Author: spaleksic

My real job

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It would be lovely to be able to make things all day but unfortunately I can’t afford to which is why I have a job.  A great job, but one that is not in the same city as I live in, or that I can drive to because I live on an island and my office is on the main land.  So I fly to work, sounds glamorous but believe me in the middle of winter crammed in a tiny plane with a dozen other people and the pilot says tighten your seat belts you know it’s not going to be a fun ride.  Yes pilot as in one person flying the plane and tighten not fasten your seatbelts, neither of those were typos.  Of course on other days the scenery and ride are amazing, especially when I get to ride in the co-pilot seat.  These are the pictures that I have chosen to share.  Believe me you don’t want to see the ones in the middle of winter.

 

 

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Chocolate Bird’s Nests

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For Easter I made up a batch of these Bird’s Nest cookies.  They were a hit with someone!

 

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
  • 1 cup small chow mein noodles
  • 12 small chocolate or malted egg shaped candy

Directions:

  1. Melt chocolate.  You can microwave or use a double broiler.
  2. Add chow mein noodles and stir to combine (if the mixture looks too loose, add some more noodles).
  3. Using 2 spoons, spoon onto parchament paper and shape into nest.
  4. Put little chocolate or malted eggs into nest and let the chocolate set up for about 30 minutes in the freezer.
  5. Remove from the freezer an hour before serving.

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Crochet 101 – Easter Bunnies

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In February I took a beginners crochet class just to try something new.  There were only three of us in the class and by far I was the worst student.  I think I was struggling because I also knit, and although the finished product looks similar the technique is quite different.  Or maybe it just takes me a little longer to learn either way with a little practice I was crocheting.

These are the first 3 things that I made.  The green square (if you can call it that) was my first crocheted masterpiece (kidding of course), the grey square with white edging my second attempt, and the two-tone grey scarf with blue stripe was the third.  I have since progressed a little further and am working on a blanket.  It is going to take forever and cost a small fortune, but I am committed anyway.  I will post pictures of my blanket progress in future blog posts.

Crochet Bunnies

If you are new to crochet like I am or a crochet veteran, these little bunnies are quick and fun.

Step 1. Crochet a square, mine were 8″x8″ square.

Step 2. Using an embroidery thread in a matching colour, sew a triangle.

step 1

Step 3. Pull the threads to gather a square to form the bunnies head

Step 4. Stuff the head

step 2

Step 5.  Sew up the head and down the back of the bunny

step 3

Step 6. Stuff the bunnies body

step 4

Step 7. Close the bunnies bum by running a stitch around the edge and pulling tight

Step 8.  Sew on a tail, eyes, nose and tie a ribbon around the bunnies neck.

Happy Easter.

 

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Snakes & Ladders

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It rains in Victoria a lot, I am not complaining.  I would rather rain than snow, but it is a little hard for me to take the kids out to play in the rain.  So we play inside, and this is one of the games that I made to keep my five-year old occupied.  Snakes & Ladders is such a simple game to play which introduces numbers up to 100 and counting.

I got the idea from an episode of Steven & Chris and following their instructions I made this giant playing board.  http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/life/diy-snakes-and-ladders

I have copied their instructions below and  changed their instructions a little bit based on my experience making the game.  I had issues opening the PDF’s needed to print the transfer papers on their site so I made my own.

1. Start by purchasing some white iron on transfer paper for white t-shirts from an office supply store and a drop cloth from the hardware store (paint department).  Don’t purchase the generic brand transfer paper, the quality isn’t great and it peals off when playing/walking on the game.  Go for a quality brand, and one meant for canvas bags if you can find it.

2. Next, download snakes and ladders to print file with the game board pieces and print them on your transfer paper; you will need 25 sheets.

3. Trim off the excess colour/squares from the transfer paper using a straight edge and exacto type knife.  Lay the transfer papers out face down.  (download our snakes & ladders template to help you keep organized)  I wrote on the back of each one so that I could tell the order when they were face down.  Layout all of the sheets and measure how large you should cut/hem the drop cloth.snakes_and_ladders_template

4. Hem the drop cloth.  You might want to layout the transfer papers on the drop cloth at this point to make sure that everything fits.  Measure the center of the drop cloth and start with the transfer paper with numbers 56/55/45/46.

5. Working from the center out iron on your transfer sheets as per their instructions. This process may take two to three minutes per page, but is absolutely worth it!

6. Let cool, and peel back the iron on paper to reveal your game pieces.

7. We purchased snakes from the dollar store and created ladders using dowel and twine (also from the dollar store), but use your imagination here — this is meant to be fun. We use trains or cars as the pieces you play with.

 

Keep playing, creating and counting.

