Baby shoe pattern

I found a pattern online to make baby booties. This is the first one I made using blue felt and buttonhole stitch to join the pieces. 

Soon I had to enlarge the original pattern as baby’s feet have grown! I also found it was just quicker to glue the two pieces instead of stitching. I added some elastic to keep them from falling off.

I came up with these in literally ten minutes to match the headband I had made earlier. Baby is all ready for a birthday party!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pattern/

Advertisements

Baby Sensory book

I just finished this sensory book for my 3-month old daughter. Instead of putting random shapes and textures I included symbols for family, nature, travel, sport, music, food and fashion. The pages are of felt with cardboard inside and I’ve used thread embroidery, ribbon embroidery, spangles, foam, beads, pom poms and more to make the pictures. The porthole (symbol for travel) is soft and squishy (I used hair gel) and the African drum (symbol for music) makes a sound when tapped (I hollowed out the cardboard under it).

 

Nadir’s Dragon Themed Birthday Party

We recently celebrated Nadir’s 5th birthday which was dragon themed on his request. I really enjoyed putting his party together. Here are the results…

The party sign

The goodie bags

The goodie bags up close

The dragon cake

The decorations

The table

The dragon display

Nadir monkeying around while we set up the party

The little birthday dragon is all set up now

Feed the hungry dragon game

Help the dragon find his wing game

Cutting the cake

I had so much fun doing this that it got me thinking about why I only get to do this once a year? Why can’t I do customized birthday parties for other children and make a bit of money as well. Yes, I’m thinking of starting a business, wouldn’t it be great to do something that makes you happy, be your own boss and earn something while you’re at it? Everyone who has kids want to celebrate their birthdays and sometimes kids request something that just isn’t available in the market. That’s where I would come in with my customized banners, decorations, displays etc. I even have a friend who does the cakes (she did a wonderful job with the dragon cake).

So what do you think of my business idea? I would love to hear from you!

Home-made Dragon Costume

So it’s that time again when it’s the end of the academic year and there’s going to be an end of year party. The children can come in their party clothes or as their favorite character.

“So Nadir what do you want to be on your party?”

“A dragon! A big flying dragon! Breathing fire!”

Hmm. OK. Maybe I should not have asked that question. Well anyway it’s too late now. A dragon it will be.

I rushed to the store to pick up some materials and I got to work. By night the basic costume was ready to be tried on.

The next morning while Nadir was at school I made the adjustments and the final touches. And when he got back he could try it on and be a DRAGON. (I couldn’t get him to fly though).

Here’s the result:

The costume is made of felt and he’s wearing recycled 3D glasses.

How to make a felt rose

This is something I enjoy doing in the house. Felt is a wonderful material and you can make lovely things out of it very easily. Here is one of them…

Hair clips decorated with felt flowers

Draw a circle on a piece of felt using a CD

Draw a spiral inside the circle.

Cut out the circle and then cut along the spiral leaving the end open.

Shape the petals by cutting in a V shape at intervals all along one of the edges.

Start rolling the piece from the tail end

Secure the end at the back of the flower using a glue gun. The finished flower will look like this.

Glue the flower to hair clips or head bands for fabulous homemade accessories!

Daily Prompt: Teach Your (Bloggers) Well

1. Life Is Messy | The Photo Faith Challenge
2. Consider teacher turnover rate when choosing a school | DCMontreal: Blowing the Whistle on Society
3. 5 Sneaky Ways to Teach Your Children Organizational Habits | Organize Professionally
4. Eulogy Heard By Nobody | The Jittery Goat
5. Photo tips for watery bloggers | Exploratorius | Photo Hack & Curious Wanderer
6. DP Daily Prompt: Teach Your(Blogger) well | Sabethville
7. Blogging for small business owners | Now Have At It!
8. A Teacher for Life | Retrofocus
9. What do you know? | Sue’s Trifles
10. What a Man can be Must Be | Rose-tinted Rambles
11. Making Chocolate Fridge Roll – Daily Prompt | alienorajt
12. Regifting | An Advice Column
13. Magick Within | Shrine of Hecate – Ramblings of a New Age Witch
14. How to Change the Loo Roll | The Zombies Ate My Brains
15. Research Leads to Believability | I Read Encyclopedias for Fun
16. 3 Ways to Survive Bullying « Mon Cache
17. Refinement and Thirst | A Teacher’s Blog
18. S. Thomas Summers | A Teacher’s Unusual Duties: Up, Up, and Away
19. Daily Prompt: Teaching « Vicariously Poetic
20. (Daily Prompt) : Just Look and See Your Surroundings | bambangpriantono
21. Torpe: The Unrequited Love Lover | Daily Prompt: Teach Your (Bloggers) Well | likereadingontrains
22. my purpose | peacefulblessedstar
23. Solving Sudoku Puzzle | all my likes
24. Daily Prompt: teach your bloggers… | jesus was a primate
25. Daily Prompt: Teach Your (Bloggers) Well | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
26. Daily Prompt: Teach Your Bloggers Well | Not The Sword But The Pen
27. I couldn’t think of a thing | Hope* the happy hugger
28. Daily prompt: How to show kindness to your fellow man | Life’s So Sweet
29. In the Grip of Winter Exhaustion | BAReed Writing, Business Writing
30. It’s All Greek . . . Eh, Hebrew to Me! | meanderedwanderings
31. MOD | Charron’s Chatter
32. Daily Prompt: How To | This Blog Needs A Title
33. Daily Prompt: Molding Minds Every Day | Being HIS Light in a Dark World
34. Making Easy, Organic and Effective Bug Spray For You Garden | Lisa’s Kansa Muse
35. Starry, starry night – how to find Taurus the Bull | Slow and steady
36. A Few Tips | Flowers and Breezes
37. My Morning Science Experiment | The Silver Leaf Journal
38. Socratic Dialogue, How to Write/Daily Prompt | I’m a Writer, Yes I Am
39. Lessons Learned | The Land Slide Photography
40. Don’t let the darkness take over | From One Crazy Life To Another
41. Daily Prompt: Teach Your (Bloggers) Well | The Wandering Poet
42. Teach Your (Bloggers) Well | Willow’s Corner
43. 10 Simple Tips On Blogging From The Heart | A Sober Head Full Of Confusion
44. You Live, You Learn | Steve Says….
45. Recipe w/Pics: What To Do With A Ripe Papaya | Aisha’s Oasis
46. Teach Your (Bloggers) Well | The Nameless One

