Day to Day

Peasant top - two

Peasant top two all finished! I quite like the two toned fabric look after all, thank goodness since there are two more sitting on my sewing desk, waiting to be sewn up.

I can't remember what line either of these fabrics are (sorry), as they've been in my fabric cupboard for a little while now.  

This is a really easy pattern to sew too (Molly peasant dress by SisBoom) and one that I'd recommend for beginners.  I love the fact that you can buy the pattern, download it, print, stick the pattern pieces together (easy peasy) and then sew - without having to wait for the pattern to arrive in the mail.  The pattern starts at size 6-12 months and goes right through to 11-12 years.  I sewed the 7-8 year old pattern for Bella and it was spot on for her chest measurement.

Now, I'm off to start sewing up peasant top number three.

xox

Peasant top - one

I'm on a mission this week to sew Bella four new tops, all from the same pattern.  After sorting out her clothes recently, I realised she had pretty much out grown most things in her wardrobe, so this means a need to start sewing!

I'm using a Sis Boom pattern (Molly peasant dress) and just doing it shirt length.  I've also omitted the elastic from the sleeve area - Bella's request because she prefers loose fitting sleeves.

I have the other three tops all cut out and ready to go. It feels really great to be using up some of my stash from the cupboard!  Stash utilised means more space for new fabric, right?! Just kidding :)

 

The other three tops are having two fabrics per top - not sure if I'll love that or hate it, but I gave Bella free range in my stash and that's what she went for.  I'll be sharing them each day as I finish each one.

xoxo

Disney 'Up' birthday party - part 3

The birthday party is all over for this year and I'm happy to report that everybody had a lovely time.

These are the adventure books that I put together. They were easy - just a matter of printing out the templates/pages and the sticking the pages into A5 exercise books.

The adventure books have badges that you can earn once you complete an activity. Ideally I wanted to stick the badges on cardboard and punch out with a circular cutter for everybody, but I just ran out of time.  Instead, I popped the two sheets inside the book.

The 'Up' cake was pretty awesome. I baked 4 individual square cakes and Rich turned them into a 3D house for the party.  Bella declared it was the best cake ever.

Present opening.  Such lovely and thoughtful gifts received, including a wad of pretty erasers - Bella is now starting an eraser collection!

We played lots of games. I think the most popular one was the cotton ball game.  You take it in turns (wearing a blind fold for 30 seconds) and try to transfer the cotton balls with a big spoon into an empty bowl.  The one that transfers the most cotton balls, wins.

Some of the party food and room set up:

It was a great morning with Bella rating her party an 11/10.  Awesome.

That's it for my birthday party posts. If you missed part one and two - they can be found HERE and HERE. 

 

Disney 'Up' birthday party - part 2

Phew, what a day! I've been pretty much standing in our kitchen all day - baking, preparing, decorating, washing up a million things and in-between all of the cooking there was other party stuff to do.  The look on Bella's face when she came home from school to a kitchen full of goodies was pretty worth it though. She is so excited about her party tomorrow.

Here's what I made today.  Apologies if you're reading this and also a facebook fan - you've probably already seen most of these during the day.

Marshmellows - dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles.  I also used the mini flags that I made yesterday.

Party favours - I bought mini plastic noodle containers and added a simple typewritten name to the front.

Marshmellow teacups - I've made these so many times over the last few years and they're always a hit.

Little cupcake mice.  Bella requested these because we made them for her last party and they were her favourite.

3D models - these were actually quite time consuming to put together (thanks James!), but in real life they look really cool!

'UP' inspired cupcakes. I was too lazy tired to get them out of the cupcake holder to photograph them properly.

Drink bottles - Bella had this idea that we had to have pretty fizzy drinks for tomorrow. I bought lemonade in glass bottles, peeled off the label and made a new one to pop on.  Just before the party we'll unscrew the tops and add bendy straws.

More cupcakes - decorated with sugar butterflies.

I also baked four vanilla cakes.  Rich is shaping them into some kind of house cake for us tonight - I really don't do cake sculpting very well, so I'm leaving it up to him :)

See you tomorrow for part 3 :)

xoxo

Disney 'Up' birthday party - part 1

This Saturday Bella is having a Disney themed 'Up' party.  We've been busy getting things organised for it - planning, writing lists, buying a few goodies and making bits & pieces.

I started by ordering some 'grape soda' badges from Etsy and then Bella and I set to work, packaging them up as party favours for everyone.

I also bought some 'adventure awaits' pencils (for party favours) and a sweet 'adventure awaits' banner. We're going to hang that up as part of a little display.

We've printed out a few different 'Up' photos, which we're going to pop on the wall.

Plus, some really cool 3d paper models - we still need to cut, fold and stick them together.  There are available over at the Disney website.

Also at the Disney website, we found some really cool printable adventure books.  I printed/cut them out and now we're in the process of sticking all the pages into some a5 books that we picked up for a crazy 9 cents each.  I'll share more photos of the adventure books when they're finished.

These tiny banners that I'm making (just tooth picks & patterned paper) are to pop in some chocolate covered marshmellows.

Oh, and balloons. It wouldn't be an UP party without balloons!