 

 

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Shower Curtain Pillows

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I am outraged at the price of fabric these days. I don’t know if it’s worse here because I live on an island where most things are more expensive, or if fabric is expensive everywhere. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy sheets, curtains or clothes for their fabric content, sounds ridiculous but it’s so true. These pillow covers were made from a fabric shower curtain which was on sale for $0.97, got to love IKEA. The other benefit of sewing pillow covers from shower curtains is that they come with button holes. I have no idea how to sew button holes with a sewing machine, but it seems complicated. This fabric had a letter pattern on it which I thought would be great for the play room, and with easily removable machine washable covers at less than $0.48 each how could I go wrong?

To make these pillows I laid out the shower curtain, and placed the pillow forms on top, centering the button holes so that I had an even number per pillow, and wasn’t cutting through the middle of one. I cut the shower curtain on either side of the pillowform leaving enough width for the seams on the side. I wrapped the fabric around the pillow over lapping the short ends by a couple of inches and cut it, this is where the buttons will be sewn on, leave enough length to hem the short end. You should now have a long rectangle piece of fabric with button holes at one end. The fabric should be a little wider than the pillowform and about 2.5 times longer than the pillowform. Hem the short edge. Lay out the rectangle right side up, fold the button-hole end towards the center (right sides together), fold the other end over the button-hole end (you shouldn’t be able to see the button holes, measure the folds to fit the pillowform. Sew up the 2 sides. Turn inside out and check the fit, the button holes should be on the outside flap. Sew on the buttons to line up with the button holes, and stuff with the pillowform. Using a shower curtain to make a removable pillow cover is so much easier than sewing in a zipper and just as easy as making an envelope style cover.

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Spring is in the air

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The cherry blossoms and daffodils are in bloom in Victoria. Winter is over and spring is in the air. My apologies to those of you that are still in the depths of winter, rest assured that spring is coming soon, and if you want to beat Mother Nature a trip to Victoria might help your winter blues. With spring comes babies, and itty bitty baby booties. I have been knitting hats for the babies that have recently come into this world, but Spring demanded a change in the welcome gifts. Shoes for babies might not be practical but they are cute, and I just couldn’t help myself. I now have a small stock of shoes to be given as shower/baby gifts. For the three moms that I gave these shoes to this week, please send me your feedback. Do these shoes stay on? Are they easy to put on?

I used standard stock felt from a craft/fabric store but not the felt from the dollar store it’s too thin. There are some great patterned felts out there which make super cute baby shoes. I added a felt sticker to the front of each shoe and stitched it on to jazz up the toes. If you are interested in making some felt baby booties follow this link for the pattern and great instructions.

Lego Party

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This will be the last post about Sasha turning 5 I promise, but birthdays bring out the crafter in me so I thought I would share.  We rented the gym of the local rec center for Sasha’s party for the second year in a row, it comes with a bouncy castle, ride on toys, and sports equipment.  But the very best part is that I don’t have to clean up after the party.  Sasha chose a Lego theme which was fine by me and quite easy to decorate for.  My husband and I have an agreement about throwing parties; he is always happily in charge of the menu, cooking and drinks.  I take care of invites, decorations, presents, and dessert.  This arrangement is also the way that all holidays operate and it works perfectly for us.

Every year I have made Sasha a birthday shirt to wear to his party, this year he requested dark green one which I found at Joe fresh for $1.94 and stamped FIVE on it, piece of cake.  Unfortunately for me I had to walk through the women’s section to get to the kids clothes so while the green t-shirt was a deal the final bill wasn’t $1.94.  Sasha and I made old school paper invitations to give to the kids in his class designed to look like Lego blocks.  We hung a felt Happy Birthday bunting over the table of treats which I whipped up.   Using Lego that we had on hand and a picture easel I made the 5 sign which Sasha now has proudly on display on his bed side table. The coloured boxes contained Slinky’s which I tried to decorate to replicate Lego blocks for the take home gifts for the older kids.  I love a bargain as much as I love making crafts and the Slinky’s were a steal at $0.75 each at Target.  The kids also took home candy Lego which Sasha and I packaged with a little thank you note.   I went to a couple of stores before I found Lego candy so hit up the Bulk Barn if you are on the hunt.  I also used the Lego candy to decorate the cupcakes along with a Lego/Five flag made from paper straws and printed images.  I made 3 1/2 dozen cupcakes for the 30+ people at the party.  The cupcakes are on a board which I made from 2 pieces of laminate flooring glued together and wrapped in aluminum foil.  I used the same cupcake platter last year because it’s a great way to serve the cupcakes, all of the kids can just grab one, or two or three cupcakes from the center of the table.   Sasha and Logan both had a great time, and I imagine all of the other little people did too.  Until next year.

