Showing posts with label gift idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift idea. Show all posts

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Embellishing gifts

floral gift embellishment 4

Here's an idea for using up those scrap embroidery threads...

You can crochet up some Gorgeous Flowers for jazzing up your gift wraps (I just glue mine in place with a dab of white PVA glue)

Most of the time I'm just a Brown Paper and Raffia girl, but every now and then the occasion calls for a little more zhuzh!

floral gift embellishment 2

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

C is for Charlotte

'Twas the Night Before Christmas,

And all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring...

Not even a mouse.
 
IMG_0338

When I suddenly realised that I had TOTALLY FORGOTTEN to make a Christmas Gift for my baby girl!!!

Aaaarghhhh... how could that possibly be?

That gorgeous little baby, the one I spend almost every waking hour with... how could I possibly have forgotten her???

OOPS.

So it had to be something quick, and something that I had all the materials on hand for.

As you can see... I went with the Rag Wreath idea, starting with a cardboard C.

It looks gorgeous hanging on her bedroom door, and all I really had to do was tie some knots

IMG_0337

Friday, December 12, 2008

rainbow scarf pattern

My boys have recently discovered how much fun it is to ride their bikes out in the street. Although we live at the end of a court, and therefore there is no passing traffic - I'm still a bit nervous about allowing them out unsupervised. It was a beautiful afternoon here yesterday, so I found myself a nice shady spot on the footpath... set up a chair... brought out my basket of rainbow yarns and started hooking.

It was brilliant. The boys rode around until they were exhausted, and I got one of my scarves done!

Mr Goldfish was out doing some Christmas shopping last night, so after the kids were in bed, I had the place to myself. Instead of fussing about with chores, I indulged in my crochet and got the second scarf completed!

both scarfs


red scarf - closeup

I feel a bit cheeky calling this a pattern... more like instructions, really...

I've used a 5.0mm hook, and mostly 8ply yarn... although the red was a 12ply... the green and violet were 4ply, so I worked them with two strands held together... the indigo was even finer, so I held three strands of that together as I worked

basically, you can use whatever you like!

my yarn types were varied, too... the red is wool, the orange is acrylic, the yellow is wool, the green is cotton, the blue is something hairy, the indigo is a novelty ribbon yarn, and the violet is wool

again, this is YOUR scarf... so use whatever you like!

the scarf is worked sideways in sc (US)

just chain the length you want the scarf to be. I pop it around my neck to check the length. I usually like this type of scarf to sit an inch or two below my waist line... so I use that as a rough guide for my chain length... bearing in mind that there will be a tassel added also. Keep the chain loose for two reasons... 1. it is easier to work into the chain on your first row if they are not too tight, and 2. your scarf will tend to twist on itself if the chains are too tight

sc into the 2nd chain from hook, and every chain after that until you reach the end

leave a tail of a couple of inches and fasten off

turn work and add the next colour... continue working in rows of sc, leaving long tails at each end

I've worked 13 rows in total

red - orange - yellow - green - blue - indigo - violet - indigo - blue - green - yellow - orange - red

on the second scarf I worked the colours in reverse order

violet - indigo - blue - green - yellow - orange - red - orange - yellow - green - blue - indigo - violet

when the rows are completed, firmly knot each 'tail' to the one next to it... these will form the tassel... I chose to add a little extra to add some bulk, but it all comes down to personal preference

then I just trimmed the tails to an even length, and blocked the scarf lightly using a steam iron

red scarf

purple scarf

Thursday, December 11, 2008

an entire rainbow of colours

red - orange - yellow - green - blue - indigo - violet

rainbow colours

Little Miss Four only has one more session left at pre-school for the year. So it was time to organise the Christmas gifts for the staff there. I thought I could involve my daughter by allowing her to choose a bag for each of them.

I have so many bags already completed here, that she was spoiled for choice.

But things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, and the outcome is that she would like her 'teachers' to have a rainbow scarf each. I should have stood my ground and encouraged her to choose a bag instead. But instead... I'm thinking... "Oooohhh... rainbow scarves... they sound like fun... haven't made them before"

I love a new challenge... so the plans are set for rainbow scarves... yarn is organised, and off we go!

Of course they will be QUICK, SIMPLE and BRIGHT. I have until tuesday, but hopefully they will be done by tomorrow.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

what's in a name?

One thing I have noticed about kids... is just how much they LOVE seeing their own name printed on something... maybe it's the MINE factor, but whatever it is... they love it.

So a gift with a child's name on it, always goes down a treat. Something that is clearly just for them. Not for sharing... MINE... MINE... MINE... MINE... MINE...

This cushion makes for a simple gift idea. I have used a ready made cushion with a removable cover, but if your sewing skills are up to it, you could make it from scratch.

noah cushion

It's just as easy as it looks. First I cut my stars from some scrap fabrics. Then I embroidered the name on to the large star. I used some iron on interfacing to position the stars on the cushion cover, then worked a blanket stitch edging around the outline - securing the star in place.

noah cushion - closeup

It's really that simple!

I've made quite a number of these... sometimes I'll cut the individual letters from scrap material and sew them on to the cushion... just for something different.