Snickerdoodle Creations

Moving out and Closing Down...

2011-05-19T18:56:00.000+10:00

Our house looks like a bomb site. There are boxes EVERYWHERE and there still seems to be so much more to pack. I have held off as long as I could, but last night I packed up the very last box of my craft things (although I still do have some little craft projects out so that I can work on those until we move on out). It is a little bit sad packing to leave this house, but I'm sure the new house will be absolutely fantastic:

I am also a little bit sad to announce that I will be closing down the Snickerdoodle Creations blog forever! For a while now I have been feeling as though the Snickerdoodle Creations name has become a little stale and that generally, I haven't achieved what I set out to do under this name. So, it's time to get serious and start a new blog, with new plans and ideas (you didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you!)

So it is with great excitement that I announce the new blog, known as ‘Bok Bok B’Gerk’. Yep, it’s a little crazy, but I think it is a fitting name given what I have in store for you all!

You’re probably wondering what will change. Well, to be honest, probably not a lot – but you will see more of a focus on eco-friendly crafting, a new etsy store selling items made from a combination of new and recycled goods and hopefully some guest posting from other like-minded crafters around the world!

Because the blog will have a new URL (http://bok-bok-bgerk.blogspot.com) it means that you will need to become a follower again so pop on over, say "hello" and press the "Follow" button - you know the drill.

I am hoping to start blogging properly over at Bok Bok B'Gerk next week, but that will be dependent on when our internet is connected at the new house. I promise I'll drop in as soon as I can though!

Anyway, thank you for reading the Snickerdoodle Creations blog. I hope that you will continue to follow my zany crafty creations over at Bok Bok B'Gerk!

Jo Totes

2011-05-11T09:23:00.001+10:00

I didn’t get around to writing a mother’s day post, mainly because I was too busy on the day, but I do hope you all had a fun filled, relaxing day, getting spoiled by those you love!

I certainly got spoiled. Matty and Little Snicker gave me a Jo Tote for mother’s day. Isn’t the colour fantastic!

For those of you who don’t know what a Jo Tote is – it’s a camera bag designed for women who don’t want to carry around a bag that looks like it came from your grandpa’s wardrobe.

What I love most about the bag is the fact that not only can I fit my Digital SLR camera and the spare lens in there, I can also easily fit my purse, mobile phone, a couple of nappies, the wipes container and I STILL have room in there! Check out these movable compartments (no, this isn't my bag):

Photo courtesy of Jo Totes

Perhaps the best part about the bag is that it allows me to have my camera with me whenever I’m out, which means I can get pictures like this:

And this:

Hmmm, perhaps that isn't such a good thing lol! I think he's trying to lick my camera - crazy kid!

Felt Elephant Applique

2011-05-06T14:24:00.000+10:00

Remember a while ago I made a crocheted blanket? It was always intended for our next baby, which will of course be arriving in a couple of months. Since the blanket I made for Little Snicker had an owl appliqued on it, I figured I should applique something on this one. So I did... a cute little elephant:

I hadn't ever used wool felt before, but The Ballarat Patchwork Shop has the most awesome colours in a larger than usual size for a mere $4.50, so I decided to give it a whirl. I don't think I'll EVER go back to using acrylic again. Look at the fantastic colour range available:

This blanket sets the tone for the new nursery theme, which is Vintage Circus. I cant' wait until we move house so that I can get stuck into creating the new nursery (after I recreate Little Snicker's owl themed room of course!

Owl Mobile Sale - Ends 22nd May

2011-05-04T01:43:00.003+10:00

The owl mobiles are on sale! Like, drastically on sale! So pop on into the store and pick one up for a mere $AU45! Geepers… that’s almost half price!

They’re only going to be in the store until the 22nd of May, so if you want one you better grab one quick because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Book : Big Little Felt Universe

2011-04-29T19:33:00.003+10:00

Imagine my delight when I arrived home from a terrible day at work earlier this week to find this on my doorstep:

I ordered it via book depository the week before and was surprised it arrived so soon, given the longer than usual Easter break here in Australia this year. Better than that was the fact it only cost $16.95, which is pretty damn cheap for a craft book!

Anyway, the book is full of crazy creations all made out of felt. Like this camping set:

This tool set (complete with tool belt):

And this crazy grill and hamburger set, which is probably my favourite!

Unfortunately it is going to be a while before I get to make anything from the book, since I really should be doing other, more responsible, things.... Like packing *sigh*

Apple Pie

2011-04-27T19:16:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I had the urge to bake and since I had an abundance of apples and a long seated desire to try my hand at making a 'lattice' out of pastry, I decided to make an apple pie:

Hmmm... looks good. Shame it didn't taste all that great, even with lashings of cream!

Happy Easter (and a quick Easter Present tutorial)

2011-04-21T06:20:00.008+10:00

Just a quick post today to wish you all a:

and to show you a nice and easy Easter present idea:

To make, simply cover up the label of an empty egg carton with Easter themed scrapbooking paper:

Print off a "Happy Easter" label (like in the first picture) on your computer and adhere it to the top of the carton (mine would have been a bit fancier if most of my crafting stuff wasn't all packed up ready to move house next month):

Cut some tissue paper into short strips, separate and scrunch:

Pop that inside the egg carton:

Fill the egg carton up with creme/caramel/praline filled eggs (or a mixture of all three):

Make up a little gift tag:

Use bakers twine to tie the egg carton closed and to thread your gift tag on to and ta-da... all done!

Now I just need to keep them hidden from Matty until Sunday!

Easter is upon us!

2011-04-19T14:30:00.005+10:00

Hello everyone! I am back.... well at least a little bit back. I have been working on some stuff and realised that it wasn't fair that I was keeping it all to myself, so here I am, making an effort to blog at least a couple of times a week.

As Easter is approaching (perhaps a little faster than I'd like), I decided I should make Little Snicker an Easter t-shirt. So I drew this lame little sketch of a robot wearing rabbit ears, scanned it into my computer to do some image manipulation and then popped it onto a tshirt using an iron on transfer.

Here's how it turned out:

and here's a close up of the design so you can see my awesome drawing skills:

It's true by the way. Robots do dig Easter too. No discrimination against robots in this household!

Some exciting news!

2011-02-22T08:53:00.002+11:00

I know I said I wasn't going to update the blog for a while, but I couldn't not pop in to let you all know that we are expecting our second child in September! We are so excited!

I must say that I have been soooooo sick this time round and that is part of the reason why I had to stop updating the blog. I am literally falling in a heap of a night, too sick to do anything! I am certainly hoping that passes soon.

Anyway I am working on some crafty things for the new nursery, and taking photos as I go, so once I have more time to update the blog I will have a million things to show you!

I hope you are all well
xox

The post I've been putting off.......

2011-02-08T18:33:00.003+11:00

Well I have been putting this post off for a while, hoping that I wouldn't have to write it. But, when one is working a full time job, trying to run a household and also have a bit of a life, I guess it is inevitable that something is going to have to give.

So, for a little while (hopefully not TOO long) I will not be updating the blog. I simply don't have enough hours in the day to do everything I want AND maintain the site.

I thank you all for reading and for your support and I hope that you will continue to be a follower. I promise I will be back, I'm just not exactly sure when......

Crocheted Blanket

2011-01-24T06:13:00.001+11:00

I know it's been a while! Life has just been a little more stressful than it's needed to be over the last two weeks, so crafting has kind of been pushed to the back burner.

I have, however, been working on the crocheted blanket and am pleased to report it is now finished:

Well, except for all of those tiny little ends that need to be sewn in still. I guess that's the worst part about crocheting in stripes!

In other news, I am returning to work full-time as of today. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I'm pretty sure waking up at 3.45am will make the day feel twice as long as it needs to!

Ahoy there!

2011-01-10T19:47:00.012+11:00

I trust that you all had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We surely did, but I must say that I may have enjoyed the break from blogging just a little too much! It was nice to just relax a bit and to spend time with our family.

Little Snicker had a most wonderful Christmas (even though he didn't really know what was going on) and I was very pleased that he was not overly spoiled! He didn't really understand the concept of presents, but he seemed happy enough having a taste of them all when he thought no-one was watching:

I'm pretty sure his favourite part of Christmas though, was getting wear crazy stuff like santa hats:

reindeer ears:

and the awesome matching Christmas t-shirts his mother made for the family (I think this is going to be an ongoing tradition):

So what does this year hold for me and for the blog? To be honest, I have absolutely no idea!

I am returning to work full time in just under two weeks, so I'm a little nervous about being able to fit everything in...but I am at least going to give it a shot.

I can tell you that I do have some pretty cool stuff lined up, so I hope you'll continue to follow my journey through 2011!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T09:54:00.004+11:00

Well it's time for me to pack up the blog for another year and wish you and your family a safe and happy Christmas and New Years period:

As Matty and I will be celebrating 5 years of marriage in early January, I will not be returning to the blogging world until the week commencing January the 10th, 2011.

But before I go, I would like to give a big shout out to my Mum who turns 50 on this lovely Christmas Eve! Happy Birthday Mum!

Tutorial : Biscuit Station

2010-12-24T09:53:00.001+11:00

Gosh the days have been flying on by and I have only just finished everything I need to do in time for Christmas!

I had great plans of popping in here with some last minute gift ideas, however those plans were foiled when the present I chose to make my sister took twice as long as I had hoped (isn't that always the way!)

While I can't show you a lot of the things I have been making this week, I can show you this tutorial on how to make a biscuit station for your Christmas guests! You could use this at any time during the year though, if you chose a non-specific paper for your lids.

Anyway, what is a biscuit station? Well, it's a fancy term used to describe a set of glass jars with screw lids that you fill up with biscuits for your Christmas guests. That way, if the guests get hungry, they can just help themselves.

You Will Need:
Some suitable glass jars with a screw top lid. (I picked mine up for $3 each at the local reject type store)
Door knobs, for the top of the jars
Scrapbooking paper (for the lids of the jar)
Mod Podge
Spray paint
Cardstock that matches the colour of the spraypaint (for the labels)

Instructions:

Take your glass jars and remove the lids:

Drill a hole in the centre of each of the lids that is big enough to fit the screw for your door knob:

Spraypaint the lids. I painted my lids 'coffee cream', however the weather was so terrible on the day that I did it, they don't look anything like that colour. You will need to spray them with 4 coats to make sure they are adequately covered:

Next, cut a circle of Christmas paper, slightly smaller than the top of the lid and use mod podge to stick it in place. Once dry, mod podge over the top to seal it (I have no idea why this photo keeps uploading sideways!):

Screw your door knobs to your lids. You might need some 'manly' help for this one to ensure that they are on tight enough. If they are not on tight enough, they will come undone when someone tries to open the jar:

Next, take your cardstock and make some labels for the front of your jars. Adhere them to the front of the corresponding jar and then fill the jars with some biscuit-y goodness!

Oh noes....someone stole the Pfeffernusse! Kidding... we just hadn't gotten any yet!

A Labour of Love

2010-12-16T20:37:00.007+11:00

It is finally time to show you how the Redwork Christmas quilt turned out (minus the binding which I am still doing):

This is the top of the quilt a little closer:

This is the middle bit:

And this is the bottom bit:

Because the green on the 'fa-la-la-la-la' material was hard to match, I chose the backing fabric in a red to tie in with the redwork:

Here are all the redwork blocks a little closer too.

A fire, set and all ready to be lit:

A snowman to remind us that Christmas only comes once a year!

