Baby Wrap Tutorials: A Star is born!

Star Fleece Baby Wrap Design

 Today on Pinterest I came across this cutest of them all design for a baby wrap fleece blanket. 

How cute is that!!!

The baby wrap can be bought at www.notonthehighstreet.com 

but with a bit of fantasy I bet similar results could be produced with the trusty old sewing machine.

I found some tutorials and patterns for other baby wraps - the star beats them all though :)

Have fun sewing and enjoy the tutorials!

A Swaddler that FITS! Tutorial

tutorial: Alida Makes

Flannel Swaddling Baby Blanket Tutorial

 

tutorial : Passionate homemaking

Baby Wrap Tutorial 

 tutorial: Shannon makes stuff

(page with measurements: baby blanket wrap update!  )

Baby Snuggler

 tutorial: Make:

pdf pattern here!

Knitted Baby Cocoon  

 tutorial & pattern: Reliefshare

  

Hungry Caterpillar Baby Cocoon Tutorial

 tutorial & pattern: Earning my cape

Foxy Crafts - A list of fox craft tutorials

The fox trend seems to have survived last fall, there are still foxy crafts everywhere,

 and rightly so, because they are soo cute!

After coming across countless crafts that I want to make I made a list

 so I can remember them all. 

Enjoy the list and happy crafting!

Fox Felt Ornament

source: unknown artist - folksy.com

Fox Needle Book

source: BananaBug & Zod

Little Fox Pouch

source: blueberrybandit

Foxy Hat

FREE PATTERN on The stitchin mommy

Crochet Fox

 

FREE PATTERN on  RedHeart

Fox Cube

source: Veavictis @ DevianArt

Felt Fox Pillow

source: Maureen Cracknell @ etsy.com

Tea Towel Fox Pillow

 source: www.mibo.co.uk

Polymer Clay Fox Charm

Fox in a bottle Necklace

source: Nakihra @ DevianArt



Fox Brooch

pattern: re-made by Sam





Fox Mobile

source: Hingmade @ etsy.com




Fox Print

source: Ty Wilkins @ postercabaret.com

Net find of the week - Altered Dominos Tutorials

Over at The creative Goddess Vicki O'Dell came up with a nice tutorial on how to turn dominos

 into little pieces of art by using alcohol ink and StazOn ink. Soo pretty! 

I think I will make these and turn them into keychains and pendants!
Here is the tutorial.

I checked around a bit and found some nice alterations to the idea, just to get my 

creative mind going..there are so many pretty things that can be done with dominos!

Time to hit my local thrift store and see if they have a bunch of them somewhere.

Here are some of the alterations to this idea that I came across:

Steampunk Owl

Use alcohol ink and jewlery findings for mixed media art.

Dominos and hand-colored stamps (?)

(that's what it looks like to me)

Altered Domino Christmas Ornament

Stamped Polymer Clay Domino 

The Enchanted Gallery 

 has tons and tons of brilliant ideas and tutorials on how to make alered dominos

 using all kinds of ink and coloring techniques, 

this site is very much worth a visit!

 Here is the page about domino alteration.

 

StazOn

StazOn

StazOnC

StazOn

Alcohol Inkalcohol ink and

Alcohol Ink

Alcohol Ink

Alcohol Ink

Alcohol Ink

Alcohol Ink

Let's get organized in 2015 !

 I love a clean and organized house, I love having only as much stuff as I need around me..

but somehow, especially in January, I always find myself amids a messy and dusty house

 filled with all sorts of stuff that is only cluttering up my space.

So, January again..time to get cracking and clean that house!

My problem is that I find Pinterest, DevianArt, Facebook..you name it.. 

a lot more interesting then cleaning up all the mess around me.

To give myself a bit of a guidance where to start tackling the mess I made a printable chart

 of which room to clean on what day, a weekly cleaning chart so to say.

 That way, if you slack off for a while, you can just pick right up again

 and have a clean(ish) house again in a week.

Feel free to print out my chart and use it to your advantage in the war against dust and clutter!

I will add some useful links and ideas that I come across that will be helpful on the road to getting super-organized ect..one has to have dreams no? :)

Good luck!

click here to download .pdf

Your road map to get organized:

1. Be realistic! 
Don’t try to get it all done in one day, 30 minutes every day will get the job done too.
Don't beat yourself up because you haven't been cleaning or decluttering, it's never to late to start.
You are researching how to be the boss over the mess right now, so be proud of yourself!

