TOMNI design n two green pears

DIY Silicone Bead Necklaces and teethers

2015-08-03T18:20:00.003+10:00

One of our latest store additions are the Silicone Beads!

These are made from food grade silicone and are designed to be used for making teething necklaces or bracelets that are worn by the mum / grandma / aunt, and played by the baby.

We stock a wide range of shapes and colours of these beads.

You can let your imagination run wild and combine the different styles and colours to make your own creations or you can use some of our suggestions ;)

Here's some of them:

If you are looking for a unique, personalised gift for a baby shower or a mother of a baby, our wooden teether shapes and alligator pram clips make great companion gifts to the necklaces.We also sell the cardboard boxes, so you can buy all of your supplies from one shop!

For those who prefer bigger sized teethers, we stock a range of silicone teethers, such as these elephants, which can also be made into necklaces worn by mum.

To view our selection of silicone beads and teethers, wooden teethers, pram clips and much more, visit our online store at www.tomnidesign.com.au

100% Wooden Mobile Frame / Stand Tutorial

2014-11-19T19:44:00.001+11:00

Direct from Europe comes this 100% wooden mobile stand/frame - the PERFECT companion product to our wooden mobile hangers!

This wooden mobile stand/frame is made entirely from pure, untreated hard wood - the same wood that is used for making our wooden teether rings and mobile hangers. It has been cleverly designed to allow the frame to be attached to the side of virtually any bed, crib, cot etc., without losing its safety features.

These wooden mobile stands / frames are available from our online store.

The mobile stand will arrive to you un-assembled and each kit includes the following pieces:

All of the pieces are made to fit easily and it will take a few minutes to put them together.

Take pieces A (the one with the pre-drilled hole at the end) and piece C. Twist one of the screw sides of piece C into the ball part of piece A.

This is what it should look like when you finish.

Take the other side of part C and twist it into the ball part of part B. You should now have an 'L' shape.

Twist part D (long screw) all the way through part B, until it hits the end. Twist part F over the screw until it reaches the side of B (the flat side of part F should face away from part B). Place the flat side of part F against your cot slats and twist part E from the other side of the slats over the screw, ensuring that the two parts (E and F) press firmly against both sides of the cot slats.

Cot slats will be between these two parts - parts E and F.

You can hang your mobile hanger (sold separately) from the mobile frame.

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For safety's sake keep all decorations away from reach of young children and do not hang any mobiles directly above a child. Please do not attach the mobile frame in a location where it could be moved out of place by children. Please ensure all screws are firmly twisted into place and check attachment of mobile frame to cot on a regular basis. Should you notice any damage to the product, please discontinue its use.

100% Wool Felt Bird Mobile

2014-09-30T14:03:00.001+10:00

We extended our store range lately to include a wide range of 100% pure new merino wool felt (Oeko-Tex 100 certified). I just love the brilliant colour range that this felt is available in!

To make this mobile we used the following items which are available from our online store: 100% wool felt, corn fiber and a metal split ring. The rest of the supplies came from my personal craft stash.

For this mobile I decided to make 7 birds in bright rainbow colours. I got the inspiration for the bird body pattern from http://ericacatarina.blogspot.com.au

Some of the birds have embroidered closed eyes or open ones (which were made using black beads) or one closed and one open!

The legs are made using thread and beads. For consistency I used the same thread that is used to attach the birds to the ring frame.

All of the hanging threads are looped around a metal ring and then tied back around the hoop.
A little black bow with heat sealed edges finished off the top.

I am really pleased with the end result and can't wait to get started on the next mobile!

DIY Wooden Mobile Hangers - Assembly Tutorial

2014-07-09T13:44:00.000+10:00

I thought I'd put up a little tutorial on how to put together the DIY wooden mobile hangers that we sell at our craft store.

Here's an example of one being used to make a jungle animals themed mobile.

Our DIY wooden mobile hanger kits are made from pure, untreated hard wood of an Ash tree that has been grown in an ecological region in Europe, away from heavy industries. No additives, chemicals, dyes or other nasties are added during the making of this product. These hangers are made to European safety standards. The completed hanger measures approx 33.5cm x 33.5cm.

Your mobile hanger kit contains the following parts:

- 4 wooden dowels (0.9cm x 16cm, with a small hole drilled through at the end of each dowel for attaching an ornament).
- 1 wooden cube (3cm x 3cm, which has rounded edges)
- 2 eye shaped screws

You will need some wood adhesive to glue to pieces together. We recommend using a non-toxic adhesive, like the one below.