The block I was doing while I was in labour with Little Snicker:

A tasty gingerbread house (unfortunately you can't eat this one!):

Some reindeer to pull Santa's sleigh:

and some funny little elves, packing up santa's sack:

Matty's aunty did a BRILLIANT job of quilting it together for me. Since I am definitely NOT a quilter, I was glad that she just worked with what I had and didn't complain at all that my piecing together of the materials may have left a little to be desired!

Ahhh... so glad for it to be pretty much finished, yet so sad!

A quick catch up....

2010-12-16T09:42:00.005+11:00

This week has been busy. REALLY busy. I am also having an issue with my USB card reader where it won't let me look at any photos on my SD card unless I reboot my laptop. Yes, it is as annoying as it sounds and has meant that I haven't wanted to blog so much.

But here I am now, ready to catch you up on what I've been doing this week.

On Sunday I harvested some onions and some snow peas from our garden:

Matty thought the onions looked like baby quails. I didn't have the heart to tell him that you don't grow quails in vegetable gardens ;)

I also did a bit of crocheting, only to find out that I still have tension issues (you think I'd learn that tension issues are NOT going to fix themselves as you go on):

On the upside, I am now happy with the colours...although this photo really doesn't do them justice:

I worked on making some Christmas presents:

and finished making my Christmas Cards:

along with some matching Gift Tags:

I did the Christmas Baking:

and decorated the gingerbread people before packing them all up ready to go to my mum's for Christmas:

I made a few of my dearest friends (who have bothered to take time out of their busy lives to come and visit often) some gingerbread houses:

and for those friends with kids, I made them a gingerbread house kit so they could put it together as a family:

As well as all that, the Christmas quilt was returned to me just about completed.... but I think that deserves it's own post.

I'll be back later on to share some more goodness!

Paper Cutting

2010-12-10T21:53:00.006+11:00

So I showed you this snippet yesterday of something that I'd been working on:

Did you guess what it was?

It is a paper cutting that I designed and cut by hand especially for the newborn son of one of my most loveliest friends:

It's a wishing tree, filled to the brim with of lots of wishes for a healthy life filled with love, hope, success and happiness!

Expect to see some more paper cuttings soon, as it is one VERY addictive craft!

A 'Bits-of' Day

2010-12-09T21:09:00.005+11:00

Today was a 'Bits-of' Day...

Bits of this:

Bits of that (finally it's straight):

and even a little bit of this as well (more about this one in the coming days):

Idea's Journal

2010-12-08T09:06:00.003+11:00

I'll admit that it has been pretty quiet in here the last couple of days, but... I promise I have been crafting and not just lazing around, watching TV and eating chocolate (ok, there might have been a little of that as well!)

Unfortunately I can't share what I've been working on as it has involved a lot of Christmas present making and I don't want to spoil the surprise in case one of the recipients should happen to read my blog.

What I can show you though, is my idea's journal. I've been keeping for a while now and it basically houses a whole heap of ideas for things that I would like in my next house.

The journal itself is just an A4 sized visual diary designed for sketching in. I have broken mine into the following sections - Kitchen, Living Area, Bedrooms, Outdoors and Craft Room.

Here is a picture from the 'Living Area' section:

Once I put the pictures in, I write down what I like about certain images, any ideas I have that compliment the pictures I've chosen, or the actual cost of an item I might like to purchase.

In addition to images, I also glue fabric and paint swatches in:

Some images have inspired me to start collecting things (although I'm going to collect coffee and tea pots rather than espresso cups):

The only thing wrong with my idea's journal is it's cover:

Ergh.. it is soooo boring and really doesn't give you any hint to the goodness that lies inside. I think I might have to do something about that!

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Crocheted Blanket (Update #2)

2010-12-03T14:33:00.004+11:00

I have been trying to crochet a blanket with granny stripes, but I have to admit it is getting the better of me.

First I had issues with the colours and then I had issues with the size. Now I have tension issues. Significant tension issues:

I kind of hoped that it would fix itself as I went on, but as you can see it is definitely semi circle in shape!

Oh well, I've changed my mind on the colours again anyway! Back to the beginning I go!

Tutorial : Vintage Inspired Wooden Christmas Blocks

2010-12-02T09:23:00.008+11:00

Today I am trying to get in to the spirit of Christmas, so I made a tutorial to show you how to make some vintage-inspired wooden Christmas blocks:

You will Need:
Wood to cut into squares for the blocks
Acrylic paint and brushes
A computer and printer
A piece of cardstock
A craft knife
A glue that dries tacky
A sander with a fine grit sandpaper

Instructions:
First you will need to cut up some wood to use as blocks. You can make these any size you like, so long as they are square. The ones I have made are 4cms x 4cms and are made out of pine. Give them a paint in your chosen colour (this is the colour that the letters will be):

I was originally going to make a green 'noel' set and a red 'joy' set, but I lost one of my red blocks!

Anyway, you will need to use your computer to print out the word that you want to put on your blocks (in my case, 'Noel'). It is important that you print it out on cardstock as normal 80gsm copy paper will not be strong enough for the upcoming steps. Once you've printed out the word using a font that you like, carefully cut each of the letters out:

Coat the back of each of the letters with a glue that dries tacky (I've used Bostik's 'Glu Tack') and leave to dry for around 5 minutes:

Then place them in position on the blocks:

Next, begin painting the block with your main colour, making sure you remove the printed cardstock letters before the paint dries. You can do this by using your craft knife to pry the letters off:

This is what happens if your letters are not left to go tacky. The cardstock sticks pretty bad:

Not to worry, it'll all work out in the end!

Continue to paint the main colour of the blocks until all sides are painted. This takes a little while as you will need to wait for the paint to dry before painting the underside. If you find that your paint is not covering well (as in the picture below), you will need to continue to paint the blocks until a nice even coverage is obtained:

Once the painting is all finished, you should end up with blocks that look something like this:

They look pretty ordinary at the moment, but once you load up your sander with a fine grit sandpaper and give them a good going over, they take on quite a nice vintage feel. Give them a coat of mod podge to seal them and you're done!

Tutorial : Vegetable Garden Markers from Old Spoons

2010-11-30T09:43:00.010+11:00

Today I am going to show you how to make markers for your vegetable garden, using old spoons.

You Will Need:
Some old silver spoons
A hammer (or rubber mallet)
A black permanent market
A set of alphabet metal stamps
A piece of steel wool
A piece of steel, or something hard to hammer the spoons flat on

Instructions:
As these markers are for the garden, it doesn't matter what condition the silverware is in. I used some pretty crusty ones I picked up at a garage sale. I got 30 spoons for $3!

First you will need to flatten the spoons. I did this by placing my spoon on top of a piece of steel and then whacking it with a hammer:

Hammering it in this way will leave marks (like in the picture below), so if you don't want the marks you are best to use a rubber mallet instead and wrap your spoon in a piece of cloth (which is how I flattened the spoons for the coat rack)

You will need to turn your spoon over periodically to flatten it out successfully. I sometimes need to turn the spoon over a good 8 or 9 times, so don't give up too early! Eventually it will be flat, like this:

Once your spoon is flat, grab a black permanent marker and place large dots where you want your letters to be. This helps the letters to stand out once stamped in. As I am making a marker for 'lettuce', I have placed 7 dots on the spoon.

Next, place the spoon on top of the piece of steel. I clamp it all to the bench so that it doesn't move around too much during the next step.

Take your metal stamps and your hammer and punch the word into the top of the spoon.

Next, get a piece of steel wool and buff away at the black marker until it disappears.

Now make as many markers as you need and then pop them in your garden!

Christmas Sale

2010-11-27T07:01:00.003+11:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that until December the 25th 2010 you can get 20% off all items in the Etsy Store, by entering the coupon code 'CHRISTMAS' at the checkout!

Enjoy!

The New Vegetable Garden

2010-11-26T09:44:00.006+11:00

I am taking it easy now that the redwork quilt has been pieced together. It's on it's way to Murray Bridge in South Australia to be quilted by Matty's very talented Aunt. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Anyway, I thought today would be a perfect day to show you how my veggie garden is coming along this time round.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember my failed attempt at growing veggies earlier this year. I'm happy to say that this lot is going much better, which is funny since I went to a lot less effort and simply planted the seeds directly into the raised beds:

As you can see the snow peas are growing out of control:

And I think some of the lettuce is almost big enough to harvest:

I can even see some little tiny onions:

But unfortunately it looks as though my broccoletti has gone to flower:

I'm not sure how that happened. I'm out there every day and it didn't look like it was ready to harvest, then BAM... flowers!

I also have some zucchini, tomatoes and capsicum in the beds, but they don't look like they're really taking off.

So long as I get to eat one thing out of my garden this year, I'll be a happy chappy!

Coat Rack

2010-11-24T20:53:00.009+11:00

Do you ever have a brilliant crafting idea only to find when it comes to the execution, it doesn't turn out as awesome as you thought it might have?

That's exactly what happened with my idea for a coat rack.

The original plan was to include my paper ephemera collection on the backing board and use a set of spoons I found while 'thrifting' as the hooks.

Turns out that the ephemera really looked quite awful. So awful in fact, that I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture for you! The spoons, however, were an awesome idea!

Anyway, as per usual, I focused on other projects constantly thinking about the coat rack and trying to find something that would be more suitable on the backing board. I couldn't seem to stop thinking about using stuff from my travels, so when Matty mentioned that I could use my coin collection, I thought it was a swell idea!

First I made the backing board for the coat rack from a piece of pine that I spray painted black:

I then washed and dried my coin collection before stacking the coins in order from smallest to largest, to make it easier to locate the right sized coin:

Meanwhile we flattened out the spoons by putting them on a piece of steel and banging them with a rubber mallet. We then drilled holes in them to attach them to the board at even intervals:

Once the spoons were attached, I had fun arranging my coins onto the backing board (this actually took a lot longer than I expected it would):

I then carefully glued them in place:

To fix it to the wall, Matty removed the spoons on each end and bolted the board directly into the wall studs. Once the spoon handles were bent, the coat rack was complete!

There are so many interesting coins on there, from countries all around the world!

Just perfect for a mummy-sized coat, a daddy-sized coat and a Little Snicker-sized coat:

Guess I better find another project for the ephemera!

The last stitch

2010-11-22T21:42:00.006+11:00

Well it's official... the redwork on the Christmas quilt is finished!

I was so excited I took a picture of the final stitch:

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the stitching part being over.... Elated, relieved, forlorn? Possibly a combination of all of those.

I'm actually wondering what I'm going to do of an evening now that it's all over, but I'm sure I'll find something.

The next task is piecing it all together and then having it quilted by machine. I'm hoping it's going to look as good when it's done as I think it's going to!

Christmas Cards

2010-11-18T08:43:00.008+11:00

Last year a most treasured friend of mine gave me this book titled '50 Christmas Things to Make and Do':

Every time I flick through it, I am always drawn to this one particular page featuring printed snowmen (I'm really not sure why!):

Since it's time to start making Christmas Cards, I decided that I would try the technique out:

I'm pretty pleased with how the first one turned out. In fact, I think I like it much better than the version in the book!

Vintage Truck Pincushion

2010-11-17T13:49:00.004+11:00

This morning I turned this vintage truck:

Into this super cool pincushion:

Want one of your own? Find the instructions on the Just Something I Made blog

100 things about me!

2010-11-16T11:01:00.008+11:00

Just for a bit of fun, I thought I'd put together a list of 100 things about me.

