Posts Tagged ‘handmade’

the xeroxed tree, decorated

decorated paper tree

Here is the xeroxed tree all decorated! The kids had a blast making ornaments for it.  They did have a hard time coming up with christmasy things, hence the orange octopus. And what is that giant purple thing, you ask? A whale shark, silly. Don’t you have one on your tree?

My sister said I should get lights for it and I do want to. These look like they would be perfect, but they are on back order. poo.

shelf in the kids' room

There was an overwhelming response to showing you the kids’ room now rather than later–you guys have no patience :) So I’ll have a few post for you next week (there are a lot of pictures for a such a small room). Here is a little sneak peek.

Have a good weekend!

golden birthday part two: pipe cleaners

 

Part one of my daughter’s 6th golden birthday is here.

pipe cleaner banner

When we went to the craft store for all things gold (for the golden birthday party) the gold pipe cleaners were kind of an impulse buy. It’s hard to resist sparkly, fuzzy gold wire. Turns out a bunch of pipe cleaners = room full of decorations in no time. I knew I wanted to do something like  Terri’s awesome wrapped pipe cleaner font project, but I skipped the yarn and spelled out Happy Birthday.  Writing with pipe cleaners is ridiculously easy (though knowing cursive comes in handy for once in your life).

pipe cleaner banner hanging

Hanging them on the other hand is more difficult than it seems. There is just a lot to balance. Nothing a spool of thread an lots of tape won’t fix. Taking a photo in front of three sunny windows is also difficult, so you get the child’s eye view of the banner. A golden merry christmas would be very pretty I think, or even better something like this in gold pipe cleaners!

pipe cleaner stars

There were a ton of left over pipe cleaners, so I wrapped them around a star cookie cutter and voile! Also, crazy easy. And also would look lovely hanging all over a christmas tree. Seriously, I’m 33 and in love with gold pipe cleaners. I am so rock and roll.

golden birthday party

Here is the banner and table on the evening of her party. The pipe cleaners and giant glittery 6 all sparkled in the light. I thought it was pretty magical, I’m pretty sure my big 6 year old did too. Oh, yes and a tiny gold bunting on the cake, because why not?

wheel stitch cowl

Sorry I disappeared from the internet last week: school holiday, crazy children, broken camera, blah, blah, blah. The camera will be in the shop for a good two weeks, so you are stuck with my dressed-up-to-look-like-a-polaroid camera phone shots for a while. That’s me up there, trying to look all stylish in my cozy new cowl.

wheel stitch cowl detail

It has been a loooong while since I picked up a crochet hook–10 months to be exact. Needless to say I was rusty. There was a lot of ripping out at first, but then the crochet neurons began firing again and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. The cowl pattern is the chunky circle scarf  from people webs.  Not only is the pattern free, but Lindsi talks you through every bit–lots of people had questions about different steps and she answered them all in the comments section. How awesome is that?

happy halloween cowl

Now I’m dreaming of my next crochet project.  I think Cal’s new shawl pattern is definitely on the list. Or I might try my hand at some amigurumi, but I can’t decide elephant or bear/mouse?  Or something totally different. What do you think?

p.s. taking pictures of yourself is hard. Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

kcwc fall 2011: wrap up

kcwc collage wrap up

1. girlies in pjs  2. Hand dyed, wool jersey vest and leggings 3.  raincoat 4. fishsticks and fries austin lee romper 5. pocket shirt 6. Peasant top and repurposed skirt 7. pockets 8. crazy stripey crawler pants 9. pink sweater II 10. gypsy forest 11. elephant and elbow patches 12.  Abby jacket 13. strawberry skirt 14. raw edged raglan tee–bamboo knit 15. school days coat  16. 90 minute shirts

Another KCWC has come and gone and you have made it amazing! One little nudge and suddenly all these cute kids have  closets full of beautiful handmade clothes.  The momentum this kcwc was unreal. Usually there is about a 50/50 split between the fizzle outers and the get ‘r doners, but it seemed like everyone was getting stuff done this fall.  No reason to let that good sewing mojo go to waste. I know you have a life to get back to, but don’t forget that just a little bit early in the morning or after the kids go to bed a couple times a week adds up to a lot of finished projects!

oct kcwc sponsor collage

1. clever charlotte 2. too sweets 3. tea collection 4. charm stitch 5. crafty mamas 6. ida pearle 7. secret cake 8. sew many patterns 9. re+new by five green acres 10. vistaprint 11. little part 12. that’s me! want to be a sponsor?

I was very excited to see all the new faces this kcwc as well. You can find some great new (to you) blogs I’m sure either in the comments section of this post or from this flickr discussion.  We all need to support each other in our crafty endevors! You can continue to support your fellow sewist by subscribing to their blog (and mine right there in the sidebar)– it’s like a virtual pat on the back. A little encouragement can do a lot, just look at the kcwc flickr pool! And my amazing sponsors could use your support too. We are all in this together!

kcwc fall 2011: day three

blue corduroy pants

These are the pants with the silly bunting tag I showed you last week. And look! they aren’t on backwards! The pattern is from Happy Homemade vol. 2 and it is by far my favorite pants pattern.  I’ve used it to make these pj pants, these crazy pants, these linen pants, and the exact same corduroy pants in gray (plus a few more I never blogged about). And now these blue beauties. The corduroy is a navy wide wale from joanns and it is so soft.

handmade wool pants

I found this beautiful brown wool at the thrift store and knew I could use the same pattern for some good, old man pants.Do you think I am addicted to this pattern? I am. I lined the pants with flannel using Dana’s tutorial, except my waistband was separate, so I had to fake my way through that. The pockets are pretty much like Dana’s too only more rounded and I pressed the top bit so the lining would show–sort of like faux piping.

wool pants front detail

The fake fly (faux fly?)  is one of my favorite things about the pattern and I gussied it up with two lines of topstitching. I also did flat felled seams along the crotch and down the sides, which you can kind of see in the picture below.  I put the pockets up way too high, so now my little boy has old man pants with a big, old man butt.

wool pants back

And just so you don’t think all my garment are perfect (trust me, they are far from it) here is a shot of the inside waistband. That’ll be yur Hot Mess. Part of KCWC is screwing up and soldiering on!

hot mess

These people sewed on and look what amazing things they made! From the flickr pool today:

kcwc collage day 3

  1. checked shirt
  2. recycled hopscotch shirt
  3. rust corduroy pants
  4. denim jumper with ribbon embellishment 

happy day three of kcwc!