Some stitching action

An attempt at some hand embroidery!, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

I would love to try doing some more hand embroidery. This was done a couple of months ago for an "embellishment" project at Tafe.

The Christmas Tree is up

The Christmas Tree is up. We have tried to keep it simple. It is covered in a silver tinsel that I had bought at the op shop years ago. In fact, it was unused and still had the 15 feet label wrapped around all 3 packs. So either they are very old or have come from the States!

Our parents have been in the habit of each sending us a Christmas decoration for the past 5 years, and along with a handful of other collected decorations, that was enough to fill our little tree.

There are no lights this year. I think we have decided to simply save some energy. I might keep an eye out for some second hand ones at the World's Biggest Car Boot Sale this Sunday on in Newcastle, Australia.

Homemade Christmas Cards.

I let little miss 2.5 get involved in the Christmas card making this year. The painting got a little bit out of hand when she decided that she didn't want to put paint on the cards and would much rather put it on the table and all over her body. So I ended up having to finish some of the cards, I felt like a mother who is doing their child's homework for them!

I thought I'll bring her back to help me do some of the pasting, but she thought that it would be much more fun tipping out all the glitter and making a little mountain on the table.

I have been saving old Christmas cards from previous years to use for craft projects. I cut out all the existing sayings such as "Seasons Greetings" and "Merry Christmas" and have stuck them on the cards. I think I am going to sew a little border around some of them on the machine, just to add a little bit more interest.

Our Christmas Tree in the making

I love a fresh Christmas tree, I love the smell, I don't like the idea of cutting down a tree that has grown for years and will only last a month.

So here is this year's answer to a tree. It is made from driftwood collected from the beach. I have a feeling that we aren't supposed to take these from the beach so sshh, don't tell anyone! ;)

Here is last year's Christmas tree. With a little toddler on the run we decided that it was safer to just have a 2D tree.

Ta da! 36 hair clips done.

I am currently without my good camera so please excuse the quality of the photographs. I have finally finished a round of hair clips. They are the first lot that I have made since last year! They are 'non-slip', great for babies' hair, all backed with felt. I made an effort not to put too many buttons on, so that I am not stressing about the littlies choking on them.

I have packaged them onto card leftover from the cereal boxes and glued old atlas pages on top. I printed a little blurb for the back with contact details etc.

Anyways, they are all for sale at the Red Lantern Night Market coming up this Saturday night.

How much would you pay for one of these?

Scrappy hair clips are back.

I'm just in the middle of making a round of the scrappy hair clips that were so successful last year. There's not going to be many, so be quick if you want to grab one!

At the Red Lantern Markets in the Hunter Street Mall, Newcastle. I'll be there on the 20th November.

Yes, I'm still alive.

softies, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

Here are some little softies I made a few months back. It's not the best photo, but I am quite proud of the screen printed fabric. I did a photo emulsion of some lace on to a screen. I can now jazz up some old fabrics with a bit of lace texture :)

Recycled Paper Christmas Garland

recycled paper christmas garland, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

I saved the paper that was used for our crackers at the early family christmas lunch yesterday. I punched some circles out of it and now I am sewing through them to make a lovely garland!