1. My favourite colour is red
2. I would eat chocolate every day if I wasn't worried about what it would do to my weight
3. I can sing well enough to carry a tune
4. I am in the process of writing a children's storybook
5. I can't hold a grudge against people for long
6. I was considered 'obese' in my teenage years
7. I have travelled to 17 different countries
8. I can play the guitar, not well, but good enough
9. I always lie about who my first kiss was with
10. I find it difficult to make and maintain friendships
11. If I had my time over I'd be a baker, specialising in slices, cakes and biscuits
12. I've only had 4 boyfriends in my lifetime
13. Technically I am an only child, but I have 2 brothers and 6 sisters
14. I performed in a local musical production of The Producers (that's me in the middle)

15. I was hospitalised with appendicitis in 2008 but it turned out it was a tumour the size of a grapefruit in my belly
16. I am constantly thinking. My mind never stops
17. I believe that moths are butterflies who have had their souls sucked out by the devil (hence why they have no colour)
18. I will not eat sausages, even though I love the smell of them cooking!
19. My favourite all time movie is The Labyrinth
20. I had a childhood crush on David Bowie as a result of The Labyrinth
21. I think that liars are worse than thieves
22. My favourite band is Tool, or Pearl Jam... I can never decide.
23. I have only just realised that it doesn't matter what you look like in photos. Your kids aren't going to care about whether your hair or make up were done, just that there are photos of you!

24. I have never had a pet that I haven't accidentally killed or lost
25. My favourite milkshake flavour is chocolate
26. I have a list of over 100 craft projects that I want to do and that list keeps getting longer
27. I still have contact with numerous friends that I have known since I was 11 years old
28. Rolf Harris's song, Two Little Boys, will make me tear up every time
29. I once took acting classes because I was convinced that one day I could be on Home and Away.
30. I spent a year living in the UK
31. I like unexpected acts of kindness
32. I believe in God
33. The scariest movie I have ever seen is Clown House (I was 9 at the time though)
34. I really like watching car racing
35. I am pretty good at Dance Dance Revolution
36. I am a certified Park Ranger
37. My nickname at primary school was 'fly swat'
38. I only take calculated risks
39. I like to take photographs, but I am yet to work out how to use my camera properly
40. My first car was a Nissan Bluebird TRX
41. I am constantly working on becoming a better person
42. I drink too much pepsi max and coffee
43. I am working towards my family being semi self-sufficient

44. I enjoy problem solving
45. I once hang glided off The Remarkables while holidaying in New Zealand
46. I am not a strong swimmer
47. I wish I had a breakfast machine like Pee Wee Herman in the movie 'Pee Wee's Big adventure'
48. I have only started caring more about the environment in the last 2 years
49. I am a project manager in my professional life
50. I once killed a yukka plant which was given to me as a housewarming gift, apparently because it couldn't be killed!
51. I like motherhood more than I expected I would

52. I moved out of home for the first time when I was 16 years old
53. I have always been able to save money
54. I have a Bachelor of Computing degree, which has actually come in handy
55. I wish I had a pet lamb
56. I have no idea what I'd name our next child if it were a boy
57. I get annoyed when people let others down
58. I view sleeping as a recreational hobby
59. My hair is naturally grey *sigh*
60. I am always threatening to run away to join the circus
61. I am inspired by other crafters in the blog world
62. I used to participate in public speaking competitions
63. I tell my husband I love him at least twice a day
64. I always carry my sense of adventure in my pocket

65. I would like to learn how to screenprint
66. I am always cold
67. I like to walk long distances
68. I am a terrible procrastinator
69. I have a strange sense of humour which is often lost on people
70. I once wrote a classical guitar piece
71. I am currently working on a problem I have with being grumpy a lot of the time
72. I always sleep with socks on and my ears covered, but never with socks on my ears!
73. I think I would be a good cheese-maker
74. I never go to bed angry
75. I refuse to spend any longer than 15 minutes cooking a meal
76. I tend to take on too much. Waaay too much!
77. I once wanted to become a NASCAR driver, because I thought I'd be a better driver than Cole Trickle (in the movie Days of Thunder)
78. The only concert I have ever been to was Indecent Obsession when they came to Ballarat. I went with my mum - lol!
79. I don't like rollercoasters
80. I really enjoyed reading the Twilight Series
81. I like to make fresh pasta but don't do it often
82. I am a morning person
83. I really love hugs so long as they are good ones!
84. Christmas is my favourite holiday
85. I like freshly cut flowers but I don't like the price of them
86. I have only recently started buying things for myself because I like them, not because I need them

87. I have a Singer sewing machine that I hate!
88. I would really like to have a daughter
89. I like my mother and father in law and enjoy spending time with them
90. I don't recycle as much as I could
91. My favourite season is spring
92. My favourite book is "Oh, the Places you'll go" by Dr. Seuss
93. I have never bought a tattslotto ticket and probably never will
94. I have terrible skin
95. I like traditions
96. I buy organic fruit, vegetables and meat because the taste is better

97. I would like to live on acreage
98. My favourite animal is an elephant
99. I would put satay sauce on everything if it wasn't so bad for you!
100. There is nothing more important to me than my family and friends

Did anything there surprise you?

Wishes in My Pocket

2010-11-16T08:52:00.005+11:00

Late last week a parcel of Pocket Wishes arrived in the mail from the States. Pocket Wishes are small wooden disks that are passed from person-to-person as a way to say 'Thank You'. You can read more about them here.

The first (and only) one I've given away was to my sister Dayle. I really wanted to give her one as she has continually kept me inspired to continue with my blog.

I often contemplate shutting the whole thing down, but the fact that Dayle bothers to read it and will then discuss my current projects with me, makes me think that the whole blogging process is at least a little worthwhile.

So thanks Dayle! :)

Distressed Chair - With a Quote!

2010-11-11T09:51:00.004+11:00

About 6 years ago a 'friend' left a pair of wooden kitchen chairs at our house after one of our parties. I figured that since I'd reminded her about the chairs a good 10 times (and she didn't come and get them), they were mine for the keeping.

So I took one of the chairs (the one on the right) and sanded it back before I painted it with a primer:

Then I painted it a brilliant shade of blue:

I was about to start the 'distressing' process, when I decided I wanted to stamp a quote into the top rung on the back of the chair. I spray painted that rung black, so that the letters would show up once they were stamped and the black paint had been sanded off:

The quote I chose was from Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world".

To stamp the quote into the wood, I used metal stamps from the automotive shop. They are typically used to stamp VIN numbers on engines, but they worked a treat on the wood. If I was going to do this again, I wouldn't have bothered with spray painting the rung on the chair. I would have simply stamped the letters and then coloured them in with a Sharpie once done.

Once the distressing process on the chair was finished (I used a mouse sander to cause the distress), I gave it a coat of a non-toxic clear coat and popped it in Little Snicker's room:

This is about the only picture I have where you can't see Matty's hands ready to spring into action if Little Snicker even looked close to falling!

Upcycled Letterbox

2010-11-10T13:33:00.005+11:00

I have been complaining about our ugly letterbox since we moved into the house 4 years ago:

So when Matty's dad advised me that he'd 'sourced' another letterbox for me, I should have been delighted. I probably would have been too, if it wasn't just as ugly!

Now the photo above doesn't really show you just how ugly and HUGE this letterbox is, but I actually considered converting it into a three bedroom condo rather than using it as a letterbox - THAT'S how big it is. But in the interest of reducing landfill and saving us money in the process, I decided to work with it.

So I spray painted it red using automotive touch-up paint:

Then I fixed some aluminium stripping (that I painted black) to the front to cover up those nasty pre-existing screw holes and screwed the number '8' to the front. Here is Matty putting the letterbox up:

It's been up for 3 days now and we have received absolutely NO mail! *sigh*

Although I guess I should be glad. At least that means there have been no bills!

Handmade Gifts Ideas for Christmas

2010-11-10T06:52:00.000+11:00

If you're looking for ideas for handmade gifts for Christmas, pop over to Craft Stew and take a look around.

They have links to some great projects and have even included a link to the Polymer Clay Buttons Tutorial I wrote a while back.

Cigar Box Storage

2010-11-09T08:36:00.004+11:00

If you haven't ever visited Cathe Holden's blog in your internet travels, I suggest you pop over there and take a look around....stat! This woman has more talent in her little finger than I could ever hope to have in a lifetime.

I think I first came across Cathe's blog when I was searching for ideas for my craft space (which I am still getting nowhere with by the way). Check out Cathe's space and you will certainly understand why I became inspired.

One of the things that caught my eye in her craft room, was the use of cigar boxes to store her supplies. I find I often mix my craft supplies together as I don't have enough of some things to justify it's own storage box. My punches and stamps are just one example of this. They are mixed in with the glitter and the quilling tools.

So, I got myself some cigar boxes at the local market:

Added a bookplate to the front to hold the label:

And this is what I ended up with - clearly labeled supplies:

in a box of just the perfect size:

I think I might have to make some more of these for sure!

Recycled Embroidery Thread Storage

2010-11-08T18:21:00.005+11:00

When I spotted a tin to hold photographic slides in at a garage sale a few weeks back, I snapped it up pretty quick for three reasons - 1. It was pretty cool, 2. They only wanted $1 for it and 3. I thought I could use it to store my embroidery threads in:

Unfortunately the standard embroidery thread cards that you buy at the craft store, were too small to fit into the slots, so I had to make my own.

To do that, I used old slides I had laying around. Boring ones, with landscape pictures that no one would ever care about. I simply cut a chunk out of both sides, like this:

and wound my embroidery thread around them. They fit wonderfully into the tin:

and will hopefully eliminate the issues I've been having with storing my embroidery thread!

And it's back to the redwork....

2010-11-04T12:43:00.003+11:00

I have been chugging away at the redwork blocks over the last couple of weeks, but I think I need to go just a tad faster to make sure that the quilt is completed in time for Christmas.

I have finished another one of the blocks:

and am now onto the final one:

I thought I would feel relief when I started stitching the last block, but this one is so detailed that I just know it's going to take at least twice as long as all the rest have.

I can't wait until this is done though, because I have a stack of tutorials I want to share with you all and I'm thinking we might even have another giveaway as a reward for all this hard work! Best get back to it...

I'm taking up a new hobby

2010-11-03T12:39:00.005+11:00

Lately, crafting has been turning into a bit of a chore. I think it is because I've had things that have simply HAD to be done, like the owl mobiles and the redwork quilt. I'm feeling unmotivated and like I'm getting no stress relief.

So in light of the above I have taken up gardening as a hobby, since it forces me to get outside and away from things for a bit.

In the week since I have taken up this hobby, I have turned this piece of weed infested garden:

into this:

Those of you with a keen eye might notice 2 things in the photo above - The huge pile of bark that I still have to spread *sigh* and perhaps more importantly....There looks to be something growing in my raised garden beds.

There may be some of you who remember last years failed attempt at growing a vegetable garden. Lets just say that this years attempt is going a lot better so far. I would have taken a photo of the garden close up for you, but this is Ballarat.... and of course that means it's raining! Maybe tomorrow.

A Parcel in the Mail

2010-10-31T11:29:00.007+11:00

On Friday, we got a parcel slip in the mail. It turned out to be Little Snicker's Christmas present:

How cool are they? A pair of pixie bookends from the ever-talented Gary of Bentsticks, who makes timeless toys out of fallen tree branches.

I think they are just perfect for holding our Enid Blyton books:

and I love how the little doors open up:

Kind of makes me want my very own set. These will be in our family for a long time to come, that's for sure!

