Super Hero HQ

Yikes..its been, what? 4 months? Most absent/inconsistent blogger is.....moi!!

Back in April we took the kidlets to Fiji - AMAZING - but we all got slammed with the flu on our return, which also coincided with my return to work following 12 months of maternity leave which has resulted in a crazy chaotic household of late! I'm still finding my 'organised feet' and consequently you will find me running around like a headless chook most days. But we're getting there.

So, prior to our Pacific holiday I whipped up this for the little man's 4th birthday. Ever since he spied me making the fabric dollhouse for my Goddaughter,  he has been insisting on having one for himself. A dollhouse you ask? Well, as much as I am all for equal play and I don't mind my boy pushing prams or the like, I did 'man' this one up a little.

Enter the Super Hero HQ!

Now these photo's were taken post holiday, and we've lost the 'Q' somewhere along the away.

This certainly helped in easing the boredom on his first ever flight....

And what is a Super Hero HQ without Super Hero's you're thinking? Ta da....

Four crime fighting-ready super hero's! I went out on a limb since my first effort at painting wooden peg dolls and went the whole hog - I was a little afraid I would botch them but I love how they turned out!

And each one was promptly identified by the little guy so I guess I'll notch it up as a success.

Rocket Boots!

A few weeks ago our lil man spotted some red gumboots at the shops and went stark raving made! It was all he needed to make his life complete! Or at least, his alias of Astro Boy. He's been doing the black undie thing for a while now and the red boots were the icing on the cake. So I caved - he got the red boots.

While this seemed to fill him with a glow from head to toe, there have been a few fleeting comments that they don't have rockets coming out of them like Astro's - geez, is this kid hard to please or what?!

To the craft table! Enter my rocket pack felt fire from this post!

Take some felt scraps, hot glue gun and some elastic of choice....

 Ta da! Rocket boots fit for a, well, Astro Boy!

 Rocketing around the yard

 

The cutest bit? Once he'd taken them for a spin in the yard he placed them ever so neatly at the back door ready for another day's play. Bless. 

Oh, did he like them? Ee yeah. Yeah, he did. After closely scrutinising them and concluding that "the fire is supposed to come out of the bottom of the boots!!" Sheesh, definately hard to please!!!

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.

Pillow Talk

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz! I know, I've been away for a while, and not in the tropical island with cocktail in hand kind of away...more in the I've had both kids at home all January kind of way and all I have achieved is to stay sane, just.

Seriously, total admiration for my fellow creative mummies who manage to keep churning out the goodies with kids underfoot - it is no mean feat!

This break did coincide however with my machine being in for a much needed service. Now that its back in my clutches I did manage a little "small sewing" while being cooped up inside due to some very unforgiving rain outside.

My little man started Pre-School yesterday. Sob. So off he went with a bag almost bigger than he is and a little rest-time pillow under his arm.

I bought the little pillow for about $5 and it was in need of a pillow case which became my first no-brainer sewing sesh for the year. I had this fabric in my stash and the little guy agreed it would be perfect for the pillow case.

Monsters for the little monster!

Finished product!

That little pillow that he carried in tucked under his arm was a big hit. See, when hubby went to pick him up from his first day at Pre School, this is how he found him.......

....still sound asleep from rest time while all the other kids were playing and creating a ruckus around him! This pic makes my heart go all mushy, must have been one huge first day.

He Works Hard for the Money

Now first off, I can't take any credit whatsoever for this little gem I'm about to show you. A friend of mine had this project in mind for a while, but with her little boy still only 4 months old she took on the challenge for our little guy so I handed over a spare work shirt of hubby's and let her go crazy!

Basically its a cut-down-to-size shirt for the little man and he thinks its the best thing ever! EVER! Okay, so maybe the best thing after Superman and Astro Boy.

When he first clapped his eyes on this I thought they were gonna pop right on out of his head - and the squeals of delight that accompanied the eye popping were a little crazy.

Here he is modelling the new pride & joy of his dress up box......

 Could the grin get any wider? Yeah, someones impressed.

 The best part? The pen pocket! 

(Or pencil for those yet to obtain a pen license!)

 

Now a couple of days later "my friend Sophie" (as he affectionately calls her - bless) came to play. And SHE loved it! And she wants one. 

So what does one do when your best friend is taking the new shirt for a spin? Strip down to black undies and become Astro Boy of course! I love kids at play, just mind bogglingly imaginative.

I love how the shirt looks in the next few shots - "Look mum - look at the reflectors!! HAHAHA!!!".

And so begins another chapter of Oliver at play. I caught him walking around in this shirt talking to himself..."I need to go to work to make money so I can buy things". Love it.

Pining for Christmas!

I promised more pine cone craft, right? Well here we go!

I spotted these while trawling the internet looking for ways to use up our mini mountain of pine cones and I've gotta say, these rate as super easy and look super chic!

So, take some ribbon of your choice, fire up the hot glue gun and have your pine cones at the ready! It really is as easy as putting a big glob of hot glue on the back of your pine cones to attach lengths of ribbon and securing all the ribbons together at the top once you are happy with the arrangement.

Wanna see??

While I was happy to leave the pine cones a la naturale and go with the rustic look, hubby thought they looked a bit 'blah' and were missing something. Now I am no fan of the snowy look at Christmas time - I mean, we live in Australia where Christmas Day can be like a melting pot! But alas, to the shed I went and gave them a little spritzing of spray paint to finish them off.

Happy hubby. Uh huh - he likes them!

Its kinda weird, but superhero's keep popping up in my photos :)

 Oh, and i made the bow to glue on the top. MADE it! I am quietly chuffed as I am a pretty average gift wrapper, but look! A big pouffey bow!

Now it gets real technical - brace yourselves! A bent out of shape paper clip was sewn on with some embroidery cotton as its thicker and will hold a little better, then on with another big glob of hot glue and we're done!

Fancy schmancy right there.