Xmas Spirit.....

It feels like everywhere I turn on Blog land I'm overwhelmed by amazingly creative women who are filled with an enormous amount of Xmas Spirit. Seen as though I only joined the big wide world of blogging early this year this is the first Xmas I've spent in blog land and let me tell you all now..... I'm definitely IMPRESSED!!!!!! I've found so many great downloads for fantastic gift tags and ornaments not to mention the great tutorials for gift making. Here's some more of the Nested bibs that I made here....
I've put my own little twist on the whole 6 bibs that I made....... Can anybody tell what it is?????

Also..... Here's another one of those purl frogs that I made back here.
I think I've just about made all of the handmade gifts that I had on my to-do list for this year. The only one that is left to make is my sister's.... Now this is a REALLY HARD one..... I've made something already but now that it's all completed I'm thinking that maybe it's not quite her...... I have another project for her in the pipe-line, oh what to do, what to do??????? Sorry that I can't share any pics as she frequents this blog often, so no sneak peaks until after Xmas...... SORRY.....

Our local Carols by Candle Light were on Sunday night and as of last year (my little princess' first year) I decided to dress up every year for the occasion. Last year my little princess was a reindeer and this year she's an elf. This pic is a bit blurry but you get the idea.....

I got the idea for the little elf hat out of the book 'bend the rules sewing' by Amy Carol, I just love this book!!!!! The little dress was super easy I just made the pattern up myself. I embellished it with felt and Ric-Rac. All up it took me about 2 hours to make and my little princess absolutely loved wearing it. I even put little bells on her shoes so that she jingled as she walked..... Too Cute!!!!!

Can't wait to share some of my very own homemade Xmas decorations with you all next post..... Happy Xmas Crafting...... ;)

YIPPEE!!!!! It's Finally Here......

Yes that's right, the Japanese fabric that I ordered last week arrived yesterday afternoon. Why is it that whenever you're waiting for something to come it always feels like an eternity before it actually gets to you?????

The following 4 fabrics are still $10 per metre and man-o-man they look and feel absolutely amazing in the flesh!!!!!

Now the next 4 are $12 a metre and are as equally divine.....The only fabric that I'm waiting on is Humpty Dumpty. My supplier accidentally mixed up Little Bow Peep with Humpty Dumpty and sent me out the wrong fabric, oh well I'm sure that I'll be able to find something to make with this gorgeous fabric, right????

Like I said in my previous post about this fabric, they're all 100% cotton Japanese prints measuring 115cm wide. If I haven't already been in contact with you via email and you'd be interested in buying some of this gorgeous fabric just leave me a comment or send me an email. I still have a couple of metres of all of the above fabrics left if anybody is interested in increasing their stash over the Xmas break!!!

Speaking of Xmas...... I joined an Ornament Swap this year. I've received 2 ornaments so far (I'll post some pic's later on in the week) and now my ornaments are finally ready to be posted, only 1 day late mind you!! 8 wonderful ladies out there have one of these ornaments heading their way to adorn their beautiful Xmas tree.

The initial of each lady is sewn onto the front of each ornament. I really hope that they all love them!!!

I made this little wrist pin cushion for one of my sisters for Xmas. She's wanting to learn how to sew so I'm trying to put together a little beginners sewing kit for her. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I should put in her little kit???? I found the tutorial on SewMamaSew, it's by Planet June. It was super easy to make I might have to make myself one.

Last but not least..... I made this little outfit for my little princess this morning before work, well I didn't make the shirt I just embellished it but I made the shorts.

Now all of you mothers out there of toddler aged children..... How the HELL do you take a pic of them standing still????? My little princess just wanted to go around and around and around in circles. It was as though she was doing it on purpose!!! So These 2 pics are the best that I could do in a bad situation.... LOL... Oh how I love my little darlin'...Take Care Everybody and Happy Crafting!!!!! ;)

Festive Frillies

Here's one of the pic's that I promised of one of the dresses that I made my princess for the festive season this year....I love this fabric!!!! I bought it from Spotlight about a month ago for about $8 a metre. It feels so beautiful to sew with I can't wait to sew something else up with the scraps from this dress. Maybe a little doll quilt to go with Dotty from this post.... What do you think??? Here's a view of the back of the dress and how it does up....I've always been SO SCARED of zippers but ever since I tackled the fantastic pencil case tutorial that Jodie from Ric-Rac posted a couple of weeks back I discovered that there really wasn't anything to be scared about. I have so many 10 cent zippers that I've purchased from Op-Shops that it's great to finally put some of them to good use....

