Day to Day

Vintage jacket

My Mum knitted this jacket for Bella out of an old knitting book that she'd had from many years ago.  I'm really in love with it!  Bella picked out the pattern herself and originally wanted a charcoal coloured wool, but Mum and I talked her into red. 

It's actually more of a deep red, not bright like in the photos - but I don't know how to photoshop etc... to get it the exact shade. 

How cute will it be with a little skivvy, denim knee length skirt, stockings and boots?!  It's so lovely to have a knitting Mum - I want to be just like her when I grow up :)

Some more Forest Blush + Animalia

A few more of the layouts that I did for Tarisota using the Forest Blush collection.

Also, it was my turn to set the dare over at Daring Card Makers this week.  The theme is Animalia - based on the book by Graeme Base.  If you'd like to join in and create a card - pop over here for a look.

P.S. The little elephant is a stamp by Hero Arts, papers are Basic Grey.

Kids Autumn Craft - Felt collage

Another autumn craft idea is to create a felt collage. 

We started with an A4 sheet of felt and machine stitched on the dried leaves - you could also glue these on if you prefer (Bella sewed up the middle of each leaf which held it into place nicely).

Then you roll over a small edge at the top of the collage to thread ribbon/raffia/wool through for hanging.  Machine stitch into place - you could also staple this to hold.  Thread ribbon through to finish off (use a safety pin or hairslide on the end of the ribbon to make it easy for the child to thread).

Ravelry + knitting + Amy Butler + blanket

Yay...I finally joined Ravelry!  If you knit or crochet and aren't a member, go and join up now because it's a really awesome site - so many cool patterns and projects.

Here's a sneak of James' blanket for you Salihan.  Only 10 squares to go I think.

Oh and my new knitting project, a cardigan for myself :)  The pattern is out of The Sublime double knitting book #607.    I'm just doing one collar though and I'll probably just add a normal cuff - not the rolled back one like in the photo.  I'm using Cashmino Heirloom yard (10% cashmere, 55% merino ultra fine 35%microfibre). 

Look what arrived in my mailbox too - two new patterns compliments of Amy Butler (thankyou so much!).  I'm dreaming of a laptop now because I love the laptop cover - Bella is dreaming about Mummy making her the mp3 case and I might just do that - after I make the bag for myself ofcourse.  I'm really impressed with the birdie sling - it's very me actually. I love those comfy kind of cosy looking bags.  I might try it out of denim with a touch of red for the top brim and handles.  Don't forget to check out Amy's site and especially the free patterns.  I've finally bought the beads to make the fabric necklace on there, I just need to settle on fabric. Does anybody else have problems deciding which fabric to use for which project?

Sublime beanie

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day. 

We've had a great day here, super cute presents from James and Bella plus some really beautiful hand made cards. 

Last night I sat up late and finished Bella's beanie (after knitting a square for james' blanket earlier in the night ofcourse).  The pattern was from The Sublime Aran hand knit book #604.  I used the sublime yarn for this (cashmere merino silk aran) and it really is such beautiful wool to knit up. 

Bella loves it too - she's been wearing it all day and it's nice to see her in something that's not red or black for a change.

 

Forest Blush

This month's {Forest Blush} Tarisota gallery is up.  I found the collection of trees and nature based products easy and fast to work with, plus there are some seriously yummy colours in the kit - here are a few of my pages to share.

I also worked on a class this month - a felt needle/pin holder.  I'm keeping mine as a winter gift for Bella to give her on June 1st (the pesky knitted blanket will be James' winter gift).  I think she'll love something special to hold her pins and needles in - ready for all those projects she dreams up this year.  You can find out more about the needle book class here.

I'll share some extra layouts tomorrow along with some more autumn craft ideas over the next few days.

The swap

Leslie and I did a sweet swap of lollies and our (huge) box of goodies arrived in the mail yesterday (talk about a good mail week!). 

We are all in love (and obsessing) with Japanese lollies - they have THE best packaging and THE cutest little lollies that we've ever seen.

There are little sticks that you dip in chocolate and sprinkles, teeny packages for round bubblegum balls..oh and sweet little chocolate men/creatures. 

Thankyou so much Leslie :)

 

Kids Autumn Craft - handsized tree collage

Yesterday Bella created this autumn tree collage.  What we did was trace around her hands (right down to her elbow) to form the trees and branches.  Then she coloured in her hands and pasted dried leaves on to create the trees.

Dianna questioned if I homeschooled James and Bella.  I've been asked this a few times before as well.  No, I don't homeschool.  Both of my children go to an awesome school close by - I just love doing extra activities with them when they are home.

Something special arrived in my mailbox today - a gorgeous package from Sarah (check out her blog, she makes some really pretty things).  Sarah sent me some beautiful wool and a cool doorstop (you fill the bag with rice).  Thankyou so much Sarah, that was really sweet of you :))

Kids Autumn Craft - leaf books for drawing/writing

Create a super sized nature book to hold drawings, writing, leaf prints or even dried leaf samples.

We used 5 sheets of white a4 paper folded directly in half.  The front cover (from coloured card) measures 30.5cm X 21.5cm (8.5" X 12") and is folded in half also.

Punch two holes in the side of the book (through the a4 paper and front cover) and then get the child to thread ribbon, raffia or wool through this and tie or knot on the side (great for fine motor skills).

Choose a dried leaf for the front cover and use pva glue (or similar) to glue the leaf into position.  Leave to dry.

Kids Autumn Craft - collecting & printing

Today Bella and I went on a walk around the neighbourhood collecting leaves, gumnuts, bark and some other little interesting bits of nature that we found along the way.

In the afternoon we started some autumn craft.   A few months ago several of you asked for more kids craft activities, so I thought over the next week or so I'd share some of the activities that we're doing at home with our nature collection.

These are just very simple ideas, but most importantly fun things to do together that also promote a child's creativity.

Crayon rubbings are an easy and fun way to start. Leaves have some very interesting textures which are prefect for this activity.  It's almost magic when a child can see their leaf transforming onto the top of their paper. 

We hung up a couple of Bella's favourite leaf rubbings in the window.  Another idea is to cut around the individual shapes and create a leaf rubbing collage - glue the shapes onto a piece of card or paper.

A fun messy play activity is leaf printing with paint.  We created a set of cards - simply paint one side of the leaf, position it on your paper or card and press down, rubbing gently.  For smaller children add a sheet of newspaper/paper over the top for the child to rub on - this helps keep the mess to a minimum.