2. Do it for yourself.
Don't try to impress anyone but you. Not the neighbors, not the family - you.
Don't mind living in a mess? Just give it a try and see if you feel differently about yourself.
I have found for myself that a clean surrounding gives me inner peace, the more organized
 my surrounding is the more organized and balanced do I feel myself.
That's just me though,  give it a shot and see if you feel any different about yourself too.
If not don't worry, clutter and mess is like a boomerang, it will be back soon enough again 8D

 3. Don’t procrastinate - just do it, now!
  Start with 15 minutes today and then be proud of yourself that you made a start!

4. Create a starter zone!
Clean one area of any clutter and mess - your desk, your table, the kitchen counter
or your couch area in the living room. Start small, just this zone!
There is one rule: nothing can be placed here that doesn't belong in this zone!
If you use the table, de-mess it afterwards right away! If you place a coffee mug on your desk, 
clean it away when you leave the area!
 Keep this zone tidy and decluttered and celebrate this zone! :))

5. Three Boxes and a bag!
 Get yourself three boxes, plastic or cardboard, it doesn't matter, but big enough to hold some stuff, and a trash bag. 
If you don't have boxes don't put it off until you have some! (don´t procrastinate, remember? )
Just get bags instead.
Take the boxes and the trash bag to the area you want to declutter. 
The boxes are for the following: 

    Box 1:  Stays in this room
                Box 2:  belongs in another room 
Box 3:  Sell/Give away
 

The trash bag is for everything that is broken, that is obvious trash 
or that you think no one will want.
Now start working in you declutter zone - pick up and item and make a decision! 
The first question you should ask yourself is: do I really need this?

For a lot of people this is an easy question but I personally know people who have a real problem with this. Parting with things can be a real problem, especially if something isn´t obviously broken or useless. But remember: these are only things, they don´t define who you are! Things never fulfill, they can be nice to have and make you somewhat content, they can be darn useful and fun, but they will never change the real you, 
change your persona or lift up your self-worth. 

Even more, they can become your enemy if you let them take over your house/life. 

So ask yourself: do I really need this? 

 If yes: 

does it stay in this room? -> Box 1does it belong in another room? -> Box 2
is it too nice to throw away but I don't really need it? ->Box 3

If no:
put it in the trash bag

Clean one area like this and then throw the trash away and try to clean out the boxes -
the sell/give away box might stay around for a while but try your best to get rid of the things in box three! Try to stick to items that people really would still like to have too,
those knitting magazines from the 80ies are probably not really useful to anyone anymore so bye bye 80ies!



6. Everything needs a home!
 Give everything in your house a "home", a fixed place where it should go, where you store it, where it can live a happy life. If you catch it somewhere else return it to its home! End homelessness in your house!


7. Never go empty handed!
 If you have to go somewhere in the house - from the living room to the kitchen, from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the kitchen to the study - quickly look around you and check if there is anything that needs to go to that room (or towards that general area). If so take it with you! You're running around the house all day anyway
so you might as well clean up while doing so!


8. Have a "needs to go upstairs" box near the stairs
(but not on the stairs for safety reasons)

Next to my stairs I have a wooden crate where I put everything from downstairs that needs to go upstairs. If you go upstairs or catch a family member on the way up ask them to take something from the box to the room they are going to! It doesn't take any effort at all to quickly check the box but it will make your life so much more easy!

9. Develop rituals! 
  Two rituals that I try to nurture are making my bed in the morning and always clean out and polish my kitchen sink in the evening. Two small things but for me they make a big difference - they make me feel somewhat in control and make me happy in the morning when I see my shiny kitchen sink and happy in the evening when I see my nicely made bed. By the way, not making your bed so the dust mites have a hard life might be true, but by the time I'm done in the bathroom and got dressed at least 15 minutes have passed, plenty of time for a messed up bed to air.
Before I got downstairs I can savely make my bed.


Neat ideas:

Store your bed sheets in their own pillow cases

Idea from Martha Stewart

Net find of the week - Topsy-Turvy crochet dolls pattern

 Topsy-Turvy crochet dolls pattern

When I was a wee little one I used to have a topsy-turvy doll,

 Little Red Riding Hood I think it was, and I love it so much!

 I found the idea of "now it's Red, now it's the Grandma!" so fascinating

 and although I wasn't a doll-person at all I remember this one very fondly.

