Lemon and lime garland

If you want to hold on to that summer feeling a little longer - or want to have an early start, depending on where you are - I highly recommend making one of these!
My girls and I made this colorful lemon and lime garland over summer vacation for the latest issue of Action Pack, which is all about Zap and Zest this time, with zap referring to electricity and zest to anything citrus.
So, if you'd like to find out how to make one of these and much, much more, please, hop over to Action Pack for a double issue full of fun facts and activities, crafts, science projects and recipes.

A nice way to kick off the weekend, if you ask me!

Have fun!

P.

Triangles and polka dots

I gave some hints last week about 'something' I whipped together for the birthday girl.
Since she's officially ten now, and all the presents were unwrapped and all ten candles were blown out last night (the cake we still have plenty off, but that's a story for later),  I can finally show you some pictures.
As some of you already guessed, I made a flag garland.

I used whichever fabric I had available from my failing bag business. Well, that's not entirely the way it went (for the colors, I mean - the bag business is failing, LOL! A bag anyone??).
Let's say that I found some of these colors to go really well together, so well that I had stacked them that way last time I cleaned up my crafts closet.  So, when I started on my flags all I did was take out the entire stack and cut triangles. The big surprise, however, came after I finished the whole thing. That's when I remembered my leather polka dot garland from a while ago. A perfect match color-wise, as it turned out, but I especially like the repetition of the polka dot pattern in one of the fabrics I chose for the flags - it happened totally unconsciously, but it's there and I like it!

Now, if you want to try this, all you need is fabric in a couple of different prints and/or colors, cut to triangles (I used the same size triangle for all flags, but you could vary sizes if you like, or even combine different shapes), some biais tape and thread. 
Since I didn't have any biais tape, I used twill tape, which I folded in half. To make the sewing easier I pinned the flags in between the tape. Limited by the length of my twill tape, I didn't leave space in between flags, but you could of course space them out a bit. I threaded my machine with two different colors of thread. Also, since the twill tape was rather on the narrow side especially when folded, I used a zig zag stitch, just to make sure the triangles got caught in between the folded twill tape.

For the polka dot garland, just hop over here to find a short description.

Wishing you a good week!

xo, P.

T-shirt yarn macramé puppets

Sitting on a mountain of old T-shirts?
Bought some T-shirt yarn but never got around crocheting or knitting that rug?
Or did you make that rug but you still have yarn left?
Here's a fun craft making use of T-shirt yarn.

These T-shirt yarn puppets were part of our school's Spring fair activities last June and I can immediately add that they were a big hit among all ages.
It's a nice introduction to macramé as well.
If you don't have T-shirt yarn you can cut your own from old T-shirts (you can find how to do this online). Or you could use fabric strips, bias tape, cord, ribbon, ...

Slip the puppets on a key chain, use them to personalize school bags or make a bunch to make a cute mobile or garland for the nursery.

Recommended age: 5+
Required skills: ability to tie a knot
Click here to download written instructions.



Note: inspiration for this craft was found here. Just now, I also found this tutorial online.

As with all of my tutorials, please note, this tutorial is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form. Thanks for understanding!

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

A week in pictures...

We got back last Sunday from a short trip in the Lot department, or le Quercy as they also call this part of France. We went back to the same region as last year because we loved it so much back then and that feeling hasn't changed. It's a beautiful region - quaint, lush, a bit dramatic, too, on a cloudy day (and we had more than a few of those, unfortunately). This year, we stayed at the lovely Domaine Lapèze in Montcuq, a 200 year old farm turned into gite and run by Caroline and Knud Kristoffersen where we had a very nice, little cottage at our disposal. The view from the domaine, which is located on a hill, was simply stunning, with its sunflower fields, plum orchards, vineyards, and little winding roads, the Montcuq tower... The girls fell in love with the owners' two dogs, three horses, and two cats living on the premises, and the - very loud at some times - donkey a bit further down the road. The weather wasn't great - the sun was a no-show until the second part of the week - but we've enjoyed every minute of our little break...
Our week in pictures...


the stunning view from our cottage







I fell in love with these delicate queen anne's lace (thanks, Ana!) - did you see the cute little red heart?!


apples for the horses...


This young lady turned 8 during our stay!





The girls' creativity at its best - they made a very nice summer garland with plenty of summer goodness found around the yard...



... we called him the asthmatic donkey because of the weird noise he made - the girls were convinced he felt lonely which made them sad so they would bring him carrots and apples too


Montcuq market on Sunday morning





Undoubtedly, the most adventurous part of our stay - it took us forever to get to the Accro-Liane site in Figeac (thanks to our ever-outperforming GPS), but it sure was worth the long ride...

Fabric and wire flowers :: a tutorial

Though this morning didn't feel like Spring - I was cold the entire trip to school and still am, despite the polar fleece I'm wearing now and the cup of hot coffee I had - we certainly were lucky with the weather lately. Sun! I just love the light the early Spring sun brings! It makes me happy, excited. And it shows in my projects, I believe. Take this fabric and wire flower, for instance. Don't you think it's over the (my) top colorwise?!

It started with one of those kits to make flowers with wire and some colored gooey liquid (I actually think it's white glue mixed with colorants of some sort) which little H. received from a friend for her birthday. While I was helping her out I just started wondering if  maybe I could do something similar with fabric and wire. With Vliesofix that shouldn't be too difficult, I figured - no, I'm not affiliated with Vliesofix, but just happen to have bought a lot of the stuff. So, after buying the Petit Pan scrap bag, everything came together and I made my flower. You've no idea how little time these flowers take to make. It's free style from beginning till end, which I love. I don't like wasting precious time on making patterns, and elaborate preparations before being able to actually do something. In that respect I'm not any different from the average kid - I want instant gratification... (when little H. read on the box she had to wait for at least 12 hours for the gooey stuff to dry and set, she was really disappointed "but it looks dry to me - do I really have to wait untill tomorrow, mommy?").

