{image by the incredible Nicole at Birthography www.birthography.com.au}

I am on baby leave from now until mid 2013 as I embark on life as a mother of two!

Please feel free to email me if you would like a referal to another designer.

Can’t wait to see you all next year. Have a safe and beautiful Christmas x

I loved making my Christmas wreath so much, I thought I would put together a step-by-step guide for free! This is is a great little project you can make with the kids over the coming weeks or school holidays before Santa arrives. It can be done in an afternoon (3hrs) or over a few days or weeks.

* All measurements are in yards and inches because that is what my cutting mat is in. It isn’t an exact science so convert into cm as close as you can.

Here we go….. ready?

What you need…
~ Fabrics, up to 4 different patterns, 1 yard in total. Ideally quilting weight but any cotton will do. You could also add tulle, ribbons or hessian strips. Get creative!
~ 35cm rattan cane wreath from Spotlight
~ Pinking shears or a rotary cutter with pinking blade. Scissors will work but you will get more fraying and ragging on the edge of your fabric
~ Cutting mat
~ Ruler or tape measure
~ Ribbon to hang

Optional (all available from Spotlight)
~ Chalkboard heart
~ Decorative bells
~ Extra ribbon

Step 1
Select your fabrics. I chose red, white and green and added some hessian as a contrast. Other colours that would be great are silver, gold and white or blue and white.

Step 2
Cut fabrics into strips measuring 1″ x 8″ until you have a big messy pile….or nice neat piles, depending on your personality! I felt bad putting a photo up with a big messy pile so tidied them up a bit…

Step 3
Grab your wreath and start knotting! There are two different types of knot.

The first is just a simple knot where the fabric will stick out either side. You can do a double knot if you like, as I have.

Alternatively if you want all your fabric rags sticking out on the outside of your wreath, you can tie a knot like the pic below. Fold it in half under the wreath, take the ends and pull them through the loop and pull tightly. If this type of knot has a name can you let me know?!

Step 4
Keep tying strips of fabric onto your wreath, colour by colour (or randomly if you choose) around the circle until it is covered. If you are using hessian too you will not need as much. Hessian fluffs out a lot and be warned – the fibres go everywhere!

I like to spread them out, adding bits in here and there then pushing them all together as I go. This way you can get a nice even spread of colour and pattern.

Soon you will only have a small gap!

Step 5 (optional)
I added a little chalkboard heart that I found in Spotlight. They come in a pack of 5 for about $4 in the wedding section and come with the string too. I slipped a little bell down the string and tied a bow at the top in a different ribbon then simply tied it to the wreath between two strips of fabric.

Step 6
Finished! You will end up with a big, fluffy mess like this when you are done.

Spend a few minutes making sure all the knots face the same way, that all your fabric has been tied with the pattern facing you. Any strips that are too long can be trimmed.

Step 7
Add your ribbon. Fold it in half and loop the ends through over the wreath. Tie the top ends together in a bow and trim the ends with pinking shears to prevent fraying.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have now finished your beautiful Christmas rag wreath! Write a little message on the heart if you like, or count down the days until Santa arrives!

Give it a spray with Scotchguard to keep it looking nice. If you are planning on hanging it on the front door ensure it is safe from the rain. I take no responsibility for soggy wreaths.

And finally take a photo and send it to me at jane@mylittlelovebird.com.au

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone xxx

I have to be honest, when I first saw this fabric collection I wasn’t sold. Then I realised I am so totally surrounded by floral and shabby chic fabrics all the time, I’d somehow lost my sense of creativity and imagination for anything other than roses and lace.

It was when I saw a little dress by PinkStrudel for sale on Facebook last week that I fell head-over-heels for the mermaids, whales and anchors in Sarah Jane’s Out To Sea collection. Now I’m desperate to create a room for a little pirate in the oh-so soft pink and grey for girls, and sunshiney yellows, blue and red for boys. And the map! The old nautical map! Jane has managed to balance the boyish themes of pirates and ye olde seafaring yet mix it with mermaids and whales for girls. The end result is classic and ageless. A nursery would be just as sweet as a toddler room to drift away in.

Sarah Jane’s website and blog is also something to be admired. As an illustrator she combines her whimsical characters with craft projects to bring all the characters to life on everything from cross stitch to softies. It would take hours to pick through all the goodies and freebies, plus there are links to flickr groups who have made all these divine things.

I want to be a pirate now!

Would someone please make this for me pretty please? http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/2012/08/out-to-sea-blog-tour-pirate-doll/

{all images via http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/ except dress, which is from https://www.facebook.com/pinkstrudel}

Yep, flower bombs! What the?

Created by flower goddess Holly Hipwell from The Flower Drum on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, flower bombing landed at Black & Spiro in Brisbane this week and I got to learn first hand how to make one! Oh and did I mention it was all part of a series of workshops run by über interior styling queen Megan Morton who I love and adore?

Megan has been in town to launch her new book ‘Things I Love’ and bought her design school, ‘The School’ with her. Workshops are currently running at the iconic design store in New Farm, and have included flower bombing, crafting paper chandeliers as well as a full day styling masterclass with MM herself {baby brain here wanted to go but thought the better of it with only a few weeks and even less brain cells left before bubba}.

I settled on the flower bomb class which basically is making a big fluffy ball of flowers on a string. Well, that’s the easy way of explaining it! Design comes into it when you see what the person next to you has created and the limitless ways of making carnations {good old hospital flowers} pretty again. There were stripes, spots, plain red with a stunning black ribbon. And the uses, oh the many uses for a flower bomb! Girls were putting them in vases, balancing them on coffee cups, draping them around body parts, one was plonked on an urn. They would look just as stunning hanging off a curtain rail at home {as mine is now} or as a centerpiece of a wedding table. Holly even blew one up once. Yep, true story!

I was totally blown away by Holly’s hilarious nature, absolute adoration of flowers and talent to turn a plain old bunch of carnations into something so unique and gorgeous. And it was wonderful meeting Megan again too. In 2010 I won a competition to spend a day with her in Sydney talking all things interiors. I was pregnant then so it was funny that we both had new babies again, my big belly and her new book. And yes, I did gush when she called me her ‘lucky book charm’…..still gushing……*sigh*!

Check out the crazy video here of Holly blowing up a flower bomb and if you are on the Northern Beaches go say hi at her pop-up store in The Sugarmill in Narrabeen.

Megan runs regular classes in Sydney but will be travelling around Oz and possibly even New York next year taking The School to the world!

And me? Well I will be raiding the 7 Eleven for all the carnations I can find to bomb my house to bits over summer!

I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone and it’s spring already!

This Thursday I will be adding a stack of bunting to my online store to celebrate all the colours of spring. Here is a taster of what you will find. A full preview is available on my Facebook  page. All bunting are available on my store at www.madeit.com.au/mylittlelovebird.

Only 12 weeks until baby #2 arrives but I have one more special surprise for My Little Lovebird before then. Stay tuned and don’t forget to mark Thursday’s bunting release in your diary!