A Collection of Thoughts

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day Ten

 

Welcome to our last day of Hip Hip Hooray for Holidays.

I have loved working on these projects each day with my girls - its certainly created lots of discussion in our home and I hope it has in yours too.

I am preparing  a post of things to share from some of my lovely readers  who have sent me photos so please do send anything you have created from our posts.

Project   - Fabric Book Marks

These are so cute and fun to make - the girls whipped them up in no time and it reminded me  how I really need to get them using the machine more often. They love searching through my fabrics to decide which colours to use.

 

 Supplies

• Scrap fabrics
• Felt
• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• Ribbon

 

 

Choose two matching fabrics and a coordinating felt

 

Cut your fabrics into rectangles - you need two of each - size doesn't matter so much ours were 4 inches x 3 inches which allowed for a decent seam - with little people stitching you sometimes need that.

Stitch your four pieces together and then iron flat

 

 Cut a pice of felt to match your finished piece

  Pin a tab of ribbon to the top of your 4 pieces

 Add your felt to the top

 Stitch around the long side and one end

 Trim your corners and turn through

 Turn the open end under and top stitch the edge

and here are a few more we made too

 Yummy soft bookmarks to put in some of our favourite books.

 On our bedside tables right now are

 Talia - Emily the Strange: v. 1: Chairman of the Bored

 

Sofia -Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth

Me - Short Girls

 I do have another project to share with you but that will be over the next day or so. Don't forget today is your last chance to take advantage of  QFD's special offer for our Hip Hip Hooray Readers.

Make sure you pop over to Mel's blog to see her final project too.

Tomorrow we will be telling you about our next Hip Hip Hooray series, which is coming very soon :) 

I'll also be loading some  auctions for the Flood Appeal on Saturday - so please pop back - They will be filled with lovely scrapping goodies.

Hip Hip Supply List Day Ten

Our last day of projects are about to happen - so here is our Day Ten Supply List

• Fabric Scraps
• Felt
• Sewing Machine
• Piece of ribbon

Dont forget our very lovely fabric offer from QFD

] Quilt Fabric Delights have put together a super deal for you but its only running until tomorrow (14th January 2011)

Free postage on all orders plus a lucky dip 'scrap bag' of fabric added to all orders over $50 (contents vary). 

{Lucky dip 'scrap bag' examples have been shown in the special offer banner above}

Don't forget you will need to use the code Hooray as you check out to receive this special offer!

 Tamar x

 

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day 9 Part Two

 I have one more layout to share for my  Day 9 Project

Introducing Emily Wind - who has her own crafty blog - and a lovely giveaway at the moment too if you are Blythe inclined you may like to pop on over :)

Emily’s layout is all about her latest love her new Polaroid camera. Lucky Girl!

 

and here is her gorgoeus layout - complete with pictures taken from her new poloroid of course!

 

 Thanks Emily  gorgeous work :)

 

 

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day 9

Today for Hip Hip Hooray for Holidays its time to do a little scrapbooking  :) Here is our layout.

Supplies

5 x 7 inch photo
1 piece of cardstock
1 piece of patterned paper
3 pieces of matching scrap patterned per 1 - 12 x 2 inches and 2  10 x 2 inches
I piece of cardstock or patterned paper  5.5 inches x 7.5 inches
a piece of ribbon
some flowers, buttons, doilies , embellishments,
letter stickers
ink
sewing machine ( optional )
journaling pen
scrap cardstock for journalling
printer for journalling ( optional)


Choose your papers




Trim your papers to the right size - I piece 10 10 inches, 1 12 x 2 inches 2 10 x 2 inches



Round the corners of your base pattern paper and attach




If you wish you can zig zag the top and bottom of your patterned paper




Add your strips of patterned paper and adhere to the base



Cut a mat for your photos - mine is 5 x7 so  my mat is 5.5 inches x 7 .5 inches




Ink the edge of your mat



Cut a little tab out of the scrap patterned paper that matches your base



Add it to the mat




Run ribbon across the base of your layout at the bottom of your last strip of 10 x 2. To get this effect  - lay out some doublesided tape then scrunch your ribbon onto it

Make a little collage of flowers doilies stickers stamps  whatever you like in the left hand corner



Type up your journalling  triple space it as you will be cutting this into strips and print it out



Cut your strips and layer them to your  layout. Choose a title  - I used chipboard letters and inked them


 

add a date in pen at the base of your layout



and you are done.

Now let's see what my girls have made

Talia scrapped about her favourite gifts

 

 then Sofia wrote about the things that make her happy .

It gives me great pleasure to introduce two little guests who have been busy creating behind scenes as well! 
Firstly Tasmyn Catherine Adams a talented young lady who just happens to be Talia’s penfriend too;)

Tassy has scrapped a gorgeous layout which she says is her most favourite ever. She’s taken photos of her Littlest Pet Shop collection, including one she got for Christmas with a tiny Blythe doll. So cute and Tals was super jealous when she saw her fabulous collection. I love that she has included all her littlest pet shop names and printed the journalling in colour :) great photos too which will be a lovely memory when she grows up.

