A Rain Drop Cushion- *Craft for Kids*

With the school hols coming up in a week in my neck of the woods, and with many of my friends up in the Northern Hemisphere on Summer hols- I thought it perfect timing to share a quick lovely kids craft or two.

{Perfect is over-rated with kids craftiness!}

Simple fun projects that you can build on depending on the age of your child.
Basing them on the age of our youngest {she's primary school age} I'm sharing crafts that I do at home with the kids, and crafts that our eldest {year 10 High School} takes to a whole new level.

This *Rain Drop Cushion* takes no time at all- and is SUPER cute!
It can be easily sewn by hand, or on a machine {depending on the age of your kids}.

You can add sleeping eyes...a sweet little yawning mouth- or leave it as is.

The less perfect it is, the more your child has actually worked on this lovely project- us mama's who love a little craftiness ourselves, really truly need to let imperfect be the catch cry on this one!
Believe me,  your babies will love you more for letting them achieve at this...

{Wonky is super cute...in a true kids project}

what you need:

fabric swatches
needle & thread / sewing machine
toy stuffing
scissors
pencil
paper

what ya need to do:

1. Draw a raindrop shape on your paper free hand and cut it out as your pattern.

2. Turn your chosen fabric/fabrics right side together and lay flat. Pin your pattern to this.

3. Cut around your pattern - it doesn't need to be perfect! {My year 10 of course will differ greatly in opinion to this- but she's yet to have children of her own! Bless her!}

4. Hand sew {or machine sew if your child is old enough. My 9 year old likes to do both- but for this project snuggling on the sofa and hand sewing together was pretty lovely!} around 4/5 of the tear drops edges, leaving a gap to *stuff* your sweet shape.

5. Turn your rain drop right sides out and iron flat. Stuff with toy stuffing {alternately we often cut open larger craft cushions to make smaller projects such as this}.

6. Hand sew the opening together and cut off all your threads {9 year olds have random threads I can assure you!}

7. Throw love and amazement on your child for such crafty-cleverness, and cut out as many as their little hands or friends can manage...you will want many - they are so divine!

The first tear drop may be the favourite, but you could sew enough to make the sweetest mobile for your child's room, a wall hanging of rain, or a larger one with a sleepy face for their beds.

It's a simple, achievable project that could be done in a morning...

Please introduce me to a mother who doesn't like that kinda project!

Happy crafting kiddos!

Melissa 

xoxox

Unleash Creative- Sydney...craft lovely!

Alllloooooo from me snuggled up at home here by the beaches, with a poorly little monkey, crafting together after my Sunday of inspiration at *Unleash Creative Sydney* .

Nothing to say but too.much.fun!

An Instagram gal friend friend spotted me as soon as we arrived, and as though we hang out together regularly crafting {which we don't!}, we just had a day of giggles, glue, glitter and fab food!

Love you *Ash* !

 

Thanks

 Unleash Creative 

and

Blog Society

for an awesome day of inspiration and fun

and a HOT showbag of goodies!! 

Melissa

xox

Get ya Easter Craft On- Day 2

Everyone needs a Floral Easter crown...

This Easter craft is super quick...and CRAZY cute, once you have all your *bits* together.

We are making this at Audrey's 9th Birthday with her *bestie gang* from school.

I'm going to have each place sorted, and set up with all they'll each need to make their own.

I can't wait to see how they put their's together...undoubtedly I'll be sitting on my *helping hands*!!

I'll be thinking balance and they'll be thinking *go-for-it-fun*!

The girls sweet-as crowns will have a creative energy, that as party-planner,  mine will not!

What you need:

-fabric flowers...all sorts, go as simple or indulgent as you like!

-craft wire for the actual head piece {I found some in our fabric store covered in soft white fluff stuff!}

-garden ties

What to do- building that crown!

-remove all the fabric flower heads from their stems, leaving a small green end to tie onto the crown keeping the flower in firmly in place.

-measure your craft wire for the head to be crowned...

-cut to size and join so all the sharp ends are covered and tied. Lay on the table with all your inspiration {flowers, vine leaves...etc etc}

-using the green garden ties, firstly tie your vine leaves as the base and build up using your larger then smaller flowers to fill the spaces in between.

-be sure to tuck all the garden tie ends in upon themselves, so there are no sharp ends!

Put on head in your dressing gown...giggle and enjoy!

This is one of the simples, prettiest easter/birthday crafts we've done.

