Josh’s 7th Birthday Star Wars Themed Party

So Josh wanted to have a Star Wars themed party for his 7th birthday. He already had his Jedi costume from the outfit I made him back in May.

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So we started making plans and I suggested maybe he can have a Jedi training party and his friends can be Jedis too. I got a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and collected a few ideas.

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First, I used picmonkey to make the invitation

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Then, I wanted to make Jedi cloaks for all his friends … was I nuts

I made 15 in total with sizes ranging from size 18 months to a 13 y.o. To make things a bit easier for me, the cloaks are hooded long capes only (I omitted the sleeves – or else it would have taken forever to make)

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To make these, I used the hood pattern from Everyday Princess Collection Hooded Capelet by Made for Mermaids and used the child measurements from here. For the cape, I just made a rectangular piece: for the length, I took the Shoulder to Ground measurement minus 3″ and the width of the cape I used the hip measurement on the chart.

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Then for the light sabers, hubby and I first thought maybe we could just buy the toy version from the shop, but for 15 that would’ve cost a bit. We then checked out party supplies and there was a version cheaper but thought against it because, just imagined the kids having sword fights with them and then snapping and breaking in the first second. Really wasn’t up for littlies upset with broken light sabers.

So with all the great ideas on Pinterest, we went out and bought pool noodles (green and blue ones from Clark Rubber). The guys at the Haberfield store were lovely enough to cut each in half so we didn’t have to do it. We also bought silver duct tape and black electrical tape from there to make the handles, so it was a one stop shop.

So while watching telly one night, I finished 16 green and blue light sabers.

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After these big items were finished, I then concentrated on some handmade labels to customise some of the party food label. I downloaded a free Star Wars font and was able to use it on picmonkey.

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Again, to make things easier for myself, I printed these on adhesive paper that I could just cut out and not worry having to use glue or sticky tape. You can buy full A4 adhesive sheet from your local office supply store.

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Now I’m not a baker and just used store bought birthday cake and cupcakes, but wanted to add Star Wars cupcake toppers to them and I found this free printable from Skip to My Lou.

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I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut up each cupcake cardstock printed topper and I added a few “Joshua” toppers to customise some of them.

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And finally, no Jedi Training Academy is complete without Jedi Knight Certificates.

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The Jedi certificate is from Star Wars Party Ideas which has lots of “ideas” to create your own Star Wars party. I used the Libby Grove Design and edited on picmonkey using Josh’s information. Each of his friends received a certificate at the end of the party all signed by Josh.

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I’m just waiting on permission from the parents of some of the children in the party to post their pictures here, so will save the party pics on the next blog.

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Cool Yule, Darling Harbour

We made a quick dash to Darling Harbour tonight to see some of the attractions of the Cool Yule, winter celebrations, while it wasn’t so busy.

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The boys under the Let It Glow, giant snowflake.

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Slid down the Thredbo Snow Slide

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And finally, a walk through the Frozen Forest … .

… with Josh “ooing” and “aah-ing”.

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Ending with a wrestle in the snow!

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Next visit, we have to go on the Winter Festival Ice Rink, Lindt Lindor Snow Balls, let the boys go on the Cool Yule Snow Pit and finally watch the Frosty Fireworks. Great to live in the city of Sydney!

Saturday {SHARE}

As most of you know, we moved to a new flat 3 weeks and ago and I’ve been pinning madly ideas for the home and my sewing area

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I made new cushion covers for the lounge room keeping it basic and neutral with black and white.

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Adding pop of colour with flowers or maybe with a colourful throw later down the track.

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I’ve kept the lounge room neutral because just behind it is my sewing area which already has LOTS of colours, accented with red key pieces..

There are still a few more spots in our flat that will need sprucing up, so always on the look out for DIY ideas. So here’s the first CYSN Blog Saturday {SHARE}

Here’s one I saw on Channel 10 TV Show The Living Room (Season 3 Episode 6) in the “Quickie with James” segment to celebrate International Colour Day, “to freshen and liven up a space” with a fabric patchwork art piece (segment starts at 19:36 into the episode – episode here)

Screen shot courtesy of The Living Room Season 3 Episode 6

 

Screen shot courtesy of The Living Room Season 3 Episode 6

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It’s a great way to use up all the small pieces of fabric in your stash. May do something like this in the hallway.

So, wishing you all a Happy Saturday and a WONDERFUL 6th Wedding Anniversary to hubby and I.

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CYSN Australia Day Product Listings

Listings now up in my bigcartel shop for tomorrow’s Australia Day themed product release

CYSN Australia Day Product Release

Thought I’d make a couple of Australia Day themed My Teeny-Tiny Dolls® and make them available tomorrow Thursday 16th January 8pm (AEST) from my bigcartel store (I’ll pop up a countdown timer in the listings later on today).

The first one is My Teeny-Tiny Doll® Jimmy, the cricketer.

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I updated his green baggy cap by putting the Australian coat of arms to make it a bit more authentic.

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Next, I made a girl My Teeny-Tiny Doll®

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Now as you can see, I have named her Mindy. I wasn’t going to name her and just title her the Australia Day MTTD, and there were a few iconic Australian names suggested on Facebook, like Matilda, Shazza, Sheila or  Kylie. I let it brew in my head for a bit, but they didn’t suit her and so I thought Mindy was a cute little girl’s name.

