DIY easy felt bag to make

Today I'm going to show you how to make a toy bag out of a piece of felt measuring 23" x 18". I have a grandson who is mad about cars, he's such a boy!  He has a lot of small cars that he likes to take with him wherever he goes. As I'm sure you know travelling for an inquisitive, active 4 year old is not easy so when his family is on an outing in the car he plays with them. I'm sure most parents can relate to this. Much better than a bored child who is constantly whingeing. I'm sure those of us who have children or grandchildren can relate! You could use this bag for so many things, dolls clothes, any toys, colouring in books and pencils, the list is endless.
As Christmas is coming up I thought this would make the perfect gift. Here are the list of supplies you will need:

Finished bag

. Piece of felt
. Piece of cotton fabric or calico
. Fabric Glue (if used)
. Cotton or embroidery floss
. Needle
. Buttons
. Hessian Burlap) for handles

The first thing I did was fold the felt in half lengthways. You now have 2 sides to glue or sew or both if you want to make it extra strong. You'll be sewing one side and the bottom of the bag.

Piece of felt

Felt sewn 2 sides

This is where you would use fabric glue to bring the two sides together if you choose to use it and sew them together.

The next step is to turn the fabric in the right way. This is where I sewed a 5" x 5" piece of calico onto the felt and glued the buttons of the first initial of my grandson's first name onto it.

I meant to take a picture before I put the buttons on but it appears that I didn't take one but I'm sure you get the idea. Next I attached the handles which are from a roll of hessian (burlap) edging. I knew it would make a sturdy handle and that is what you want for children, sturdy! I glued and sewed the handles on to be on the safe side.

And that my friends is it! Very quick and very easy! Next I'm making one for one of my grandaughters, I have 8 grandchildren so there might be more requests coming up! I'm not really a sewer but if you can thread a needle and do a very basic running stitch then you can make one too!

Have a great week everyone, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Fall Decorations, Three easy projects

I've been looking at Pinterest and Instagram and seeing all the beautiful fall decorations. The thing is where I live it is spring! I haven't seen any spring decor only autumn or fall as some call it.
I decided to join the throng and make my own fall decor. I suppose the way the weather has been worldwide, heat waves in autumn, hot winters in Oz, floods and fires, anything goes!

I don't have any pumpkins, real or fake, we don't decorate for our seasons as much as our northern counterparts, so I'm using colourful autumn leaves to decorate. I must admit I love the velvet pumpkins. I went to a fabric shop to buy some velvet for another project and because of our hot climate they don't stock velvet! I was not impressed to say the least! I will probably order some online.

I have three quick and easy fall decorations to share that I made using these leaves. These are the supplies you will need to make them:

Finished wreath

               For Wreath

A Packet of fall leaves from the $2 shop
Hessian (burlap) roll
Twine
Hot glue gun or similar
Scissors  

               For Branches with fall leaves

Branches. I got mine from a tree in my backyard

Leaves (as above)

Glue or hot glue gun 

               For Welcome Sign

A piece of scrap wood

Leaves (as above)

Glue

Stenciled or stick on letters

Roll of hessian ribbon or wire

White homemade chalk paint

For the wreath I started with an old plastic covered wire coat hanger bent to the shape that I wanted. I used the hessian roll to wind around the coat hanger

Plastic covered wire coat hanger

Starting to roll hessian (burlap) onto hanger

I had already made a garland with twine and I glued the leaves onto the twine as shown 

Leaf garland

I then wrapped this garland around the wreath but you can simply glue the leaves straight onto the hessian wrapped coat hanger. 

As you can see above these are the branches I cut from a tree in my backyard and using the same leaves I glued them onto the branch where I wanted them.

Branches with glued on leaves

 The welcome sign was made using a scrap piece of wood to which I gave a very light coat of white chalk paint. I then wrapped a 2" piece of hessian (burlap) around one end and glued the leaves to it. I had a piece of ribbon left over from another project and I simply nailed it onto the back of the timber. I nailed it a part of the way through and bent the last bit of the nail over with the hammer. I did this because I didn't want it to come all the way through the piece of wood and hammered it over so it wouldn't stick out.

Welcome sign

Sorry this picture is sideways and I know a few of the letters are wonky but I quite like it like that.

