Day 134 Fingerprint Critters

Day 133 - Dinosaur snow globe.

A couple of years ago my son and I went to a snow globe workshop together and found out how easy it is to make your own snow globes.

Today I thought I'd share it with you.

First - gather your materials. Most importantly, a glass jar - one with a wide neck is best, short wide ones work well.

I have also got a hot glue gun, some sparkly bits - I didn't have any glitter today so I'm using some sparkly stars and sequins. I am also using a plastic dinosaur and tree and some green plastic fabric that I rescued from a blow-up Santa that didn't work anymore. You can use whatever you want as long as it's waterproof.

Next, create your scene.

Glue all of your pieces to the inside of the lid of the jar using your hot glue gun. I glued 2 large wooden buttons to the fabric first to create some height so that the dinosaur could be seen once the jar is turned upside down.

Put your sparkly bits in the jar.

Fill the jar as far up to the top as you can with water

Screw the lid on tightly. At this point you can then run a line of hot glue around the lid to make sure it doesn't come off. (It was hard to take a photo of this step.) 

You can stop here but I decided to also glue a circle of fabric to the bottom of the lid to make a little skirt around the bottom of the globe.

Here's another one we made for Christmas.

Day 132 - Superhero Jet Pack

What do you do with a couple of soft drink containers and a wine box? Make a superhero jet pack of course. Just add a little foil and some elastic and away we go. Literally.

Materials -

Just cover these in foil or paint silver. I tried painting but the plastic was a bit slippery and the paint didn't grip.

Then I used cellophane and yellow paper for the flames and stapled black elastic to the box to create a harness for the jet pack.

Up, up and awaaaaay!

Day 131 - My family, my life.

I have lost a perfectly good day today being ill with food poisoning. So annoyed!

Wasn't sure if I'd be able to make anything at all, but here's what I came up with. A tribute to my family and my life.

Day 130 - Recycled belt to owl pendant.

Owl fever seems to have hit my place with my 4th owl project in as many days. This one was almost cheating it was so easy. But with a 365 day project I do need to be allowed a few cheats.

I found this strange owl belt which looks to me like something from the 70's, in with the buttons and lace I got from my Gram. It was too easy to turn it into a pendant by detaching the owl, putting a little ring on the top to hang it on a chain, and adding a couple of beads. The beads are from my 5yo's stash so I might end up changing them to a nicer bead. Or maybe I should ditch the beads entirely?

I forgot to take before pictures in my haste to finish it off before school pick-up.

Have a fabulous Friday and a wicked weekend everyone.

Day 129 - Mother and Son Owls

Well I don't know about where you live but it is definitely a yucky indoors day here today. My 3 year old is a little obsessed with watching 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' so I've spent most of the day trying to get him to do things with me instead of watching too much TV.

We made some mother and son owls just using materials we had lying around. We used an old chocolate box, toilet roll, cup cake cakes and some paper scraps.

Here's what we made.

 Then we did some baking, and even tried an owl biscuit. :) Yummo!

Who doesn't love owls with their big beautiful eyes?

Day 128 - Owls in a tree mobile

I decided to expand on my owl theme from yesterday by making an owl mobile.

You could make a similar mobile with another fabric that you like. Here's how I made it.

Cut out the owls from this gorgeous fabric and a mirror image of the owl shape from the plain area of the fabric.

With right sides facing, sew around the shape of the owl and trim the excess from the seams. Leave a 1-2 cm gap for turning. At this point I also placed a small loop of ribbon between the 2 layers of fabric at the top of the head to use to hang the owls later.

Use a chopstick to help turn the owls right side out.

Here are my finished owls. Ready to be stuffed.

Stuff the owls with stuffing, (I used the inside of an old pillow) and hand sew the opening closed.

I found some sticks outside on the ground and decided to use them as a base for my mobile, binding them together like this by wrapping some thin strips of fabric tightly around them.

Next I cut some more thin strips of the fabric and used them to make loops to hang the owls over the sticks. I just used slip knots, and because a rustic look worked with the sticks I left the knots exposed at the top.

And it's ready to hang. :)

This fabric would also make a really cute mobile. What do you think?

Day 127 - Owl scrunchy baby toy

Here's a cute little baby scrunchy toy that is super easy to make.

I had a little bit of this owl fabric leftover from another project. I just cut out one of the owls (the back is the blue fabric with tiny flowers), stuffed it half with stuffing and the other half with a noisy plastic/cellophane, and sewed it up.

It's a good size for little baby hands and the sound makes it interesting to squeeze. And of course it is harmless to put in their little mouth.

Materials -

Owlie

Day 126 - Pirate Bubba Shorts

We are going to Thailand in a month or so and my 8 month old has doubled in size since we had warm weather so I thought I'd make him a few pairs of shorts for the trip. Given the pirate lovers in our house some pirate shorts had to be the first project. Baby shorts are so quick and easy to make and you hardly need any fabric for a one of a kind look. How cute is this little pirate?

Day 125 - Quick and easy tea light jar

Today is one of those days where we have had a huge weekend and have just arrived back from Melbourne in a state of exhaustion. It was a great weekend but the kids were beside themselves and I'm not far behind them.

Here's what I came up with.

First I found an old jar - this one is a baby food jar and covered it in a scrap of lace.

Then I painted over the top of the lace.

Then I peeled off the lace and hot glued some daisy trim onto the top of the jar.

In went a tea light and here is the result.

I'm off to bed. Hope your weekends were as good as mine. :)

Day 124 - Mildred has been out shopping

Mildred has been out shopping. You can see her lovely new red bag. She has purchased some lollies from the corner store. The lollies are made from beads and toothpicks, with ribbon binding the sticks together. She's been having a lovely time strolling about in the sunshine, doing some window shopping. What are you doing with your Saturday morning?

Day 123 - Mildred the Dove

Hi everyone. Been back at school for a week now after the holidays. Tough getting everyone up and out of the house again on these chilly morning I must say.

I've been working on Mildred the dove for a couple of days now. She made from felt and fabric and has truly been a labour of love. She is based on a pattern from this wonderful book http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Little-Birds-Design-Collective/9781607050032

She will be getting some accessories tomorrow, as she really likes to shop.

Day 122 - Cords with lace and ric ric

Cute cords with lace and ric rac are today's 'make'. I love ric rac and I think these are pretty cute.

Day 121 - The Heart and Polka Dot Skirt

A simple skirt in polka dot corduroy with a heart applique. Size 2-3 mini.

Day 120 - Pussy Cat Bag

I starting making this about a year ago, possible more. I had just done the quilting for the main section of the bag, so I choose some fabric for the lining, finished the cats face and made the bag. Pretty cute hey? I think I know a few little girls who will like it.

It's from a pattern by Melly and me. http://mellyandme.typepad.com/

Day 119 - Box Towers and clay.

Today was the first day back at school for term 3. I was quite sad. The weather was gloomy, we rushed out the door, and I felt dread at the return of the routine of school term.

That said, I did enjoy lots of 1-1 time with my newly turned 3 year old today while his brother slept, and we had some fun and lots of cuddles.

We made some towers out of the growing box collection in the pantry. Perhaps we will paint them tomorrow. Aidan says it's a shopping centre.

After school I sat with my daughter and she made this pretty cool creature from air drying clay.

It was a good day overall, but I still feel a lingering sadness that comes from a loss of the freedom I so enjoyed during the school holidays.