HAPPY CHRISTMAS......

A very merry Christmas to you all, see you in the new year.............. X

NZ Christmas Ornament Swap...

Thought that I would post about the wonderful ornament swap that I have been involved in, organised by twenty cent mixture, thanks so much Louise!!! It was great fun opening each of the 5 little parcels wondering what treat was waiting inside. Now I want to do lot's more swaps, so keep me in mind if you know of any......

My contribution to the swap were these little needle felted Christmas tree's....

Here are the ornaments that I received, I love them all................

This is Plum pudding fairy who without a doubt is Talia's favourite, isn't she gorgeous. she came with the sweetest little note, we are going to treasure her for always!

This lovely little kiwi slice made out of felt.

A Sweet little pom pom made from fabric, the photo doesn't really do it justice, it's so sweet.

A cute little present (that T is dying to open) wrapped in fabric, it also has a little bell inside.

A cool wee Ika made out of recycled wool blanket and Tonga bark cloth, I love the shell button eye's.

All now hanging proudly on my Christmas tree, thanks to all the swapper's, my ornaments are all FABULOUS.............. X

SPUD

Hmmmmmm my computer has been down for a while, so was not able to wish my gorgeous boy a happy 8th birthday on time.....

Happy belated birthday to our wonderful, creative, kind, crazy, thoughtful, sweet, clever boy! Thank you sweet child for entering my life, changing it forever and making me smile every day. I feel such wonder as I watch you you grow, each year getting closer to becoming the wonderful man that you are destined to be. I am so proud of you and I love you more than words can say...... X

Birthday fun...

Yesterday we had Kalem's birthday party, although my gorgeous boy doesn't turn 8 until tomorrow.... This year I was determined to do things differently and I really wanted to have it outside so we took Kalem and his buddies to a really cool adventure park for a play and a picnic. Oh my goodness what a great idea, they had a ball running around like crazy things for about 3 hours or so. They played in the play area, had games of cricket, football and Tball, I mean really what more do 8 year old boys need than a field and a ball!!! Blimey between them they had so much energy that I was extremely glad that we were not having a party at home!!!!!

Last year for Talia's birthday she requested a pink fairy castle cake. I had great fun making it and it turned out brilliantly, little did I know however that I had set myself a standard and cool birthday cakes that take HOURS were now expected............... Last year Kalem requested a Bart Simpson cake and this year it was a Lego cake. To be honest Lego cake had me baffled for quite a while and I had no idea what to do. After searching the internet for ideas for WEEKS..... I came across a picture of some cupcakes decorated with Lego shapes. Not sure where I found this, but the idea stuck with me, I didn't do cupcakes but used the idea to make a cake. Here is the birthday boy's LEGO cake moments before a gang of rowdy 8 year olds tore into it......................... Errr and yes it did take 1 or 2 hours of effort to make the little shapes out of icing, but it was a bit like playing with playdoh so I didn't mind!! Plus Kalem was absolutely thrilled so it was worth it.

Just a simple chocolate cake for his birthday tomorrow with not a drop of scary food colouring in sight.

ps. if anybody is wanting to make either a fairy castle or Bart Simpson cake then let me know and I can tell you how I made mine, I also have photo's........... X

And the winner is...............

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway and left such lovely comments about my angel!!! I wish that I had enough time to make one for each of you, but alas there can be only one winner. To choose the winner I wrote all the names on pieces of paper then put them into our Tibetan Milk Pot....bet nobody has used one these in a giveaway before.

Then I enlisted the help of one very excited 4 year old, no peeking now madam....

And the winner is......................

Yay Millie it's you, thanks for entering and if you can let me know your address I will post it asap, it may even get there in time for Christmas. Sorry to everybody else that entered, but they are pretty easy to make, so follow my tutorial and give it a go.

Hope you have all had a great weekend, today we had Kalem's birthday party, more about that tomorrow, all I can say now is that I am in need of a small (hmmmm actually LARGE) glass of red wine......... X

CHRISTMAS STARS....

