Happy Birthday

My sister asked me to make this for her to hang up every time they have a family birthday. It’s the first time I’ve made something as a request rather than for a gift.

It was really stressful! I was so worried it wouldn’t be what she wanted. It was ridiculous really, people usually seem happy with what I make. 

In the end I just made it so I liked it and figured if she hated it I’d keep it for myself! It turned out pretty well. I was trying to make it appealing to both genders and I think the bright green letters really work.

Happy_birthday

*The photo isn’t brilliant and for once it’s not my fault!

 

 

Posted in Sewing | Leave a comment

Simple pre school activities

I have lots of photos of really simple things I’ve been doing with my Eli that are suitable for 2 and 3 year olds. My aim is to use things I have or things that are very cheap to create ‘educational’ experiences for him.

I’ll keep adding to the list as we sort the photos out. (edit: I’ve made a links list on the side bar to keep them all together)

Img_0157

Threading pipe cleaners. I used a single hole punch to make a few holes in the lid. I’d planned on colour coding them but I haven’t got around to it yet. Inspiration The linked one is much nicer maybe we’ll decorate ours this week!

Img_0152

Rainbow pom pom. Inspiration The one I pinned uses little magnets glued to the pom poms which would probably work better but I didn’t have any and I’m a bit nervous about the possibility of swallowing magnets.

The one I found didn’t have a link to the rainbow so I made one in word. It’s in PDF format if you want it – I hope this works.

*I’m sure this isn’t necessary because it’s so simple but it’s not for commercial use; personal or classroom use only.

 

Here are my pinterest boards for toddler activities if you’re interested. Busy Bags  Activities

Posted in Pre-school | 2 Comments

Advent days 10-19

I’m finally updating this, it might be useful for next year.

Day 10 and 11 Eli was sick so we didn’t do anything

Day 12 Painting christmas shapes – these came from Baker Ross

Painting

Day 13 Decorating cupcakes – I cheated and bought pre-made cupcakes. I make basic icing with icing sugar and water and bought various decorations from the supermarket. Everything was separated out into a muffin tin – I love muffin tins we use them for everything!

Cake_decorating

Day 14 Chocolate cars

Day 15 Mini animals

Day 16 Cotton wool snowmen. We covered pre-cut shapes with cotton wool. I’m not sure where the picture is for this!

Day 17 Baking with Daddy.

Baking

Day 18 Potato prints. These didn’t really work very well but Eli enjoyed it

Potato_prints

 

Day 19 Using tweezers to pick up Christmas bows. Eli didn’t actually use the tweezers he liked taking them out of the jar and putting them back in though. Inspiration from Counting Coconuts 

Bows

I need to hunt down the rest of the pictures so that will be another post.

Posted in Christmas | 1 Comment

Christmas Table

We hosted Christmas Dinner this year so I was able to obsess over the small details – I love obsessing over small details!

Img_0059

I collected lots of ideas on pintrest (shock!) and eventually decided I wanted a simple grown up look. 

We had 2 filled bowls, one for each table. Inspiration here 

415861_10150435662946205_726111204_8990467_133758275_o

391158_10150436396601205_726111204_8995083_411978234_n

Paper napkins from ikea. Decorated with red wool, Christmas tree cuttings and a mini bell. Inspiration here.  

Img_0057

It looked fab. The meal looked and tasted amazing – we were too stressed to take photos by that point!

Img_0056

Posted in Christmas | Leave a comment

Dino Hoodie with tutorial

I am a terrible blogger! The photos for my christmas makes and the rest of the advent jars are totally disorganised so I’ve been avoiding sorting them out. (Plus I have a job!)

So I decided to break my silence with my first tutorial. (Drum roll….)

***This tutorial is for personal use only, please contact me if you wish to use it for comercial purposes*** 

These are  really easy to make (and I figured them out for myself so you probably don’t need this) They take about an hour.

You need:

A strip of fleece about 20cm wide – I like to use cheap Ikea blankets

A suitably coloured hoodie – this is the hardest part, every time I’m in a child’s clothes shop I scour the shelves for brown hoodies! This one is from next. The lining is blue so I went with blue fleece.

 

1. Fold the strip of fleece in half and measure it against your hoodie.

Img_0158

2. Pour yourself a glass of wine (not strictly necessary but nice) and cut a zig zag spine along the non folded edge.

Img_0159

3. Sew along the edge of the spine. I like to do two rows of stitching about 0.5cm apart.

Img_0164

4.Fold the hoodie in half lining up the side seams. You could iron it to make a crease – I’m lazy so I don’t

Img_0165

5. Cut it along the half way point at the back – I leave the top of the hood attached – it probably doesn’t matter ether way. The first time I did this I was really scared – it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect so don’t sweat it.

Img_0166

6. Turn the hoodie inside out and pin the spine so the folded edge mets the cut edge. Try and line up the stripes in the jumper – dont stress about it though.

Img_0168

7. Sew  along the cut edge – as close as you dare. When I get to the tail I keep going so there’s some extra decorative stitching.

Img_0172

8. Trim any loose edges, make sure you’ve got no holes and you’re done

Img_0175

Ta da!

 

**If you don’t want to make your own and you’re interested in commissioning one of these or any hoodie please leave me a comment or email me at beth @ lysozyme.net  (without the spaces)**

Posted in Sewing | 2 Comments