Upstyle Project: Give a top new life

Some easy upstyling will take a plain old tank top to a new level. By simply adding some yo yo's (suffolk puffs) to the shoulders of the tank you can add some class to a simple top.

Firstly gather your supplies:

You'll need:

•  a tank top
• some fabric that either coordinates or contrasts
• scissors
• thread
• buttons (with a shank work best)
• a Clover Yo Yo maker (if you don't have one of these don't fret. I have added some instructions on how to make these without one at the end)

I used the extra large size Clover Yo Yo maker

Photo: Vintage Gatherings

Step 1: Make 10 yo yo's

Step 2: Sew buttons in the centre of 4 of the yo yo's

Step 3: Work out your placement on the shoulders for three of the yo yo's in a strip and stitch into place from the back through the tank top and making sure you stitch a button into the centre.

Step 4: Make sure you stitch each yo yo together at the edge where they meet.

Step 5: Next attach the remaining 2 yo yo's at two points where they touch the other yo yo's and to each other.

Now you're done. Wear with pride!

How to make yo yo's (suffolk puffs) without a Clover Yo Yo Maker:

Photo: Rachel Beckman - How to make a yo yo

Making Memories during the School Holidays

This quick post is a roundup of 6 cool things you can make with your kids during the school holidays.

From activities to keep them occupied or activities for making memories, these days (although sometimes painfully slow, full of overtired hot little ones screaming for food or teens moping around spouting the I'm bored routine) do pass quickly when you look back and it's awesome to have these things together.

Simply click on the photo to go to the site or click the link under the photo

1. Liquid Chalk

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk - Mom's Minutes

2. Super Hero Costumes

Super Hero Costumes - Twin Dragonfly Designs

Super Hero Costumes - Twin Dragonfly Designs

3. Super Hero Photo Booth

Super Hero Photo Booth - One More Mushroom

4. Bored Jar

Bored Jar - Shabby Beach Nest

5. Dining Room Table Tent/Cubby

Dining Table Cubby - Good Magazine

6. Instruments to Make

DIY Musical Instruments - Chalk in My Pocket

Continuous Bias Binding Tape Tutorial

Well of course I ran out of red bias binding two days before a Christmas Market for which I am trying to finish of some cute sweet little girl's Christmas dresses.

After wasting 3 hrs trying to find some ready made I decided it will be faster if I give it a go myself. But I wanted a SUPER QUICK - SUPER EASY method!

PHOTO: www.coletterie.com

After looking for a tutorial I found this amazing, simple, fast, fabulous, easy to follow tutorial at Coletterie. This tutorial is written by Rachel and has great photos to follow too!

So ... have a go!

Scalloped Bunting Tutorial

Picture from here

Today I was visiting the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog and I found a gorgeous tutorial on making scalloped fabric bunting by Jessie from the Blog Sweet Jessie.

Bunting is so fun and fabric bunting is great because it lasts for years and is easily washed and can be reversible and made from scraps leftover from other sewing projects.

To have a look at loads more photos or grab the free PDF template and instructions please go to the Sew,Mama,Sew! blog here

Kitty Boo Boo Handmade Wedding - The Shoes

Welcome to the second post about our handmade wedding!


As soon as we set a date I knew I needed to find some great shoes. I am a sucker for pair of heels and I wanted the wedding shoes to be a bit different. I'm not really a satin and diamonte girl and to tell you the truth, the shoes meant more to me than the dress!


I wanted blue shoes but I couldn't seem to find the right colour ... until I found these beautiful babies. They have a vintage floral feel and they became the inspiration for the rest of the wedding.


The entire wedding colour scheme stem from these shoes, they are literally the foundation and general vibe!

Kitty Boo Boo Handmade Wedding - The beginning

THE BEGINNING

My beautiful now husband and I have known each other since we were 16. We started dating/going out when we were in Yr 12. We were very serious and crazy in love, we were engaged but we broke up for a little while and eventually got back together a few years later. We moved in together and moved to Melbourne.


We returned to Brisbane and about a year later found out we were expecting. In 2002 we welcomed a beautiful little girl and we became engaged (again). 4 years later  in 2006 we welcomed a beautiful little man.
Our lives together have been rich and full and in 2010 we decided after much discussion with the kids that maybe we would actually get married.


On October 22nd 2011 we finally tied the knot of our 19 year love affair and made our children legitimate in the eyes of the law (and some family members).


I have been inundated since the date was decided, with the making of wedding stuff and the sad passing of a dear Aunt and then the craziness of Christmas and markets, so I haven't been posting at all about the wedding. Crazy I know, since it was such a huge event in our lives, it passed relatively quickly and quietly!


I'd like to share with you over a number of posts the things we made for our wedding. Although not strictly a 100% handmade affair, we used as much of our own creative resources as possible. We reached out to our friends and fellow creatives and put together a wonderful wedding.

Splendorfalls Notebook Caddy Tutorial - DIY

Today I visited a great blog titled Splendorfalls.


