Hopping Down the Bunny Trail . . .

I knew the colours in the great printables I mentioned in my last post were calling to me for a reason . 

I completely forgot that a few weeks ago I picked up some of these while doing the grocery shopping at Aldi

 . . .thinking that they would be great for the small one to take to school for his friends . ( He is the only one at an age where giving gifts and cards to your classmates is still cool ! ) The eggs are a perfect match with the colours in the party printables.

I used these thin cello bags that I already had . . .

which were just wide enough to get the eggs in . I printed off the 6 tent cards from the set on white card , folded them ,  rounded the corners and used them as bag toppers for his 6 closest friends ( so he could add their names ) .

See how well the egg colours match ?? They looked beautiful en masse . . .

The rest of the class got un-named ones , finished with a smaller topper . ( I got the PDF from Etsy here. )

Each bag only contains 7 jelly eggs ( which are just like jelly beans , only egg-shaped , in case you were wondering ) , so I managed to cover the whole class of 25 and the teacher with 4 bags .

For his teacher , I used one of these transparent mini-buckets ( you can get them from craft shops ) . . .

I printed off the drink wraps and used one on the inside of the bucket . Then I filled it with some shredded cellophane and jelly eggs .

I punched a scallop around one of the mini logos for the lid , and cut out the centre of another drink wrap for a gift tag .

Here it is all put together with some ribbon scraps tied to the handle .

Oooooo ! Pretty .

P . S . Q.  Why did the jelly bean go to school? 

           A.  Because he wanted to be a smartie.

Here comes Peter Cottontail . . .

How cute are these free printables ? You can get them for yourself from 'Catch My Party' here .

I will definitely be using some of these this year ! So very pretty .

P . S . " A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected. " Carl Sandburg

Closed Case...

I made a new case for my kindle recently , as my old one was getting a bit tatty .
What do you think ?

The main fabric is Daisy Doodle Dandy in charcoal by Michael Miller ,

and it 's put together with a length of teal piping and a small piece of a co-ordinating stripe  . (Believe it or not, the 'grellow' striped fabric was a tea towel . I often snap them up when I see pretty ones in the supermarket for a couple of dollars .) The fun swirly lining , which matches really well , is Mini Ironwork in turquoise , also by MM .

This case is made for a Kindle 3, which measures 190mm x 120mm , but you could adapt the design for any eReader or electronic gadget . ( The finished size should be 2 cm larger all round than your device, which allows for the thickness of the padding and makes for a snug fit . )
It' s made in 6 pieces - I cut the outside front, back and both front and back lining pieces to 24cm x 17cm , the inside and outside of the flap were 10cm x 17cm . I used 1.5cm seams all round .
The front and back panels are padded with 1cm thick wadding to protect the device , cut 1cm smaller all 'round and both pieces of the flap are fused to medium weight interfacing .

I used a small piece of hat elastic to make the closure, with a fabulous matching button (co-ordinates by LaMode) sewn on to finish - just pull the centre of the elastic loop slightly with a fabric pencil to mark where to sew the button .
I don ' t have all the process photos , as I made it at a craft night at a friend's house and didn't have my camera (not to mention that I'd rather not look like a wally in front of ladies I ' d only just met ) but you can find a good tutorial here if you've never made a lined pouch before .
I'm off to do some reading...or maybe just look at the cover for while. So pretty . . .

P.S. " He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes. " Barrow

Another year older . . .

Well , my birthday has once again come and gone - though things continue to arrive in the mail , which is nice . 24 hours is such a short time to be important !

Had to share my lovely gifts from my family this year though , starting with a gorgeous cup and saucer that I have been crushing on for months . . .

people, it holds 480ml !  Now that's a cuppa .
My lovely kids gave me a decorating mag and chose a really yummy box of chocolates . . .

check these out . . .

Luckily we are a family of 5 ,' cause I am sorely tempted to eat them all myself ! Yum .
Mum sent a lovely stash of Stampin ' Up goodies - can' t wait to try them out .

and look at the beautiful card she made .

Speaking of cards , this is how my 14 - year - old comedian addressed his . . .

He also suggested inside the card that I don ' t let life get me down at my age. Funny guy.
I also have have some cash and gift cards to spend, so I'll start thinking about where that will go .

Hmmmm . Manners lessons for teenagers ? Lots more Swiss chocolates ? I ' ll keep you posted .

P . S ." A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age." Robert Frost

May the odds be ever in your favour . . .

Although I am far , far away from the target demographic , I am not embarassed to say I'm soooo excited to see the movie adaptation of the Suzanne Collins YA  novel ' The Hunger Games ' . I'm taking my 14-year-old son along so I don't look so dorky - luckily he is a huge fan too . Only 18 days to go!!

I adore the books (even though I only found them a couple of years ago) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the movies don't ruin them . (Hmmmm - anyone else thinking 'Twilight'?)

Check out the trailer if you have a chance - the  casting seems to be spot on.

 Will you be cheering Katniss and Peeta on too?

P.S. “ Here’s some advice. Stay alive.” - Haymitch Abernathy