Underneath her Australian flagged MTTD Tennis Dress, she is wearing a cute green and gold floral swimmers, ready for the hot Australia Day celebrations.

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I will also have some MTTD Australia Day Tennis Dresses available on their own for tomorrow’s product release.

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I’ll do listings later today and will try  to make one more MTTD Clothing, but I’ll see how I go today with the boys.

Have a great day all!

Christmas Elf Stockings

Josh wanted to have new Christmas Stockings this year. Before, they had the Converse style stockings I made.

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I made Christmas Elf Stockings for a couple of friends a few years back – post here, so Josh decided this year, they’d have Elf Stockings too.

So I got him to pick the fabrics and he wanted their names on it. So I stenciled their names from freezer paper

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And painted it with textile paint

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Added some pom-poms and bells, and here they are …

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… all ready for tonight when Santa Claus pops by.

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From my family to yours, I wish you all the best for the Festive season and a wonderful, wonderful New Year. Catch up with you all on the other side of Christmas. May you get wonderful presents and enjoy the presence of loved ones!

Teachers and Students’ Christmas Gifts

So, I’ve been busy the last week or two making some lovely handmade gifts for Josh and Zach’s teachers and school friends.

I made Zach’s daycarers felt flower brooches & hairclips.

Felt flowers made using combination of Violette Field Threads & Pretty Little Things by Lori Marie pattern and tutorial as well as free pattern templates from the web.

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And I made a letter keychain for the male day carer at the preschool.

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For Josh’s school friends and other teachers, we made Reindeer Noses favour bags with Maltesers and Jaffas.

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And today, I made felt leaf bobby pins for the girls at Josh’s school, using Pretty Little Things by Lori Marie‘s Flower Child DIY tutorial, using my new cordless glue gun.

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I made the other teacher in Josh’s school an inset zip clutch bag (similar to the red one, which I used to make and sell before My Teeny-Tiny Dolls® days) made using KeyKa Lou Pattern

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And finally, for Josh’s Kindergarten teacher, Miss Heskett, I made this cute Messenger Bag (pattern by Michell Patterns) with a special message in the lining from Joshua.

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And that is it for the end of the school/daycare year for my little ones (well Zach has another day on Monday, but close enough). Next time, I’ll make sure not to leave it too close to end of school year to get organised.

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Finally, here’s a picture ensemble of Josh’s 1st and Last day of Kindy 2013.

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Now off to find the closest pillow or cushion, before I meet up with some Mums tonight at the pub for some end of school year celebrations! Woo-hoo!

Fabric Christmas Tree

I saw in a magazine a couple of years back (not sure which magazine) a Christmas Tree printed on a fabric and I liked the idea, as it would be suitable for a smaller inner city apartment dwelling.

When we moved in to this new apartment earlier in May, there wasn’t much storage, so we got rid of all our Christmas decorations plus the tree, thinking that I would try to find something similar to the fabric, closer to December.

Here are some inspirations online.

From L-R Clockwise: one, two & three are from IKEA and four is from Oh Happy Day

And thanks to Google, I found one on eBay from the US (very last minute, of course) but made it on time today, yipee!

Photo courtesy of feelmysoul on eBay

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So when I got it today, I couldn’t wait to get it hung up. I added an extra 3″ of fabric at each end to accommodate the doweling I was going to thread through it and hemmed all sides for a clean finish. Went to Bunnings to get doweling, but instead bought curtain rods as well as Christmas lights.

I started safety pinning the Christmas lights to the back of the fabric.

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I re-jigged the lights once it was up so it wasn’t pulling the fabric.

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And here it is up without any decorations yet …

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… and with the lights on!

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Melbourne Cup 2013 Outfit

Yay, hubby and I get to celebrate Melbourne Cup 2013 this year at Royal Randwick Racecourse.

With a few shop around online, found the dress after only 2 tries (gotta love free returns). Then on Saturday, found the fascinator, shoes and clutch (gotta love finding things without too much fuss)

So, this will be my ensemble for tomorrow

Dress by Cooper St  /  Fascinator by Gregory Ladner  / Clutch by Wittner  / Shoes by Nina Armando

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Can you tell I’m excited?! I haven’t gotten all dressed up like this since my cousin’s wedding a couple of years back, I think. Oh and can you tell I’ve clocked off for the day *tee-hee*. Be here already tomorrow!

My Teeny-Tiny Doll® Super Pinky

Another addition to this week’s product release – scheduled by the end of this week (20th October) – is the tough, strong and super courageous My Teeny-Tiny Doll® Super Pinky

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The very first MTTD Super Pinky I made was back in March 2012 for a lovely lady and follower of mine who has battled breast cancer and its treatment and every year (alongside with her family and friends) “raise money for breast cancer research by holding “pink ribbon” events and call … [themselves] … the “Pink Super-heroes”“

For the month of October, 10% of my merchandise sales (excluding shipping cost) that has a pink ribbon on it, will be donated to the Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon Day.

This year, I’m helping Cancer Council raise vital funds to help raise awareness and money to help beat women’s cancers and my goal is to raise $500 through CookYouSomeNoodles. So far I have achieved 38% of my goal, while the Cancer Council has raised $691,222 as of today!

Every dollar counts!

Photo courtesy of Cancer Council’s Pink Ribbon Day

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So no donation is ever too small! Whether you hold your own “Pink Ribbon” event or donate, each and every dollar will be appreciated!

Now, back to sewing more things with pink ribbon on it!