Xmas Crafts

2019 runs it's final lap as we head in toward end of year celebrations, revelations, relaxations, considerations, contemplations...

The Xmas spirit can be fun, but for some it is not always a jolly time. With the cultivated image of what we think Xmas Day should look like, the postcard view can be hard to live up to. It shouldn't matter if there's only one present, or if the Xmas tree is a drawing on piece of paper, yet we do worry that we aren't able to recreate picture perfection on this one day of the year.
For me, the take away of Xmas Day is having a moment of relief, and kindness. Kindness to the stranger on the street, kindness to those we care about, but also kindness to ourselves. It's not always easy, but somewhere between the rush of 'life' traffic we can get lost along the way. So, this season, whether you celebrate Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ōmisoka or the New Year I hope you are able to find something in yourself to love and appreciate.

{My Poppet link}

In other things Xmassie, if you're looking for decorating and present ideas that are ever so easy to make, and inexpensive, head on over to My Poppet – a pretty and clever craft resource. Top of my list is this Xmas Tree Ornament, which is actually a miniature Xmas Tree. Can you imagine a Xmas Tree completely decorated with Xmas Trees?

Here are some other Xmassie nuggets on My Poppet:

• My Poppet – Advent Calendar Coloring Page
• My Poppet – Modern Crochet Calendar
• My Poppet – Paper Christmas Angel
• My Poppet – Scrap Fabric Twine Baubles

Before heading off I also wish to highlight another Xmassie craft project which I produced for Kidspot. It's of a refurbished book which I converted into an angel. For the tutorial video and details head on over to Kidspot. If you so wanted you could use this tutorial as a basis for making a miniature model Xmas tree or even a Dalek. Or, how about a Xmas Dalek. What do you think? Too much, or just enough?

Birthday Commission

At last, I can come out with interesting news that I've been sitting on for months, like a good goose.

I received an illustration commission to  create a series of framed place setters for an elegant Fortieth Birthday dinner party.

Each illustration was an amusing representation of the hosts and guests. The images incorporated aspects of their careers, and/or personal interests.

I am told the guests were delighted with the illustrations, and wandered around the dinner table taking in the different framed illustrations. It certainly became a talking piece for them

Ring Bling + Gift Ideas + BJD WIP

This week I've got some crafty updates for you. Two of my craft content pieces went live over at  and. 

My Poppet

First up, My Poppet has you bling craftsters covered with a Glow in the Dark ring tutorial.

Kidspot

Over at Kidspot you will also find a 'no sew' way of making a fabric gift bag. Hint: It's a Teacher's Gift inspired project.

This week has seen incremental progress with my BJD project. Onto blue print number 9, and a second head and body. The elusive limbs are my next focus.

BJD Journey – Let it Begin

© Melissa Gaggiano

In my twenties I had this idea, of wanting to make modern china dolls. I hardly knew where to begin, and the internet as an educational platform was an infant. I didn't even know about blogs back then. So my notion of making a sculpted doll was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Two decades on, the internet has grown into a platform for learning, making it easier for introverts to study and practice skills that might otherwise never be realised. 

For the past ten years I have been drawing up and making cloth dolls. I would also sketch ideas for BJDs (ball jointed dolls). And although I took strides in learning to make articulated cloth dolls, I hesitated at the precipice of clay sculpted dolls. Until now. 

My kids will cheer me on: You do your best to encourage kids to try stuff and not give up. Then one day, when you're at your lowest, there they are spurting back to you all the encouraging things you've been teaching them. Not long ago one of my kids said to me, 'You've been talking about wanting to make a BJD for years. So just 'do it'!

So here I am, beginning a new, slow journey up a whole new mountain of doll making. What will I find at the top, I wonder.

© Melissa Gaggiano

Postop Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I'm tired! You're tired! Everyone is freakin' tired.

Postop Halloween: The kids have filled their pumpkins buckets with a modest amount of candy. The streets were lined with scary things. It was a hot day, but I was a smart skeleton, and carried a water bottle to keep the family hydrated. One of the Trick or Treat households were real kind, and offered icy poles and cups of water, in addition to the candy bowl, for anyone on the Halloween march.

This year for Halloween I made a skeleton costume and a dragon cowl. Also, I altered an old Miraculous Ladybug one piece costume, which by now was actually strangling my kid since she'd grown that much.

We'll get a few extra years out of the Ladybug costume as I have cut it up into separate parts, and it became a steampunk inspired Miraculous Ladybug. How awesome is that!?

Concept: Steampunk Miraculous Ladybug

Halloween Goodies

We're a week away from All Hallow's Eve (Halloween) and I decided to share with you my pick list of neat DIY Halloween stuff, to inspire (some of the articles are mine, and some are by Cintia), and perhaps, give you a giggle. So let's get into it, shall we?

