Colouring in style

Just as a little background ... I'm very new to sewing stuff like this.  My Mum is a fantastic seamstress, and was in fact a Home Ec / TAS / whatever-it's-called-now teacher, so I grew up with lots of sewing and stuff going on at home, but never did a huge amount myself, and never thought I was much good at it.  Also, the idea of a sewing pattern scares me half to death ... I'm much more comfortable just making things up as I go along.  So I've really only started trying some more in-depth sewing recently...I've made a few things like some PJ's for Bethany, a pram liner for Hannah, a lunch bag for each girl, a baby sling (posts of each of these things will probably pop up at some time in the future), and who knew...I can actually sew a bit!  Having said that I usually change things up a bit from the instructions to make things simpler for myself.

At the moment, one of my favourite things to do is think of a craft idea that has a practical use, but is also funky and a little bit special (eg something for Bethany to carry her pencils and drawing when we go out) and to find a suitable project that uses only as much fabric as I have, and is a style I like.  So I googled and searched all over the net, til I found this awesome little pencil / drawing case.  I couldn't resist trying it ... like straight away!  Here's the tutorial from Little Big Girl Studio.  Love all the stuff on this blog!

Now my other favourite thing to do is to find a project like this, then work out how to make it that day, without leaving the house to get supplies... I guess it helps me keep motivated to get it finished quickly, costs very little, and totally gives me a sanity craft fix in that moment when I'm in need of some "me" time ... which lately with my 2 busy munchkins, and our current era of very little sleep, seems to be more and more often!  So one day, while both munchkins napped I whipped this up using scrap fabrics, and a beautiful fat-quarter of babushka fabric that my hubby bought me for Christmas (yes, I'm well aware that a fabric-buying hubby is very rare ... he's awesome!)  Babushka's are one of my absolute favourite things, and I love cute stationery, so to me, this was a perfect match.


Here's what Bethany ended up with, along with a few others I've made for little friends since...

I got this cool little tin of pencils from Daiso (the little Japanese shop where everything is $2.80) and some stickers from the Reject Shop for the other little pocket...so this really was a very cheap project.

Instead of using batting to give it some extra weight, as was suggested in the LBG tutorial, I actually just used a little scrap of fleece I had left over from a past project.  It was thick enough, and definitely much easier than battling with batting / wadding that I've used before.  That's my tip anyway!

A few days after I finished this, I was looking in a little $2 shop, and found this picture imprint kit ... you remember the ones with the tile stencils, then you place a piece of paper on top, use the little black rubbing crayon, and end up with a picture to colour in.

I used to have one of these when I was a kid and I loved it, so when is was priced at $2, I couldn't resist getting one for Bethany ... but of course she said "Mum, this is nice, but where will I put all the bits?".  This over-tired and slightly crazy Mummy's response was "Mmmm, let me think while you're in bed tonight, and you'll have something by morning".  The great thing was there was just enough of my gorgeous babushka fabric left from the drawing case to make a little bag ... just added a button, and some lining so that I could include little pockets for the crayons, and Ta-Da!

Needless to say, Bethany was very excited to wake up the next morning and find this little bag sitting at the end of her bed.  She's now taken to saying things like "Mummy, I think my chairs need cushions ... you can make them while I'm asleep and leave them on the end of my bed, OK!"  Oh dear, I've created a monster!