Chlo Bear and I have been pretty tired this week so we have decided to take the night off and rest up. Starting…..NOW!
Archive | January, 2012
Meet Angus the Little Penguin
30 Jan
I have been into crafts for the past two years and up until now I had never made anything for my lovely boyfriend, aside from the crochet bow that went on his Christmas present last year – but everyone got one of those. It was definitely time to get my act together and make him something special seeing as he is so special to me.
I came across the pattern for this adorable amigurumi penguin and knew straight away that it was the perfect crafty gift for him seeing as penguins are his favourite animal (he even named his business after them). He has plenty of penguin paraphernalia, but I think this one stands out the best.
Since I handed the teeny tiny penguin over yesterday he has been dubbed “Angus the little penguin” and will spend his days happily
sitting beside my boy’s computer keeping him company. I plan on making an older brother for Angus. I am so in love with amigurumi at the moment, they are so much fun and easy to make.
The boy has already asked me to make a dozen of these for him to hand out to clients as Christmas gifts…I better get started! Happy Monday everyone!
A Picture An Hour: Australia Day
27 Jan
I have been wanting to do one of these posts for a while and yesterday was Australia Day – meaning i got the day off and could take pictures of something other than my keyboard – so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some happy snaps each hour.
8.30am – breakfast time
9.30am – getting ready
10.30am – finishing off my crochet fruit bowl
11.30am – driving in to Fremantle
12.30pm – lunch time
1.30pm – getting ready for The Descendants
3.30pm (I couldn’t take a picture in the movie theatre because that would be illegal so I skipped an hour – that’s right, I follow the rules!) – drinks at Little Creatures
4.30pm – chatting
5.30pm – packing to go to Grants
7.30pm (Whoops, fell asleep!) – making corn fritters
8.30pm – watching the fireworks from the balcony
9.30pm – washing up
10.30pm – puppy pic time
11.30pm – catching up on the blogosphere before bed
What a lovely day!
Try Something New Tuesday: Granny Squares
24 Jan
What did we do without the Internet? Seriously? It probably would have taken me months to figure out how to crochet a granny square, trying to interpret those messy little instructional drawings in the crochet books. Instead, with a very big thank you to YouTube, I was able to learn the craft in no less than 30 minutes! I’m pretty sure one day people won’t even need much of an education to get a job, they will just apply for the job of their dreams and use Google to figure out the rest. Isn’t that what a lot of us do now anyway?
Back to granny squares. I was never really fond of granny square blankets as I was growing up – I thought they were obscenely coloured things that hippies used to decorate their combis (no offence to any hippies out there – I really do like combis now, and granny square blankets for that matter). Now that I realise it is not a requirement of a granny square blanket to be made up of all the colours of the rainbow (or for them to be made by grannies) I have a major desire to make one. For now this granny square garland will have to do!
If you need help getting started with your granny squares, this guy on YouTube is a champ!
Crochet Taxidermy
18 Jan
I never thought I would be a fan of taxidermy…it kind of creeps me out knowing that animals can be stuffed and put on display. That was until I discovered crochet taxidermy – cute little wooly animals stuffed with fibrefill!
Now I am a little obsessed with the craft form (the crochet kind only) and definitely wouldn’t oppose to having a wooly deers head above my mantelpiece. Maybe I’ll even make one myself!
Here are some of the best I have found across the web:
Above three pictures via Lion Brand Art Studio
Via Mental_Floss
Via Lost At E Minor
Try Something New Tuesday: Outfit Post
17 Jan
When I started this blog I never thought I would ever be comfortable enough to do an outfit post, but here I am doing just that. I think change and growth is what is so great about running a personal blog. Each day I find myself trying new things, learning and building on my self confidence. In the six months since I have had Paper Bunnys I have been actively shaping myself into the person I want to be. I don’t think it is a journey that will ever end.
I love that personal style blogs have taken over my need for fashion magazines, it feels a lot healthier. Instead of browsing page after page of stick-thin, airbrushed models thinking “I hate my thighs”, I am scrolling through pages of beautiful everyday people for a style fix and actually embracing my thighs! Those ‘real people’ are the reason why I was confident enough to do this outfit post in the first place!
Dress, Earrings and Belt/Cotton On, Bag/Levis, Shoes/Anthropologie, Watch/Fossil
Thanks to my lovely boy for taking these happy snaps!
Christmas Recap
12 Jan
Usually at Christmas a lot of my time is spent getting from one family gathering to another and stuffing my stomach with three or more meals from all the different parties, which usually results in three or four food babies residing in my stomach. In the past it has been a bit of a stressful affair. This year was a welcomed change as the festive celebrations were spread over Christmas and Boxing Day. Here is a look into our Christmas.
We kicked off Christmas Eve with a tour of some of the best Christmas lights in Perth. We have never really done this before but I think we might make it a tradition because it was the perfect thing to get us in the spirit. The houses looked amazing, one of them even had a (fake) snow machine which I enjoyed playing under!
I finished my crochet bows for my Christmas wrapping just in the nick of time. Everyone loved them and started wearing them in their hair and as bow ties so I was chuffed!
We enjoyed a relaxing Christmas day with some of our family accompanied with loads of food and then an even more relaxing Christmas night baking and watching Christmas movies. We watched our favourite Christmas movies from our childhoods, Grant’s choice was The Muppets Christmas Carol and mine was The Santa Claus (don’t judge me!).
