Adele's winter warmers, jacket # 1

Over the last few months I have been sewing a few bits and pieces to add to Adele's winter wardrobe. We are trying to save money where we can and I have lots of fabric stashed away, so it made sense to try and sew some of the more expensive pieces and just buy the basics.  I haven't managed to sew as much as I wanted... but winter has only just begun... so there's still hope... right?!?!?! ;)

Anyway, I made the pattern for this little jacket and was super happy with the way it turned out. I have only just got the hang of bias binding and so this project was a great chance for me to practice with my new found skills. I am not disappointed... I now LOVE bias binding!! :)

Anyway, here's the jacket (and my sweet girl).

My baby LOVES shoes! I'm not sure what was so funny about this one though! ;)

Hope you like it! I do. :)

Kerryn

Mini Gift Buckets with Pennants - Tutorial

I was super excited when I found online (with the help of my little sister) these super cute little tin buckets. They are only about 10cm tall... so cute!! :) As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be perfect for little gifts at Adele's party. So, here's what I did with them...

The theme for Adele's party was pinwheels and pennants so I decided to add some pennants to the buckets.

 Ok, If you want to make some or make something similar then here's a quick tutorial...

Supplies...

- Buckets or similar
- scrap fabric
- craft glue
- disposable lid to put glue on
- white card stock (I used Stampin' Up, whisper white)
- alphabet stamps (I used a Stampin' Up set)
- ink (I used Stampin' Up, Crumb Cake)
- linen thread
- scissors
- hole punch


Supplies

Step 1 - cut out a pennant template and then cut multiple pennants using your fabric scraps. I used 6 pennants per bucket.

 Step 2 - Dip the end of the pennant into the craft glue and slide it under the gap in the top of the bucket.

Step 3 - Now it's time for the tags. Get out your cardstock, ink and stamps. Stamp the name of the recipient onto the cardstock.

Step 4 - Cut around the name leaving room at the end to punch a hole. Now run the edges of the tag through the ink pad. This gives the tag a little extra definition especially if you're using white cardstock on a white bucket like i am.

Step 5 - Punch a hole in the end of your tags.



 Step 6 - Use the linen thread (or similar) to tie the tag to the bucket. You can use a glue dot to secure the bottom edge to the bucket if you don't want the tag swinging around.

TADA!!!

I filled my buckets with chocolates in cellophane bags. :) They were a real hit with the ladies. The men just got the chocolates. I knew they wouldn't appreciate the buckets (and they were a bit girly anyway).

ok, happy creating!!

Kerryn

Gifts and bows...

After Adele's party I had a massive, unexpected, creative slump... but now I'm back into it again. Hoorah! I'm super excited to have made some progress into a few more of my Christmas gifts. Hoorah again! I've also been taking some time out to make gifts for people who need a bit of extra love. As i've mentioned before, I am so passionate about gift making and gift giving. One step better... making a gift for someone for no reason other than to let them know that they are loved, valued, precious and always in my thoughts and prayers. :) So this week i'll be making a few gifts... 'just because'. :)

The first gift i've made is a fabric covered art journal. I'd never done one before and am happy with the way it ended up. I took the whole book apart to cover it and then put it back together again. If you're keen for a tutorial then let me know and i'll see if I can get one together. :)

Anyway... here are some pics...

The purple fabric in real life is an awesome electric purple colour. It looks really drained of colour here. It's actually quite vibrant and delicious!! ;)

This is the opening page. The book is a little bigger than A4 so the lettering is quite large. I cut the lettering out with my big shot die cutting system. 'Hope' is in purple.

As mentioned last post I have made a little brooch to pin to Adele's new dress. I used one of the straps from my bargain top to make it and hot glued it onto a brooch back. So cute!

Here it is on the dress.

Ok, that's all for now! How about sending a card or gift to someone special today?? :)

Kerryn

A dress for Adele... 2 weeks late... :)

Well I've spent a lovely day sewing!! I love how creating gives you a chance to grab hold of a bit of joy and claw yourself back into the land of 'Happy'. :)

Today I made the dress that I wanted to make for Adele to wear to her party. 2 weeks late... as Lachie would say... "not to worry".

