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Good morning, good morning! Did you have a wonderful weekend? Ours was fun, we went to soft play to celebrate Mackenzie’s first birthday. Pam and I were due on the same date, but as fate would have it, Mackenzie arrived early and Piper arrived late so there are three weeks between Mac and Pi. Here’s my little bear and big bear having lots of fun! For today’s MAN-day Monday card I want to share the birthday card I made for Mackenzie’s first birthday. We also have a video tutorial of how i made this card which is available for our members to watch. If you haven’t signed up to be a member yet, click on the sign up tab at the top right. This is how you access all the downloadable content such as this video and other digital elements which you can use for your crafty projects. {note this is different from becoming a newsletter subscriber, but whilst you’re at it, you might as well do that too!} So here it is, Happy Birthday Mac! And thanks for the invite to the party I had lots of fun, errr, i mean, Piper had lots of fun! Thanks for popping by and don’t forget to check out the video. Products Used


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The plans are in place. Well… almost in place. 🙂

Last week we decided it was about time to start planning Piper’s first birthday. It started with having a few friends over to the house, then we talked about a soft play adventure, and now there is another plan on the cards. We will make our minds up eventually.

One thing i knew for sure was that i wanted to make Pi a party hat. I spied this fabulous hat on pinterest, isn’t it beautiful!? It inspired me to pull out the fabric and get crafty! {Click on the photo to visit the etsy page where there are other lovely things to drool over!}

After a few chewed pencils and a little bit of sketching i set to work. Once I started I was on a roll, it only took two short evenings from start to finish.

So…What do ya think?

So, as usual, i was making it up as i went along 🙂 To begin i drew a semicircle onto a piece of paper, curled it to make a cone and trimmed it a little. I drew around the template to cut out a piece of interfacing to use as the base of the hat to make it sturdy. Then i stuck the interfacing to fabric using spray adhesive. This held the fabric in place to allow me to cut it out and sew around the edges. {note to self: this worked really well. Definitely will be doing that again}

For the pretty felt panel I used spray mount to stick felt to paper then ran this through the cuttlebug using a die to cut out the shape. This was really easy. It didn’t cut the whole way around but a few snips of the scissors and it was fine. I used a zig-zag stitch to sew the edges to create definition and to ensure it wouldn’t fluff away/fray. I did the same with the number one (hand cut).

To make the trim i cut strips of green polka fabric and used the machine to make a long straight stitch up the middle, then pulled the thread to ruche the fabric. It was looking a bit bare so i added some tulle (everything looks prettier with tulle!). I had to hand sew the ruche on because i had already sewn the hat into a cone shape. Next time i’ll definitely wait and do everything on the machine first! (sewing through all they fabric and the interfacing was a MISSION!).

For the top i looked in my stash for pom poms but i think that must be the one thing i haven’t got, but i salvaged some of that green fabric and made a little fabric poof pom pom by gathering circles together. To finish, I added a little cord for Piper’s chin but in hind sight i think i might replace it with light elastic.

We took some photos of the princess in her hat to use on the party invites. She looked adorable, but the hat kept slipping, so elastic is definitely the way to go. I’ll share the party invites soon.

Thanks for popping by, and a special mention goes out to Ellen Mandriss who liked the facebook page this week. Thanks for your support Ellen. ♥

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Hi everyone, it’s time for another MAN-day Monday, and today it’s a home decor item for all those little princes out there.

I made this little canvas hanging for little Alfie. He is at Piper’s nursery and is usually there in the same room when I collect P in the evenings. He is always hanging around P, playing with her or watching her from a distance. He even comes up to me with toys so I play with him or read him a book for a few minutes whilst the team get Piper’s day sheet organised. He is a sweetheart, and because of that I always say that he is Piper’s boyfriend.

You can pick up these mini canvases at some art shops- these ones I got in France yeaaars ago.

To decorate the canvas, first I cut a heart out of red scrapbook paper. Next I stamped the Friend Definition stamp from Hero Arts onto white card stock using the grey Pumice Stone distress ink. I stuck the heart to the stamped card and cut around it, leaving a border. I used wet glue to stick the paper together- Anita’s tacky glue, as I wanted to ensure that it had a firm hold and that it would withstand time. Next I popped a brad through the two layers, and stuck the whole thing onto the canvas.

The next bit was the tough bit- choosing which letter stickers to use. I decided to go with these doodlebug ones as they had a childlike, whimsical feel.

I thought about adding twine, but ribbon would secure better- i lay the canvas face down and placed the ribbon on top, securing to the back of the canvas with staples. I had to hammer the staples in a little bit (I didn’t have a staple gun, just an office stapler) but they were 100% secure.

Why not make a cute little wall hanging for your little princes and princesses!!?

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