Girl’s hair and jewellery organiser mk II

We are going to a birthday party tomorrow and the invitation specified no gifts but I asked if it was alright if E and I made something for the birthday girl. With permission I gathered together all the materials I had on hand from when I made Emily’s organiser. Thankfully I still had extra cup holder hooks so this did not cost anything since all the materials were lying around the house.

I had a small canvas because when I did the sibling tree craft the canvases came in groups of 3.
I covered it with scraps of batting that otherwise would get thrown out for not being useful. I knew I was holding onto them for a reason. 😉 it was a jigsaw putting the pieces together but I didn’t take any photos this time as u had E helping me.
We covered the canvas in craft glue and stuck down the batting. We then went through all my material and she picked out the sand material as hers.

This tune I think I managed to do the corners better, I didn’t cut but instead folded and stapled.
E helped me stapling in that she held my hand.

She then picked out the ribbons and this time instead of placing the ribbons horizontally I stapled them vertically with E choosing colour order.
I decided to staple them vertically because for hanging things like hair bands and other things they slide down. This way the hooks aren’t all used up but the ribbons can be used for more than just hair clips.

Emily and I then screwed in the cup hooks and voila all done! Cheap, cheerful and very quick.

Because we had time we also made some bracelets to hang.

As you can see I have a carabiner with E’s hair ties.

Finished!

Here is the original post about this organiser.

I put this under sewing but there was no sewing involved! There was material though!
I went to the hardware store and bought cup hooks in two different sizes. I debated how many hooks to put on and in the end decided every space between ribbons I would put a hook. I put the two larger at each end and the smaller ones in the middle. We ended up filling all the hooks with her bits and pieces.  All I did was wiggle the hook to create a hole and then I just screwed it around and around (sorry no pics of this)

Here is the finished result hanging in her room.  She has enjoyed taking the bits and pieces off and wearing them and then resorting them to different hooks!

I hung everything on it and then Emily took everything off to wear.

I hung it on the wall with the Velcro strips that supposedly come off the wall when you are done.

Luckily I have an idea of something to make for Alexander’s room since he requested one but a boy one. I also wonder do we need more hair clips to go on it?

Tips for entering shows – with flower arranging in saucers and mugs

I am no expert. I am writing this partly to help me in a year’s time so I remember the things I learnt today. This weekend was our local show so I thought it would be fun for the kids and I to have a go at entering. I downloaded the programme and went through it deciding what we could do.
I then scoured the Internet but got little help there and so this is also why I am writing this.

The first section was decorative, free expression is allowed with choice of material, design and any foliage, adornments or embellishments.  Only fresh flowers to be used.

They had entered floral saucer by exhibitor 8 years and under so we have a few years to get this right.  After a little research we found some sites that mentioned using sand so I used a little in the centre and wet it. The saucer was sloped so I couldn’t get it to the edge.

The hint I was told today was to heap it up, cover the whole saucer and then wet it, make a mound of sand so then you have something to insert the flowers into.

I tried to be as hands off as I could, so I only made a few suggestions and let the children have fun designing their own.  We had had a practice earlier in the week where I had been a bit more – this is how you do it but since they were entering I let them design.

So here we started – a good start and then this is the finish.

Not quite the circular pattern we started with but he was happy.  Unfortunately in the transportation to the show it got a bit messy but Alexander was disinclined to fix it.  This is when I was told that with the sand it wouldn’t move around as much.

Here is Alexander’s finished product.  I think it looks quite pretty and colourful.

Emily’s finished work

This is what they were looking for

I was told that the leaves cannot extend too much past the edge of the saucer.  There was definitely a theme with the circular pattern and you can see the difference esp with Emily’s which is just a massive pile up (then again she is only 4 and I allowed her free reign with what she wanted to do)

We also entered flower arrangement in a mug (though there was some confusion whether it was egg cup or mug.  There were only about 3 entrants in this one and my two had their large mugs and one had a tiny teacup and saucer)  Alexander got first, the teacup got second and unfortunately there is no third.  The steward told me that Emily’s was too bushy.  It needed to be cut down, items should be max 1 1/2 times the size of the cup.  This was also for children under 8.

