Accessorise.

I love me some pretty accessories, and as I wear lots of dark colours and non patterned clothes, I love brightening it all up with a great necklace, scarf or hair accessory.  Lately I've been noticing and pinning lots of fabric or yarn wrapped bangles, see how pretty they are!

1. Hand Wrapped Bangles from Cut Out & Keep

2. Pastel Bangles from The Glossy Queen

3. Martha Stewart's Textured String Bracelets

4. Fabric Bangle from Three Sisterz

Then, just the other day, my IRL* crafty {and all round lovely} friend Jess, posted a tutorial on her blog too... go and check it out, she's done great step-by-step pics. I actually had all the bits to make one up as it's been something I've wanted to try for so long and Jess' post gave me the final push I needed to actually do it.  A few things I did differently: my fabric glue dries really fast so I didn't have to peg the ends, and I didn't leave any uncovered sections of bangle - it all comes down to personal preference though.  And that's the really great thing about making your own...you make exactly what you want!

Sadly today's grey miserable day makes for dull pics!

I must say I'm pretty happy with the end result, and can't wait to make some more... I wonder if my fabric glue will hold on some acrylic bangles I no longer wear, or some skinny metal ones?? Might have to experiment once the boys are tucked up for the night!

*In Real Life

Pause.

In case you hadn't worked it out yet, things I have been slowing down hugely lately.  That's not to say that there aren't a gazillion more things to get done before this baby makes an appearance, but the reality of pregnancy third time around with my pregnancy-hating body has meant something had to give.  I really didn't think it would happen this early but my market involvement has been put on hold until after this bub is out.  Online stores will remain open until early August and if you're near the ACT you can always pop into Shop Handmade to stock up on IndigoElephant goodies!  I'm still sewing, but sadly cannot manage the many hours of making required to fully stock a market stall.

That said there are some great markets coming up that I would've loved to be at!  First up, The Bluebird Market is on this Saturday 2nd June in Leura quickly followed by  Handmade Canberra on Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th June at the National Convention Centre.  If you're looking for something to do those weekends, these two events would be fantastic to visit!

Cleaning, Clearing and Tidying Up!

Yes that's right, I'm in full nesting mode!  I wish I had this level of motivation more often, but it feels fantastic to be getting rid of things we no longer use, have outgrown or are just broken but shoved in a corner to be dealt with later.  To be honest the one room that I haven't gotten to yet is the sewing/storage/soon-to-be-baby's room, or rather, I've done a couple of partial clear outs but have so much on the 'to sew' list that it's hard to completely deal with everything in there.

So this week, once my back recovers from the effort required to clear out our wardrobes, I'm finally getting around to making some more pyjamas for my boys. 

I've had the Make It Perfect Slumber Party Jammies pattern tucked away for some time now, as well as some fabric that has been pre-washed and ironed but left sitting in the 'personal sewing' pile.  It's time to begin the stash busting...I'm off to trace out the sizes I need!!

Instant Crafty Gratification!

I woke this morning feeling yuck... snotty, tired, achey and wishing I could just roll over and return to the land of nod.  But Friday is generally our home day so the boys had to be dealt with, washing had to be done with a forecast for a 28 degree day, and I had to pee (again)!  We've had a very quiet day, and despite having a mountain of IndigoElephant stuff to do, I just needed a break - but still wanted to do something a little bit creative.  Enter the Washi Tape Magnets...

These are so super easy, there's a detailed tutorial over at Twirling Betty, but basically you peel off the details on those plumber's/electrician's magnets that keep appearing in one's mailbox, stick on some washi tape, cut it out and trim the ends to look like they've been torn... Or as I did, just use the pinking shears to trim the ends! And you're done.  Then you can stand back and admire them on your fridge, or wherever!  Mine are holding up the pic of that other little collaborative creation in my belly, who as we speak is kicking up a storm in my right ribs and left hip!

Super Busy!

Do you sometimes have a week or so when you feel like life is spiralling out of control?  And you start resembling one of those little mice on a wheel... Going round and round but not really getting anywhere?  That is sort of how I'm feeling at the moment, with pregnancy induced aches and pains limiting what I can achieve despite the brain running ahead with elaborate 'to do' lists.  Honestly my brain is in serious nesting mode but the body just can't keep up, so much that the Mister said my sewing room is starting to resemble something from Hoarders (again)!

Enjoying the dodgem cars.

The weekend was a celebration of Mr IndigoElephant's birthday and we had a very full weekend with a school fair on Saturday, a celebratory birthday dinner, Auskick for our big boy, church and a birthday lunch in amongst a few essential things that need to be done regularly (man I hate not having a dishwasher!!).  And as an extra special present for the Mister, he had the privilege of putting together flat pack bunk beds for the boys!

Making sure it all fits in the box before wrapping it up!

So yesterday was spent catching up on neglected housework and putting together some stock for Shop Handmade in Canberra.  Now Monday is over, the week is happening and I'm hoping to make some headway on my current 'to do' list.  Wishing you all a wonderful week, whatever might be keeping you busy!

To Cover...Or Not?

Earlier today on facebook I asked our wonderful likers what their thoughts were on nursing/feeding covers before I went to the trouble of making one for feeding our soon-to-be-here baby... And I must admit that their replies have me more confused than before I asked the question!  While everyone has totally valid reasons for loving or hating them I think it might be something that might be very useful for us once this baby arrives.

See with baby #1 I could sit at leisure in parents rooms while out and about and take my own sweet time with feeding him and cover up as needed with a muslin wrap.  When #2 came along #1 was small enough to leave strapped securely in the pram, supplied with snacks, while I took the time I needed in a parents room to feed #2. But I worry that with #3, the boys, who will be 5 and 3.5, won't play quietly in parents rooms and I'll be that annoying mum whose kids crazy shenanigans are distracting the other babies from feeding properly.  Plus I have vivid (and painful) memories of #2 craning his head to see what #1 was up to during what was supposed to be feeding time, so I figured some kind of barrier might help the little one concentrate.

Nursing Cover from BabyWilde on etsy

I love the style of the one pictured above, with boning in the top so it doesn't sit completely draped over the baby's face and you can still see bub and whatever else is going on while feeding.  I also love that they have an adjustable strap so it sits around your neck and you have both hands free for bub!  There are stacks of tutorials online so I figured I'd give one a go and if it didn't suit us then I could always give it to someone else having a baby... Now if I could just pick a fabric...

Easter Gifts.

Our boys are blessed to have super lovely preschool teachers and Easter is a chance for the boys to show their teachers a little bit of appreciation in the form of some edible yumminess. However, I'm aware that the teachers are bombarded with a mountain of chocolate at Easter so we kept it relatively simple this year by making these...

I'd seen something similar out in blogland, but didn't pin it because they were made into glass jars, and I wanted something more little-boy-friendly!  So I can't remember exactly where the idea is from, suffice to say it's not my own!

So what we used were some cello bags I had leftover from an old packaging idea (though you could easily use squares of clear cello), with some shredded green paper from the $2 Shop, some decent quality chocolate eggs and a fluffy chick for each bag.  They were sealed shut, a length of ribbon tied around the top and a small gift tag added to identify which gift was for which teacher...or maybe more because the boys were adamant I not mix up the bags they'd each made!! This also proved to be a good counting exercise for Mr 3 who likes to jump from nine to twelve, skipping ten and eleven along the way!  Oh, and the tags were a fortunate find on Pinterest... you can download your own here - just don't send all twenty-six pages to print (unless you want to of course)!!