Memory Box

2010-10-29T14:01:00.004+11:00

We have a pile of stuff from when Little Snicker was born that is just sitting in a plastic bag under my craft table - cards, his id bracelets from hospital, pieces of paper with his footprints on them...the list goes on and on.

I was worried that the bag would either get mistaken for rubbish and thrown out, or that the things inside it would get ruined, so I decided to make a memory box.

First I got a wooden box we had laying around the house and I painted it blue and red:

Then I went to the scrapbooking shop and was delighted to find that there was a whole heap of papers to choose from that had 'boyish' themes (unlike when you go fabric shopping and you struggle to find anything for a boy!).

I chose this paper and cut a whole heap of 1.5 inch strips from it, joined them together and then glued them around the base of the box:

Luckily, the paper I chose also had a coordinating page with matching animals, stars and some other bits and bobs that I could use for the lid:
On my way out of the store I spotted some chipboard letters, so I grabbed some so I could put his name on the vacant bit on the lid. I am in the middle of painting them up now:

I think Little Snicker was a little surprised that his mother finally tackled a nice and easy craft project:

But I'm sure he loves how it turned out.

It's duck season at our house!

2010-10-28T09:11:00.006+11:00

Every year at about this time we start hearing a faint 'honking' noise at all hours of the night. Usually it's not too long after this starts that we have our first duck sighting:

I think it's pretty amazing that we live in a reasonably built up area, yet we still have wild ducks wandering through our yard. Unfortunately Little Snicker is a bit too young to understand all the excitement as I dash to put my shoes on, grab him a hat and run outside to look at them before they disappear. Maybe next year he might get excited.

I have to say though, that these wild ducks are nowhere near as cute as the ducks my lovely friend Rach of Picklebug Designs has! She has her own mini farm going on and also makes some awesome glass pendants. You should swing by her blog and take a look!

Upcycled Denim Skirt Bag

2010-10-27T06:31:00.005+11:00

A while back my sisters were given some clothes from a friend and in that pile of clothes there was a ridiculously short denim skirt.

Thankfully my sisters like to dress reasonably respectable so they just laughed at the skirt and threw it to the side. I, however, picked it up and claimed that I would turn it into a bag.

So I did just that:

I put a bottom in the bag so it was a bit bigger:

I lined it with a cool fabric to make it a bit brighter:

I made a strap out of a pair of old jeans so it could be worn comfortably and put a magnetic clasp on it so it would stay closed:

and I put ruffles of the cutest umbrella fabric on the pockets, just because I could:

I listed it in the Etsy Store this morning and it's gone already - to a lovely blog reader :)

And in other news, one of the sock owls made it into the "Hoo Luvs Ya" Etsy Treasury! Make sure you have a bit of a looksie at all the other cute owl stuff

More stock in the Etsy store

2010-10-26T21:30:00.004+11:00

There is a new supply of owl mobiles in the Etsy store.

Go on check them out - you know you want to!

Magnetic Blackboard

2010-10-26T13:20:00.004+11:00

Now that the market is over I can concentrate more on other crafts.

The first craft I wanted to tackle was painting a piece of 3mm thick MDF with Resene's 'Magnetic Magic' and then a topcoat of Dulux's 'Chalkboard Paint' to make a magnetic blackboard for my pantry door:

Once it was dry, we needed to rub over the entire surface with chalk and wash it off before it was ready for use. I nearly used my whole box of chalk just on this!

Now that it's up, my pantry door has gone from this:

To this:

I still need to get some magnets for it, but I have tested the strength of the magnetic paint with just an ordinary, boring fridge magnet and I'm pretty happy with how good it holds.

I used 3 coats of the magnetic paint and 2 coats of the blackboard paint and it works a treat!

Off to Market...

2010-10-21T13:26:00.005+11:00

It has been so long since my last post, but with good reason! I am getting ready to go to the Buninyong Makers Market this coming Saturday:

So many owls.....

My table will be right next door to Jenn, who owns The Cake Bakeshop in Main Road. I haven't tried her cupcakes yet, but I have heard some pretty fantastic things about them. I don't think I'll even bother trying to resist them!

I hope we'll see you at the Market this Saturday. Make sure you pop on by and say "hello!"

Weekend Garage Sales

2010-10-10T10:19:00.002+11:00

On the weekend we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and travel around to some garage sales in our area.

Unfortunately by the time we got home from Little Snicker's swimming lesson and he had a sleep it was after 11am, so most of the garage sales had either finished up or had next to nothing left.

The first few we went to were really lame, but then we found one that was selling all kinds of junk and I managed to pick up this awesome tin for a mere 50 cents!

His hat is the lid of the tin. I'm not sure what I'm going to store it in, but it is pretty nifty.

Anyway, we were just about done with the garage sales with only one left to go. When we got there they said that 1/4 of the stuff had already gone, but we might still find something good.

I managed to find a tin to store photographic slides in and on a whim I picked up a pillowcase as I had wanted to try making a pillowcase dress for quite some time. Little did I know, that simple action would lead to the mother-load of all bargains!

When I went to pay for my goods, the lady asked me if I was interested in fabric since I'd picked up a single pillowcase. After saying that I was, she informed me that she had some bags of fabric inside but hadn't bothered putting them out. She came back with these two big bags:

Matty rolled his eyes, knowing that we could be there for quite a while as I sorted through them, so he asked how much they wanted for the two bags. When they said "Twenty Dollars" we snapped up their offer pretty quick, even though we had no idea what was really in them (and I think that was half of the thrill).

The bag on the left was full of various vintage style fabrics (ginghams, seer sucker and some crazy paisley prints):

and the other was filled with haberdashery items.... like good quality zippers, with the price tag of .20 cents still attached (this is about a quarter of the zippers in the bag):

There were metres and metres of different types of elastics:

and even a tin of crochet cotton, among so much other stuff!

Next week we are planning to hit a couple of garage sales BEFORE we go to Little Snicker's swimming lesson. Who knows what we'll come home with!

Craft Tote

2010-10-07T14:00:00.003+11:00

In between sewing sock owls and stitching the redwork quilt, I have also been doing a lot of sewing on the machine.

Quite a while ago I found this lovely set of tea towels in Target and I simply had to have them. I'm not sure why... I never intended to put them into my 'tea towel circulation' since they definitely do not match my kitchen!:

Anyway, a few months after buying them I had an idea for making a craft tote, as I was sick of using plastic bags to transport my crafts when I went to other places (like my mum's). While I was hunting for the material to make it out of, I stumbled across the tea towels.

They were perfect for my bag, but there was one problem - I wanted my bag to be lined and I didn't have anything that even came close to matching the tea towels. As per usual, I put that craft idea on the back burner and focused on some other projects.

Another 6 months passed and I was really getting sick of using the plastic bags. I'm sure you can imagine my delight when my lovely sister (one of many) bought me back some fabric from her trip to Japan. What better material to line my bag with (isn't it beautiful!):

Out came the tea towels and I sketched down my design and started cutting and sewing away. After about an hour of sewing, I had a completed craft tote:

I must say I am absolutely in love with it and those that have seen it have also said how lovely it is. The thing that I love most of all, is how the lining really comes to life when I open up my bag. No boring old craft tote for me!

Embroidery Thread Dilemma

2010-10-05T20:59:00.009+11:00

This week I am busy making Sock Owl Mobiles for the upcoming Buninyong Makers Market.

While this should be a pleasant and relaxing task, my current embroidery thread storage method is making it a little less enjoyable:

Yep... I store all of my embroidery thread in a great big knotted mess, along with all other sorts paraphernalia.

So far, while I've been untangling this enormous pile of thread, I have encountered 3 needles, 2 buttons, endless pieces of scrap felt and a piece of clear elastic *sigh*. Time to put everything on hold and get this sorted out.

How do you store your embroidery thread?

Day Off!

2010-10-02T07:47:00.004+10:00

Yesterday Little Snicker spent the day with his Nana. While he was there I did a little of this:

A little of that:

Then some of this:

And while I didn't manage to actually finish anything, I felt that the day was very relaxing and productive!

Project #23 - Tilt scale photography

2010-09-28T14:40:00.009+10:00

Every now and then I look at my unfinished project list and sometimes I actually find the inspiration to tackle one of the items on it.

Today, I thought I might have a go at creating a tilt scale photograph using a photo I took when Matty and I went on a holiday to New Zealand in 2008.

While we were in New Zealand we took close to 2500 photos (and we all know how boring holiday snaps are!). As more and more months went by, we found ourselves struggling to remember why we actually took half the photos we did. We had good intentions of getting the photos printed off but, well, we never seemed to get around to it.

So I thought I'd like to at least print off and display my favourite photo from that trip: A picture of a cable car in Wellington:

I'm not really sure why I like it so much. Perhaps a combination of the colours in the photo and the fact that took us to a scenic lookout with panoramic views of the city below.

Lets face it though - it's not the most imaginative, awe inspiring shot. It is, indeed, just another holiday snap.

So a while back I trawled the net looking for some photoshop tutorials that would enable me to spice it up a tad and make it just a little more interesting. During my travels I came across this tutorial on Tilt Scale (or Tilt Shift) Photography and today I gave it a whirl.

After about 10 minutes of playing around (mainly trying to work out photoshop) I was done and the end result was the image below:

See how it now looks like a cable car that you would expect to see if you were visiting a miniature world! Kind of cool really.

Now it's just a question of whether l actually ever get around to printing this new, improved version of the photo off!

Stripey Crocheted Blanket

2010-09-27T09:47:00.007+10:00

Because I'm taking a few days off from the redwork quilt (just a few!), I decided that I needed another craft to do while sitting in front of the television of a night.

I have been toying with the idea of crocheting a blanket with stripes for a while now, so I figured I might as well make a start on that since wool is currently on sale everywhere at the moment.

In order to make the blanket the same size as Little Snicker's Pram Blanket, I will need to crochet 16 balls of wool. All up the blanket will cost me around $40 to make, which isn't too bad for a 100% wool blanket that will last (hopefully) a lifetime!

I am always surprised at how easy and therapeutic crocheting is. Up until now I have only ever crocheted granny squares, but using the same stitches in a different fashion is allowing me to create a nice, modern blanket.

If you've always wanted to crochet but didn't know where to start, I suggest you pick up a copy of 'The Art of Crochet'. The easy to follow instructions will have you crocheting like a pro in no time!

Redwork Christmas Quilt (Update #7) - All Redworked Out!

2010-09-24T10:28:00.004+10:00

As you know I have been busying myself with the latest redwork quilt block. I am pleased to say that this block (which is EXTREMELY detailed) is almost finished!

I still need to satin stitch a few areas as well as the outer border, but then it will be all done - Hooray!

I think I will need a bit of a break from the redwork for a few days once this block is completed, so I might actually manage to show you all some other craft projects I have on the go at the moment.

Ramblings of a crazy lady!

2010-09-23T13:54:00.005+10:00

Since the majority of my time this week has been spent working on the Christmas Quilt, I have had a lot of time for thinking. I have thought about what the future holds for us, I have thought about the things I'd like to be doing and I have thought about the things I should be doing - like cleaning the house!

I would be surprised if I ever found anyone that 'truly' loved cleaning their house. I mean, surely there are better things that a person could be doing rather than spending time scrubbing, sweeping and dusting?

There is one particular household chore that I absolutely LOATHE doing and that is cleaning the microwave. I will avoid it at all cost. I would rather scrub the toilet with a toothbrush than clean the microwave.