I hope you enjoyed the fall decorations, I had fun doing them and they were really easy to do. If you make any I would love to see them. Have a great day  

Hanging mobile for babies or adults

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in awhile because I caught that nasty flu that was hitting everyone and then Bronchitis. I still feel unwell but I'm getting there. I'm going to do something a bit different today, something I've been thinking about for awhile. I have had an old lampshade frame kicking around and decided it was time I did something about it. 

I'm going to show you how I made this mobile from bits and pieces I had in my fabric stash. It's a hanging mobile and it can be made for babies and adults too. It has a sort of boho shabby style to it! It's not hard, I'm sure anyone could do it. If I can, you can, believe me! 

Supplies:
. Lampshade frame
. Strips of fabric
. Ribbons
. Strips of lace
. Glue
. Faux flowers
. Pearls
. Raffia or similar to hang chandelier

1. Firstly I cut the strips of fabric 2" in width. I started tying the strips of lace, fabric etc around the base of the frame. I tied them the same way as you tie a tie! I did mine in staggered lengths but you can have them all the same length if you desire.
As you can see in this following picture I took some of the strips of calico and folded them over the top. I pinned them first to keep them in place and then I glued them around the top of the frame


  

  

Lampshade frame

Frame with strips of fabric, ribbon and lace

As you can see I've used strips of calico, strips of an old sheer curtain that I had and a couple of different ribbons for variety. I took pieces of the calico and pinned them to the top of the frame

I was designing this as I went because I hadn't made a mobile before and had so many ideas running around in my head. 

I was trying to decide what I could use to put around the base and the top of the frame. Finally I found this burlap type ribbon in my stash and glued it around the bottom of the frame. I was thinking of stitching it on but I glued it first with fabric glue and thought I would see how well it held. Being a mobile for my grandaughter it wouldn't be played with so I think it will be ok.

Here it is with the ribbon and flowers added but I wanted to add a bit of something to the top of the frame as well. I love pearls with burlap and calico and I happened to have a half inch wide pearls on a band which was perfect

Well, here is the finished product. What do you think of my hanging mobile? Would you make it for a baby or adult? Thankfully my grandaughter loved it and so did Mum! I've had a request from another daughter for a boys mobile for my youngest grandchild. She wants the colours electric? blue, teal and mint green. I think she means a cobalt blue which is one of my favourite blues. I've seen it called a few different names but to me it's cobalt blue!

I hope this has inspired you to create your own hanging mobile for your own grandchildren or even as a gift to an adult, someone special. I think many people appreciate something that is hand made where a lot of heart and soul has been put into it. It has more meaning.

Enjoy your week everyone and keep safe.

Napkin Rings from Toilet Rolls

Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful day here in sunny Queensland.  Today I wanted to share with you my napkin rings  that I made.   I have a few birthday dinners coming up which started me thinking about table decor. I went to a few of my favourite shops to check out prices for napkin rings. There were a couple I loved but when I started to add up all of the items I would need for the table it was going to cost more than I wanted to spend. As you know I hate throwing anything out and I love to recycle and upcycle so I started looking through my supplies trying to come up with some diy ideas.  One thing I have plenty of and I'm quite sure I'm not alone in this is toilet paper tubes! I had the idea to cut these up to make the basis of my napkin rings. Because the birthdays were for different ages I ended up making 3 different styles of napkin rings.

The first thing I did was cut the cardboard tubes into 1 inch rings. 

I had on hand some burlap which was exactly the right width for my first napkin ring. I measured how much I would need and glued it onto the cardboard tube with cement glue. This stuff sticks to anything!

To give it a bit of pizzazz I added pearls around the middle of the tube. It comes in a small roll and was really easy to glue onto the burlap.   

Pink felt and pink stone

Beach style napkin rings

Burlap & Pearl napkin holder




I like the simplicity of this napkin holder, I'm not really a frills and lace type of girl. I know not everyone agrees, so I've made the next napkin ring slightly more feminine.

This napkin ring I covered in pink felt and yes, a piece of jewellery from earings that I owned.  I'm always losing one earing, so I have kept the ones I have left to use in DIY crafts such as this.

I also wanted to make napkin rings that are more casual in style and what could be more casual than the beach! I have a grandson who likes to surf so I thought these would be just the thing. I made this one using card stock which is thicker than paper and more sturdy. I then glued on a shell from my collection and voila! Beach style napkin holders. We are all beach lovers in my family so I know I will get a lot of use from them.

If you have toilet paper rolls give this a try, it's super cheap and super easy and we're doing our little bit to recycle instead of throwing them out. Have a great weekend everyone, till next time