Tomorrow is cooking and setting up day for the party.  I'll be back to share more photos then.

xoxo

 

Wednesday hex-along

It's time for my Wednesday hex-along post.  How are your hexies going?  Here's a peek at my progress this week:

My Mum's progress:

My lovely Auntie Coral is playing along too.  Here are her hexies so far, pretty impressive since she only started a few days ago:

Now, time for some nice links from more lovely people that are hexing along.

Lori's pretty hexagon progress - lots more photos HERE.

Lea thought we might like to see the hexagon bath mat that her best friend made her for Christmas.  WOW, it's totally gorgeous - I want one!!! - more photos HERE and below is a sneak peek for you.  So, so good.

Here's Cheryl's hexagon progress since last week. More photos HERE.

The lovely Simone has joined in, all the way from Brazil.  Here's a peek at her hexies and go HERE to see more beautiful photos:

Pop over to Em's blog to see her yummy hexie photos, HERE is the link to her post and below is a sneak photo:

For the final show and tell I have Kelly's totally cute hexies. She has lots of other sweet hexagon pics on her blog too - pop over HERE for a peek.

It's the same deal as last week - if you're playing along and have a fabric hexie blog post that you'd like me to link next Wednesday, just leave me a direct link to your post.

If you've left a link during the last week and I've accidentally left you off my blog post, tell me - so I can be sure to link you next week.

Thanks for playing along. xoxo

Handmade birthday gifts

Bella is a girl after my own heart, believing that *handmade* totally rocks (it does!), so she was feeling pretty happy to receive such a nice lot of hand sewn, knitted and crocheted presents for her birthday yesterday.  I've mentioned the gorgeous skirt and rainbow beanie already, but there was also a beautiful cardigan with wool embroidery and a pair of pretty fingerless gloves, both made by her Nanny Marion.

They both couldn't be more perfect - she slept with the gloves on her hands last night (plus the rainbow beanie) and the cardigan is perfect timing, considering the cold snap of weather we're having here at the moment - what happened to summer, Tasmania?

Other handmade goodies included some new Blythe dolls dresses, all from 'The Stitched Bluebird' store on Etsy.

And a sweet satchel, just perfect for holding unfinished projects - like her current crochet hat that she's been working on for a week or so.

There were also some favourite non-handmade gifts, including knee high striped socks, a hippy car (as Bella calls it), Alice in Wonderland book, an old vintage key, tiny owl purse and a set of Geomags.

All in all, one very happy birthday girl.

Celebrating ten.

Today our girl turned ten.  

There was birthday cake:

A new Schwinn bike:

There's a story with the bike.  Bella wanted a good old fashioned bike that had foot brakes, a cool seat, big handle bars and a vintage feel to it.  We searched bike after bike shop and there weren't any remotely close to the image she had in her head.  Then, at the last store we spied the Schwinn Bike catalogue. Oh my, she knew immediately that the Midi Sprite was the bike for her.  There was a whole heap of jumping and mini squeals happening this morning when she finally got to meet her new bike.  I must say it really suits her.

That sweet rainbow beanie in the top photo was a gift from her friend, Emily.  She crocheted it herself and it hasn't come off Bella's head all afternoon.  The gorgeous skirt with the crochet edging was sewn especially for my girl by Emily's Mum, Janelle and it has also been glued to her body.

Happy birthday gorgeous girl, we love you  xoxox

Birthday cupcakes

It's Bella's birthday tomorrow and over the years it has become tradition that I bake cupcakes to take to school.  Most parents seem to do that at school when their little ones have a birthday, I know it's always a highlight for Bella if they've had cupcakes to share in the classroom.

This year I found some delightful little sugar flowers at a local store and also a pack of tiny silver cachous - because they're Bella's favourite for cake decorating.  Perfect to make cupcakes look pretty for a birthday girl.

{Blythe doll Alice, watching us bake while enjoying her own polymer clay cupcake}

I used one of our favourite cake recipes, coincidentally from a favourite cook book - Afternoon Tea.  Tamar gave it to me a few years ago and honestly, we've baked so many things out of it.

Behold, the finished cupcakes:

Oh and while I was at that local store of mine the other day, I bought some awesome gingerbread men - they went down very well with the kids for afternoon tea. So good:

Bella is having an 'Up' (Disney) party next weekend, so I'll be sharing our party preparation for that this week.

I hope your Sunday was a productive one. I actually didn't get as much accomplished today as I would have liked, but I guess there's always next Sunday to tick off a few more things.

xoxo

Another Etsy round up

Just popping in to share a few more of my favourite Etsy finds:

Child's crocheted owl beanie, $17.25AUD, link HERE.

Woodland small zipper pouch, $7.60 AUD, link HERE.

Beware they are coming poster, $15.20AUD, link HERE.

Hand knitted socks, $24.35AUD, link HERE.

Pretty leg warmers, $27-30AUD, link HERE.

Japanese linen buttons, $2.20AUD, link HERE.

Bunny ponytail holders, $7-10AUD, link HERE.

Bunny pillow, $35-40AUD, link HERE.

Fat quarter set of 5 organic monaco fabrics, $27-80AUD, link HERE.

Happy Sunday to you all xox.

P.S. Thank you so much for all the lovely crochet blanket comments. I've just dragged out Bella's blanket (it's about 90% finished) and that's my next mission!