Zero-waste dress

How do highly creative people continue to innovate and 

express themselves in new ways?

They’ll tell you the key to their success 

is a commitment to trying new things.

So I tried something new

by making a dress out of recycled materials.

What you need:

Plastic bags(colours of your choice), 

cellotape, 

plastic carpet underlay, 

something to attach the garment with.

A pattern for the dress.

scissors

Cut little squares out of the plastic bags.

Make little flowers out of the squares and tie them with cellotape.

Cut out a pattern for the dress.  

Attach the flowers in your preferred pattern to the underlay 

before you attach the front and the back. 

(It is very hard to do once the garment is attached, I found out the hard way)

My mom was the inspiration for this dress. 

She loved flowers, colours and pretty little things, and she never backed away from making things from 

previously loved or recycled materials.  We may not have won first prize, but we gave it our best shot!!!

felt christmas tree

DIY Soccerballs (using old plastic bags)

 

Today I would like to show you how to make soccer balls out of your old plastic bags and newspapers.  I saw the tutorial on the web somewhere, and was fascinated with the idea as I had to make a ball for my Teaching Practical.  This seemed to be the perfect idea.

DIY puppets

This is a lovely do it yourself project for the winter months for you and your family.  Make some puppets and put up a show for the kids, they will love it.

DIY - Scatter cushion

I wanted to make something special for someone, something that no one else would have - so the idea for this little scatter cushion was born. 

Upcycle an old skirt into a cute dress.

Yesterday, I decided to make a dress from a skirt that was given to me.  It was not exactly my style, but the fabric was divine.   So I got some inspiration from a Vintage pattern, and this is what I came up with.

How to make a Christmas tree beanie.

 

Today’s creative activity is multifunctional.  You can make a Christmas tree beanie, or a mini Christmas tree from a pre-used beanie.  By using pre-used goods and up-cycling them, you are not only kind to the environment, but also to your pocket. 

Tattle Monster

This little Tattle monster is so easy to make.

Christmas in July fun

Christmas is a time for fun, family and festivity.  

Here is a great idea of spending some quality time with your kids this winter holiday, in preparation for Christmas.  

Making beautiful Christmas decorations with your kids would not only be giving them something to do, but also something to remember.  

They will remember the fun they had while doing it with you and that you love them enough to spend quality time with them.

I recommend getting arts and craft items that you like at one of the
winter markets around, and just have fun with it.  If everything you need is not included, they should be able to guide you in where to find all the items you need.

The power of influence

While I was babysitting a little girl, I realised once again what influence we as adults have on children.  While we were playing, she wanted to do some colouring in.  First she showed me a picture that her other babysitter coloured in for her; then she wanted me to colour in a picture for her.  I do not mind colouring in at all, but something got me thinking.  Why is she asking everyone else to colour in her pictures, and why does she not try it for herself?  Fair enough she is only 3 years old, and can probably not colour in like I can, but I thought she should give it a go.
Only then did I realise why she did not want to do it.  She was scared of going over the lines.  As a 3 year old that would be inevitable.

Turns out her teacher is somewhat strict

Winter Fun - Homemade paint brushes

I love creating things.  

Whether it is a piece of clothing,  or maybe even something fun like these paintbrushes.  They teach children about different textures and it is fun to see the effect they have when dipped in paint and used for painting.

Making playdough at home with your children.

Play-dough is such fun.  Children love to play with it and they do not even realise how much they are learning from the experience and that their little fingers are getting exercise.

Personalized caps

Call me crazy, but I just love being creative.  My latest adventure is personalizing caps for my family for Christmas and birthdays.

Our German nieces and nephews calls my sister Coca-Colla!  They absolutely love both my sister and Coca-Cola.
Voila!!  Her gift...

My brother is a chef and master in almost everything in and around the house, he also loves Carling Black Label beer...
This is what I came up with for him.

I made a few more, but I can not publish them before Christmas, because the kids spend time online and I do not want them to see their pressies before the time.

Try something new every now and again

Every once in a while you have to try something new in life.  That is just what I did.  I decided to join a craft group for an evening.  The project they were going to work on was painting mugs for themselves.  At first I was very nervous and did not know what to paint, or even if I could, but after about half an hour of just looking at what all the other ladies were doing I got around to painting my mug.  Some girls were going dotty, painting lovely bright dots all over their mugs and others even brought stencils to do their mugs.  One could easily feel intimidated by all the creativity in the room.  I soon realised that it was not a test, and that I could not fail.  I thought it would be a great idea to have a ‘La Femme Joline’ mug, with a bit of a twist.

What do you think?  A bit crazy, I know, just like me.  Choosing colours was not hard, but the actual painting was a bit more stressful, because you have to do each line you paint four times if I remember correctly.  Then the lady who gave the lesson took all our mugs and about two weeks later I returned to the craft group to collect my mug, which has now been through the proper process of glazing and firing in the kiln (oven, furnace).

I'm a Barbie girl

 So when La Femme Joline is not busy designing for people, she also loves making Barbie look good.  Trust me, its not hard to do.

The only thing is...  I am not sure whether Barbie will be able to get the stuff off, or the person that is dressing her.  Some of the items were sewn while she was wearing them, with no zip or buttons to open.  Ha ha.