living on the crafty side of life

easter

Easter is just around the corner, well about a month away, so thought I'd list some of my favourite Easter ideas I've made over the last few years.

I've also been adding lots of Easter ideas to my Easter board at Pinterest, if you'd like to see more gorgeous ideas.

Anyway, here's some old favourites.....

Pom pom chicks: (with tutorial) 

Bubble corduroy easter bags (with tutorial):

Little felt easter bags (with tutorial):

EASTER SOFTIES TO MAKE:

eggIE softie: (with pattern and tutorial)

Colourful bunnies:

Soft bunny:

Easter bunny packaging:

Decorating easter eggs:

I'd like to thank the EveryEtsy blog for featuring my pom pom chicks above in their 101 Handmade Easter Craft ideas post. As the name suggests there's 101 crafty ideas for Easter project, well worth taking a look at all the lovely ideas listed.

 

Thanks for visiting. Happy crafting.

Cheers

Fiona

easter school holidays round-up

.... in photos.

I'll start with our own little cute Easter bunnies, here's Butterscotch:

and Bubbles:

I bought the girls these groovy "new polaroid-style" cameras for the holidays, they've had a great time taking lots of photos:

These cameras take business card sided polaroid photos. In a world of digital photography, I'd forgotten the joy of seeing your little photos come to life in a couple of minutes:

We love going away to Hawks Nest with these girls, and their mum :-) We've been friends since the older girls were in pre-school, and still love to get together for a few days away:

One night the girls wanted to create some sparkler art. Best $2.00 entertainment of the holidays. They created a few words, then made some shapes (next time I'll take my tripod away, would have made this activity a lot easier):

 

 And there were a few blooms left on my old frangipani tree up at Hawks Nest:

We went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, ate lots of chocolate easter eggs, caught up with family and friends... all the usual stuff that happens over Easter.

Now we're back into the maddess of school term time, not to wish time away, but bring on next holidays!

That's about all, thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x

Day 8 of the Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza

Well here we are, our last day, day 8, of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganz.

I'm sharing some photos of a fabric Easter basket I've made for Phoebe. [I have a basket for Emily half sewn and will share photos of that one when I'm finished.]

The idea for the fabric basket came from Liesl's disdressed blog, where she made a very cute Easter fabric basket with bunny ears.

I've made a similar box style basket. The handles of my basket are semi-circles of fabric. I have quilted both fabrics (the outside and lining) to give the fabric extra body.

The finished basket measures about 20cm square, which gives a very generous space for the Easter bunny to fill with eggs on Easter morning.

 

 

I finished the top edge of the basket with rick rack.

 

I loved this cute fabric for the lining of the basket. It is a Japanese fabric by Sevenberry. The brown fabric for the outside is a Michael Miller fabric called Espresso Pod Ditz.

 

One of my blog readers, Julie, asked about the girls bunnies. We still have Bubbles and Butterscotch, they are nearly six years old, which I believe is "getting on" in bunny years. I admit to being a bit slack when it comes to taking photos of our little darlings lately (that's the bunnies, not the girls). So this afternoon in the fading light, I quickly took some photos of beautiful Bubbles.

 

Bubbles is still very cuddly and loves a snuggle.

 

Butterscotch was reluctant to leave the hutch this afternoon.... I will have to try one the weekend to take a better photo of her.

 

I'd like to thank everyone for visiting my blog during our Easter Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Mel and I have chatted abouthow much we've enjoyed sharing our Easter ideas. We're hoping to bring you some more crafty ideas sometime soon.

Have a happy Easter.

Cheers

Fiona x

Day 4 of the Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza

Hello, and thanks for dropping by for day 4 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza.

Today Mel and I have made some bunny softies using another bunny pattern which caught our eye out in blog-land. This bunny pattern has been designed by revoluzZza, and here is the link to the RevoluzZzionary Easter Bunny pattern and tutorial. Mel and I made this pattern into little bunny toys, but the pattern is great as a template for any Easter craft, as you will see in RevoluzZza's post.

 

This bunny pattern is so quick and easy to make, you'll be whipping up several of these little guys. I have used some pinwheel corduroy I bought recently from Spotlight. Spotlight had some gorgeous bright colours available in this material. The patterned fabric on the fuchsia bunny belongs to the Park Slope fabric collection by Erin McMorris. The small blue printed fabric on blue bunny is from Spotlight. Rick rack trim from Ribbons Galore.

 

 

 

Mel's bunny, Cocoa, can be seen on her blog. She has used a felted sweater and buttons to make Cocoa and she looks good enough to eat!

