DIY Baby Nursery Wallart

Using various materials that I found around our place, I made this wall art for our little princess's bedroom this weekend.  With a piece of plywood, some scrap paper and felt, toilet paper rolls and puff paint we brought some warmth to the otherwise cold concrete wall behind her crib.

 First, I cut out three birds from felt scraps to represent our growing family.  I then bent toilet paper rolls in half and cut 1/4 inch slices to create leaves and cut 1/4 inch lengthwise strips from other rolls to create stems. I lay these out in a pattern to create branches for the birds to sit on. 

Next, using some scraps of paper (from various wedding related projects) as well as some maps of places that my husband and I have travelled together I cut out shapes to create a graphic pattern in the background.  I glued these down with watered down craft glue before gluing down the leaf and stem pattern and finally the felt birds.

With fabric puff paint I filled in some leaves to bring in some color and finally, sprayed the entire piece with a high gloss clear spray-paint.

Angora Baby Ballet Wrap -Free Pattern (18 Months)

I am very lucky to have a little princess on the way in a few months (around Christmas in fact!) and have begun making her a wardrobe, as my mum did for me and her mother did for her.  With only 2 10 gram balls of White Angora, I put together this simple ballet wrap sweater (impractical color perhaps, but a lovely luxury) in just a few hours and thought I would share how I did it.

Materials Required-
Ribbon
2 10 gram balls of Angora (or comparably weighted yarn)
1 pair of 4 mm needles

Finished Size-
18 Months 
Chest Size 22 inches
Length 11 inches


*KFB (knit in front and back) Knit next st without removing it from the left needle, then knit through the back of the same stitch to increase by 1 stitch

Back: Cast on 58 stitches.  Work in Stocking Stitch (Knit on right side and Pearl on wrong side) until piece measures 11 inches from beginning.  Bind off.  (Piece measures 11 by 11 inches)

Right Front: Cast on 55 stitches.  Work in Stocking Stitch until piece measures 4 1/2 inches from beginning, ending with a Wrong Side row. 
Right Side rows - At beginning of next row, Knit 2, then Knit 2 together, Knit across remainder of row (now 54 stitches on the needle).
Wrong Side rows - Purl across row to last 4 Stitches, Purl 2 together, Purl last two stitches.
Repeat last two row until 19 stitches remain.  Work in Stocking Stitch until piece measure 11 inches, bind off.

Left Front: Cast on 55 stitches.  Work in Stocking Stitch until piece measures 4 1/2 inches from beginning, ending with a Wrong Side row. 
Right Side rows - Knit across row to last 4 Stitches, Knit 2 together, Knit last two stitches (now 54 stitches on the needle).
Wrong Side rows - At beginning of next row, Purl 2, then Purl 2 together, Purl across remainder of row.
Repeat last two row until 19 stitches remain.  Work in Stocking Stitch until piece measure 11 inches, bind off.

Sleeves: Cast on 36 stitches. Work 4 rows of Stocking Stitch, beginning with a Right Side, Knit row. 
Next row, Knit 1, KFB, Knit to last 2 stitches, KFB, Knit 1 (now 38 stitches on the needle). Work 3 rows in Stocking Stitch. Repeat last 4 rows 6 times (now 50 stitches on the needle). Work in Stocking Stitch until piece measures 5 1/2 inches, bind off.

Finishing:  Sew lengths of ribbon (enough to wrap around and tie in front) to each sides of the Front at the beginning of the decrease rows.  Sew shoulder seams, sleeves to body and sleeve seams. Sew side seams, leaving a gap on the Right seam (large enough to fit your ribbon through) 4 1/2 inches up from lower edge. Weave in ends and you are done!