I thought that I would share this wonderful idea for making Christmas stars. Kalem and Talia had great fun making these, Talia needed quite a lot of help, but once Kalem got the hang of the folding there was no stopping him!!!! We put most of them on our tree, but saved a few back to give to Talia's kindy teachers along with some truffles we will be making as a thank you gift. I got the idea from one crafty mama's blog, she has some brilliant Christmas craft ideas. Here is the link for star tutorial if you fancy giving them a go....



Not too late to enter my giveaway, just leave a comment on the giveaway post............... X

Help needed AGAIN.....

Finally all packed up ready to be sent off to the other 5 members of my Christmas ornament swap group. All posted this afternoon and one day before the deadline, I must be getting organised in my old age..... I am very bad at leaving things until the last minute, but I do seem to work well under pressure! I will post a picture of the ornaments that I made when everybody has received them, just in case they read this blog. I will also post a picture of the ornaments that I receive, so far I have 2 out of 5 and they are both really cool.

I think that I have now sorted out the photo problem, so have deleted my cry for help..... X

Building a Fort...

Sometimes all you need are a few blankets, some cushions and all the pillows in the house to keep you happy and busy. Kalem spent most of Sunday morning making a 'fort' in the dining room. He had so much fun making it, but wasn't quite so keen on clearing it all up..... TYPICAL!!!!

A perfect spot for the littlest member of the family........

GIVEAWAY

In the spirit of Christmas I have decided to have a giveaway. I have been lucky enough to win a few giveaways myself throughout the year so it is definitely time to return the LOVE. The winner will receive the felted angel that I made in the tutorial a couple of posts back. I will also include some carded wool and a felting needle so you can have a go at making something yourself. I thought the little angel would be very appropriate for this time of the year, but she's not just for Christmas you know. Talia keeps her little angel on her shelf in her bedroom throughout the year and it watches over her while she sleeps. She does come out into the lounge for Christmas though. I did originally make her for the Christmas tree, but felted dolls are quite fragile and I didn't want her getting messed up by all the pine needles. You of course can do with yours whatever you like. So if you want to enter just leave me a comment in the comment box for this post. Comments will be open until Friday evening NZ time. So please join in the fun even if you are just visiting my blog or if you read, but never comment I would love to hear from you all. This is open to anyone and I am happy to post anywhere in the world. GOOD LUCK XXX

CHRISTMAS TREE

OOOOOOOOO I just love this time of year and I swear that I am more excited than the kids. I have always been this way, I remember lying awake for hours on Christmas Eve wondering if HE had been. My mum is also the same and when we were a bit older and had been out with friends celebrating and perhaps drinking a wee bit too much she would be the first one up at around 6am dragging us from our beds.

Last night we put up our Christmas tree and listened to our favourite Christmas CD. Now I can be a bit obsessive about my Christmas tree and if the truth be known I would like to run the decoration hanging something like a military operation. Julian did state last night that perhaps my perfect job would be Christmas tree coordinator. Sounds great wonder what the pay is like!!!

Anyway last night I held back from saying things like "no not there, put it here", and " you are not seriously going to put that silver ball next to that purple one" etc. etc.... I just let the kids and hubby put the decorations wherever they liked, secretly thinking that I would do it all again when they were in bed. Do you know what though they did a great job and apart from having to move the 20 that Talia had put on the same bottom branch, I didn't have to change a thing.


Of course Julian couldn't resist winding me up and I kept finding odd things in the tree like this.......

Yes thats correct it is a COURGETTE.... honestly men hey!!

Poor Talia came running in to our room this morning excited about all the presents that were going to be under the tree, she was a bit dissapointed to say the least. It's funny I remember Kalem doing the exact same thing a couple of years back. Oh well only 17 more sleeps to go. Hope you are all having a fabulous festive time too... X

TUTORIAL - FELT ANGEL

Since starting my blog I have had a couple of requests for a needle felting tutorial and I have finally gotten around to doing one. This is my first tutorial so please bear with me and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. This really seemed to tax my very weary sleep deprived brain so I hope that it makes sense, her it goes......

This tutorial is for a needle felted angel, the angel herself was inspired by an amazing artist who has a stall at the Christchurch Art Centre market. Her art work is fabulous and she makes the most wonderful felt creations. The following information is a collaboration of what I learnt from her and also from reading as many felting books as possible and of course a bit of trail and error.

