Day 190 - Sukie button factory badges

Today Juliet and I made some badges using this 'Sukie Button Factory' badge making kit. She really got into it. I think I'll buy some more of these boxes to give as gifts for young girls. Much better than some of the terrible toys out there for girls. But that's another story. :-)

Our badges. Can you guess which one we made with our own fabric?

Little A with his favourite colour 'green' and what he called his 'high 5' (hand) badge.

I'm crazy about getting back onto my sewing machine in the morning, so I think I'll get a head start cutting out something tonight. I'm going to make something out of this.....

Day 189 - Food dye and paper napkins

Today we enjoyed a leisurely start to the day, some baking, and then some running around outside in the spring sunshine.

Here are some photos, first of the boys cooking cupcakes, which we all then decorated.

Using the food dye for the icing reminded me of something Liam and I had done a few years ago, mixing some food dye and water, and then folding paper towel and dipping it into the food dye to make patterns. We all had a turn and it was heaps of fun and strangely addictive. They are all drying in the sun now.

Day 188 - Potato stamping on fabric

I did some experimenting today by with stamping.

First I made a pirate stamp using a potato that went green while we were away. Then I used some fabric paint to dip it in and stamp on fabric. Because I used paint it was hard to get the print even. An ink pad would work better, but I'm not sure if you can get ink that's permanent on fabric. I'd love to do some more research and try more printing on fabrics, so you may see a few more entries on here.

I'm off to a kids festival now. Woo Hoo for spring!!!

 

Day 187 - Hair stencil

You can be as silly as you like during the holidays. :) How good is that?

There has been an epidemic of head lice at school recently, so this morning I went and bought some clippers and did Liam's hair for the first time with a number 3 clipper all over. I think he looks pretty cute.

Then I made a star stencil and used a paint brush to paint blue stars in his hair with fudge hair colour. It was fun. We laughed a lot and then we went outside to play in the glorious sunshine.

Photos below are before and after of his hair, and then the stencilling.

Day 186 - Newsworthy nails?

Just for fun today, and after a busy day surviving on no sleep since Mr D refuses to sleep since we returned from Thailand, I decided to try this newsy nails thing.

One of my tweets made tweets of the week in the local paper, so I decided to make it part of my 'art'. Note: I have no nails to speak of, never wear nail polish, and use the term art in an extremely loose fashion. Anyway, here's what I did.

Paint a coat of light pink polish.

Obtain newspaper and cut our relevant section into small nail sized pieces.

Dip nails, one at a time, for about 30 seconds in tequila (bottle has been in cupboard for about 15 years and moved house with us many times, why I do not know, so this was an excellent use for it). Then press newspaper onto the nail as hard as possible for a few seconds before peeling off.

Paint with a clear lacquer. Had trouble getting the camera to focus. Need practice me thinks.

Day 185 - Vintage paisley and Pom Poms

It was one of those stunningly gorgeous sunny days here today that reminds you that summer is on the way. The days are getting longer and that makes me smile more often.

I took my little boys into town to see the beautiful tulips that are blooming in the park. All the wildflowers in the bush around our house are also out in force and the whole area is looking very pretty.

Over a year ago Juliet chose this vintage paisley fabric in pink and yellow from a market stall where we bought loads of vintage fabric all for a dollar a metre. It has a slight stretch and a small paisley pattern. I decided to make her some spring pants, and add a little pom pom trim. After all, who doesn't love pom poms?

The day made me feel happier to be home again. And after all, tomorrow is the last day of school term, before a two week holiday. Bring it on!

Day 184 - Happy Cow

Day 184 is this happy little cow softie. She's from a pattern from the book 'Meet me at Mike's' by Pip Lincolne. This book got me back into sewing in a big way when I found it in a little bookshop about 3 years ago. She's quite spunky I think.

Struggling a bit being back home. A bit of lack of sleep from the smallest little man since we got back, some jet lag, and mourning the loss of amazing and precious family time. Loved seeing the way the kids grew and blossomed while we were away, and sharing all of those new experiences with them. Missing it now. I know we were really lucky to get to do it, but it will take a while to settle back in.