This moment - advent tea

Thanks Jennifer - I'm loving my tea advent!

Making gift bags

I like to make re-usable bags to wrap childrens birthday presents but I'm not so good at keeping a store of them ready for last minute gifts. I'm also not the worlds fastest sewer so I have been looking for a quick method of making simple gift bags. I think gift bags look much nicer with French seams but I still haven't worked out a quick way of doing this when I make draw string bags (which I usually use for gifts). Recently I tried out a new style of gift bag.

Last Christmas I saw Soul Mamma's design for Christmas bags and went out and bought a whole pile of Christmas fabric in the January sales with the intention of making these simple bags this Christmas. Last week when I was finishing off a birthday crown as part of a little girls birthday present I thought I would try out that bag design and it proved to be very quick and simple.

To make this simple gift bag;

1. Press and cut the fabric to the required size adding a couple of inches for seams.

2. Fold fabric in half right sides out and press

3. Sew French seams down the sides of the bag (ie sew a 1/4" seam down either side, fold bag inside out, press and sew a 1/2" seam).

4. Fold top edge over 1/2" and then fold again, press, tuck two lengths of ribbon into this seam (for  securing the bag) then sew seam around top edge of bag.

5. Turn right side out, press, put present in, fold over top edge and secure with ribbon at the front.

Super simple and neat! Now I just have to get cracking on my Christmas bags!

Another birthday cape

These capes are becoming a bit of a standard gift for little boys birthday presents. This weekend our friend Nicholas turned 3 so I made him his very own super cape.

When I started making these I added a superman or batman logo but now I make them a little more generic so little ones can be who ever they want to be - Super Nicholas or Star Boy perhaps? Hope he likes them as much as my boys do.

Caped crusaders

Juniors best friend has just turned 5 so we made him a little batman cape for his birthday.

Junior and Rascal love the superman cape I made for Rascals 2nd birthday so hopefully this cape will see plenty of use as well.

Now I just have to find the time to whip one up for Junior.

Birthday presents for girls

Junior has been invited to a double birthday party this week for two girls in his pre-primary class. Having three boys I'm a little clueless as to what to get for little girls so I asked a friend who has two gorgeous girls of her own.

Her standby for school birthday presents is a nice book and a library bag, so last night I whipped up a couple of library bags and I added two of our favorite books - Imagine and the Magic Beach.

Junior made a couple of birthday card this morning so we are all set for the party this afternoon. Hope they like them. Do you have a favorite present for school birthday parties?

A little gift

This weekend a very sweet little girl we know will be turning 3. The boys helped me put together a small gift for her.

An Aussie Mum made pencil case with her initials, a coloring book and crayons, some rascal made wrapping paper and a Junior made card. Hope she enjoys it.

It's a wrap

Junior and I made some wrapping paper before Christmas using a celery heart as a stamp.
It isn't quite as lovely as Geninne's but I was happy with it all the same.
I have only just got around to using it this week to wrap a thankyou gift for a friend and I think it looks quite nice. I might have to try it again with some different colours next time I buy celery.

Christmas making

This week has seen a flurry of activity making some last minute Christmas gifts.
There was some sparkly Christmas play dough,
Gingerbread stars for Junior's Kindy teachers,
Rocky road for friends and relatives and,
Some little travel bags for the boys friends who came to Rascal's birthday party. Several of our friends are off on holidays this week so we thought a little bag of holiday activities would be useful. We included some travel bingo cards, a holiday journal and pencil, some self-inking stamps and a few stickers. Hope they like them.

Super Birthday Boy

With Rascals birthday rapidly approaching I finally got around to making that superman cape I have been planning to forever!
Once I actually started it took no time at all (one nap time to be precise) and I'm quite pleased with it. I used this tutorial which I found via Heldin im Chaos and it was super easy.
I was going to make it reversible with Batman on one side and Superman on the other but I have decided to save Batman for Junior instead or they will be forever fighting over it.
So nice to actually get one project finished - now to tackle the rest of the pile. Wish me luck.

Thank You

Recently I received a lovely present in the post - a gift voucher for kikki-k thanks to Sarah at Ah the Possibilities.
This morning I had a chance to visit our local store where I picked up a lovely 2011 diary and pen, and a set of wooden stamps. Thank you so much Sarah. I think I will have to make another visit (minus children) again soon because it is oh so nice!

On-the-go Nappy Bags

Earlier this week the boys and I went to Spotlight looking for some curtain fabric (yes I know I'm insane taking three young boys shopping but as a mum I sometimes have to do these things). Anyway, with two of my nieces expecting babies next week, I couldn't resist buying a little of this cute fabric to make some "On-the-go Nappy Bags".
I saw these at Lovely Designs recently so when I saw the fabric I knew what I would make with it. I had planned to start making my Christmas bags this week but they have been put on hold for a week or two.
I used Sharilyn's tutorial but made the bags slightly bigger and filled them with a washable changenmat, wipes, nappies and a little one piece suit.
Junior helped me with threading the ribbon for the bag ties so of course he wants a little bag of his own too - might be good for filling with pencils, note books and stickers to keep him entertained when we are out and about.

Puggles present

My very talented friend and neighbour dropped by recently to deliver these gorgeous presents for puggle and I just had to share them with you.
A beautiful baby quilt (to match his big brothers quilts) ...
... and his very first book - all about his family.
She also knitted him a beautiful little vest which I can't wait to try on him (pictures to come). Thanks so much Jennifer we love them.

Little boys birthday bag

This weekend we attended a two year olds birthday party so we made another little birthday bag for the birthday boy. Being a bit short of time I simply appliqued a fabric N onto a calico bag I already had rather than making up my own. We included some stubby pencils, a colouring book and I made a simple personalised note book by printing a cover on some stiff coloured card and binding it using embroidery floss.
I was going to try and borrow a long-armed stapler from work but ran out of time and the embroidery floss seemed to work just as well. These little personalised notebooks aren't quite a sweet as those I saw over at Lovelydesign but I have made them for Junior in the past and he loves the idea of choosing what he wants on the cover and having his own name on it.

We play Fruit Salad

We have been following along with the We Play posts and links at Childhood 101 for a few weeks now and last week we received this lovely wooden Fruit Cutting Set in the post thanks to Christie at Childhood 101 and The Toy Bug.
I love wooden toys and obviously the boys do too because it has been getting lots of use this week.
Bub particularly is enjoying cutting the fruit and making "fruit salad" in the little wooden box!
We have even made some real fruit salad with Bub cutting up the bananas with a blunt knife ...... and of course tasting a little along the way.
What have you been playing this week? “Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

Another birthday bag

Juniors' best friend is turning 4 shortly and will be away on holidays in Thailand for his birthday. So as a birthday gift we have put together a little bag of goodies to keep him entertained during the flight. We chose a monogrammed drawstring bag - I followed the very easy goodie bag tutorial I found on the side bar of the Lovely Designs blog. Sharilyn has some fantastic tutorials and ideas and also has lovely photos of her stylish (and immaculate) home - how does she do that with a young child in the house!
Juniors' friend is a dedicated Thomas fan so we thought that a Thomas activity book with some pencils and crayons might come in handy during the flight, along with a small book to read. We also made him a birthday crown in his favourite colour (yellow) to help him celebrate while he is away.

Hope he likes it.