Zero Plushie Template

 My little one is a Nightmare Before Christmas SUPER FAN!! She lost her Zero toy so I decided to stitch her up a new one. 

Zero's shape is pretty simple which made life easier. I've drawn up a template for anyone else who wants to give it a go. The page is set to print as is on Letter or A4 paper.

Download Pattern Pieces Here

Zero is almost 100% put together with blanket stitch. I only used back stitch for the Jack O' Lantern Face on Zero's nose and then straight stitches to make the twinkle in his eye.

Supply List

Felt- White (most of Zero is white so you will need two standard craft pieces. One for the pattern pieces and one for the 8x10in body)

Orange, Red and Black

Floss - White, Black, Red and Orange

Embroidery Needles

Stuffing

Scissors

Constructions Tips:

 Pop together the whole head together first leaving the bottom open 

to add the body. 

The pumpkin nose can be a little bit fiddly so be patient. It's much easier to add the Jack O' Lantern details BEFORE you sew the five orange pieces together. I figured that one out the hard way. 

Blanket Stitch around the whole edge of Zero's "body". I know this little guy is going to be loved to death very quickly but the stitching will make him a bit more durable.

Fold the body piece in the centre before you stitch it inside the head. This gives Zero's body the flowing feel.

If you have any other questions please leave a comment and I can help!

I would love to see any of your lovely creations if you decide to make a Zero. 

Enjoy!!

Geometrics Giveaway!

6 MORE WEEKS IN LOCKDOWN!!!!!!!!!

The last time we went into lockdown I did a pattern Giveaway and it was fun!!

Here we are again AND it's Christmas in July. I am taking CIJ very seriously this year.

The tree is up! The kids and I made all the ornaments! 

And a letter arrived from Neville and CC (our Elves who reside on the Shelf) saying if the kids were really good there might be some treats in their stockings 25 July. The stockings are up in anticipation!! 

So, with all of the goings on I would like to share another pattern with all of you for FREE!!

The Geometrics Pattern was a labour of Love with my sweet friend, Francesco Bilotto. 

You guys may have seen him on The View or Good Morning America with all kinds of fabulous decorating advice. 

The shapes are classic and simple(great for beginning stitchers and kids!) but each ornament also has a little pocket to pop in a surprise!! 

The ornaments themselves can hold your gifts. I did a small tree mixed with photo ornaments for my kids (instructions for the photo ornaments are a few posts back). The pockets were filled with sweets and money. It all went over a treat!

We both hope you enjoy and Happy Christmas in July!!

DOWNLOAD PATTERN HERE

Putz Houses

I Love Glitter!! 

LOVE IT!

So Putz Houses aka Glitter Houses have always been a favourite of mine.

I attempted to cut out my own patterns but straight lines and math are not my friends.

I ordered a set of precut houses from ItemsBox, a shop Lithuania. They sell on Etsy and Amazon.

Order HERE

The precut houses made life much easier!!

I usually try to keep all painting and glittering with the kids outside but it's COLD and rainy so the not only the putz houses but the inside of my house is now covered in glitter. Totally worth it though!

The tiny tree and reindeer buttons were from eBay. 

The snowman we made with Cornstarch/ Baking soda clay.

It's a really simple recipe and the clay comes out so white and beautiful!!

You can add essential oils too and make the clay smell nice.

Clay Recipe HERE

And of course there were snails! Because who doesn't need a Christmas Snail??

Snails were my daughter's favourite thing to make from the clay. When I said, "I don't really want a snail on my house."

She said, "You have no Christmas Spirit!"

The snail went on the back. Haha!

 

Rooster Pattern

One of my favourite people asked me to make a Rooster Ornament for his sweet Mama.

I was pretty happy with how the Rooster turned out so decided to make a pattern.

I usually sell my patterns on Etsy but with all the craziness going on the world I thought I'd share this one with everyone for free.

I know crafting helps keep me sane. When I get anxious it definitely helps to get keep my hands busy. And some people need projects for all the isolation time.

So here you go!!!

DOWNLOAD FREE PATTERN HERE

This is a great project for scraps of felt. There are no super huge pieces and roosters come in so many colours it's a great one to let the creative juices flow!! No need to stick to my colour palette.

If you want to make more of my designs, all patterns are 30% off until 5 APR 2020.

I know this is a crazy time. We are all concerned about health as well as the financial fall out from all of this. But keep crafting! And be kind to each other. We can all face these new challenges together. Lord help me with home schooling. I really suck at it. I made my poor boy cry three times today but we will sort it all out!! 
Take care of each other.

I would love to see what you make!!

Please tag me on Facebook or Instagram

@elliottsplayground

Take care out there!!

Geometrics with Francesco Bilotto

I am so excited to launch my new pattern collection with designer extraordinaire, 

Francesco Bilotto 

(Good Morning America, The View, BRAVO+)

GEOMETRICS

Get Pattern Here

Francesco and I share a HUGE LOVE of the Holidays!

We have very different styles but the love is equal.

I wanted to create a pattern that was super fun but a bit more "Francesco" than my usual style. We got our heads together and came up with a bunch of cute Geometrical shapes with pockets. Not only can these ornaments add some handmade beauty to your tree they can also BE the presents on your tree. Fill them with treats, sweets, money or gift cards.

