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.

Stockings to be Stuffed!

Some of you may remember this post from last year? Now that we have a new addition to the family this year, our beautiful little Ruby, another stocking was in need! I was soo close to cheating and going the shop-bought option but then I had a vision of my kids hanging their own handmade stockings each year and I simply couldn't do it.

So to the stash! I knew I had some left over fabrics from this project last year, and when I looked I even had loads of squares I had pre-cut that I had totally forgotten about - my heart sang! Just when I was feeling particularly lazy, right in front of me one step is already taken care of.

So again just placing the squares together, adding a toe piece, a top piece and a backing (all one piece - no patches on the back) we have a new stocking to hang ready for Santa to fill with goodies!

 

Posing by his stocking! As Astro Boy, no less. :)

Although I made them slightly different, I'm not sure the kids will really be able to tell the difference so I grabbed some embroidery cotton and stitched on a letter at the top - Oliver is getting quite good at his letters now and was very proud to announce "It's O for Oliver and R for Ruby!". 

Nailed it. 

Pine Cone Gnomes

Really? Its been a month already? Wow, guess I'm not one of those people who can amazingly trade sleep for the love of some crafty goodness. Nope, in the craziness of motherhood sleep wins hands down every time for me!

About 3 or so weeks ago we took a walk to the park and this is what we found...

It had been raining pine cones! Great for 2 reasons: it provided us with an additional activity that day of hunting & gathering, and we now have a great stash for some Christmas craftiness!

Wondering what to do with our new stash I stumbled upon this super cute idea over at We Bloom Here. Pine Cone Gnomes! How simply adorable!

Here's how mine turned out...

I changed up the shoes a little to give them a curled up toe and just lurve how they turned out!

These little guys will be sitting in our entry way this festive season, hopefully putting a smile on the faces of any guests that walk through the door. I love how tiny they look next our Buddha, a little magical don't you think? I would have loved these as a kid, thinking up make believe happenings with my little gnome family and I hope my little guy gets lost in his imagination too.  

 I did use a 5c piece to balance the pine cones up as they can be a little wobbly and it worked a treat.

 
Ok so technically there are no Christmas Gnomes right, just Elves? But I think these guys give off a burst of that childhood Christmas magic that I so fondly remember as a kid. Just add Christmas deco or two and they sure do look the part.


Stay tuned for some more pine cone craft real soon - we have a whole bundle to get busy with!

What will you do with your Pine Cones this Christmas?

Cushioned You Just Snuggle Them??

Is it just me who takes a simple task and makes it sooo much more complicated than necessary??! Ok, so maybe it is just me. Right. Moving on.

So these are as basic as sewing two panels together with a zipper thrown in and yet in the process I think I cursed more than I have in a while. I won't bore you with the ins & outs but it did involve a bit of unpicking, putting this in the "tomorrow" pile several times and giving my machine a good ear-bashing!

Tomorrow has come! Yay! And I now have some lovely bright cushions greeting my guests with a big fat HELLO! when they come through the door.

 Hello, colour!

 Extreme Close Up - 

loving these Japanese Sateen Cotton prints!

New cushion loveliness............

So...looking much better than the blandness that previously graced my couches, yes?..... 

 Blah

If you are looking for a colour injection in the form of some new cushions but don't want to fuss with making your own - head on over and see Kelly at www.colourtherapydecor.com. Kelly has some amazing products made from the most delicious designer fabrics that are sure to boost anyone's happy-metre!


Now, if you do so happen to be a house guest of mine just be sure to briefly admire - my zipper insertion does leave a bit to be desired! But hey, these are made with love...not perfection! 

So Bloomin' Cute!

My boy lived in onesies and singlets as a bub during the scorching summer heat and I'm guessing this summer won't be much different for our little lady. This time around though I thought I'd jazz that nappied-bum right up!

I recently stumbled upon this tutorial and with the weather warming up its perfect timing to give these bad boys a go!! Aren't these just the cutest?

I found a pile of blue floral in my stash which was screaming out "pleeease make me into some cute little butt bloomers!!" And so, I did.

Here's how they turned out...

Ruffly florally goodness. Can this butt get any cuter? I think not.

Tanked Again!

Seems I got singlet fever following my last post - perhaps 'cos I got summer fever with these glorious warm days we've been having of late!

I picked this up at a thrift shop ages ago and really had no idea what to do with it. In fact, I'm not even sure what drew me to it in the first place. But after singlet success last time this immediately became my next candidate to get tanked!

I know you're thinking it's kinda daggy, right? But I saw potential in this seemingly tragic tourist get-up!


Again, just following an existing tank and adding some ribbing - which I should add is also thrifted - we end up with this.......

I'm loving the superb retro vibe this is giving off! Oh, and the hem - or lack there of - is intentional. I entertained the thought of hemming it but I think the rolled edge adds to its character.

The beauty of refashioning mens' tees for little peeps is that the text or images become the main focal point - don't you agree that it was a little lost in the 'before' pic?

I'm yet to snap the little guy wearing it but a pic will be sure to follow once I do!

This tank is screaming lazy summer days...... oh yeah.