Cutlery Pocket

This has got to be one of my favourite 'to-dos' in our current issue! I just had to share it! Pop a little creativity into your day with this quick project!

Such a simple and cute way to lay out a special, girly picnic! Pop your cutlery for each guest inside each pocket. Maybe even add a flower or a little card!

Make it easy and just use hot glue or clear drying craft glue (hot glue is much better for those who are keen to get on with the project!) or practice your hand-sewing skills and use a running stitch instead of glue.

You'll need: 

back pocket from an old pair of jeans

scissors

pencil

glue - hot glue or clear craft glue (or needle and thread)

lace

ribbon

buttons

Cut the back pocket out of the jeans (keep the back fabric on it)

Trim the back fabric close to the edge of the pocket to neaten it up

Fold the pocket in half and mark the centre line on the back of the pocket

Use glue to attach pocket sides down the centre line (or stitch instead of glue)

Decorate the pocket by wrapping lace and/or ribbon around it. Anchor with glue or stitching

Attach buttons

Now, all there is to do - place a spoon, knife and fork in the pocket and head off for a picnic!!

PS You'll find this in Issue 12, available here

Happy crafting and being creative!

Make a wooden spoon doll!

A wooden spoon doll is so easy to make and offers a chance to spend time together with mum (or grandma or a special aunt) – and she might even want to make one with you, too! Why not ask her about the special dolls she had growing up while you are making a wooden spoon doll? And afterwards, she might even bring one of her special dolls out for you to have a look (I think most mums, grandmas and aunts still have at least one doll tucked away in a cupboard - or at least a photo of them playing with one!).

Ask mum for a wooden spoon you can use - it may be one that is no longer good for cooking with, or a cheap one from a discount store (you can pick up wooden spoons in these types of shops for less than $1 each!).

You will also need:

• Sandpaper - fine grade
• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Jar of water for rinsing brushes
• Plate etc to mix paint on
• Newspaper to protect the table
• Pencil
• Fine tip marker in black and red
• Eraser
• Doily, hankie, serviette, fabric scraps etc for a dress
• Ribbon, lace, buttons
• Glue
• Needle and thread

Let's get started!

• Using some fine grade sandpaper, give the spoon a little rub to smooth the surface (that will make her nicer to play with). 
• Set up to do some painting: get a jar of water ready, something to mix paint on (an old plastic lid is good for this) and cover the table with newspaper.
• Mix some acrylic paint to make a skin colour - sometimes you can buy a skin coloured paint. Paint the front of the spoon, let it dry, then turn it over and paint the back of the spoon (that way you make sure you don't accidentally ruin her face because the paint hasn't quite dried properly!).

 

• When the paint is dry, you are now ready to make her face. To make it easier, you can download a face template here. 
• If you use the template, print it off, trace it onto greaseproof paper using a lead pencil, then place the greaseproof paper template face down onto the wooden spoon and trace over again. This should transfer the template to your wooden spoon.
• Otherwise, just use a pencil to mark out her face on your wooden spoon.

• Use a fine-tipped marker to outline her hair and facial features (eyes, mouth, cheeks), rub out the pencil lines and then fill them in with paint or marker. The smaller sections will be easier to do with a marker.
• From your selection of doilies, hankies, fabric scraps and so on, decide on what her clothes will be made from. We made a dress out of an old doily and then a little 'apron' dress over the top out of the corner of a piece of embroidered linen.

• To make the dress, cut a circle out of the centre of the doily.
• Thread a needle with some thread and stitch a running stitch all around the edge of the circle.
• When you get back to where you started, place your wooden spoon doll inside the hole, draw up both ends (starting and finishing) of the thread, and tie a knot or bow to secure it.

• Repeat for the 'apron' dress or anything else you want to put over the top of her dress.
• Or, attach some ribbon or lace with a small stitch or some glue, wrap the lace/ribbon back around to the front and stitch or glue it in place. We stitched around the top of the 'apron' dress just so it could hold up to being transported to workshops and being played with!

• Finish off with pieces of lace or a button, either glued or stitched in place at the front.

Now, have fun playing with your brand new doll!

Extra tips:

• Create dolls that represent girls from different nationalities - start with a more local area
• Make a wooden spoon doll to ‘replace’ an old doll you have chosen to give to a charity
• Just for mums and 'big people': there is value in a young girl making a doll herself. The doll she makes might represent the feelings she has at the time, it might be a reflection of one of her role-models, and she is able to develop some drawing and fine motor skills at the same time!

The beauty of history!

I have this lovely, old, silver-coated tray that I picked up at an op-shop nearly 20 years ago! While I was re-arranging and setting up the studio, I found it again, sitting on top of a cupboard.

As I held it, I wondered if I should actually complete it's journey with me and send it back to an op-shop (or even throw it out!)! It was covered with rust spots coming through, some other odd marks and was rather tarnished. You could imagine where a vase or cup might have sat for a long time. I certainly couldn't use it if I was having a tea party - maybe, I could get away with it for a vintage one at a pinch.

Having seen on pinterest the idea of using a tray as a magnetic board hung on the wall, it occurred to me that it could be rather handy, like that, but would need to be pained to cover up its 'oddities'! But it is also beautiful being 'silver'! Cleaning it up might remove enough rust and tarnish to make it serviceable, so I tried that.

It was amazing how shiny parts of it turned out to be! I could actually use it as a mirror - a marked, scratchy mirror in spots, but shiny enough all the same. I would be a shame to paint over something so beautifully shiny! There was a beauty about it even with all its spots that showed it age!

My mind turned to ageing (something you young girls are probably not thinking of yet, but your mum might be!). I'm a mum and I'm starting to see wrinkles on my face, which I'm of two minds about. I don't want to start looking old, but as I get older, I realise that I'm not super young anymore anyway!

