Pink in a House Full of Blue

Other than my coffee mugs and tea/coffee/sugar canisters, I don’t buy pink for the house, because it is my husband’s house also, and while I decorate it, I try not to make it too girly (although wouldn’t it be cool to have a house like Ellie from Cougar town with shabby chic in every room!!!)

So when hubby approved (and by approved I mean he had to pay for them) the boys’ recent Mother's Day suggestion of a pink towel set... I am taking it as an indication I am allowed to have pink towels in the bathroom.. YAY!!!!!

Wonder what other rooms I can bring some more pink in to.... and how long will it take 4 males to notice??

Wallet/Clutch

I knew this fabric would look great as a wallet or clutch, as I think it is very stylish and also easy to match with any outfit.

So when I was told this wallet from Very Purple Person fits an iPhone in it, I thought it would be a great wallet-clutch, and since making it I know I will be making many more in different fabrics for myself and as adult gifts (watch out friends and family).

ETA: Here is another I have made for myself... just wait until Christmas and you will see just how much I love the pattern/tutorial... many more will be made!

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Printing on Fabric

Why haven’t I done this sooner....??? My eldest two boys have just started collect these Trash Packs and While my eldest has the collector case, he also wants to take the characters to school to "battle" with his friends (or whatever you actually do with this toy) and the case is a little too big in his bag and too "showy" for my liking to take to school. So I told him I would make a little draw string bag (and of course one for my second eldest) And then I suddenly remembered I wanted to try printing on fabric, and would be perfect to print the logo to have on the bag.

HOW TO:

1)I ironed some visoflex on to my white fabric, and leaving the paper side of the visoflex still on the fabric I masking taped all 4 sides of my fabric to an A4 pieces of paper.

2) Doing a printing test on to another piece of paper to make sure it would line up on my piece of fabric (as my fabric wasn’t a full A4 size)

3) I then sent my fabric paper through the printer.
And you’re DONE!

It's that SIMPLE!

The logo is a little smudgy from the printer ink, but luckily the style of the Trash Packs can have a dirty look to it.

Easter Gift

Our Christmas M&M tubes were a great hit at Christmas time, so thought the kids would enjoy giving some Easter themed gifts.
At first I thought of doing jelly beans- especially if I could find some pastel coloured ones.
But as soon as I got to the lolly isle and saw the mini marshmallows I knew that would be perfect!


So here they are..... All 40 of them!!!!!
What am I going to do when my third son is at school??


And for the teachers, thanks to Kelli One's blog for the idea, they all received a vase full of flowers!

These were well received, I even had other teachers and students looking at them and asking about them.
And the teachers were even talking after them for weeks to come :)

In The Hoop Embroidery

As if I didn’t love my embroidery machine enough as it was... I have now discovered "In the hoop" designs... where EVERYTHING is done within the embroidery machine hoop, with programed stitching!

So, to add to the gift drawer are 4 love heart coin purses.

And yes... it sews in the zip and everything!!!!!

If you would like to check out the design I used, it can be found here.

Electronic Reader Cover and Stand

With the help of Made by Marzipan's I adapted this tutorial to fit my mum Ereader.

Art Journal

A BIG thank you to LBG Studio for my new favourite tutorial that has become my main gift drawer stocking, the Art Journal.

I have made 4 of these so far, with many more planned as the stock gets low.

I have filled them with a mixture of sketch books, notepads, colouring in books, and stickers.
Plus the essential colouring in pencils and lead pencils.

Boys and their Tools

Last minute birthday invite (well only last minute hubby telling me!)
So I now have to make a gift the day before the 1 year olds birthday party!

Thankfully after 3 boys, I know how much they like tools and especially a tool belt to wear!

So teamed up with the drawstring bag from the previous tutorial post, I whipped up this cute tool belt.

Drawstring Bag Tutorial

HOW TO:

1) Work out the size you would like your bag to be- if you have something in particular in mind to go in the bag, use this as a guide and then make your measurements larger then this item.

If you will be making multiple bags the same size, it might be wise to make a pattern out of some paper- easier to measure and mark on paper then fabric.

Cut two pieces of fabric- no rule whether your bag has to be rectangle or square, this is up to you.
(Or you can cut one if you place the bag base on a fold.)

2) With fabric right sides together, pin and sew/overlock 3 sides together. (In my case, my bottom seam is actually the fold of my fabric so no need to sew)

3) I overlock the edge of my opening at this stage, if you don't have an overlocker you can do a zigzag stitch right on the edge of your fabric, or during the hemming you can folded it over twice.

4) With a button hole foot, choose the size of the hole you will need, based on the size of ribbon/cord you will be using to close the bag.
I normally use two ribbons/cords to close the bag as you can tie it more secure after drawing it closed, which will mean you need two button holes. One works well also.

Using the top of the button hole window as a guide to make sure I get both holes the same distance down from the top, I place the right edge of the foot against the left of the side seam on both side.

5) Using a quick unpick, carefully break the fabric fibres between the button hole stitching.

6) Fold the top hem down and sew all the way around- make sure where you are about to sew is below the button holes, if not, make your hem a little wider.
7) Turn bag in right way and feed ribbon/cord through button hole and back out the same button hole, tie off and repeat with other button hole.

And you're DONE!

It's that SIMPLE!

Tooth Pillow

We have wiggly teeth! Yay! (Mr 7... not me... I don’t think I would be "yay-ing" if I had wiggly teeth)

Being in the top bunk, it may be a little hard to reach under his pillow in the night... so a tooth pillow is just what we needed.

And a pirate one at that!

The eye patch is a pocket for the tooth and money.

I have intentions of using the back of the pillow to record date and age of each tooth lost, as a bit of a keepsake!


Now to sit and wait for these teeth to come out.....