Hot Air Balloon Craft Project.

Today we finally finished our Easter project! We made a sweet hot air balloon for Minor's room. I wish I had taken photos of the process. I will take you through step by step. Materials: Balloon, paper, glue, water, paint, matches, ribbon or string, egg carton, little people/figurines to go in the hot air balloon basket! 1. Blow up your balloon to a size you like. Diddie or huge. 2. Mix glue and water. I think I did about 1:2 ratio. To be honest I don't think it matters too much. 3. Tear up smallish pieces of paper. It will depend on the size of your balloon. For a regular sized balloon I used paper about the size of milk carton lid. We used our old IKEA catalogue. 4. Dip each piece in the glue mixture and start covering your balloon. Cover around the knot. We did about 3 layers but it could have done with a couple more as the IKEA catalogue is fine paper. It can help to use different colours for each layer so you can tell where you have covered. 5. Place your balloon in an airing cupboard or somewhere toasty warm overnight or until dry. 6. Burst the balloon (snip the knot and keep hold of it) and gently pull it out of the botton where the knot originally stuck out. I then quiclky covered the hole with a couple more layers and left to dry again. 7. Have fun painting it lovely colour and leave to dry. 8. Cut the two ends off your egg carton lid and stick together. I found blue and pink egg boxes in ASDA and Sainsbury. 9.String your ribbon through the egg cartons and tie a match stick to the end (see photo). This is so that you only have to make a small hole in your papiermache balloon and the match will settle horizonatally and will be secure. See photo. I dabbled a little superglue so that I knew the ribbon wouldn't budge when I pushed it through the hole. 10. Make two holes in bottom of balloon and thread the match sticks through. 11. I used fishing wire/thread to then use another matchstick and hole in top to ham from the ceiling. 12. Place your little person inside, hang and enjoy. We spent a while blowing it and watching Kitty and Mimi in their balloon. She's already looking forward to bedtime!

Quand Automne en Saison Revient

Quand automne en saison revient, La forêt met sa robe rousse Et les glands tombent sur la mousse Où dansent en rond les lapins. Les souris font de grands festins Pendant que les champignons poussent. Ah ! que la vie est douce, douce Quand automne en saison revient. SAMIVEL (1907-1992)

Sewing a new sofa cover

It is late once again so I'll keep this brief. I've finished my sofa cover. Can I hear a "yeehaa"! It actually only took me 5 hours from thinking about the pattern to finishing the last stitch. As I said previously I used cheap IKEA curtain liners so it looks a little like a drop sheet. It's given me the confidence to eventually buy some nice fabric. I would alter certain parts of the sewing design were I to do it again. I will post the patterns/stages I used. There were only 5 stages so it really is straightforward. Have you ever made a sofa cover? My mind is now going wild with fabric ideas and fun prints :-)

Autumn Craft ~ Ma saison prefere

Minou and I set about crafting up the autumn season today. I'd seen some pins on pinterest that I wanted us to try out. She was initially more keen on playing either dollies or mamas and papas. However, mention glitter and she's all yours! We constructed a simple pipecleaner tree with added leaves and *glitter*, coloured in an autumn scene and made a cotton wool cloud with ribbon rain. We've been talking about season's recently so it was nice to make it more concrete and practical. All you need: Cotton wool. 3-4 x Pipe cleaners. Blue ribbon. Orange and green paper. We used a paper plate for our cloud. Glue. Glitter and patience (for when a whole tub of glitter is accidentally spilt on the carpet)! Have fun. X

Insomnia

Last night I finally turned out my light at 1am knowing my daughter would wake in 6 hours time. As I lay there my mind floated to the lounge I had just been rearranging. Again. I found the perfect t fit for my sewing machine and set about making it a tiny sewing haven. For some reason in the recesses of my mind I thought about the cheap IKEA curtain liners I had kept hold of for 6 years (yes, 6 years. Once a hoarder, always a hoarder). My mind started visualising my lounge and this IKEA fabric and bingo ~ sofa cover! I began wrestling the pattern and dimensions in my head and then forced myself to shut down and sleep. Fast forward to tonight and I'm giving it a go! It's half done and I've made a mistake which is not too obvious and most of all, its so fun and very satisfying. I have just worked out that 1 year ago I made my first dress for my daughter and since then I've managed to make 3x. Dresses, 2x trousers, 1x poncho, 1x top and half a sofa cover! Once you get the basics the sewing world really is your oyster. Go for it! Make that thing that's been on your mind. Right trying for a bedtime this side of today. And still have laundry and the food to pack up. I think I'll be grabbing my frozen coffee icecubes to chuck in my drink bottle tomorrow as I dash out of the door in a mad rush. Night, slept tight and dream of patterns.

Choices

As I sit and write this I am deciding between cup of tea or glass of wine, BBC iPlayer or movie, admin or knitting. The rain has begun beating the windows, I love that sound. I have been discussing craft based Christmas presents with a friend. We will be making gifts every week for the next few months. First up for me will be two knitted hats for my nieces. I am new to knitting. In my whole life I have only ever knitted a scarf and now this hat. A good friend showed me around the basics and wow I was surprised that once you find your 'tension' groove that you're really on your way. Right off for a glass of wine (decision partly made because l ran out of milk this afternoon)! Knitting: This pattern is really straightforward. Knit and purl on size 3 1/4 needles for 7 rows. Knit and purl on size 4 for many more! Decrease on a knit and purl alternatively for 10 rows. Stitch a few extra rows for a little 'peak'. Sew together. Voila.