Six White Boomers

Just in case you thought my white kangaroo decorations are a figment of my imagination, I can prove they're not.  Yep, they do exist but you won't see them hopping down the main street of my country town.

Check out the video, evidence of white kangaroo.  I bet most kids these days haven't heard this song, it's a bit corny but lots of fun a beauty in fact.

Hope you're having a beautiful day.

                                                    Source: blossomsandbliss.tumblr.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

The Winner Is

Congratulations Jodilee from Smple Perfect Life.  You are the winner of my Christmas Stocking Giveaway.

This is the stocking filled to the brim

The draw went something like this - very basic but fair.

List of entries - 71 all up

Neatly cut then folded

Into the bowl they go and precious son picks the winner

Jodilee's name comes up

Thanks to everyone who entered and visited my blog.  Heartfelt thanks for the lovely comments and sincere thanks to the dear people who decided they would like to follow my blog.  Now I have to make sure I provide content that makes you want to visit again and again.

Hope you have a beautiful day.

Crazy Christmas Wreath

My first decoration for the festive Christmas season went on display last night.  With three adult males living in this home, you'd think at least one would have noticed this crazy wreath as they entered the front door.

Nope, not one.  You can probably guess how the rest of the evening went?

Yep, it was all downhill after that.

Don't forget to enter my Christmas Stocking Give away - still a few days to go.  Scroll down to my earlier post for the give away details.   Cheers to all visitors and stay safe.

A Christmas Stocking Stuffed with Goodies Awaits You

Giveaway now closed - winner to be announced soon


2011 Christmas Stocking Giveaway

                                                                     Source: flickr.com Debbie Probst via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

Today launches my 2011 stocking giveaway.  I’ll be holding a giveaway for the Christmas stocking pictured below as part of the 2011 Stocking Giveaway  being hosted by Robin at RSIslandscrafts.

The winner will be drawn on December 5th

One Christmas Stocking

Measurements

Cuff to heel is 33.5cm (13") 

But wait, there's more than just a stocking.  Inside the stocking you will find SIX other gifts.  

#1.   A handmade felt Kangaroo.  You can hang Redmond in a cupboard as he's filled with homemade scented pot pourri or on the Christmas tree.

Redmond The Kangaroo

#2.  A Tea Towel, celebrating beautiful Australian flora.

Tea Towel

#3.  A handmade Woven Felt Heart decoration for the Christmas tree.

Woven Felt Heart

#4. A packet of Christmas paper serviettes.

20 Paper Serviettes

#5.  A Japanese Temari thread decoration for the Christmas tree.

Japanese Thread Temari

#6.  Christmas bunting - eight little Christmas stockings all in a row.

Christmas Stockings Bunting

This give away is open to everyone, doesn't matter where you live. It will run from November 28th through to December 4th. On December 5th the lucky winner will be announced. 

As my son said, "That's a tidy prize mum, seven gifts all up.  Cool".  Therefore you need to do a couple of things to participate in the Christmas Stocking Giveaway.

1 entry into the draw = A comment will do nicely - that way if you're the lucky winner I have your email contact whereby I can get your address. 

2 entries into the draw = If you want to become a follower that would be cool too.

All entries will go into a bowl and my dear son will draw the lucky winner on 4th December.  I will post the details of the draw on the 5th December and pop the prize in the post as soon as I have an address from the winner. 

I'd love you to share where you plan to eat on Christmas day.  Are you entertaining family and friends at home, going to the beach or sitting by a nice warm fire?  If so, how many at your gathering?  If not, what will you be doing on Christmas day?  As for me, I'm hoping 15 family and friends can make it to my place for Christmas lunch and I'm so looking forward to it. 

Merry Christmas to my visitors and thanks for visiting.

I look forward to your comments and hearing about your plans for the big day.

Other blogs participating in their own Christmas Stocking Giveaway can be found here

                                                                 Source: google.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

Angel Tree Topper That Kids Can Make - A Tutorial

There's Plenty Of Time
When you're asked to look after a friends children for a few hours what's the best thing to do? Keep them busy of course.  So rather than panic, I went to my trusty little craft room for inspiration and did some picking and plucking from my stash.

                                     
                                                                   Source: trendytree.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

As long as I had glue, ribbon, foam shapes and all sorts of other goodies I had a good chance of keeping the kids happy while mum was away.

She Doesn't Have To Be Perfect
Keep it simple and use whatever you can find in the cupboards.  Kids have wonderful imaginations so you'll get quite a surprise with the end result.

Angel Tree Topper

Things To Collect
Material off-cuts or coloured paper for the gown; cardboard; pipe cleaners or fine wires; foil paper; ribbon; lace; sequins; beads; curling ribbon; foam ball; dressmaker pins; craft  glue; scissors; cardboard; glitter; sticky tape.

Gather The Kids and Get Started

Material to make the body shape

1.  Use a piece of cardboard to make a cone shape and hold in place with sticky tape.  Check that the cone is the right size for the head, then trim the bottom of the cone if the form is a bit wonky. If you want the angel to be able to standalone, add some cardboard to the base of the cone.  Just like this, alternatively, skip this step if you want your angel to sit on top of your tree without falling off.

Check the head fits the shape

Add a base to the cone

Cover the cone with material or paper of choice, gluing the paper to the cone or you can sew a seam on the material so it fits the cone snugly.  Tuck the material into the top of the cone.  Glue the ball to the top of the robe set aside to dry.  

