Rainbow pinwheel biscuits

The final result

For Anika's first birthday party coming up, I want to make these and so yesterday I tested the recipe. I'm fairly happy with the results. I used natural food colouring and the 100s and 1000s are also coloured using natural food dye, so that's why the colours are perhaps not as vivid as they would be with the artificial stuff (it also may be due to my rather substandard photography skills).

The idea came from here. I know mine aren't as pretty, but I still like them. Here are some pics of the work in progress. I think they looked prettier prior to baking, oh well...

Embroidery

Another little crafty project I did for Anika's nursery was to do this embroidery. Originally I found the two pictures in embroidery hoops at Typo for $15.00 each and I figured I should add some more hoops with them to fill more space on the wall. The reds and pink in them were just perfect for my colour scheme. Plus the hot air balloon was particularly special as that was how Dr Zap very romantically proposed to me!

I had also bought the gorgeous 'It's My Forest' clock by Decoylab from Etsy for ~$76.00 (+p&h) and figured all the round things would look good together. I used red tapestry cotton on white felt. The words 'grace' and 'hope' are what the name Anika means and I decided to use the word 'dream' instead of 'aspiration' which is another definition of her name. As for the word 'love', well that was used for obvious reasons. :)

I used a cross-stitch in block letters for the words 'love' and 'hope' and put them in a small hoop each. For the word 'grace' I used a running stitch in a curly font and for 'dream' I again used a running stitch but in a cursive handwriting font, both in medium frames. Now they are mounted on the wall, the little bit of red is highlighted by the other red accessories around them.

I think they have come up a treat! What do you recon?

Bunting

Ok, so I was waiting until Anika was born to post anything on the projects I did for her nursery as I didn't want to reveal her gender-to-be. Now you know, I can show you! The first project is the bunting. The colour scheme of Anika's room is baby blue and fire engine red with a little bit of pink. I went shopping at my favourite quilting fabric shop and fell in love with the Kaffe Fassett range. The colours are so vibrant and the patterns just delicious! I can't stand the bland pastels that are so often found in nurseries! I bought fat quarters of 14 different conmplementing fabrics, made a template for the bunting and started cutting and sewing. It took only 2 days (one to make the flags and another to sew them together onto the bias binding. It was so easy! What do you think?

I have the bunting hanging across the window as there are no drapes. It adds interest to an otherwise very dull wall.

Later I will show more pictures of other projects I did for her nursery: embroidery, painting and fabric birds.

Silhouettes

 A few months ago I decided to personalise some of the artwork in our house with silhouettes of Dr. Zap and I. Most of the artwork is either drawn, painted or cut out by me so they are already "personal", but I wanted something special of us. We don't really have many photos up of ourselves or our family so these act as photos in a way.

Here they are...

To make the silhouettes I took side-profile photos of myself then Dr. Zap on my iPhone. I made sure the photo was taken against a plain white background so the edges would be clearly visible. Then I uploaded the photos to my computer and printed them in black and white. I drew around the heads onto baking paper (el cheapo equivalent to tracing paper) then took the silhouette drawings to Officeworks to enlarge the images on the photocopier. I had premeasured the size of the silhouettes I had waited to fit inside the frame and made sure as I was enlarging the images, both our heads would be about the same size. Once I had the right sizes I took them home and cut out the heads. I traced around them onto the pink card and cut them out. I used card to make sure the heads would not curl at the edges or warp once framed.

The heads were then mounted onto the backing paper with raised foam dots to give them a little 3D effect... Hey PRESTO!

P.S. Sorry for the dodgy photography, the Hipstamatic just would not take the right angle.

Little wooden village

My Mum found a few pieces of timber a few months ago with the idea of cutting them down and making them into little houses for her Kinder kids to play with. Dad cut them to size and then it was over to me to make them to look like houses and buildings. After sanding and priming them, I painted all the sides different bright colours with windows and doors. I prettied them up a bit by adding flowers in window boxes, names to shops, ivy leaves creaping up the sides of buildings and brick details. After several layers of acrylic paint and even more layers of varnish to seal them, the village is finally complete and open for business!

Each of the buidlings have a different colour and style on each side. The church building has two different stained glass designs and two gold bells, the town clock has four different clock styles and there are several shops and businesses hidden on the sides: florist, hospital, jewellery shop, shoe shop, bank, grocer...

I hope the kiddies like them!

Bird mobile

...the six I have sewn so far...

I found a pattern for these gorgeous birds a few weeks ago and thought they would make for the perfect mobile in Baby Cuddles' nursery. The pattern is SO EASY to follow and considering I haven't done any sewing in a long, long time, I thought mine turned out quite well. The pattern is also FREE to download! I love free things!

...six more to go...

I have six more to sew then I have to assemble them together on the sticks I pinched off a dead tree in my backyard. Once it is up and hanging above the cot I will show you more pics...

Stay tuned for more.