I made these last minute christmas gifts for the girls.  A letter for each of their names.  E is for Emily.  I used a vintage Bambi print on a pine letter I bought from Spotlight.

 

 

Framed print is by Sarah Jane.  Rabbit made by me - Pattern by Fiona Dalton.  I also made the small teddy and covered the lamp.  Wooden mouse is from Spotlight, Steiner angel was a gift from a friend.

 

 

 

J is for Juliette and I is for Isabella.  These two prints are also from a vintage Little Golden Book - illustrated by Corinne Malvern.  I would never be able to use pages from a real book...I printed these from a google search and enlarged them to size.  I used wood glue to stick the prints onto the letters, allowed to dry, then cut carefully around the letters from the back with a sharp stanley knife.  I then used spray varnish (two coats) to finish.

 

 

Again, the framed print in the girls' room is by Sarah Jane.  The dolls are made from a pattern by Fiona Dalton.  'Mama Bear' is made from a pattern by nest studio. I covered the lamp myself.

 

I love the simplicity of the letters and the fact that you get great effect for not too much time and effort!  So friends with children, you can guess what your little ones are getting for their birthdays this year!!

 

Linking up here today. (PS. If you use this idea, please link back, thanks).

It's been a while since I've paid some attention to my blog...Christmas, holidays, baby bump growing and a sewing lull (burnt out after too many Christmas gifts?).  I thought I would post about some baby preparations.  I feel I need to put some of my creativity now into preparing for baby, with only seven-eight weeks to go!  Here is where baby will sleep.  I painted up some letters and little elephants - both from bunnings, to dress up the wall.  Spot the cute new bird hanging from the ceiling.  

The little bird is yet another Hop Skip Jump pattern (gee I am getting some mileage out of that book!).  It was super easy and fun to make.  I made mine from cream linen, cotton scraps for the tail feathers and a teeny bit of orange wool felt for the beak.  He is hung with thin fishing wire - which was thin enough to be sewn onto the back of the bird then suspended from the ceiling.

Here is the first garment I have made for baby - a soft grey marle cotton bonnet.  Since we don't know the sex, soft grey is calling as the colour of the moment - think I will knit a little cardi from the same cotton.  As we will be having an (early) March baby, the weather may not call for bonnets and cardis but baby's do tend to be colder than us big people, don't they?  The pattern is from Vintage knits for modern babies by Hadley Fierlinger.

I was looking forward to making one of these matchbox advent calendars after seeing my sister's handmade one last Christmas.

Most of the advent calendars you see in the shops are tacky and include no meaningful message about Christmas.

This calendar took a couple of afternoon sessions to make - but was something Issie and I could (mostly) do together while Juliette slept.  Inside each box is a little message or drawing which include: nice things to do; simplified religious story of christmas and also how our extended family celebrates each year.

If you want to make your own matchbox advent calendar, here is what you will need:

I'm linking up today with Our Creative Spaces at Kootoyoo.