First up you will need the following materials for your felt angel all of which should be readily available from your local craft store:

* You will need small amounts of white, light brown and pink carded wool, also known as roving.

* A felting needle.

* Some curly mohair.

* Wings.

* Angelina Fibre. (I have not included this in the tutorial, I just add it at the end to add a bit of sparkle.)


STEP 1 - THE HEAD. Rip off 2 pieces of brown wool and roll one piece into a ball. You may want to give the ball a few pokes with the needle to bind the fibres and keep it on shape.

Then wrap the second length of wool around the ball, leaving a tail at the base.

Rip off another small length of wool and wrap at the base of the head and poke with needle to keep in place as shown below. Then keep stabbing the ball with the needle turning it around to keep the shape. Stop when you have a firm round ball, remember the more you stab the smaller the ball with become so stop when you are happy.

STEP 2 - THE BODY. Take a large length of the natural white carded wool, place the head on the top edge with the tail hanging down as shown below.

Then wrap the white wool to form a basic body shape as below

Use your needle and stab the body remembering to keep turning it until you have your desired firmness and shape. You will also need to stab upwards from the bottom to form a flat base. After about 5-10 minutes you should have something like this...

STEP 3 - ARMS. Take 2 small lengths of white wool of equal sizes.

Fold first length in half, then half again roll and stab with needle until you have tubular shape as below.

Then take your needle and stab the arm into position starting at the shoulder. With the needle mould the arm into the body, I usually like to give my angels bell sleeves, but it took me a few attempts to get this right. Repeat process again for second arm.

STEP 4 - HANDS. Here just take a very small amount of brown wool to match the colour of face and squish into a small ball then take your needle and stab into place at the end of the arm as so.

Repeat process for second hand.

STEP 5 - EDGING. Take a small amount of the curly mohair and stab around the base of the body to give a frilly edge to angel's dress.

STEP 6 - HAIR. The hair can be a bit tricky and I find I just really go with the flow and see what happens, but you can give a lot of shaping using your needle. Basically take small pieces of the curly mohair and layer them onto the head.

I normally take my time here and do it a piece at a time.

Until I have the desired effect, here I have teased the hair into kind of bunches each side of her head, but you can just let you imagination flow....

STEP 7 - HEART. Take a small piece of pink wool and form it into a heart with you needle. Now it is a good idea to use a piece of foam or a pillow when you are doing small pieces as that needle is very sharp and REALLY hurts when you poke yourself, which you will no doubt end up dong at sometime or other. I actually use Lola's breastfeeding cushion for my needle felting, you know the ones that go around your body and babe lies on top.... I have it on my knee and do the whole angel this way, I have stabbed my self more times than I care to remember, so try to be ultra careful.

Then take the heart and stab it into position between the hands, does anybody else find this picture slightly disturbing?????

STEP 8 - WINGS. Finally take the wings of your choice, position them at the back of your angel and then sew into place

Then Voila..... if my instructions are not too incomprehensible you should have yourself a sweet little angel, perfect for having around at this time of year!

Good luck if you decide to give it a go, it's easy when you know how and I warn you very addictive. Flickr have a fantastic needle felting group full of brilliant inspiration if you are interested.... X

Sibling LOVE....

So the madness that is December has begun......... I'm not complaining though, I absolutely LOVE the build up to Christmas. The kids are already beside themselves with excitement, but instead of driving me INSANE a strange thing seems to have happened, they both seem to be getting on really well together (tough wood, touch wood) and have been playing really nicely for a few days now. It is so lovely to watch and I feel as though I have been waiting for a very long time for this to happen, I really hope that it continues.

It could be linked to the fact that Talia seems to have grown up so much recently. Honestly I keep looking at my little girl thinking when did that happen, I have always thought of her as a baby, but she is so capable, independent and tall now, definitely not a baby any longer. She is such a little Kiwi kid with her tanned skin, deep kiwi accent and her love of the outdoors. Julian and I were just saying yesterday that she will be the most Kiwi of them all and she is the only one who was actually born in England!

