Little House you can Cairie (ahem, carry)

Now I'm gonna spill a little secret here. At the start of the year I made a silent pact with myself. I kept it silent because if I didn't tell anyone it didn't matter if I opted out. Well, I would have kicked myself but at least no one else would have known.

Here's the deal. I agreed with my own little self to make my gifts this year. MAKE. HANDMADE. GIFTS. Each and every one. There. I've said it out loud. Yikes! I know, its a big call. Here's hoping!

My beautiful God Daughter just turned one! One! Its crazy how quickly a year can pass..I still remember the day she was born and I swear it was only a few weeks ago. So, this sweet little thing was the recipient of my first handmade gift - and I gotta say, I'm excited about how it turned out. I got NO bouts of sewing rage and I made no errors along the way - what the? That NEVER happens! Yup, I'm the type of sewer who always needs to unpick at least one (but most times several) steps along the way through rushing and/or simply not concentrating.

I found this adorable tutorial over at UK Lass in U.S. At first I thought it may be a bit ambitious and so I read, re-read and re-read again before I decided to just jump in and do it! It really is a very well explained tutorial, so easy to follow and very forgiving.

How did I go? See for yourself..

I love it! You'll see what I mean in the first pic about this being very forgiving - see how my roof doesn't match up perfectly? And the sides don't close perfectly? But it still looks great! And its meant to be played with while open anyway and I don't think any excited little girl will spot the difference.

And the furniture? Gotta give credit here to my hubby who suggested I cut up a sponge to make simple furniture pieces - aren't they adorable? I was going to leave it furniture free but I'm glad went with his suggestion. (See babe, I even gave you public credit! love love)

Oh and the dolls? I bought these unfinished wooden peg dolls on Etsy as a set of 5 which were unfinished (raw). They an educational tool to help littlies match up colours so I grabbed my 3 year old sons poster paints and got busy.

Also adorable, right?

 

I wasn't feeling overly ambitious with the painting so they are all bald (bald but beautiful ;)) and have simple expressions that were drawn with a fine tip permanent marker. Oh, and I finished them off with a lacquer to shine them up which also brings out the colour better. 

It was completely unintentional to pair these two gifts up - they just so happen to be a perfect size for the doll house and they can also be played with as an activity completely by themselves. 

Phew. So I made it over the first handmade hurdle without any hiccups...looking forward to the next one. 

Blast Off: Rocket Pack!

Things are heating up around here - its fire season and there's plenty of it at our place!

Our lil guy has spent most of the summer tearing around the house & yard in black undies. Just black undies. Thats it. Black undies. His latest superhero crush is Astro Boy and he has taken on his character boots and all - quite literally! He just loves those rocket boots and gives the cutest little rendition of "what?! I've got machine guns in my butt?!" - not the greatest movie line for  for a tiny tot to be quoting but I have a quiet chuckle each time I hear it.

I had this little project in mind for a while and even had the empty soft drink bottles sitting under my kitchen sink for months before I finally got around to it.

It is THE BEST craft for a little boy - any little guy would love it and its super cheap..just stash away a couple of empty soft drink bottles!

Here's how it turned out.....

And here he goes  rocketing down the yard....!

Want to make one for your lil dude? Its simple -

1. Take some sturdy cardboard (an old nappy box or the like) and make a panel to fit his upper back

2. Add some elastic to the panel to act as arm bands

3. Paint your "rockets"

4. Use some felt/fabric scraps to make fire shapes and glue into the bottle spouts

5. Glue your "rockets" to the back panel

6. You're done!!

How cool are these?!

Ollie took his for a spin at the local shops and had onlookers in stitches! Picture him running alongside me (with clothes - I do make him dress when we go out) while I'm running with bubs in the stroller - priceless!

We are still getting mileage out of these a week later - a long time in the land of Ollie who tires of things very quickly!

And while these aren't exactly rocket boots, the rocket theme is definitely a winner.