Finding Treasure

Searching for buried treasure was the stuff of dreams when I was a kid.  I remember my little friend and I burying a small tin containing some goodies in our back garden with the thought of digging it up later as "buried treasure".  We never did find it again despite numerous attempts!

Inspired by my recent pirate jackets, I wanted to create a series of fun pirate accessories for imaginative play and Treasure Maps seemed a great place to start...

Children can navigate past cannibal villages and volcanoes, through jungles and swamps, even rest in "Jack's cave" and watch mermaids frolic amongst the rocky shoreline before finding the treasure.

This was a joint effort with my honey - I  loaded him up with all the elements I wished for the first map and his finished result is exactly what I had pictured.  (He is so amazing!)  

We distressed the paper to make it look like it had been folded up in a pirate's pocket for a while and had changed hands during a few battles...  

Luckily you don't need to battle a pirate to get your hands on one.  We have made a wee stash of them - each is individually made and hand coloured so no two are exactly alike!  Great for play and also as a decoration on children's walls etc.

You can pick up one up at one of my market stalls or email me on thebiglittleshop@gmail.com. 

I'm overflowing with ideas at the moment - so stay tuned as in the coming weeks there will be some more pirate goodies and I can't wait to share them with you!

xx

Outdoor Bath

Poppet's Grandparents bought her a paddling pool for Christmas and to be honest she has always been a bit shy about going in.  

She will sit on the outside of the pool and play with her water toys within, but actually getting in herself was another story...

What we discovered over time was that adding warm water and bubble bath made it far more appealing to her taste!  Now we can barely get her out...  

Poppet just loves to be in the bath, so an outdoor one in the garden with Daddy made it even more special.

This was such a lovely way to spend a summer Sunday evening together, we might have to make this a Sunday night ritual for the remainder of these balmy evenings.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

xx

Handmade Wooden Button Tutorial

The removal of a rather old mandarin tree during the summer at my parent's place inspired me to make my own wooden buttons.  I had such a great time making them and the process was quite simple so I thought I would share it with you, in case you might like to have a go - I totally recommend it!

Firstly search for a branch of a good thickness and as straight as possible. This is especially important if you are needing a bunch of buttons all the same size.

Using a hack saw, or an electric saw if you have one which is much faster, simply saw off rounds.  About 1/8 inch thick is perfect, any thinner and they risk snapping.

Next step is to drill the holes.  Using a a very fine drill bit, drill two or four holes, whichever you prefer.  I used an old button as a guide and simply drilled straight through it's holes.

The lovely outside edges will come off eventually anyway, so you might as well knock them off now.  Gently buff off any rough edges with some sandpaper, to avoid them snagging on anything.

As indicated by the pic, I like to use a few different grades of sandpaper starting with a rougher one, and graduating to a fine one.  Just like buffing your nails!

Lastly treat the wood by rubbing in some natural beeswax, furniture wax or polish.  In the pic you can see I have treated half of the button to show you the difference it makes.  It really brings out the natural grain and personality of the wood.

And here they are finished - your own handmade buttons!  

I couldn't help myself and simply had to sew some onto a garment...

This sweet embroidered wool coat which I have been working on for some time, needed some natural looking buttons to go with the botanical theme so my new buttons worked out perfectly :)

I'm really pleased with them, and they are such fun to make, albeit quite time consuming. 

I would love to hear if you make some - and what you use them for  :)

Linking up with more creatives here.

xx

Cute Lemon Muffins

Butterflies, dragonflies, ladybirds and bees.  What better way to eat muffins!

My honey bought me this beautiful cupcake tin last year featuring all my favourite garden critters.

Up until now it had remained unused, then the perfect opportunity arose to try it out - the delivery of a bag of fresh lemons from our neighbour.

I used a recipe for lemon muffins which I found here.  The recipe was really easy with a lovely citrus zing - perfect to use up all those last lemons hanging on the tree.

There was some curiosity as to whether all the detail would show up by using muffin mixture, but I was pleasantly surprised - also by how easily they popped out of the tin.  Yay!

We are planning our little girl's first birthday party and I think a pink version of these might need to be on the menu - they are just so much fun to make.

xx

Little Red Riding Hood

Update:  Finished cape pics are here.

A Little Red Riding Hood Cape has been a long time coming :)   So many requests, so many beautiful thrifted red garments in gorgeous fabrics in my stash and so many ideas about to come together!

This particular cape is a custom order for a little girl in Australia ready for the winter.  

Vintage red velvet with a silvery grey tree, a grey and black wolf and of course "Little Red" and her basket.  

