Creativeness strikes again

In my not-so-great effort to keep things tidy and sort out my craft room/computer room I have decided to get in and use a lot of stuff that appears to be not worth keeping to my darling husband...but of course I know otherwise.

I came across a pretty smashed up lampshade and I have been wanting to make a fur lampshade for my or the girls room as it seems to add such warmth to the area and of course I have some spare fur pieces lying around....but then I came across a bag of bridal fabric offcuts I was lucky enough to receive over 10 years ago from a dressmaker and saw the net lining (with ribbon edging) in the bag.

So this is what I did:

The lampshade was for a pedestal or side lamp and I had no lamps with the correct fitting to attach to a rooftop...sooooo....I bent that baby up until it was so crooked I couldn't attach the light and then I took the hammer and sorted it out.....(hence not so pretty at the top) but nothing a hotglued pile of fabric couldn't fix.

So, I glued on some scrap pink gingham,...which didn't actually fit so I had to do a minor collage job on it at the back....(noone will notice this because it is under the net skirt)

Then I glued the net on, ruffling as I went...and glued a ribbon around that to cover the glue.  Then to finish it I attached some vintage yellow lace to the top....

I am so pleased with it...it really looks very pretty.

Oh, I glued ric rac around the inside bottom too, to hide the glued up fabric.

Lovin' Lalaloopsy (oh the girls are too!)

Well what can I say about Lalaloopsy that you cannot tell the moment you see them.  They are gorgeous!! And for we lasses that love to sew and create..(well for me anyway) they are just the perfect blend of personality, individuality, cuteness, sweetness and imaginative gorgeousness in one doll ( or what seems to be hundreds of them)

Needless to say I love them, each and every one and my 3 yr old  spends most of her time playing with them. My 6 yr old is also loving them. 

So we are starting to get a collection going...and since we already have a gorgeous dollhouse that Daddy made for his sweet 5 yr old a while ago...I didn't think it was necessary or budget friendly to buy one of the gorgeous treehouses, houses etc...I really really love them....but it is more fun to invest in the minis and DIY dollhouse. 

So after sewing a heap of new lalaloopsy clothes for my 3 yr old and her dolls I decided to make a dollhouse out of a flour box.  And sew....this is what we came up with after modge podge, hot glue, glitter contact and scrapbooking paper took hold...AND we got to reuse the beautiful handles off the packets.

                                      The little lala dollhouse sits neatly in the bigger dollhouse

                           Crumbs Sugar Cookie and Toasty Sweet Stuff enjoying a lemonade

                                   
                                    Jelly Wiggle Jiggle and Blossom Flowerpot enjoy a cuppa

The repurposed handle off the bag (I have also seen them used as handles on apothecary jars (DIY))

Marina in her little bathtub.

I covered the outside in fabric as I am hoping it will be more durable and help hold the cardboard together.

Bundles and Squirt enjoy a break from playtime

Funkin' old shoes up

I am not really one to follow fashion strictly, just wear what I like and if the so-called latest fashion appeals to me well that is great.  But the neon colours of pink and yellow have slightly impressed me so I bought some paint a few weeks ago.

I have done a few projects with it, and here is just a couple.

Some old shoes that I just won't be wearing again I thought could do with a makeover and if it works well that is good, if not, we had fun experimenting.

Sooooo here they are:

A pair of pointy shoes,...which are very out of date, but under a pair of jeans with the hot pink poking through...I reckon it could be okay.

The other shoes were these very very old yellow numbers...I thought the neon pink would be nice..

But it smudged a bit, well leaked under the tape and I didn't like the mix of colours, so I chopped up a pair of old denim shorts I have stashing to make a picnic rug.  I cut out this shape and modge podged it onto the toe.  I have done this with a couple of other pairs of shoes and it worked really well.

So now I think just to pop into school or somewhere casual I can wear them and think they aren't too out od date.

