Thanks for joining me on day 24! other posts in this series can be found here

In hindsight we made felt balls that where to large for the next one we will make smaller balls otherwise this came out pretty great. This is another idea that I've seen floating around on the internet. You can make them pretty much as big as your wire can handle.

You need wire (same as I used in previous project in this series) beads or felt balls washing pegs. You might want pliers and a holepunch

I used a holepunch to make holes in the felt balls, when on the smallest setting the hole was pretty much invisible.

String everything on the wire bead-peg-bead etc. Twist the metal at the top and make a loop to hang it from, and you're done!

Thanks for joining me! other posts in this series can be found here

I made trees, the soft fabric stuffed ones. This idea has been floating around the internet for several years and I've seen them made round, with 3 sides with more sides, this is my take on it. I used a small left over piece of fabric which turned out to be a pain to use because of the weave and the semi elesticity. if you have plain cotton or linnen that would work great as would felt and fleece

Cut your pieces, 4 triangles and a square. Make sure to add seam allowance as the file with the pattern doesn't have any seam allowance.

I embroidered the fabric with some simple snowflakes in the same colour thread as the fabric which really added a nice dimension to the whole.

sew it together, long side against long side and the bottoms against the square.

Stuff it sew it shut and you're done! here you can also enjoy the biew of my untidy desk with multiple colours of floss (the boys where all embroidering a green tree on a panel of cotton) my phone, a padlock, a crochet hook (to aid the stuffing) and sealing wax because you know we all need that to hand all the time.

Welcom to day 20! Only 10 days to go! Other posts can be found here.

Today we've made book corners. They are a lovely thing to make from left over bits of cards stock or water colour paper. We made a bunch for all the book readers in our family (which is pretty much everyone) to pop into their stockings or to give away as RAK (random acts of kindness) just leave them in library books.

I made them pretty easily using watercolour leftovers and some normal printer paper off cuts.

Cut a piece of card 3" by 1.5" fold it in half and colour/paint decoupage it whatever takes your fancy.

Cut half a square with a little bit on the side to glue it with.

here it is over the top of the cardstock with the gluebit sticking out. this bit folds over one of the open sides

colour the paper stick it on the card, fold up one corner (or cut it off and ignore all steps after this!)

Stick a brad trough it or a stocker or googly eyes etc etc. amd you are done!

Make loads and leave them in library books as a nice surprise for a stranger :)

WElcome to day 18! Other posts in this series can be found here

I love making these candles and we make a large batch every year. They are great as a little extra, a stockingstuffer or as a lovely box filled with them (save the expensive chocolate box works great!)

I don't melt any wax for this so it is very suitable to do with small (or just fidgety) children.

You need was (grated of chips) wicks I buy them ready made like this, a knife for opening your walnut and a walnut.

Push your knife into the flat end of the walnut along the natural break line. Now gently wiggle it, you will hear the nut cracking go slow and gently so you have a good chance of breaking it nicely

place the wick in the bottom and press it down a bit to shape the metal to thhe botton of the walnut

if you have a block of wax you can grate it. I was using some left over soy candles here.

Fill your walnut all the way to the top

The only childunfriendly bit in the whol making process, gently warm the wax a bit with a lighter. You could put it on a hot radiator for half an hour or so till its soft enough to compress it together. This will stop it all from falling out.

Turn of all the lights and light your candles and make a wish :)

Welcome to day 17! other posts in this series can be found here

Today I made a simple crochet scarf which could with the help of a few more buttons easily become a cowl. I started it late this morning and worked on it during tea breaks, and inbetween working in the garden. I used a heavy dk cotton and a large hook which made this a very quick project.

I used about 3/4 a 50 gram ball of organic heavy dk cotton, a 7mm hook and a vintage mother of pearl button. The loose stitches meant that I didn't need to worry about creating a buttonhole.

Chain 67
skip 2 ch and work hdc all the way to the end
turn and repeat
keep going until you have 9 rows (or more if you have enough yarn!)
cut yarn work away ends

Button placement. In the image above the scarf was folded in half and half again the middle fold is the one to the left and as you can see the button was placed just a little bit away from the middle.

So there you go another very quick project that is easily done by beginners and super quick for the more experienced hookers :D

Veraxx

Thanks for joining me on day 16! check out the other posts in this series here.

Today I made some dreamdolls. The are little simple dolls with a pocket at the front to put something in. My eldest has a doll like this in his bed and the pocket holds his sleep crystal. We made it together and stuffed it with wool and lavender. After this first one many more have been made for friends of his and friends of mine. The pocket can be made large enough to hold a worry stone, or smaller to hold a simple piece of folded paper. My doll holds a piece of paper with things that I currently want to focus my energy written on. A small visual and tactile reminder can be especially helpful during stressful times.

Print out the pattern listed below. I added a scaleline but size doesn't matter too much it is a fairly basic pattern that can easily be adapted.
The pattern contains 2 doll shapes one with a slightly larger head and this is the one I made this time. I cut a front and a back a face a pocket and 2 extra headpieces as a bonnet.

pin and sew the pocket first

embroider the face

sew face onto head (over the bonnet piece in this case)

sew the doll together. I used a simple runningstitch because I like the look of it and this will not be given to a child. Don't sew it all the way shut as you do need to stuff it still!

Stuff head and arms first

Finish stuffing the doll and sew her shut.

This one was stuffed with a few different herbs and a couple of crystals and is basically a medicine pouch doll. I will add a few affirmations in her pocket before I wrap her up.
If you choose a plain fabric she can be decorated with embroidery or fabric pens to.