I have never spent a Christmas where we have nothing planned in the evening, so it was really special to spend Christmas night with just the two of us. We put the air-con on and wore our Christmas jumpers, pretending it was cold outside.
Boxing day was amazing. My mum had gone to so much effort decorating and cooking up a storm – her table setting was magical! I contributed the blue and white striped paper straws, which were a blast from the past for my mum and dad.
This is the delicious lime tart that I made!
We unwrapped loads of presents (before lunch of course) and celebrated my grandpa’s birthday which was on Christmas day. Everyone had put in to buy him a vintage Ukrainian accordion. He cried when he unwrapped it – he is so so adorable!
We ate and drank, had a spa, played a really fun present game and everyone kicked on until the evening. Such special times!
I think this Christmas was one of the best I have ever had!
Try Something New Tuesday: Amigurumi
10 Jan
While wandering the isles of my local craft store in search of fabric my boyfriend came across the most adorable bunny amigurumi kit and I just had to get it. I didn’t even think twice! My crochet skills are pretty basic and up till now I have only made really simple projects based on square patterns so I was quite shocked to find out that this cutesy craft is easy to pick up.
I didn’t even know what amigurumi was until I bought this kit, I just thought they were cute squishy little crochet creatures that make you smile (I’m glad I can finally put a name to them because ‘cute squishy little crochet creatures that make you smile’ is quite a mouthful!).
I finished this little guy in about three hours – that may sound like a long time but it went really quickly because you make each section individually and sew it on as you go so your time is broken up and you don’t get bored of doing the same thing over and over.
The kits are jam packed with everything you need to make an adorable amigurumi – including a really nice aluminium crochet hook (I have been trying to hunt one of these down forever) and easy-to-read instructions.
I have decided to call the little guy Hudson after the Instagram filter I used on these pictures. I think it is perfect for him because he is cute but also has a bit of attitude!
Hudson meeting my other bunny, Benjamin, for the first time. Maybe one day I will have a real bunny to introduce these guys to!
Here he is again taking pride of place on my bed!
I had so much fun with this week’s Try Something New Tuesday – it feels so great to extend myself and go out of my comfort zone! I hope you are enjoying your week so far!
What’s In My Sewing Kit?
4 Jan
I have spent the last week building up my sewing kit, there are a surprising amount of things to buy if you are a first-time-sewer! Luckily the boy bought me this great sewing bag for Christmas and filled it with a lot of the handy things I would not have thought to buy like needle threaders, organisers, a thimble and a seam ripper (I have used this on pretty much every project I have made so far, definitely one of my most handy tools). But there were still a lot of crafty tidbits that I needed – extra bobbin cases, a tapestry needle, chalk pencils, various buttons, the list goes on. Believe me, it was an expensive process!
It was pretty daunting to go through the isles at the craft store trying to figure out exactly what I needed to buy so I figured a “What’s In My Sewing Bag?” post would be appreciated by all those beginner sewers out there like me! Here goes…
Scissors (you will need a variety of scissors, bent-handled dressmaker’s scissors for cutting fabric, pinking shears to reduce fraying, general purpose scissors for cutting out patterns and small embroidery scissors to snip thread)//a clear ruler//a variety of buttons (mine are all in neutral tones)//sewing organiser//magnet for picking up spilled pins//a wearable pin cushion//bobbin and thread organisers//pencil//elastic//plastic tape measures (one of mine is retractable which is handy when you want to measure something quickly and then put it away)//needlecase (I made this)
Here’s a closer look at my sewing organiser.
My sewing organiser is probably my most used thing out of my sewing kit. It holds my pins and safety pins, embroidery scissors, seam ripper, a variety of threads, chalk pencil, tapestry needle and needle threader. It is really handy to separate these into compartments and makes packing up a breeze.
This is the needlecase I made (another project from Cath Kidston’s book Sew!). I definitely recommend buying or making yourself a needlecase to avoid pricked fingers – it is really hard to put needles back into the cardboard holders they come in when you buy them. My needlecase holds medium-length sharps, crewel needles and short quilting needles.
And finally – a range of fabric on standby. I tend to buy flat fats (little squares of fabric) each time I go to the craft store, I figure that I will use them for small projects or even inspiration for future projects. They are fairly inexpensive and I have used them in several of my projects so far.
After this the only other thing you will need is a bag to put it in. The bag my boyfriend bought me is great because it has plenty of compartments to store little things in so my equipment doesn’t get muddled and it is super easy to pack up.
I hope you enjoyed the peek into my sewing bag – I think it’s time to start another project!
Try Something New Tuesday: Quilting
3 Jan
My mum and dad bought me a sewing machine for Christmas and ever since I unwrapped it I have been sewing non-stop. I love my new-found craft and have discovered so many things I want to make.
Quilting is something I have been afraid of for some time, it looks so complicated and I never thought I would be able to do it, let alone follow through with an entire project… unless I did it as a TRY SOMETHING NEW TUESDAY!
I chose this adorable quilted purse design from Cath Kidston’s book Sew! (I highly recommend this book for beginners), went to Spotlight and picked out some pretty vintage floral fabric, ric rac, embroidery thread and away I went. I quickly realised it wasnt nearly as hard as it ‘seamed’!
Surprisingly the project only took me about a day of on/off sewing to complete and it looks super professional thanks to the quilting. Not bad for my fourth ever sewing project!
What did you guys try this Tuesday?
Top image designed with Polyvore.
