My children are really lucky to be sent some lovely new books, the latest is Little Poppets which is a new series of board book first stories following the adventures of four friends: Mole, Rose, Pippin and Mouse (the Little Poppets). These gently humorous stories and the intricately conceived detail of the world in which they live will delight children and adults alike. The stories are sweet and comical, with little mysteries for the Little Poppets to solve, such as where on earth the socks on Mouse’s sock tree are really coming from! Both my children have been enjoying Mouse’s…
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It’s been far too long since I made anything with felt but we watched Finding Nemo for the first time this week and thought we could make a related fish craft. This took a little preparation before it all came together. Make your own Finding Nemo You will need: paper plate blue paint and brush orange, white and black felt selection of felt basic sewing kit How to make your own Finding Nemo First paint your paper plate with blue paint and leave to dry. Make up your felt clownfish and stuff lightly. I made two the same so my…
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How are you all enjoying The Great British Sewing Bee? I have to say I’m still hooked and so disappointed it’s only 4 episodes. Watching it has definitely spurred me on with my creativity and over the last few weeks I’ve finished off re-sizing a duvet cover for the toddler and made lots of progress with my grandmothers flower garden quilt and another doll quilt for Little Sis. I love hand sewing but watching TGBSB has really encouraged me to improve my machine sewing skills too. Last week I had my first machine sewing lesson which was a brilliant investment.…
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Last month I reviewed folk art needlework, a really beautiful craft book, packed full of 35 projects inspired by traditional motifs from across the globe. There are lots of lovely projects in this book (all added to my to-do list!) and I’ve actually begun a hand-tied quilt. I love this way of finishing off a quilt and think it looks great as the fabric can really stand out. Of course, it doesn’t involve much embroidery but there are plenty of other projects which do. I love vintage embroidery and can’t wait to make a start on some embroidery projects of…
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I must admit that whilst I’m happy with a needle and thread in my hand I’m definitely a failed gardener. Every year I try and grow something other than weeds and usually fail. When I saw the Tots100 Centre Parcs challenge I knew I should give it a go. For the toddler’s introduction to gardening I thought we would try growing sunflowers. I thought this would be a brilliant way to encourage my little city boy and hoped that even I couldn’t kill sunflowers! How to make a Toy Story garden container: We went to our local garden centre and…
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I probably bore you to tears with tales of our hand print painting. However, it is good, messy fun so I can never say ‘no’ when the toddler asks! St George’s Day is coming up on the 23rd April so I thought we would try and make a dragon using his hand prints. We needed some new supplies so headed off to our local Hobbycraft for a very enjoyable browse, returning with a huge bottle of green paint, glue sticks and a selection box of googly eyes. Check out my google+ page for pictures from our trip to Hobbycraft to…
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It’s three weeks since I wrote about the Grandmother’s Flower Garden doll quilt I’ve been working on. You may remember I asked for some advice as I’d got to a mini crisis point. I loved reading everyone’s suggestions so I thought I’d share a little update. I was lucky enough to find a remnant of the green material I was using for the flower border which made things much easier. My first step was to square off each end with half flowers as someone suggested so the whole shape was rectangular. Then my problems started again! I realised it was…
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Have you seen the new crafts magazine for girls called Ruby Loves? Ruby Loves* comes out monthly and includes materials to make the items featured in the issue, online content which is unlocked with a secret code, prizes and much more. Everything is contained in a paper bag and we were very impressed when we opened it as it contained the magazine, lots of craft materials and the special code to use online which gave access to extra templates, patterns, crafts and lots more goodies. We’ve all had a good read of the magazine which is bright and colourful with…
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I love cross stitch and I love trying different things so when I saw an embroidered pegboard on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. Equipment needed to make an embroidered pegboard: Pegboard White paint Paint brush Sand paper Tapestry wool Needle How to make an embroidered pegboard: I bought a large piece of pegboard (also known as perforated hardboard) from my local wood shop, gave it a light sand then a couple of coats of white undercoat. I wanted it to look a little rough so I didn’t try too hard. When it had dried I embroidered big…