Assembling your mobile kit is very easy and takes just a few minutes.
Place a small amount of glue in the cube hole..

and push in one of the dowels.

Make sure you line up the hole in the dowel with the hole in the cube, so that your ornaments will hang correctly.

Repeat the process with the remaining three dowels.

Screw the eye shaped screws in pre-drilled holes - one on top and one on the bottom on the cube.

Voila! Your wooden mobile hanger is ready!
We recommend letting the glue dry before adding ornaments.

All these new products

2013-10-25T10:55:00.001+11:00

We've been expanding our range of products, so if you haven't been to our store in a while, it's worth popping by - www.tomnidesign.com.au

Here's just some of the recently added new products:

Organic wooden teether rings

Alligator pram clips

Star linkie shapes

Coloured rings

Sew on corners - now in blue!

Teether rings now in some new colours!

Plastic flowers in green and cream also

Foam squeakers - super cool product!

Bumpy rings

Stay up to date with our news by following us on Facebook: www.fb.com/tomnidesign

Fire Truck Cake

2013-10-16T20:54:00.001+11:00

It was our son's birthday recently and for his party he requested a Fire Truck cake..
Oh boy, did I not know what I was getting myself into!

After a few dramas with the actual baking of the cake, it was time to decorate it.. I didn't have too much time, so the white fondant is not as smooth as I would have liked it to be, but some rolling trimming, cutting, painting and licorice rolling later, this is what emerged:

Luckily my son was happy with it :) But no more cake making for me for the next little while!

Our Downloadable Sewing Patterns Launch!!

2013-10-03T13:25:00.001+10:00

We are proud to announce that we have released patterns for TWO projects!

The first one is for the Embroidered Owl. I have been making and selling these for a few years under my "Two Green Pears" label, but after all the requests and I decided to make the pattern available so you can make your own owl creation.. It is available from our online store - TOMNI design

The pattern comes complete with step by step instructions for making the owl into a softie or a musical toy (by incorporating our Pull string music boxes). This is a PDF pattern, which can is downloadable.

The second pattern is for a quick project that you can make easily - A Crinkly Leaf Taggie Teether.. The name is a bit of a mouthful, but the project is for a sensory teething ring that incorporates crinkle material, a wooden ring (both available from our online store), ribbons and a knot, which are great for stimulating a baby.

This PDF downloadable pattern comes with step by step instructions and photos. It's a great project for a beginner!

The pattern is available from our online store and at only 99 cents it is a bargain!

You have permission to sell your finished products that you personally create from our patterns.

Washable Pull String Music Boxes

2013-09-01T20:16:00.003+10:00

We now stock washable pull string music boxes! Yes - these are washable music boxes!

Pull string music boxes make a great addition to softies - especially toys for small children who are comforted, or put to sleep by a nice lullaby... These music boxes are top quality and we sourced them from one of the largest music box manufacturers. To find out more about the music boxes or to purchase, visit our online store - here is the direct link the the listings.

These music boxes are available in three tunes:

- Brahm's lullaby
- Twinkle twinkle little star
- La Le Lu

Here's some quick videos that I took for those who are not familiar with the tunes.. You can also have a listen to them via our facebook page..

I'm sure you will be happy with the quality of these music boxes... especially when you will find your child playing the tune over and over and over again... :)

Brahm's Lullaby pull string music box

Twinkle twinkle little star pull string music box

La Le Lu pull string music box

Kids food craft ideas

2013-06-17T18:55:00.000+10:00

My son came home today with two food themed crafts.. the first one was edible, which he gobbled up as soon as he showed me! The face is made from a round biscuit, with cream on top, and lollies arranged to complete the face.. The bear in a car - a milky way with round lollies attached with cream, and a teddy bear biscuit pushed into the milky way.. So cute!

This next craft is a paper based food plate, made using simple supplies... The drink is a clear plastic cup filled with blue cellophane.. all of the items are attached to the plate with clear sticky tape...

My favourite - the carrot - is a cone made from orange paper, with green cellophane for leaves..
The egg is cut out from white and yellow paper.. the peas? - so simple! Round balls made from playdoh!

The fish is a printed picture that has been cut out..

The only edible item on this plate - popcorn :)

I hope these inspire you to make your own version of this craft :)

Mother's Day gift Ideas

2013-05-06T17:58:00.000+10:00

This year is the first year that my son has been attending this particular weekly morning craft program with his Grandmother, while I'm at work.. To my surprise he greeted me today with these gifts that he (with lots of help from my mum!) made for me...

