"Lettuce" be Crafty Today!

'Lettuce' be crafty today!
I've been eyeing off the fruit and vegetables we 'd bought a while back from Ikea, and often thought that they cant be that hard to make... can they? We have an abundance of felt and a rainbow of colour variety on hand to choose from here so today is the day to give it a go and  after a bit of cutting and two little helpers that have spread felt from one end of the house to the other, we managed to get one piece made so far...

The slightly smaller and darker Ikea 'lettuce' is picture in the background. In the end it was pretty easy and took me about 20 minutes to sew together. I can see many more fruit and vegetables being added to the play kitchen collection. Miss 4 has also even suggested that we "make lots so we can have a shop" Hmm the little Lemonade bake stand tutorial I found on Pinterest could easily be converted to a little fruit and vegetable shop. Just imagine how cute it would look...

The original tutorial on how to make this little stand can be found at
http://lilluna.com/tutorial-tuesday-vintage-lemonade-stand/.
Then I remember that Ashleigh at
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/02/project-playroom-storage-solutions.html also has a heap of tutorials titled 'Project Playroom' with some other great tutorials on creating an awning, setting up play shelving and scales etc. So go crazy, have some fun creating the little people in your life will LOVE it.
If you would like me to email you a couple of vegetable patterns that I have hand drawn contact me at groobiteam@optusnet.com.au Please put in your subject line vegetable patterns.

i HEART decorating the Christmas tree

Decorating the tree HANDMADE style.

We have had a little set back or two today while decorating the tree! You know how you get an idea and you just can't get what you need locally to get the job done? Well I really wanted just red lights on the tree this year and do you think I could find them anywhere! They are now on there way from Sydney thanks to Mr. EBay. 

You've already had a little peek at the felt doves we had been making and with 6 now done and one more to finish off that's one job nearly out of the way. Miss Emily and I spent some of the morning cutting out snowflakes from the pages of an old vintage book we found a the local secondhand store. Emily had said her favourite bit was unfolding the snowflake because it was exciting- like unwrapping a present, just don't know what you are going to get! Bless her little cotton socks. 

Decoration number three was even easier again. Using the same book we ran the pages through the printer with words and phrases such as "Merry Christmas", "Jingle Bells" "JOY" and images like our love heart onto them and simply tied them onto the tree with red ribbon. I love the effect. But as we were busy finishing off the paper side of the decorations minor disaster struck. Our Feed bin filled with tree, gravel and A LOT of water, sprung a leak!  There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza! There is not much I can do at the moment except keep on mopping up water until it has drained out enough for me to be able to budge it. I can barely lift the tree on it's own as it is. Let alone with 3 buckets of gravel and 20 litres of water too. So here are the pictures of what we have done so far...

Home printed vintage messages in "Stencil" and "Claudia Jean" Font

In this picture hand cut snow flake vintage messages prints no. 15 advent rusty bucket, felt dove

"No. 15" advent calendar rusty bucket from The Upholstery Gallery- Ballarat

Hand cut snowflake from vintage book. Little Felt Bird hand stitched in the background.

Home printed message on vintage book page. "Heart"

Hand cut snowflake again.

This is as far as we got before the leak won!

It's beginning to look...

To Look Alot Like Christmas !

 We have been busy crafting in between markets and sewing up stock. Here is a little birdie we made after being inspired by the recent pattern in the Australian Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Might have to make a few more of these lovely little fellows for the Christmas Tree! He is sitting nestled in the cute little advent calendar I purchased from the Upholstery Gallery in Ballarat. Can you guess the theme for Christmas this year yet?

A Party Peek In

Just A Little Sneeky Peek !

Though I'd let you have a look at a quick snap shot of the party almost set up. It just had all the consumables to finish setting up. Sorry about the quality of the picture as it was snapped on the iphone in a hurry. I am so looking forward to viewing the edited snaps that Celeste Vermeend (from www.ourgirlyworld.blogspot.com ) took for me then I'm sure you will really have something to drool over! The start to the day while setting up was extremely windy and blustery and chilly but, all in all the afternoon could not have been more perfect weather wise with sunny 18 deg celsius. I know the girls little and grown up had a ball!

sale SALE sale SALE

Our first ever SALE!!

Only  a week to go before our first ever sale and it going to be HUGE. With lovely Melbourne designers joining us from The Wolf and I (ladies wear), Pip and Maude (hand crafted cards), Ohme Ohmi (Children's vintage tin toy prints), and of course Myrtle & Grace. Keep an eye out for the spot specials in the lead up like..

 First of the spot specials in the lead up to the first ever Myrtle & Grace SALE. First to comment SOLD here for one of each of the sizes 18/24 months, 2 ,3 and 5 Super thick and warm boys "lumber Jack" zip up coat, can have a huge 50% off! Postage AU Local $6 International $9.50  Was AU$59.95... NOW AU$29.95. There are also 2 pairs of jeans left in size 2 and a size 3 WAS $29.95 NOW only $19.95
And below are the cute applique long sleeve T shirts, sizes 1 to 6. available in Kite, Hedgehog, Owl,  Boy bunting, Robot WAS AU$34.95 each NOW 2 for AU$50.  email me with your selection groobiteam@optusnet.com.au

  Pop along to The divine Mill Rose Cottage , 92 Inglis St, Ballan on Saturday 24th September 10am to 4pm. There a stunning cafe with garden setting nextdoor that the sewing girls like to call the "Daddy Creche" they serve amazing food, coffee, and bevy. So why not make a day of it and pop on up to Ballan maybe even visit Ballarat or Daylesford while you are here. Only 1 hr from the Westgate bridge or on the train from Southern Cross Station and just under the hour from Geelong. Hope to see lots of you there.

 

A SEEK PEEK

Some market goodies available at Sugar & Spice Children's market tomorrow.

Sunday 9am St Alupius Hall, Victoria st. Ballarat.

Super Easy Christmas or Party Bunting

SUPER EASY CRAFT!

Ok this bunting is so very super quick and easy. You can used ANY Chritsmas gift wrap or as I've done these paper doilies. If using gift wrap just cut isosolies triangles to the size you require. I like them to be about 20cm long, to get it done even quicker layer the paper to cut multiples out at once. For the doilies cut the top few inches off to create a straight edge. I have used 2 different sized ones and alternated them along the ribbon. Any ribbon can be used and even the metallic curling ribbon runs through the machine fine. Leave yourself a tail of about 30 to 40cm for tying off. layer your doilies or paper under the edge of the ribbon as in the first picture and just straight stitch keeping the ribbon lined up with the edge of the paper. As i'd mentioned I've alternated different size doilies along the way leaving a gap of about 4 cm between each doilie. You don't even need to cut the thread just stitch along the ribbon for an extra 4cm then carefully feed the next doilie or bunting under the ribbon an keep going until you run out. Don't forget to leave a tail at the other end to tie up. It's really cheap to make and super easy to make.You can make this as long or as short as you like and can also be done in birthday wrapping paper or scrapbooking paper. Time this one took me 20 mins and cost-  ribbon $2.50, Doilies 2 packets $4.00 total $6.50 for a super effective decoration.
The last photo is my next little project. I've made heaps before and though for Christmas I 'd make a long string of small tissue paper pompon flowers. This is just the start so I'll pop on another picture once finished. Just as cost effective but a little more time consuming.