Summer Holidays Craft Tutorials: Glue

All children love to play with glue, possibly because it is gooey, sticky and messy!  While I might shudder at the thought of the mess my kids make when creating with glue, a strategically covered table (and floor!) will make the cleaning up much easier after all the fun's been had.  And with super fun projects like these (for both grown ups and kids), it should be easy to overlook the mess that is made during the creative process!

I loved glue yarn balls when I was a child!  You can find a straightforward tutorial over at Make and Takes.

Dana Made It has the sweetest no sew (all glue) flower tutorial!

For a very creative idea I would never have thought of myself, learn how to make a glue and foil work of art from Art Projects for Kids.

This crepe paper Christmas wreath tutorial can easily be adapted to make a wreath you can use all year round.

Happy Hooligans shares a very simple papier mache bowl tutorial - love it!

Summer Holidays Craft Tutorials: Sewing

I hope that yesterday's roundup of paint and ink tutorials has inspired you to feel a little more optimistic about entertaining your kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews this summer holidays!  Today, I have found some fun sewing projects; there's something for pretty much every age.

scrumdilly-do! shares a simple embroidery hoop sewing tutorial which can be tailored to little ones just learning to sew and older, more accomplished sewists.

Expanding on the embroidery hoop idea above, Childhood 101's button sewing idea looks like a load of fun.  And this project can also be adapted for older and more proficient children.

The monster twins sewing pattern over at Sew Mama Sew is perfect for older children.

Simple patterns are a good place to start when children learn to cross stitch.

Amy Powers shares a fun embroidery tutorial over at Big Picture Classes.

Pride and Prejudice Giveaway - Sew Mama Sew December Giveaway Week

As usual my December has been so crazy that I completely forgot about the twice yearly Sew Mama Sew giveaway fun.  This bi-annual event is a great way to discover lots of creative blogs and have the chance to win something crafty too.  So at the last minute, I've decided to join in the fun by offering a set of Pride and Prejudice buttons from my Domum Vindemia store.  These buttons are approximately 16mm across and feature the names of the five Bennet sisters.  This giveaway is open worldwide and will run until 13th December 2013.
You can enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below - PLEASE MAKE SURE that you read all entry requirements carefully, there are already some entries which have been incorrectly completed.  The winner will have 24 hours to respond to my email before I pick a new winner.

EDIT: This giveaway has now ended and a winner has been announced over here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer Holidays Craft Tutorials: Paint and Ink

It's mid-December and many of us are madly running around in the midst of end of year concerts, Christmas functions, organising teacher appreciation gifts and coordinating family Christmas get-togethers.  If you're like me, you may also have been hit with the feeling of impending doom when you realise that school summer holiday are almost upon us too!  So to help ease some of the summer holidays "I'm bored" syndrome, I have put together several tutorial roundups filled with ideas for a range of ages.  Today's tutorials all focus on paint and ink because, as much as we mums may hate the mess of paint in our homes, it is the summer holidays, so you can send your kids outside to play with it.

Preschool Daze shares a great bubble wrap painting idea so simple even the littlest one can join in!

Moomah has a sweet watercolour notecard tutorial.

I think we've all done this at one time or other in our lives - ink blowing (from Kidspot)!

Key Art Studio shares THE BEST cookie decorating idea: watercolour cookie art.

The thought of my children eating paint, even edible paint, freaks me out completely.  But the less fastidious will love this edible paint tutorial by hellobee.

Head over to offbeat + inspired for a fab painted t-shirt tutorial.

This one is a little pricey, supplies wise, but I have been wanting to try sun painting for ages!!!

Golden Book Buntings Revisited

Some of you may remember when I first introduced my range of Golden Book buntings back in March (see here).  Although expanding this fun range of products for Domum Vindemia has been a little slow, I am always very pleased when I finish making a new batch.  This past week has been spent preparing for Christmas AND sewing up a few Golden Book buntings with a Disney theme.

I stumbled across several old Golden Books harking back to "old school" Disney movies and was immediately reminded of my childhood enjoying these stories and crying at the sad parts.  For those of you who grew up in the '80s (or even in the '60s and '70s!) like I did, the sight of Bambi, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp may bring back many fond memories.  And the thing I love best about my range of Golden Book buntings is that you can re-live your favourite childhood memories and share them with your children too.  :)

Doily Crazy: All New to Domum Vindemia

My name is Deb, and I can't stop creating with doilies!  Yes, you all should know by now how crazy I am for vintage doilies and how much I love to upcycle them.  It's not hard to be inspired by the many intricate-looking doilies I find and my latest idea has been sitting in the back of my mind waiting for me to find the time to act on it.

I have long been an admirer of mobiles for decorating a nursery and entertaining baby (the little Cheeky Monkeys still have their musical mobiles from when they were babies).  So it hasn't been a huge leap for me to go from admirer of mobiles to creator of mobiles.  My newest doily additions to Domum Vindemia are vintage doily mobiles, perfect for hanging in a baby's nursery or for decorating your favourite room or special function in shabby chic style. They are only available in two styles at the moment, but I will be making more in the new year as I source more beautifully hand dyed doilies.  What do you think of my new mobiles?

My Re-Usable Advent Calendar

I love the idea of advent calendars, but have always scorned the commercial ones filled with chocolate and pictures of Santa and snowmen because they neither represented the real meaning of Christmas nor Christmas in Australia.  So I toyed with the idea of making my own advent calendar for a few years before finally mustering up enough motivation to do it this year.

My calendar was made using a Kaisercraft kit, which I struggled immensely to put together (having to slot together lots of small, thin pieces of MDF is really NOT my thing).  However, I managed to hash together a slightly wonky advent calendar which I decorated with a blue, black and silver colour scheme, yuzen paper from Daiso and a nativity set from Koorong.  Each little drawer contains an ornament for our Christmas tree and a Christmas-related Bible verse for the little Cheeky Monkeys to look up.  The little Monkeys are thrilled with the way their advent calendar looks (wonky bits and all), and I hope they enjoy opening each little drawer in the lead up to Christmas!