Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

This tired elf is off to bed - I have an early start in the morning, no doubt!

The Eleventh Hour....

I received the cutest little tin of chocolates today that I just had to share with you! They are made by a German company Confiserie Heidel, and they are so delightfully presented in a gorgeous embossed hinged tin.

Inside are four individually wrapped chocolates. I'm saving the wrappers to use as Christmas decorations for next year, they are just so sweet!
Now back to some eleventh hour Christmas crafting.....(always the procrastinator!)

Sunday Stash

I picked up this tiny pillow slip at an op shop ages ago. I thought it would be cute as part of a baby's quilt.

Thanks to Tamara for hosting the Sunday Stashers

Santa's helper is weary...

As the big day quickly approaches, I find myself spending more and more time at the sewing machine cranking out gifts. You'd think Santa could have sent out a memo letting me know when Christmas was approaching so I'd be more organised!

As part of the whole handmade thing I'm trying to do, I'm also handing out baked goods as presents. I googled something obvious like "biscuit recipe" and came across this beauty at Picklebums. It's a recipe that makes up an estimated 120 biscuits. I mixed up the huge batch of biscuit dough and divided it into 4. I froze one quarter, then made up Orange and Coconut Biscuits, Jam Drop Biscuits, and Date and Walnut biscuits (all using ingredients I had in the kitchen).

I've also sewn the first of a few art smocks. I ended up using a pattern from a Japanese sewing book for a little girl's smock top (the boys will never know!).
This shopping bag is made with a plastic outer for more durability. I made it with one person in mind, but as my days start filling out with visits from friends, I realise that anything like this will probably end up going to the first person to walk in the door!
What's the time now? Elevenish... Maybe another hour of sewing before bed...

my (super)hero *sigh*

One of my favourite things to see when I'm out and about is a little kid dressed up in a costume. Ollie hasn't been much of a fan of wearing dress-ups thus far, but I plan to change that by providing him with some rockin' costumes for Christmas.

The inspiration for this one comes from Ollie himself. When he refers to himself, he nearly always calls himself "Ollie-boy". Sounds like a side-kick name to me.

I picked up this yellow costume for a couple of dollars from an op-shop a few weeks ago.

Off came the roaring Tiger picture on the front, and on went an "O" for Ollie Boy. I added one on the pants, too, just because I could.
Then, on the back I added a black cape with his super hero moniker. Finito.
Hope he wears it ;)

Saucy!

We think there's nothing worse than running out of tomato sauce when you're making pies, so tonight I quickly made up this tasty substitute.

I don't have any precise measurements because I just chucked bits and pieces in quickly (the pies were already done, so no time to waste!).

Desperado Tomato Sauce

1 can peeled whole tomatoes

cracked black pepper

Worcestershire sauce

onion powder

dried chives

dried parsley

dried mixed herbs

: : : : : : :

Empty can of tomatoes into blender, with a sprinkling and a splash of each of the other ingredients.

Blend on high until combined.

Pour into jar or bottle.

Enjoy with some freshly made savoury mince pies.

(Refrigerate)

Veg About

Things are coming along nicely - apparently the vegies are enjoying all the rain!

The birds are enjoying the strawberries, so I've covered them with an old lace curtain.
The mini red capsicums are slowly growing, but they are all still green.
There are a few small green tomatoes on the mini red tomato bush,
and an abundance on the yellow! We have been picking one or two a day for the last couple of weeks - so tasty!
The baby red watermelon has started flowering,
and the zucchini's are just about to burst into flower.

Yep, it's all happening in our garden!

Thanks to Bellgirl for hosting.

Stencil Madness

I've knocked a few Christmas presents off my list this week, including all of these freezer paper stencil tees. The majority turned out well, a couple look a little patchy so I'll fix them up before I wrap them up. They are pretty easy to do, but if you haven't attempted freezer paper stencils before, Hoppo Bumpo has a comprehensive series of blog posts covering all the details (link, scroll down for stenciling info).

All the images I've used have been found on the internet, and all of the tees are intended as gifts for my nephews and sons of friends.

Kombi Van

Superman

Cassette Tape

Doodling Boy Swedish Street Art

(not quite finished - still have to add a red squiggly line drawn by the boy that will go around to the back of the tee)

London Street Art

(slightly modified - I removed the syringe from the end of the fishing line!)

VW Beetle

Mini Cooper

Sunday Stash...on a Monday

Due to a busy weekend sloshing through mud and trying to shelter from all the rain, this weeks Sunday Stash is brought to you on a Monday!