Friends at last.......
I have been busy making little bits and pieces for Christmas, not sure how I am going to fit everything in that I want to do!!!!! I am off today to buy some materials to make Talia a Waldorf style doll, I have wanted to make one of these for a while now, but thought they looked a bit difficult. I recently bought one for Lola for Christmas and also wanted one for Talia, but the bigger dolls were soooo expensive. I have the book on making the dolls out of the library recommended to me by the lovely Claire who has also made a couple of these dolls, hers are gorgeous!!! So I am going to give it a go, will let you all know if it is a success or a disaster. Wish me luck... X

Finished Brea Bag....

Yippee I have finally finished my Brea bag which I blogged about here. This bag knitted up pretty quickly, even the cable wasn't that difficult, but finishing it off was a different matter.. Firstly I was supposed to crochet on the top edge of the bag, but I seriously can't seem to get my head around crochet and after various attempts I decided that it actually looked fine without and left it as it was. I was also supposed to join the bag with a crochet seam, but I just sewed it up as normal and even this took a couple of attempts.

Then I needed a handle for my bag, I scoured charity shops, car boot sales and even looked on line to buy new, but found nothing suitable. I eventually decided to give up my search and used a scarf of mine which is a perfect match colour wise. I actually quite like it like this, but Julian has just told me about a shop in town that could put a leather strap on it, so perhaps I will look into this.

Next up was lining the bag which I had no idea how to do. Honestly I spent ages just looking at the bag trying to figure out how to line it, hoping that something would click. I eventually figured it out by watching a youtube clip and YES it's actually pretty easy when you know how. I ended up sewing the lining in by hand as I still seem to have this irrational fear of my lovely new sewing machine. I was supposed to have some spare time this weekend to actually sit down (in peace and quiet) to finally figure out how to use it, even turning it on would be a start, but never got round to it, AGAIN!!!

So from start to finish it has taken a while, but I LOVE it and am very pleased with the finished product. I learnt a few new skills along the way and even managed to crochet a simple chain for the button loop. I never thought that I would knit another one, but I think I probably will as it would make such a great gift. This one though is definitely all MINE....


Lined with lovely fabric from Spotlight...

I couldn't resist buying these yummy pieces of fabric today at the Spotlight sale. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with them, but they are lovely don't you think......

Vintage Beauty...

Yesterday Talia found this lovely OLD nightie that belonged to me when I was around her age. My Nan saved it for me as she thought that it was too pretty to throw away, Talia loves and it looks so cute on her. I am glad my Nan didn't get rid of it as I don't have too much from my childhood as we emigrated to South Africa when I was 11 and got rid of a lot of things before we left. I remember going with my parents to a local orphanage to give them a whole loads of toys and games. I also have a vivid memory of it being a windy day and the lid of a game blowing off causing a whole lot of paper (perhaps it was Monopoly)money to escape and my Dad running after it. I wonder if I have remembered that correctly.........

I'm going to send this photo to my Nan with her Christmas card, wonder if it will remind her of me at that age....... X

A day of FELT....

Yesterday I had a FELTastic day..... For starters I received my first ornament from the Christmas ornament swap, isn't it fantastic!!! A gorgeous felt Kiwi slice to hang on our tree made by the very clever Helen whose blog you can check out here. She is super organised getting them done so quickly and it's just the kick up the bum I need to get started on mine. I have done a couple of testers, just not sure which one I am using yet, better get my skates on though....

I also received this lovely package in the mail from the wonderful paperandstring blog where I was recently lucky enough to win one of her FAB giveaways. Look at that fantastic pile of lovely wool felt in all the colours of the rainbow, I have a million ideas of what to do with it.....

I could not resist the cute make your own owl ornament kit and sat up way past my bedtime making this little lovely.......

Yesterday I also made a trip to our local $2 clothing warehouse and picked up a bundle of pure wool jumpers to felt. I am planning on making some pencil rolls for Christmas presents and I am also going to try to make a bag. Here is the pile of already felted green jumpers......

I am having a bit of a felt love affair at the moment and have just ordered every book on felt imaginable from the library. I am also planning on doing a needle felting tutorial, hopefully sometime this week if you are interested. Looks like my crafty week is off to a pretty good start... X