This is a tutorial for a gorgeous Notebook caddy with crayon/pencil holder. Maybe you have a little one not ready for school yet but extra keen to draw and write?


Try this tutorial! It's divine!

Splendorfalls Caddy Tutorial

YOU PICK! Help me decide which clothing for girl's and ladie's to make next ...

I get by with a little help from my friends!

I am currently running a competition where you could win a girl's dress (sized 2-10) or some soft, fun, flirty lingerie for you! (sized 8-18) 

I can't decide which dress for girl's (sized approx.2 - 10) to run with. I need to restock girl's dresses ASAP so can you please help me narrow it down?

If I stick with one style for now I am able to make more,  meaning more size and fabric choices for you!

I also can't decide which lingerie option to make. Again if I stick with one style for now I am able to make more meaning more size and fabric choices for you!

To enter you need to go to the Kitty Boo Boo facebook page, go to the Photo Album titled YOU PICK, if you leave a comment you will go in to the draw to win one of these in a colour and size of your choice!

If you can, maybe you’d help me spread to word? The more comments I have, the more feedback I have. Then I can draw a winner for the dress/lingerie! 

Have fun and THANK YOU!

Spanakopita Snacks! Spinach never tasted so good!

Spanakopita Cups

These are a variation of the traditional Spanakopita Triangles. I had intended on taking them to my MIL's for Boxing Day but there was so much food left over from Christmas that they were never made. I was also going to make them in mini muffin pans but as we had them for dinner I made them in the Texas muffin pans. They are delicious with a dab of plum sauce!


Ingredients:


1 x Small onion chopped
1 x Pack frozen spinach (if using fresh then you'll need 2 bunches)
1 x Pack feta cheese (crumbled)
1 x Cup cottage cheese
1 x Egg
50g Butter melted
8 Sheets Filo Pastry


Method:


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Thaw the spinach (in a saucepan or the microwave) and drain as much water out as possible. If using fresh - cut all the white stalk off and shred the spinach. Saute in a pan until quite wilted.
* At this point you can choose to saute your onion to soften it or leave it raw. I leave it raw as it cooks a little in the oven later and has a great little crunch.
3. Combine the spinach, feta cheese, cottage cheese, onion and egg.
4. Lay out 4 of the filo pastry sheets. Using a pastry brush, brush each layer with butter and stack on top of each other. Cut into 4 equal parts.
5. Brush a little butter inside each of the muffin wells of the pan.
6. Place each section of stacked filo into each of the wells. Gently pushing in so there isn't too much overhang outside of the well.
7. Repeat step 4-6 with the other 4 filo sheets and muffin pan.
8. Spoon the spinach mix into the filo cups.
9. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins.
10. When cooked, let sit in the muffin pan for a minute or two, then gently lift out and place on a plate for immediate devouring! Alternatively set on a cooling rack before packing into a container to take on that picnic or to your friends house!

DIY Ribbon Bow Tutorial ...

I found this on Pinterest and had to share.


The images below belong to Stitched By Janay. Her blog with the original tutorial is here.


Janay remembered an awesome tutorial she had found via Pinterest. 


It utilizes a fork to tie a tiny bow (for wedding invitations and the like). 


Janay was using wider ribbon and needed a bigger bow, so she went hunting for something larger with four prongs, and found her potato masher. 

The Wedding Invites

Pete and I are trying to incorporate as much of ourselves into our wedding as possible. We have mashed up a few themes and taken aspects from all the things we love for inspiration.

The Wedding Invites

Wedding Invites

So far we are mashing Vintage, 1920's, 1940's, Art Nouveau, Rockabilly/Flash Tattoo, Romanticism, and whatever else we decide to throw in. The funny thing is that these are all kind of linked to each other too. Our colour scheme is the soft dreamy pastels associated with romance and vintage sweetness, dusky rose, mint green, ice blue and creamy gold. I found awesome shoes and matched the colours on my shoes with the paint chips and then found fabric to match the chips.

Our Colour Scheme and Fabric Samples

I drew our Save The Dates and Pete was going to do the Invitations.

Save the Dates

Unfortunately (for Pete) he took too long and if we don't send the invites tomorrow it will be too late! So I spent yesterday working on the illustrations and putting all the pieces together.We don't even have time to use a printer so I've had to rack my brain for a passable wedding invite that's totally last minute handmade craziness.

Wedding Invites

I had a few sheets of pearl card stock and vellum. I decided to print the invite on the vellum and just the border and swallows on the pearl card and just layer the vellum over the card stock and pin them together with a coordinating brad. I found these brads by American Crafts and bought them last December because they were an awesome match for our colour scheme. I think I was originally going to use them as centrepieces for fabric and paper flowers.

RSVP's

I spent ages last night cutting and trimming and making RSVP cards and a small info sheet as we're having a location wedding.

All in all I am quite proud of this last minute job. It's almost as good as I pictured in my head. But surprisingly the thing that makes me proudest is that this was 100% handmade from my stash.