"We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson

Friday, February 25, 2011

Pretty skirt with applique T-shirt

This is my latest little outfit for Gabby. I am so into the pink and chocolate combo at the moment. The main fabric was a fat quarter on special at Penrith Patchwork and the pretty pink stripes are from Sew Beautiful. The pink T-shirt was on special at Target for $1.86. What a bargain! All up, this outfit cost about $5 to make. Gabby had a great time playing around in some of my heels. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come!




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Pillow case dress and dinosaurs

The 'Pillow case dress' seems to be the 'in' thing to make at the moment and now I know why. This cute little dress took me about 40 minutes to make. It is so easy- Just 2 rectangles of fabric with 'Js' cut out for the arm holes, bias binding on the arm holes plus extra to tie at the shoulders and a little bit of elastic front and back. Hem it and you're done! It's great for really hot days and I'm hoping Gabby will wear it in Winter too with a skivvy and tights. Pretty pink and green fabric is from 'Sew Beautiful' in Springwood.  I added some rick-rack around the bottom and have since made a felt flower to either pin on the dress or clip in her hair.



Speaking of 'Sew Beautiful', here are my dinosaurs that you can now buy there along with many other lovely locally handmade gifts. It's a really beautiful shop. Check it out.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Gabby's Upsy Daisy Birthday cake



One of my favourite things to do is make birthday cakes for my kids. In our family, the kids spend a lot of time deciding what kind of cake to have. They change their minds heaps before making their final decision.  I spend hours the night before decorating. I love it. I think I probably get even more excited than the  kids! Birthdays are special. 
Friday marked our Gabby's 2nd Birthday. Where has that time gone? As a big 'In the Night Garden' fan, I thought an Upsy Daisy cake would be perfect. Gabby loved it and got really upset when my husband started cutting her up to be eaten. I thought it would be fun to take photos of the creating process so here we go-


The pattern pieces drawn and cut out
Small circle cake for head, large circle for dress, square for arm and legs

Icing supplies. So colourful!
Pin pattern to cake and cut out

All cut out, assembled and ready to ice
Rolling out the icing
Plonking it on the cake 
Gabby's comment was, "Love it!"
All finished after many hours!
The cake was pretty huge, but we ate more than I thought we would with the help of our 18 guests. 
Such a blessing to have 3 kids to make things for! Gabby has brought us so much joy in the 2 years she has been with us. I am so looking forward to seeing her grow and watch her personality develop. 

Happy Birthday my beautiful, clever, talkative, strong-willed girl. What a privilege it is to be your mum. I love you so much! xxx



Thursday, February 10, 2011

Happy 8th Birthday Ella!

It has been a while since my last post for a number of reasons- I have been super duper busy with work and getting back in to the routine of dropping kids at school, preschool etc, I misplaced the lead for my camera (found now!) and I have been madly sewing dinosaurs that will be sold at 'Sew Beautiful' from this weekend. How exciting! My lovely friend, Christine designed the 'Make It Funky' logo for me and we're off on a new adventure. Who would have thought I would be supplying my craft to a local sewing store? Crazy!
My beautiful niece, Ella turned 8 at the beginning of the month and keeping with the handmade gift idea I made her a skirt and headband. The skirt has little shorts attached underneath- perfect for a cartwheeling/ hanging upside down girl! Ella's favourite colour is red. This one was tricky as I misjudged her size and had to start over. I now have one that fits my 6 year old niece, quite well too! The pattern is a from a website called 'The long thread.' The photos aren't the best. I think it's time for a new camera!

Hard to get a decent photo of shorts attached under skirt

      
Happy Birthday beautiful girl!