I finally got around to getting the sunshine print I made for Ronan’s nursery printed out at ArtsCow and realised that I’d made a silly error in my original print, and hadn’t left enough of a border for framing.

Yeah, not my smartest move.

I’ve uploaded the new files, with the space for framing to the original post, so please download them there. I’ve also added an additional version of the “Happy” print with the US spelling of “gray”, so there are now three prints contained in the zip file.

You can see clearer how close the lettering is to the frame – I’ve already re-ordered it so I should be able to show you the finished version some time in the next week or two. It’s framed in a 50c frame from the Salvos, spray painted with black gloss. You’ll also notice that I’ve removed the glass – I do with all of the frames hanging on the wall, with the kids around I just don’t like risking having a stray ball catch a frame and possibly hurt one of the boys. My husband thinks I’m crazy.

These prints have been a big hit on Pinterest and Facebook, thank you everyone who’s linked and pinned them!

This is one of those projects that I’ve had in my head for months now and it just feels so good to finally get it done! This was originally destined for the glider that lives in my sewing room, but the boys have fallen in love with the texture on the chenille and I keep on finding that it’s made its way into their room.

The chenille is quick to sew up, but takes a while to fluff – it’s the kind of project you need to set yourself up in front of the telly with, so allow yourself 1-2 hours to complete the entire project.

You Will Need

• Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet cottons, I’ve used a combination of homespun and kona solids – the kona solids fluffed up a lot quicker than the homespun did. You will need about a fat eighth of each, but when you get down to the lower colours (blue/indigo/violet) you can get by with even less OR pre-bought chenille strips, such as Blooming Bias, in the same colours.
• Background fabric – enough to cover your cushion, I used seeded homespun from Lincraft. My cushion cover was 15x15inches, so the envelope cushion cover was made using a 15×15 square, and two 11×15 rectangles.
• A wire brush
• Cutting the fabric will be made a LOT easier by using a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat, but they’re not essential.

Full instructions behind the jump…

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Rebecca from Simple As That created a rainbow themed printable for St. Patricks day last year featuring words from 20th Century author Gilbert Chesterton, “Without the rain, there would be no rainbow”. Words to remember, and a print that you can display all year round – it would look awesome in a rainbow themed nursery!

Yesterday I was searching Pinterest in search of new rainbow themed tutorials to link up to and stumbled on to this beautiful little rainbow sunshine soft toy from Holly at Chez Beeper. As soon as Ronan fell asleep this afternoon (which took a while because this kid has got some serious grumps going on!) I stitched together a sunshiney version with yellow minky and orange and yellow ribbons.

No face to speak of yet. I’m hoping to grab half an hour to do it sometime this evening, but until then it’s still pretty cute.

Apparently not cute enough to break the boy out of his grumps though

If anyone has a tutorial for that, it would be super appreciated right now.

Continuing the rainbow love with this beautiful crochet coin purse tutorial created by SparklePetal.

If you’ve never added a zip or lined a crochet project before this is the one to start with, the tutorial is super detailed with loads of photos – perfect for beginners, or crocheters like me who haven’t picked up a hook in months!

Not long before Christmas I picked up a small ironing board at a garage sale for the grand total of $1, it was the perfect size for bringing into the kitchen and ironing on the worktop whilst I watch the kids (Or more truthfully, for when I’ve piled fabric on top of the full size ironing board in my sewing room and I’m forced to start moving stuff into the rest of the house to have space to actually create, but if anyone asks, I’m sticking with the kids excuse!).

It took me about fifteen minutes to make, and totally transformed my cheap little ironing board, from a stained, burnt mess with no padding to speak of, to an awesome feature of my sewing room – and the themed fabric totally makes it for me!

You Will Need

• Your ironing board – this same method can work for both small and full size ironing boards.
• Elastic – enough to reach two thirds of the way around your ironing board.
• Cotton fabric.
• If you need to replace the padding as well then you’ll need either cotton batting or a replacement felt padding – they’re about $15 at Bunnings or another home store.

Full tutorial behind the jump…

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Wendy from Ramblings From The Sunshine State created this rainbow themed wreath as part of the decorations for her daughter’s birthday party. All it took was a wreath form (use a pool noodle taped in a circle if you struggle to find them in your local craft store!), some yarn and some felt. I know flower wreaths are all the rage right now (or they were last year? I don’t know, I’m so unhip…) but I love the addition of the miniature felt bunting – too cute!

Wendy didn’t give detailed instructions for making her flowers, but if you need some held there’s picture tutorials on how to make several different styles of flower on Here In The Waiting Place.

My gobsmackingly awesome niece is due to turn eighteen next month and I’ve been wondering what to gift her for a while. I know I wanted to make her something, but I was unsure exactly what I could do. My boys were sitting down watching Sleeping Beauty, I was half listening as the fairy godmothers were blessing Aurora when it suddenly clicked, my niece needs to begin her adult life with a Fairy Godmother, and that’s exactly what I made her.

In a jar.

Within each of those stars are a blessing for her life as an adult, there are eighteen stars, and they cover everything from job interview success to never dating idiots, some are funny (May your armpits always remain miraculously hair free during the summer months) and some are serious (May you and those around you always know your worth), each star is a blessing, and she can either chose to leave them as is within their jar, or open them up and see everything that I wish for her. These are great for milestone birthdays (or anniversaries) but I think would be especially awesome for a baby shower, with each attendee writing a blessing, and the resulting stars being displayed in a jar in the nursery.

You Will Need

• Coloured paper. I’ve used a pad of scrapbook paper, but coloured printer paper is fine. DO NOT use scrapbooking card, the stars will not be able to be smushed into shape when it comes to the final step.
• A rotary cutter, ruler and mat.

Full tutorial after the jump…

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Before you stop and ask yourself, why are there so many posts about rainbows? I thought I’d explain!

I’m playing around with a monthly theme idea on CB, not promises whether it’s here to stay or not, but I’m hoping it will give me a bit more focus when it comes to creating tutorials and coming up with new ideas for round ups.

This month I’ll be focusing on Roy. G. Biv, rainbows, and crafts based around the spectrum.

It’s so official I even made a graphic for it:

No backing out now.

So stay tuned, for some pretty sweet tutorials, lots of colour and CB’s first ever quilt along.

Sneak peek of the quilt…

He looks so calm and relaxed here, but the bags under my eyes tell a totally different story.

I’m welcoming in 2012 with a face lift for CraftBlog, so if you’re normally an RSS reader, pop on over and take a look around at my awesome new look, it’s pink and black, and I’m more than a little excited that it co-ordinates so well with my hair.

Over the next few weeks I’m hoping to iron out any problems with the new design, launch the CB newsletter and start accepting regular advertisers and sponsorship.

2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year of positive changes and exciting opportunities for me, and I hope you all come along for the ride, crafting implements firmly in hand.