December 2, 2012

Week 5 - Free Pattern


It's Week 5 in our Seven Weeks of Christmas Giving!  This week I have a very practical project for you - a set of Vegetable Bags.  We all know that we should keep vegetables such as potatoes out of the light, so these hessian bags are just perfect for storing your veges. Added to that is the fact that they have been 'prettied' up with a fun bit of applique!

Simply Fresh Vege Bags

I hope you like them and find them a quick, easy and inexpensive gift idea.  You can download the free pattern from my website.  It will be available for one week until the next free pattern is uploaded.

This week I've been making some felt Christmas ornaments, some of which will be given away as little gifts. They have been in the form of such things as doves, Christmas trees, stars and bells, with a little bit of stitching and a few beads and embellishments.  I've also been doing some more stitching on the 2013 free Block of the Month pattern which I have planned for you. It's coming together quite sweetly.

This weekend we've had two of our young grandsons staying with us and they were keen to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it, so it's all organised a couple of weeks earlier than I would have got around to it!  Yesterday we spent a lot of time at the beach but today we had a "Crafternoon" and had lots of fun recycling Christmas Cards. They created tiny little boxes which could hold a chocolate or couple of lollies:


Some round baubles:


There were also lots of different 3D baubles made.  Once the older grandson understood the concept behind making these, he came up with the idea of making one in the form of a Christmas tree.  It turned out really well and looked quite brilliant.  (No photo, so I will have to make one myself to show you!)


 The younger grandson really enjoyed making these strippy balls:


Before we went to the beach yesterday, we had a go at making some 'Crystal' ornaments. I'd never tried them before and it was a game of patience waiting for the experiment to happen overnight!  But happen it did.  This little pipecleaner heart this morning was encrusted with sparkly crystals:


The star was shining:


and the sweet little bell was ready to ring out the good news:


There are many sites where you can learn how to do these - just Google "borax crystal ornaments".

I was going to show you a couple more of my designs that have been published in the last month but there's enough photos already on this post - and truth is I haven't got round to photographing the projects!

Have a great week,
Val


6 comments:

Janelle said...

What crafty grandchildren you have!! Love the Christmas decorations!

Kate said...

Sounds like great fun and the ornaments are terrific.

Christine M said...

Those crystal ornaments look great Val. A very clever idea.

Cheryll said...

Another useful idea. Thanks Val.
Such FuN ornies to have around too! :)

Allie said...

Oh how cute are those, thank you so much Val!!!! I love the ornaments your grand-babies made, I used to organize ornament making afternoons with our homeschool group and it was such fun. I love making things with kids. Of course, we never did it before going to the BEACH, so jealous....

Ondrea said...

What a lovely way to spend time with your grand children. You must be so much fun to be with. Those ornaments are lovely and the crystal ones are quite clever. Thanks for sharing the free patterns for Christmas with us all. And woohooo! Another free BOM next year. So looking forward to that one too. Angel Hugs.