I used the hem of the shorts because I thought the hem made them look a touch less handmade.

Thrift store necklace upcycled

I am always scanning the thrift store for beads etc that I can use and about six months ago I came across a royal blue plain necklace that was about two metres long and in one strand...not pretty at all, but I love these plaited and celtic looking necklaces and knew I could make this one prettier.

So I plaited the three strands together without even undoing it ages ago and I finally got around to just tying the ribbon on today.

The cool thing is that I just tied the ribbon with a double knot so I can change the ribbon to green or coral anytime time I want.

Herbal teas

We have been having fun making up our own herbal teas and popping them in cooking of late.

I bought some great herbs this week including, variegated Oregano, Pineapple Sage, Sage, Lemon Balm, Thyme, I already had Chocolate Mint, Lemon Thyme and many others.

So we made a Peppermint tea the other day and my littlies tried it happily and found it interesting...not yucky just different to milky teas (we normally drink Organice Rooibos for winter and iced tea for Summer)

So then we tried it with Chocolate Mint....and I tried a grated ginger and Chocolate Mint tea yesterday...not too bad.  They tried Pineapple Sage with Agave Syrup to sweeten and it was ok for them.  They really need to get used to drinking things with milk because they thought this tasted quite nice.

They look mighty herbal don't they....
We put the Pineapple Sage in some Pina Colada muffins we made for a fun taste.  We just added crushed pineapple, shredded coconut and white choc chips to some and the Pineapple Sage.

So we will keep trying this things and I enjoy introducing the kids to new and interesting tastes that are good for us and keeping their minds open to trying new things.

Wow...what a crafty month it has been

Well I am still craft crazy and have done a heap of quick and rewarding crafts.

I just have to remember them all now.

Well we went crazy with chalkboard paint last week and with some leftover paint we did a fairy door for the tree in the kids area.

Being chalk paint we can make whatever decoration we like on it.
Clearly not a tricky task, and we had cut out the fairy door ages ago.

Then we did this Pinterest idea....tape words onto a canvas, let the littlies go for it and have your own gorgeous personalised print.

Here is ours:

It started like this...I had to cut the tape in half and I cut out the little heart too

You would think this would have been a fun project but my two year old sweetie did the aqua painting, and when I handed her a spray bottle with paint and water in it she just refused to do it...and we can to grief, she walked away and refused to paint anyway,...until I found her with a paintbrush and pink paint, painting the treehouse stumps and the patio chair she was sitting on....I was not overly happy with that....and still refusing to spray paint,..I gave it a quick spray.

I think it needs a really nice wooden frame now and probably some glitter or gold in there somewhere to give it a lift...but this is it to date.

Sweet Lace skirt upcycle project

I bought a vintage lace dress a few months ago and knew I wanted to make two pretty lace skirts for the girls with it and hopefully something for me.

Soooo pretty and it will fit my 2 yr old and 6 yr old.

The truly vintage dress was a classic and very beautiful, but I just wouldn't wear it like this.

Even the lace is a little yellowy and beautiful edging.

The mint green sportsgirl top.

I sewed the green underneath first

There is the bottom peeking out

Just showing the inside of the waist band

Here it is in all its glory...I just have to sew on a rose and tassles.

My little sweetie definitely loves it and we teamed it with a dance leotard

I used an old Sportsgirl top that I have never worn and just didn't like it. It was a mint green crepe material that stretches so perfect for this job.  It had a rosette on it too and two spaghetti straps that I will use for the tassles and embellishment.

I made it so that the mint green hangs just half an inch below the pretty vintage lace.

The waist band is a bit different and I am not totally happy with it as it is bulky, but I used the top frill on the shirt, mostly because the top half of the shirt wasn't wide enough to make the waistband so I had to compromise and I think it actually looks sweeter to have the frill.

Because the lace is a bit stiff the mint green fabric does stick to it a bit so you can't see it hanging below in this piccie.