When my lunch exploded inside the microwave the other day, I was less than impressed. Just so you know I'm not exaggerating when I say 'exploded', here is a picture of the inside of the microwave:

I did clean the microwave after this event, but it got me to thinking about possible solutions to my microwave cleaning hatred and I think I've come up with possibly the best invention of all time - The disposable microwave!

Now this idea I have doesn't necessarily mean that each time you use the microwave you have to discard it and get a new one (obviously the cost of doing that would just be plain ridiculous!). I am thinking that perhaps the inside of the microwave could have layers that you simply peel off and discard to enable easy cleaning.

I realise that there are many products out there that help to avoid splatter, which typically result in the covering of your food while heating and I acknowledge that these products would also help to reduce the amount of food spraying on the inside of your microwave. But what if you're like me and you really, REALLY like to see your food while it's revolving? Obviously covering isn't going to cut it, hence why I think the disposable microwave liners could be a really great idea.

It is possible though (and more likely) that I think this is such a great idea because I am so delieriously tired.... either that or there is some sort of chemical in my embroidery thread that is seeping into my skin and causing me to go crazy. Either way, I guess a simpler solution would just be to pay someone to come in and clean it on my behalf. Anyone want to do that for $5? lol

Redwork Christmas Quilt (Update #6)

2010-09-16T11:04:00.002+10:00

Well, I did it. I managed to finish off the next redwork panel and design all of the three remaining blocks. Here is a sneak peek of how the quilt will be placed when finished (the three long pieces of paper are the new block designs):

I also managed to trace the new designs and I've even started stitching one!

You would think I'd be pleased with that, right? Well I am.... but I'm also quite, um, overwhelmed maybe? There is SO much work in the remaining three blocks!!! *sigh*

I know I could make the blocks simpler, but I don't want to feel like I cheated both myself and Little Snicker by doing that. So I guess there won't be much time for blogging for a while and if I do have time, it's going to be all about the redwork! Sorry folks!

Busy, busy, busy...

2010-09-14T21:22:00.004+10:00

I have been madly stitching away, trying to meet my goal of finishing another panel of the redwork quilt by this coming Thursday:

I am a little way off finishing and then I'll be working on the design of the remaining three panels. I must say that I am well and truly over stitching reindeers!

My Craft Space Revamp : New Craft Desk!

2010-09-09T15:10:00.005+10:00

The first real day of sunshine and I am sick in bed with a tummy bug - isn't that always the way! It has enabled me though, to take some pictures of my new craft desk that Matty so lovingly altered for me.

You may remember that my old craft desk was white with spots painted on it:

I decided that I wanted the spots gone and some minor alterations to it, since it is also to replace my computer desk due to lack of space. It is VERY cool that my monitor is actually suspended from the side of the table now, to allow for maximum space for crafting!

Matty also cut out the side of my table and put in a sliding drawer for my mouse and keyboard:

But perhaps the coolest feature of the new craft desk is this light box for tracing:

Oh new craft desk, how I love you so!

Buninyong Makers Market

2010-09-06T14:50:00.004+10:00

It's official! I am going to be a stall holder at the Buninyong Makers Market on the 24th of October. So, if you're in town on that day make sure you pop on past and say hello!

I am a little nervous about the whole market to say the least. I have never had a stall before so I don't really know what to expect.

There are so many talented people that are going to be there like Krystle from Villa Hunter, Rachel from Pictures Eat People and Jane from Janey and Kip, just to name a few.

Kind of feeling a bit out of my league here! lol

Redwork Christmas Quilt (Update #5)

2010-09-03T09:15:00.004+10:00

Last week, while I was casually perusing the magnificent range of Christmas quilting fabric at Ballarat Patchwork, a fellow shopper asked me what sort of Christmas project I was working. I began telling her about the redwork quilt I have been working on for Little Snicker.

The conversation went along fine until she asked me how much more work I had left to go on the redwork blocks. When I told her I thought I was about a third of the way completed, she scoffed and said "Guess he won't be getting it for this Christmas then?!?" The rudeness of some people!

I came home in a huff, got the redwork out and started busying myself with finishing (well, actually starting) the last block I designed. I am pleased to tell you that I have managed to finish one of the biggest blocks in the quilt in just seven days! Here is a picture of it:

Complete with it's own little Ruldolph leading the troops:

I now have a very clear idea of what the quilt is going to look like and I am left with a mere 4 oversized blocks to stitch (3 of which are still to be designed).

I am setting myself a goal of 2 weeks to have the next block stitched (which is pretty much identical to the one I just completed) and the last 3 blocks designed and traced onto my calico. If I can get that done, I think I will be well on track to finish the quilt by THIS Christmas. Suck on that lady, is all I have to say (I hope she doesn't read my blog lol!)

Smartie Cereal

2010-09-01T09:22:00.007+10:00

Have you seen the episode of the IT Crowd where Moss is eating a bowl of Smartie Cereal (Season 1 episode 6)? The dialogue goes like this:

Jen: OK. Moss, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
Moss: Smartie cereal.
Jen: Oh my God. I didn't even know Smarties made a cereal.
Moss: They don't. It's just Smarties in a bowl with milk.

We have been talking about how awesome it would be to have a bowl of Smartie Cereal ever since this episode aired, so we decided it was time to give it a whirl.

We figured that since we were going to be eating chocolate for breakfast we might as well really go to town, so we made chocolate bowls the night before to put our Smartie Cereal in!

To make the chocolate bowls, I melted up some chocolate. Then I spooned a little onto a piece of aluminium foil (this forms the base of the bowl):

Then I dipped a balloon into the chocolate:

And then sat the balloon on top of the chocolate on the aluminium foil:

Once the chocolate set, we popped the balloons and peeled them off the chocolate and even though they were a little rough around the edges, they served their purpose well:

With the chocolate bowls ready to go, we filled them up with Smarties and milk at around 8.30am on Sunday morning (keen, hey!). I heated my milk up, which made the middles of the Smarties and my chocolate bowl melt - it was divine!

My brother (who's bowl was made using a water bomb balloon) decided to have a moat of Smarties:

So what was the verdict? Was it at all as good as we'd hoped? HELL YES! Although it was very, very sickly lol!

Teddy Bear Restoration - Part 2

2010-08-31T08:46:00.004+10:00

I wonder where the days go. According to the date of my last post it was close to two weeks ago that I started the Teddy Bear restoration, but it only feels like a couple of days ago at the most.

I guess I have been spending a lot of time outside the house over the last couple of weeks, in an attempt to escape the continual crappy weather we have been having in our neck of the woods. It has been raining almost EVERY day and to be quite honest, it is very, VERY depressing!

Anyway, onto happier things - the Teddy Bear restoration is complete!

Last time you saw the bears, they needed to have their heads sewn on. So this morning, I did just that.

First I hand stitched a zig zag around the neck line using a doll's needle threaded with a three ply thread:

Then I stitched a complementary zig zag:

Basically this enabled me to pull the strings tight in the same fashion you would if you were doing up your shoe laces. Now the heads of the bears are on nice and securely.

Here is a picture of the bears before the restoration project began:

And here they are now... fresh as a daisy:

See how they're now more of a blue colour, than a dirty blue-brown lol! They are also a LOT plumper than they were. Little Snicker is going to love these bears just like his daddy did.

Teddy Bear Restoration - Part 1

2010-08-18T09:56:00.003+10:00

On the weekend I embarked on possibly the most daunting of craft projects. You see, Matty had two teddy bears from when he was little and he wanted Little Snicker to have them. I was fine with that, except for the fact that they were two of the most manky teddy bears I have ever laid eyes on.

I considered sending them to a hospital set up especially for old bears to help them 'recover', but then I decided that I could challenge myself and attempt to restore them on my own.

So, first off I unpicked a little bit of the seam from around the bear's neck (Little Blue Bears whole head nearly fell off as he'd obviously been repaired before). Next, I removed all of the stuffing from both Big Blue Bear and Little Blue Bear:

Then I filled up my laundry trough with hot water and a mild detergent and gave them a scrub with a soft bristled brush:

Here is a picture showing you just how manky Big Blue Bear's feet were (I've cleaned the one on the left).

Once scrubbed I ran some hot water over the bears to get rid of the detergent, then I squeezed them out. If you're trying this yourself, don't wring your bears out as apparently that will do damage.

Next, they took a little siesta to dry out:

Tomorrow I will be re-stuffing the bears and sewing their heads on. Thank goodness I haven't destroyed them yet!

Project #28 - Play Mat (Update #1 - Finished)

2010-08-15T10:41:00.003+10:00

The play mat is finished AND Little Snicker seems to love it!

The robot has felt for his eyes and nose and a shiny dance costume lycra for his teeth. The lines for the teeth were made by sewing a very tight, wide zig zag stitch on my sewing machine:

His robot heart is made out of felt and has been stuffed with cellophane to make it noisy when Little Snicker leans on it!

His little robot hands are made out of corduroy which lift up. I have also stuffed then with a little bit of cellophane io make them noisy.

There are links held on by ribbon loops, which could be used to attach toys to the mat as well. Little Snicker just likes to hang on to them and shake them violently at this point:

And there is puffy material (I think you would see dressing gowns made out of this) with ribbon loops to pull at:

Here is a picture of the whole mat:

All up, it cost me around $15 to make. I may have been able to buy something for not too much more, but it was a really fun project and worth the cost.

My Craft Space Revamp : Fabric Storage

2010-08-12T22:23:00.008+10:00

I know it's been a while since I mentioned the craft space revamp and that is because I feel as though the things I have made for it are in too many different 'styles'. As such, I have decided to scrap everything I have made so far and start again.

Regardless of what 'theme' I end up with, one of the things I have needed to get sorted out is my fabric storage system. I will tell you straight up that I am indeed a little bit embarrassed to be showing you this next photo, but I think it needs to be shown so you can understand why it was becoming a problem. You see, this is how my fabric is 'stored' in my linen press:

The worst bit is that the above photo only shows you part of the stash. I have about another 4 piles of fabric that are stored in a similar fashion!

I find that my biggest problem is that I can stack the fabric into nice and neat piles, but then I destroy it because I can't easily see the fabric I need for each of my craft projects.

With that in mind I asked Daddy Snicker to build me a ladder to hold my fabric and even though he thought I was a little crazy, he trundled out to the shed and made me one:

I haven't finished putting my fabric onto the ladder yet, but here is a picture of what it looks like so far:

Pretty nifty idea, hey! As you can see, I can now find the fabrics I need a LOT easier:

As I have waaaay too much fabric to store on the ladder I am going to have to come up with some other ideas for fabric storage. Of course I will be sure to share these ideas with you in the upcoming weeks!

Recipe : Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes

2010-08-11T16:53:00.006+10:00

I know I said that this week's posts were going to be all about the things I got up to during the last two weeks, but I simply HAD to show you this:

What is it? Well it's the afternoon tea I made for our Mother's Group get together this afternoon (I know... I really out did myself!)

For a while now I have been thinking about what type of cake to make Little Snicker for his first birthday. While there is still another 6 months until the actual event, I know that it will roll around quicker than anticipated - especially with Christmas thrown in there - so I want to make sure I am prepared.

Since I don't want to start out too big and I don't want to have a 'theme' for his birthday that he might want later in life, I have decided that I will bake cupcakes and pop them onto one of the many cup cake stands I have (seriously, one person should not own so many cupcake stands!).

