A Christmas Tree for Toddlers

Since I have 2 toddlers at home I knew I couldn't put up a traditional Christmas tree without risking its destruction. Is there anything more attractive to a toddler than lights and colours? So, I have been thinking about alternative trees and browsing the web for ideas. I wasn't sure about the right material but when I found one made of felt I knew that that was what I wanted to use. The only thing I wasn't too happy about was the fact that it was a flat tree, to hang on the wall. 

I thought about the best way to do something similar but that it would be with volume and that it could stand up. I finally decided to go for it when I found a plastic box with the right shape. It was very light, meaning they could hold it; it is virtually unbreakable so there's no problem if they throw it to the floor while playing with it. I bought green felt and covered the box with it. The only thing I kept from the original project was the balls - if they are just flat felt circles they'll adhere to the tree if you just press felt against felt.  If I made them voluminous they would be too heavy to be of any use.

You can find the original tree here as I saved it to my pinterest board. And here is my finished project:

It's about 50 cm high so I can put it on the floor and twins will keep themselves busy playing with it. :-)

This project counts for the Pin It & Do It Challenge

Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday Crafts

I haven't really been posting any handmade crafts on the blog. Although that was and still is one of my main interests, besides reading, I haven't had as much time as I used to and the things I do I end posting on my Portuguese blog.

You can guess that when I was offered a chance to review Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday I really couldn't pass it up. I don't remember how many times I checked Martha Stewart's website looking for ideas or tutorials of handmade projects and getting my hands on one of her books it's a dream come true! Especially if it is about the holidays... Holidays are just the right times for some “do it yourself" projects.

 

The books features the major American and international holidays: New Year’s – Valentine’s Day – Easter – Mother’s Day – Father’s Day – Fourth of July – Halloween – Thanksgiving – Hanukkah – Christmas

As I was already expecting the pictures are lovely! The colours, the materials, the production... the result is beautiful and inspiring. Many of the projects seem really easy to do, something you could do with your children. While my boys are still young for these projects I am definitely making notes of what to try when they are older.

So, thank you Crown Publishing Group and NetGalley. I had a fabulous afternoon sitting down with a cup of tea and browsing this book to pick my next handmade project!

Sew Kaway by Choly Knight

Now that I have 2 babies at home it seems that most of the crafty things I do is something for the them. Not only that but I have been looking for things I can do with them when they are a bit older. I don't know if sewing will be among what they will like to do but I definitely liked reading this book and deciding which projects I'm going to do for them. In the introduction it is mentioned that Kaway means cute, adorable in japanese and that is certainly true of the projects you find here.

This book is great for people who want to start sewing, it teaches you how to do it, the different fabrics, technics, materials you need...the instructions are very easy to follow. There are several types of projects and all seem very easy to do with children. I loved the wearable accessories -  my boys will definitely have some of those beanies to warm their heads - and the home decorations chapters.

Thank you to Fox Chapel Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

More Crafty Presents

Presents that I received:











and that I've given:

Crafty Christmas Presents and a New Blog

I'm giving some presents "made by me" this Christmas and thought of sharing them here. They are for two children so I think I'm safe and they wont visit the blog. It's a wooden box decorated with decoupage and a photo frame painted and with a chicken ornament. It's for a little girl named Maria Inês.




I've have also been doing some sewing with my Mom, some for Christmas presents and some for us. She does a lot more than me though and since she is newly arrived to the internet world and has been exploring crafty blogs I thought of posting the photos of her work online and surprise her with a blog. It's a portuguese blog because it is for her and you can find it here. There will be more photos added as soon as everyone gets their Christmas presents. ;-)

Recycling Books

I have already mentioned here how to turn a book into a handbag. It seems creativity has no limits and this time I found other crafty projects to do with old books. I keep collecting them thinking that one day I may have the guts to do one of these but so far I haven't been able to make myself cut a book open...

Found here via Whip Up

How To Make a Handbag Out of a Recycled Book

I found this link on the BM forum. Not sure if I should be amazed at their creativity or horrified by seeing the book destroyed...

About Crafts & Helping Others

As I've mentioned here previously I've been very lazy lately in the crafts department. However I still had some things I had done last year and this month I decided to put them to good use. I donated 2 cloth bags decorated with decoupage to that charity auction I've mentioned previously Leilão Mão a Mão. I just hope someone likes them enough to offer some money for them!

Christmas Ornaments

I'm feeling really guilty that this is the first Christmas ever since I moved in with L. that I don't do a Christmas Ornament for our colection. In my defense I should say I've been really busy at work and then at home reading and movie watching (I put that down as work because one has to maintain one's blogs, right?) but a tiny little voice is screaming I could always have started early and done everything. Well, I guess I could have but now it's too late. So to compensate I'm going to post here links to some of the lovely crafts I've been seeing online... and maybe next year I'll start sooner...