We were very excited Alexander won the flower category because his sister had done very well in the cooking section and I had also done well and though when we entered I had talked to the children that being our first year we probably won’t win but it is hard when he is the only one who hasn’t won.  So phew!

The other section was Cut Flowers and they were in the junior class which is 16 years and under… so many many years of practise.  Flowers were to be arranged in bowls, vases or suitable stands.

We also entered three leaves in a container, a collection of flowers and a single rose.  All were supposed to be from your own garden. I don’t think I will enter the collection again, wrong time of year for our garden and too hard for me to help both of them find a large enough collection.  Compared to the others, ours were sweet but too small.  The steward was encouraging about the roses and said we should try again next year.  I wondered if ours were too small as the others were on long stems in large vases and he said no we had presented them correctly.  The issue was they hadn’t fully opened.  When we picked the flowers up on the Sunday he commented how nice they looked but the judge can only judge on the time they are looking at the rose.  The winning rose was wilting by the Sunday while ours were still looking fresh.  He said best to pick the night before the show and put in water in a dark cool place.  Next time I will encourage the kids not to pick a bud, but one that is more open.  It has been a hot dry summer so it was hard to find ones that looked good and fresh.

Emily’s leaves are the small ones at the front.  They could be leaves the same or 3 different leaves.  You can’t really see Alexander’s, his are in a glass and are three tall ones.

The children really loved doing this and after our practices kept wanting to have another go.  I think we will perhaps continue this as an activity throughout the year, depending on flower availability.   The good thing about the saucers and the mug is they don’t have to be your own flowers, you can buy them, we got ours from our neighbour and some from mum’s garden.

 

This has been a long entry so I think I will do another one about our cooking entries.

 

Christmas gift bags

I had some empty cereal boxes do I googled recycled cereal box ideas and I found a tote bag idea which was cute.

I cut off the flaps at the top, drew 2 ovals and cut out the handles.

I changed it a bit as the kids didn’t have the patience to cover it with ripped paper so I found some Christmas wrapping paper and wrapped it like a present.

I used glue to hold it in place and some sticky tape. I sliced through the handles and sticky taped the paper around the handles.

My husband was pressed. Usually he tells me how I can improve the craft but he didn’t thus time. Granted I didn’t give him a close up look but he was tricked into thinking it was a real gift bag.

Oh i scored the sides to help fold them in.

The kids cut out pictures from wrapping and decorated the boxes. Perhaps stickers next time? Now the kids think they are their bags. I’ll have to make more for gift wrapping and hide from the kids. They take a little bit of
battering but Emily fills them to bursting and do her handles are getting a little squished..

Noah’s Ark Part 3

So Emily was given her Noah’s Ark wall hanging for her birthday in February but it has taken me til now to start making the animals to go inside.  They are really quite easy just needed the time and temperament.

First find the animal shape I want to make, cut out and pin to a square of fabric, in the case of the zebra felt right sides in.  Sew around template, cut, remove template and turn right side out.

The ribbon was there to be a tail, most of it in the inside, just a bit left out for the hem but it didn’t work so I removed it.

I used stuffing to create the manes for the zebras and used embroidery floss for their tails.  The lions still need tails, might try more floss for them.  The lion’s mane was more felt.

Here is Noah’s Ark being stocked.

I’ve only made one giraffe and he needs spots but he’s got a toy giraffe to keep him companion from another play set.

The elephants were two different shades of grey wool.  Emily chose pink eyes for the dark gray one.

So only two more pockets to fill.  I was thinking Australian animals for the two small pockets but small means even more fiddly.  Pulling them right side out especially their legs is tricky which is why their tails didn’t quite work.  So only the zebras got tails so far.

 

Fabric Barn

I was going to make Emily a dollshouse still having some of those cute iron on patches but when I keep falling over her horses and then the other day she told me when she was big she wanted a farm with horses I decided to make her a barn.

I made a couple of mistakes so I am not satisfied with it and will have to make another til I get it right 😉  Emily seems pleased and is currently trying to put her trains in there with her horses.

First the horses needed to be brushed.

Here is the barn with her ponies

More ponies – I meant to include something like a pocket to store their brushes but I forgot

And the outside… still debating adding detail such as the barn door.