It stands to reason that once deciding I would be baking cupcakes for his birthday, that I would want to make sure that one of the stands I have will actually hold the kind of cupcakes I want. Our Mother's Group get together provided the perfect opportunity for a trial run.

I had been eying off a recipe for Lemon Meringue Cupcakes for quite some time, so I decided it was time to give it a whirl. You can get the recipe here:

Hmmm.... check out the middle of this baby:

I was really pleased with the end result! The cake was not too dry and the lemon curd oozed out when it broke apart. Of course, it had to be served with a large spoonful of double cream!

Since I didn't know whether Lemon Meringue would be liked by all the ladies in the Mother's Group, I also decided to make some mini 'no bake chocolate patty pans' (which is essentially individual serves of Mars Bar slice):

Overall the afternoon tea was a success, but I was left with a couple of cupcakes at the end. I guess they'll be going in the bin....lol.... yeah, right!

Wooden Play Gym

2010-08-10T20:37:00.006+10:00

A while back I ordered a wooden play gym online for Little Snicker. After waiting 8 weeks for it to arrive, I started making calls to the company asking where it was. I had no luck getting a real person, so instead opted to leave voicemail message after voicemail message. Still no return phone call.

After about the 10th phone call, I got nasty. I got out my thesaurus and looked up some big and scary words. Then I gave the company a call and threatened civil action. I know... a little over the top for a $75 play gym, but guess what! I got a call back within a couple of hours.

It turns out that the company didn't have the item I purchased in stock (even though the website said it was). So instead of calling to let tell me that, they just figured I could wait. In not so nice words, I demanded my money back and told them where they could situate my order... up their posterior, that's where.

Anyway, we were left with a problem - Little Snicker still didn't have a play gym. So Daddy Snicker (who is very handy with all sorts of wood products) decided he would make one. For a grand total of $8 worth of wood and $4.80 for paper to decorate it, Little Snicker now has his play gym.

Here is a close up of the paper used to cover the sides:

This is just standard scrapbooking paper which I have Mod Podged to the side before applying a thin layer of Mod Podge over the top to protect it.

Making this ourselves saved us a grand total of $62.20!

"Super" Nappy Covers!

2010-08-09T18:16:00.005+10:00

Yup, I've been AWOL again. But I haven't been a slacker this time round. I have been incredibly busy - I just haven't been posting. This week I am going to get you up to speed on what has been going on for the last couple of weeks.

So first off, Lincraft had a 50% off sale on all of their fabric last week. I always tend to get excited about this, until I get to the store and realise that they have absolutely nothing that I want to buy! Their fabric range is a little *blergh* to say the least. Kind of like my nana has fitted out the shop with her most favourite fabrics.... and if you know my nana, you know that isn't a pretty sight.

This time was a little different though as I did happen to find a cool flannelette print with Super Dogs on it! Other than the flannlette I only bought a metre of Pellon and a metre of wool batting... boring hey!

Anyway, I decided I would use the flannelette to make some nappy covers since I am sick to DEATH of the plastic pants we have been using. I made 4 identical nappy covers. Here is how one of them turned out:

I used the Chloe's Toes pattern (which is free) as I have used it before and found it to be a nice fit.

It was a particularly nice fit around the legs this time round since I used the proper Fold Over Elastic (FOE) as opposed to the Fitted Sheet elastic recommended to me by the local sewing shop. I found the fitted sheet elastic to be too hard and as such, it dug into Little Snicker's legs. That's why we stopped using the first lot of covers I made.

Now that I've gotten the hang of it, I plan on making a few more for the upcoming summer months when Little Snicker will most likely be hanging out in singlets and nappies. I haven't given up on the idea of using Modern Cloth Nappies, but I STILL can't get that leg elastic right!

Eating Organic

2010-07-27T21:02:00.006+10:00

One of the main goals I have in life is to be fit and healthy. As part of that I have decided that, as a family, we will eat more Organic produce. You may remember I was going to grow my own veggies, but that was a dismal failure (although I haven't given up on the whole idea yet!)

I was excited to find out that The Food Group would deliver Organic food right to my doorstep! We have purchased their Organic fruit and vegetable box for the last three weeks and I must say I am very happy with both the cost and the quality of produce in the box:

What I like most about the fruit and veggie box is that you really don't know what you're going to get (even though you do have the option to exclude certain items when you place your order). I have found that has forced me to be more inventive in my cooking, so that none of the produce is wasted.

The thing that surprised me most about the produce is that it lasts no where near as long as produce bought from the supermarket. I knew it wouldn't have as long a shelf life, but I was surprised at how little shelf life it has. Luckily we eat a lot of vegetables so it hasn't really been a problem.

While there are numerous benefits of eating organically, one of the main drivers for us has been Little Snicker starting on solids. I can't believe he is almost 6 months old! We are going to try and feed him organically for as long as possible to give him the best possible start to life.

As you can see, he really enjoys the Organic produce as well!

Recipe: Dairy and Gluten Free Apple Crumble

2010-07-26T20:46:00.003+10:00

Last week I was in need of a treat and since I don't eat dairy (because it doesn't agree with Little Snicker when the cow's milk protein reaches him via my milk) and I try not to eat gluten (because it 'binds' me up) I was a little stuck.

I took a look in the cupboard and found that I had an abundance of apples. So I decided to make my own dairy and gluten free apple crumble.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

10 apples (I used medium sized apples) stewed.
1/2 a cup of sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of gluten free flour
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of gluten free oats
3/4 cup of coconut
2/3 cup of dairy free butter (I used Nuttelex)
A dash of vanilla essence

Method:

Place stewed apples into the bottom of a suitable dish.
Combine gluten free flour, brown sugar, gluten free rolled oats, coconut and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix.
Melt dairy free butter and add vanilla essence. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well using a fork until it has a crumbly texture.
Spread crumble over the top of the stewed apple.
Bake the crumble at 180 degrees Celsius for approximately 30-40minutes, or until the topping is slightly browned.

While Matty got to enjoy his with cream, I had to miss out. The crumble was still pretty sensational though, and Matty said it tasted damn good for being dairy and gluten free!

Project #28 - Play Mat

2010-07-19T20:50:00.005+10:00

This week I am revisiting my project list and hoping to complete Number 28 ... one of the play mats for Little Snicker.

The idea is to incorporate as many different textured materials as possible to create a tactile learning ground for him. I have chosen to applique the play mat with a robot. Here is how it is looking so far:

Hopefully by this time tomorrow he will have some eyes and hands. Then I'll be adding in some ribbon loops for extra stimulation.

I am hoping that all of these different textures will encourage him to enjoy tummy time a little more - one can hope!

Bandana Bibs

2010-07-14T19:46:00.004+10:00

This week I have been madly sewing bandana bibs as the amount of drool coming out of Little Snicker is driving me BONKERS!

If you haven't ever seen a bandana bib, basically it is a triangular bib... kind of like what cowboys wear. They are much more fashionable than your traditional bib, especially for older babies.

Anyway, I figured while I was sewing some for Little Snicker I'd also sew some extras:

Once I have put the snaps on this lot I will be putting them up in the Etsy Store. Make sure you swing by and check them out!

On Strike!

2010-07-13T08:30:00.004+10:00

Wow - I can't believe that a whole week has gone by and I haven't posted. I've been meaning too but, well... I've been on strike!

That's right. No cooking or dusting, no scrubbing or washing, no sweeping or mopping - just a whole lot of nothing.

I'd love to tell you that the reason I went on strike for the week was because I was sick and tired of doing everything. That I stood out the front of our house burning my bra, while shouting to my neighbours about women's rights, equality and all that jazz. But it wasn't anything like that.

I went on strike because my milk supply dwindled to practically nothing *sigh*. Little Snicker just couldn't get enough and so would wake every 2.5 hours (if I was lucky) and want to feed for 45 minutes. It was VERY draining. So I did some research and found that taking a holiday from day-to-day tasks may just fix the problem. I was willing to give it a shot and am pleased to report that my milk is well and truly back! Yay!

So, what did I get up to while I was on strike? Well, I spent some time with my boys of course:

Made Little Snicker smile on quite a number of occassions:

And we also spent a bit of time outside blowing bubbles!

I feel very well rested and ready to get back into some craft! I hope your week was just as relaxing.

Shopping for Vintage Items

2010-07-06T20:25:00.005+10:00

I often stumble across blog posts where people have been on these amazing "thrift shop" journeys, emerging with the most spectacular of treasures. I have never been that lucky. I search and search for cool stuff at good prices, but I always come up empty handed. So last weekend I decided to change my approach. Rather than going to places like Vinnies and the Salvo's, I decided to try more out of the way places like local church op shops and antique stores.

Here is what I ended up with:

Some vintage material and 'hem facing' for a total cost of $3:

Six silver plated spoons I plan to use in an upcoming craft project which incorporates my ephemera. I got them for a total cost of $5:

This very retro copy of the classic novel Heidi. I picked this one up for $2 :

And lastly, my favourite find. A bracelet from a shop called "Blonde Vintage" in Ballarat, which cost me a whopping $4:

Matty and I have decided to start going to garage sales on the weekends when the weather is fine, so goodness knows what we could find on our travels then!

Tutorial : Afternoon Tea Keeper

2010-07-01T18:58:00.012+10:00

Last week I got creative and turned a CD spindle (you know the things your blank CD's or DVD's come on) into an afternoon tea keeper:

Here are the steps to help you make your own:

You will Need:

An empty CD/DVD Spindle
Scrapbooking paper
Mod Podge
Small hacksaw
A file
A pair of pliers
A decorative doorknob
Ribbon
A clamp

Instructions:

Find an empty CD/DVD spindle:

Take the two pieces apart and saw off the 'pole' in the base of the spindle, using a small hacksaw:

File down the rough bits caused by filing off the pole, so it becomes flush with the base:

Next, drill a hole in the top of the lid of the spindle which is large enough to get the screw of your doorknob through. It is important that this hole is drilled (and drilled slowly) as other methods of putting a hole in the lid are likely to result in the lid cracking, like this:

Take all of the pieces of your doorknob and lay them out. I picked up this beauty for a whopping $4:

Attach the knob loosely to the lid of your spindle. You need to do this to see whether the screw for the doorknob is abnormally long. If it is, it is likely to protrude into your afternoon tea so we need to cut the screw down a bit. If the screw you have for your doorknob is short, skip the next step.

Clamp the screw down to a surface that won't move and cut the appropriate amount from your screw using the small hacksaw:

Secure your doorknob to the lid of your spindle using a pair of pliers. You will need to make sure that it is tightened exceptionally well to ensure that it doesn't come undone when you are opening and closing the finished afternoon tea keeper:

Next, trace a circle onto the back of your scrapbooking paer, using the base of the spindle as a guide:

Cut out the circle and trim until it fits inside the base. Apply mod podge to the base of your spindle:

Place your cicle of scrapbooking paper on top of the Mod Podge. Use the edge of a card from your purse to smooth out any air bubbles:

Embellish the lid of the spindle using ribbon, like so:

And you're done!

The afternoon tea keeper is perfect for holding approximately 8 biscuits:

Or perhaps a delicious cupcake:

The coolest part about using a CD/DVD spindle is this:

It tells you how to lock and unlock it, so there is no need to worry that your afternoon tea will fall out while trying to operate it.

Teething band

2010-06-30T12:45:00.004+10:00

This morning while Little Snicker was asleep, I made him this teether from some fabric I had laying around. I thought this might help to stop his latest (unwanted) habit of sucking his thumb:

But the design isn't 'quite' right. If he wears it where it's designed to go (around his wrist) he won't have a bar of it as he can still quite easily suck his thumb.