It's super inexpensive and almost built from what you may already have around your home!

Enjoy!

Melissa & Audrey 

xox

Get ya Easter Craft On - Day 1

OK...Easter Crafting...

If you were around here at Christmas, you'll know that I love me a good month of crafting before a holiday!

Easter, being late this year...gives us all plenty of time to share ideas and a little *Cool Craft* together.

I'm blessed with two of my kids having birthdays around Easter- my eldest was born on Easter Monday and we remind her each year that she's *even better than eggs* !

So...I get to share *Cool Crafts* for Easter and birthday's!

Yep...happy days here!

Righto...

*Cool Craft For Easter- Day 1*

These little gift jars are *da bomb* for all ages!

They are simple, inexpensive and soooo flipping cute!

They take no more than an hour or two to sort, glue and spray paint...and then you get to fill them- the really fun part...and just stand and look and love them!

I've seen them on a few pinterest boards- and decided to give it a go with my girls at home- we winged it, and they were super easy on the wallet and the skill level...but were soo divine when we finished!

Bits & Bobs- what you need:

-clean, dry jars- {we used Mason jars, but up-cycling from your fridge/ pantry is an awesome idea!}

-a packet of plastic animals {we bought both woodland animals and african animals...both The Lion King and Frankie Magazine are in high rotation here!}

-a hot glue gun

-Rust-oleum Ultra Cover Paint & Primer {I tried to use the no-name spray paint brands here and they just didn't cover like they needed to...but you may have more luck!}

The Fun Bit- what to do:

1. Remove all the lids and put your clean, dry jars to one side. On each lid sit an animal ready to be glued.

2. Glue the feet of each animal in the centre of each lid, and allow to dry for a half hour if you can- I'm pretty sure you can give it ten minutes if you're on a roll and cannot wait to spray!

3. In an open space, with lots of fresh air, {we do ours on our covered balcony- outdoors but not weather dependent} lay out a plastic drop cloth/ craft cloth, and lay out the lids in small groups if you are painting them in a few colours {we do this to avoid spray spots of colour on them all}.

4. Spray the entire jar lid and animal in your chosen colour- you may need to come back when they are a little dryer and spray the underneath of the animals if you missed any spots {our monkey had a brown butt for a while, whilst the rest of him was pristine white!}

5. Leave to dry overnight - the smell of the Rust-oleum also needs to subside before you fill your jars with goodies- especially edible Easter goodies!

6. Fill jars and tag with a little message...we made brown tags and used washi tape in Easter colours, {I'll be blogging Easter tags another day}, as these will be the take-home party jars/ sweet bags for Audrey's Easter birthday party in a few weeks.

7. Stand and stare for as long as it takes- as these are crazy super cute!!

I'd love you to join me here in the weeks leading up to Easter!

There will be plenty of pretty cool Easter crafts 

&

a heap of fab birthday ideas as well...

If home-schooling was like this all the time,

I'd be soooo onto it!

Pinch & a punch for the First of the Month!

Melissa 

xox

Valentines 2014- Cool Crafting.

Monday morning...we're back on guys...!

How much do you value your weekends...!!?
They are VERY loved here, although at the moment, in this little beach house, they seem to be full of endless *life/garden/kid/work/house-maintenance* jobs, interspersed by beach swims & much dropping of kids to the surf!

All wonderful stuff to be blessed enough to complain about mention, but I do  wonder at times, when the train will stop and we'll jump off for a day or two.

It was amazing weather this past weekend...summer is just rolling on here!
If your an IG-er you could hang out with me here, and come sit by the ocean with us if you need a fix of summer!
Love to share out vintage brolly with you in the sand.

Ok...on with the week- Valentines Day...

Being a lover of any excuse to decorate our home for a *celebration*, but not necessarily a huge Valentines day gal, I've a simple-go-to craft that I've used for many years in many forms around our house.

It takes no more than 15 minutes- using a great piece of crafting paper, an old map or even a photocopied piece of an atlas...a needle and thread and somewhere to hang it!

As we live with our windows and doors open most of the year, I have both fabric and paper bunting hanging all year long round our little beach house- I love it blowing in the breeze and connecting our house with our garden.
Metres more are pulled out on someones birthday, Easter, Christmas and any other time I can sneak it out throw it up before it's noticed.
This Valentines Bunting is the same, but it's vertical and lovely in it's simplicity- hanging beside windows...off antlers and over doorways.