Now........................... What will be my next zipper project????? Have any suggestions?????????????????????

On a very un-zipper related craft front I whipped this little wallet/purse up this morning before work. It's for one of my sisters to add to her Xmas pressy. I know that she doesn't frequent blog land very often so I feel pretty safe posting a pic of it....

I got the tutorial off the Sew Mama Sew blogs 'Handmade Holidays' gift list. The tutorial came from the Craft bits website originally. My sister just loves everything pink!!! So hopefully she'll fall for the cute red and pink combo of this monkey fabric that I bought from Reprodepot a couple of weeks ago. If I made this wallet/purse again I'd probably use some kind of button to close it instead of Velcro.

Guess what......................................................

It's only 18 days til Xmas..................Can you believe it?????

Done and Dusted.....

I made a couple of outfits for my little princess over the weekend for her to wear over the festive season to parties etc... but you'll have to wait til my next post for the pictures as my beloved camera has decided to go on strike for the afternoon. I did manage to save this blurred pic from my camera before it malfunctioned of some flowers that my DH gave me last Friday at work, isn't he just the sweetest...While I was uploading the flower pic I found this pic that I took and forgot to post of the storms we had last week...It's of the dam in my front paddock and as you can see it's VERY full. I just love Summer storms, we had 96mm of rain last week and then another 13mm last night and it's looking pretty promising again this afternoon so maybe we might get another storm tonight. My lawn has never been greener. Maybe this might be the start of the droughts end???? What rain fall has everybody else been having lately??

To update you all on the Fabric front.... I'll be placing my order with the supplier in the next couple of days. They have assured me that it only takes a couple of days to get to me, so when I receive it I'll post some pic's of it all to give everyone one last drool before I wrap it up and post it off to those of you who are wanting to purchase some with me.

I have some really exciting news in the pipeline that I'm dying to fill you all in on. I must wait til things are set a bit in concrete before I unseal my lips. So til then I'll leave you with a clue..... It's big, it's definitely a lifestyle change I guess you could say and last but not least I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!! So stay tuned for my surprise.... ;)

FABRIC FOR SALE!!!!!!!!

I have some great news on the fabric front!!!!! I've stumbled across a supplier who can get me some fantastic Japanese prints direct from Japan. If anybody would be interested in buying some off me at cost leave me a comment or send me an email. Just state which fabrics out of the ones pictured below you'd be interested in and how much of each you'd be wanting. I have to buy them in rolls of 9-12 metres so hopefully at least 1/2 a dozen people out there would be interested in at least a metre of something each. I don't mind if I end up with half of the roll I'm sure that I could and will put it to some good use.

The first 2 pics have 2 different fabric in each of them, one with dragonfly's and the other with flowers. These 4 fabrics are 100% cotton and only cost $10.00 a metre. They measure 115cm wide.
The next 4 fabrics are a little bit dearer at $12 a metre. They are also 100% cotton and measure 115cm wide.

Sorry about the next 3 pictures, they aren't very clear, (edit... I've up loaded clearer pictures now!!!) hopefully you get the idea. The 2 directly below are little bow peep and nursery rhymes (like humpty dumpty etc).... This one is a little boy playing with his dog with houses and trees in the back ground.

If the pics above aren't clear enough for your liking, let me know and I'll try and get some better one's to post. edit..... I've uploaded clearer pictures now!!!!

Also.... my supplier emailed me through these fabrics this morning.....

The one above is russian dolls on black orburgandy and the one below is little bears on black or pink.....

They are both $12 per metre, 100% cotton and measure 115cm wide.

I hope you are all as impressed at these fabric and their prices as I was, like I said before I'm selling these at cost and am not out to make any profit what so ever.

As for freight, I think that I could probably fit 1 maybe 2 metres into an A4 envelope for $1. I'll inform you all of definite freight prices later on.

Take Care & Happy Crafting...... ;)

On A Roll.....