So, if you want to give that Spring feeling a boost or just want to hold on to that last bit of summer, just keep on reading as here are some instructions!


What you'll need:

- scraps of fabric
- wire, not too thick
- Vliesofix, Bondaweb, ...
- scissors or cutting pliers
- iron




Instructions

1. Determine how many flower petals you want. Cut your petals, freestyle, in pairs,  i.e. cut at once front and back of the same petal by layering your fabric such that wrong sides are facing. Repeat  until you have the desired number of petals.
2. Trace every pair of petals onto the paper backing of the Vliesofix and cut out.
3. Cut wire to length - you'll need one piece of wire per petal. Bend and twist the wire to form a petal shape, using the fabric petals as a guide for size - make the wire petal slightly smaller than the fabric petal.
4. Iron Vliesofix onto the wrong side of its corresponding petal. Let cool down. Peel off the paper backing. Position the wire petal shape on top. Next, place the other petal piece on top, sandwiching the wire in between petal layers. Fuse the petal layers and wire together with your iron. Let cool down. Repeat for every set.
5. Arrange your petals to form a flower. When happy, twist the wires together to form a stem. Note: depending on the gauge of the wire you're using and on what you intend to use the flower for, you might want to twist the wire around a stick or another more heavy wire for support.
6. Once you're done twisting you can start playing with the petals - the most fun part, I think - to shape your flower.

Make a couple and put them in a vase, or twist them together to form a garland. Use them to decorate the dinner table for a festive meal. You could also make colorful napkin rings with these. So many possibilities and yet so simple to make!

Enjoy!

After I made this flower, I found  a similar project in the last issue of Marie Claire Idées. Instead of Vliesofix they use glue, which is slightly more messy, if you ask me...






Please note, these tutorials are intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form without permission. Thanks for understanding!

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

A little bit of everything

First of all I want to share something with you that made me really happy. Remember the Valentine's Day garland from a couple of days ago? Well, it made it into the Valentine's Day Round-up at One Pretty Thing! If you don't know One pretty thing yet - which I doubt - go check it out! It's the place to be if you're looking for inspiration, tutorials, seasonal crafts or crafts and pretty things in general. And I'm not just telling you that because my Valentine's hearts showed up there! The light-box I made last week: found the instructions through One Pretty Thing! The Obamicon-posters (here and here)? Found them through - yes! - One Pretty Thing! So, go over there and take a look!



As you might have noticed, I changed the // Between the lines // heading again. This time, it's a detail of a woven basket I bought earlier this week (I actually bought two...). At the Monoprix of all places! They're made of rolled-up newspaper strips - a nice way of recycling newspaper! I intend to use these baskets to organize some of my craft supplies. I really love them and so did the girls, who actually tried to claim them... These baskets made me think again about trying to weave, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I got a nice book with weaving projects for kids a while ago - time to take a look at it! And as I was thinking about all this, I found these cute little Valentine's heart shaped baskets at Maya*Made ( maya*made: woven hearts: modernizing a classic). I've tried to make one yesterday and it looks like this technique might work well for making party hats, too. To be further investigated!



Also today, I started taking pictures of spices - make use of the light studio, of course! About ten years ago, on a short city trip to London with some friends, we ended up at Soho Spice for dinner, a (at that time) trendy Indian restaurant. I can't remember what we had for dinner, but I do remember their colorful walls and the place mats which were essentially pictures of spices on colorful backgrounds. I fell for these place mats and got a set from the waiter to take home. I framed them and had them up on our kitchen walls until we moved. They're probably still in a box somewhere on my in laws' attic. I definitely want to check next time we go. Anyway, when photographing the vegetables last weekend, I thought of those place mats and hence the spice-pictures. Work in progress...

Love in a box

We had quite a busy but fun weekend. Oma Nicole and Opa Bert visited us and brought the presents Sinterklaas dropped off in Brussels for the girls. The girls really enjoyed the special attention only grandparents can give. There was a lot of laughter, silliness, cuddling-up and "conspiracy" (H. packed some personal belongings as she wanted to go back to Brussels with Oma and Opa). As the weather was nice (though cold) we walked quite a bit through Paris and showed the Montmartre area, made a long walk along the Seine, went to the the Marché aux Fleurs et Oiseaux (maybe not such a smart thing to do as M. really wanted to adopt one of those cute, fluffy, little rabbits).
And in between all these activities and M.'s homework we even found time to make lots of snow flakes (thanks to maya*made: newspaper snowflake garland: a tutorial - as I was a little lazy we just used Origami paper instead of cutting our own squares) and to decorate and fill up our shoe box for the "Love in a Box" project which was due today. With just some tissue paper, a couple of snowflakes, glitter and lots of glue we were able to produce a really nice box. I hope we'll make a little girl happy with the small gifts inside.
Inspired by the first box, M. wanted to decorate a box of her own to stuff her little secrets inside. We worked on it together after grandma and grandpa had left and this one too turned out beautifully. I really like how she decorated the lid: yellow for the day, blue for the night.
The craft paper Sinterklaas brought came to a good use already... Dank u, Sinterklaasje!