So, it's better suited to be around the back of his hand, kind on near his knuckles. The only problem is that it's then no longer secured to him and that's what I liked most about having it around his wrist. I didn't want to have to worry about him dropping it on the ground and then not being able to have it back because it's germ ridden. I mean I'm all for germs and stuff, but there are germs and then there are germs (like those found on the floor at public food courts).

So, back to the drawing board I go to see if I can get a better design. I'll let you know once I've got it right!

Redwork Christmas Quilt (Update #4)

2010-06-29T16:13:00.004+10:00

It's been a while since I mentioned the redwork quilt I'm working on for Little Snicker and that's because I lost inspiration. With 6 more blocks to design it just seemed a little overwhelming and the ideas stopped flowing.

So what has motivated me to start working on it again? Well the fact that Christmas is only 178 days away, that's what - scary, I know!

So, here is a sneak peek of the block I am currently working on. It's my favourite by far:

I am hoping to have the designs finished for all of the blocks by the end of this coming weekend. That way I will just need to concentrate on the stitchery, rather than continually thinking about what the designs will be. Wish me luck!

Transferring Images using Gel Medium

2010-06-28T10:25:00.005+10:00

I must say that the use of gel medium to transfer images to a surface seemed a little too easy for my liking. I felt nervous about even trying it and was sure that it was destined for failure. I was glad to be proven wrong.

Following the tutorial put together by Ashley of Lil Blue Boo, I gathered my supplies - a paint brush, some gel medium (available from the painting aisle at Spotlight), a brayer, my image (which I just printed using our laser printer) and my surface to transfer the image to (the table the supplies are sitting on):

I then spread a layer of gel medium onto the table and placed my image on top, face down. Remember it is important to print your image in reverse, especially if there is writing involved:

I ran my brayer over the image a couple of times to make sure there were no air bubbles:

Then I waited an hour while it dried. Next, I took a wet facewasher and wet the back of the image, peeling away the paper as I went:

Ta-da! Transfer complete:

Only one small problem... I was a bit over zealous with my paper removal attempts and the Cat in the Hat lost some of his whiskers as a result:

Lesson Learned : Don't use your nails to scrape the paper off!

My Return to Work...

2010-06-25T15:39:00.005+10:00

There hasn't been much crafting going on this week, because I've been preparing to return to work today.

"Return to Work?!?!" I hear you say. Yep that's right, I have indeed returned to work....at the "Boehm Family's Funny Little Hat Store" that opened up right in my living room today:

The store stocks many different types of hats from your standard caps and beanies, through to hats for festive occasions. We also stock a range of more elaborate hats too:

Our first (and only) customer enjoyed browsing all of the hats on display from the comfort of a reclining chair:

but had to admit that he wasn't overly impressed with our range of sombrero's:

I talked him into trying on this delightful hat from the 'mum and son' range with me:

and since there was nothing else in the store that caught his eye, he decided he'd settle on that one. I couldn't help but feel though, that he was a little disappointed:

But still, he paid for his hats using the only currency allowed by the store....

Smiles!

Vintage Style Patches

2010-06-24T20:40:00.006+10:00

Today a parcel I had been waiting for from Paris finally arrived. The parcel contained these super cool vintage style patches - you know the type that were on work shirts in the 70's and 80's.

I got the patches from Flying Fox Crafts and they arrived in around 2 weeks, which I was most impressed with:

So I took one of Little Snickers boring shirts:

and hand sewed the "Mack" patch to it:

All done!

I also have plans to put a patch onto a pair of overalls for Matty for when he is working on his mini restoration project. I got him a patch that says "Gunnar"... cause he's always 'gunnar' do stuff....

Finally...some things in the Etsy Store

2010-06-22T20:37:00.003+10:00

I finally got some things into the Etsy store. I know, about time right!

Here are some pictures of the new sock owl mobiles:

And the robot tag blanket:

I am quite disappointed with some of the photos as I don't think they really show up how good the items look in real life, so I might have to have a bit of a play around with them and see if I can come up with some better ones.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Tuesday!

Ephemera!

2010-06-21T20:02:00.005+10:00

I could spend hours looking at the ephemera people are selling on Etsy.com. Kind of strange, I know, but it's kind of cool to think about the history behind these items.

I was thinking of purchasing this pack of 100 pieces of ephemera from Cheap Old Crap, when I realised I actually have my own collection of Ephemera right under my desk!

You see, back in 2001 I spent a year living and working in the UK. During this time I traveled to 16 different countries and kept EVERYTHING I came into contact with - Brochures, tickets, postcards etc.

Some of the cool stuff I came across while looking through my collection included:

A rail ticket for Paris:

A ticket for the cog rail journey up Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland:

An admission ticket to see the Footy Show when it was in London:

An entry ticket to the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam:

A ticket to Edinburgh's Hogmanay and a boarding card for the train journey between Edinburgh and Kings Cross Stations:

A post card and ticket for the Maid of the Mist and a ticket for the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory in Canada:

And an entry ticket to a Jays Vs Angels Baseball game:

And finally, a pile of patches from each of the countries I have visited. These were originally sewn onto my backpack but I pulled them off years ago as they started to fall off and I was worried about losing them:

My original plan was to put all of these tickets and things into a scrapbook, but honestly, I think they're too cool to hide away. So instead, I'm going to think of some projects to use them in so that they don't remain in a box under my desk for the next 10 or so years!

Stay tuned for updates on what I use this stuff for!

Recipe : Dairy Free Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

2010-06-17T09:06:00.012+10:00

Unfortunately Little Snicker displays reflux symptoms when ever I eat dairy (I breast feed). I was hoping that he would grow out of it by about 4 months, but last nights 'spew fest' confirmed that it's still a problem.

This morning I woke up feeling like something chocolatey, so I decided to make a dairy free chocolate self saucing pudding.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (apparently it serves 6.. I'd say it serves 4 at a push lol)

For the Batter:

2 tspns of melted butter substitute (ie. Nuttelex), for greasing
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 tbs of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of rice milk
1 egg
3 tbs of butter substitute, melted and cooled

For the sauce:

2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/4 cups of boiling water

Method:

Preheat your oven to 170°C (fan forced).

Melt the 2 teaspoons of butter substitute and pour into the base of a oven proof dish measuring approximately 25cms wide and 10cms high. Use baking paper to grease the sides of the pan.

Place the brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl and add the sifted flour and cocoa powder. Stir to combine:

In a separate jug whisk together the rice milk, egg and butter substitute in a bowl and combine.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients

and use a wooden spoon to mix until a smooth batter forms.

Pour the batter into the greased dish and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface to help the pudding to rise evenly.

Next, make the sauce by combining the brown sugar and sifted cocoa powder in a bowl.

Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the chocolate batter in the dish.

Finally, pour the boiling water evenly over the brown sugar and cocoa powder mixture before baking in the oven for 45 minutes or until cooked (you can check this by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean the pudding is cooked). Once the pudding is cooked, remove it from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes so that the sauce thickens.

Your pudding is then ready to eat! Yum Yum. If only we could put cream on it!

Tutorial : Onesie to Long Sleeved T-Shirt

2010-06-16T19:17:00.008+10:00

I picked up this onesie for $3 a couple of months ago, simply because Matty luuurrvvees Kiss:

Quite clearly it is a onesie designed for wear in the Summer and since it's well under 10 degrees most days here at the moment, Little Snicker isn't getting much wear out of it. With that in mind, I decided to turn it into a long sleeved t-shirt.

Here's how I did it...and it really isn't as hard as it might seem!

You will need:

A short sleeved onesie (to make into the t-shirt)
A long sleeved onesie (to use as a guide for the sleeves)
An old adults tshirt
A ruler
An air erasable marker (or tailor's chalk)
Some Pins
A Sewing machine
Cotton
A pair of scissors

Instructions:

Take your onesie and lay it out flat. Using your air erasable marker, rule a line directly above the top of the leg holes:

Cut along this line to separate the two pieces. You can discard the bottom part of the onesie as we no longer need it.

Take your long sleeved onesie and lay it out under the onesie you are making into a t-shirt, like so:

This next step is a little tricky to explain, so let me tell you a few things first:

The bottom hemmed edge of the adult's t-shirt forms the long sleeved onesie's cuff, so there is no need for a seam allowance on that end (and it means that we cut down on the amount of sewing we need to do)
The long sleeved onesie's sleeve is pretty much symmetrical, so it doesn't matter that in the picture below it looks as though the seam of the sleeve we'll be sewing will be on the top. We can just flip it over and it won't effect the end product.
The long sleeved onesie I am using has sleeves wider than the opening of my short sleeved onesie, so I haven't added a seam allowance. You may need to add a seam allowance depending on the width of your long sleeved onesie's sleeve.
You need to fold your adult's t-shirt in such a way that ensures you are not using the t-shirt's side seam in any way. If you include that seam where you're going to cut, you will essentially end up with two seams on your sleeve (the seam on the side of the adults t-shirt and the seam that you will sew to complete your sleeve).

Ok, did all that make sense? I sure hope so!

Once you've got your adult's t-shirt folded right, place under your long sleeved onesie (with the edge of your onesie's sleeve against the bottom hem of your t-shirt) and make a mark on the t-shirt to the left of the onesie band, like so (you may need to enlarge the image to see where I've marked):

Next, mark out the shape of your sleeve:

And then cut it out:

Unfold your sleeve and serge down the long edge (the edge opposite to the existing t-shirt seam) so that it doesn't unravel or fray. I'm too lazy to get out the serger, so I just used the serger stitch on my sewing machine:

Next, fold the sleeve back together with the right sides together and serge along the edge to complete the sleeve. I also run a straight stitch down this side just to ensure it's secure:

Next, turn your sleeve in the right way and pin to your onesie. Ensure that the seam on your sleeve and the seam under the arm of your onesie match up as best as possible:

Using a straight stitch, carefully sew the sleeve on using the existing seam (or seams in this case) on the onesie as a guide:

You should end up with a sleeve that looks like the one below. Repeat the process to make a second sleeve:

Next, run a serger stitch along the unfinished bottom edge of your onesie:

Fold the serged edge of the tshirt up approximately 1/4 of an inch and pin:

Run a double topstitch around the edge to secure:

Once you've done all that, you've finished!

Here is a picture of Little Snicker wearing his long sleeved onesie t-shirt!

I'm pretty sure he's saying something along the lines of "Thanks mum for making my onesie into an awesome long sleeved t-shirt".... but I could be wrong lol!

And I'm back....

2010-06-15T09:18:00.003+10:00

I am back, but I have to admit I am struggling. I took two weeks off to restock the Etsy store and all that I managed to finish off was one tag blanket... that's all (and I haven't even put it in the store yet!)

So why am I struggling? Well to tell you the truth, I'm really not sure. I just can't seem to find the motivation to do anything and a lot of the people I talk to are saying the same thing. Perhaps it's just that time of year where everyone falls into a slump or perhaps it's just a case of the less you do, the less you want to do?

I have been feeling so unmotivated I have even been toying with the idea of shutting down the blog. In all honesty though, I don't think that will help any... I think it would just result in me doing even less than I am already doing.

Maybe I'm just being a bit hard on myself. While it is true that I have only finished the one tag blanket, it is also true thatI have almost finished enough owls for three mobiles:

AND I have another 30 (yes, thirty) owls underway:

I think I'll just keep plodding along and get things into the store when I can. In the mean time, make sure you keep popping by for some cool tutorials I have lined up.

