Happy Birthday!

My little cousin Lily is turning 6 on Tuesday and for the first time ever I'm giving a completely handmade gift. I'm very nervous about this!!

I chose to give her this bag because it's my favourite and I know she will love it. It's pink and flowery and perfect for a little girl :) My original plan was to just give her the bag and buy some little things to put inside it, ie some hair clips, lip gloss, beaded bracelet etc. Then I thought "Why not make those too!" (except the lip gloss obviously, I don't know how to do that yet =p)

Then while searching through my stash I found this dress that's made from the same fabric as the flowers and the lining on the bag. For some reason this dress doesn't photograph very well, it's much prettier and has a much nicer shape in real life.

And a little bracelet to go inside her bag. Ella made this one! :) I'm also going to make some hair clips to go with the bracelet and I might buy some little "Lipsmacker" lip glosses to go with it too. Her wrapping paper and card are going to be handmade too! I'm using some of Ella's paintings to wrap up the gift and Ella has already made her a cute little birthday card. So apart from the lip gloss it will all be handmade. I hope she loves it!

Ribbon Barettes

I get addicted to things far too easily =p My latest addiction is these little ribbon bows. I've made about 50 of them in all the colours of the rainbow haha. I got some tiny little barettes off ebay and have stuck them on so now I have a whole lot of barettes and no idea what to do with them!

Clips

Fabric Covered Button Kits

These DIY fabric button kits are possibly the greatest invention ever. They are quick and easy to make - simply cut a circle out of your fabric using the template on the back of the packet, stitch loosely around the edges of the fabric, place the top of the button inside and then pull the thread until the fabric is nice and tight, then snap the back on. But be warned, they are addictive!

And what can you do with a bunch of fabric buttons? Make hair clips! :D

Fat Quarter

What to do with a fat quarter!? Lots of stuff =p I managed to use almost the entire piece, with just a few little scraps leftover.

Cloth nursing pads. I actually made two pairs of these but my overlocker ate the other pair :S

A little summer top for Ella.

An appliqued t-shirt, also for Ella.

A little coin purse

Another purse, this one is zippered

What it looks like without stuff spilling out of it...

Hair clips with "yoyo" embellishments and buttons.

DIY fabric covered button hair clips

More Clips!!

I'm obsessed with making these things...

Strawberry Hair Clip

Felt Hair Clips

I seriously love felt. It's cheap, it's easy to cut, it doesn't fray, and it's available in so many lovely colours. Anyways, here is some more felty goodness!

Felt Hair Clips

My overlocker is out of use so I've been forced to hand-sew today. Can you believe the overlocker has run out of thread already?? I only bought it 4 days ago =p

Anyway, I've been looking at all the gorgeous handmade hair clips on ebay and I have loads of spare felt so I thought I'd give them a try.

These last ones are a bit messy! Using fabric was a bit of an experiment that I don't think I'll try again.