Jikana Damaru: 12/16/11

baby makes four

a beautiful friend of mine gave me a call a few months ago to organise a photo session with me as a gift for her friend who was about to welcome her second child. Last week I met this gorgeous family of four. I spent some time with them & captured some images I hope they will cherish for many years to come.

Hand made felt tea bags

For Molly's birthday I made her some felt iced gems after seeing the pattern and instructions in Mollie Makes Magazine. I loved how cute they were and they looked adorable on her mini tea set. But something was missing... tea bags of course! What Brit eats biscuits without a cup of tea! So, I came up with my own pattern for mini felt tea bags. I have made some more to hide in my handmade Christmas crackers and advent house for Molly this Christmas.

Hand made felt tea bags
What you will need:

White felt
Brown felt
White embroidery thread
Pink spot ribbon
Double sided fabric tape
Pattern printed off on paper

Equipment

Instructions
Start by printing out patterns and cutting them out. Then pin two pieces of white felt together and place bag pattern on top, and carefully draw around outside edge of pattern using a water soluble pen. Using pinking shears, cut around outside edge of rectangle. Then lightly dampen the pen marks on the felt with water so ink disappears and leave to one side. Place tea pattern on brown felt and draw around outside edge of pattern using a water soluble pen. With a sharp pair of scissors, cut out tea piece from brown felt.

Unpin white felt bags and place brown tea felt piece in between the two pieces of white felt, pinning to secure. Using a needle threaded with white embroidery thread, hand stitch a rectangle around outside edge of teabag, starting at the centre of the short side. Finish by back stitching a couple of times at the end and then cut thread leaving a 7cm long tail.

Next, cut a piece of ribbon 2cm long and back half of it with a strip of iron-on double sided tape. Peel off backing tape from ribbon and place end of embroidery thread tail over backing strip. Fold ribbon in half and lightly iron to seal together.

Have a sweet day!

Hopeful new year

I'm off for the hols, lovelies. I'm heading down the coast for a couple of weeks of family loving. I won't be able to resist reading your blogs, but I think I'll keep mine post-free for the duration. We all need a bit of a break from my... opinions, I think.

Before I go, let me say thank you for a wonderful year on Maxabella loves.... This community is pure delight to me. Every 'me too', every 'how could you?', every 'but have you thought of this...' and especially every 'thank you for introducing me to...' you write, means so much to me. I hope you feel comfy here to just be yourself and shine a little bit each visit.

Be part of things whenever you can. Please join me on Sunday, 8 January for a very special linky. It's the HAPPY ONE WORD linky... actually, I'm not sure that's what I'm calling it, but I want you to choose one word (just one) that you'll be focusing on in 2012. Blog about (or just leave a comment about) why you chose that word, what it means to you and how you're going to bring it to life throughout the year. How will focusing on your word help you or change you? What will be different?

In 2010 my word was 'zen' and then in 2011 my word was 'health'. Let's just say that the zen word slowed me down beautifully but the health word was pretty much dead on arrival. I'm not sure what my 2012 word will be yet, but I'll let you know on the 8th!

Until then, enjoy Christmas and greet the new year with a wave and a smile. A big, cheery smile and maybe even an even bigger smiley, cheer. Man, it's going to be a good one. Can't you feel it?

♥

I'm back on Saturday, 7 January with a little 'Grateful' surprise... it's Grateful, but not as you know it... stay tuned!

What are you doing for Christmas?

Do you celebrate New Year or clean your house like I do?
Will you join me on the 8th?