment I thought I would make another one of my passport pockets for them to take with them. I think the hardest thing about making your own pattern/design is that there isn’t a set of instructions for you to follow which makes it hard when its late at night and you are trying to recreate something you came up with on a whim. I had to unpick too many stiches to count but I have figured it all out now and have learnt my lesson - “Always write down instructions and take photos of each step” and from now on will post any designs I come up with on here for anyone who may wish to use them.

So onto this weeks project…

I  love this time of year, the shops are full of stationery as parents get school supplies. Every year at this time I get new stationery for me to use for my uni studies. But this year is different, our eldest Michael starts Kindy this year so on Saturday we had a date to go get everything he needs for school including a trip to Spotlight so he could pick our material for me to make him a library bag. Which resulted in a couple of debates about which material he could choose from but we final picked 2 different patterned material which are very… interesting together but I think he must have known because the end result is actually quite cute, I think. What do you think?

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It’s a little long at the moment, but anyone who knows Michael knows that by the end of the year it will probably be too short

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It’s not the traditional type of library but, its a satchel and Michael loves it.

“Every day is an opportunity to be creative – the canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story, the complete picture is a work of art called, ‘my life’. Be careful what you put on the canvas of your mind today – it matters.”  — Innerspace

Saturday, January 1, 2011

What to do?

Louis and I moved our little family into a new home just over 6 months ago and after being in our other place for almost 6 years we had a lot of junk. Junk that just got tossed into boxes, sealed and put into the garage to sort through. A few of those boxes contain a whole bunch of material that I have picked up over time, thinking “I will make something fabulous with this.” But here’s the rub… I never do it!
So we are wading our way through the boxes coming across my material as we go and since I now have this goal to make something at least once a week, I am going to use the material I already have and get on to it. I spent a couple of hours wading through the myriad of free online tutorials and patterns I finally decided to make passport covers for Louis and I, not a huge undertaking but we are heading to Bali at the end of March for a week without the kids and I am excited about it so I am going to make them to kick off 2011
My Passport Cover
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The photo doesn’t do the colours justice so I tried to get a better one.
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The inside pocket 
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Thank you to Michelle for sharing :o)