I thought these were SUPER cool ideas, so I just had to share them! Here's a few pics:

First there was a card and cardstock bag with an insert..

which had attached to both sides lots of things 'mum might need'.. like chocolate, pen, tissues, seeds to grow some flowers (you can never have too many flowers!), a button in case she loses one, a gold medal (of course we deserve one!)..

Then there was a cute marshmallow cup...

And a heart painted on canvas..

I just love these pressies!

Valentine's heart

2013-02-04T20:18:00.002+11:00

With Valentine's just around the corner, I started looking for some ideas... I came across this cute heart - made from felt.. It makes a cute basket that can be filled with little treasures, chocs or notes for your Valentine

(you can see the post here at mama smile's blog: http://mamasmiles.com/valentine's-day/)

I thought this was so cute and such a good idea, so off I went in search of a tutorial - and Voila! I found one here at Crafty B's blog

Kelly drew up a tutorial on how to make these hearts - and the best thing is you can make them without pasting or sewing anything!! The parts just get woven together.. Perfect!

Tomatoes

2013-01-23T16:38:00.002+11:00

We've had a vegie patch for a few years now - it always seems to die off a little during winter, but when spring comes, things just 'pop up' in it...

I've had the most success with tomatoes - each year I end up throwing the 'worm munched on' ones on the ground and miraculously the following year they turn into new bushes!

Here's some of the first ripe ones from this year - I'm not exactly sure what variety they are (it's been a few years since I planted the original ones from seedlings we made) but they are a small 'cherry tomato' type... And it looks like we're going to get quite a few of them... Last year we had so many that I ended up spending days drying them, so that we could freeze them and use them throughout the year... they were great for making soups!

Last year the bushes grew so tall that I ended up trimming the tops.. But this year we headed off to Garden World on Springvale Rd, and they had this little hot house set up with tomatoes hanging everywhere!! (They also had a set up like this for cucumbers - so cool!) So this year instead of trimming the bushes, I'm training them, tying them up with countless ties, hoping that they will make a cubby house like shelter, like the one I found at Garden World:

And on the topic of tomatoes - came across this idea in my internet travels - isn't it great?
(If anyone knows who originally posted this, please let me know so I can link to it).

3 rabbits - mirror stickers

2012-11-20T18:08:00.001+11:00

When we first got the mirror material in stock, I made up some simple shapes that ended up in our bathroom, which my son ended up using as a mirror for brushing his teeth..

I wanted to make a mirror rabbit family, and I thought that they'd be great for replacing the star and circle mirrors... I used a template from Cindy Ferguson's blog (see the tractor post for link). I resized the rabbits to give me three different sized rabbits and I also did a mirror image of one of them.. Here's the rabbits in the making:

And here's the end result in our bathroom :)
I think they look much cuter than the previous mirrors!

Mirror stickers - Tutorial

2012-11-19T20:22:00.002+11:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that our new mirror material with adhesive back can be used for making wall stickers. Here is a picture of the tractor sticker I made, which found its way to the front of my son's wardrobe... :)

So here's my simple tutorial on how I made the sticker.

I used the tractor template that I found on Cindy Ferguson's blog. Cindy has kindly shared some free paper cutting images, which I found were great for making mirror stickers. Here's the link to the tractor and a lot of other designs: http://papercutting.blogspot.com.au/2010_02_01_archive.html

So to make your sticker you'll need:
- a template (I used the tractor outline)
- a sheet of mirror material *
- double sided adhesive sheet *
- scissors, cutting knife and a self healing mat / cutting board

* These products are available from our online store: www.tomnidesign.com.au

So let's get started :)

1. I like to use the mirror material and adhesive resourcefully, trim the paper template and adhere it to one side of your double sided adhesive sheet.

2. Trim the template.

3. Peel off the backing from your template and press it down on the 'wrong side' of your mirror material sheet.

4. Cut out your sticker by cutting along the lines. I used a combination of scissors and cutting knife to cut out my shape.

5. Here is the finished result - This is the back

and here is the front showing the nice mirror material.

6. To adhere the sticker, peel off the adhesive and mirror backings. You can re-use the adhesive backing template on a new mirror sheet by peeling off the adhesive that was originally attached to the mirror (the adhesive will still be sticky so you can re-use the same 'sticky template' on a new mirror sheet).

7. Position the sticker on a flat surface and peel off the protective layer.

It's that simple! If you make these stickers, feel free to email me some pics :)

Camper Pincushion Tutorial

2012-11-04T20:01:00.001+11:00

Today I'd like to share a link to Amanda Herring's post..