Portable play mat

Whilst browing pink lemonade I saw their dinosaur playmat and their car mats and I thought about my nephew who is also going on the plane trip.  He is too young for a dollshouse and I didn’t have all the material for one anyway and I thought a play mat would be better for him anyway being less than 1.  It is a bit too big for an aeroplane tray but they can drap it over their laps, the pull down tray or put it down on the floor.  I decided to make it two sided.  One with roads and one with a general looking landscape based on the dinosaur layout.  I didn’t have a lot of felt so I used felt and fabric odds and ends.

I used black fabric for the roads and sewed it on with white thread to make the lane markings.  They are only wide enough for one car but I still put the middle lane markers anyway for aesthetic reasons.  I then placed them right sides together, added some ribbon, sewed together leaving a gap to pull them right side out, sewed that out with a bit of ribbon to and voila!  I wasn’t sure whether to add the ribbon or not and I think I will advise my family that it is a play mat for supervised play.

At the ends of the ribbons I sewed on two silohettes.  One a car and the other a basic looking animal with zebra print felt.  I put a stick on velcro on the back and so now it sticks to the felt.  Unfortunately the whole mat is not felt so they only stick to the felt bits but because I used fabric it folds up to a good size and will be able to fit in a take on luggage bag.

I didn’t take photos as I was making it up as I went along.  It took me a couple of hours.

I decided to make it a red tree as it needed some colour with all the blues and greens.  I should have designed it and made it bigger, I cut with pinky shears free hand.  The animal was from pink lemonade and I used the felt that is supposed to be for the zebras for Emily’s Noah’s Ark (oops will have to buy some more).  It is supposed to be a giraffe but well mine has stripes.

Here is the other side.

I didn’t sew up the garage door all the way around so it is the perfect pocket for either storing the fabric car or two little matchbox/hot wheels cars,

Here is the mat in use.

And here it is folded up, the top ribbon with no attached figure ties it together.

This just used left over material and felts from Emily’s Noah’s Ark project.  Super Easy to do!

Portable Fabric Dollshouse

When I saw this dollshouse I was in LOVE!!!! I knew I had to dust off the sewing machine and get going!  It has been a bit slow here crafty wise.  I’ve been busy and a lot of my craft stuff was packed away while family has been staying with us and I haven’t been inspired since I made Emily’s Noah’s Ark (which is still awaiting animals).  Anyway I was rapt when I saw this dollshouse and in awe at seeing what other people have made.

I decided to keep it simple for my first one.

My niece is going overseas soon and I thought I would make something for her to take on the plane and play with and have to play with while o/s.  I followed the directions on UK Lass in US but I followed some of  Serving Pink Lemonade’s alterations.

I used spray adhesive to attach the mesh to the batting.  I accidently bought quite thick batting but I pulled it apart, sprayed adhesive and sandwiched the adhesive in between.

I adjusted the measurements into metric and so wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work out.

I was following Pink Lemonade’s ideas by having the 4 loops at either end but I only put them in at one end and forgot the other so had to hand sew them on later which makes them obviously hair ties but oh well.  Things to learn for next time.

When UK Lass declared this project was easy I was still trepadatious but she was right.  Definetly handy having my sewing machine but I managed to cut out and sew during ad breaks on MasterChef.  This is how far I got the first evening after the kids were in bed.  ( I had cut templates out of cardboard previously in the day but the cutting of material, batting and mesh were done once they were in bed).

I was over the moon when I was at Sportlight and found the patches.  That made life a bit easier, I didn’t have to cut out or design any furniture.  Best of all they were on sale and the mouse is actually on a ribbon and moves up and down.  I made my sister in charge for ironing on the patches.  That also made our life easier.

I was following pink lemonade in not sewing up the sides so that it can be packed to take on an aeroplane.

Because I had forgotten to sew the blue loops on I was hand sewing on the four blue loops and the buttons to loop them on so I gave up after I sewed one side.

