day 331: felt babushka doll

the finished babushka or grandmother doll ... i love her

day 331 and i have been taken by babushka's or eastern european grandmother dolls.  i have always loved the matryoshka dolls (russian nesting dolls made from wood) and the new babushka's i see everywhere remind me so much of them.

i found this gorgeous pattern yesterday to make a little 2.5" doll in felt on pinterest and she was too adorable to wait long to make, so i made her today!  the free tutorial and template is from sew to speak and is pinned to my sewing diy board.  you need felt in various colours, embroidery floss, glue, and a bit of stuffing.

after some cutting (something i seem to be doing lots of at the moment ... seriously considering taking up jen's idea of buying a cutting machine of some sort!) and a little bit of gluing i was into the sewing and really enjoyed it.  i thought i would be totally intimidated doing the face but i actually really enjoyed giving her a personality.  once the stitching was done, i put a little stuffing in her to make her a jolly grandmother.  you know the sort, rounded in all the right places and soft in all the bits that count ;)

the bits and bobs required

the cutting done, now for the fun part :)

attach all the bits to the front of the felt doll

embroider a face and hair, add some rosy cheeks with a coloured pencil

sew the back to the front with a blanket stitch and give her a little stuffing before finishing the stitching around her.

outcome:  i fell in love with her so much i didn't put a hanger on her as she is sitting on my bedside table keeping an eye on me :)  she will not be perfect to many who see her, but to me she is perfect in every way ... i am thinking i will have to make more to see if i feel the same way about all of them or if it is just her that has stolen a little bit of my heart.

my sincerest thanks to sew to speak for the generously free pattern to make this little grandmother and the wonderful tutorial that goes with it.  you warn your readers they are addictive, i guessing that's not going to stop anybody from making these because they are totally worth giving up the time to make over and over again.

day 330: diy canvases ... for halloween decor!

the finished halloween canvases!

day 330 and i have wanted to try today's creation for ages but it hasn't happened until today.  there are heaps of tutorials on pinterest for making your own photo/art canvases and they all look like they work wonderfully.  i would love to have more canvases on the wall but they are so expensive to buy so i am really hoping this tutorial from little bit funky works as well as her photo's suggest ... it didn't, our printer loves fabric but it did not like the tissue paper on its own :(  the tissue paper ended up screwed up in the middle of the printer and it took half an hour to unjam the printer!

determined not to give up, i went to another tutorial pinned on my general crafts board to do canvases from sarah's never-ending projects.  she also uses tissue paper but cellotapes it to a piece of standard A4 paper before it goes through the printer.  take two, for today's creation and running tissue paper through the printer ....  IT WORKED!!!

whole the issue was taped to the paper to get it through the printer .. left is the back, right is the front with the tissue attached

it worked! free graphic thanks to the graphic fairy

the next step is to use mod podge to glue the tissue to the canvas.  the idea is that the tissue is thin enough to take on the canvas look and feel once it is dry ... and guess what ... IT DOES!!

ready to see if i can master the next step!

finished and drying home made canvases !

so excited i went about my evening making three canvases in EARLY preparation for halloween :)  now i need my printer to conk out so i can buy a new A3 printer and do lots of large photo canvases, maybe i should put the tissue paper back through by itself a couple more times :)


my sincere thanks to sarah at sarah's never-ending projects for the brilliant tip on taping the tissue to a piece of A4 paper and also to little bit funky for the tutorial that really helped me with the adhering of the tissue to the canvases!  thanks also to the graphics fairy for the awesome, free vintage halloween printables i used on the canvases used to create today's halloween wall art :)

day 329: felt winter tree

felt winter tree

day 329 and it was a gorgeous autumn day here, blue skies, crisp but lovely and warm in the sun.  it had me thinking about the new season coming and all the christmas themed winter décor i could use for us at this time of the year. these felt cone trees were definitely one of those décor items i wanted to have around for winter :)

the felt trees tutorial is by janice of scissor variations and is also pinned to my winter wonderland board on pinterest.  to complete the project you need a polystyrene cone, felt, a template to trace around for the circles, and some pins.  the tutorial only uses one size of circle, i used two.  the larger 2" circle for the bottom three rows and a 1.5" circle for the top of the cone.  i found about half way up the smaller circles looked and moulded to the cone much easier than the larger ones.  once you have all the circles cut out you layer them like shingles all the way to the top.

what you need

trace the circles then cut inside the line so the pen colour is not on your cut out circle :)

start your shingle arrangement on the cone, using one pin for the centre of each circle

three rows up i changed to the smaller circles

 

the finished tree, now i just need two more :)

outcome:  really cute, i just need two more cones to have a set of three ... one is just not enough! it was really easy to make, a little time consuming with all the cutting but totally worth it for the finished article.

my thanks to janice of scissor variations for the lovely tutorial.  the trees are stunning and i will be making them in red for christmas too :)

day 328: edible toothpicks

we love you ma ... couldn't be prouder of you :)

day 328 and it's the big day so its a QUICK and i mean QUICK post ... my mums last day of work forever ... bring on retirement :)

I couldn't be prouder of her and the wonderful life she gave me sister and i because of all the hard work she has done over the years.  for me it is beyond gratifying to see her retire and start this new phase of her life where every decision she makes is for her and her alone ... love you ma.

as such, we had some celebrating to do tonight ... so i made these

cheese on pretzel sticks!

they were inspired by the ones made at women living well and are pinned to my party ideas board ...

what you need, plus 10 minutes

chop the cheese, hold the pretzel low, push down ... 

