"The Craft Group" plus...

 This term at The Craft Group we have been making different little paper projects each week.  I LOVED this project. It combines so many things I love... recycling newspapers, origami, quick & easy, gardening, FREE, gift idea and fun! I found the idea HERE at the blog called "Oh The Things We'll Make!" credit: https://thethingswellmake.com/quick-diy-origami-newspaper-pots/ The pots are easy to make using one page of a newspaper (or half a full spread page).  There are clear instructions plus a video on the blog, so you can't go wrong. You buy some seed raising mix and plant your seeds, watering gently. Then, when they look fairly established, you don't have to traumatize your plants by taking them out of their snug soil bed to replant them, you just sink the whole pot into the soil and it will disintegrate as the roots grow.  I am always looking for little gift ideas and this one is great! You place 5 or 6 collapsed pots inside an open pot, place it in a gift ...

Lady bugs... or ladybirds are good for your garden. These are good because they are super cute! Elly gets old golf balls from the golf course and cleans them up, undercoats them and paints them into fun creatures for the garden. Then she sells them to raise money to help her daughter-in-law pay for some of her diabetes equipment. This fits in so well with our theme this year! 2019 - RENEW Old golf balls renewed into fun critters for the garden  which create cash for important medical equipment.  So good.

In the past... I have been to Europe. I have been to Canada. I have seen some of Australia. But... I have never really had the desire to go to any Asian destination for more than a stop over. Then, our daughter decided she wanted to live and teach in Southern Asia. So... after 9 months of her moving there, my husband and I went for 3 weeks to visit her in the Himalayas. What a fascinating experience! We are back. She is still there.   I am very thankful for modern forms of communication. There are so many stories to tell but seeing as you are all my craft friends, I will share some crafty photos... There was folk art on every single building. A newly built apartment block was being built near our daughters place. We loved watching the men perched on the bamboo scaffolding painting all the amazing designs for weeks on end.  We went to a paper making factory.  We watched women weaving scarves. We saw hand woven yak w...

I struggle with gift wrapping sometimes. I've learnt different ribbon making techniques but this simple one is my favourite. Too easy! And quite pretty, I think. The 2 main white ribbons are cut to size around the gift and simply joined with sticky tape on the top (which will be covered by the ribbon anyway). Then fold the top ribbon so it looks like the above. Put a staple in it to stop it moving. Now cut a small piece of ribbon and strap it over the middle of the bow. Sticky tape it closed. I used double sided tape to then attach it to the parcel/ribbon. (Or you could glue it or roll a piece of tape backwards around itself.) Ta da! (I know it's not rocket science but it's certainly quick and easy!)

Whether you say Serviette or Napkin or whether you go cloth or paper.... be a bit fancy and fold those mouth cleaners nicely to impress! Elly did a Napkin folding workshop at The Craft Group and showed us how to do these... And tomorrow we are learning to make these ... You can bring along your own napkin or use the green fabric ones I will have with me. This might help as a summary of the steps... from Handmania

Georgina saw this great idea in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. She raced off to the Op Shop and found all their 2nd hand knitting needles and went ahead to make these! They are easy to make but tricky at the same time. The tricky part is handling hot plastic but wearing heat proof gloves help with this. Some instructions say to boil the needles and others say heat them in the oven.  Georgina did hers in the oven. Here is a good clip from the TV show "Better Homes and Gardens". I hope it works for you. They also show how to make easy bowls out of your old vinyl records! Or if you google "Knitting needle bangles" you will find lots of peoples' attempts and advice. Have fun!

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 12: Nappy Cakes by Elly & Marjoleine The enterprising combo of Elly and her daughter Marjoleine have taken the idea of a nappy cake and perfected them. They are for sale through Marjoleine's business,  Five Little Toes . Some even have a bottle of wine in the centre. Not for the baby of course! Nice work E&M!

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 10: Mending by Judy You may mock. You may feel uninspired but here at The Craft Group we are very real about our craft! Judy D knows a good productive morning when she sees one! She spent her time chatting and re-hemming a pair of trousers. A nice big fat hem on a pair of school uniform trousers for a growing boy. Bam! Done! Tick it off the list. This reminds me of something. It is hard to fall into the trap with craft to wonder more about what others are going to think of our project than what we actually think of it ourselves! Some of the best pieces I've seen are the things that people make because they love it themselves. And some of the 'worse' things are made with the same attitude. But you know, it doesn't matter what anyo...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 9: Decorated jars by Julieanne F There are plenty of creative ways to give a gift and not spend a fortune. Julianne decorated these jars and planned to fill one with little bits of rolled paper each containing an encouraging Bible Verse or thought. They could also be filled with chocolates, home made biscuits or buttons! (Love the quilt captured in the background!) Be thoughtful. Be Creative. Thanks for the ideas Julianne :)

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 3: Gift Posie by Elly . Elly is so creative and resourceful. She and her daughter Marjoleine find amazing projects on the internet and change, adapt and perfect it until they get it just the way they like it. This is from a while ago but Elly made this lovely posy for me. It contains chocolates, Christmas decorations and specialty tea bags. Clever hey!?

