After a very relaxing weekend at the beach, camping in a beautiful spot with tall gum trees and lots of great snorkeling and fireside cooking, I am back home and straight back to work. This weekend promises to be lovely weather and we have a massive backyard cleanup planned. The kids have been reading and riding their bikes in this, the first week of the school holidays, and today I did a big cook-up of sausage rolls and apple tarts, ready to freeze and eat later.

The past couple of weeks at whipup I have been putting together a series of craft blog tips – if you missed out here is what we have so far … better craft blogging : craft blog etiquette : better craft blog writing : how to build an audience for your craft blog and photography tips for your craft blog – coming up more advanced photography techniques, book reviews, blog design and more… dying to know something – email me whipup[AT]gmail.com and I will try to cover it in this series in the coming weeks.

We featured a few recycling craft tutorials this past week – reuse sewing pattern tissue paper I loved this one – some really fun and innovative ideas : recycle junk mail into paper beads – I do love making paper beads – this is a slightly different method though than I have used in the past : fused plastic backpack - a great idea on how to use up those colourful plastic bags : I was in love with the kitty egg crayons – a time intensive project but worth it : dishtowel to baby pants – a really cute and super simple idea :

Some great patchwork and quilting ideas this week too – I loved the easter carrot tablerunner - great for anytime of year : curved seams 101 – a neat tutorial on doing those curves in patchwork : modern, minimal, masculine quilt has really got my ideas going …

We featured some really interesting books this past week – Switch craft for the sewing / technology nerds out there : knitting art – a lovely showcase of just a few wonderful artists who use knitting as their primary medium : make good crafts life series - the first two books in this new English translation of Japanese craft books series : Knitting on top of the world - an eclectic knitting book by Nicky Epstein : Material Obsession - a quilting book that takes a modern look at traditional designs : And next week we will have Betz White on her blog tour stopping at whipup.

Also more sewing - cute pouch tutorial : love the little girls madras plaid skirt : and the tulle skirt : the flowerpot cosy is too cute : french seam drawstring bag is too cute as is the bedtime duvet : but my fave project this week would have to be the doll pattern and tutorial by mimi kirchner – thank you mimi.

Thanks for reading and happy crafting weekend!

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Ps. feel free to send in letters, ideas and links to whipup[at]gmail.com