A sweatshirt for my niece

Another birthday in the family: yep! We have them each month from September through June so be ready to see more posts about that probably.

 

This one was actually back in October when my niece turned 15. 15!! I can't believe how big she is: seems like it was yesterday that I was holding her in my arms *sigh*

 

front view

A little boy's birthday

Yesterday we celebrated my nephew's birthday: he turned 5 earlier this week. Another occasion for the whole family to get together for an afternoon. I love these moments so much, seriously guys, my family is insane and we have such laughs all together.

 

Anywho, I was asked to make something for him that he'd like to have: a plate for his bedroom door. His sister had one from her nanny a few years ago and apparently he wanted one for his door too.

 

My nephew is a huge (and I mean HUGE) fan of Flash McQueen. Now, I can try to make a lot of things, but there are things I still can't do even with all the best will in the world: Flash McQueen is one of them :-(

Click on image to enlarge

2 little cats for a happy little girl

Click on image to enlarge

It was my niece's birthday over the weekend: she turned 9! Time flies, I cannot believe she is that big already (I will say that again for the next three months for my other niece's and nephews' birthdays...you have been warned!).

 

She came to me two weeks ago and aske me if she could have a picture holder with a cat as a present. I admit I laughed a lot as I am really bad at modelling/sculpting and I had never made a cat before. So I looked for excuses: "if you are a good girl and don't get punished next week, I'll make it for you" I said. She got punished the following day (haha) but was good for the rest of that week lol

 

So there I was, trying to make a cat. But then I thought one cat on its own would be boring and sad. I got crazy and decided to make two!!



Click on image to enlarge

Of course, you can't have cats without wool lying around for them to play! 

Click on image to enlarge

I put the cats and their toys on a piece of wood that I've painted and carved my niece's name on it (note for later, carve and paint afterwards! the smell is better)

 

I am very happy with how the carving turned out considering it is the first time I write and carve on wood. So just for you, here is a close up for a better look :-)

Click on image to enlarge

Still need to work on this whole sculpting thing though: as you can see from the first picture and the one below, the cats look like they've had a bit too much catnip lol

 

Click on image to enlarge



My niece was happy though! She also had a wonderful cake made by her mum, my sister. I suggest you to go and take a look at her Instagram to see it and check out the others she makes too. I'm warning you...you'll be hungry after that!

Crafting is...dangerous

Maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic here, but hear me out and you will understand where I am going.

 

My fellow crafters, you know the deal: you work on a project, then you think of a way to add something to it. Or you see something that inspires you online and then start looking at how it is done and how it would fit in your current hobby. There are so many reasons which can lead to finding something new that it is almost impossible to stick to only one sort of craft. Well...at least for me.

 

I did explain in my previous post that I had learnt the basics of embroidery over night in order to add a nice personal touch to my best friend's baby towel.

 

The obvious thing to do with the leftover fabric was to practise of course. And as I had some thread at home from other projects I had worked on, I already had everything.  Browsing through the Internet for something fun to practise on, I found a picture of a character I knew from my childhood, Mafalda. She was the main character from an Argentinian comic strip. Me though, I got to "know" her once it got adapted for TV (if you don't know her, you can check out the opening credits here).

 

It reminded quite a few memories and one in particular: my older sister. She loved Mafalda and still do. As her birthday was coming a few weeks later, I decided to make this my next project and her birthday present.

 

This project made me realise that cross stitching takes a long time. A very, very long time. I thought I would never finish it on time. But a few weeks later, I did (the night before the birthday party lol). I framed it, wrapped it and boom! She smiled when she opened it so it was worth it. And this probably marks the beginning of other embroidery projects...

Click on image to enlarge

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spend time on YouTube watching opening credits from all of my childhood programmes. Thank you Mafalda!!