Green Pea Earrings

It's been ages since I made some jewellery. I needed something green to match a coat and I came up with these. They remind me of peas in a pod.

Made with miracle beads - Sept 2013

A Daffodil for Daffodil Day

It was Daffodil Day recently and my daughters school has a fundraiser for the Cancer Society. They were to wear something yellow, but given I detest the colour (too many years working as a florist and everyone wanting yellow), she had nothing suitable. So I knitted this and it's been quite popular.

The pattern is available HERE for FREE. I used random weight yarns that I wanted to use up (great stash buster for those scraps). I didn't insert a wire for the stem, instead my daughter wore it tried around her ponytail. It got lots of mention. it's fiddly but worth it.

A scarf for Miss 6

My daughter decided her new favourite colour is blue (by the way, that lasted approx 2 months and now it's something else!) and she needed a new scarf. She's unfortunately taken an aversion wearing wool or being near it, (not good news for a knitter!) so I used up some acrylic I inherited from dear Nana when she passed away. She just loves it and feels very grown up (given the looks upon her sweet face when she wears it). I used the Lacy Scarf with Scalloped Purl Trim pattern from Cleckheaton. It's from This Book

There is an error on Row 2 (an every alt row). It should read K2, P3 at the end (NOT P2, K3)! Annnnd, don’t cut the tail after you’ve cast off, you’ll need it for the scalloping part. An easy knit with a little interest. Make sure you block it to get stitch definition, especially if you have issues with scalloping the edge.

DIY Giraffe Scooter Decoration

Recently my daughters school had a bike and scooter parade. There's not a lot of inspiration out there in google-land, so I thought I'd put my own idea here, in case it's helpful for others. If I'd had more time, I would've sewn the head of the giraffe, but alas, I was flying by the seat of pants and this is what I came up with...

This was SO easy to do! The base for the neck is a tube from newsprint or architect paper. I made a base for the head from thin card and stuck the felt over the top. If I were to make any other animals in future, I'd use the card (or paper) as a pattern for the felt and stitch up the head with my sewing machine (or by hand). Anyway, it did the job nicely and just stood through torrential rain!

Here's what I did:

I cut the cardboard tube lengthwise and placed around the scooter pole. I then made incisions all the way down the dark brown felted fabric and splayed them out, one tab on one side, one on the other, all the way down and I glued in place with PVA. This will be the mane. I have 2 pieces of felt as mine wasn't long enough to do one piece, you won't notice it later.

Cut out a length of light brown felted fabric (see below) and paper clip to the top of the tube. Grab a pencil and mark out where you're going to trim the excess fabric off (most scooters have an adjustment lever midway down the pole which means the fabric won't have a straight edge).

Cut the felt and use PVA to glue it on to the cardboard tube. If you want to sew on your giraffe spots (instead of gluing) then do this before you glue this piece and stick on the tube. I just glued mine, but they're not the best in wet weather.

Use paper clips to hold it on at the top while it dries and you do the next step.

Use a running stitch right through both sides of the light brown felt and dark brown felt, to hold it all together (glue won't be enough).

Cut the mane (if you have more than one length of felt for the mane, like I did, ensure you line up the incisions for the mane).

Cut out dark brown felt spots for the neck and stick on with PVA (unless you've sewn them on already).

As I mentioned above, I cut out the head from card and taped it all together then stuck felt over it with PVA glue. In rain, it really needs sewing, but if you're time poor (like I was), this works just fine. The sides are the shape you want to cut 2 of. Then cut a long straight rectangular piece for the front of the head (to join up to the 2 side pieces). You can hand sew over the sides if you want extra stability and longevity. I cut out 4 ears and shaded them in and 4 ossicones (horn thingies), and stuck 2 together as my cardboard was thin.

I separated the 2 stuck together pieces a little at the bottom and splayed them outwards. After making a slit with craft knife in the head, I poked the ears/ ossicones through and used PVA to glue to the inside of the head, then taped over the top for extra hold, attaching with a peg until they dried.

Because I had no time to sew, I used PVA to glue across the top of all edges (it dries clear). I cut out 2 eyes and added 2 nostrils.

I filled it with newspaper once it was dry and cut a little out of the bottom of the head so it would sit flatter against the pole (neck).

I punched holes in the head (as shown) with scissors, and got matching ribbon I wanted to recycle to attach to the scooter securely.

Secured at top AND sides.

Don't forget to draw a mouth!

This was a real hit, you should've seen my daughter's face!

Kit Kat Cake

I really love this idea that I found on Pinterest recently. My niece is turning 11 soon, so I might try and make something similar. This picture unfortunately has no link back to the original cake designer.

Pixie Slippers!

How cute are these?! This was a FREE pattern from the generous Flint Knits. I gave these 4 hot cycles in my top loader machine to felt them. I used some 100% 12 ply wool from Skeinz. It doesn't matter if you gauge 100% as you just make them fit while they're drying after felting. Miss 6 loves these - they're fit for a fairy!!

Shabby Chic Bunting Cake

I have wanted to try something like this for a long time, but getting edible ink rice paper in the right designs is impossible in this country. Thankfully Jo from Sweet Whimsy came to my rescue and printed out some beautiful designs for me to use - she really is such a honey and I highly recommend her. It's easy to cut out the triangles, you just get a template off the internet to use and cut out with sharp, clean scissors. I made this cake for a friend who wanted it for a 50th birthday party. My first paid job - unfortunately after a few dramas, I think I got paid $10 for 8 hrs work!

I used sugar water to paste the images on to thin triangles of fondant. Her recommendation is clear piping gel and I think that would be better, as the paper kind of warped a little and became brittle - very easy to break corners off if they hang over the edge of the fondant triangle.

I used Annabel Langbein's ultimate chocolate cake recipe and made the 2 smaller cakes, and her chocolate ganache (although I halved the ingredients of the ganache and still had leftovers). The ganache needs to be chilled for 1 1/2 hrs with the occasional stir, so that it sets firmer to use as a filling. You can heat it up in the microwave a little to use for the crumb coating. You have to be quite careful with this cake though as it's easy to knock edges off! I wished I'd used a white choc ganache instead for the crumb coating, some got on the fondant and looked terrible until I covered it over with the bunting flags.

To attach the flags, you use royal icing as glue. Before gluing down I used a piece of string and pinned them to the cake how I wanted them to fall with clean pins. This is where the icing string then goes afterwards. So I stuck all the bunting flags around the string, removed the string and used royal icing to pipe the edible string. I wished so much for a fondant extractor gun (not cheap) as I really am not happy with the royal icing, it was so difficult to make it look straight and nice.

Last of all, I attached a ribbon around the base with a pin at the back to fix it, then cut a small round of wax paper and placed camellia's from my friends garden on top. Camellia's will only last the night, but that's fine. I also attached blue ribbon around the cake board with double sided tape.

I wanted to cover the cake board with fondant but I'd run out by the end. I had so many dramas with it and wasted 2 packs of it as it kept cracking. I just cannot figure out how to prevent this occurring.