Don't forget to pop over to Mel's blog to see her crafty addition for today

 

Hip Hip Supply List Day Nine

Can you believe we have just two days left on our Hip Hip Hooray projects? So sad because that also means holidays are coming to an end.

Day Nine we are creating a fun layout that suits both children and Mums :) 

Supplies

5 x 7 inch photo
1 piece of cardstock
1 piece of patterned paper
3 pieces of matching scrap patterned per 1 - 12 x 2 inches and 2  10 x 2 inches
I piece of cardstock or patterned paper  5.5 inches x 7.5 inches
a piece of ribbon
some flowers, buttons, doilies , embellishments,
letter stickers
ink
sewing machine ( optional )
journaling pen
scrap cardstock for journalling
printer for journalling ( optional)

Tamar x

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day 8

Welcome to Day 8 of our Hip Hip Hooray for holidays.

We spent a quiet day at home yesterday afternoon and watched the flood unfold.  Earlier in the day Gigi tweeted about some amazing sounding mini apple donuts so I had promised the girls we could make them.  They broke into their paper doll sets I organised for them for christmas - you can read about them here and  that was all the energy I could muster for crafting in light of the devastation just 40 minutes up the road.

So for you today I have two things

 Project One -   Mini Apple Donuts

Adapted from this blog recipe 


Preheat your oven and spray two 12 x mini muffin tins

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 100gms cup of cold butter

1. Place all the above into a food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

• 1 and 1/2 green apples, peeled cored and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of milk

1. Mix together
2. Add the egg mixture to the breadcrumb mixture and str unti just combined with a wooden spoon.
3. Spoon into  mini muffin tins
4. Bake 15 minutes or until golden.

  

• 1/4 cup of butter, melted
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

1. Brush each donut with melted butter and dip into a bowl of cinnamon and sugar
2. Eat immediately!

Makes 30 mini muffin size donuts

 

Project Two -  Colouring and Cutting Activities

 

 

some fun things from round the interwebs :)

 

1. Sweet Mice to cut and create found here

2. Five fun things with gnomes found here

3. My favourite colouring site found here

4. My girls LOVE cootie catchers - this one from Draw Pilgrim is gorgeous

5. Anime colouring - and there are boys ones too found here

6. and not paper crafting but I also found this cute as tutorial for little pincushions using bottle caps.

Enjoy the colouring and perhaps some cooking .You won't be sorry if you make those donuts!

Tomorrow I have for you a scrapbook layout and I have had some little helpers preparing theirs too! So In preparation for that  please organise a photo  5 x7  either landscape or portrait - and the theme we were working on was our favourite gift :) I'll be back later tonight with the full supply list and a little sneak peek.

Digital frame source - kitschy digitals :)

Hip Hip Supply List Day Eight

With the breaking news of the terrible flooding in Queensland and particularly in Ipswich and Brisbane I have to admit crafting was far from my mind. We spent the morning out and it was only as I was sitting waiting for the girls to complete their class and I was flicking through my tweet deck that the reality of the disaster started to sink in. Once we were home we spent the rest of the day and most of the evening glued to the rolling news coverage.

We did however make something yummy to eat and the girls spent lots of time colouring and playing with their paper dolls - That is the thing about kids they always need to have busy hands.

So here is a little supply list for you -and I'll be back tomorrow with some more details.

 

• scissors
• glue
• colour pencils
• apple
• plain flour
• baking powder
• brown suagr
• caster sugar
• butter
• egg
• nutmeg
• printer and paper

 

 

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day 7

Another wet day on the Gold Coast - and there are a number of suburbs in Brisbane now flooding too.  This morning as you read this the girls and I are off experiencing one of their special christmas gifts I hope to be able to show you some pictures later tonight  :)

So let’s get started on todays Hip Hip Hooray Project. I'll begin with my started project that turned into a no go.

Project One - Repurposing Frames
In our clean out I found a gazillion billion frames - all wooden and in various shades of wood and disrepair - I also found some that I had never used.

I am sure I have lamented her many ties about my inability to put anything on my walls. I always want to but can never decide. This is my year to make that happen. Last year we had the house repainted with a colour called USA Antique White a very neutral white. I love it so much and so had the idea to repurpose all of my frames and spray them white. Then I am going to fill them with all my favourite photos.

So we started to spray paint but the wet weather made the paint start to bubble so we had to stop and will resume the project on a less wet day.



Project Two - Repurposing Dolls Furniture

The girls received a dolls house a few years ago and like many toys it became less popular over time and so eventually it got moved to out on the pergola and with weather and time it became worse for wear. We went to throw it out in our our organising when we realized that the furniture inside was the perfect size for Blythe :)

So this is the terrible state they were in

But with some cleaning and three coats of white acrylic paint

 I did the bottom and top coats and the girls did the middle ones

Then I reupholstered the chairs using a piece cardboard glue and the old foam pieces as a pattern

 

We chose a favourite fabric that would go with all the funky colours- and with some glue it came together easily.

The girls wanted me to make little cushions too and a tablecloth
I said no to the table cloth and we compromised on the table clothes and added doilies.

