All posts filed under: Let’s make stuff

Pom poms in the Springtime!

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Yesterday I made a few pom poms with my new pom pom makers and I can’t believe how quick it is to make these little fluffy cuties with a proper ‘maker’!  I feel like a cheat, but I am sure I will get over that.  So. Darn. Quick.  Hurrah.  I am actually thinking that a pom pom rug might not take the rest of my life now! Anyway, less rugs, more Spring. I made some little Springtime critters and of course some carrots for them to eat. I started with a pile of pom poms all ready to sew together. Here’s how. To make the carrots, I made three poms in graduating sizes and them sewed them together.  I made a very loose pom pom with green wool and cut it unevenly and sewed it on the bigger end to make the carrot leaves.  I trimmed them a little to get a better carrot shape, but not much.  Now we need a bunny to eat the carrots. The bunny is two pom poms, one big, …

Things to do with a cauliflower

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Today I am linking up with Heike to have a little chat as part of her ‘But it Tasted Good’ series.  I picked on the cauliflower to see how it tastes good and what else we can do with it! Cauliflower is an ace vegetable, it looks cool and to think of all the things you can do with one. Cauliflower and cheese. Always a good dish, with slightly crunchy steamed cauli and a lovely cheese sauce made with flour and butter and milk and cheese. Extra cheese on the top with a few sliced almonds and a good toast to get the top all crunchy.  This is definitely going to taste good. Raw with dips. I like the sound of raw crunchy white mini trees to dip in some home made salsa or a yoghurt dip, but raw cauliflower really isn’t often a good option for me. I don’t dislike it, but I think it dislikes me as it gives me a stomach ache. So even though it tastes good, we can’t be veggie …

February 2014 Photo a Day

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There goes February, a short month and a chilly one too, we had snow and ice and rain and sunshine.  Hopefully March will bring Spring out from hiding behind Winter.  Come on out Spring, we are all friendly and can’t wait to see you! Here are my daily photo offerings for February, I follow the prompts supplied by lovely Chantelle at Fat Mum Slim. 1. You.  Circa 1984, in a homemade and dyed dress. 2. Favourite.  Finding old beads and charms to make into something. 3. Something Orange 4. Childhood 5.Square 6. C is for ….meow 7. Utensil 8. Water 9. Details. 10. I am…. 11. Mistake.  Walking on that ice would be. 12. Out + About.  Detail of a local bridge. 13. Perfect.  The perfect Valentine’s haul from school. 14. Heart 15. My drink of choice.  Homemade frothy coffee. 16. Create 17. Vegetable.  Pom pom carrot! 18. Magic.  First flower on the Rosemary. 19. Feet 20. Peace 21. Funny.  This guy. 22. An act of Kindness 23. This where I relax 24. Half 25. …

How to make a Pom Pom Carrot

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Pom pom carrot!  I know, a pom pom carrot sounds bonkers and of course it is.  So what else to do, but to make one. Here’s how. Make three pom poms in graduating sizes, I used a cereal packet to cut my pom pom bases out and increased the size of each circle by 2cm each time, ending up with  4cm, 6cm and 8cm discs.  I used orange fluffy wool but any orange wool will be great. For the leafy top, I loosely wrapped some green wool around my hand a few times in an uneven manner and tied it like a pom pom and trimmed open the ends.  Almost like a very loose freeform pom pom. Sew them together using the wool already on the pom, include the ‘leaves’ as you sew the three together. Fresh from the pom pom garden!  Now where is the pea green wool…… Have fun making pom pom veg and don’t forget to tell me what you made in the comments!

Pom pom Heart

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I made a little pom pom heart for you.   Look! This would be a great little Valentine craft for kids, it takes a while, but not too long and they can mix in colours or make them a solid colour. I made my mini pom poms from a mix of pinks and reds. I was interested to see how the colours came through as to be honest, I have never mixed colours before, always used one colour per pom pom. I liked my little multi colour experiment and I am inspired to do more and trying to direct the colours where I want them instead of randomly like these. Want to make a pom pom heart? Make three pom poms, all the same size. I made pretty small ones (about two inches across), but you can make them any size you like. Sew the pom poms together using the same wool, two on the top, one underneath, making a basic heart shape. Leave one strand to hang with and trim the pom pom heart …

3/52 Weekly Photos 2014

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I didn’t take many photos this week, the photo a day prompts and a few randoms. So here are the randoms! This was one of the choices for the ‘black and white’ prompt for Wednesday’s photo. I used a different one, but I like the sun flare in this one. Talking of the sun, here it is rising through the trees on our way to school. The sewing machine came out this week to try out a bag pattern I have designed. It has given me lots more ideas for bags now!  Sew sew sew. Yesterday I tried out a S’mores Brownie recipe which is  yums!  It made more than I thought it would, I wonder if it will freeze?  Can you freeze cooked marshmallows?  I might be about to find out. Both of my kids have the flu, so today has been filled with watching ‘Wild Kratts’ and ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’, drinking lots of water and moaning and groaning.  I hope everyone in your house is healthy.

The jar of positivity

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I have seen various themes on this idea, so I decided to give it a whirl in our house for this year. We found a lovely blue vintage Mason and every day we have written a little note of positivity to pop in there. I am not sure we are going to jam in 365 notes, so the notes could get smaller or maybe we will start writing on the back of the existing ones. The idea is to write a teeny note (or you could write a giant ones and just roll them up small!), every day consisting of some positive words.  Something you have done, seen, heard, like, wish.  Or just a word of goodness.  Maybe a mini drawing or two will make it in, I am sure it will.    Anyone can write (or draw) the note as long as one per day goes in.  We are doing well so far, usually a cry of ‘anyone got an idea for the note’ brings a call or two back and we have one …

Rosemary and orange syrup

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I like flavoured syrup for coffee or ice cream, even better home made syrup. That way I can put my own flavour in like rosemary and orange. I have been making rosemary syrup for a while, but for this one I thought orange would be a welcome addition. Recipe 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup water Zest of 2 oranges Rosemary sprigs (I use about 6) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Heat to melt the sugar and continue to heat gently for 15 minutes, turn off the heat, add the vanilla and leave for a further 15 minutes. Strain into a sterilized jar with a fresh sprig of rosemary or two. Makes about 1 cup. Add to coffee and impress your friends with a fancy frothy coffee!