Hope you have a great weekend, and find a little time for your Easter crafting. See you Monday for our next post with some Easter crafting ideas.

 

Cheers

Fiona x

Day 2 of the Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza

Welcome to day 2 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza, thanks for stopping by. Mel and I have been busy working on some little bunny softies. We have a couple of patterns picked out to make and share with you during our egg-xtravaganza.

Today's bunny comes from the very talented Betz White. Mel and I are using Betz's Cashmere Bunny pattern and tutorialto make our bunnies. Betz's tutorial has very clear instructions and photographs.

Here's my version of Betz's bunny.

I made my bunny from a soft polar fleece fabric. This fabric is thinner and softer than the regular polar fleece, it has a gorgeous velvety feel to it. I did see some in Spotlight the other day, but have forgotten the actual name of this fabric. It is VERY stretchy, so I backed it with some iron-onbatting and quilted it before cutting out my pattern pieces. This process just helped stabilize the fabric before sewing.

During the stuffing process I also added some lovely dried lavender along with the stuffing. So not only is bunny super soft, she smells good too. We've just had a couple of built-in wardrobes installed in our house and I thought this little bunny would look cute sitting up in Phoebe's wardrobe and make it smell nice too.

Make sure you visit Mel's blog for her gorgeous bunny. You can also see a few more bunnies over HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. See you on Wednesday for day 3 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza Easter craft ideas.

I just have to add, if you live in Sydney and are looking for a fabulous wardrobe company, you should consider SOHO Designs. From the design stage to installation they were great to deal with, very professional. I'm in storage heaven!

Cheers

Fiona x

Day 1 of the Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza

Mel and I are sharing card and tag making ideas today. Mel has created gorgeous bunny cards today on her blog, take a peek HERE.

I've made an Easter bunny tag using one of my favourite little rubber stamps. Stamps are a great addition to your craft collection. You only need a few favourites and you can re-use them over and over again. I've made a larger tag so there is room to write a message to your tag recipient.

 

Here's a some steps to creating the tag.

Stamp the images onto smooth cardstock. I used StazOn ink this time as I didn't want to heat emboss my images. The StazOn dries quickly and I was able to colour the images without smudging.

 

Cut the images from the sheet. I will be framing my images, so I cut them slightly larger that the inner shape of my chosen frame.

 

Colour your stamped images:

 

Paint the chipboard frames:

 

Stick the stamped images behind the chipboard frames:

 

Cut a piece of felt slightly larger than the framed image (no need to attach at this point, I'll be stitching it to the card in a couple of steps):

 

Draw some lines across the tag. There are many journaling or ledger themed stamps available which you could also use. Drawing your own lines is very quick and easy:

 

Sew the framed bunny image to the corner of the tag. I sewed around the frame to hold this in place on the tag. I finished the felt piece off with a running stitch of embroidery thread:

 

Finish the tag with a big ribbon bow at the top.

This framed stamped image idea could be used on the front of little gift cards and on larger cards or added to the front of some packaging, like below. I have glued the frame onto the front of a pillow box which can then be filled with little chocolate Easter eggs.

   

Hope you enjoyed day 1 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. If you make an Easter card or tag, leave a comment here on the blog with a link to your project. We'd love to share your creations as well.

Thanks for visiting. Until next Monday for our next Easter craft idea installment. Have a great weekend.

Cheers

Fiona x

The Easter bonnets and Easter bunnies

The Easter Bonnet.

Sadly my girls are getting a little old for Easter bonnets. So I've gone back through old photos to find our Easter hats/bonnets which the girls have made over the years. Our Easter Bonnets always had a very handmade look to them.

• We start with Phoebe in 2002 (above left), these big ears were made at pre-school and they were worn around the Sydney Easter show ALL DAY.
• Next is Emily in 2003 (above middle), she was in Year 2 and this was her hat for the Easter hat parade at school - real chocolate eggs dangled from the hat in true Aussie-style on a very hot day!
• Phoebe in 2004 in her 'hat' made in Kindergarten. Eggs, bunnies and fluffy chicks. (above right)

• Bunnies and girls sometime in 2004 (above left).
• Phoebe with her fluffy chicks hat in 2005. I think this hat is the same one used by Emily in 2003.
• Phoebe in 2006, she was in Year 2, her last year for an Easter hat parade at school. This hat was decorated with her own designs of bunnies and eggs, and finished with rick rack.

I'm sure there are more hats, but these are just from the digital images I have on our computer, I haven't gone back through our film photos.

We did make Easter bonnets this year... for the bunnies. Emily found these cute little cowboy hats, and they were a perfect bunny size. The ideas we used for these hats could be easily adapted to a slightly larger version if you wish.

