Moving Day...

I am moving this week, we are relocating to Cheshire in the North of England....
So I probably won't be able to post for a few days. Please bear with me while I try and get an internet connection for the new house. Hope you will visit again soon.
Virginie

Hair clip holder

Last Christmas, as I was looking for inspiration for felt ornaments on Flickr and Etsy, I came accross those cute hair clip holders and decided to try and make a couple.

Here is what I came up with. They are really practical for all those little clips and they make a nice bedroom decoration.

I am not good at sewing but these were an easy enough project for me. I used fabric bonder for the little fabric wing on the blue one, it is enough to prevent the fraying and it makes that tiny piece of fabric easier to work with.
All you need is felt, assorted ribbons, a few spare buttons and a cute little design.

Tip: an heavy button at the bottom of the ribbon is nice to make it fall straight. I just used a spare metal button from a jacket on the blue one.

Super easy telescope craft

To keep the little ones entertained during Noemie's Pirate birthday party I had planned a few game but also this craft activity. As the guests were 4 year old children, it had to be easy and quick !

I had painted some kitchen towel rolls black before the party. And on the day I provided strips of aluminium paper to make the end and a selection of mini pom-poms, stickers and small squares of tissue paper. And a lot of glue !!!

It was really cute to watch them "embelish" their telescope. They all enjoyed this activity and it was a welcome quiet break in the afternoon.

Girly Pirate T-shirt

Because I couldn't find anything in the shops that was pirate AND girly, I decided to make a simple applique T-shirt for my daughter's Pirate Birthday Party.

Thank you to Char at Crap I've made for her advice and tips on applique and for her Jolly Roger template.

I bought a black vest and chose a bright pink fabric for the applique. I added a little heart in her back to make it cuter.

Applique is really very easy.

I used HeatnBond iron-on adhesive. I printed the pattern on a normal sheet of paper and placed the adhesive sheet on top of it. The adhesive is transparent enought to see through so I was able to trace the pattern directly onto the adhesive sheet.

Bond with the applique fabric. Cut around your pattern. Iron-on the T-shirt. DONE !!!

I used the no sew HeatnBond as I knew the T-shirt was not going to be worn over and over again. I suppose it is longer lasting if you sew it, but I washed it and it is still bonded...

My advice: really read and follow the instructions for the adhesive. When I first tried it I hold the iron for too long on the applique fabric and it never bonded to the T-shirt....

And don't forget: if you are going to applique a letter or a number, you need to reverse your pattern.

Hairband embellished with ribbons

One of my daughter's little friends has a very cute elastic band with lots of ribbons. Because Noemie wanted one too, I had promised her we would make one, which would make it more special than a store bought one.
So on saturday we went into town to choose ribbons and buy a plain elastic band.
Of course she chose pink and sparkly but that was to be expected !!!

So here is a very straight forward tutorial, it is a very quick craft which shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes.

First, you need ribbons. I had 3 different types, 2m of each so 6m in total.
You also need an elastic band. Just pick a colour to match your ribbons.

Cut you ribbons into 20cm long pieces and melt the ends with a lighter to prevent fraying (or use some fray stop gel)

Start tying your ribbons to the elastic band. Make a double not and alternate the colours.

That's it ! And she loved it !

Christmas in July find - Free printable labels

Now that you have completed all your Christmas projects, you need beautiful labels before parting with your homemade gifts.
Here are three that should have you convered for any type of gift:

Find your free Foodie gifts labels at A Southern Fairytale along with great Christmas recipes.

This "Crafted with Love" labels can be found at According to Kelly

And finally, the "Sewn with Love" labels are on the Skip to My Lou blog.

These three blog have just organised a

 

And you should definetly check them out for great gift ideas.

Thank you all 3 for those freebies.

Christmas in July find - Foodie Gifts

Here are two gift ideas for food lovers.
There is a savoury recipe and a Chocolate one, I know I will probably be making the chocolate one first !!!

Homemade Onion and Pepper Relish
For me receiving a homemade gift is truly special. I know that someone took the time to look for a recipe and prepare it, and with our busy lives, this is priceless.

I can't wait to try this on homemade bread.....
You can find the complete recipe and more pictures at Skip To Lou


Hot Chocolate on a Stick
Now you're talking !!! This promises to create a delicious hot chocolate when stirred into hot milk or cream. Who could resist ? This will make the perfect gift for my chocoholic friends !!!

I was originally looking for a dry chocolate mix recipe when I found this, and this is so much better. Thank you to Giver's Log for the recipe and pics.

Oh my !!!!!

