Brickend

brickend
Originally uploaded by dalbhat.

These look so fun when they are done. All you need is an old brick and some acrylic paints (we use the fabric paints easily available here). They add a lot of color to our library and let us use above the bookshelves as bookracks too!

Embroidery Samplers

Embroidery Samplers
Originally uploaded by dalbhat.

Child needs: hands - needle -thread
Guardian needs: a little patience

Tiny hands love stitiching! But a guardian needs to stay near to help with mistakes, threading needles, and safekeeping of supplies like scissors and needles.

Help the child make a little drawing on fabric, tell them to keep it simple. Now let them choose their colors. Teach the running stitch or chain stitch to begin with. And lastly, make it shiny with sequins or beads.

You can make tiny pillows (with a pocket for the tooth fairy...), greeting cards, or patchworks to sew onto T-shirts or make into doll blankets. You can also have kids sew right onto their jeans or t-shirts.

Crack pot garden

crackpots - 2
Originally uploaded by dalbhat.

If you glue together a cracked mug, it may not hold your morning coffee any more but it can make a perfect addition to your crack pot garden. The same goes for little cups and mugs that have lost their handles or have been chipped along the rim. Be sure to put lots of pebbles at the bottom for drainage and choose succulents and cacti that can live in this environment.

fab t-shirt
Originally uploaded by dalbhat.

If you find a big stain on the front of a nice t-shirt, or would rather not be advertising some company name splashed across the front...cover it up with a hand-made patch!

This one was made with a fabric-painted patch that was then embroidered into, with some sequins added for the final touch.

You can also just use a nicely patterned piece of fabric.