The girls received their Blythe for Christmas and love them so much.  I have had mine for two or so years now.  For those of you who aren't Blythe obsessed they also have re-ment which is amazingly detailed little plastic items that are perfectly sized for Blythe.
We have two full sets a Strawberry Set and a Hello Kitty Stationary Set. They are the little items that you see set up in our pictures.

We had to wait so long for the paint to dry between coats it was quite late when we finally got finished but the girls were anxious to set up their party scene so the photos are quite dodgy taken in my study at 9.30 last night.

 

I’m looking forward to taking more photos as the girls play with them over time.
We love the new look and the playing possibilities are endless :)

Have you got something around your home that could be refreshed with a can of spray paint or some new fabric ?

Don't forget to head over to Mel's for her latest project too- It's really cute!

Hip Hip Supply List Day Seven

Hello :) well you know the saying of best laid plans ...  that was my day - We had the best project planned but the wet weather totally hampered it.

We did manage to salvage part of our project and its totally gorgeous we all adore it - but it wasn't all that   we planned.

I don't really have a supply list for you as I am guessing what we have created will only suit some of you  - but nevertheless I hope it inspires you to do a little creating/repurposing.

Supply List

• Paint
• Fabric
• Glue
• Something to repurpose

See you later today !

 

Hip Hip Hooray For Holidays - Day 6

Welcome back to Hip Hip Hooray :) I hope you had a lovely weekend. It's been so wet here and while we are fortunate not to have the terrible flooding the rest of Queensland is the constant rain is quite frustrating. We spent the weekend cleaning out the garage - holy doly what a task!

Today we are getting in the kitchen :)  My girls are always hassling to cook and through school holidays we spend even more time there than usual. I like to give them free reign sometimes but it’s tricky to do. I have some tips for you on letting go :)  and with two girls the same age the what can I do what can I do drives me crazy.

So my way round that is to give them cook book and tell them to choose whatever they like except it has to be something that they have never made before. I don't do this all the time I'd go mad - but for a treat I do :)
I allocate them time by themselves to cook - So its Talia’s special recipe or Sofia’s special recipe.

Today I am sharing the recipes that we made but it is also nice to have the children choose their own

We worked from this book

 

Project One -

Talia chose shortbread stars with lemon glaze -which was nice because we hadn’t made any over christmas.


Ingredients
biscuits

• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 200gm butter
• 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• silver cachous

lemon glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• yellow or orange food colouring

 

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2.  Line two baking trays with baking paper
3. Add flour butter and sugar into a food processor and process until the mixture is crumbly
4. Add in lemon juice and reprocess
5. Turn out to a lightly floured board and knead into a ball
6. Using a star cutter cut shapes and lay them on the baking paper
7. Bake for 15 minutes
8. Cool on a rack

1. Put a pot of water on to boil
2. In a heat proof bowl add icing sugar and lemon juice for glaze
3. Place the bowl in the boiling water and whisk until smooth
4. Remove from heat  - dip the biscuits in face down and drain any extra off
5. Using a skewer dip into food colouring and draw lines on the icing before it sets
6. Add a cachou.

Project Two

Sofia made a Browned Butter and Cinnamon Teacake

150gm butter
1 1/2 cup SR flour
1/4 cup cornflour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 up caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk
 extra cinnamon for decoration


Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Grease a square tin and line with baking paper.

In a small saucepan brown the butter remove from heat.

Sift the flours and cinnamon into a bowl
Place the eggs vanilla milk orange juice and browned butter into  a bowl and mic
Make a well in the dry ingredients.
Use an electro beater on low speed until everything is combined.
Beat for 5 minutes.

Pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes. turn out onto a rack and cool

Make a butter frosting using 100gm butter and 100 gms icing sugar. Decorate with cinnamon.

My tips for letting this happen - just go with the mess - try not to get stressed - make yourself a cup of tea and sit back and watch

Let them have all the time they need - have them read the recipe through and talk through anything they may not know how to do. Try and refrain from helping ( easier said than done! )

It's totally worth it because at the end they have learnt a new cooking skill ( and you to sometimes! )  - you have a new yummy something made and you have a happy child.

You also may have a very messy kitchen don't say you weren’t warned :).

I really like the biscuit recipe this would work for lots of shapes and Tals really enjoyed “painting “ on the biscuits

and finally this is one of the girls favourite things to do - they love being in charge and talking to me as they make - It is fun.

 

Don't forget to check out Mels blog today too - she has also beeen cooking in the kitchen ;)

PS I am struggling with internet connection due to rain and my woeful service provider - Many of you know I have been battling this for some time now and its just getting worse - Took four hours for this post alone to load so my apologies for the multiple pictures all in one hit. To say I'm over it is putting it mildly!  We have tried all manner of different combos and times to try to get work done but we have exhausted all avenues and things that worked last week no longer do this week. We seem to have a connection but its weak -so I can twitter spasmodically, I receive emails and sometimes can get one sent out  but things like loading a blog - downloading anything - checking websites etc  everything just times out. So I am not as present at the moment as I would like to be - Rain please go away!!!