tutorial: dotty valentines

Every year, I'm amazed by the thoughtful Valentine's cards that the kids' friends give -- sweet photos, sweet puns, sweet sweets. It gets a bit stressful trying to think of something with the same wow-factor to give in return, so this year, we've just kept it simple and handmade -- plain card, stickers and a hole punch. A card that is easy to make in large quantities -- and easy for little hands to join in making, at all stages.

You'll need: 
plain card
a hole-punch
glue
scissors
string
a paper cutter (optional)
stickers or coloured pens
 

I told Tilly what I was writing on the front of each card, but in true toddler fashion, she insisted the saying was, "I'm dotty JUST LIKE you." So we put that on a couple of cards, too, to give to her unashamedly crazy friends!

{diy: custom sketch pad}

What do you buy for the artist in your life? You know, the person who always gives you personalised paintings, artwork they've slaved over. For my granddad's 90th birthday, I found him a nice big sketchpad, but was rather unimpressed by the grizzly brown banana on the cover. Really, who gets inspired by rotting fruit? 

To make it a little more special, I gave it a little make-over, adding a custom cover. While I ripped the original cover off in a fit of anti-banana rage, I'd advise you to peel it off carefully. But then again, a good angry rip does feel rather good.

Print out a photo, for your new cover, onto photo paper (the heavier-weight works well to protect the pad). I used a photo of Tilly trying to steal Mossa's walking stick and chew on it -- at the time it provided a good laugh for both of them.

At this point, I found that the photo paper and the sketch pad were, unfortunately, different sizes -- the photo was a few millimetres wider, but also more than a centimetre shorter. The extra width was easy to remove, by trimming the photo with a paper cutter...

...but adding length proved a bit more difficult. Eventually, I used a fat bit of white packing tape -- lining up the bottoms of the photograph and the pad, and using the tape to fill the gap. Yes, this cuts about a centimetre off each page of the pad, but it seemed to stick it all together quite well. 

Tip: I found that using a generous bit of tape (i.e. extra on both sides), and letting the top of the pad hang off the table while you're taping helps it all to look a bit neater.

Trim the packing tape, and bend it over the top off the pad, and around the back (covering any scruffy marks left from where you ripped off the previous cover).

Hopefully, Mossa will remember his afternoons with Tilly whenever he does a little sketching.

In case his memory does fail, we penned a quick note in the front cover, just reminding Mossa who the pad was from (and how old he is). Add a pack of his favourite drawing pencils, and it's ready to be wrapped. Quick. Simple. And, hopefully, a good way to ensure you keep getting those lovely framed sketches as pressies. Everybody wins.

Do you have any quick presents to whip up for friends and family?  Please share -- I've got a little collection going here. With Christmas approaching, we're all looking for inspiration!

The Stenciled Menagerie

We recently had an evening of making our own stencils, using the genius of freezer paper. Suddenly, a whole new world of designs opened up -- forget simple hearts, birds and flowers, you can really go to town with images when it's this easy!

There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to make stencils from freezer paper (such as Soulemama's here, and The Artful Parent's here), but the secret to it all is that when you iron freezer paper, it sticks to the fabric, making it very easy to paint the image.

And you can use any image at all! Draw your own, trace someone's silhouette from a photograph, draw around something, or -- as we did -- print out favourite images from online (searching for a keyword, such as 'pig', plus the word 'silhouette' usually brings up images that translate to stenciling very well).

Give it a try... I'm sure you'll be hooked! And, as always, please come back and show us your results!

My Creative Space

Bunting

You might remember, I was very inspired by beautiful bunting hung in nurseries. It's a lovely way of adding colour and patterns.

You might also remember Justin's reaction to the idea: "But it reminds me of used-car dealers!"

With another day at home, and a little more energy than usual, I couldn't resist giving it a try. And though fabric flags look lovely and hang beautifully, my lack of pinking shears plus my lack of motivation to hem edges led me to use some brightly patterned scrapbook paper, instead! I simply took squares of 12" by 12" paper, and cut diagonally down from each top corner to the centre of the bottom edge to make the triangular flag shape.

The letters of her name are cut from plain brown paper, and glued on. Then, little holes are punched out along the tops of the flags, and a piece of long string threaded through. (I taped the string to the back of the flags to prevent them all sliding together).

Oh, and Justin approves. "It's nothing like a car lot," he assured me. High praise, indeed!

We thought Tilly might be on her way last night, with an hour or two of stronger contractions, but I guess it was just a bit of practice! And though we're so eager to meet her, we did enjoy a nice full night's sleep last night instead, which seems like more and more of a blessing each day!

Mod Moosies

What with all this knitting, I've been neglecting my other favourite crafty pursuits. Like paper!

These little square frames were a dollar for three a while back at Target, so I got myself a few sets, and filled them with fun squares of scrapbooking paper and cut-out moosies in contrasting colours and patterns. Very Ikea, no?

And speaking of moose, I thought you might like to know that I've started on a whole new series of paintings, inspired by our antlered friends. I've got three designs ready to go, and a heap load of inspiration still bubbling, so... watch this space!