Bracelets for friends

My little one has 33 children in her core class, so this project has been a long term exercise that we've delved in and out of since Christmas. It's not for the feint of heart! First we picked out pink, yellow, red, white, orange and clear beads from some huge bags of plastic beads I happen to own. This was a great sorting exercise in itself.

Then she began threading the beads and making little bracelets for her friends. All 33 of them! I left the supplies out on the table and she came back to it time and time again. I was seriously impressed with her patience and attention to detail. She made patterns with the colored beads on some bracelets, while some are a bit more...random. Eventually, and with little help from me, she made enough for everyone in her class.

Then we made gift tags using Fiskars heart and scalloped punches.

I'm always on the look out for little gifts my kids can make for their school friends. Do YOU have some ideas on this? Let me know as I'd love to see :O)

Little Heartbreakers #2

It was only 4 months ago that I made these Little Heartbreakers for my boy, but 4 months equals plenty of potential growing time in the life of a 7 year old and those lovely navy blue corduroy trousers with the striped cotton facing that I bought in Singapore, are flapping around way above his ankles. Of course, he's perfectly happy wearing trousers that are far too short for him. He has quite an interesting style when it comes to him picking out his own clothes. I love to see him express his own quirky little personality in this way. But on school days, I tend to give him a bit of guidance (like the day he chose to put on tan shorts with a tan belt, a tan t-shirt and tan socks because they all matched).

Over the last couple of years, it seems that this boy has only ever grown upwards, not outwards, so I made him a new pair of Little Heartbreakers from the book Sewing For Boys using the size 7 pattern pieces lengthened by about 3".

The fabric is some kind of woven denim-y cotton that was actually much nicer to work with than I feared and hangs really nicely when worn. The facings and pocket lining is a bicycle print by Michael Miller, I believe.

As is the case with all the things I have made from this book, the pattern is lovely and the instructions are so well written, the trousers come together quickly and easily. It only took me a couple of hours to sew these up and they are finished pretty nicely. In fact, I'm pretty sure he will grow out of them long before my sewing gives way.

And now I'm off to have a little blub about how big my little boy is getting.

All you need is love....and cupcakes

There are endless uses for these letter cookies for all kinds of celebrations and festivals, but here I used them to decorate some Valentine's cupcakes with the words 'All you need is love'. Actually, it says 'All you n33d is love' because there was a shortage of the letter E, but it works well enough and the kids didn't notice!

Pennie Pockets

We're full on into the countdown to Valentine's Day over here and I wanted to share a cute project I have up over at Fiskars for these fabric Pennie Pockets. They are simple to make and so so sweet. They'd make a great way to present some small gifts or hang them on your children's door on Valentine's morning filled with treats.

There are so many ways to embellish these little cones, so you can really have fun with them. Let me know if you make some - I'd love to see them. You can read all about them by clicking here.

I heart you!

I have some Valentine's post coming up next week, but in the meantime, have a lovely weekend everyone!

New Fiskars paper punches

The new Jenni Bowlin limited edition paper punches by Fiskars are so sweet - have you seen them yet? I'm the first to admit that paper crafting is not my strongest skill, but who could possibly resist these gorgeous shapes and pretty styles, and what better way to improve than to actually break open the packages and USE them. I was lucky to be given the amazing set of punches by the lovely people at Fiskars and for this birthday card I used the Tab squeeze punch, the Blue Ribbon squeeze punch, and the Ticket Please Border punch. I also used theFiskars Birthday Cheer stamps for the b i r t h d a y lettering, stamping one letter at a time.

The paper is by Cosmo Cricket.