Will keep you posted over the next month with some updates as it comes together.  I'm really excited about working on this one and have ideas for some Little Red Riding Hood shoes and bags to co-ordinate too.  How cute will that be!

Linking up with more creatives here. xx

Fruit Cake

To be honest I didn't like fruit cake for the longest of time.  It has only been in the last handful of years that I have succumbed to it's dense satisfying texture.

Saying that, I feel like I am becoming somewhat of a fruit cake connoisseur of late.  My Mum makes a gorgeous fruit cake (she is famous for it) and we were lucky enough to have received more than one from her during the year.  Yum! 

My Honey's Mum also baked us one just last week which also stood out for all the right reasons.  Rich, dense, and lusciously crumbly - just perfect.

Oh yes - this particular cake satisfied all the criteria.  It was actually so good I begged her for the recipe to share with you.

She happily obliged so here is the recipe:

Amount for 23cm tin

500g butter
500g brown sugar
8 eggs
670g flour
830g sultanas
830g currants
330g raisins
1½ tsp mixed spice
3 tblsp golden syrup
150ml rum/brandy
150g slivered almonds (optional)

Prepare cake tin by lining with 2 layers of brown paper, then 2 layers of greaseproof paper, lining bottom and sides of tin.

Set oven to 110˚C

* Cream butter and sugar. Beat in golden syrup.
* Add each egg separately and beat well after each addition until mixture is stiff and firm.
* Stir in flour, spice, fruit, rum or brandy. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
* Spoon carefully into prepared tin. Bake in a slow oven for approximately 7 hours.

If oven seems too hot, turn oven down to 105˚C. (I usually put a folded newspaper on the oven tray underneath the tin).  Leave the cake in the tin to cool. A little extra rum, or brandy, spooned over the cake when it is almost cool wouldn’t go amiss!

Spread top and sides lightly with warmed apricot jam, cover with almond paste (if using), then ice with preferred icing.

Happy baking  xx

Bird of Paradise

I embroidered this Bird of Paradise during the festive break at my parents place. 

The "birds" look so majestic I think, perched above the bush looking out over the harbour.

I embroidered my bird of paradise onto some cream linen which was once a skirt with a rather large hole in it.  I found it in the bargain bin at our local thrift shop and couldn't leave it there - with it's  lovely soft, yet thick texture.

I made this embroidery into a little zippered purse.

 

Linking up with more creatives here.  xx 

Make your own Pirate Jacket!

UPDATE:  Pirate Jacket PDF Pattern now available here!

Firstly I would like to say thanks so much for all your lovely comments on my Dandelion Coat.  It was lovely to hear from you all.

This week I have some very exciting news...  My "creative space" has involved putting together a pattern for my Pirate Jacket!

I was so proud of my very first pirate jacket which I wrote about here.   It seems hard to believe it was only a year ago that I designed and constructed the original, but since then I have made them in a bunch of sizes, colours and fabrics and I just love each and every one.

The new pirate jacket pattern is an EASY SEW and will be available for sale in my shop as soon as the testing phase is finished.  Anyone with a basic sewing knowledge and some patience for hand stitching will be able to make a special jacket for the little pirates in their life!

I am looking for THREE people to test the pattern FREE prior to release.  If you would like to be a pattern tester please read the requirements below.  If this sounds like something you would like to do (you will receive a FREE copy!)  please leave a comment here on my blog, or my facebook page or email me at thebiglittleshop@gmail.com.

Basically you will need a metre of fabric for the jacket and the same for lining.   Lots of scraps of felt, fabric etc for the treasure map, dagger, pirate flag, loot bag, patches and so on.

Many crafty people would have the majority of what is needed without needing to buy anything.  No fancy tools required either, just a sewing machine, scissors, measuring tape, hand sewing needles and the enthusiasm to make an awesome jacket!

The basic jacket pattern is an EASY SEW pattern - I promise!  A little bit of time is taken to hand stitch the embellishments, however, they are not difficult either - just need a little love :)
The pattern includes sizes 12 months - 4T

The requirements for being a pattern tester are:
•  Be able to complete the project within 3 weeks of receiving the pattern.
•  Advise any errors and/or give suggestions for improvement where needed
•  Email photos of your finished product.

I would love to hear from you if you are interested.

Making more fun garments for boys is on my list for 2012 so if you have any ideas I would also love to hear them!

Have an enjoyable Thursday and for those of you in NZ - I hope you have a lovely long Waitangi weekend.

Lisa x