A Monthly Make Challenge - January 2011

As well as my personal challenge of trying to make something new every week, I have also joined the Monthly Make Challenge 2011 organised by Annie the Felt Fairy.  I am really excited to see what others have made and a bit nervous truth be told about showing off my little projects - but nothing ventured and all that.  So here is my make for January:

When I'm not crafting (sewing, knitting, baking, card-making ....) I like nothing more than enjoying a hot creamy latte in our local coffee shop, preferably accompanied by a large piece of cake and all enjoyed whilst reading an Agatha Christie - heaven.

Luckily my little Princess (who is still only 3) is quite happy to accompany me on my (very regular) visits to the coffee shop, providing of course she has a stash of books, magazines and colouring to keep her busy.  She is such a good girl and I love our little outings together so I thought I'd make her a little crayon roll, that she can keep all her favourite colours in and use when we are out and about.

I've seen a few of these recently and thought that they were really practical and knew that it would be just up her street.  As she's a girlie-girl I made my version using her favourite pink and lilac colours and added a little flower detail for added cuteness.  A little bit of pretty ribbon keeps it all neat and tidy.  I'm really happy with the end result - what do you think?

Are we nearly there yet?

Well I don't know about you, but we are suffering with the January blues a bit in our house, so Mr A decided that we might all benefit from a little holiday.  As you can imagine the kids are super excited (as am I to be fair) and regularly ask whether today is the day we are going on holiday.  So I had an idea to help them count the sleeps until we go away and made them these little blackboards which they can update with chalk every morning.

They were really fun and quick to make and were a perfect way of using up a couple of summer-themed Sizzix dolls I had left over from a kids beach party we organised last summer.... and more importantly the kids are really enjoying using them - perfect.  

A very special make

January is definitely a month for birthdays in our family – not only is this a great excuse for a party, but it also provides lots of inspiration for crafting projects.  My latest project has been extra special to make however, as its a gift for my little sister's new baby, who arrived at the beginning of the year.

This is the first time I’ve had a go at making a name banner, so am very pleased with the end result.  You’ll notice that I used the same materials as for Little Owl (coz I liked them) and the same shabby-chic style (because I’m not very good at neat). Mr A suggested that is was a good job that she had been given a short name which contained letters with straight edges – cheek!       

Meet Little Owl

I’m very pleased to tell you that I have stuck to my challenge (which is a challenge in itself for me – lol) and completed my first make of the year!

Meet Little Owl.  He was made for Mr A’s niece’s 7^th birthday (Happy Birthday Sweetie x).  I really like the design I came up with and am really pleased with how he turned out.  I love the his shabby-chic look and think the materials work really well together – particularly as I managed to use some pretty tea-towels that I found in the sale in Wilkinsons and a pair of Superhero’s jeans that he never got to wear as he grew too tall, before he was round enough for them to fit him round the waist!  I know that Little Owl has been hung up in niece’s bedroom already, so all in all, I’m rather proud of my first make.

A new challenge

Mr A and I decided that we wanted this Christmas to be a bit less commercial and a bit more personal, so set ourselves a little challenge to make as many of our gifts as we could.  We referred to this challenge as the 12 Makes of Christmas - this is what we made:

1.  4 Children's Door Hangers
2.  An Apron for Mr A's mum
3.  15 Christmas Cards, picture designed by our little Superhero
4.  5 Felt Brooches
5.  6 Bird Feeders, Mr A's design
6.  A Christmas Wreath for the front door
7.  12 Mugs of Snowman Soup for the kid's friends
8.  A batch of Reindeer Food, which we left for Rudolph on Xmas Eve
9.  6 Hair-band Holders, for our nieces and god-daughters
10.  10 Salt-dough Christmas Tree Decorations, decorated by our Little Princess
11.  3 Packets of Spiced Orange Chocolate Brownies, for Superhero's Teachers.
12.  2 Felt Christmas Party Hats

Not bad?  We really loved being creative and are very proud of our end products... but now I am completely bitten by the making bug, so have set myself a new challenge to make something every week for 2011.  I've already started my first item - I'll let you know how I get on.

New Year, New Start

No resolutions for 2011, just a personal challenge!