Hoopla - hoop love

My latest pinning craze is embroidery hoops....I've never embroidered before but I have just seen so many gorgeous hoops around I couldn't help but start pinning.  I finally started my first hoop a couple of weeks ago and now have completed two, bar the tidying up bit at the back of them.  I'm really pleased with how they have turned out and am inspired to keep on making them. I love a craft that I can work on in front of the tv...thats my kind of multitasking!

Here are some of the gorgeous hoops that have inspired me:

A double hoop by the very talented Checkout Girl at Little Pink House

Speckle Name hoop @ Lines Across my face

Bunny by pillipilli on Etsy , her work is so gorgeous

Beautiful dandelion hoop @ SewLovelyNC

They're all so gorgeous aren't they....no wonder I had to go buy me some embroidery hoops and try it out for myself!  Next post I'll share my efforts so far, am working on a third one at the moment but not convinced its going to work...we'll see!  If you want to see more embroidery hoops check out my pinterest board here.

Crepe Flower Hanging Ball

Wow.....now this thing took some serious time to make...its relatively easy to make just time consuming!  I started this months ago {no it doesn't quite take that long - I'm not talking that serious!} and finally I  decided I needed to get the thing finished.

Lots of crepe paper, hot glue, and time and eventually I covered my stryofoam ball with beautiful purple flowers.  For anyone wanting to make one I followed the tutorial at House of Smiths. It is now hanging in my daughters room.....I did have visions of making a few of these but I think for the time being I'll stick with just the one!

Pom Pom Garland

I am slowly getting back into making things again after a very slow start to the year.  I have a couple of incentives to get things made now......we are moving back to NZ this year and will finally move into our own house in July so I can decorate away to my hearts content and we are expecting our second baby in August so now theres twice as much to be made!

I bought some wool before Christmas with the intention of making a pom pom garland for MissM for Christmas but morning sickness put all crafting on the back burner.  I finally dragged it out the other day and started making pom poms....we do have a pom pom maker but of course I couldn't find it so I just used my fingers to make them{see tutorial here for instructions on how to make}.  I had great fun making these although no matter how I wound my wool my fingers always ended up being squished together and slowly changing colour to resemble that of the wool! 

I made them in a range of purple tones...MissM's FAVOURITE colour and strung them together by simply threading a piece of wool through the middle of the garland.  I love how it turned out and it was a really easy project.

You will have to excuse the photo of them hanging up, the light was terrible and the walls look terrible {can you see all the bluetak marks on the wall - ekkk, any ideas on how I can get rid of those?}but the garland does look a lot nicer hanging up than the photo suggests.

Right I'm off to work on another purple project for the girls room....its one of those projects you almost wish you hadn't started as its very time consuming!  Hopefully will have some photos to share later in the week.

Flower Power - lovelies for the hair

Well I don't know where the last month has gone, which I guess is pretty common at this time of year.  Not great form when you have just started blogging to take a month off, but I just haven't felt like writing lately and my creativity seems to have dried up completely....not a great way to start the year but things can only get better!

Today I thought I would share some of the Christmas pressies I made for my two nieces, a little selection of hair accessories, because a girl can't have enough lovelies for their hair, now can they!

First up are these lovely little ric rac flowers, these look super cute and are really easy to make.  I followed this tutorial and then just hot glued them to some clips.

Next I made some flowers out of felt and t-shirt material using the easy to follow tutorial here, and then attached to some hairbands - easy!  You have to love the glue gun!



This flower clip was made out of felt and again armed with a pair of scissors and some hot glue was easy to make. The tutorial is here if you want to make one - I used a much simpler flower design (5 petals from memory), basically because it was easier to cut out, more petals would add more texture to the petals.  {On a side note totally love the pics for the flower on the tutorial, the baby is just too cute!}.



I had seen these rolled fabric flowers all over pinterest so of course had to give them a go!



Sew some circles together in pretty colours and you have yourself some lovely little clips.

I think this lot should keep some little girls happy for a while...now I just need find my creativity again so I can finish off making some for my own daughter!!

Getting ready for Santa

When you're a kid, Christmas can seem like a long time coming....nearly every day I'm asked if its Christmas yet!  So since I wasn't nearly organised or crafty enough to make an advent calendar I searched for a much quicker option.....and viola we have the Santa beard countdown stuck to the fridge, with a new piece of beard being added each day.

If you would like to print one out for your little ones, you can find a free print out here.

To also help get ready for Santa I made a personalised plate for Santa's treats on Christmas Eve.  I had seen the idea around the traps (here and here) and thought it was a cute idea, so I bought a couple of porcelain pens, a cheap plate and gave it a go.  It turned out really well and was so easy to do...just a matter of finding a picture and a font to use, tracing it on your plate and then drawing it on with the pens. If you want more detail on how to do it, I used this tutorial.   This one has been sent off to my nieces in NZ, and now I just have to make another one for our house.....and then make some goodies to go on it {Santa likes lots of treats when he visits our house!}

A very felty Christmas

I love felt - its so easy to work with, easy to sew and can be made into some super cute things.  My Christmas crafting has been very slow of late (my mojo is totally MIA), but I did manage to complete some Christmas felt goodness before it went missing.

Now we just need a tree to put them all on...yep running very behind here....we have always had a real tree and don't have a fake one, but they don't sell real Christmas trees over here, so last year we had to acquire one by other means(ask no questions.....wink wink).  The boy has to make a tree hunting trip soon.....but in the heat we are having it will probably only last about a week anyway (maybe thats why they don't have them for sale here...ahh there is a logic to it).  I may have to be creative and find something else to masquerade as a tree in the meantime...wish me luck!

An upcycled Christmas

One thing that I love, is seeing how people turn something discarded or old into something new and interesting.  There are some amazingly talented people out there and I always love checking out the creative inspiration that is all over the internet.  And since it is the silly season, here are some of my favourite Christmas inspired upcycled projects.

Christmas Tree made out of bottle brush
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Wire Brush Card Display
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Christmas Tree made out of funnels
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Old Timber Christmas Tree
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Wine Cork Christmas Tree
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Pistachio Shell Christmas Ornament
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So are you using anything unusual to decorate for Christmas this year?