These are so cute and easy. All you need is a 4 pronged fork, some yarn and little sharp scissors. I want to make a heap and make a garland. A good holiday project. Check it out HERE  at a blog called "Small good things" She makes cute wreaths and garlands with her pom poms of all sizes.

Inspire your teenage girls to try a new design for their friendship bracelets. I like the fishtail style shown here in a tutorial by "Carrots 'n spice". from carrots 'n spice Have fun!

At The Craft Group we have a "Swap Shop". People bring in things they don't need anymore from their craft cupboard. Anyone can take items for free but need to bring something back in return the next week. Quite often there are large pieces of tapestry fabric and random bits of wool. I've never known what to do with the tapestry fabric base. Why not tie lots of pom poms onto it? Cosy! [source]

Marjoleine had a stall this weekend at an Art & Craft Festival with her new business "Five Little Toes". She makes cute bouquets containing quality baby socks. Then there are the nappy cakes and other baby gifts. She worked so hard to get ready for the stall and it looked lovely. I came and invaded the room like the paparazzi. I hope I didn't scare any customers away! Good on you Missy (and supportive Mum Elly!)                               As you can see, the stall was in a school. It was quite appropriate to have all those little toes under her banner and the 10 balloons above. Good work Marjoleine, your stall looked great (and she won the award for the best presented stall.... $100 prize! Woo hoo!!!) If you want to order a bouquet, you can contact me at: thecraftgroupplus [at] gmail [dot] com and I will give her your details.

I'm back! I'm taking some R&R. Life has been really busy but great. Except... my Dad broke his hip! He tripped and fell really hard on his right side on a concrete step and the hip took the brunt of it and busted! Mum managed to get him up on a chair. I arrived ASAP and he was sitting there saying he'll be right soon. No fuss. I rang the ambulance. 1 1/2 hours later it decided to arrive. I was obviously too calm on the phone! Yep. Broken hip. My younger sister asked if he will need a hip replacement. No, I said, sharing my vast medical knowledge with anyone who asks. They screw and pin and put plates in for a broken hip. The next day... a full emergency hip replacement operation. Poor Dad. But good that it is fixed properly and he can get on with getting better. Other than that, I have had a cold and so haven't visited him for a few days. The kids are all busy with various things this week,  and I have not much on my agenda, so I am having a home/sorti...

Hi at the beginning of a new week. Do you have anything special happening? I have a puppet show to perform at school to teach some social skills to the littlies. Then, on the home front the house is going into crazy mode as we have to empty the upstairs rooms to have carpet installed. It's going to be hectic but is a great chance for a big clean up of a sewing room and 2 of our kids rooms. Here are a few photos from The Craft Group last week. Elzanne is making trendy coasters using some square wall tiles, lovely scrapbooking papers and Mod Podge.  Very nice! {Tile, layer of mod podge, paper, more layers of mod podge. Allow to dry!} Here is a typical scene from our group. People helping each other.  Here Bev I is giving a few tips to Vicki who is determined to finish a project (a really pretty quilt) real soon.  I love this photo and I love how flippin' nice everyone is to each other at the group.  Warm fuzzies all around.

Shirley has a flower loom and with it she made pretty flowers galore.  They can be tricky to sew together, so she sewed them onto fabric. She still has to line it and put a backing on it and there is a funky rug! You can buy the flower loom from Spotlight stores. On their website they have some project ideas sheets for using the flowers.  I found a good tutorial of how to use the loom on the Better Homes and Gardens site. Nice gadget and pretty project Shirley!

I loved some jars in a trendy little gift shop in my neighbourhood.  The problem with me and gift shops is that I love the things I see but can't bring myself to paying the cash for anything. "I can make it" my heart tells me. "You don't have time" my head tells me. "You just watch me" my stubborn self tells me. And so I did. Like this... Materials needed:  Clean jars with labels removed Wire Wire cutters Pointy nose pliers 1. Bend one end of the uncut wire to form a little loop. 2. Bend the wire a quarter of the way around the top of the jar. 3. Make a complete loop on the wire using the pliers. 4. Bend the wire on the opposite side of the jar from the loop (three quarters of the way around from where you started.) Make another complete loop. 5.  Bend the wire back to the starting place. Extend the wire 1 cm past the starting loop (no more) and cut it with wire cutters. 6. Put...