I'm still sewing like crazy getting ready for Xmas. I've made 3 of these little crayon/pencil rolls for some of the kids in our extended family....
I got the pattern/tutorial link off the Sew Mama Sew Blog. The very talented Skip To My Lou created the tutorial and it's just soooo super easy to follow. Here's another one in red...Sew Mama Sew is dedicating a whole month to handmade holiday gift ideas. If you haven't already checked it out I suggest you get over there right away, there's some amazing tutorials listed with great ideas for all of the family, there's even gift ideas for the hard to sew for men in our families.... I also got the link to this tutorial for a cute little bib which was designed by Nested....With all of the babies in my family this year these are sure to be put to good use. I'm planning on making up about 1/2 a dozen, a couple each for all of the little-uns.

I've made my mother in-law this little journal cover. I was thinking of putting one of these little note pads inside with a little pocket crossword book. She's always doodling down little notes and just loves the challenge of crosswords while she's in the car or waiting room at the doctors....The fabric that I used for the pockets on the inside was the gorgeous fabric that the very sweet and generous Corrie over at Retro Mummy sent me for my comment on this post.... Once again, THANKS CORRIE!!!!!

Speaking of wonderful ladies..... The extremely talented Jodie from Ric-Rac put together this fantastic tutorial for a vinyl pencil case. As soon as I saw it I couldn't resist but to purchase some vinyl and sew up a couple for Xmas pressies.....

Here's a picture of the inside of one all loaded up with pencils ready for some little hands to create some master pieces.....
Now I stumbled across this unique blog/shop while looking through Angry Chickens past posts. It's The Small Object and I just love it, Sarah is so creative and original with all of her designs and the stuff that she has for sale in her shop is amazing, I'm eyeing off some stamps that are similar to the little boys head screen printed on the body suit below. I got the idea for the picture on this body suit from these free printable's that she has on her blog...
I drew it free hand on to some freezer paper, cut out the sections that I wanted to be painted on the body suit in black, ironed the paper on and painted... Hey Presto!!! A cute little outfit for one of my nephews, for Xmas of coarse....

Once again I hope you're all full of inspiration after looking thought all of the links I've listed above. I can't wait to see what everybody is crafting up for Xmas this year. Take Care..... ;)

So Inspired!!!!!

I just love blog land!!!! Full of so many generous people sharing there vast knowledge of craftiness through wonderful tutorials. I've been busy sewing up a storm over the last week using some of the fantastic tutorials on offer out there. I got these frog's from Purl Bee.Aren't they just the cutest??? I filled them with rice and lavender. They're going to be pressie's for some very special ladies this Xmas, hopefully they like them. I thought they'd be great for your delicates/knickers draw. I got this bunny pattern from Purl Bee too...I've filled this one with polyester fibre fill and put a little rattle inside of it. It will be part of an Xmas gift for one of my new born nephews.

Weewonderfuls has had this free pattern for a little bunny up on her blog for quite a while and I've been dying to make it!!! I've used one of the embroidered pillow cases I bought from Vinnie's back in this post, what do you think???
I stuffed this one the same way that I stuffed the Purl Bee bunny. I cut a heap of different sized pieces of flannel for the tail and sewed them to the back of the bunny with a button in the centre. This bunny is also destined for the loving arms of one of my newborn nephews. Now that I'm on the softies roll I designed my own little pattern over the weekend for these two treasures.....

Eddy and Dotty.... Dotty is for my little princess this Xmas even though she would love to have her NOW!!! She dragged her around the house all day Sunday and it was so heartbreaking when I eventually had to take Dotty back off her and put her up in the present cupboard. Eddy is for another one of my nephews Charlie. This little crayon bag is to go with Eddy for Charlie....

He's just turned 2 so hopefully this present will be right down his alley. I made this little card purse for his mummy Kylie.It's the perfect size for a key card, lip gloss and a couple of dollars change. I made a similar purse to this for the markets last month and they were really popular. Hopefully this one is just as popular with Kylie.

So as you can all see I've been busy crafting up a storm for my hand made Xmas pledge this year. I still have a long way to go but at least all of the kids are just about out of the way. I hope you all get as inspired as I have by the tutorials in this post... ;)