Christmas is almost here

Hello friends.

 

Christmas is well and truly upon us. I was wandering through Harris Farm the other day (that place smells so good) and came across mini potted Christmas trees. I've decided that for our first ever Christmas tree this is what we'll buy since space is a premium in my house and there is honestly not one corner free for a full sized tree. I think I'll buy some mini baubles and lights from Ikea because their lights have little battery boxes that I can hide in the bottom of the pot plant. It will look something like this:

Source

In an effort to get the rest of the house in to the festive season, I might also look for some DIY Christmas decorations to hang around the place. Maybe some tissue paper pom poms, baubles etc. Some ideas I have found:

Not sure of the source

Source - these in red, green, white for the mantle perhaps

 

Basically, I am keeping it simple, but a little festive since we will be home this year. Speaking of being home - both our families asked us to not go away this year (no problem, we're saving anyway). Now both families are going away. Pay back, I think ha! No biggie though, we can just have a lazy day before we go to dinner together.

 

Are you decorating your house this year?

 

With these hands - Garden project

You may remember that week two's theme for 'With these Hands' was Garden. Since I had a Uni exam last week, study was consuming my time so I only just had time this weekend to go out and buy some stuff and create my little project.

I've wanted a little herb garden for awhile and so I bought some supplies and got to it.

I bought: 

•  Paper pots - $2
• Potting mix - $5
• 5 different types of seeds - $1.50 each
• 2 planter boxes - $3 each

I just used an old milk bottle cut up to write my herb names as I wanted something that wouldn't fall apart when it got water on it.

I have only planted the seeds in the paper pots for now so when they grow a bit more I can plant them in our garden bed in the backyard. Perfect for now and it only took me about half an hour to make the whole little herb garden.

With these hands - Week Two - Garden

For our second ‘With these hands’ DIY project, Ash and I have chosen the theme ‘Garden’.

The rules again if you wish to participate are:

• No nail-art (because there plenty of girls out there who can do that better than us!)
• Anything else goes really, whether it's as simple as a drawing or as complicated as a quilt so long as you can make/create it and it fits the theme it counts.
• The project has to be started before the following Friday - but not completed if it's a big one
• We have to blog about the project

The theme really is open to interpretation any way you would like to. You could make anything from a herb garden, to some art or even a floral arrangement.

Via  

Via

If you would like to participate, let us know and we will see about having a badge made for you to put on your blog.

You can see Week one’s Valentine’s Day project here

And Ash’s here

  

Happy Weekend, friends.

With these hands - Valentine's Day

Better late than never, here is my 'With these hands' Valentine's DIY project.

Originally, I wanted to make a love heart garland using felt. I started that project with hopes to put the final touches on tonight, but I was not loving the result, so instead I decided to make a card. We are not huge on Valentine's Day as our anniversary is in a couple of weeks so I knew anything I made would be appreciated but S would rather me not make a huge fuss.

I really love the look of tissue paper pom poms and I thought I would incorporate them in to the card. They can be tedious, especially with the size I was making them. When they are made well though, they look really pretty. 

Mine were not the best pom poms, but I am still happy with how the card came out. I could re-use this design and also alter it for Weddings, Birthdays etc. It really isn't just a Valentine's Day type card.

You will need: 

- Tissue Paper ($2 from K-Mart)

- String (I already had some on hand)

- A card or cardstock

- Glue (or tape if you ran out of glue like me!!)

You will need to choose a background colour and cut it in to a square smaller than the size of your card. Mine was about 8cm x 8cm. Glue or tape it down.

Choose three more colours, or any combination you want to. I chose dark and light pink. For the smaller pom poms, you will only need about 5-6 layers otherwise it will be too big and chunky. I cut my first square about 6cm x 6cm, the second one 5cm x 5cm and the smallest 3cm x 3cm. 

To make the actual pom poms, I followed this tutorial. When making them, be very careful as the smaller pom poms are easier to rip and a lot more tedious than the larger ones. 

Stick them on to the card any way you wish. I liked the look of the sizes getting smaller and so that's how I stuck them.

This is a very simple DIY but with more practice and some different ideas, it can actually look really good!

Check out what Ash made over at Miss Directions

With these hands

With every New Year comes the motivation I need to ‘try new things’. This year, I have decided to try out more DIY and spend time on weekends being productive rather than watching TV or surfing the internet.

I was talking to Ash from Miss Directions the other day and we decided to start a series….

We also already have another person keen to join in - Sophia from Je m'apelle Sophia

The Idea: The idea is quite simple, really. Each Friday we will release a theme and then we have to make something DIY (with our hands) that incorporates that theme.

The  Rules: (There aren't too many)

No nail-art (because there plenty of girls out there who can do that better than us!)

Anything else goes really, whether it's as simple as a drawing or as complicated as a quilt so long as you can make/create it and it fits the theme it counts.

The project has to be started before the following Friday - but not completed if it's a big one

We have to blog about the project

The Theme: We've picked an easy one for week one, Valentine's Day

If you would like to join in, let me know.

You can also click on the links below to go to Ash's or Sophia's blog to see what they have made.

Oh hey, nice dress

I sewed this dress awhile ago using the Vogue pattern 1236. On the weekend when I wore it out, I thought I should get some proper pictures of me wearing it, so asked Steve to take some when we were out.

Well, I think we can all see that I will never ever be a fashion blogger. To quote Steve - 'Hey Rhi, can you be less....awkward?'. 

I love the dress though. It's really comfortable and can be worn with or without a belt. I chose a belt, since I have a waist like most women do. The pattern was really easy to sew and really only had 2 main pieces which is handy for the amateur sewers such as myself.

Perhaps impromptu is my best angle?

*** 

Earlier in the week, I was looking for Teddy in all the common places I usually find him asleep. We recently moved a wooden chest we have to the front window so that Teddy could sit on there during the day and look out on to the street. 

Guess where he was sleeping?

His little cubby house 

Money Balloons - DIY

Buying a Birthday gift for anyone is hard for me at the best of times. I umm and uhh over the many choices, not really knowing if the recipient will enjoy the present or file it away for a later day. I, myself like practical presents. Ones I will use and not just stick aside wondering when I can use it (of course, I am incredibly grateful for any present!).

Steve's sister D is super hard to buy for. She has a particular taste in everything and she already has a lot of stuff. Apart from the usual alcohol that is given at a 21st Birthday, we were out of ideas...that is until I remembered a blog post I had once read which had a gift of money balloons on it.

After shopping around and contacting a few party shops, I found that the idea may not be so feasible. One shop would only put one note per balloon and no confetti and another was going to charge me $25 per balloon. Um, no thankyou!

I turned to my old friend google to find other options and I came across a shop that sells helium balloon kits for only $45 which is what I ended up buying and using.

I ended up having to buy better quality balloons as the ones included were thin and flimsy. They were also coloured which meant you couldn't see what was inside the balloon - only the shadow. The new ones I bought were clear and a lot better quality, so if you plan on making money balloons, I definitely recommend good quality transparent balloons.

How to make the balloons:

Well, this could vary. I will give the instructions I used myself, obviously with my own helium kit. You will also need two people.

1. Chop up your confetti so it is tiny. I used streamers in blue and red and cut it up in to super small pieces.

2. Roll up 2 notes (inside each other) and whilst one person opens the spout (is that the right word?) of the balloon, the other puts the notes in and also some confetti. This may take a practice balloon before you figure out how much is best for you.

3. Put the balloon over the helium spout and blow up your balloon!

It's really that easy. The balloons are such a fun gift and everyone was really impressed.