Some Christmas Tree decorations

A Magical Cookie Forest

Fabric and Foam Ornaments´

Molly's Star Ornaments´

Christmas Cards for download

Zacca Style Owl Pennant

Felt Ornaments

and this one I just found too funny because Bah! Humbug! is what mr Scrooge says about Christmas in the beginning of Dicken's A Christmas Carol!

There are some lovely crafters out there!!

My First Christmas Present

My crafty aunt came by yesterday to give me my Christmas present. She bought me a jar and a matching candle holder but decided to do a christmas center piece with the jar. Since she wanted me to enjoy it during the holiday season she decided to surprise me with it.

I was really surprised and quite happy! I love all christmas and crafty things and had already thought about what to do this year. I've been so lazy and with so many new hobbies that I still am not in the mood to actually do something. Hopefully the mood will come in December!

Too lazy to craft...

I've been so lazy lately, it's been a long time since I got involved in any crafting projects. I've been seing some beautiful things online though, some of them a true inspiration... I'll have to post some links one of these days, today I leave you with my Flickr favourites!´



PS. I know there's another way to post your Flickr favourites in a way that if people click on it they are redirected to the Flickr site but I after spending some time searching I didn't find the how to explanation. If anyone knows could you please let me know?

More Inspiration...

Buying magazines

I bought a new crafts magazine yesterday. I shouldn't have, I have enough magazines as it is but it's a strange compulsion that I seem to be unable to run away from.

The thing is I always buy them thinking of doing some of the projects pictured but in the end I seldom really do any. Sad isn't it? Not to mention the space all the magazines occupy. But I so love to open a brand new magazine and looking at all the beautiful photos inside... and maybe one of these days I'll actually start a project or two.

I have the same compulsion regarding books but those I find well worth it, no matter how many I buy sooner or later I know I'll read them...

Mother's Day!

I finally got the sewing machine out of the closet to sew a gift for my Mom and my Mother-in-law. I made them one pocket wallet each. Since I only started yesterday I wanted something easy and that I already done before so I could be confortable with it. They are still not perfect, I still need to practice more to manage even stiches and straight lines but I'll get there eventually.

Now we're off to watch a horse show. GNR, the national military police force it's celebrating it' 96th annyversary and some of the events take place in our home town. I'm looking forward to watch this because I never seen it before, they will be playing music while riding their horses so I'm hoping it will be an interesting program.

Books & Inspiration

I have been very lazy lately in what concerns my other hobby – sewing! The only thing I’ve done is raising hems on L.’s pants usually after he starts dragging them on the floor. Well to gain some inspiration and because I love bags I ordered a new book (shown in the picture) that I hope will make me run to the sewing machine. It seems to have great ideas and I’m looking forward to get it in the mail.

In the mean time I’ve been browsing some blogs and finding beautiful things like these and these. If you’re as bag crazy as I am I’m sure you’ll love them! Oh, and if you have any inspiring links to share I would love to find new sites to visit!

Drinking Tea

Tea is one of my favourite drinks, either when I'm at work or at home in the evenings I drink tea almost every day. I used to paint boxes to store my tea bags, I haven't done many lately because I already gave most of my friends their own box and since it does take some space I can't have many in my own kitchen.

Here are some examples:

Bags

I had mentioned here previously how my Mom made me some bags. Today I decided to show some of them. I believe I have more laying around so I'll update this post when I find the others...

Crafty Presents

I did receive some crafty presents and since I've been too busy to do something myself I decided to show them here.




My new pants embroidered by Mom (I really must take a better picture)




A tea towel




Another tea towel

Soaps

I'm afraid I have nothing new and crafty to talk about. I'm still looking for some new project.

Then it came to mind I had never posted about decoupage in soaps. I had a "soap period" a while back in which I decoupaged napkin paper onto soaps. Some I gave away but others are still with me.















I had more to show but most of the photos don't look right, the paper reflects the light and you can't even see what it is. I'm thinking maybe I should join a photography workshop or something...

Knitting Needle's Case

So after some struggle I finally finished it. Well, not really because I'm always finding new things to perfect in what I do. But it's as finished as it could be after a whole evening of sewing and gluing! Yes, I cheated! The red ribbons are glued. I just didn't want to take the risk of having the sewing looking bad again...

Here it is:

The inside...



The outside...



Half closed so we can see both sides...


And closed...

I just hope my mother likes it, not sure when I'll be making another one eh eh! No, just kidding, I really have to devote myself to sewing more often so it doesnt always feel like a difficult process. Practice makes perfect right? At least that's what I'm hoping :-)