I love the white on natural look of these two prints from the Ink & Spindle store.
The above print isn't really part of my stash. It's actually the print on a skirt I just bought, but I love the organic print. (the Esprit skirt was purchased at Myer)

Thanks to Tamara for hosting.

Meredith Mud-Fest

Can you believe the first time I go to Meredith Music Festival is the year it doesn't stop raining!

Boy-child Genius

Haven't we all thought that about our kids at some stage? (certainly not all the time!)

This morning Ollie wanted to write on the blackboard, so I wrote out 'O' for Ollie, 'M' for mummy and 'J' for Miss J.

He then copied the letters underneath, very cleverly rearranging them to spell out my name*

Such a clever boy!

NB To put it all in perspective, Ollie thinks that the 'M' for mummy is actually an 'M' for McDonald's. As my mum said, at least McDonald's is good for something!

*This may have just been my interpretation of events!

Our Tree

This year I have opted for a Christmas tree in a pot ( a Norway Spruce, I believe), based on the assumption that I can keep it alive throughout next year, and we can reuse it next Christmas. It also has the added benefit of being too spiky for Ollie to tamper with!

It's the first real tree we've had in ages, and it's nice to have something that's not plastic. I've been totally inspired by all the handmade tree ornaments that are floating around cyberspace, so I've made an effort to have mostly handmade ornaments this year.

I bought this super cute knitted toadstool at Magnolia Square Market on Saturday, purchased at the Lark stall.
My mum makes all her own Christmas cards each year, and this years one is perfect for the tree. 
Ollie and I have been making our own baubles, using polystyrene balls from Spotlight. The red (above) and green (below) balls have been wrapped in cotton thread (can't find the link to the tutorial, but I'll keep looking!) found by the spool at an op shop. Unlike the baubles in the tutorial though, I got lazy and just pinned some stars to my baubles. Ollie pinned sequins onto his baubles - great for those fine motor skills!
We were also fortunate enough to receive four gorgeous heart shaped felt ornaments hand made by Renae at Hollyhock Hollow. I couldn't get a good photo of one, but you can see more of hers here.

Have you got a tree? Made your own decorations? Inspire me! Send me a link if you've blogged about it.

Sunday Stash - canoes

Cotton Lawn Canoes from Cutting Edge Fabric in Malvern. (sorry, no website, just an address)

Wow, check out the ever growing list of Stashers here! 

Lightning bugs

We ventured to the other side of town this week to check out CERES, and GJ's Fabrics, since it was right around the corner. Loved CERES! Is there anything like it in the South East/Bayside area of Melbourne?

I scored some of my favourite fabric at GJ's - Heather Ross's goldfish. $8 per metre. Bargain. I only wish I had been paid by work the day I was there (they failed to pay me - and I'm still waiting!!!!). I would have bought much more.

Anyhoo, one and a half metres was plenty enough to make some library bags for the Mother's Group kidlets. They are simple totes, fully lined, with the child's first initial machine appliqued on the front in a contrasting fabric.
I'll pop down to the shops if I ever get paid to get a book for each for the bags.

In the meantime, on to the next lot of xmas presents!

Christmas Wrapping Paper

Take one small boy, some potato stamps and some red and green paint...

Mix in an easel, butcher paper and some paint brushes...
Cover in an old t-shirt...
and you get a good supply of handmade Christmas wrapping paper.

Christmas Gifts

This parcel of goodies is off to the UK, hopefully in time for Christmas! I've really enjoyed sewing up all these goodies, and I'm delighted that all the materials (except for a packet of textas) came from my stash.

This hat was knit by my sister for the newest of the UK clan - born early November.
Some Christmas tree decorations made from Yo-Yo's, buttons and ribbon.
A texta roll (there are plenty of tutorials out there for pencil rolls/crayon rolls etc, but really, it's not rocket science. I just made up the pattern based on the size of my textas.)
Tied with some grosgrain ribbon.
Some little shoes for the little man. Again, patterns for little shoes can easily be found on the internet. I used a pattern that I had when Ollie was a babe.
I made up two Nintendo DS pouches using a tutorial found here. My photos don't really do it justice, as I don't have the DS and games to model in the pouches.
Basically, the pouch has a large side pocket for the game console thingy, and three little pockets for the little games.

I've also posted off the gratitude wrap I made last week, and one of the pear pincushion I made a while ago, all packaged within a fabric basket for the new babe. The Christmas presents were wrapped in some home made Christmas wrapping paper (I'll have to post about that this week) and some handmade Gocco printed gift tags. All in all, a very handmade Christmas!