Crafts for girls

In my spare time I teach (for free) a group of ladies and young girls how to make handicrafts. This morning I taught a bunch of young girls aged 7 to 15 how to do embroidery.

Now this is not as easy as it seems, firstly because of the big age difference between youngest and oldest and secondly because it was rather a large group of girls. The younger girls did not even know how to thread a needle and so I had to start with the basics with them. The older girls did very well and managed to learn how to do the satin stitch and the stem stitch in half an hour’s time.

So the girls have been instructed to practice these two basic stitches at home and those who perfect them should learn one more stitch by watching tutorials on the internet. This will get them interested in learning more and more (hopefully). After they have learnt the basic embroidery stitches I will give them some projects to do. Dividing them into 3 groups according to age, I will give each group a project appropriate for their level. They will have till the end of the year to complete their projects.

I previously taught this same group how to make roses out of felt and I was amazed at how well they learnt it. They had been told to use the flowers to make different things which would be sold for charity. They came up with wonderful innovative ideas like making pictures, bags and hair accessories. Most of the things they made were sold as well.

When I was their age I learnt how to do embroidery in school. We had a separate subject in which we were taught handicrafts. This of course was in addition to our main subjects of Science, Maths, History and Geography. If nothing else I think learning sewing and other things helped me to be creative for which I am very grateful.

Daily Prompt: The Luckiest People

1. Olga and Masha making vareniki. January 17, 2014 | Vintage Photography
2. Who are you. | Passionate Dreaming
3. The Luckiest People | The Nameless One
4. First Encounter: Meeting Abby | Dean’z Worldz
5. The Luckiest People | Geek Ergo Sum
6. hungover and fresh with bed head and lingering pillow wrinkles | thoughtsofrkh
7. Daily Prompt: The Luckiest People | Incidents of a Dysfunctional Spraffer
8. Who was it? | Phelio a Random Post a Day
9. The Luckiest People: People | Khana’s Web
10. DP Daily Prompt: Luckiest People | Sabethville
11. daily prompt: the luckiest people | aimanss…
12. Frozen | La Gatita Oscura
13. The First Person | 52 Miles per Month
14. Heat Sense | johnny ojanpera
15. My Better Half . . . No, Really! | meanderedwanderings
16. 9: Others | 365 days of defiance
17. Morning People… | Haiku By Ku
18. “The Luckiest People”(?) | Relax
19. Daily Prompt: The Luckiest People | tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice
20. Reflection | My Little Avalon
21. Daily Prompt: The Luckiest People | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
22. Nobody | Fictionalism
23. Daily Post: People | Destino
24. P E O P L E | the bippity boppity beautiful blog
25. The Grey Farmhouse | The Jittery Goat
26. People | Purple Rosemary
27. Daily Prompt: The Luckiest (?) People | Heron There & Everywhere
28. People | Foto Challenge
29. The full set : Daily Prompt – photo | alienorajt
30. FriendShip. The Extraordinary Story of One Family. | The Life NomadikThe Life Nomadik
31. Not so lucky. ha! | Chasing The Bubble
32. Daily Prompt: The Luckiest People | Basically Beyond Basic

DIY Fairy tale Prop Tutorial

Ever had cartons left over that you didn’t know what to do with? Here is a great idea and lots of fun for your little ones. Just turn it into a prop based on your child’s favorite character. Great for birthday parties! My son loves fairy tales so I made a “Jack and the Beanstalk” and a “Red Riding Hood” for him.

 

What you will need:

1 big carton

Oil pastels

Box cutter

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Some felt and accessories like buttons, ribbon

Cut along the edge of the carton so you can open it out. Lay it out flat. Now one side will be used to make the main drawing and the rest for the stand. Cut the one piece for the main drawing leaving the piece for the stand in tact. The main piece should be the height of your child. Make sure the cardboard is thick enough for the piece to remain upright.

Measure the size of your child’s face and draw the face towards the top of the cardboard. You  don’t have to draw in the features as this piece will be cut away. Using a box cutter cut carefully the face you drew and then check that your child can fit his/her face easily.

Face cut away from main drawing

Draw the rest of the character and the scene.

Color in the drawing. Oil pastels work well on cardboard. Make sure you cover the entire cardboard. Use felt and other accessories like buttons and ribbon to add some details. Make the hair of the character using felt. It looks great. It should come over the piece you cut on the hair line to look natural.

Now for the stand. First reinforce the piece of cardboard you have colored by gluing with the hot glue gun some pieces of cardboard on any bends. This will keep it straight. Next check the height of your child and estimate at what height you will glue the cardboard to the stand.

Take the piece shown in white in the first drawing and fold the bottom flaps inward (like the carton was originally) gluing  together the bottom flaps. Now glue the colored cardboard piece to the stand at the correct height. You can add extra pieces of cardboard at the back to reinforce.

 

Let the fun begin!