 

The next day I had buttons to sew on on the other side.  Then I debated what to put on the outside.  leave it plain?  Have a door and window?  I decided to sew on the tree (I sewed the trunk on but used spray adhesive for the green leaves and then sewed the buttons on to hold hold it on).  I then used the spray adhesive again to attach the “rick rack” (?) and sewed on either end to make a tile effect for the roof and then I was done.  It took almost as long on the second day because of all the hand sewing.

I did some fancy stitches in the garden and you can see they went a bit wonky.  The dolls I found in a $2 store.  This is not for children under 3 or for those who put things in their mouth.  The dolls are very basic and have swallowable bits and I had sewed the buttons on so they are secure but not greatly so.   The buttons are not so large so I ended up having to tie knots in the hair ties to make them fit over the buttons better.

Here is Emily waiting patiently for me to finish taking photos so she can have a little play before we wrap it up to take up to her cousin.

And a cute shot of the mousehole…

Can’t wait to make another, I want to make a barn for my daughter for her horses.

Bags

I can’t believe I forgot to take photos!  I gave one of my crafted bags to my friend before I took a photo of it.  Oh well.  I took a photo of the other one.  They are pretty similar (well except for different material and different ribbon for handle).

Anyway in my exploration of the web to find things to make for a friend’s baby shower I stumbled over Lazy Girl Blog and this easy make gift bag.  I pulled out the material I made a gave it a go – making Emily her own little doll carry bag with some off cuts.

 

The bag I made for a baby shower gift

 

Full of presents (I created the ultimate emergency baby bag – full of  nappies, wipes, hooded towel, baby wash, bath thermometer, pram toy and lots more)

And of course Alexander couldn’t not get in on the act and wanted a photo with the bag

So a great easy first craft for me.  Instead of making handles for the baby bag I used ribbons.

New Sewing Machine

For Christmas I requested a sewing machine which surprised my husband a bit but he joined forces with my inlaws and we went shopping and found a sewing machine in our budget.  It sat around in its box for about 2 weeks while the bedlam went around me and then it came out and I have been so happy and excited by it I have been sewing away.

Here was my first crafty item I made.  A crayon roll, I had made a couple in the past so had had some practice and I was pleased how well this one turned out.  Plain but useful.  Here are some blogs that show you how to make it Nested  and  The Pleated Poppy

Project 2 I cannot show yet as I have not gifted it yet.  I am pleased with how it turned out, very easy and I made less mistakes making it then I did making project 3.

Project 3 is still a work in progress but here is today’s part of the journey.

I have a pile of old sleeping bags the children have outgrown which are not in good enough shape to regift but I didn’t want to throw them out as they hold such good memories (part of me wants the ones that have gone out the door back now I have things to make out of them – anyway I digress) so I was thinking what could I make out of them that was simple.

SO what do I do?  I go to google.  I wanted to make a cat and found lots of great ideas but some required things I didn’t have (quilt foot) so I found this cute little thing –  Hedgehog softie and I tried my hand at tweaking it my way.

Attempt 1

I forgot to leave the opening in the right place (the middle) and instead left it down the bottom, I also put the ears on the inside not the outside and forgot to sew on the facial features and put the pocket in upside down so now there are 2 pockets.  I sewed it close without stuffing it.  Perhaps I can use it for my ipod?

Attempt 2

This one I forgot the pocket, one ear didn’t get sewn in properly and not sure what else went wrong – the face was ok but did it in white so it doesn’t really show up.  Oh yeah and I seem to keep pinning the templet upside down on ALL my attempts!  You think I would learn – I put the face on the patterned bit and the body on the plain so when I am sewing and halfway through I realise so I start improvising!

OK Attempt 3 which has a few too many mistakes but Emily loves it and straight away took it and started cuddling – even before I finished sewing it up.

She looks pretty happy with it, she took it to bed so there is no close up which is just as well.  So I finally sewed on the face in different colours, tried to do it on the machine but didn’t work so well so I ended up hand sewing the mouth.  I now realise why the pocket is double up material and should be put on upside down.  The tail didn’t get sewn on while I was sewing it together so I ended up sewing it on when I was sewing up the close after stuffing ( I also tried doing this on the machine as was too lazy to do it by hand – next time DO BY HAND!)

But it is soft, squashy, lovable. I wish I had a photo of Emily wearing the sleeping bag now to put next to it 😉