Lessons Learned in Mess

Painting with the girls is absolute Choas! There's shouting, dropping of things, requests, demands, glue in mouths, hair, spills, messes to wipe up and paint EVERYWHERE! These are the things I often remember before I get the paint out. But amongst the chaos, so many lessons are being learned; what does red and yellow and white make when mixed together? what will happen if i paint over this? or on that? or spread it with my hands?... or put it on my face? Also, is this ok that I am getting messy? Do I like the look or feel of this? Is this good?

I am learning too... I am learning that mess can be good, choas can be healthy, staying calm can let my kids know that this is good, this is fun and there are no rules here! I'm also learning to let go and just watch. Even though I want to get involved and I have my own ideas of what should go where and what colours would look great, I have to keep my mouth shut. This is not my artwork and my values may not be theirs, I am only assistant to the artists providing the tools (I imagine this is true for most home education). I am so amazed, these kids are teaching themselves and growing more confident in their freedom! And I am learning new ways to do things too by just watching.

And here I am again, surprised and inspired by the creativity and originality of my own children! Never mind the mess!

Trunks with Trunks!

Ha ha! The puns are coming. More shorts for Angus. Elephants, because they are so cute and cotton because it is so darn hot right now. See previous post for simple directions on how to make shorts like these.

Pretty Play Bag

My girls love little bags to collect things, take when we go out (or pretend to) or just to wear like Mum. Here's one I made for my two year old. Its really quick and easy to make and I made it from off-cuts of old material and leftover ribbon.

Directions:
Cut a rectangle of material 30cm x 15cm
Fold in half right side facing in
Sew a straight line down the two sides
Fold over top edge and sew a 1cm seem
Turn inside out
Sew ribbon over the seem line with a zig zag stitch for decoration
Attach required length of ribbon for a shoulder strap.
(I like the strap to cross over the body and sit just under the hand so it is easy to access)

...10 minutes later.

Country Holiday

 

It seems we've had the best of both worlds this holiday... The beach before Christmas and just last week, the country. We soaked up the fresh country air and braved the heat wave, bushwalking, sightseeing and swimming, to find beautiful views at Mt French, serenity at Lake Moogerah and breathtaking sunsets at Boonah.

Pillow Slip Dress and Matching Bag

Want to make a kids dress but don't know how? This is a simple solution with a great outcome. Another quick and easy sewing project for kids. I found this pillow slip at an op-shop (thrift store) years ago and thought it would make a great dress. I used directions found in this book and found I had to alter it to fit a 4 year old (trim a bit off the top). So with the excess material, I made a little bag to match. We used ribbon for the straps and the detail at the bottom of the dress rather than rickrack. Have you got any pretty pillow cases?

A Little Light Reading for the Holiday

Buy here

We have been on holiday in Boonah, living the country life and while we were there, Charlie bought me this book for my birthday. There are heaps of cool projects in there to keep me krafting for the next year I think... So fighting the urge to get to the machine, I put my feet up and read, and I actually learned a thing or two about proper sewing and cross stitching techniques! I usually do not have the patience to read such things but Pip makes it easy to read, and some good illustrations for visual learners like me. So I can definately recommend this book to learner sewers and crafters alike. 5 stars.

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...
*A house to myself (and a very quiet baby)
*A very capable man to look after my little darlings and take them to Seaworld and a sleep over at Nan and Pop's house
*Florence and the Machine and a vintage record player
*Plenty of pretty fabrics to sew dresses with after a trip to Spotlight with my girls (Poppy has put me to work again)
*Long phone calls and friends who make them seem short

What are you grateful for today? I hope your day was rad too and blessings keep coming your way! x

Simple Summer Shorts

These shorts are real easy to make. All you need is 1/2 meter of material, some elastic and a pair of baby shorts to trace around.

Directions:

Trace around one panel of the shorts, be sure to stretch out the waist line.

Add 1cm at the bottom leg and 2cm at the waist for hems plus 1/2cm around entire panel.

Fold material in half and then half again until you have a rectangle this size 4 layers thick.

Cut out the pattern and pin it to your material

Cut out the material and separate two lots of panels that face in and pin these together.

Sew 1/2cm in from the waist to the crotch line on both lots
Open out and place the now two pieces together and pin.
Sew 1/2cm in at both sides and then pin the crotch and sew.
Zig zag stitch the edges and the sew a 1cm hem for both pant legs.
Fold and sew 1 1/2cm hom for the waist allowing 2cm opening to thread the elastic through
Measure your babies waist line and cut a piece of elastic to this length
Thread through opening at waist and then sew 1cm of overlapping elastic.

Sew shut and then turn right side out.

These make a nice light weight short for summer but can be altered very easily to be long pants or heavier track pants for colder weather. I used 1/2 m of cotton material on sale so it cost me around $3 but you could also recycle old pants or shirts or even sheets.

