Corflute Garden Decorations for Children (and Grown Ups!)

Creative Ideas:

I was very happy with my project from last week using corflute! So I thought I’d try a few more ideas for using this material outside and around my garden.

This week’s project is more for the IDEAS, rather than the finished product, if you know what I mean. I just quickly did a few things up to look at, and unfortunately didn't have time to do more examples!

I thought a nice idea would be to decorate an outdoor children’s play area with shapes and designs cut out of the corflute.

I used exactly the same cutting method as I did for my Funky Outdoor Mobile, and then I simply hammered the shapes into the trees using nails that I had leftover from one of my Christmas Projects. All very simple of course!

You could use these corflute shapes for all sorts of things:

A lovely little fairy house at the bottom of a tree – imagine how exciting it would be for your child to discover it!

Or you could make a large shape out of one piece of corflute and secure it to a wooden block for a stand. Put it somewhere in your garden – the same as you would for a sculpture. 

My rabbit is fairly small, but again, it’s just for the idea. I don’t think I need any more rabbits in my garden as I have enough live ones! A large mushroom would look great, or a bird, or a tree, a boat… anything really! You could also put several bird shapes into a tree or make a kite mobile.

Shapes would be perfect to help decorate an unsightly tree stump – I’ve got a few of these around my garden! A perfect place for fairies to live!

Just try to keep your shapes relatively simple so that they’re easy to cut out.

And then when you or your children get sick of the shapes, you can throw them out!!

If you decide to try this project, have fun! 

Emma

PS I forgot to say that it is very easy to decorate your shapes if you wanted to – a permanent marker is perfect for use on the corflute.

Simple Soft Toy Elephant

Sewing:

I love making children's toys so this week I have a simple soft elephant for you. It reminds me of Emma's Easy-to-Make Soft Toy Elephant.

This is a great project for a beginner sewer and will take you under an hour.

I just drew up a basic elephant shape, similar to Em's and added a large ear in a contrasting colour that sits separate to the body.

If you want to make this for a little one I suggest you use either appliqué or embroider a small eye on just to be safe, like I did.

I made mine with a cute blue gingham check but I think it would be great recycling an old jumper or pair of jeans.

Happy sewing.

Caity x

Funky Hanging Mobile For Your Garden

Craft:

For some time now I have wanted to create a few items for my garden which are hard-wearing, simple and cheap to make. 

My garden at the moment consists basically of lawn and trees… no time for anything else with little children! I am gradually adding eye-catching items of interest such as waterbowls, pots, sculptures and other things. However, as I’ve been shopping around, I’ve found that so many ‘outdoor decorations’ that you find in garden shops are either out of my price range (i.e. usually the really nice things!) or are just a bit too busy and ornate for my home.

So, for my project this week I wanted to add to my garden’s collection, and I came up with the idea of making something out of corflute. Corflute is a very hardy plastic material and is perfect for use outdoors.

My garden mobile really was very easy to make. I firstly purchased a sheet or two of corflue from Bunnings. It cost less than $8 per sheet. I used about half of one sheet for this whole mobile.

I worked out a simple design in my head, and then I just started cutting out the corflute straight away – no drawing shapes on or anything. 

I found that it was easiest to cut the corflute by putting my knife on an angle (use a serrated knife too!)

Once I’d cut everything out, I worked out the placement for hanging each piece together. 

I used a meat fork thing (don’t know what it’s called) to make holes in the corflute for my bits of wire.

I used tie-wire, chopped into small-ish pieces and doubled over.

I threaded them through each of the pieces and then folded the wire back around so that all the pieces will be secure in the wind and weather!

Then I simply added another piece of wire at the top for hanging the mobile up. VERY EASY!

It looks fantastic hanging in lots of different locations around my garden! Here are a few examples:

For next week’s project I’m going to try a few other options for using corflute outdoors… I’ll see how I go!

Happy decorating!

Emma

Simple Stretch Knit Scarf for Mother's Day

Creative Ideas:

The weather is finally getting a little cooler here in sunny Queensland. Time for the scarves to come out!

I picked up a gorgeous navy and white stretch knit scarf from Country Road a few weeks back…. but it was a little pricey for what it was.

So I thought surely I can make one myself! How hard can it be??

Seriously this is the simplest sewing project you will ever make! It will take you 30 seconds - requires no cutting or sewing.

So if you would like to try one, it's as simple as this:

Find great super fine stretch knit fabric at your local fabric store..... mine was reduced to $8m at my local Spotlight!

Depending how big you want your scarf to be will depend how much you buy - I bought 1.2m and the fabric was 1.4m wide.

Bring home the fabric in your hot little hand and simply give it a light stretch along each edge. This will just allow the cut edges to roll slightly so that the raw edge is hidden.

Wrap around your neck and out you go!

If you want to make a present for your mum for Mother's Day this weekend but aren't really into sewing this idea couldn't be easier!

Happy Mother's Day for Sunday to all the mums out there including my amazing mum. 

Happy creating.

Caity x

Make a Quilt Canvas for Mother's Day

Artwork:

Lately I’ve been trying to use up some of my pieces of material, and I’m not letting myself buy anything new until I've used most of it up!

I’ve always liked Caity’s Children’s Paper Quilt Art Project, and wanted to build on that to make something similar for Mother’s Day using my fabric scraps. So I came up with this Quilt Canvas idea.
It really was a very simple and quick project. You also won’t need many materials.

