Rolled Fabric Roses

Don’t you just love A-HA! moments. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying my hands on making fabric flowers – plan was to try to make a few headbands and hair accessories to time it with the Spring Carnival.

I’ve been trying to make “rolled fabric flowers” – watched and read sooo many tutorials, and tried the different techniques from different crafters.

I was ready to give up as it just wasn’t looking right. Until yesterday, when I thought I’d give it a go one more time.

This time I didn’t reference anymore tutorials and just winged it.

Miraculously, the first one turned out okay. I used homespun cotton and just kept making more and more. Here’s the final outcome of all that rolling – Fabric Rose Bib Necklace – Pumpkin

 

Next I wanted to see whether that first one was just a fluke. So I grabbed a few more different coloured homespun cotton from my fabric stash and made this – Fabric Flowers Bib Necklace

 

I had a few strips left over so I made a Set of 3 Fabric Rosettes Bobby Pins

 

Okay, thought might as well keep going with this, so today I made this one – Sunshine Rosettes Brooch

 

Don’t you just love my background – hence why I call it Sunshine brooch. 

 

Since then I have made 4 more and I will post them up soon – both here and in my etsy store. Going to make quite a few more before Friday as the retail store in Lennox, NSW is interested in seeing them.

But for the moment – going to enjoy my family and have a nice break over this long Labour Day weekend.

 

Have a great weekend all.

 

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Clock Pillow

Ok, before I start to write about this latest project of mine, I must say that I need to keep my mouth shut! That is, if I want to make something for the boys, especially Josh, I need to make sure I make it then and there or even better when I’m about to finish it. Otherwise, what happens is a little boy following me around chanting whatever project I had mentioned I would make.

Example, “Railway tram, railway tram, railway tram”. So I finished the railway tram stencil on his t-shirt from yesterday and the chanting stopped.

 

Until I mentioned I’d make him a clock pillow. Well of course, this morning “Mummy, make a clock pillow” over and over again.

I saw this clock pillow tutorial via Craft Gossip a few weeks ago and knew I had to make it for Josh. I made him a cardboard clock a while back, but of course that didn’t last too long.

 

I used cream fabric with multi-coloured spots and for the face of the clock, we had to have it green – Josh’s favourite colour (if it was up to him, the whole thing would be green).

So I finally finished it, but now Josh is having his nap, so you get to see it before him.

 

Can’t wait for Josh to wake up now and play with it 🙂

 

My First Stenciling

Yay, I made my first stenciling – okay, granted it’s a bit dodgy (I got too eager and painted the next layer before the first was dried) but hey, it worked.

As per previous post, Josh wanted me to stencil a tram on one of his t-shirts (we have a Light Rail here in Sydney and apart from trains and the monorail, it’s his next favourite form of public transport).

I got the free template from picnik. Josh loves it – here he is showing it off with his new pair of shoes.

 

For other news, I gave Zach a hair cut on Friday – he really looks like a big boy now – not my little baby anymore 😦 – they grow up so fast.

 

And this week’s Letter of the Week is the letter “D”

 

Josh is doing really well recognising the different letters of the alphabet as well as singing the alphabet song … A-B-C-P … K-Men-D … X-Y-Zed … Sing with Me!

 

The Week So Far …

Thought I’d take a little break from making and do some blogging.  

I am getting constant orders now which is really fabulous. Hubby can tell you how excited I am about this as I bleat at him everytime he walks in through the door after his work. Amanda my friend has helped me a lot bringing my handmade items to the different friends she know that have retail stores.  

I am also loving my good friends ordering things from me, either items for themselves or gifts for the little ones they know.  

And my online stores (etsy and made it) are slowing getting sales in.  

It is now trying to balance the custom orders vs. new items I want to try out. So I’ve decided not to be too hard on myself for wanting to create new things and just really make sure I give myself enough time to finish orders in time.  

   

Here’s a quick catch up of some of the things I’ve made.  

I bought a pattern from ithinksew.com for a shoulder bag back in mid August and made one for myself pretty much the next day.  

Photo courtesy of ithinksew.com

 

   

My friend Amanda saw it and wanted one too and I finished her order last Friday.  

  

   

This bag is great as it is so huge than it can fit so much in it. The pattern has one internal pocket with a velcro closure, but I made the one for Amanda with a zipper for extra security for your purse. I will be making another one soon to put in my store in the same fabric colour as the one in the ithinksew.com photo above.  

   

I made another Inset Zip Pouch but yet to put it in my etsy store. SOLD 

  

   

I also finished another big order for my friend A-M.  

  

   

So here we’ve got a strawberry baby bib,  Curly Sue the sock monkey, 3 sets of appliqued tie onesies with matching crochet brimmed caps, an iPhone case, a Pirate Matryoshka bed warmer and 2 Rope Necklace Scarves.  

   

Along the way, I’ve made a few things for Josh. I had a great big box that had a lot of scrap fabrics which I sorted and got rid of a lot of things that wouldn’t have been useful. In the end I had an empty box that made a fantastic car for Josh.  

  

I used plastic plates as a steering wheel and used one of Josh plastic forks to hold it in place.  

I also cut out tiny slots in the box for the ignition and door lock so Josh can pretend to use car keys.  

  

Finally, safety first so I added a seat belt from an old fabric belt I wasn’t using anymore.  

  

In the meantime, while Josh was enjoying driving his car, Zach and I had lots of fun giggling.  

  

   

He is starting to love the camera now – love his big grin here! Painting in the background by my friend Shaye.  

  

Finally, I saw this DIY Nap Mat/Bed Roll by Prudent Baby via Craft Gossip …  

Photo courtesy of Prudent Baby

 

… and just had to make one for Josh. This way he can take it with him when he goes to his grandparents’ place and also practise napping in it ready for school.  

