Sunday motivation

Ducky amigurumi!!

I'm very proud to introduce you to...Ducky!!

Yes, I know he's an odd colour for a duck - but my daughter chose the colours and she helped make this cute little guy!

For my daughter's 8th birthday last week, her sister got her some more wool - and we downloaded and printed some amigurumi patterns:

She chose a duck to start with, and although it was bigger than I'd imagined and so took a bit longer than expected, I'm really pleased with the result..

I kind of followed the pattern - but didn't always count my stitches - so he's a little lop-sided! But I think that just adds to his charm!

Following the patterns was reasonably easy. You really only need to know chain (ch) and single crochet (sc) (which I've learnt as being called double crochet - how confusing!!).

The hardest part is the first few 'rings' at the beginning of each part. As it gets larger and wider the 'holes' where you put your crochet hook get much easier to see. My daughter can chain really quickly, and perfectly evenly now, but is still practising with starting the circles! Once I get that done - she's great with the double (or single) crochet too!

So we'll keep going and soon we'll have loads of different and brightly coloured amigurumi!!

From zero crochet skills to this in just 4 months I'm quite impressed!!

One thing I think I might invest in is a stitch marker - I seem to loose count and track of where I'm up to very easily. Any recommendations?

How to stimulate your creativity!

The book I'm reading at the moment is the very interesting:

The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

The book explores what motivates people to do things like work harder. Dan Ariely has some really interesting and fun studies to share seeing for example whether bigger and bigger financial bonus really do make people work harder and harder.  What effect do people's reactions to what we produce at work have on our productivity or desire to work more or less.

All of this is 'behavioural economics'. Now if you'd mentioned that title to me I would never have picked up this book.

But reading about the experiments he has done and how people have reacted in them is fascinating!

I discovered this author through a Youtube video where he talks about what motivates us to work. 

Anyway - how this brought me to creativity was this 'thought experiment' mentioned in the book...

"What if I paid you a lot of money, say $100,000, to come up with a very creative idea for a research project in the next 72 hours? What would you do differently? You would probably substitute some of your regular activities with others. You would not bother with your e-mail; you wouldn't check Facebook; you wouldn't leaf through a magazine. you would probably drink a lot of coffee and sleep much less. Maybe you would stay at the office all night. This means that you would work more hours, but would doing any of this help you be more creative?"

This made me think about my 'creative' blog and that my goal is to make it into a business that makes me a decent financial income.  I am in effect doing this 'thought experiment' but without the time constraint.  

I know that plenty of people have made more than $100,000 from their blogs and take the attitude that if someone else can do it then so can I. - I just have to figure out how!

However can financial gain as an incentive make you more creative? Perhaps it is more likely to stifle your creativity by putting pressure on you to come up with ideas?

But it does pose the question..

How do you stimulate your creativity?

Do you have something you do to help get your creative juices flowing?

Personally - I like to get some good music on and do tasks that don't require me to think about them - like exercise or sometimes housework!  

Exercise I find particularly good as it wakes me up, gets the blood flowing and if I do it in the morning it motivates me for the day. I've solved a few 'problems' and come up with lots of ideas when running!

I Googled - "how to be more creative" - and here's a selection of the ideas I found:

Let your mind wander

Do things differently

Walk in the rain

Stop watching television

Block out interruptions

Listen to music

Eat with your hands

I'm not sure why eating with your hands would stimulate creativity, but I'm willing to give it a try!! 

I also tried to look up which colour might enhance or stimulate creativity - but found several different answers - blue, grey, purple and turquoise.  Who knows - perhaps if I'd looked for longer I could have found more colours mentioned!

I guess it's all a personal choice - and finding what works for you.

After my post last week -

"What is Creativity and why do we need it"

I really want to look at ways that might encourage creativity in myself and also my kids.

Perhaps some kind of creativity challenge - does anyone have any suggestions? - perhaps I will work one out for next month - a small creative challenge each day? 

Would anyone be interested in joining in with something like this?

Any and all suggestions welcome!

What do you do to stimulate your own creativity?

Personalised Duffel-Style Bags - Free Tutorial!

This easy to follow and information packed tutorial shows you how to make not just one, but all sizes of this versatile duffel style bag.

The keychain size:

The pencil case size:

 The handbag size with several pockets and clips:

And the overnight or airline carry-on size:

The tutorial includes all measurements, pattern pieces,
and clear photos and instructions for every step, including how to custom make any size duffel you choose!

I have made sets for myself, and both my daughters with our initials on:

I also made one with rip-stop nylon fabric for my daughter to use as a waterproof swimming bag.

I have made sets for my daughter's friends..

And an extra gym bag for myself with longer straps..

So - if you would like a FREE copy of this PDF tutorial, just 

click here

 to go to the download!

To see my other free sewing tutorials, over l00 of them for all levels of sewing ability, go to 

My Tutorials Page

Happy Sewing!

Sunday Motivation

Crocheting onto objects

Last week I stumbled across a great little tutorial for making crochet picture frames over at Lola Nova, by crocheting onto a basic bracelet.

Now I have two daughters who have recently grown out of all their bright plastic jewellery - leaving me with a large collection like this:

I've kept them knowing that one day I'll find some use for them - and this just seemed perfect!

So I gave it a go..

It was quite easy to crochet around the bracelet - although my stitches weren't very even - with some looser than others! I only did the basic first layer over the bracelet, the tutorial has further layers to make the 'frame' wider.

But knowing how easy the basic idea is - this is definitely something I will play around with. I showed it to my daughter and she picked it up very quickly. She's been practising and has started attaching them to keyrings and bags, and also making them for her friends!

I tried again using the whole tutorial and ended up with this...

I'm very pleased with it - especially since it's the first whole crochet pattern I've managed to follow!! Still not perfect, but I'm excited nonetheless!!

It's also got me looking around the house wondering what else I can crochet onto?

Any suggestions anyone? What have you creatively crocheted onto?

Magnetic Pockets a tutorial - 5 steps in 15 mins

Does your fridge look anything like this?

I get endless vouchers and notes that get stuck on the fridge with magnets, but look very messy and cluttered.

So I decided to pretty them up a bit!

So instead of this:

I can have this:

Much neater and prettier!

It's a nice simple project that just uses scraps of material and a magnet for each pocket. (I have several odd magnets that have fallen off things or come unstuck etc).

So here's how to make your own magnetic pocket for the fridge to hold all those coupons, vouchers and notes, in just 

5 steps and 15 minutes

Step 1

Cut your fabric a little wider than you want your pocket and 4 times the length.

(I cut mine 11 x 40cm (4.5 x 16")

Fold in half lengthways with right sides together:

Step 2

Stitch down both long sides:

Step 3

Turn the pocket right sides out and press:

Also press the raw edges of the opening inside the pocket like this:

Step 4

Place the magnet just inside the pocket:

Then stitch across the top of the pocket on both sides of the magnet. I used my zipper foot so that I could get the line of stitching nice and close to stop the magnet slipping around.

Then stitch down the other two sides of the magnet to hold securely in place.

Step 5

Fold up your pocket in half, with the magnet at the top back.

And top-stitch down both sides, close to the edge.

And you're done! Pop it on your fridge and fill up with those vouchers and coupons!

I think my fridge looks a little tidier now, don't you?

You could make these pockets any size you like - but you may need more magnets spaced out across the top for larger pockets!

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

For more simple sewing tutorials that anyone can sew in just 

5 steps and 15 mins - go here.

And for over 100 free sewing tutorials for all levels and abilities - take a look at 

My Tutorials Page.