Make Mum’s Cuppa Special on Mother’s Day

Question:
What do you get when you cross some tea bags, a pair of pinking shears, a stapler and your old clothing?

Answer:
A fantastic Mother’s Day gift that will go on giving her warm fuzzies for months.

Here’s how to personalise Mum’s cuppa.

1. Buy a box of Mum’s favourite brand of tea and gently tear the tags off all the bags.
2. Get the kids to do lots of little drawings of a similar size to the tags.
3. Staple the new tags onto the string of each tea bag.

We bought a box of 100 tea bags, so that the treat would last for a few months, however 100 tiny drawings was a bit much to expect of my little artists.

I made up the short-fall by cutting up scraps of clean pretty fabric with pinking shears in Mum’s favourite colour (blue).

My scraps were purposely chosen, from clothing that each of us has worn in the past, to evoke lots of wonderful loving memories.

Tips:

• One thing I have learnt from doing this is that is impossible to put teabags back in their box neatly. So I’d suggest you look into getting a little gift box to scatter yours in.

• If you have problems stapling your tags onto the string, try glue instead. - or just tie the string around a scrap of fabric.

• Ideas for tag materials:
  • scrapbooking paper
  • magazine pictures
  • photos of family members
  • ribbons or woollen bows
  • crochet hearts or flowers
  • beads and buttons

Wishing you all a warm & loving Mother’s Day this year.

Winter Berries ~ Crochet around a rock!

This is such a different idea, and it looks so effective. I love the idea of crocheting around a rock!

And now that we’re almost into Winter here in Australia, this tutorial is entirely appropriate.

That’s one furry baby!

Looking around on Ravelry the other night, I came across this image alongside a free pattern for a crochet baby hoodie.

I always wanted to make one of these for the Bump when he was a baby, but since the pattern won’t fit him anymore, I suppose Mr Underfoot might get cold this Winter…

Free Crochet Pattern: Amigurumi Hearts

Wren & the Bump absolutely loved these little smiling hearts when I made them the other week, and I’ve already got one tucked away as a gift for my mother for Mother’s Day next month.
{but don’t tell her}

Remember, this is only my second try at writing out a pattern, so if I’ve been unclear about anything, please let me know so that I can fix it up!
With your help, I’ll improve as I go along…

If you need help with the magic circle, I posted a great video about it here.
It should also jog your memory if you’ve crocheted before but forgotten how.

Stitch Key

sc ~ single chain stitch
2sc into each sc ~ stitch 2 sc  into each sc of the previous round (row)
sc2tog ~ decrease stitch

1st circle

Magic circle with 6sc
2sc into each sc  (12)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next sc * repeat for entire round  (18)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next 2 sc * repeat for entire round  (24)
sc entire round
Finish off circle, leaving 3in tail.

2nd circle

Magic circle with 6sc
2sc into each sc  (12)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next sc * repeat for entire round  (18)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next 2 sc * repeat for entire round  (24)
sc entire round
Do not finish off circle, and place a marker (even a wire bread tie will do) around the last stitch.

Joining

Lay circles on top of each other, with right sides facing inwards.
Using tail from 1st circle, sew through 4 stitches and secure firmly.

Make sure that the direction of stitches on your 2nd circle is moving towards the join, with at least 2sc to be done before you crochet across the join.
Unfold the joined circles, so that you can now crochet around both as shown below.

‘Body’ of the heart

sc entire round for 5 rows

sc2 together, sc 5 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 4 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 3 * repeat for entire round

Attach dolls’ eyes. These look best positioned on the first row, where you began decreasing (sc2 together)

Sew a little smile between and just below the eyes in a contrasting red, pink or black.

sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 2 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together for entire round
finish off, leaving a tail long enough to sew through each stitch & close the hole.

Stuff your heart very firmly & sew the hole closed, working the end inside.

Note:

The red & green hearts in the picture were made from 8ply crepe yarn, using a size 3 crochet hook, while the little blue heart was made from4ply wool, using a size 2 crochet hook.

Need help with hook sizes? Here’s a handy-dandy conversion chart.

Let me know how you go, I’d love to share the pictures of your finished work!

Bread Sculpting Dough Recipe

You Will Need:

• 2 slices of white bread with the crusts cut off
• 30ml glue
• Food colouring

What to Do:

• Crumble bread into crumbs (or put it into the blender)
• Add glue immediately & mix well
• Add water if needed
• Add a couple of drops of food colouring if you want to colour it

Free crochet pattern: Amigurumi Easter Eggs

If you’re thinking “Whatintheheck is amigurumi?”, then you need to read this.
Now that you’re up to speed on that, we can continue.