Choose your paper.
Cut hearts to any random size.
String by hand {with a needle and cotton} or with your machine into vertical bunting.
Hang round your house- looking all loved up but cool.
Serve pink bubbles and tick that Valentines box!

Getting that craft back on for 2014!
Simple.
Stylish.
Inexpensive.
Timeless.

Enjoy ya Monday!

Melissa xx

*Get Your Christmas Craft On*- Day 5...

Good morning from the Coast- sun is a shining...I'm in one of those *get sorted* moods today...

But first...Day 5 of *Getting Your Christmas Craft On*!

A french inspired cloche...food cover...candle or fruit cover for the centre of your Christmas table...or just a lovely piece to sit amongst your Christmas decorating.

I totally love chicken wire decorating!

I tend to stash anything we may need in the future  put aside various lengths of chicken wire as I see it on sale as we use it for the garden, the puppy {to section of plants I'm growing that don't need digging up!} and for craft projects such as this...or this fantastic home project .

For this project we used a short width of chicken wire- 90 cms wide, which we cut down the centre to make two 45 cm wide pieces to use.

Using this width wire also gives you a clean base edge to the project, as you can see in the image below.

What you will need for this project:

Chicken wire- the smaller the width the better.

Wire cutters.

Gloves.

Christmas ribbon / herbs / baubles / tags etc.

To make the cloche:

1. Cut your chicken wire to size- ours were 45 cms high and random lengths wide - you will see how large you'd like it and cut accordingly.

2. Wearing gloves, unroll your wire till you have made it reasonably flat and able to be wired in a cylinder.

3. Attach your two sides together- we just used the ends of the wire we had cut- but you can also use pieces of thin wire from a seperate roll should you find that easier.

4. Once attached, you should have a large roll- now gather one end as you would a bon bon, or when wrapping a bottle and pull tight. It will bend and stay put- the beauty of working with wire!

5. Attach your ribbons and Christmas decorations as you wish...

We will be using these on our Christmas table perhaps covering whole seasonal Christmas fruit as decoration, and then with candles during the evenings.

They are so simple, beautiful and cost almost nothing...

They are super easy to put together- instantly completed projects so work for us all I know!

Made smaller- they'd be lovely on a deep window ledge, or shelf, with candles or Christmas decorations...

I heard this morning that in a month we'll be waking up to Christmas morning...hoping one of you will tell me I heard wrong!

Happy days!

Melissa x

Also check out this simple *Coastal-Country* project - it would be divine for pegging your Christmas cards on in the kitchen, or by the tree...

*Get Your Christmas Craft On*- Day 2

Good Morning Monday.

It's wild and wooly on the Coast here...I'm rugged up and drinking way to many pots of tea!

So...Day 2 of "Get your Christmas Craft On"...

This is a wonderful Christmas Craft- any time of year really- but lovely to do with your kids, or a girlfriend with a glass of something in the lead up to wrapping and gift giving.

I shared this last year, and have heard from many of you again this year, that it's on your lead-up list!

I thought I should share it again as it's simple, beautiful and addictive- perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*make it monday*...white clay doily bowls...

*make it monday*...

morning lovelies...here's one for your gorgeous teens...

this is so simple & so lovely...using little equipment, the pieces you can create are timeless...

white clay & typeface stamps...doily's & empty wine bottles...

 i've used DAS with my kids forever- purely as it *air dries*...that suits me- it's inexpensive & 

uncomplicated...

we broke off chunks & rolled it flat with an empty wine bottle- sooo handy when one is waiting for

one's goodies from abroad...

our vintage English rolling pin is slowly rolling it's way to Oz across the oceans as i type...

& this is the essential part they i forgot to snap with my camera, as i was helping girls roll with an

old wine bottle ;)

so...i will endeavour to explain how *truly simple* & satisfying this craft is...without images!

1. roll the clay flat...to the rough size of the dish or bowl you would like to make...

{we were making little jewellery dishes- so used asian sauce bowls...}

2. place a cotton / linen doily over the flattened clay & roll again {not nec using an old vino bottle!}

3. peel the doily away & lay the chosen dish over the clay & cut to size...

4. gently place into the bowl & push into shape inside the dish...

my eldest created everything here with her best friend...

both girls are seriously stylish & mad about type face...trained well ;)

so once the clay was in their chosen dishes they stamped letters & words inside...lovely...so lovely...