Thanks for joining me on day 15! Other posts in this series can be found here

Lots of people will probably get a few of these. I have been saving our bottles for several months now so we have plenty to go around. The chakra lovers amongst my friends will all recieve a set of 7 in the appropriate colours. Most of the work actually goes into decorating the bottle. The picture above has simply been covered in little bit of tissue paper. You can also wrap lace or ribbons around the bottle or use an etching cream to etch designs into the glass.

You will need wire, a pair of pliers, a little bit of sand or fine gravel, a bottle, and a candle. Here I used a fairly wide mouthed bottle that fits a tealight but I have also use glass ketchup bottles with a fairly narrow mouth and used Hannukah or birthday candles.

Bend the wire to form a base for your candle

bend the remainder of the wire up and straighten it out

Place it in your bottle and fiddle with the base until it sits flat

bend the end of the wire into a pretty looking shape or make it into a hook to hang pretty beads from and you're done!

If you use a tall candle you will need to build a cage so it doens't fall over. The candle above is a hannukah candle

Now, go raid your recycling bin and make pretty candle holders!

Hi and wlcome to day 14! other posts in this series can be found here

When I started I wasn't sure if my idea was going to work or turn into a total failure, I am glad to say that it did work!
This wreath was made from a piece of hessian that was in my stash about a meter long and half a meter wide. It was pretty quickly put together, maybe 45 minutes? I had to put it all down a few times to help the boys with their cards.

Hessian, cut into 15 cms strips as long as you can. pliers with a cutting bit scissors for cutting the hessian and wire. I bought fairly light wire and next time I make this type of wreath I will buy something thicker or double it up. The wire was 5.99 for 50 meters.

fold your strips of hessian in half lengthwise and then fold them accordion style, don't be to precise it all adds to the charm of the finished item!

Use one end of your wire to push through your stack of hessian so you end up with something that looks similar to the picture above.  repeat this process until you have the desired size circle filled. The amount of fabric I had made a wreath about 30 cms diameter.

I had a fairly skinny strip left at the end of cutting the hessian and used these bits to make the bow. Cut 4 pieces evenish in length.

Take the ends and fold them towards the middle of your fabric

Wrap the second strip around the middle severla times but not all the way yet.

Take another piece of wire and push it through the middle of the bow covering it up with a little more fabric that can be fastened at the back with the wire.

Attach the last 2 pieces onto the wire at the back of the bow and tie this to the wreath and thats it!

You could also show the rougher cut side, add baubles or cinnamon sticks or really anything you'd like on it. Hope you like it and  as always I'd love to know if you made one :)

Veraxx

Thanks for joining me on day 13! other posts in this series can be found here

Today I made a bedtent for son number 1. He often likes to read for a bit before going to sleep and his brothers don't really appreciate having the lights on and hopefully a tent will give them all what they want.
It took me about 40 minutes to make this tent I will be making 2 more before the holidays but obviously I have to keep it hidden from the boys.

For the tent you will need 2 square dowels and 1 round dowel. All 3 where 2.4 mtrs long, the found dowel was 7mm and the square was 12 mm.
You will need a saw, a drill, a 7 mm and 10 mm drillbit for wood, something to measure with, a pencil and a piece of fabric about 220 by 80  cms. I used a blue bedsheet that I picked up from the charityshop for 1 pound. The dowels cost me 5 pounds so this project came in well under my 15 pound budget!

It was impossible to try and take pictures due to the  small house large pieces of wood and lack of tripod. The schematic above should be obvious enough I hope. First cut your square dowels in half so you have 4 pieces of dowel, line them up next to each other and mark them 20 cms from the top and 40 from the bottom. The top hole will be drilled all the way trough with a 10 mm bit, make sure they are lined up properly and check inbetween drilling. The bottom hole gets drilled halfway through with the 7 mm bit.
Your round dowel will be cut into 3 pieces, 2 pieces of 75cms and 1 piece of 90 cms. The 90 cms piece goes through the top the other 2 piece are for the sides of the tent.

For the fabric I folded it in half lenghtwide and did a quick runningstitch to create a tube for the top dowel to slide through, slide the dowel through and pop the square dowels on, 2 on each end. You might want some help to get this all up.
Tthe bottom dowels will be really tight to get in, be patient so you don't break the dowel. Once in drape your fabric nicely and enjoy your tent!

You migth want to put a line between the 2 sides at the back to stop it sliding if you are going to put it onto a slippery floor. Since it will go onto a deep pile carpet here I didn't do this.

When buying fabric to go over the top, buy something natural, woven or knit, that breathes. Don't buy anything like oilcloth or very heavy. Make sure your tent is big enough to fit over the bed without constricting to much and make sure that it fits properly around the mattress without being able to slip somewhere and frighten or hurt your child. If your child uses a bedlight make sure the bulb can't touch the fabric and that the wiring is out of the way and can't get caught. We prefer to use an LED booklight here to avoid all the things that can go wrong with a plugged in bedlight.

Hope you like todays project!

Veraxx

Welcome to day 12! the other posts in this series can be found here

Today I made this family portrait of hands. Everyone got to choose their colour and had their hand traced and I stitched it onto a piece of cotton that once belonged to a large set of curtains I was given. The back is as yet unfinished since I only just rinsed the water erase marker off and its drying in the airingcupboard. (nearly halfway november and the heating is still off!!)

Gather your supplies, hand tracings, thread 1 colour per person, a needle, a pair of scissors, a hoop and a water erase marker.

Draw the first hand on the fabric and then stretch it into the frame.

I used a simple runningstitch and once I finished the hand I went back over it again filling up the gaps with a running stitch creating a single line.

Once the first hand is done add the second the third and so on.

I plan to cover the back up with fabric as is shown in this tutorial. I am not yet decided on what fabric and if I shall stitch the names using the colours that I used to stitch the hands on. I have a little while yest before this goes to NL so I shall ponder and when the back is done I'll add the pictures here.

Veraxxx