happy new year!

Also looking forward to new years' eve? Looking for a simple way to make the party a little more festive? Print these labels, punch a hole and hang from the (champagne)glasses. You could also glue them to straws or a string to make a simple garland.
Enjoy!

Free printable christmas flags

My little girl has her first official Christmas dinner at school this week. All the parents are supposed to make a dish. We were given the task of making some wraps with cream cheese. Not a culinary challenge unfortunately, so I wanted to make it a little more festive. I created these Christmas flags I'm going to print on labels, just cut and apply on a stick. Should look cute.

Feel free to use my labels! Enjoy.

Angel/fairy bag (easy DIY)

It’s my little girls first year in school and I wanted to give her teachers something small to wish them happy holidays. Of course I wanted to make the gift myself and while making a skirt from some light pink organza I got a cute idea. Here’s how I made a cute angel gift-bag I’m going to fill with some Christmas chocolates. Trust me, this is an easy project and you can get your kid involved as well!

First, I roughly determined how big my bag should be and then I drew some wings on a piece of paper. When they were to my liking, I transferred the shape on the organza. Just put you fabric on top of your drawing and follow your own lines. I made my wings with two separate wings, but you can do it just how it suits you best. When the line is on your fabric, just fold the fabric so that you end up with a double wing. Trace the lines with your sewing machine. Then cut out your wings, leaving a small trim. On the left you see the lines on my fabric, on the right the lines have already been sewed.

Now just cut two rectangle shapes at the size you want your bag to be and fold over one edge, leaving a hole for a ribbon later on (this will be the top of your bag). Pin your wings to the half of the bag. I had to fold them a little so that I wouldn’t accidentally sew them on the bag at the wrong places.

 

Put the other rectangle on the wings and sew the bag. When you turn it inside out and add a ribbon, you end up with this.

Now, just cut a round angel face with a small neck and some shoulders in order to hold the head in the bag. I’m going to let my little girl draw the angel face so that it’s a joint effort. I’m also going to add a small card with stars (colored by my girl) on one side and a text on the other side saying:

Dear teacher, enjoy your holidays and next year I’ll be an angel in your class once again!

 

Fill the bag with whatever you like, I'm going to fill it with some Christmas chocolates.

*Happy holidays!*

 

ps. I think these will make a great give away bag for a fairy party as well..... :)

DIY gift for a toddler

I don’t know about you, but I always seem to struggle to find a nice present for a kids first birthday. I don’t particularly like the bright plastic toys for these little ones and most toys aren’t suitable for babies. Since most babies don’t talk by the time they turn one they can’t tell us what they really want for their birthday. Honestly, that first birthday is more the parents’ birthday than the kids…

After my little girl turned one I have the perfect gift. She got a beautiful sketchbook with her own name on it. Naturally I stole this idea and give away this sketchbook any chance I get J! This is how I make the personalized sketchbooks;

Buy any sketchbook with blank pages and look in your drawers for fabric, ribbons and other nice stuff to sew on. Cut the fabric at the size of the cover of your book. Then write the child’s name on a piece of paper making sure the letters all connect. Cut the paper, turn the name around and transfer to some nice fabric. Cut the name and sew it on your cover fabric.

Add any other things you like on the fabric. I used some ironing pieces and flowers cut from fabric, but you can use anything you like. Then put double sided tape on your book cover and glue the fabric on the front.

Your present is ready! You might also like to add a ribbon or a button on the side of the book, whatever you like.

 

I also had a brand name on the back of the book and I wanted to hide that. I cut a smaller flower from fabric and glued that on the back, using double sided tape.

I wanted something extra for this gift so I took some felt and sewed a little envelope to hold some pencils I bought. Looks cute right? The little girl that got this present was very happy with the small envelope, taking the pencils out and putting them back in was her favorite activity J.

 

personalized felt garland

I’m always looking for ways to decorate my little girls room but most of the times the decorations you can buy in shops are way over my budget. I also like the personalized stuff. Today I made my girl a felt garland with her name. Easy to make and a great result. Here’s how I made it;

First I printed her name, cut the letters and transferred them to felt (I turned them so you don’t end up with felt with marks).

 

I then cut all of the letters and sewed them together. For this garland I combined her name with stars. Hearts would have been nice too but I already made her a felt heart garland in somewhat of the same manner. So I also cut some stars (just cut as many as you like, the more you cut, the longer your garland obviously will be) and sewed them together as well.

I then sewed a ribbon on the back of the whole garland, just to make it a little stronger and prevent the letters from pulling apart.

Voila, your personalized garland is ready to hang! I think this would also make a nice gift for a newborn or any birthday. Especially since you can combine the name with any figure you want and any color you want.

 

Notes on a wall

I stumbled upon some nice clips with a hole in them and immediately thought they would make a great inspiration board.

I just nailed the clips on a wall and filled them with nice notes. I'll be able to change them easily according to my mood or wishes at that moment.

Inspiration labels

For my new work space I just made these inspirational labels. Simply print, cut (I cut of the top as well) and hang. Looks nice and inspires me!

Want these? just email me and I'll send them to you!

personalized notebooks

I just bought some cute and simple little notebooks. With some letter stamps I stamped their intention on the cover. I think they look great and would make a cute gift as well. Imagine someone’s name or dream on the front! Add some washi tape or a nice picture…