 

once the decorating...& stamping...& creating is done...

it's as simple as stepping back over night & letting them *air dry*... 

the girls created for hours- they made bowls,squares of clay for brooches & signs for their rooms

all whilst listening to I-Tunes & giggling...talking...creating together...

I love these moments in the lead up to the Holidays...

*make it monday*

clay creating with the gorgeous teens in your life

i'll be the one kneading with the empty wine bottle...

enjoy...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is truly a great craft...

I'll have my smallest doing it this year for gift tags too...

Nothing like a little tradition making in the lead up to Christmas is there...

Melissa x

A weekend frame project {create}

Hello out there...Morning from Down Under...

I'm snuggled under the duvet here, windows open, fresh cold air sweeping through, cup of tea in hand...just the way I like it in the mornings.

I'm usually up and at it on a Monday morning- three kids- three different schools- but as it's school holidays here, we are taking it slow...sigh out...

I've actually been awake since the very early morning, as our big girl headed out to the airport with her dad, to fly interstate to stay with friends. 

She's flying solo, which I feel totally content with after all our travels whilst living in England.

She's such a beautiful, smart girl and so deserved of a holiday after all her studies this last term- and she is a cracking photographer- so if you bother get to reading this, whilst sight seeing up North my lovely Bear- take me plenty of pickies!

So...this past weekend it has rained for all of England, and Europe...and Australia- endlessly!

The Hunter's went on and hardly came off! 

We had a great weekend of cooking, soccer, coffee's, drawing, movies, reading and I even started my *very own creative space* downstairs...a corner where I can leave all my sewing, crafting and paper goodies out all the time! 

Don't know who was happier- me or my husband...I'm quite sure when I have a space for myself, even he is more settled!

And so to it...

a weekend project {create}

The weekend of endless rain also gave me a chance to start an up-cycling project I've been wanting to do for so long.

We lived abroad for four years- yet most of our photos, like many people's, are on our laptop.
I've never really found it easy buying frames- so I end up at Ikea with a trolley full of plain white ones of all sizes- it ticks the boxes, but it's not a particularly creative process and lacks a little soul for me!

I've been collecting old frames from Vinnies {St.Vincent's De Paul's} for the last few weeks- all sizes and styles.
It's been lovely looking for unusual shapes...more detailed frames and not one of them cost me over two dollars!

I always have a slight order to my *crafting*- I can get a little swept up in all the details and turn to find myself surrounded by creative chaos- so a little order is an essential element!
This time I numbered my frames and the inserts, as I was dealing with so many, and I have to say it was simply like doing a puzzle putting them all back together!

So...in a crafty nutshell.

a weekend project {create}

You will need:

*old timber frames
*spray paint {I used bog standard, super cheap Squirts Quick Dry Gloss Enamel in *Medium Grey* }
*a large table, preferably outdoors in which to spray
*collected photos and/or prints
*enthusiasm & then patience :)

Firstly, I numbered each frame as I disassembled it, and laid the lot out on a large drop sheet on our outdoor table. This step is a life saver- I promise you!

I sprayed the frames, all at the same time, slowly and carefully with a few lighter applications, rather than one heavy one, so as to avoid drips, paint buildup and bubbles.

Finally I dug deep for some patience whilst they dried!

My suggestion: go and wash all the glass fronts in soapy water, and again slug through a zillion photos to try and chose the first ones you will frame.

{Believe me this is addictive-not the smell ;) but the act of making beautiful frames out of incredibly-ugly-and-not-lovely-old ones!}

I love choosing a paint colour...the wall of little sample cards- the whole trip to the hardware store.

So for me, when faced with a wall of spray cans of all colour and application- {did you know that there is a spray paint out there for pretty much anything!!} I was a little excited- and then I just came out with my current favourite colour- GREY!

I was thinking a great yellow or turquoise at first- perhaps I'll mix a few of those in- but the grey was so deep and lovely and perfect for both B&W and colour prints. 

They look fantastic.

I love them!

I'm loving the anticipation of building a photo wall of our travels with them!

At long last!

If you've a pile of photos, a few spare hours and a lovely big blank wall in your home, or you simply want to make something special out of not much, for very few dollars - a lovely up-cycling project that you actually will love and want to live with...then this is it.

I cannot wait to start on the wall- I have at least another dozen frames, or more, to finish spraying yet though...
Think I'll be getting those kids onto a little assistance over the holidays, as they tend to feature in just a few of the pickies! ;)

Happy Monday y'all!

Melissa x