First up are simple costume ideas:

{My Poppet Makes: Chat Noir Costume}

{My Poppet Makes: DIY Koroku Mask}

{Kidspot: GITD Skeleton Costume}

{Kidspot: Superhero Costume}

And for costume ideas that are a bit more advanced... in other words let's dip our toes into the world of cosplay:

{My Poppet Makes: Linkle Cosplay}

{My Poppet Makes: Bellatrix Estrange Cosplay by Cintia}

Let's not forget the awesome Halloween decorations that you can make:

{My Poppet Makes: Pumpkin Gift Box by Cintia}

{My Poppet Makes: Upcycled Halloween Wreath}

Last, but not least:

If you're a sewing nut check out the Halloween themed sewing projects listed at Coloured Buttons.It's a smorgasbord of spooky, sewing fun.

Coffee + Pizza + Spook Town Fun

So much life has been happening. Some things you might expect and plan for. Other things... not so much. The holidays have been and gone. And while I had a mental list of things to do during that period, it all fell away when one by one kids got sick.

One small bit at a time I am picking up the pieces, and finding balance between work, creativity and rest. For now, let me catch you up on the happenings of past weeks.

Halloween is upon us, and I've got some spooky Halloween love to share. I can't help it, I think Halloween is such fun. So... Shimmer your way over to My Poppet Makes to find out how I up-cycled a spooky, yet utterly darling Halloween wreath.

I spent one glorious Crafternoon 'making stuff' with likeminded crafters, eating delicious cake and drinking Nescafé. Head on over to My Poppet Living. and get the full story and pictures from the Nescafé Crafternoon. I seriously need to do Crafternoons more often. People + food + making stuff = healthy combination.

Happiness is a baked pizza served straight out of a hot BBQ. So it was a crafty love fest for me, designing and making a pizza cushion for Kidspot. Head over to Kidspot to access my DIY 'pizza cushion' craft video.

A while back I produced a project for My Poppet Makes, showing how to transform a shoebox into a vintage trunk. In round up to this project, I created another project detailing how to create sturdy, layered shelves within the shoebox. It's the perfect way for storing all those easy to lose little pieces. Head on over to My Poppet Makes to find out how to make:

1/ Make a Vintage Trunk Storage Box

2/ DIY Storage Box Solution Small Items

Sweet Little Storage

{My Poppet link}

Hey you, Neat Freaks! I've got something real special lined up for you. If you head over to My Poppet you will find my latest DIY project. It is all about 'storage' and 'containment' (love those words) of all those cute, yet annoyingly teeny bits and pieces that usually wind up inside of the vacuum cleaner. So if you've got a heap of empty boxes that have no subdivisions then this project is perfect for you.

A little side note: This project is loosely a Part Two of another project on My Poppet which is about shoebox decorating. You'll love it!

{My Poppet link}

Her Lil' Craft Shop

© Melissa Gaggiano

This was a long time coming. Inspired by Beedle, the nomadic merchant of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Little K decided to have a shop, selling her handmade wares during school lunch.

It was an almost forgotten back burner project. So I was pleasantly surprised when Little K set about building her shop and supplies. The shop consists of an upside down cardboard lid with yarn straps, and a stick with a felt flag.

So much can come of Little K conducting her store, including:

• Increased confidence.
• Business acumen.
• Communicating with and reading people.
• Having fun, 'making'.

My take away from all this – 

When you want to do something, you just got to summon your willpower and 'do it'.

{link}

Mouse + Paper + Clay

The weekend gone presented an interesting turn of events. There was an impromptu crafternoon, which led to the creation of Giuseppe, a needle felted mouse. Having wanted to make a little creature like this for quite some time. And the time never feeling quite right, until now. 

© Melissa Gaggiano

Since Giuseppe turned out as well as he did. I went at it again, and made another little mouse... even smaller.

After a tidy up one of the kids was on the verge of throwing out their recent paper sculpture. Before the paper was recycled, I took a photo of it, for a remembrance. This image makes you want to go on a holiday, does it not?

The kids make things with minimal input from me. Occasionally I show them techniques that I've figured out, but for the most part I give them the space to freestyle it. Yesterday though, we had a situation which required a collaboration between mama and child. The result was this Princess Peach statue.

Father's Day: Heavy on the Vinyl

Kidspot Craft: Father's Day

Check out my latest Kidspot craft video,with the perfect Father's Day spin. Yes indeed, I wrote that. So spin that wheel, and give your retro Dad something from the heart and that's easy to make.

While you're making Dad's card listen this to track:

Coffee, Macarons, Pigeon Post + Hot Dogs

© Melissa Gaggiano

In the week that was there has been coffee and macarons. As in, I've been making coffee and macarons, not in the kitchen, but with my sewing supplies. Doesn't that look a treat?

One of the kids has started on a letter writing journey with an an imaginary postal pigeon. I have enabled her. Together we have created a postal station in the yard. It is a place for the 'pigeon' to deliver letters, and rest.

  

Before the above landing pad was made the fence acted as a temporary postal station for the pigeon, and sure enough, the next day, their was a mail collection card letting us know the kid's letter had been received by the pigeon.

On a end of day whim I made a variation of a hot dog. It is a dachshund, resting on a bed that appears suspiciously like a bread roll. No hot dogs were harmed in the making of this lil guy. My littlest has named him Saucy. This is not at all weird.