Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 4... my very first skirt!!

I was chatting with my sister-in-law about my plan to handmake all my Christmas gifts and she said "just DON'T make me a handbag". Hmmm... I had planned on making her a handbag, so I'm glad I found out her request before I started on her bag. So I got to thinking... adult clothing... surely it's not that hard!?!?! Right?!?!? So I got one of her skirts for sizing and gave it a shot... I'm pleased to say that it worked out really well. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the skirt I used for sizing was a little too small for her... this is the downside of using some one's clothes as sizing without their knowledge. She loves it though as she can wear it above her waist for a bit of extra shaping (not that she needs it).

So... here it is...

Isn't the fabric gorgeous!! The main fabric is decorator weight. I like using thicker fabrics for this style of skirt and was happy to find this fabric for my SIL.

  

I am super happy to say that I used piping for the first time. I made it using piping cord. it was super easy and added interest to the skirt.

I put in a zipper up the side and a hook up the top. Because of the piping it sits a bit funny around the zip when it's on a hanger but sits perfectly when being worn. Yay!!! :)

  Ok, that's all for today.

See you tomorrow,

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 3... another handbag

Ok, so a few days ago I showed you pics of a bag I made for my younger sister. I also made a handbag for my other sister. I had already made her a handbag previously but I wanted to change the pattern slightly and use a more neutral outer fabric to make it more usable for her.

So here it is...

The outer fabric is a gorgeous thick weave linen. I've used it before and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

This is a really crap pic of the inside of the bag. The fabric is a beautiful; geometric pattern made out of decor weight cotton. It's also LOVELY!!

How lovely is this button!! And look at the fabric... sigh... pure love!! :)

Ok... that's all for today...

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 2... little girls dress

Our sweet Adele is lucky to have two equally sweet cousins in my Husbands side of our family. One was born 8 weeks before Adele and the other was born 8 weeks after Adele was born!! It is such a joy to watch them grow and play together. :) I wanted to make these two girls classic little dresses for Christmas.

The younger of the cousins has gorgeous red hair and light skin colour so I wanted to get the fabric just right. After seeing the dress on her I am so happy with my fabric choice. :)

Here it is...

Ahhhh... I wish I ironed before taking the photograph!!!

Cute little fabric covered button... LOVE! :)

I am so happy with this little beauty... it matches my precious little niece perfectly. A gorgeous dress for a gorgeous girl!! :)

I'll be back tomorrow for another Christmas gift reveal... ;)

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - Gift 1... Handbag

If you've noticed a lack of blog activity over the last month it's because every spare minute has been devoted to completing my goal of handmaking all my Christmas gifts. I'm excited to say that I came pretty close to completing my goal!! I ended up making 11 gifts!! :)

Today I'm going to show you a gift I made for my precious little sister 'Dids'. She loves purple and loves fine details and little flowers. I found her fabric REALLY easily and knew that she would love it!

Here it is...

I made her a little flower brooch that she can leave on the bag or put of her top when she uses the bag. :)

So, there it is... Gift number 1. Stay tuned for gift number 2. :)

Kerryn

The inside of the bag has a cute little pocket and a magnetic snap.

Lachie's first Christmas tree

My precious Lachie is 3.5 and is now old enough to have a Christmas tree without destroying it. Unfortunately Adele is too young so we are not putting up a big Christmas tree this year. We didn't want Lachie to miss out though, so we went out last Saturday and bought him a super cheap small tree to put on top of his toy cupboard in his room. He was super excited to decorate it because we had been making our own decorations the week before. So... here it is...

Lachie's very first Christmas tree. :) I absolutely love it! It's jam packed full of special stuff that he has made and chosen. LOVE my boy! :)

These are pipe cleaner and bead wreaths... super easy to make.

Laminated Christmas trees 'decorated' with paper baubles. :)

laminated stars. Tip: before laminating write your child's name and the year on the back so that you have a record in years to come of which child made the ornament and how old they were. :)

We let Lachie choose a few decorations from Kmart. He chose these cute little mushroom ornaments. :)

He also chose this super fantastic tinsel!!

Lachie and Tim decorating the tree

Look at the concentration on his face. :)

I wanted lachie to make a star for the top of the tree. So I bought a gorgeous cardboard star ornament from a craft store for him to paint...

Then he added some star sequins on one side and some cut up tinsel (I didn't have any glitter so cut up tinsel was my best option ;) on the other side. I cut off the cord and poked a hole in the bottom so that I could stick some wire into the star. I used a wire coat hanger...

... I left a straight section that was long enough to go from my hole all the way to the top of the star and then used two pairs of pliers to bend the wire into a spiral.

Tada!! A little 'rustic' but it serves our purpose perfectly!

And here it is!! :)

And the reverse side. :)

 I am so loving sharing the joy of Christmas with Lachie this year. We've got stacks more ornaments to make, I'll post some pics when they're done. :)

Ok, that's all for today...