Here are the little hats.

We wrapped ribbon around the hat, holding it with double-sided tape. Then pierce a small hole in the centre front of the hat, and use a brad to hold the fabric flowers in place. Attach fluffy chick. Our chicks kept falling off, so I would suggest using a hot glue gun, place a small amount of glue on the chicks feet, and attach to the hat.

And here are our Easter bunny photos.

Bubbles and Butterscotch were initially reluctant to model for their Easter photo shoot, turning their little cotton tails towards us.

But Bubbles did come through with some nice modeling poses for the camera.

She couldn't decide which hat she preferred.

Butterscotch did not cooperate at all. She wore her bonnet and then lay on the grass and did not move.

Here's one photo we really liked, no Easter bonnet though.

Marty couldn't help get in on the act also.

Rachel Richter has a very, very cute idea on her blog for Easter cards. You have to go take a peek. This is such a clever idea.

I'd like to wish you all a happy Easter. I'm taking a small break from blogging for the long weekend. Thank you for visiting and commenting. I will choose the RAK winners early next week if that's OK.

HAPPY EASTER

Cheers

Fiona

x

for bunny lovers only

This is for the bunny lovers who read my blog, a bit of Monday silliness.

Yesterday the girls decided it was a good idea to give the bunnies a bath. During the week we'd found bunny shampoo in the pet store which, of course, we just HAD to have. Bunnies are extremely clean little creatures and our bunnies have never been given a bath in the 4 1/2 years that they have lived with us (they are brushed several times a week, though).

Butterscotch, as you can see below, quite enjoyed the experience relaxing in the tub with warm soapy water....

Bubbles wasn't as relaxed about the whole experience...

But she did enjoy the blow dry afterwards...

Bubbles and Butterscotch are now very fluffy ready for their Easter photo shoot.

{please note: no bunny was harmed during this activity}

Enjoy your Monday.

Cheers

Fiona

x

A few cards to share...

Over the last couple of weeks I've received a few good things in the mail (that is, they were not bills).

First to arrive was the PaperCrafts "Paper Crafting with Photos" magazine from the US. I was so excited to have two projects included this edition {extra excited in fact as this is my first time published overseas}.

Here's one of my projects from Paper Crafting with Photos with our gorgeous little bunnies.

Last week Stamping and Papercraft magazine arrived in the post. I have a set of cards/tag in this edition (vol 13 no 6). This is another first for me, first time published in this magazine (and my tag is on the cover). Here is the set, there are how-to instructions in the magazine for each card. 

So with Easter just around the corner {yes, the chocolate Easter eggs have taken over the supermarkets}, I'll be sharing a few Easter projects here on my blog very soon, so stay tuned.

And my Easter loving buddy, Mel, has already sent me an Easter goodie bag. I haven't taken photos of it yet, but I will and share the very cute things that she sent me. Thanks Mel :-)

That's all for today. Thanks for visiting. Hope you have a great week.

Cheers

Fiona

first quick post for 2008

Happy New Year!!

We're in the middle of summer holidays here. A couple of days after Christmas we headed up the coast to Hawks Nest. We stayed until after new years, which was very different for us. I usually love being in Sydney for the Sydney fireworks, but this year we decided to have a very quite, relaxing break away. It was just so nice.

Bennetts Beach was closed for a day or so during out stay due to the rough seas along the NSW coast. Here's Phoebe with her newest Beanie Kid, Ky the surf life saving bear, checking out the surf conditions.

Little Bubbles and Butterscotch enjoyed their holiday too, they loved hopping around the garden up at Hawks. They travel well in their little pet travel case, and we keep a travel hutch up at Hawks for them to stay in while we are there.

Back in Sydney, and the girls and I have seen a few movies. Enchanted was good (especially as a Greys Anatomy fan) and we've seen the Water Horse which was a beautiful story and and movie. There's been many plays with friends, shopping, etc, etc.

I love school holidays.

Not much to report otherwise. I'm being kept busy with some projects for Maya Road with CHA coming up in February.

I've been enjoying my sewing a lot lately. I made Hootie the other night. He's already flown from our nest to another, but we enjoyed having him around the house for a few days before he joined another family.

The pattern is by Melly and Me (MO23). There are two versions included in the pattern, Hooty and Tweet (with longer legs). I found the fabric for my Hootie up at Tea Gardens. There's a shop called Black Possum Gallery which I discovered and made several secret trips to purchase some lovely fabrics. The fabrics used for my Hootie are gorgeous coordinating soft flanelette quilting fabrics (unfortunately I don't know the brand). Just perfect for a little baby!

That's about all for now.

Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x