Before the kiddies arrived
Birthday Invite
Take home gifts
Logan eating AGAIN
Sasha going down the bouncy castle slide
Lego Candy take home gifts
The birthday boy
Make a wish
Working off the cupcakes
Happy Birthday to me
Hiding in a bunch of balloons
Cupcakes
Little game of hockey
Bouncy castle
Felt Happy Birthday Banner
Where did the kids go??
Lego Five

Photo Books

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Print Image 010I have been creating photo books for my kids every year just after their birthday to commemorate the previous year.  It’s a great exercise to reflect on the growth of the kids.  It’s also a great reason to sort and organize those photos that would otherwise get lost in computer land.  I attempt to highlight family trips, holidays, birthday’s and the personality of the kids.  I think that they are a great keepsake, and an update on my parent’s tradition of photo albums.  I also love that my favourite photos of the kids are archived on the Shutterfly website.  Sasha loves that there are books just about him and I am sure in time Logan will too.

Here are a couple of tips I have learned over the last couple of years while making these books.  When I download my camera photos to my computer I save them in folders by the month, so all of the March 2014 photos are saved to a folder called March 2014 (simple right).  Then I sort the photos in each folder and save the “good” photos as MAR 1, 2, 3 ect.  Once I have 12 months worth of photos sorted and edited I upload them to Shutterfly (the website of my choice for photo books).  Naming the photos by month gives me a good shot at getting them in the order that they were taken, and makes the process of adding them to the book faster.  I use Shutterfly because they often have great deals on prints and photo books, great deals like free prints and 50% photo books.  This book cost me $31.50 CAD including shipping.  I ordered this book yesterday and it is already in the mail to me, so it’s also pretty quick.  This is not an ad for Shutterfly, just my opinion.

Below is a link to the most recent book about Sasha.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=wAYt27Vi2YtGbVx8&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

The Big 5

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My oldest turned 5 yesterday, and to celebrate I made this cake for gezzert.  It was a little harder than I though it would be.  I printed out the number 5 on regular printer paper and used toothpicks to stick it into the cake.  The frosting was semi-hard at this point so the paper didn’t stick to the cake.  Then I thought I would just shake the sprinkles on and the cake would be done.  Instead I had to spoon them on, and push them into the frosting.  I was wondering if the frosting should still be wet?  But not too wet because the colouring of the sprinkles would run.  If anyone knows a better way please let me know.   Then  I tied water balloons to wooden skewers, stuck them in and voila.  The birthday boy was very concerned that the heat from the candles was going to pop the balloons, rest assured that didn’t happen.  Now who wants cake….

Mobile Magic

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For 18 months or maybe longer I have wanted to make a mobile to hang over the crib of my baby. My baby is now a toddler and close to out-growing his crib, but I finally got it together to make the mobile. I have been struggling to come up with a design and have not been inspired. One of the things that has stopped me from making any of the mobiles that I pinned on Pinterest was the baby’s vantage point. Most mobiles I found were made to look at from a standing position, which is fine unless you are planning on being in the horizontal position most of the time. I love the thought of an origami crane mobile but I knew the baby would be staring at the butt of a paper bird, and what fun is that? So after many, many months I was motivated, I saw a mobile that was inspired by Charles & Ray Eames who were fantastic furniture designers.   The design is based on a series of balls, so no worry about the vantage point dictating the enjoyment of the mobile. I can enjoy the mobile standing in his room, he can enjoy it while he is lying down, and it was inspired by two of my design idols. Win, Win, Win.

This was quite an easy project, but a little time consuming because of the time required for the paint to dry between coats. I started with 24-1″ round beads, 3 wire coat hangers, wire snips, a glue gun, fishing line, craft paint and a clear gloss spray paint. I cut the coat hangers into 3 or 4 pieces. I varied the lengths of the pieces to make the design a little more interesting, ending up with 11 wires. Then I glued the balls onto the ends of the wires with hot glue. I filled the holes in the beads with glue, and held for a couple of seconds while the glue hardened. On one of the longest wires I glued 4 balls, one on each end and 2 in varying lengths from the end, this is the top wire which I hung 3 wire sections from. After all of the wires had beads on the ends I painted the balls with craft paint. Spray paint would be easier but craft paint is much more economical, and my four year old helper could participate. After a coat or 2 of paint on the balls, I sprayed them all with clear gloss paint for a little sheen. I used empty upside down egg cartons as props when painting, and they worked really well. After all of the balls were glossy, I started assembling the mobile by typing the wires to each other with fishing line. I made sure to space them so that they didn’t bang into each other. After everything was joined together I balanced the wires, and hung it from the ceiling.

Keep crafting, creating and mobile making.