... and whala a plate of nibbles are prepared :)

as for the outcome ... they were gone SO fast, i had to make more.  and then the ideas on how you could add fruit (like pineapple), use chocolate, antipasto goodies, and all sorts on these edible toothpicks .. yes, these are my new favourite thing to pimp ... go by yourselves some pretzel sticks and see what creations you can come up with.

awesome idea by women living well, these are going to be my new party go to for all types of different occasions!

day 327: felt flowers

the finished felt peonies ... so pretty :)

day 327 and things are really exciting at our place this week as my mum is going to retire tomorrow, nine months early!  i am so proud of her, she has worked so hard all her life and it is really rewarding seeing her move into a life after work where she can make daily choices according to her whim.  tonight we are going out to dinner with all her workmates and i am taking along some champagne.  as it's a special occasion i wanted to dress the bottles up a bit :)  on my paper crafts board, is pinned a template for making these paper/felt flowers. this is so apt for my mum as she plans to spend a lot of her retirement in the garden.  the template and design comes from yoonie at home and her completed flowers were used to adorn hair clips.  i figured i could glue a flower to each bottle with a little message.

i printed out the free template provided by yoonie at home on paper and then used the cut out  templates to trace out the patterns on felt.  then it was a case of assembling them according to the instructions.

what you need to complete today's project

all the cutting complete, not the fun part, the making!

the finished peony complete with leaves

and then they found their way to the bottles :)

outcome: so cute.  i have kept the templates for the future as these flowers would look gorgeous adorned to all sorts of things including presents, pillows, frames, towels, wreathes, cards, and just about anything else you can dream up!

my thanks to yoonie at home for the brilliant template that is definitely easy to replicate on felt and super easy to put together into flowers :)

day 326: healthy apple butter cake

the apple butter cake ... beautiful 

day 326 and i am amazed at the variations i see on pinterest for cake mixes ... everything from soda to yoghurt to apple ... and that last one is the one i am keen to try today.  can you really make a cake with just a cake mix, purée apple, and water?  today was the day i was ready to find out!  this "recipe" comes from hungry girl and it's one of many she has for healthier versions of cake mixes.  the recipe is also pinned to my weight watchers recipes happy days board on pinterest.

as stated this cake requires only apple purée, a cake mix, and water.  you put everything in a bowl and mix, then pour into your cake tin and whip it into the oven.  i used a ring tin sprayed with rice bran oil for this cake to try something a little different.  it took 2 minutes to make, one of which was used trying to find my scissors ;o]

the ingredients + water

mix

pour and bake ... yes, this was not rocket science ;)

the result ... i can not tell you how good this was, just try it!

outcome: STOP THE PRESSES, OMG, WHOOP WHOOP, and anything else you would care to add to this fantastic cake's checklist ... YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT STRAIGHT OUT OF OVEN, it tastes like apple pie or an apple steamed pudding ... we all keep saying OMG, seriously one of my favourite recipes of my p365 year so far.  steve wouldn't/couldn't stop eating it and over half the cake was gone by the end of the evening.  we had it with lite whipped cream (like a fat free cool whip) and it was divine!  try this cake warm on a cool autumn winters evening and you will be the favourite in your home all night long :)

what steve left of the cake ... although the night is still young ;)

many, many, many thanks to hungry girl for this recipe, i will make this often in the winter months because it only takes 2 minutes to make and is as good as an apple pie any day!

day 325: creamy crockpot apple oatmeal

delicious, crockpot apple oatmeal :)

day 325 and the temperatures and definitely dropping as we head towards winter.  i figured a wholesome warm afternoon tea was in order for the peeps AND i wanted to try this recipe from stephanie.  stephanie is responsible for the blog crockpot 365 ... such a good idea to do something for 365 day don't you think ;)  this recipe is pinned to my recipe must do's board on pinterest.

this recipe is so cool, you gather up the the six ingredients and pop them in the crockpot, stir briefly, and walk away for about 1 and 1/2 hours.  i LOVE baking that doesn't need you to be there in the kitchen.  i went for a walk on the treadmill will the baking was taking place in the crockpot.  because i am a slightly impatient person with two peeps who think they will expire if not feed regularly, i went with the high setting.  if cooking on low, the oatmeal will take 2-3 hours instead.

the ingredients

the preparation ... and cooking :)

the finished, gobbled up oatmeal :)

outcome:  YUM~!  seriously good and the peeps LOVED it.  it was all gone in less than 15 minutes, hungry little munchkins that thought hot oatmeal on a cool autumn afternoon was a sensational idea :)  and the best part is, i get all the credit without doing anything laborious!!!

big thanks to stephanie from crockpot 365 for this awesome recipe.  if i get steve to put this on when he leaves for work in the morning, the peeps and i will get up to a very delicious breakfast, hot breakfast during those cold days in winter ... really good idea aye honey ;)