I purchased a small-ish canvas (one with the larger sides), and used my scrap fabric, glue and paint that I already had on hand. The colour of the paint is Dulux Red Alert.

The whole project took about an hour to complete.

Firstly I cut up some small squares of all the fabric that I wanted to use.

Then I squeezed out heaps of glue and spread it out with my finger all over the area where I wanted to place my squares.

Then I simply stuck each one on! I was careful to ensure the design is balanced.

I finished the design by painting the sides of the canvas, which has added extra colour without being “too much”. The Quilt Picture is quite busy, so if you try something like this yourself, make sure that you leave enough space around the fabric for the picture to breathe.

Happy crafting for Mother’s Day!

Emma

Electrical Wire Ring and Bangle II Red

Creative Ideas:

Two projects from me this week! Caity has been unexpectedly loaded with extra work over the next few days, so she unfortunately did not get time to finish her project for this week.

Many of you will already be familiar with my Electrical Wire Ring, which I posted about some time ago. Well, I happened to be hanging out in Bunnings (again!) on Tuesday this week and came across this lovely red electrical cable building wire for $0.65 per metre. So I thought I’d add to my jewellery collection and make a new ring and bangle for myself! 

It certainly was a cheap purchase and it looks fantastic!

Maybe even your Mum would like a new jewellery set for Mother’s Day? !!

Happy creating!

Emma

PS You may also like to check out my Funky Red Bead Necklace for some more CHEAP and SIMPLE jewellery ideas!

Hang a Basket Upside-Down for a ‘Pretend’ Lampshade

Home Decorating:

Last week I was very lucky to be able to attend a local Basket Weaving Workshop - it was run by a visiting artist by the name of Harriet Goodall. Amazingly enough, we all went home at the end of the day with a basket that we’d made!

I can’t really tell you here on our blog exactly HOW we were shown to make the baskets (that would be giving her workshop’s secrets away!), but I can talk about how I have used mine since I brought it home.

Recently I set up this little sitting area on my verandah – it’s nice here in the sun all day. I used two metal chairs that my parents dug out of one of their sheds (I wire-brushed and painted them), and had the cushions re-covered in hardy material from Fab Outdoor Fabrics. I do like yellow at the moment! The scatter cushions are also made from the same outdoor material. 

You can also see that I still have lots of projects yet to do! (Check out the tatty chair on the right in the photo at the top!)

I will be changing the artwork fairly regularly in this spot, so I’ve just simply leaned this picture, one of my black and white squiggle designs up against the wall.

The little table in between the chairs was tiled by my husband when he was about 12 – nice to finally use it somewhere, and the ‘pretend’ lampshade is the basket I made at the workshop! I simply strung it up using a long strip of material and hung the end on a cup hook.

All very simple of course, but it all helps to make it a lovely place to sit with a cup of coffee (or three)!

Happy decorating!

Emma

PS Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is only a couple of weeks away! My project for next week will be a cheap and easy gift to make, but in the meantime, you may like to check out my Mother’s Day projects from last year for some more ideas...

Birdie and Egg Canvas

Collection in a Jar

A Meaningful Gift

... and here are a few more of my projects to give you ideas for REALLY SIMPLE gifts to make for Mum

Baby-wrap Bedcover for a king-sized bed

Packing Tape Picture

Blue and White Mobile

Simple Bird Mobile

Liberty Jewellery Bags

Sewing:

My friend Kat recently returned from a trip to Melbourne and bought me a pack of lovely lovely liberty cottons from Luccello. I haven't been, but looking on their blog (website coming soon) you can see just what an amazing place the store must be!

Anyway, like a lot of you I find I really hate cutting up beautiful fabric sometimes. I just want to keep it and admire it. But I thought better of it and have made some sweet little purses that would be great for jewellery.

They are padded with some left over wadding I had from quilts and then quilted so they are a little more protective for my jewellery.

Don't you just love liberty fabrics!

Happy sewing!

Caity x

Double-Sided Flag Paintings

Artwork:

Some flags are just so lovely and simple - especially the Danish and Swiss ones - and they look fantastic when used as part of a room’s design. 

I've seen loads of interior pictures using flag designs on soft furnishings and other items, so for this week's project, I thought I’d build on that and make something to be used as artwork in our home.

I wanted to do something a bit different this time, I thought I’d combine the two flags on the one piece of plywood. I painted one on the front, 

and one on the back. 

So when I get tired of looking at one side, I can flip the artwork over and have a completely new design! At the moment, I have them leaning up against the wall, so changing it around will be very easy.

This project was very simple and took no time at all. All you’ll need is a piece of plywood (I purchased mine from Bunnings), a ruler and pencil and some paint!

Firstly I printed out from the internet the flags that I wanted to paint. This way I could see exactly how to draw the flag.

Then I drew the design onto the plywood using a ruler. This was much easier that I thought it was going to be.

Then I painted in the red, then the white on the Danish flag. For the Swiss flag, I just left the ‘cross’ as it was – with the plywood colour showing through. The red colour that I used was Dulux Red Alert. The white was just a tin of something I already had in the cupboard. I only did one coat of each colour.

These paintings already look really good in our home!

Happy decorating!

Emma