Material to make the wings and halo

Halo

Wing

2.  Next make the wings and halo using the pipe cleaners.  Twist two pipe cleaners together and join to make a circle.  Make two of these for the wings.  Make a smaller circle for the halo and leave a small length for the stem of the halo.  Wrap foil tightly around the pipe cleaners and I found that I had to cover the foil with sticky tape for added firmness.  Then shape the wings. Decorate the halo with sequins or beads, ribbon or foil.  Set aside to dry if using glue.

She's starting to take shape

3.  Glue facial features onto head and glue or use pins to attach curling ribbon to head.  We used a dressmakers pin for the nose, sequins for the cheeks and attached them with pins and then glued a red sequin for the mouth.

4.  Pin the halo stem to the back of the head.  Attaching the wings is the hardest but we found pinning the wings to the material worked best.  You might have to readjust the shape of the wings to suit the angel.  Same with the halo, adjust it to suit.  Tie bows using ribbon or lace around the neck.

Angel Tree Topper

Angel Tree Topper is completed.  The time went so fast making her and we had heaps of fun.  Think I might make a gold Angel next time.  Thanks for visiting.

White Kangaroo's Find New Homes In America

As part of a Christmas decoration swap that I'm participating in with a bunch of great friends at The Hive, I finally said a sad farewell to thirteen of my kangaroo decorations.  I thought I'd never get them finished.  They're all hand sewn, each decoration has lots and lots of sequences sewn to the body to make them look festive and special. and they each carry a little Christmas stocking.

It was sad taking them down from the tree but I'm sure they'll find lovely homes on the other side of the world.  If you'd like the pattern for my darling kangaroos you can get it here.

Here they are all lined up ready to go into the Express Post bag. Did someone say 'roll over'? It was a struggle getting them in the bag, they weren't that keen.

I've still got some more to make for friends and another Christmas decoration swap so I better get back to it.

Christmas Gift To Make For Your Pet - Tutorial and Written Instructions

A TREAT TO HANG ON THE TREE

Hello everyone, today I am posting another tutorial, this one being a treat you can make for your pet.  The main focus will be creating a craft that doesn't require you to go out and buy new products, instead I hope you will be able to use bits and pieces from your home stash.  I encourage you to improvise where an item is not available and look at what you can recycle. They are easy enough to make that children can lend a helping hand.  Some basic straight stitch machine sewing is involved, but it can just as easily be hand sewn which may take longer to make.  I'm planting the seed, you go ahead and do it your way and most of all have some fun.

Written instructions can be downloaded here and if you scroll down you will see how I went about the construction of the pet treat hanger.  They look great hanging on a Christmas tree but put them up high enough so that your pet cannot get to them.



Here's how to construct the decoration.

Lay out the material and cut the patterned material about 1cm large all round than the felt piece.  I ironed the material and folded the edges in to make it a lot easier.

I folded each short end under the felt because later I will slide the end of the ribbon into this slot and then sew along the top edge to secure the loop which will be used to hang the decoration on the tree.

I pinned the long edges before sewing and I also ironed the edges to make it easier.  You could hand sew these edges with a blanket stitch if you didn't want to use a sewing machine.

Once I had the edges neat I simply selected a fancy stitch on my sewing machine and sewed around the two short and two long edges.  Finally, it was simply a matter of looping the ribbon one under the other.  These loops will hold the treat you have for your pet, so make them as big or as small as needed.  You can add bows, bells, plastic holly leaves to the decoration, whatever takes your fancy.

Once I had the loops pinned and the size I wanted, I sewed each loop in place using the sewing machine, this is probably the fiddliest part of the assembly.  You could just as easily hand sew the loops.

You could also place the ribbon loops on the felt before constructing the hanging decoration.  By doing it this way you won't see the stitching on the back of the decoration, it will be hidden when you add the larger patterned material to the back.

Alternatively, you don't have to use felt and Christmas material, you could use a special material like I did above and I added some bells to the ribbon.  The fact is I don't think your pet will mind how you construct this little gift, but he/she will be more interested in what is hanging in the loops.

Japanese Temari - Thread Ornaments

September is my favourite time of the year, it heralds Spring, but it also means I get a cold.  Not just a cold kinda cold, but knock you off your socks kinda cold.  I usually end up with asthma and feeling crap.  I think I've talked myself into it this year as I'm no longer out in the workforce hence more time on my hands at home.

Japanese Temari made by Chris

Anyway, even with a bug I have still been able to find time to play with craft.  My friend Pam from gingerbreadsnowflakes put me onto this idea.  Her Japanese Temari thread balls here are much better, but remember I'm sick.  Pam has put a great tutorial together as well, it can be found here.  Pam also directed me via a link on her blog to  temari.com which is dedicated to Japanese Temari art.

Japanese Temari made by Chris

My thread balls are quite basic, remember I'm sick and I just wanted something easy to do while feeling precious.  I just don't feel well enough to put too much effort into it.  Sorry Pam!!

Japanese Temari made by Chris

I made four all up over a couple of days.  I like the end result but remember they look nothing like the real thing, um well the concept is kinda there.

Completed and stored waiting for Christmas

The only thread ball I'm not keen on is the red one, but I think I was at my worst when I was decorating this one.  No matter- they will adorn my Christmas tree this year, you can bet on it.

By the way did I tell you I'm sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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