More Christmas Sewing

I’m quite impressed with myself, actually.

Lil chose this fabric a while ago from the Prints Charming range at Spotlight but it was just yesterday that I chose the pattern and decided on the red spots and pom pom trim. Then I realised I didn’t have quite enough fabric. Then I found a hole in the fabric. So I took it back to Spotters where luckily they had more and gave me a discount.

The pattern is the free Oliver and S Popover Sundress. It was very simple and well explained, which is why I chose it! I love how it turned out, but best of all Lil does too. She’s fickle, that one, so you never really can be sure. But so far so good with success and thumbs up on both this and the pyjamas.

Yay pom poms! Of course, she hasn’t tried it on yet so let’s hope it fits.

To Market

This week every spare moment was spent getting ready for last night’s little market that my craft group put on at Carrington Hall. If you missed out on going there’s another on next Tuesday night. I won’t be there unfortunately, because Dave is away, but the lovely Xanthe will be selling my wares.

Last night was a lot of fun! I do have a greater respect and understanding for people who do regular markets though. It’s a lot of work! I was selling glass magnets, peg magnets, soy candles, christmas decorations and earrings.

Here is everything all packaged up ready to go:

And some photos of our set up last night. I shared a table with Xanthe who made the paper cranes, tassle garlands and the gorgeous knitted fairy light strands (which sold well!)

The outside view:

There were lots of other lovely things being sold too. Here’s a selection:

Do go along next Tuesday night if you can make it. I wish I could be there again!

 

 

Easy Peasy Christmas Peg Magnets

While we were making the marble magnets the other day I also started some of these peg magnets and just finished them off today. I think they’re even easier than the marble magnets and would be perfect for displaying Christmas cards on the fridge. All you need is (love) and:

- wooden pegs (I got a jumbo pack from Bunnings for $5 or so.)

- paper for decorating – again we used the Christmas scrapbook papers but any nice paper would do fine.

- pva glue

- mod podge (though you could probably just use the pva glue if you don’t have any mod podge.)

- magnet strips

- craft knife or scissors

First cut your paper to the same size as the peg. I just traced around the peg with a pencil and then cut it out with a craft knife and trimmed if necessary.

Glue the paper onto the pegs with the pva glue.

Cut strips of magnet to the width of the pegs. I cut up an advertising magnet we didn’t need. If you’re planning on using the pegs to hold more than a single card you might want to use a stronger magnet. I have some small rectangular magnets form the dollar shop that I’m planning to use to make some non-Christmas pegs to hold fridge crap all year.

Use the pva glue again to stick the magnets onto the pegs.

When the glue under the paper has dried cover the whole top side of the peg with mod podge to seal the paper and give it a bit more durability.

Finally when all is dry hang a card from it! Obviously we have no Christmas cards yet so I used this card that Peppa Pig and George sent Lillian. (Big thanks to Lucy for organising this from the creator of Peppa Pig himself. So cool.)

Have fun magnet making!

Desperation Playdough

It was blowing a gale and cold this afternoon and after Edward woke from his nap I was wondering how we were going to fill in the time before dinner.  I suggested playdough but then realised we had no salt or cream of tartar. So I googled salt free playdough recipes and after perusing a few came up with this:

2 cups flour

3-4 tbsp olive oil

half cup water (with food colouring of choice)

Mix and knead together.

It has a different texture and consistency to normal playdough and it won’t last nearly as long but it did the job nicely for today. And my hands now feel nice and soft from the olive oil!

How to make marble magnets

I first made these marble magnets two years ago as gifts for Christmas so it was about time we made some more. I still have all of the supplies and have been gathering more glass gems and magnets as I come across them as they can be tricky to find. This time I had a helper in the form of Lillian and she was really good at it! I used the same basic method as last time which came from this Not Martha tutorial, but this time I took more photos along the way.

Firstly, the materials:

- Clear glass gems with a flat back

- Silicone glue/sealant

- Round magnets a bit smaller than the gems

- A round hole punch (I didn’t have one of these the first time I made them. You can just trace around the magnet and cut out the circles by hand.)

- Pretty paper (for these we used Christmas scrapbook paper. You can also use magazines or catalogues or wrapping paper.)

Punch (or cut) out your circles before you start.

Step One:

Spread a thin layer of the glue onto the magnet. Make sure you’re putting it on the right side of the magnet (i.e. the non-magnetic side) and we used a matchstick.

Step Two:

Stick a paper circle onto the glued magnet. This one is not perfectly round because it was punched out near the edge of the paper. Once the gem is on you can’t tell.

Step Three:

With the matchstick put a glob of the silicone glue in the middle of the paper.

Step Four:

Slowly push the glass gem down onto the glue glob making sure it spreads evenly to the sides.

And you’re done! Make another! And another!

I like making themed sets and it’s fun deciding which bits of paper to punch your circles out of. Let me know if you make some!