 A while back, when I started crocheing, I remembered that doll 

and have ever since been on the hunt for a crochet pattern for a topsy-turvy doll.

Finally, I have found not one, not two but three pattern for topst-turvy dolls that I like!

And they are free on top of that! 

For the Ravelry Cinderella pattern you have to register to Ravelry,
which is a good idea anyway if you are into crocheing.

Registering is free and there are tons and tons of beautiful pattern on there!

The beautiful Elsa/Anna doll pattern and Little Red Riding Hood doll pattern

are from the talented Anna over at Gifted Paws , they are so stinking cute!

I totally know what my next project will be in january :)

Enjoy the pattern and happy crafting :)

Cinderella Topsy-Turvy crochet doll

by Irene Kiss

 

 

 

Anna/Elsa Topsy-Turvy crochet doll

by Anna

 

Little Red Riding Hood flip doll 

by Anna 

 

Photoshop Beginner Tutorials - Photoshop 101

Photoshop 101 - essential Photoshop Tutorials

Photoshop 101 - Tutorials for Beginner is a list of photoshop tutorials that I have come across and that I found to be a good start to basic photoshopping.
 There a tons and tons of absolutely amazing tutorials around of the magic that is photoshop, and I will add some niffty ones that I especially liked.
 Mostly I will stick to practical tutorials for "everyday use" though. It will be an ongoing list.

Enjoy!

1. Fine-Tuning Your Images

 

 

2. Create Vibrant Color Photographs

 

3. Create a Painted Edges Border

 

4. Create Photo Borders

 

5. Add Transparent Text To An Image

6. Add a Vintage Photo Effect

7. Install Patterns In Photoshop

 

Christmas Gifts for Guys

Somehow I find it very hard to find good gifts for the men in my life.
For some reason their Amazon lists are always empty (never happens to me, thats for sure),
my dad and my partner neither collect stuff nore ever voice that they want anything..
how is a girl supposed to find good christmas gifts like that?
So this will be another ongoing project that I will add to everytime I come across a gift idea
that I might find suitable for guys in general. I hope it helps!

Happy gifting! :)

• DIY Grill Rubs - summer is coming..
• Darth Vader USB stick 
• One-person Raclett
• Car Organizer
• Intelligent Magnetic Putty
• Neverending Story-inspired iPad/Tablet cover
• Star Trek Door Chime
• iPhone Headphone splitter..cute!
•  Star Wars Death Star Ice Tray
•  USB Solar iPhone charger
•  Soft Boccia "balls"
•  Bike Messenger Lights
• Mummy Wrap Headphone Organizer 
• Science Mug 

50 inexpensive advent calendar / stocking fillers

 ..and counting..

Every year I venture out into the world to find advent calendar fillers that won't stress the already overly stressed wallet even further. Here is a list of 50 ideas, if you have more please let me know in the comments. 

1. Coupon for a DVD evening with popcorn and cola
2. Bubble Gum that makes super bubbles
3. Bake cookies together and give some to the neighbours
4. Cool stickers
5. Neon color markers
6. Rub on tattoos
7. Make fat cakes for the birds in the garden together
8. Coupon for staying up late till 23:00 once
9. A little stamp
10. Funny shaped eraser
11. Lip Balm
12. Coupon for a board game night with ice cream
13. Mini chocolate
14. Playmobil Minifigures
15. Soap bubbles
16. Schleich animal
17. Coupon for a game of balloon-pong + one cool balloon
18. Pixi book
19. make cinnamon roasted almonds together
20. Coupon for picking whats for dinner once
21. a kids joke book
22. a chistmas pin for the jacket
23. stick-on earrings
24. bouncy ball
25. Pez dispencer
26. Glitter Fizz-Ball for the bath
27. Christmas themed hair accessoires
28. Coupon for making a christmas painting on a canvas together for the kids room
29. a cool magazine (National Geographic Kids is one of our favorites)
30. Coupon for a christmas themed photo session, then send a photo to the grandparents
31. a bookmark, preferably with moving 3D animals on it :)
32. flameless LED tea light for the kids room
33. funny shaped cookie cutter
34. Coupon for a Wii evening
35. print out paper models and craft them together (Minecraft Cubes are our prefered ones at the moment :)
36. funny pencil sharpener
37. invisible Ink Pen with UV light
38. print out an Extreme Dot to Dot and try to solve it together
39. Lego Minifigure
40. Mini Game
41. 3D spin top
42.  Magic Towl
43. make a Cat's Cradle string and try these string figures out together
44. Sparking Spinner / Funkenkreisel
45. Fairy Poly Glider
46. Magic Worm
47.  cute soap 
48.  Coupon for a winter picnic out in nature
49.  small bag of rock tumbler stones
50.  Coupon for an Afternoon Tea Party at home

Advent Calendar DIY-ideas

I want to get the christmas show on the road early this year (funny, I remember saying that last year too..) so it is time for me to start thinking about advent calendar ideas. I LOVE advent, bring it on!

