Happy New Year

Best wishes to everyone, have a great New Year's Eve. May 2011 bring you all happiness, success, good health and LOTS OF FUN!

Crafty wrapping for handmade gifts

We have been without the internet for a couple of days while we waited for a service technician to fix external wires in the neighbourhood. But we are back and wanted to share the work of a very talented friend with you.  These are two Christmas presents that we received and could not wait to open! The wrapping is so original - sewn!

Inside were some amazing handmade gifts - made by our friend Amy. We feel so lucky and will enjoy these presents for years to come.

Melbourne's city street art...

Handmade books for those that I cherish

I can finally share some books that I made for Christmas. I hand sewed these books, made covers with book cloth and decorated with hand tooling. I gave these to Tash and my Dad. Nothing beats a handmade gift.

It's Christmas time in the City..

Merry Christmas to all of our lovely friends and bloggers. We passed through Melbourne city today after spending a nice Christmas morning with someone special. 

We wanted to have a look at the Myer Christmas windows, which have been a Melbourne Christmas institution for 55 years. Being Christmas Day, we thought there would be less people around and that we would actually be able to see the window displays without queuing for hours. However, we were surprised to see that the windows were popular and there were three gelato / ice-cream / hot dog trucks parked in the mall offering a not-so Christmassy treat??

 

We then headed towards the city decorations near Collins Street.

It definitely feels like Christmas time in the City..

 

Perry Como & Diahann Carroll sing Silver Bells

Crochet coathangers

As I have mentioned, I have been making some crochet coathangers to give as gifts this Christmas. These are a selection that I have made for my Mum and some of her friends, who care for her dearly. I hope they like them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Quote of the day...

The perfect Christmas tree?  All Christmas trees are perfect!  ~Charles N. Barnard

Image of trees via Meet me at Mike's

I heart badges...

We have made badges to give to friends and family - at The Sticky Institute. Some of them are personalised and some of them a bit of fun - these images depict a few.

All you have to do is make your template, design etc... cut them out... and then away you go. You can use the machines at Sticky and you pay by the badge - so you can make as many or as little as you like. It is only limited by your imagination. To see previous badge creations by us see our post Make a Badge.....

a week of cakes...

 
It is the season to share. I have made a few batches of cupcakes this week to share with friends and with workmates. Tash and I had a Christmas lunch on Sunday with some wonderful friends (and talented cooks). I also made some cupcakes for work yesterday for our Christmas morning tea. They are not exquisitely decorated but tasted yummy and looked cute all the same.  Hope you are all having a nice week xo Ames

Giveaway winner! from The Clip Cafe

Image and creations by The Clip Cafe

We were very excited to discover that we are winners in The Clip Cafe 15,000 Giveaway! This giveaway is in honour of 15,000 hits to the blog which is amazing.

We are one of the lucky winners and will be receiving the above collection of great clips shortly. This is the first giveaway we have won and what a lovely Christmas present coming our way. Thanks so much!!

Made by tags...

Made these tags to accompany my handmade Christmas presents this year. Happy :)

Camberwell food markets...

Went to the Camberwell food markets today to buy seasonal produce for a Christmas lunch get-together tomorrow with friends. Really looking forward to it.

As the bats fly...

The sun goes down and evening descends, another long summer's night begins. Light fades and in that brief pause before colour is replaced by stars, the sky fills with silhouetted streams of bats stretching out on their long march in search of food. 

I have watched their flight home in the morning too, as bird song swells the dawn, but it is this outward journey, that begins their day and closes mine, that I find myself waiting for. 

In the kitchen after dinner; on the balcony breathing in a final sigh of heat; sharing tales of the day just gone and the day to come with my family -  I always find myself turning to the whispering sky to let the bats draw night's curtain. Tash

Image by Ames

Need ideas for Christmas wrapping???

Images by Hello Sandwich

 So, you are looking for unique ideas on how to wrap your Christmas presents? Check out the Hello Sandwich blog for some fantastic instructions - here and here. Hello Sandwich has released this zine and we love it! 

Quote of the day...

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! (author unknown)

Image from Re-Nest via love.me.my...

Making Christmas cards

Well I finally got around to making our Christmas cards. I decided to go for a simple theme this year. It will be no surprise to my family and friends - it involves butterflies. I have used die cut cards and some scrap-booking paper for the infills. I then used black ink to stamp a message on the inside of the cards and pink ink to stamp a matching star or butterfly on the envelope. I also made some little gift tags using the butterfly stamp and a Season's Greetings stamp. Very easy, it has only taken me a couple of hours to make them and I am happy with the result. I have a range of pink ribbons to use on the gifts and I am looking forward to the wrapping. How is your Christmas shopping and wrapping going? Have you made your cards this year?

How to make a crochet corsage

I am currently making a few crochet corsages to embellish some crochet coat hangers that I am making for Christmas. To see some that I have made earlier, check out my post The first crochet coat hangers.

These corsages are easy to make and I think they are really effective. I have been using a pattern that I received while attending the craft group Coffee, Cake and Create last year. It is one of my favourite patterns. Unfortunately, I am not sure what book it comes from. But here are the instructions if you are interested in trying it out. Happy crocheting!!

Materials

• 8 ply yarn (approximately 5g)
• Size 3.50mm or size 4.00mm crochet hook

Corsage

• Make 47ch.
• 1st row: miss 2ch, *5tr in next ch, 2ch, sl st back in same ch as 5tr, sl st in next 2ch, rep from * to end. You should have 15 petals.
• 2nd row: 10ch, miss 2ch, 1tr in each of the next 8ch, sl st in last sl st of 1st row (right side should now be facing you), sl st in all stitches along base of 5 petals, 2tr in base of all remaining petals. Fasten off.

To assemble

• Curl up into a spiral to form a corsage.
• Sew to secure (I have been using transparent thread but you can use yarn if you want).
• Attach to coat hanger (or garment, brooch clasp or whatever the case may be).

Extra embellishments

• I have been adding some beads to some of my corsages. They add an extra something.

St Kilda Markets

We have made most of our Christmas presents and will share some of these with you closer to Christmas (don't want to spoil the surprise). In an aim to stick to the theme of (mostly) handmade gifts this year, we went to the St Kilda markets to check out the homemade goodies.

The weather was not great. Unfortunately it started to rain and we felt very sorry for the stallholders. But it is all an adventure!

Anyway, we didn't end up buying much but had a nice time. These are some cufflinks we picked up. Hope you are all enjoying your Christmas making / shopping!

The font of life: numbers

Image by Tash

Image by Ames

The font of life: signs

Images by Ames

Machine-made Perfect Binding

 

I have made perfect bindings by hand before - by collating the pages and adhering them together with adhesive and a brush. Yesterday, I had the privilege of using machines to make a perfect binding (using the process that all of those book publishers out there use). We used machines to cut, fold and bind the pages. Lots of fun!

Getting into the crafty Christmas spirit

 

We are getting into the Christmas spirit at work, which is lovely. We decorate the building including a Christmas tree and have a Christmas lunch party planned for next week. So a group of us thought that we would get together at lunch time and make some decorations. Wendy, Celia and I decided to decorate some foam bells - there are lots of instructions on the internet if you are interested in doing this sort of craft.

In addition, a few of the crafty types have been using their lunch breaks to make Christmas gifts for their family and friends. For example, Liz has been making crochet washclothes which she has beautifully executed. Kathryn is making a vest and I cannot wait to see the finished product.

 

Anyway, happy holidays everyone and I hope you are enjoying your Christmas craftiness! Ames xo