Is it winter yet ???

Christmas in July find - Recycled packaging

I like making cookies for my neighbours at Christmas but I never know how to package them ! Buying boxes can be expensive, and a simple transparent bag may not look good enough for a Christmas treat....

So I was delighted when I found those "Cookies in a can" at How Does She ?
Don't they look great ? You'll never know they were just tins in their previous life would you ?

They also share the chocolate mint cookie recipe... they look yummy!



Now the following is a nice idea too. If you are thinking of buying some sweets for your friends then this packaging is sure to make a great impression !
It comes from Not So Idle Hands and they did a fantastic job with the decoration

 Two ideas that won't break the bank before Christmas but will look gorgeous and personal.

Christmas in July find - Christmas Wreath

For all of you who take time to make presents, you know quite well it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas....
This year, I am going to try and make as much as I can, so I have started browsing, in search of ideas.
A few crafty blog have just had special "Christmas in July" posts and I thought I would share some of them with you.

Here is one I really like. It's a beautiful wreath from Linda of  Craftaholics Anonymous.

The pictures and tutorial were featured on  It's a Good Day a couple of weeks ago, so just follow the link and Happy Crafting !!!

Tea bag cookies

This idea is from Kim of Frost Me. I couldn't resist when I saw them and even though there was no occasion to celebrate, I decided to make them yesterday evening and to take them to the office today. The tea break was a success and everybody enjoyed the cookies !!!
This is the perfect little gift and I am sure I'll make them again, maybe for Christmas.

How-to:
Use your favorite cookie recipe and cut tea bags shape (it help is you have a tea bag to copy). Use a round icing tip to punch the little hole and bake.

Once cool dip in chocolate. Leave to dry overnight.

For the label I simply used some cupcake designs from the computer. I printed them on normal white paper and I then coloured the paper using tea bags ! Just leave a couple of bags to brew in a mug for a long time, once the tea is cold, use a tea bag to brush over the sheet of paper. Put the sheet to dry and voila !

Noemie's Pirate Birthday Party

On saturday we had my daughter's fourth birthday party. The theme was set a long while ago and I have spend the last few month stocking items and researching the web for ideas. I have read blogs from many talented ladies along the way and discovered the world of dessert tables. It has been of great inspiration to me and I therefore decided to try and make one myself.

The colour scheme I picked was black, red and pink. It had to be piratey with a girlie touch ! I built the theme around a great digital collage sheet from CreationsByM on Etsy.

I used the designs from the collage sheet to create the invitations and a door sign to welcome the little guests.

Guests were handed a homemade eyepatch as they walked in.

The tissue paper pom-pom was made using Martha Stewart's tutorial.

The party was held outside, in our small garden where I tried to create a nice party atmosphere by setting up a buffet and decorating our daughter's tree house.

I made the banner using digital scrapbooking papers from MariekeVDesin on Etsy.

Water bottle labels and straw labels were created in Photoshop.

The windmills were made with scrapbooking paper (tutorial here). They were actually a great feature of the table as they kept spinning all through the windy afternoon.

I made the cake from a Debbie Brown design in her book Enchanted Cakes and I created the cookies to match the theme (thank you to all the ladies on Flickr for inspiring me).

The very cute Sail toppers were free printables from Cottage Industrialist.

The flag is an iron-on applique (skull and cross-bones design was found on the internet).

The bunting was made using the banner papers and free printables from Cottage Industrialist.

I had planned a few games to entertain our little pirates. The first one was a "Pin the pirate on the treasure" game found on ebay. The map was colourful and after the game we ended up using it as a background for pictures, sort of a little photo booth.

We also had a traditional "pass the parcel" game. But after a few layers of treats, our little pirates started unwrapping jigsaw pieces and a pirate letter indicating that the pieces should form the first clue of the treasure hunt !! At this point the children got very excited and started running everywhere in the garden, following the clues and eventually finding the treasure.

Inside the treasure chest were jute bags holding chocolate coins.

When the children started getting a bit tired we had them seat down for a little craft/colouring session. I had printed pirate colouring pages off the internet and prepared an easy telescope craft.

I think they enjoyed it and the quiet time was welcome before going back to the garden to play and eat the cake.

When it was time to leave, each guest got to choose a cookie and a windmill. They were also handed a party bag including a homemade Pirate book with colouring and games, some stickers and a ballon.

Noemie pretty much enjoyed her cookie too !

Pirate Cookies

I created those cookies to have on the Pirate party buffet.

The kids loved them and they got to pick one to take home as a little Birthday favour.