DIY mini Fairy Lights for our DIY mini Christmas tree

As promised, here is the full tutorial to make our simple and very cute Fairy Lights Garland to dress our tree.
Enjoy!

See you soon for some more LPS craft fun!

Minecraft cake and Finn the human marshmallows delight...

WHAT KEPT US BUSY THESE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS... Part One

We love Minecraft and we love Adventure Time. Since both involve being sitting in front of a screen I thought we could put a bit of action -real action- into it.
So, this is what happened:

A Minecraft block cake and...

a Finn the Human Marshmallow delight!

The kids wanted to concentrate on the decorating, not the baking, so they've used cake mixes.

The little Minecraft guy is made out of fondant.

And it was the perfect activity. Nothing too complicated, just challenging enough for them to feel they were making something special.

It was yummy too!

Christmas list -Part Two = Lego Minifigure Gift Boxes... Again!

For Louis, Christmas means pretty much one thing: LEGO. More Lego and Lego again. I must say, I'm quite excited myself when a new box arrives in our house; I enjoy helping him build the sets. But now, Louis has taken Lego to a new level by doing short animation movie. He now builds is own scenery but always needs more minifigures.

I bought this charming trio on ebay; cheaper and quicker than trying to figure out which one is in the packet (minifigure series packets). I know they are the ones he wanted, but it kind of loses it appeals without the original packaging.

So I started doodling, wondering how I could wrap them in a fun, attractive way.

Matchboxes(medium size) seemed to be the ideal companion to my (very basic) Lego doodles. it was just a matter of cutting to size and varnish (Mod Podge). You would have noticed, I cut a bit short on one; I've decided to ignore it!

Inside, I crunched up some black tissue paper.

Et Voila!

I think it still looks cool!

Since Louis is keen on customising his own minifigure characters, I have another surprise for him: 

A book telling you all about Minifugures and how to design your own. I have had trouble getting here in Australia, but I've managed to order it from Amazon US(they do ship books internationally, shame they don't do the same for toys!)

Christmas list - Part One = The Furby Bag ... Oh dear.

This week-end my children have put together their Christmas wish lists ... Although I can't say I'm surprised, I had somehow hoped it might have changed along the way. It didn't.
For Mia it looked a lot like this:

or this:

She is crazy about the odd (and well, let's be honest, rather ugly) animal. She would be devastated if Santa wasn't bringing one. I could imagine her walking around everywhere with the hybrid Owl/Mogwai/Chicken and then I knew what I had to do!

A Furby Carry Bag! Heart-shaped and monogrammed.

Lined with neon stars,

and detailed with neon hearts.

And because you can apparently "teach" your Furby, I thought I'd better put together a few rewards and what's best than lovely, interchangeable rosettes!

They're easy and fun to make. Variation = endless!
Perhaps an evening Rosette for special occasions? In the making. I'm thinking maybe a headband?

I have sewn a small velcro tab on the front of the bag, as well as on the back of each Rosette.

So she'll be able to change as she pleases.

And to keep the spare ones safe, I made a cute little pouch.

I have had my sewing machine for 12 years (Janome Memory Craft 3500) and somehow I've hardly use all the fun stitches it's packed with. This was the perfect project to play around. I love the combo neon pink/canvas.

Et Voila!

I think that now, I can handle the thought of Furby! But mostly I know that Mia will LOVE it.
If you need a tutorial on how to make a heart shaped bag click here.

Then came the circus ... and Mr Fox

A while ago I fell madly in love with MAILEG and their ubber cute series of mice, furniture and mini clothes. And then I came across this:

A circus!!
So So Cute!

Perhaps even more than the Milk Carton House,

or the mum and dad ...

or the twins...

You might also remember this picture from a previous post:

So So inspiring. 

I knew I had to do something. 

So.

I made a bed box. 

For Mia's Mr Fox.

I didn't have any wooden box, and was too eager to start to be bothered going to Spotlight or Lincraft for a Papier Mache one. A simple shoe box had to do.

I photoshop a label for the top, using a Fox illo and an interesting background found on Pinterest. (It's all right to do so since it is for personal use and not for sale.)

It ended up looking like this:

I layered scraps of interesting prints and paper I keep just for these kinds of projects over the shoe box and Mod Podge the lot.

And made some bed linen. 

I wish I could knit or crochet but since I can't do either properly, I used one of Mia's old sweater to make the blanket.

The crocheted flower is from Ikea. One of these odd things they sometimes sell. It was a packet of five I think, all different. I knew I could use them for something :-)

Mia insisted Mr Fox should have his own teddy to go to bed, so using transfer paper, we made Mr Fox a teddy bear. And a toothbrush. And a clock.

(Just a note about transfer: if you have some writing, don't forget to set up your printer on the mirror setting. everything will be reversed on the transfer paper but will be the right way once transferred onto your fabric.)

Mia was well and truly excited about the whole project and decided that Mr Fox's Bed Box needed some art work. So off she want with her texta ...

Et voila!

Not quite MAILEG, but very OOPI, Happy kind of stuff.

Oh, and of course, Mia pointed out that Mr Fox needed a bag to carry his precious belongings ... I was all crafted out by then so I left it to her and she made this:

Perfect!