I used one of his old baby fleece blanket for the top and a queen size quilt cover that I was going to amend for his single sized bed. But instead used it for this mat bed (with extra bits for another one I’ll make for Zach).  

Here’s Josh loving taking naps in it.  

  

Love how he has his little foot out of the blanket – so like his Dad.  

   

Okay, better get back to some more sewing – happy weekend to all.

Manic Monday

Manic but very fruitful Monday.

Most of the day, I worked on my new Inset Zip Pouches. I’ve really enjoyed this pattern very much and loove that it comes in 2 sizes (pouch and clutch).

I’ve already made 2 of the clutch size – 11″ wide x 6.75″ high:

 

The silk shantung one on the right has already been sold (yay!) and the red and white one is in my etsy store.

The great thing about it is, it’s been featured in a Treasury Favourite “Candy Cane Stripes” on etsy (check it out here) – so this hopefully brings more visitors into my store.

 

I finished 3 inset zip pouches just a few hours ago and I am very happy with how they turned out. I embellished it with detachable fabric roses that has both brooch and hair clip backing.

They are now available in my etsy store. If they prove to be popular, I may make a few in the same fabric and feature it as Bride’s Maids gift idea.

 

In between making these pouches, I played with the boys. When Zach had his nap, Josh and I made crafty things with toilet paper rolls.

We made an apple tree (Josh glued the apples), a rocket (he cut up the red paper for the fire and glued it on the side of the rocket) and a train and passengers (Josh glued the hair and drew eyebrows on them, because mum forgot to draw them on).

So adorable winking at Mummy.

 

When Zach woke up, he greeted me with the biggest grin – ah, he just melts my heart. Love my boys!

 

Finally, to finish the day off is the Letter of the Week – the letter “C”

 

As mentioned in previous posts for the Letter of the Week, I said I was going to attach magnets on the back of the letters so they can easily be stored on the fridge door. What I did was cut up small circles from those advertising magnets you get in the mail and hot glued them on.

 

Now they’re safely stored away ready for play and when more letters are made and learnt, Josh can start spelling words.

 

What a great day it was – bring on Tuesday!

Curly Sue Sock Monkey

Sock Monkey Laid Back Jack’s sister dropped by – her name is Curly Sue. She doesn’t have curly hair or anything, just her limbs will curl around you for a big hug.

 

Here’s Laid Back Jack, just hanging around as always.

 

His sister Curly Sue is very girly and loves looking in the mirror.

 

She is such a flirt batting those eyelashes at you.

 

She also loves to dance with her cute little black Mary-Jane shoes and white bobby socks.

 

For the moment, Curly Sue is staying with us until she goes to her new home, a special order for a little baby girl whom she will curl her long limbs around and give the biggest hugs and cuddles.

 

If you are interested in having a custom made Laid Back Jack or Curly Sue of your own, send an e-mail to cookyousomenoodles@gmail.com. They would love to be part of your family.

Have a barrel of monkeys kind of day 😉

My New Bag and Purse

Last Wednesday, Hubby told me he was taking me out on Friday to a dinner and a movie. So I thought, great! Good reason to make myself a new bag.

I bought these 2 Pattern Combo from ithinksew.com back in May, but haven’t been able to make it until this week. I made the smaller version which is the Charming Tote Bag.

Photo courtesy of ithinksew.com

 

I also had a nice red cotton fabric I bought from IKEA which I’ve wanted to use and this was the perfect opportunity for it.

 

Of course I had to make a matching purse to go with it. I used Keyka Lou’s Pocket Clutch pattern. At first I used a leopard print fabric for the lining, but in the end I wasn’t as keen on it – here’s the first go.

 

I made another one with the lining the same fabric as the exterior. However, I still wanted to use the leopard print, so I used it for a Business Card Wallet instead.

 

So here’s my little bag and purses combo.

 

I absolutely love it and have been using it all weekend.

 

CYSN Business Cards

Yay! I received my business cards today! I ordered it from cmyk Cards on Monday 12th July and it was their Most Affordable Business Cards in Australia special for $69 500 UV Business Cards full colour front both sides (including GST and delivery). I had to double check with them if there were any hidden costs I should know about before committing to the order and nope, there weren’t any.

I designed the artwork myself using their free template downloads (I chose their PowerPoint template as it was the one I was very familiar with). I wanted to keep it simple and not commit to any particular design.

 

Here’s the front design.

 

And the back.

 

My parcel.

 

Lil’ Sis Dolly

Our realtor called me yesterday asking what stock I had for a 1-year-old girl.

I showed him the My Little Dolly range, Newsgirl caps (available from my etsy store) and the Ruffle Butt Onesie and Baby Mary Jane Shoes set.

 

He liked the idea of the My Little Dolly. He showed me a picture of the little girl, so I had the idea of making a smaller, younger looking doll. What I did with the original pattern of My Little Dolly is warp the size of it by shortening the height and lengthening the width.  I call this doll Lil’ Sis Dolly.

 

Instead of mary jane shoes, I gave her an apron (this one is monogrammed with a “B” for the little girl). I used felt for the apron and glued on ribbon for the ties.

 

For her hair, I sewed 3 strips of black ribbon and securely sewed it on. Babies love any sorts of tags. I have to be careful now with the toys I make and ensure they’re child friendly. Any dolls with small parts will not be suitable for children under 3. Her facial features are hand embroided.

 

I also remembered to attach on my CYSN label on the side. Thinking of getting professional labels in the near future (just waiting for my business cards to arrive).

 

Here’s Lil’ Sis Dolly with her big sister.

My Little Dolly

Here are my new dolls.

I hand embroided their facial features and made them little felt mary-jane shoes. I’ve given different hairstyles and hair accessories.

 

 

Next, I’ll be making matching little purses for them.