Happy sewing! x

Friday Love

Today I am grateful for...
*Joyce Myer on tellie at 5am
*a 2 year old dancing to 80's music... like they did in the 80's
*slow cooked chicken casserole and a rice cooker
*a cold afternoon to enjoy it and a mother in-law who took over cooking it when I was torn in 3 different directions!
*a husband who is teaching tap and assisting costume changes in the pre bedtime production to the music of Vegietales in the girl's bedroom
*a sleeping baby who always manages to wriggle his way out of my wraps into a star fish position!
*rain
I hope your Friday was full of joy and love and laughter. Happy New Year. x

Ready for Wrapping

After our family holiday I hit the sewing machine hard and sewed these little beauties... More Travel Art Folios for the kiddies in our families. I loved making these. Making something for someone else is very fulfilling and I hope that this is something I can encourage my kids to do also as they grow older.

I remember having something similar to this when I was 5 and I thought it was awesome, although it was not hand made, I felt like a real artist. I hope that they will be enjoyed and loved and used to bits and that many ideas will flourish and that many creative moments occur between these pages.

Life's a Beach

We have been away on a family holiday at the beach on the North Coast of New South Wales. Although miserable weather was predicted, it turned out perfect, lots of cloud coverage for exploring and relaxing and plenty of sunny days for swimming. The kids were inseparable from their cousins whom they adore! But when they weren't loving each other to bits they were exploring, collecting, jumping over white wash, being chased by waves, sleeping in daddy's arms and 'experiencing' sand.

Travel Art Folio

Christmas is such a busy time of year.  Rather than hit the shops this year, I'm hitting the sewing machine. So that is where I've been in my spare moments amidst the craziness of kid rearing. Here is the latest art folio I've made. I adapted my original design to make sewing simpler and the folio easier to use, with the opening flap positioned to the right and with snap lock buttons to make the folio more secure. This one is for a 5 year old boy.

1 down, 10 more to go... how many days till Christmas??? Is anyone else making pressies this year? What are you making?

Messy Mache Bowl

My 2 year old loved this project. Plenty of opportunities to get messy and indulge the senses!

Paper Mache Recipe

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup PVA glue

Whisk ingredients together. Use immediately.

• Newspaper
• balloon
• tissue paper

Tear newspaper into strips. Blow up balloon. Dip strips of newspaper into glue mixture and layer over top half of balloon, the size and depth that you would like your bowl. Create a neat edge using straight edges of newspaper around the outside. Put a layer of tissue paper over to finish and then leave to dry for a day. Then paint.

A Photo...

Why is barbed wire, rust, decayed wood, peeling paint and old bricks so aesthetically pleasing to me? hehehe. 

Poppy's Sketch Collection and Exhibition

 So remember that art folio I made? (for myself). I did a couple of water colour sketches and let my four year old daughter have a muck around as well. 'Mucking around' is what I was doing compared to the sketches and drawings SHE came up with! She filled my whole book. So here is an exhibition of some of her work, we stuck up on the walls in her bedroom.

'A Colour Man'
Pen and watercolour 

 'A Funny Angry Man'
Pen and watercolour
(I love this one- it looks like a sugar skull / R2D2)

 'Angus and Mum'
Pen and watercolour
(a sight drawing of me and Angus whilst breastfeeding haha!)

And it looks like there are more to come. I might just have to make her her own folio.

Crocheted Love is Forever

This blankie is older than I am.

When our son was born, Charlie's mum gave us the blanket his Grandmother crocheted for him as a baby. That makes this blanket more than thirty years old. It is still as beautiful as ever if not more with all the love that it has received over the years and all the cold nights it kept my husband warm and for the many more to come where my son will lie cosy inside its soft folds. So from Nanna Green, whom never got the chance to meet our baby boy, her love is still felt and she lives on.

Here is a free tutorial to crochet this exact pattern.
http://www.knitting-n-crochet.com/Crochet-ripple-afghan.html

Has anyone else got a hand-me-down they cherish?

Playing Skirty

Here's my cheeky girl in the skirt I made for her. I've had this material forever and its about time I did something with it. So for Poppy, whom everything has to be pink for at the moment, I designed a skirt with enough length not to be cheeky in a showing your bottom all the time kind of way and short enough to run in, with room enough for karate kicks and doing the splits. Most importantly it was damn easy. I made it within 2 hours and it did not require too much concentration or detail or changing the foot on the sewing machine (which I have no idea how to do) and best of all, dodgy sewing is hidden... hehehe.


Instructions:
(Based on a size 3-4)
Cut one piece of material 30cm in length (the length can be altered to your child's preference) and at least 60cm in width. Cut in half. Pin the two pieces together, top sides facing each other. Sew a seam on the two lengths. Sew 60cm of binding at the bottom. Measure your child's waist and cut a piece of elastic slightly shorter. For a good waist band, make sure the elastic is 2cm in width or more. Sew a rough seam at the top at least 1cm wider than your elestic. Leave a 5cm gap to insert elestic through. Thread the elastic through and pin. Check that this fits the child before sewing together. Next, push the elastic down so that it is pressed up against the stitching. Now fold the band over and sew a neat seam as close as possible below the elastic without sewing the elastic. This creates a tight elasticized waistband without having to tediously thread the elastic through, its also nice and thick. Turn inside out. Now put it on your lucky kid and send them out to play.