Kerryn

Handmake Christmas 2011 - fingerprint cufflinks

Hi!! I love making gifts for people with my kids. I would love to teach them the art of gift making and gift giving. So each birthday/Mother's day/Father's Day/Christmas we get stuck in to the gift making. Yesterday we made some little fingerprint discs out of polymer clay (PC or fimo here in Australia). I had been planning on making these for a while and attaching them to some cuff link bases that I had bought from Etsy. Well they arrived and so we pulled out the PC and got going. I took a few photos of the process so thought I'd write a quick tutorial in case you'd like to make them with your kids. :) The kids will be giving them to some of the special men in their lives as little Christmas gifts. :)

So... here they are...





So, start by mixing your favourite colour polymer clay (PC) with some white. In the past I have found that if you do not mix it with white then it cracks and loses definition when you bake it. Perhaps that's just that brand I use??? Anyway, I always mix my coloured PC with white. It's pretty tough to start off with, so it'll take some time to make it malleable. When I'm making multiple finger pint discs I start off with a large ball of PC and divide into even portions so that all the discs are the same colour.

Once you've completely mixed the colours together divide evenly into the number of discs you need and roll them into balls.

Now place the balls in between 2 layers of baking paper and use a book to press flat. Using the baking paper and book make sure the disc is even and smooth with none of your fingerprints all over it.
Next step is to get your little one's finger and firmly press it into the PC disc. You will need to use a bit of pressure as the PC is still quite firm.

Now get out your cake skewer and etch your child's name into the PC along with the year. Don't be too picky... the etching can look a bit 'rustic' ;). Next pop them in the oven for the time mentioned on your PC pack. Mine is 130 deg Celsius for 30min.

Now get out you cuff link bases and hot glue gun.

I found the best way was to glue directly onto the back of the disc and then quickly attach it to the cuff link base.

TADA...

Such a cute little gift. Yes the etching is a little rustic but hey... I think they're cute. :)



Have fun!

Kerryn

Special gift for a special baby

I am excited to say that I have, for the very first time, dabbled in quilting!! And, I loved it!!! I made a little floor rug/baby blanket for a precious little girl born to a friend of mine in my Mother's Group. Now, I didn't do any fabric piecing, but, in my mind I used a number of 'quilting' type techniques... so... I'm calling it a quilt. :)

Here it is...

I used this tutorial for the binding. I really enjoyed hand sewing the binding, it was quite therapeutic. :)

I wish I'd given the quilt a good iron before taking this pic. I've quilted little hearts all over the quilt. It took FOREVER!! I cut out paper hearts and placed them on the quilt then drew around them all with fabric marker and then machine quilted with a regular machine foot. I don't have a free motion foot (is that what it's called??).

Close up of the hearts

The backing was a really fine corduroy. Totally gorgeous. :)

So, for all you amazing quilters out there... please be kind!! I'm super happy with it! My friend loved it to... Yay!! :)

Ok... till next time...

K

Gift - Butterfly Cushion Cover

I have a bit of a theory about taking gifts from the idea phase to the making phase. You've got to wait for the idea to go from your head to your heart. I know that might sound a little corny but, as someone who gets carried away with a gazillion gift ideas, I need a way to cull my ideas. As a Christian I also believe that Jesus knows who needs some extra love and so I place my ideas in his hands and wait for him to place them back in my heart. Only then do I run to my fabric, thread and machine and get going. :) I find that when I wait on Him the gifts I make really touch the people who receive them.

Anyway... blah blah blah...

Yesterday I was able to give a gift to a special friend. I was super excited about it!! So, here it is...



Felt butterfly cushion cover. In real life the fabric is much richer and deeper and more delicious. ;)



The butterflies were cut out using my Big shot die cutting machine. :)

I love a good fabric covered button

some of the felt was glittery... which was perfect for my friend. :)

I love to take a bit of extra effort when I gift wrap.

So, that's it!!

Kerryn

A dress... for me!

Last Sunday we had some family photos done with all of Tim's side of the family. Our dress colour scheme for the photos was blue/pink/purple/neutrals. I bought a really gorgeous blue top from portmans but when I got it home I realised that it didn't sit very well with my jeans (yes, I had kids with me and I bought it in a massive rush). So... I decided to make it into a dress...

I had a dress that I bought last year that I loved but didn't wear a lot because the top buttons always popped open (no, it wasn't too small ;) I had previously cut the skirt part out of the dress and put some pleats in the top so that it fit me around the waist.

the original dress... can you tell that I hate ironing??

Below is a pic of the skirt and the top from Portmans. Sorry for the crap pic. :)



Here's the completed dress... :)

I wore it with a belt around the waist. I would show you a photo with me in it but when I looked at the pic Tim took I couldn't put it up... exercise and diet coming my way!

 Ok... that's all...

K