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!

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.

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

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!

Steggies for a cause!

Well it was back to work for me this week, so a bit longer in between posts. Fortunately, I still got a little bit of sewing time in especially on Australia Day when the stinking hot weather prevented us from venturing outside.

A new sewing shop in Springwood called 'Sew Beautiful' is organising a handmade toy collection for the victims of the recent Queensland floods. What a great idea! I thought these dinosaurs would be perfect. The pattern is from 'One Yard Wonders' by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Haskins.

Of course my boys love them and want to keep them- perfect opportunity to talk to them about those less fortunate than ourselves. We have so much and take so much for granted. It is so hard for them (and me) to imagine losing everything.

To Jonah, Luke and Gabriella, be grateful for what you have and be generous to others because all our earthly treasures will fade away and are worthless compared to the everlasting peace that comes from knowing God.

So here they are. The kids and I hope they will bring big smiles to little faces.

If you would like to take part, make and donate your handmade toys to:
   'Sew Cuddly'
   c/o- Sew Beautiful
   1/121 Macquarie Road
   Springwood NSW 2777

Busy but productive day

All the craft I've been doing has to begin to wind down now. It's inevitable and so sad. I am back to my part time job next week after 6 weeks holiday. Teaching truly is the best job in the world, especially my job as a Learning Support teacher. I love it- nearly as much as I love making things! But with the beginning of the school year comes the preparations that have to be done. So today, I started getting organised for the school year. I have so loved being home with my kids for this time and I am very grateful that I don't have to work full time so I can still spend plenty of time with them and hopefully get some crafty time in as well. It is a balancing act with one child at School, one at Preschool and one at Grandma's for 2 days per week, but we seem to muddle along quite well somehow! In amongst the school work today, I did manage to complete a few small projects which I am really happy with. These included another headband with a gorgeous fabric flower which I love (will definitely be making more of these!) a funky button necklace which I'm putting away for Gabby's Birthday and baking choc chip cookies. Here they are. Enjoy!

How cool is this necklace?! I used bright vintage buttons I've collected over the years and threaded them onto a piece of ribbon. She's going to love it! Shhhh this one's a surprise!

Headband for Bethany. Do you like it Carolyn? The flower can be clipped onto either side of  the headband or worn separately as a hair clip.

Yum! The boys and I made these choc chip biscuits today. So yummy but so unhealthy! We made them as a special treat to take with us when we go away this weekend. So looking forward to that!

Oh I love this one!

Experimenting with new patterns has to be my new favourite thing! I love how you can just browse patterns online, choose one, pay for it, download it and start sewing straight away. This is what I did with this little number-  a cute pattern by 'That darn cat'. I really enjoyed sewing this one. I bought the butterfly fabric from Pink chalk fabrics for about $4.50 a yard (bargain!!) and only used half a yard to make the dress! The spots are another Michael Miller wonder. I really am trying to move away from spots. I love them so much and they seem to work with everything. I forced myself to buy some stripy fabric yesterday so stay tuned for something different. The big buttons on this dress are from 'Sew Beautiful' in Springwood. Chunky buttons have to be another favourite of mine! Here it is.