I am so in love with the fabric! It's part of Sarah Jane's, Children at Play range. Isn't it gorgeous!!!!!



I bought this top at Myer for $2!!! I saw it on the sale rack and couldn't go past it. I just knew it would come in handy for something. I cut the bottom off for the base of her dress. I also reused a few of the buttons for the back of her dress. There's still stacks left so lets see what else it comes in handy for... :)

See!! From $35 down to $2!!! Score!! :)

I LOVE the cute little buttons. :)

Isn't the fabric just divine!! :)

I am planning on making a little brooch to add to the top section of the dress for a little bit of extra colour and maybe a little bit of hair embellishment-y goodness... Hmmm... we'll see... :)

Ok, till next time...

Kerryn

Tutorial - Pinwheel and glass bottle decorations

Ok, as I mentioned in my last post, I used stacks of pinwheels for Adele's 1st party. If you missed my tutorial on how to make a basic fabric pinwheel then just click here.

Here is one way that I used my stash of pinwheels...

I used these babies as table decorations. Read on to find out how... :)

Supplies...

Pre-made pinwheels
bamboo skewers or wooden dowel
spray paint
polystyrene board
hot glue gun
variety of glass bottles
fabric scraps
sand

Ok... lets go...

Step 1 - stick your bamboo skewers or wooden dowel into the polystyrene board and spray paint. You'll probably need a few coats. Better to do lots of light coats than have one gluggy coat with lots of runs going down the skewer. :)

Step 2 - choose your bottles. I used  maple syrup bottle, Vietnamese dipping sauce bottle & boiled lollie bottles. Remove labels and any sticky residue. I used tea tree oil. Clean the bottles up and give them a spray paint.

Step 3 - tie some scrap fabric round the top to cover the screw top thread. This makes the bottle look less 'homemade'.

Step 4 - use your hot glue gun to glue the bamboo skewers to the back of your pinwheels.



 Step 5 - fill your bottles with sand and poke in your skewers with pinwheels...

Tada...



See you next time for my next pinwheel tutorial... :)

Kerryn

Tutorial - Fabric Pinwheels

Pinwheels... Is there anything more delightful?!?!? I must have made 1000 different type of pinwheels for Adele's party last weekend. I used them for the invitations, decorations, hair clips & cupcake toppers. So I thought I'd write a tutorial for a basic fabric pinwheel. This is my very first tutorial so please let me know if it's helpful. :)

So... here goes...

Supplies...

scrap fabric

fusible webbing

buttons

thread

needle

cardboard

iron

fabric scissors

My fave scraps and roll of fusible webbing

Step 1 - cut out a paper/cardboard square the size you want your pinwheel to be. I used a lot of different sizes so cutout a lot of different sized squares from 4cm by 4cm to 12cm by 12cm.

Step 2 - cutout a square of fusible webbing slightly larger than the size of the cardboard square you have chosen.

Step 3 - Fusible side down iron the webbing onto the wrong side of your fabric.

Step 4 - cut fabric out around the webbing.

Step 5 - peel paper backing off webbing. Webbing should be fully fused to the fabric.



Step 6 - Iron squares, webbing side down, onto wrong side of coordinating fabric.



Step 7 - get out your square pattern pieces and cut your squares.

Step 8 - cut 4 diagonal lines starting from each corner of the square and ending halfway to the middle (doesn't have to be too specific, so don't stress).

Step 9 - get your needle and thread out, it's time to sew. :) Tie a knot in the end of your thread and take your needle through the centre of the pinwheel. Start with one corner of the pinwheel. Take one of the points and sew it to the centre of the pinwheel.

Step 10 - Take your needle up through the centre of the pinwheel again, through the first point (this helps to anchor it down).

Step 11 - Repeat for point 2.

Step 12 - Repeat for point 3 and 4.

Step 13 - Sew your button to the centre.

Tada... a perfect pinwheel. :)

In the next few days I'm going to be putting up some more tutorials that use this basic pinwheel. So if you love these little babies and would like to use them on some sweet projects then pop back and have a look.

Here's a sneak peek...

hair clips

decorations

Pinwheel invites

Ok, I hope this helps. Happy pinwheeling... :)

Kerryn