{ Do what you love }

I recently came across a post entitled "Do what you love, 2014" an inspirational post about doing what you love by not making excuses, focusing, learning new skills, that kind of thing and I've decided.  I am going to do it.   For many years I owned a business, doing small jobs here and there, stopping and starting, having a family, and stopping and starting again.

So I am going to apply to be a part of a hand made show this December 2014, I am super pumped and scared all at the same time.  But its something I think I need to do.  There are many other things I would love to do like write and illustrate a children's book but I feel this is a starting point, to get my feet wet and see where it takes me.

{ Baby Mobile }

I am super excited to share a craft project that I finished for our dear friends who recently celebrated the arrival of their beautiful baby boy! He is such a cutie, and to help the new parents welcome their little bundle I crafted a modern safari themed mobile for the little ones room.

I am also thrilled to share these photos because they were taken with my new camera lens, which was a 30th birthday gift from my wonderful husband!

{ A handmade Christmas }

This past Saturday I went to a Christmas Party (The first of the season) and it was wonderful. The company was lovely (as always) the treats were delicious, the Christmas Carols beautiful and the laughter plentiful! Every year us ladies get together and have a good old fashioned secret santa gift exchange, this year we thought it would be fun to give handmade gifts and it was! I didn't really know what to make so I hopped on Pinterest and and found a fabulous tutorial from Etsy for a ruffled decorative pillow. Although the process was quite labour intensive, I finished the pillow and was very happy with the results! I hope to make some additional handmade gifts this year, I just hope I have time. Are you making any handmade gifts this year?

{ DIY: Stuffed Toys }

Owl Stuffies: Hammerandthread

Image Credit: Hammerandthread

Soft Baby Giraffe Rattles: Lotta Jansdotter Simple Sewing for Baby

Image credit: Sparkle Power

Original Post: The Black Apple

Image Credit: The Black Apple

Black Apple Martha Stewart Tutorial: Black Apple Doll

Image Credit: Martha Stewart

After the birth of our precious little girl, I've started thinking about toys and how special and fun it would be if I were to make her some plush toys..... so more projects are officially added to my ever growing list of things to make. Here are bunch of incredibly cute soft toys to make for your little one or to give as gifts.

PS I love, love, love THE BLACK APPLE.

PPS There are many dolls on The Black Apple website to love.

{le petit hiboux mobile}

Hi everyone, it has been a incredibly busy, but amazing week with the surprise arrival of our bundle of joy Kaisa, our little girl was born on Januray 8, 2011 6:08pm weighing 5lbs. 6oz. She has already stolen our hearts. I wanted to quickly share my labour of love. I made a baby mobile for Kaisa while she was still safely in my womb, all warm and cozy and kicking while I worked away on my trusty sewing machine.

I worked on this cute hiboux mobile in my spare time while relaxing at night with my wonderful husband Mark (who is a natural at being a dad). The design was inspired by various other mobiles that I saw, but not just one design. I wanted something modern, yet colourful owl themed and handmade. It was such a fun project, looking forward to working on some others that I have planned soon.

Happy Weekend! A little weekend craft project perfect for gift giving this Holiday Season. It is an easy and quick pattern, you will be knitting and felting in no time. Give this adorable felted bowl to someone special.

{Large bowl}

Materials

15mm straight needles, 1 yarn needle, 2x 100g balls of 100% wool yarn

Gauge: 10cm x 10cm

1. Cast on 54 stitches

2. Work 20 rows of stockinette stitch (work will measure appox. 7" long)

3. Decreasing rows:

Row 1 - K5, K3tog (repeat until last 5 stitches) K5

Row 2 - Purl

Row 3 - K4, K2tog (repeat until last 5 stitches) K5

Row 4 - Purl

Row 5 - K3, K2tog (repeat until end of row)

Row 6 - Purl

Row 7 - K2, K2tog (repeat until end of row)

Row 8 - Purl

Row 9 - K1, K2tog (repeat until end of row)

Row 10 - Purl

Row 11 - K2tog (repeat until end of row)

4. You will have 8 stitches remaining

5. Measure about 15" of yarn from your last stitch and cut. Thread yarn needle with the yarn. Pull the knitting needle out of the last 8 stitches, then send the yarn needle through those same 8 stitch loops.

