My G is a big Gregory House fan from the TV series House MD so I decided to play around some more with some Freezer Paper and Fabric Paint and funky up one of his old tee’s.

Last night I printed out the picture I wanted onto the paper side of the freezer paper and got stuck into cutting it all out with my Xacto knife.

It was really intricate and time consuming to cut out the hair and beard bits.

Once the stencil was all cut out – I ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper down onto the t-shirt.

Once it was all ironed down and secure – it was time to paint!  I did 2 layers to make sure the image came out nice and dark.

Once it was dry – I carefully peeled away the stencil and was left with this!

I love how it came out – every hair and wrinkle – perfectly!

And my G has a new favourite shirt!  (It’s *never* lupus)

A really fun and rewarding craft!

Much love,

Mandi xxx

I used Random.org and the winner is comment number #2 : Pinkprincesse who said: I just *LOVE* that shirt and i know baby Tyler would look super stylish in it  xxx

Congratulations Lauren and Baby Tyler. I really hope you enjoy your prize and would love a pic of him wearing his new Tie Shirt! xxx

Now that my MandiMoo orders have picked up considerably and I’m getting a large amount of traffic through this blog everyday, I have decided to have a small giveaway.  Yay for free stuff!

I’ll test the response I get here, and then perhaps I can do regular giveaways  - where you have the chance of winning something I’ve created!  Fun!

For my very first giveaway, I want to give one of you this really sweet baby “tie-shirt”.  How cute is that?  It’s size 0-3 months.  For your new baby boy or maybe for someone you know who has a little boy on the way.  What a lovely baby shower gift!

I will be selling these little shirts in my MandiMoo shop for R80.00 each.  Or as a baby onesie for R100.00 each, in any size between newborn – 24 months.

All you have to do is leave a comment below before 6pm on Sunday 27th March.  Please ensure you enter your email address in your comment so I can contact you.  The giveaway is open to South African entrants only.

Good luck!  And next time will have to be a girly gift.

Much love,

Mandi xxx

It’s not easy to find in South Africa, but I finally managed to get my hands on some Freezer Paper!  I was so excited!  You see, if you have a bit of freezer paper, a craft knife, an iron, some fabric paint and a bit of an imagination, you can transform an old t-shirt into something really cool.

The little bird

The pig.

All cute, until the little bird….

Spots the Pig…

And proceeds to fling himself at the pig.

Fun!  And aren’t my boys just delicious?  I adore them!

Much love,

Mandi xxx

PS – Tomorrow I am having a little giveaway, so don’t forget to come back and enter!

I’ve been doing a lot of custom MandiMoo orders:

That’s a mountain of burp cloths

And more burp cloths and a few taggies.

Don’t they look so bright and cheerful?

I made a baby kimono sleep-sack type thing which is so comfy and warm for pyjamas as the nights are getting colder.

I’ve made a few custom embroidered taggies – like this one for Baby Tyler

And this one for gorgeous Baby Ashlyn.

I’ve made a number of kids aprons and chef hats, and many many bath bags.

I played around with some fabric paint and made my boys some Angry Birds T-shirts – which I will do a new post for.

We’ve done a lot of school work and Mic is doing so well with Grade 3.

And mostly I’ve been spending a lot of time with these precious little people:

Because they rock!

Much love,

Mandi xxx

For the last month, I have been following Celebrate The Boy where Dana and Rae have been making loads of BOY stuff.  As a mommy of boys, I have been in crafty heaven!!!!  I’ve been really busy with my MandiMoo orders, but have bookmarked quite a few of the ridiculously cute boy things that I have to make soon.

So last night I had a bit of time to myself and using one of Dana’s amazing tutorial guidelines (but enlarged to fit my BIG 8 year old), I whipped up some really cool pants.

They were so simple to make.  And Mic loooves them.

I used some blue camo flannel I had in my stash and he thinks the fabric is AWESOME.

I made them as pyjama pants, but he decided they are cool enough to wear all day.  Along with the t-shirt I made saying “My Daddy Rocks!!” with freezer paper stencil.

Nothing better than being able to make something for your kiddies that they love.

I’ve been instructed to make more!  And I will, since they were so easy.

Another successful craft!!!  Yay!

Much love,

Mandi xxx

Today was a rough day.  I got an email from someone I love very much who I just presumed would be in my life forever and now sadly will not, and it hurt me. A lot.  Even though I know where the words were coming from and I shouldn’t take it personally as I didn’t do anything wrong exactly, I did and I do and it made me really really sad!  {I wish you so much happiness even though I will miss *you* toooo much! xxx}

But life is shit sometimes and makes me realise that no matter what happens there are bright stars right under my nose.  Special friends love me no matter how miserable I am.  My husband who holds me and lets me cry into his chest.  And my children who love me unconditionally and think I am The Best Mom EVERRRRR with puffy eyes and all.

Especially when I give him plums!  No that is not blood – just lots of sticky red plum juice.  And that would be the dental floss case he’s chomping on – apparently it’s way better than the 17 special teethers we have bought.  Who knew?

And his newest trick?  Pulling himself up to watch the washing go round and round and round.  Love it!

Much love,

Mandi xxx

About two weeks ago, I blogged about the cute flannel pyjama pants I made for my little Mason and I wanted to make him a fleecy flannel blanky to go with them.

I finally had the chance to finish it off this afternoon, while Mic did a crossword puzzle at my sewing desk and the baby napped.

I’ve come to realise that I am all about the jumping in at the deep end and pushing myself to try as many different difficult techniques as I possibly can.  I’ve only been sewing for about 6 months and am completely self-taught, so I might be a tad crazy to try some of these.  But try I do….

I used soft fluffy fleece on one side and the same flannel as the pyjama pants on the other side.  First I did some raw-edge applique of Mason’s name onto the fleece.

Then I decided that looked a little plain and needed something else to make it pop!  So I decided to draw a train on some plain white cotton and use the crayon quilting technique and coloured it in and then set the crayon.  Lots of fun!  It still didn’t pop.  So then I tried a technique called trapunto.  That is *such* a cool technique, and now the train is all poofy and actually has an almost 3D effect.  Awesome for little fingers to touch.

And then to push myself even further, I decided to bind the entire blanket with a satin border.  That was not so much fun.  The satin is very slippery and difficult for a novice to manipulate.  I did not manage to get it looking as perfect as I would like, but I’m ok with that and since it’s for my baby boy, he will know it was made with lots of love!

Not sure which side is my favourite.  I’m still loving on the transport flannel boy fabric.  You would not believe how cuddly and warm this blanket is.  It is going to be a favourite in winter.  And I’m hoping it will last him a few winters.

I love that there is so much for Mason to touch on the blanket, from the letters of his name, the poofy 3D train, the fleece and flannel sides and the satin border.  Plenty different textures for his tactile development.

Another project done!

Much love,

Mandi xxx