Monday 20 August 2012

Making stick dolls with the kids

I get so happy when I find a simple and cute idea of having fun with kids. Olly and I haven't got children (yet!) but we have two nieces and a nephew and I count the days until holidays or Christmas, when I can see them again.

I am definitely saving this to try and make some with them. Eartha might be too grown up already for it, Bram might find it too girly... But fingers crossed Violette will be up for it!

Making stick dolls with the kids
Photo Credit: Teawagontales
These ones were made by Jane, of Teawagontales. She uses lolly sticks to make the dolls, a range of washi tapes, buttons and pens. But why not try with some scrap paper, scissors and glue too? The secret is to keep the drawing as simple as you can and to use quick dry pens that won't run or stain the wood. Test a few before handing them over to the kids!

Because my mum is a doctor, I grew up having boxes of wooden tongue depressors lying around. I used to stick them together to make houses, fake oriental fans, anything my imagination could come up with at the time... I guess they work really well for this too, particularly because they are slightly wider than a lolly stick. You can buy 100 for around £3 in most pharmacies or Amazon.

If you do try to make them, please send me a picture!

Sunday 19 August 2012

Baby Owl Hats

If there is one thing I can't help, it is to almost scream "baby!" every time I see one. It started as a joke between Olly and I as he used to point them out to me to bring a smile to my face and now I see myself doing it all the time. The mums usually answer with a proud smile. I hope I don't look like a freak when I do it. I just love babies too much. And baby stuff... baby clothes, shoes, furniture...

Who knows me, also knows that recently I developed a certain liking for Owls... I sort of inherited it from my granny. Well, you can imagine how excited I got when I came across these:

The cutest baby owl hats
Aren't they the cutest thing?

These lovely newborn size owl hats are a creation of Graphic Designer and mother of two, Sarah, that shares her love for arts & crafts in a wonderful blog called "Repeat crAfter Me". No need to say I am already a fan...  

>> The full pattern can be found here

I am really getting into crochet (a lot more coming up soon, including my two recent little creations, Oscar & Bolt), but for the time being I suggest you have a look at the Crocheting section on Sarah's blog. It has a great range of patterns and very visual tutorials.

If you want to read more Crochet posts on this blog, just follow this link.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Olympic fever...

Hi everybody. Sorry I haven't been around for the past three weeks but I got caught up in the middle of all the Olympic excitement that hit #London2012.

I have to say this city had never been sooooo amazing, at least not since the day I arrived here, in January 2008. I hope the biggest Olympic legacy will be the happy smiles in everyone's faces on the tube (metro).

But soon I will be posting here more cute little projects, DIY tricks, crochet ideas and much more... Keep checking!