6. Fold the finished bowl (which will look like a knitted hat), so the right sides are facing in.

7. Sew the two edges together with the same needle and yarn from the top of the hat down to the bottom edge.

8. Tie a secure knot when at the bottom of the edge.

9. Turn the finished bowl right side out.

10. Begin Felting

{Felting}

Place the finished piece in a wash bag and run it through a regular laundry cycle in hot soapy water. Toss it in with other items,which will intensify the agitation and help felt the wool. Mould the damp felted wool over and upside down bowl or cup and let it dry overnight. It will take the shape of whatever is used.

Then fill finished bowls with seasonal treats!

Original instructions for felted bowls printed in the October 2010 issue of

Canadian House and Home, weekend decorating.

{Nesting Dolls}

Silver Leaf Nesting Dolls: handle & spout

Lavender Gold Leaf Nesting Dolls: handle & spout

Happy Monday. I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and is ready to start the week!

It is snowing here in Toronto and our house is finally decorated, so it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, the holidays are fast approaching, and I have been searching the internet for great handmade gifts. Martha Stewart recently had a craft show (oh how I wish I lived in, or near New York sometimes) that had some very lovely goodies for sale which would make such thoughtful gifts for family and friends. Go to M-Dashing to take a look at some of these goodies.

Speaking of goodies, as you may all know by now, I LOVE Nesting dolls so when I saw these little lovelies from handle and spout (one of the vendors at the Martha Stewart craft show) I instantly fell in love with them and had to share my find with you. Aren't they sweet?

{Pretty DIY Wreaths}

Winter Wonderland DIY Wreath Purl Bee

DIY yarn wreath Take Heart

Felt DIY Wreath Pickles

Felt DIY wreath Pickles

Felt DIY Ruffle Wreath Domestifluff

Happy weekend everyone! Continuing with my love of felt and wool, I have been thinking about various Holiday crafts that use these fantastic materials. Today I am sharing some DIY wreaths that you can work on this weekend too. Aren't they lovely?

{Handmade Gifts}

1. Lovell Image credits:Lovell Designs 2. Jenna rose Image credits: Jenna Rose

3. Hilary Cosgrove Image credits: Hilary Cosgrove 4. Hilary Cosgrove 5. Jenna Rose

After going to the one of a kind show in Toronto, I found a lot of great handmade items that would make fantastic gifts to give to your loved ones. As an added bonus all of the handmade goodies were created by talented Canadian Crafters!

{ Felt Stockings }

With keeping with my post about Holiday ornaments I felt it would also be a good time to share these amazing stockings with you! I love, love, love these modern eco-friendly stockings designed by the rikrak studio . I can not stop gushing about them. She makes a lot of other fabulous designs too, take a look at her full collection on Etsy. Wouldn't these make a great addition to your home or make a lovely Holiday gift?

Image credits: the rikrak studio

{ DIY Ornament Roundup 1 }

Since I've been feeling in the Holiday mood lately, getting ready for decorating and filling my to do list with cute DIY Holiday projects from ornaments to stockings I thought it would be nice to end the week with a DIY Ornament Round up. There were so many great ideas out there for ornaments, it was hard to choose so I am sure this won't be my only post about great DIY crafts and ornaments. Making ornaments is really limitless and can be enhanced by your own creativity. I also hope to post some of my own projects soon. Have fun crafting!

1. Sewn Birds: The Purl Bee 2. Quilled Paper Snowflake: Tutorial 3. Paper Teardrop: Image Credits: A Little Hut

4. Modern Paper Ornaments: Design*Sponge 5. Felt birds: Purlsoho

6. Felt Christmas Ornament: Zakka Life