You know, our wrinkles, freckles, scars, tell a story of our history, just like the scratches and rust spots on my tray do. They show the laughter, the smiles, the squinting . . . that has been on that face. And there is a beauty in that - seeing someone's life on their face.

What would someone see about your life on your face? Would they see the dimples of your joyful face, perhaps a chicken-pox scar, or freckles coming out from a summer spent outside? Would they see eyes wide with wonder and full of love?

Next time you see an older person, rather than think of their wrinkles, how about you try to see their history in their face. What a wonderful God-given gift to be able to see!

Upcycle a silver tray!

If you'd like to have a go at turning an old tray into something that you can still use, have a go at this! This is the magnetic board made from an old silver tray I didn't have the heart to cover up completely!

To make this, you'll need:

• Bi-carb Soda
• Vinegar
• Cleaning cloth
• Tailor's chalk or temporary fabric marker
• Fabric to cover the tray
• Pinking shears
• Double-sided tape
• Ribbon

Cleaning the tray to remove dirt and tarnish is the first step. 

• Place a few spoonfuls of bi-carb soda on the tray, along with a little vinegar. 
• Rub the cleaning cloth into the bi-carb soda and vinegar and then rub the tray. 
• Get into all the little grooves, and rub hard in the stubborn spots.
• Rinse the tray under running water and dry it thoroughly.

To make the fabric cover, first choose a fabric that will not be too distracting to the intricacy of the tray.

• Make sure your fabric is well ironed. 
• Place it on top of the tray and mark a line around the edges where the base of the tray begins to be flat.

• Cut the fabric out, along the marked line, with pinking shears. 
• Turn the fabric piece over, and lay down lines of double-sided tissue tape, close to the edges, as well as lines through the middle.

• Peel off the back of the double-sided tape, and very carefully stick to the base of the tray.

Now your tray is cleaned up, shiny and covered, it's ready to hang!

• Thread some ribbon through a handle and tie the ends together in a bow.
• Hang your new magnetic board from a hook, at a height that will be easy to get to!
• I've used some fairly strong magnets (which I purchased from 'kikki' - aren't they cute?!).

And whenever you look at your board, remember how our faces can tell part of our history, and they reflect something of our character. Does your face reflect Jesus in your heart, like the shiny parts of your tray reflect light?

Get crafting! . . . a beautiful Christmas snowflake t-shirt!

This is our inaugural post for our blog, so we have a special Christmas craft for you. It celebrates the uniqueness of snowflakes, as well as making a great gift for someone else! 

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year, and here in Australia, it is the end of the school year as well, so long holidays just add to the festive season! It means we have time to do craft and think of how we can be a blessing to others, in a special, Christmas-sy way! This is a fun craft to do with mum. Try upcycling an old t-shirt (which is what we did!) for a special friend as a Christmas gift, or wear it to get into the Christmas feel!

We've seem a number of similar t-shirts on the internet, but here's how we did ours!

It's so much easier to do a craft when you have everything with you, so take the time to collect all the bits and pieces you will need first. You'll need:

• a plain t-shirt
• paper doilies
• scissors
• paint (and textile medium)
• paintbrush
• pieces of material, ribbon, lace, crocheted doilies, buttons

The first thing you will need to make is snowflakes out of paper doilies.

• Snowflakes look best when they have six points, so fold the doily in half, then in half again (just to mark the centre of the first fold). Then fold it into three, using the centre point to keep the folds even. Shape the points of the snowflake by cutting out a piece or two. 
• Paper doilies are a bit plain in the middle of them, so cut out some half circles, diamonds or squares along both folds, to make the middle more 'lacey'. 
• Use different sized and patterned paper doilies for variety.

Mix your paint on the one plate, so you can have a few shades to work with easily. We used regular acrylic paint, and mixed it with a textile medium (according to the manufacturer's directions) so that it will be permanent on the t-shirt. Mix the textile medium in before you start mixing colours.

Place some newspaper inside the t-shirt to protect the back of the t-shirt and the table. Lay out the doilies in the pattern you want. Overlap some of them to keep the pattern more dense. If there is a part of the t-shirt you don't want to accidentally print, cover it with paper (we didn't want to print on the neckband, so we covered that up).

You can make your prints using a roller, but we found it just as easy to use a thick, round brush to 'dab' over the holes of the paper snowflakes. 

• Vary the shades of paint you use, by picking slightly different shades for each snowflake, and adding highlights on each snowflake, using your lightest shade. 
• You might find you need to lift a snowflake to print one that is partly underneath - just be careful that you lift it carefully so it doesn't smudge paint. 
• You could even add a little bit of glitter paint in some spots for a bit of extra sparkle!

Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours then give it an iron or set according to instructions on your paint. 

To add some more dimension and texture to your design, make a selection from your bits and pieces you gathered. Think of balancing your design, incorporating the same colours and shades. Play around with what you would like it to look like. You could even take a photo of this, so you can refer back to it as you sew it on.

We used simple stitches - mostly running stitch - to sew each piece on. 

• The crocheted doily has running stitch around its edges, while the ribbons were both attached on the inside of the t-shirt, and one was stitched right down the centre of it with running stitch.

You could even make a fancy little addition, like this little frilled button.

• Take a piece of lace and, starting with a knot at the end of your thread, stitch a small running stitch along the edge. 
• Pull it tight to gather it up, overlap the edges and anchor it to the t-shirt as you stitch a button in the middle.

 Add some buttons and ribbons . . .

And look at what you've made! Take a moment to appreciate your work, and give yourself a pat on the back! If you're making it as a gift, have a little thought about how the person you are giving it to, may feel when they open up their present (it's exciting, isn't it!). Maybe even take a minute to say a little prayer for them - that's a special gift, too!