Cheater Pillow

Well here's a little something for the boys, triple score Mum points for that!

 

It's winter here at present and while it has been a very mild Winter the nights are still cool and there have been a few rainy weekends. My boys happen to love this, if you can't go out and it's too wet for the garden, it means you can spend daylight hours playing games or just snuggled up on the couch reading a book.

So being the world's most awesome parent, you can read the proof of that here, I thought I would make the boys a pillow with some knitted fabric I received from Wholeport.

Want to take or share my title for World's Best Mum or Mom depending where you're from.

Supplies:

• Skull fabric, this is the cheat part Wholeport sells it already cut to this size 35cm x 40cm
• Backing fabric
• Sewing supplies

Cut the backing fabric it's a simple open back I like to cut them the same size 25cm x 40cm overlocked the edge that will become the opening and fold it over 2.5cm and sew

Pin that baby well, making sure the back of the pillow overlap. As always right sides together, I'm usually a lazy pinner but this was knitted fabric so I wanted it in place. Sew around the edges, I use a 1'4 inch boarder because I wanted to keep the pictures and boarders on the knit piece looking uniform.

I also overlocked (serged) the sides you don't have to but it's neater. Also being woolen it will shed so if you need to wash regularly and don't have an overlocker/serger zigzag the edges

Then the only thing left to do was give it to the boys, Jack claimed it and now he has a cushion he can lay back and read on. He loved the feel of the fabric he actually commented how soft it was, and that is unusual for him to say anything. Wholeport also have other designs you can see them here.

It's very cool and that's how I retained my title of worlds best Mum...it's one of those things that gets given and taken at a moments notice!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Vinyl Bag

Sometimes you just want to do something purely for yourself and I love bags, but since I stopped working designer leather ones have not been on my list, but this month has been a big one! The electricity was out to a third of the house, the hot water service packed up, twice, meaning we carted 7 of us for 5 days anywhere we could for a shower, one car off the road waiting for repairs and quite frankly it was time to do something just for me.

So recently our local craft chain held a big sale and for whatever reason I decided I must have some of this white vinyl, it was on sale 50% off so I bought a meter, and there it sat no idea what to do with it until I decided on a bag.

I did the easy fold over method and chose lining and did the same for that.

Attached the lining,

 Grabbed an old belt and sewed it on for a handle.

Decided I needed some embellishments and got the  Big Shot out.

 Glued them on, you could sew but I didn't fancy hand sewing vinyl...plus this is quicker!

And, bang a new bag!

 

DIY Delight or Disaster? I have never sewed real vinyl, it was fun to try but the belt gave me a real headache, however it's done now and I love it! Delight!

So what have you done for you lately?

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Inspiration Cafe - Blooming Marvellous Link Party

The link party at the Inspiration Cafe is going on right now for our Bloomin' Marvelous Series.  If you've got a garden inspired post, old or new, head on over and link it up!  It can be anything garden related...a recipe, flowers, craft project, DIY,  sewing, etc.  If it's garden related...we'd love to see it!
Just click on the button below and join the fun!

Come share your project and inspire others!  The link party will be open through Saturday and we will be sharing our favorites next Monday.

Blogger Swap

When you first start blogging you wonder will anyone ever want to read what you've written and then you get that first real reader the one who comes back the next day and the one after that, always full of encouragement and it's an amazing feeling. For me that very first person was the gorgeous Estelle from Twinkle's Tutorials and Craft Time who comes all the way from Wales. She does all types of fun crafts and throws amazing parties for her 4 kids.

Anyway one day we were talking swaps and decided to do one and here is the lovely things she so generously sent me.

I opened the box and on the top which is just out of the frame it said G'day Mel and there was this pretty handmade sign. I love the Hollywood/Mellywood play.

Underneath that were so many lovely wrapped gifts.

The map of Australia and a bow pinned where I live.

Pin cushion jar filled with the cutest spools, pegs, twine and ribbons

Another sweet quote for the craft room all in my colours.

Crafting supplies to play with, look at that yarn, how cool is that!! Stickers full of bling, pearls and all that girly stuff we both have a fondess for. You'll be seeing a lot more of that soon.

These are symbols from Wales, the dragon dates back to King Arthur, and our family being fans of history and the boys being obsessed with Arthur Pendragon, the Knights Table and Merlin thought this was so cool. The ornate spoon is a replica as ones given as tokens of love and represent the Celtic patterns. Being from an Irish background Celtic history holds a lot of interest for us too.

Beautiful postcards from the equally beautiful Cardiff, amazing!

I couldn't wait to get the quotes up on my wall, as well as the embroidery hoop

Then once it was all done she popped in a lovely treat of chocolate to be washed down with even more hot chocolate

Thanks so much Estelle for your generosity and for being an awesome blog friend, one day I hope we can meet in person and watch reruns of Scott and Charlene's wedding while listening to Kylie...and I love that you know exactly what I mean! 

Don't forget to pop across and say hi to Estelle and you can see what I sent her here.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Craft Room Bench

Working on this craft room has been both fun and frustrating.

I want to have so many things but because of the awkward layout it's very hard to get some of them in.

Apart from the Houndstooth table which I craft on, I wanted a bench where I could spread stuff out and work, I don't like sitting for a lot of things. 

All up this baby cost me $6.50!!!! The only thing I paid for was the Ikea shelves below. The cans are the good old trash chic, paper covered cans.

Then bench itself comes from the laundry, my poor little washing machine finally died and was replaced with a great big family of 7 super sized one but sadly it meant I had to remove the back board and bench. However I get more use in here so I am not crying too loudly.

And all those boxes with the canvas bags in them were free from my Mum when she upgraded her fabric storage...SCORE!!!!!!! I know I should have cleaned it more but hey it's a craft room, try as I might it aint never going to be spic and span, let's be honest perfect craft rooms don't exist outside Pinterest and Better Homes and Gardens!

DIY Delight or Disaster? It's perfect to work in the space is just awesome. Okay so it's not the perfect, cutesy look but it's a real working room and for me it's a total delight!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

P.S. please don't mention the laundry, I may have cried and been more upset than this post alluded to, although the big washer has halved my work so win some/ lose some!

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!