In this post I wanted to show what I am personally using the pattern for.

My little girl LOVES Rainbows, Candy Canes and photos of herself.

I decided to make multi coloured ornaments to go on the rainbow tinsel tree I found at Kmart. 

(an awesome $5 bargain)

I love photo ornaments, especially the ceramic ones, but they can be a bit pricey.

I decided I would decoupage some of my own to go with my candy cane and sweet filled Geometric Ornaments. 

I ordered some MDF Circles off of Ebay. There are loads of companies that will cut them to size for you. I picked the 7cm rounds, 36 circles for $14 delivered.

Then I printed out the photos I wanted to use in the same size.

When I cut out the photos I cut them a tiny bit smaller than the MDF circles.

I used School Glue/PVA to attach the photo to the circle. Make sure you get the glue all over the circle.

Then I painted a layer of glue on top of the photo.

Once the photo was completely dry I added a line of glue all around the edge of the circle.

Then I added glitter! I love the stuff. Can't get enough of it.

If you hate it, you can always paint the edges with acrylic paint

Once the layer of glitter glue was completely dry I wiped awake the excess glitter with a tissue.

Then I sprayed the ornaments with a clear gloss coat. I like everything to be shiny!!

When the clear coat was dry I added a ribbon hanging loop with my hot glue gun (couldn't function in life without my hot glue gun!)

Rainbow Geometric Ornaments filled with treats and sweet family photos!

I thought I was being quiet and sneaky but obviously not. Lovebug came running out back to see what I was doing. Looks like the surprise of her Rainbow Sweets Tree is happening TODAY!!!

Nativity

I made a little detour from my Nutcracker Series to start my other labour of love,

The Nativity

This Nativity set was originally designed for my sweet Mom. 

Every Christmas she set up a cardboard Nativity under the Christmas tree. 

I would lay under the tree for hours playing with all of the pieces. 

Mom always had bubble lights on her tree.

 If you don't know what those are they are hands down the BEST Christmas lights on earth. 

There is a big globe at the bottom with a small glass tube of liquid that bubbles from 

the heat of the light, sort of like a mini lava lamp. Supposedly if one breaks the liquid

inside is a bit toxic but I still love them. There was always a 

bubble light placed near the top of the Nativity like the Star of Bethlehem. I love this memory.

 I am happy to say my daughter has inherited my love of Nativity sets. 

Every Baby Jesus I make goes missing at one point in time or another. 

I am sure to find him having a cuddle with my girl. 

She played with my Mom's Nativity for ages the last time we visited. 

I also love folk art from the Rosemåling of my Nana's Norway to the Sugar Skulls of Mexico.

I love how bright and covered in flowers most traditional folk art is. 

That's the look I have tried to incorporate into the design of my Nativity.

The sets do take me some time so the finished product is a bit pricey. 

That's why I really wanted to get the pattern out there! 

If you can't afford to buy one you can make your own. 

Some of the steps are a kind of fiddly and it's a project that will take a bit of time but the 

stitches I use are simple so I do feel like any level of stitcher could make a Nativity. 

And I am always happy to help! 

If anything is confusing or you get stuck please convo me 

and leave a comment and I will do my best to help out!!

The Nutcracker

The  Nutcracker Ballet. Where do I even begin. I have so many memories wrapped up in that particular ballet. My mom was a dancer and danced the Sugar Plum Fairy when she was young. I did not inherit her dancing skills so was never in a production but I certainly went every year. I would get dressed up in whatever gorgeous Christmas dress my mom had made for me and off to the Civic Auditorium to watch. I loved every minute of it! I loved the year my sweet Daddy fell asleep and was jolted awake when a cannon was shot during the Mouse King battle.I loved the Giant Christmas Tree growing higher and higher. I loved the mice. I LOVED Mother Ginger  (I can never go past a good drag queen).

I grew up next door to a girl named Annie. She was a few years older than me, beautiful and crazy talented. Attention from her was as good as attention from a movie star in my eyes. She was always Clara and then I'm pretty sure Sugar Plum. I loved being able to tell people the "lead ballerina" was my friend. 

I kept going when I was in Chicago. The Joffrey Ballet called the main character "Marie" which is accurate as far as the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story goes but being named Clara myself of course I didn't approve of that name choice. Marshall Fields did the same thing with "Marie" (eyeroll)  but I still adored their windows the year Nutcracker was the theme.

My little girl is only three so I haven't taken her to a live performance yet but we watch many versions on tv. Her very favourite is the 1993 version with Macaulay Caulkin (again with the Marie name happening *sigh*). She will cuddle up her her Nutcracker blanket that my sweet cousin gave her and yell for the Mouse King to win. She loves Mouse King. We may not be a live performance yet but I'm still making sweet memories with my girl.

With my Nutcracker Ornament Series I am sort of picking and choosing my favourite bits for the different versions of the ballet I have seen. I will for sure call my young lead, Clara. There will definitely be a Mother Ginger. I really can't wait to start designing the "sweets"! So far we have a Nutcracker Prince and a Mouse King ready and waiting to be crafted!

Nutcracker Ornament Series Patterns Here

Next up, The Sugar Plum Fairy!