Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Gifts Part 3

Pre teens this week and I promised it wouldn’t all be sewing, so this lovely friendship bracelet kit doesn’t involve any!

Back to sewing, but this set of beanbags is really very simple. You could make these in any colours and there is even a link to some printable cards with different game ideas.

My daughter and her friends had great fun building a den at her sleepover a couple of years ago. A Fort Kit would have been ideal for them. 

I also found this girly version with a much easier way of making the ties, which didn’t involve a million yards of bias binding. That’s got to be a bonus.

I would have loved a sewing box like this when I was a little girl, although I’m not sure about sticking pins into a pretty little face pin cushion!

No sewing needed for this cute monster tote, the design is glued on to a ready made bag. It reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are, a much loved favourite.

I’ll be back with Part 4 next Friday, which will be gifts for teens and I’m hoping to find some good ideas for boys.

Fall Mail Art Exchange Part 1

I received some happy mail last Thursday and in amongst it, was an envelope all the way from Australia. How clever of Amy to post it on just the right day, so that it arrived on my birthday!

Inside was a beautiful photograph with a very apt quote and a lovely card wishing me a wonderful day. Thankyou so much Amy, it really made me smile.

I’ll be posting my own piece of mail art off to Natalie this afternoon and I hope she enjoys receiving it, as much as I did mine. I’ll share what I made, as soon as I know it has reached her.

I also want to say thankyou to Ginger for having the idea in the first place. I’m really glad I decided to take the plunge and join in with your Mail Art Exchange.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Handmade Gifts Part 2

Some ideas for slightly older children this week, after all the cute baby gifts.

Let’s start with a great way of transporting a few favourite toy cars around. The outside cover of the caddy and the pockets are made from an old pair of jeans. How’s that for recycling?!

This tote has lots of pockets inside and could be filled with all sorts of art and craft materials, depending on the age of the child in mind and/or your budget.

I wish we’d had one of these clever Lego sack/mats when my children were small. I lost count of the amount of times I stepped on a stray lego brick….ouch!….or sucked some tiny, but crucial, piece up with the hoover!

I love the woodgrain fabric used to make this apron for cooking, painting or any other ‘getting messy’ activities.

Last one for this week is a snuggly fleecy hat, which can be customised to suit the recipient. Love those dinosaur spikes, but I think my teenage son may not!

I seem to have ended up with five projects that involve sewing….again….will try harder to diversify! There are some ideas in previous posts, which might fit this age group and involve other crafty skills. Little monsters here and a covered notebook, which would be a great addition to the art tote.

I’ll be moving on to pre teens next week, hope to see you then.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Handmade Gifts

Now I know not everyone wants to start thinking about the ‘C’ word just yet, but a couple of friends have been nagging asking me nicely, to start posting my lists of handmade gift ideas. You know who you are!

Apparently it is 100 days away as of today and if, like me, you would like a more handmade affair this year, then we’d both better get started.

A few friends have had babies over the course of the year, so that will be the theme for this week.

First up some very sweet baby hats. You could of course leave off the flowers and use any other colours you like, if you have boy babies on your list.

Once you’ve made the hat, perhaps you’d like some cute little shoes too. If you need something a bit less flouncy, there’s another pattern here.

Tag blankets have become very popular lately, but I wanted to find something a bit different and I think this little owl fits the bill.

If you’re looking for something a bit more practical to give to parents to be, then how about this snuggly blanket to fit in a car seat.

Lastly a beautiful baby quilt, which is actually fairly simple to make and not as time consuming as you would imagine. Inside the border strip, it is one large piece of fabric, so very little piecing involved.

Even if you don’t have any babies on your list this year, you’ll have possibly found a few more lovely blogs to browse around, that you hadn’t come across before. I’ll be back next Friday with another set of ideas. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, then just leave me a comment.

Ten Things ~ A Pride of Lions

Last summer we went on a lion hunt in Bath. I’ve already shared a few of the shots I took that day and 10 on the 10th seemed a good time to show you some more.

Regency Dandy Lion

Bloom

Eureka!

Librarius

Louie

Aesop

Lion de Fleur

The Lion, The Watch and The Wardrobe – My favourite title!

La La Sensory Lion

DJ Spacey

You can find a few more of the lions here and here.

Links to everyone’s sets of ten can be found on Shimelle’s site. Maybe you’ll share a set of your own.

Five Things I’m Loving This Friday ~ Good Mail

I’m really excited to be taking part in Ginger’s Mail Art Exchange this month and while looking around for some ideas and inspiration, I found a few things that I wanted to share.

Envelopes made from magazine pages by Amazing Mae. I can remember doing this when I was at school/college.

Back to school mail in a bottle at Givers Log. There are links to lots of other fun ideas, if you scroll down to the bottom of the post.

Pottery hearts with an address tag. I’m not sure how well these would fare in the hands of Royal Mail!

A pencil case full of bouncy balls. Another fun package to receive, although it was the beautiful stamps that caught my eye on this one.

This is just one of 100 ‘postcards’ sent over the course of two years. A very inventive collection, although there are a few I wouldn’t have wanted to see on my doormat!

I haven’t lost count, but there is just one more website I wanted to share with you. Mail Art across the World has some wonderful galleries full of envelopes where the main focus is the beautiful calligraphy. Enjoy.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #118

It’s the very last day of the holidays here and I’ve been making the most of spending time with my children before they return to school tomorrow. I still haven’t found that pesky lead, so another dose of imagination will be needed this week.

Again nothing much has changed since this photo was taken. Latest additions are a copy of this month’s Craft Stamper, a new academic diary and a laundry marker. Also the leftovers from the notebooks I made last week.

In lieu of a desk shot, I’ll share a few more lions, as they seemed to go down quite well. I’ve picked some which have a little more of Bath on show in the background, for those who showed an interest in the city.

This colourful lion was on show in the Royal Crescent.

This magnificent beast was on the porch of a hotel and shows the local stone.

This is the Cath Kidston lion and shows part of the busy high street, complete with building works!

In the last shot we were trying to decide who had the more impressive mane.

What do you think?

If it’s desks you want and of course you do, then pop over to Julia’s place, where there will be plenty to choose from.

I had a week off from blogging in between WOYWWs, but I’ll be back with Five Things I’m Loving This Friday, not suprisingly, on Friday. Maybe I’ll see you there.