Here are the best ones I came across so far, this will probably update every now and then when I find another cool idea :)



1. Boxes-on-the-wall Calendar

found at: Full Circle
I love the idea of creating the advent calender with the whole family, where everyone contributes towards the art on the box. I would probably stick the boxes on a big paper that can be first decorated as well.


2. Embroidered Felt Advent Calendar

found at: the Purl bee
This is such a cute advent calendar idea. And it looks simple enough to craft too! The little square "bags" don't seem to be roomy enough for bigger surprises though. 






3. Baby Sock Advent Calendar

 found at:  Martha Stewart
The color scheme she used for the socks here is really cute. I wonder if I can find christmas colored baby socks in town already, must go check!




4. Advent Pocket Calendar

Made with paper and fabric scraps, chipboard, stickers, and various knick-knacks/household junk.

Activities include:
Deck the halls!
Take photos for Christmas cards
Buy a new Christmas album and listen to it
Make the house smell like Christmas
Make Christmas Cards
Read a Christmas Story Book
Wrap Christmas Gifts
Make a new Christmas Decoration
Color a Christmas picture
Build a snowman or hang up paper snowflakes
Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes
Make a treat and take it to a friend
Watch a christmas movie and eat popcorn
Go out for a Christmas treat
Do something nice for someone
Drive around and look for Christmas lights
Go visit Santa Clause
Do service for someone in need
Have a campout in front of the Christmas tree
Call grandma and grandpa and sing a Christmas song
Take gifts to teachers and friends
Read a story or watch a movie about the birth of Baby Jesus
Make cookies and write letters for Santa Clause
Read "The Night Before Christmas"
Christmas!!!


found at:  Kimberly Petersen
I love this idea for the fact that the presents are activities that can be done with the whole family.
And as it is a calendar bigger surprises like going to the cinema or the museum can be nicely timed to the weekend.



5.  Mitten Calendar

 found at:  my house of giggles
Aww cute! And the mitten pattern can be drawn up in less then 5 minutes.





6. Fabric Cones Advent Calendar

found at: Pickles
This is cool, I love cones! They are not very christmassy though so I would make sure to pick christmas colors and decorate them with according motives. 




7. Pouches Calendar

 found at: Sygnetcreations @Flicker





8. Sacks-on-a-twig Calendar

found at: Bombini's Cafe
I love to bring nature elements into my home, twigs are just perfect! I have one hanging above my dining table and it gets decorated according to the season we a in or the next big holiday that is coming up.
So this advent calendar idea is perfect! It only gets topped by no.11 because there are even more twigs! 8D




9. Christmas Trees Calendar

 found at:  Bombini's Cafe




10.  Recycled Denim Pockets Calendar

I love this one so much!
found at:  Cousas Pequenas

 


11. Cones-on-twigs Calendar

This is a nice fusion between idea no. 6 and no.8 and my favorite for this year so far.

 found at:  Sweet Nellie@Flicker


  

12. Tins-and-velcro Advent Calendar

 found at: Splitcoast stampers


13. Washing Pegs Advent Calendar

This seems to be an easy diy project.


14. Hanging Basket Advent Calendar

 

Very cute idea, and the basket can be used throughout the year...I see easter eggs hanging off it already.

found at CAR Moebel

  

Update

Today is the 1st of december and this is the winning advent calendar for me:

My old childhood advent calendar!

My mum made this calendar for my sisters and me when we were still kids and it always had a special place in my heart. I remember the things she used to hang on them and how I loved the magic of this calendar appearing in the hallway. I asked her if I could have it and she gave it to me! I'm so happy, now this calendar can be our family tradition every year, and I still get to hang on to this piece of my childhood for a while longer. 

If you want to cross stitch an advent calendar for your family too then here are a few links to calendars I personally like: 

  By the Fire Advent Calendar 

Adventskalender Wichtelhaus 

Christmas Tree 

 Santa and Elf Advent Calendar