A cute draft excluder and retro cake stand

Hi All

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday but I was so busy sourcing and making these little cuties! A draught excluder (all bought from a charity shop at a cost obout £2.50) and a retro cake stand (more charity shop - cost of 75p). Bargain!

Oh yeh, I getcha. You wanna make these too doncha? Alright, here's how I did it :)

Draught Excluder

Get your hands on a cute, decent sized toy and a pair of trousers that will have legs long enough to be the width of a door. I used 3-6 mth old trousers and they're very slightly short to be totally honest. Only about an inch or so either side tho so nothing too drastic. You need the toy to be fat enough to be able to wear the trousers.

 

Cut the trousers up the groin area a bit. We need to make them be able to open a bit wider.

Next, approach Teddy with the scissors. Try to ignore the terror in his eyes. Remember, we're making him into a better person. Start chopping. Oh and PLEASE make sure the kids dont see you. Unless you want them to endure years of counselling later in life.

Remove excess lower half stuffing - we'll use that another time!

Now to tackle the hole in his trousers

Make sure trousers are inside out and stitch some scrap material over it. I used leftovers from when I turned poor Mr P's boxer shorts into a clothes peg bag.

Now we have to pop whats left of Teddy's legs into the trousers. Argh, trousers are too wide! Time to pin them, turn inside out and stitch to make them skinner.

Now stitch Teddy's feet onto the trousers. Turn right side out again and make sure your stitch catches both the trousers and the foot so nothing will fall out once we fill it. I did mine around the seams since there was stitching there anyway. I'd recommend double stitching it.

Do the same for the other foot. Nearly there, Teddy!

Next, fill it with your choice. Some people use rice although I wouldn't as I'm scared of encouraging rats, Other people use old towels or stockings. I used pine scented kitty litter which I got from Pets At Home for £2.29 for 5kg. I've got about a third left (enough for my Chicken Door Stop!). I also didn't sew Teddy into his trousers although you probably would want to. There were a few reasons why I didnt do it. We dont have kids so no chance of them trying to lift it to play with it. I wanted to be able to access the cat litter incase it got wet and I needed to empty it and re-new it. And I hate hand stitching! So Teddy got an elastic band around him and covered with a ribbon bow to stop anything falling out if he got kicked over. Along with Mr P getting a thorough warning not to ever pick Teddy up by his head. He must always be picked up by his legs. In all probability tho, I probably will permenantly stitch him together to make him more secure. Acces to his insides can always be gotten at via his scrap material cicle!

 

Enjoy! x

Cake Stand

Dead easy this. Just get two plates, one of which is slightly smaller than the other. Make sure they're clean and dry. Fill two shot glasses with whatever you fancy. Pot pourii, coloured sand, coloured aquarium gravel, anything. Put glass glue round the shot glass rim (I got mine from B&Q - bout £3.98 I think. For glass to glass bonds and dries clear.) Put an upside down plate in the middle and, holding the plate and shot glass carefully, turn quickly right side up. Do this for the other plate too. Then glue on top of each other. Add a few fabric flowers if you like. Et voila! Easy, huh?

Hope you enjoy making these projects!

H x