This is my first attempt at a pattern, and I’ve been making heaps of these cute little eggs for Easter gifts this year.

It only takes about an hour from go to woe!

If you have any trouble following me,  just let me know and I’d love to help.

Materials

• 8ply wool / acrylic
• Size 3.50 crochet hook (USA size E)
• Stitch marker
• Polyfil

Pattern

Magic ring - 6sc
2sc in first sc, sc in next sc* repeat  (9)
2sc in first sc, sc in next sc* repeat  (15)
2sc in first sc, sc in next sc, sc in next sc* repeat  (20)
sc round
2sc in first sc, sc in next sc, sc in next sc, sc in next sc* repeat  (25)
sc round for 5 rounds

Decrease
sc2together, sc in next sc, sc in next sc, sc in next sc* repeat  (20)
sc2together, sc in next sc, sc in next sc* repeat  ()
sc2together, sc in next sc* repeat  ()

Finishing
Finish off, leaving a 3in tail
Sew on eyes in black and a red or pink V for a mouth
Stuff egg very firmly
Thread tail though the remaining stitches and sew shut, weaving the end inside out of sight.

Note:
When decreasing, your egg will look neatest if you line up the decrease stitches one above the other.
Don’t worry if this means you have to add or skip a sc in places. The important thing is that you have 5 evenly-spaced decreasing stitches in each round.

How to crochet the magic circle starter ring

I’ve been really getting into crochet lately. I usually do when Autumn rolls around and Winter’s coming on.

This year I’ve been making something different from the knee rug I usually make each year.

I’ve discovered amigurumi; the japanese art of making small stuffed knit or crochet toys.
And I’ve even written a pattern of my own.

Plus I’m also collecting a list of heaps of free patterns available online, with pictures & levels of difficulty.

If you’d like to have a go at making some of these really cute little creatures, the first thing you need to do is take a look at the video below.

By learning how to start your crochet this way, you can completely close the hole where you started your crocheting.

Which is important, because you don’t want your stuffing showing in mixed company.

Packing Tape Transfers

This is a really unusual idea, that I discovered over at Pink Paper Peppermints.

Melissa has a very detailed tutorial over there that will answer any questions that you have.

But briefly, this is how you do it.

• Take your packing tape and rub it firmly with a spoon onto an image you like.

• Wet & rub to remove as much of the paper as you can. It needs to be transparent.

• Leave to dry. The transfer will be sticky, and you can then rub it firmly onto another image to create a lovely overlaid effect.

I’ve never heard of anyone doing this before, and it’s really easy. Plus it looks great.

And I can already think of so many ways I could be using these things.

• Bag tags,
• Book labels,
• Mini-book covers,
• Sewn into a little pocket for my keys (they keep getting lost in my craft bag),
• Brag books,
• Scrapbooking elements.

While you’re over visiting Melissa, you should definitely check out her 31 Crafty Flowers series, which is truly inspiring. And say hi from me!

Into Scrapbooking? Check out these freebies

I’ve fallen in love with digital scrapping of late, and here is the place to catch up on the bestest ever freebies available online at the moment.

Scrappy Freebies is the name of the blog, and Mrs. E is the person to thank (profusely) for this glorious cornucopia of scrapbooking bliss.

Here’s a tiny selection of my favourite finds from Scrappy Freebies.
Who knew there were so many?

Laurie ~ His Potty AdventuresBel Vidotti - Sea Life

Nicole ~ Flair Date PiecesJenny’s Scrapblog ~ Adventures for boys

Go ahead and fill up your hard drive with your faves!

Mona Lisa, the Preschool Edition

Ever wondered what the Mona Lisa would have looked like if Leonardo da Vinci had painted her just a few years earlier?

Now you can discover the answer for yourself, and keep the kids occupied at the same time.

Laura at All Dressed in Blue has a wonderful art project that any child can tackle.

Use pencils, crayons, textas, paints or oil pastels to create a fun version of the lady with the mysterious smile. Or any other classic painting you feel like hacking into.

Now I’m off to listen to some Natalie Cole. I’m going to be humming the tune all night.

Mona Lisa, my artistic kidz have made you,

You’re so like the lady with the mystic smile…