Tomorrow I'm going to show you how to turn a onesie into a long sleeved t-shirt!

Update

2010-06-08T19:48:00.004+10:00

Well I know that I said I would post every couple of days while I was taking two weeks off to restock the Etsy store, but every time I went to blog Little Snicker would look at me with his little eyes, pleading with me to take him for a walk or to read him a book... and who was I to say "no"!

I must say, that I am enjoying the break from blogging. If anyone ever tells you that blogging is easy and doesn't take much effort - don't believe them! It takes more effort than you can ever possibly imagine.

First you need to come up with something to blog about, take photos to support the blog and then actually blog about it. All up, I estimate it would take me between 30 minutes to 2 hours per post, depending on the complexity of the item I'm blogging about.

Anyway, rest assured that I am working away on stuff for the Etsy store when I can and will post again this week to show you what I've managed to get done (which I must admit is no where near as much as I had hoped!)

Stocking the Etsy Store

2010-06-01T18:39:00.003+10:00

Howdy All! I am just dropping in to let you know that the blog is going to have to take a back seat for the next two weeks, while I work on getting things into the Etsy store (since it's a bit bare at the moment).

What am I working on?

Well I have a pile of socks I am making into owl mobiles:

And I also plan on making some pencil/crayon rolls, a couple of tag blankets and maybe even some tic-tac-toe game sets.

I will still be posting, but probably not every day...and probably no tutorials for the next two weeks!

Giveaway Winner

2010-05-29T17:14:00.003+10:00

And the winner (as determined by random.org) is comment number 1:
katiegirl said... Count me in. Oh, so cute!!

So, congratulations katiegirl! I will send you an email shortly.

For all of you who missed out, make sure you keep checking back because I plan on having another giveaway in a couple of weeks.

My Craft Space Revamp : Project Bags

2010-05-28T21:48:00.006+10:00

Today my aim was to sort out my current projects and blog about that. I thought it would make for a boring post, but I was going to spice it up by dazzling you with some humour along the way. That was the aim.... until I saw this post on the How About Orange blog this morning.

Such a simple idea - drawing on zip lock bags with permanent marker. I had to get me some of those! So that's what I spent an hour or two doing today:

I made a bag for a sewing project:

Complete with a few buttons and a reel of cotton:

A bag for a Christmas project:

See the cute little gingerbread house?:

I also made a bag for my card making projects:

This one has pictures of various events that you could possibly need cards for:

And of course everyone needs a bag for the project you procrastinate about (perhaps I need a few more of these!):

This one has the dictionary definition for procrastination written on it:

The best thing about these bags are that they are reusable. To clean the design off (or to fix up any mistakes you make) just use nail polish remover on a piece of cloth or a tissue and wipe over the design. Too easy!

Snickerdoodle Slice Disaster

2010-05-28T09:09:00.006+10:00

You know those craft and cooking blogs that make everything seem effortless and that nothing ever goes wrong? Well... this is not one of those types of blogs.

So, if you want to continue to believe that people who have cooked and crafted for years don't make mistakes, I suggest that you don't read any further. Yesterday I made a doozie of a mistake.... a simple, yet devastating mistake. Let me explain...

I wanted to make this Snickerdoodle Slice for our craft night. It seemed easy enough and I guess it would have gone smoothly if I had just read the recipe correctly. You see, instead of converting 350 degrees Fahrenheit into degrees Celsius... I just cranked my oven to it's highest setting. The fact that my oven dial doesn't even go to 350 degrees should have been the first clue that something was amiss!

Perhaps it was the fact that I was rushing because I knew Little Snicker would be looking for a feed or perhaps it was the fact that I'd only gotten 4.5 hours of sleep the night before. Whatever it was, after 15 minutes in the oven I noticed a smokey haze emerging from the kitchen. This is what had happened to my Snickerdoodle Slice:

Oh dear!

I was going to throw it out, but I figured I might as well attempt to save it.

So I cut the burnt bits off:

Then I made up some butter icing and added some cinnamon to give it a nice colour and flavour:

and spread it on nice and thick:

Then I sprinkled some coconut on the top (because we all know coconut hides a multitude of sins):

How was it?

Well no one complained that it didn't taste any good and Matty took the left overs to work, so it couldn't have been too bad. I think I might try to make it again on the weekend, making sure I read the recipe correctly.

I will be back later on today to share with you what I've been doing in the craft space revamp.

Tutorial : Using Watercolour Pencils to Make Cards

2010-05-26T18:01:00.008+10:00

Today I needed to make some cards, so I thought I would make a tutorial to show you an easy way to do just that using watercolour pencils.

Anyway, back to the cards... Depending on how detailed your design is, it will take you between 10 - 30 minutes to make.

You will need:

Watercolour paper (It is sold in a pad of around 10 sheets in art supply shops). You can use ordinary card, but if you use too much water when you're painting then it will wrinkle.

Watercolour pencils. These are pencils specially designed to get wet. You can get these from an art supply shop also.

Tracing paper

A Pencil

A fineliner

A fine paintbrush

A glass of water

A piece of plain white paper (for drawing your design on)

Instructions:

Start by drawing the design you want onto your piece of plain white paper. I suggest folding your paper to the size the front of your card will be. This will ensure that your design will fit just right:

Next, trace your design with a pencil onto your tracing paper:

Turn your piece of tracing paper over and copy the design. This will ensure that when you complete the next step, your design is the right way around:

Take your piece of Watercolour paper and fold it in half to make the card. Turn your piece of tracing paper over and line up the design onto the front of your card. Colour over all of your traced lines heavily, like so:

Once complete, your design will appear lightly on the front of your card:

Next, take your watercolour pencils and roughly colour around the edges of all sections of your design. Remember that the more colour you have, the more 'paint' you will have in the next step:

Take your paint brush and dip it into the water. Paint over the sections that you have coloured, making sure you clean the brush between each colour:

and keep going....

Until you are finished:

It is about this time that I think how terrible my card is turning out and makes me realise that I am certainly no artist. BUT KEEP GOING.. I promise it does turn out alright!

You will need to wait for the card to dry. I usually bust out the hair dryer or sit the card over the central heating vent to speed this part up. Once dry, take your fineliner and draw around the outline of your finished design. Like this:

See, I told you it would all be ok.

Obviously you can cut down on the time the card takes to make by drawing your design straight onto the card with your watercolour pencils. Below is a picture of a card I completed by doing just that:

Better yet, there is no reason why your kids can't help out with this. Why not draw the design and have them paint it for you!

Giveaway!

2010-05-25T20:16:00.012+10:00

This giveaway is now closed!

Ok people, here it is... my very first giveaway - A Tic-Tac-Toe set:

So, what is in this Tic-Tac-Toe Set? Well you get a fold-able quilted board:

You also get TWO sets of playing pieces... The traditional X and O's:

AND a set of cars and boats. Cool huh!

It also comes with a draw string bag to hold a full set of pieces in (either the boats and cars or the X and O's)

And it's all contained in a specially made recycled box:

How to Enter:

There are three ways in which you can enter this giveaway:

1. You can leave a comment on this post

2. You can become a follower of my blog and leave another comment on this post stating that you are a follower. If you're already a follower, just leave another comment stating that you're already a follower!

3. You can mention this giveaway on your blog and leave another comment on this post saying that you've done just that... oh and include a link to your blog so I can go and check your blog out when I have a chance!

Make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you do not have your email address stored in your profile.

So there you have it. Everyone has three chances to win by leaving 3 individual comments on this post... you can't ask for more than that!

This giveaway is now closed!

Good luck!

50 Followers!

2010-05-24T18:37:00.003+10:00

Yesterday I received an email from Kanaha advising me that she was my 50th follower! How VERY Exciting!

I have been working on getting the giveaway ready today but Little Snicker didn't really want to cooperate. He decided that closing his eyes for a mere 5 minutes constituted a sleep, so I wasn't able to get as much done as I would have liked.

Here is a snippet of part of the giveaway - Can you guess what it is?!?:

I am hoping to have it all ready to go tomorrow, so make sure you pop in again to find out how to enter.

My Craft Space Revamp : Birdhouse Ribbon Storage

2010-05-23T16:57:00.005+10:00

As promised, here is a picture of the project I undertook this week as part of my craft space revamp. It's a miniature birdhouse to store some of my ribbons!

I had actually planned on completing another project (still related to ribbon storage) this week, but lets just say I had a little 'mishap' and as a result I need to start all over again.

This ribbon storage project (and the one I botched) make use of the ribbon storage reels I made earlier in the week, so my ribbons should be nice and easy to store now.

So, how did I make the birdhouse? Well I got the template from the Just Something I Made blog, followed the easy instructions and that's about all there is to it. The way that this house is put together means that you can open the bottom like a box and pop your ribbon storage reels in. Super!

Some tips if you are going to attempt this yourself:

1. Scoring really does just mean 'lightly mark'. I cut a little too deep on one side of my house, and the whole thing fell in half lol. As a result I had to tape it back together:

2. If you're using the template with the scalloped roof, don't 'pre cut' the scalloped part. I already knew the scalloped roof could present a problem for me and my less-than-average cutting skills, so instead I didn't cut out the scalloped roof until I'd stuck both pieces together.

See, now they're even:

This house is so cute I think I'm going to make a couple more.

If you haven't checked out the Just Something I Made blog, I suggest you do. There is some pretty cool stuff on there.

Photo Importing Issue

2010-05-21T21:31:00.004+10:00

Well it appears that I can't show you my latest craft space revamp project, as blogspot is having issues with importing photo's today!

So... you'll just have to wait! If you're lucky, I'll pop back in some time over the weekend to show you what I got up to this week.

Tutorial : Ribbon Storage Reels

2010-05-20T15:55:00.005+10:00

Today I created some ribbon storage reels as I need them for tomorrow's craft space revamp project.

I seem to have an abundance of ribbons that I have acquired from various sources (usually presents), that are just floating around in a box labelled 'ribbons':

Usually I don't need to delve into the ribbon box too often as there really isn't anything super impressive in there, but I have decided that I am going to start collecting more pretty ribbons for use in my projects.

With that in mind, I need a better storage solution (make sure you pop in tomorrow to see what I'm going to be using to store these ribbons in!)

Anyway, enough chit chat.. lets make some ribbon storage reels.

You Will Need:

Empty toilet rolls
Thin cardboard (an empty soft drink box will work good)
A ruler
A pencil
A pair of scissors
A hot glue gun
A 'circle' template or something circular that you can trace around
Sticky tape

Instructions:

First, cut your toilet roll lengthwise:

Next, lay the toilet roll flat. Measure the width of the ribbon you want to store and rule lines slightly further apart than the width of your ribbon.

Next, cut along your ruled lines to create strips:

Tape the ends of your strips together so that they become circular again:

Take your 'circle' template or the circular item you are going to trace around and draw circles on to your thin cardboard. Your circles will need to be roughly 1-2 cms larger than the diametre of your toilet roll:

Cut out these circles:

Place your toilet roll circle in the middle of the circles you have just cut out and trace around it. This will be your guide as to where the hot glue should go:

Place hot glue around the inner edge of the circle you just traced and place a toilet roll circle on top. Hot glue sets really quickly, so you will only be able to do one side at a time:

Next, hot glue your other circle onto the other side of your toilet roll circle using the same technique:

Finally, wrap your ribbon or ric rac on to your ribbon storage reels:

Ta-da! You're finished!