She shares a fabulous tutorial for this gorgeous camper pincushion!
This would make a super cute gift, but I think I'd struggle to give mine away if it turned out this good! Here's the link

Cute present

2012-10-31T17:38:00.001+11:00

It was recently our son's fourth birthday.
He received this super cute present from his cousin - who is a bit older than him and has a very clever mum who sewed the bunny. But the house was all decorated by my nephew! I was very impressed!! I love all the little details!

Tutorial: Adding crinkly to your projects

2012-10-07T13:08:00.004+11:00

Today I'd like to show you how you can incorporate the crinkly material (available from our shop at www.tomnidesign.com.au) into your projects..

I've been making some elephant softie squeaker toys lately and thought that the crinkly would make a nice addition..

Adding the crinkly is really simple and I'm going to show you how I sewed it inside the elephant ears, but the same technique could be used with other toy parts that are made from two pieces of fabric, such as blankies, taggies, wings, fins, etc.. You can also use the same technique to sewing the crinkly to toy segments e.g. parts of a soft ball, so that it will crinkle when you hold that area of the toy...

1. Sew your two pieces together as per usual. Here I am sewing the front and back of the elephant ears together.

2. Once the pieces are sewn together cut a piece of the crinkle material - I like to cut it a little bigger than the fabric.

3. I like to double stitch my seams when I made baby toys, hence the two lines of stitching in the above pic.

Now to sew the crinkly - Place the crinkle material on top of the fabric and sew through all three layers just outside the original stitching line. This way when the kids pull on the ears when they play with the finished toy, they won't be pulling on the stitching that attaches the crinkly.

4. I like to scrunch up the crinkly a bit when I sew it in, to give it a little more 'slack'.

5. Once you've sewn the crinkly in place, cut off the excess. It's as easy as that!

Here are my pieces ready to be sewn into another elephant.. :)

NEW ONLINE STORE - TOMNI design

2012-10-02T22:57:00.000+10:00

It has been a long time coming, but we have FINALLY given our toy making supplies store a facelift!

The landing page now looks something like this:

To celebrate the launch of our new store, we are having a 10% sale across all of our stock - including a range of BRAND NEW products that have not been available for sale previously!

Here's a preview:

We have also changed some categories and added new ones, so take some time out to browse through our new store! Here's the address: www.tomnidesign.com.au

We'd love to hear any comments and feedback so feel free to comment here, or on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/tomnidesign

Sensory Blankie Tutorial - mirror, crinkly and more!

2012-08-19T21:41:00.002+10:00

Here is a tutorial for how to make a sensory blanket using a number of products from our online store.. For anyone new to our shop and blog, you can purchase the featured items from our toy supplies store at www.tomnidesign.com.au

Today I'll write what I did to make this blankie, but it could be made with a range of items (like teether rings or flowers, and in different sizes..

** I added some Amendment comments to this tutorial in October... **

I forgot to take a 'here is what you'll need' pic, but here is the list of the items I used:
- crinkle material
- mirror material
- green teether ear
- bias binding (I used white one, that was 0.5cm wide when folded)
- grosgrain ribbon strips (approx 7cm long x 5 colours, from own stash)
- coloured fabric (from own stash)
- yellow minky (from own stash)
- sewing machine, thread, needle

Cut your two fabric pieces and crinkly material to size. Mine was a square measuring about 27x27cm. Sew the crinkly to the left side of the fabric, about 0.5cm from the edge. The crinkly can be a little slippery, so I found it easier to sew the pieces together with the crinkly placed on top of the fabric. I also used a double layer of crinkly, so I ended up with an extra loud blankie.

** October Amendment: I found it can be easier to manage the pieces when you sew in the Crinkly once your project pieces are sewn together - see for the next comment down a few steps **

Here's what the fabric with crinkly sewn all around it looked like.

Now to make your mirror - Trace a circle on the mirror material with a permanent marker. Cut it out.

Peel off the adhesive backing and adhere the mirror to fabric (we adhered it to the minky). Cut off the excess fabric.

Sew the bias binding all around the mirror, removing the edge of the protective film as you go along. I recommend leaving most of the protective film on the mirror while you're doing the sewing. Keep going with the bias binding until it covers about 1cm of the binding you sewed on first.

Gently pull the bias to the side and keep sewing the two bias sides to create a cord about 7cm long.

Your finished mirror should look something like this. I also made another bias cord by sewing the bias pieces together which I used to attach the rattle ring to the blankie.

Arrange your ribbons, ring, teether ear, mirror and any other parts on the right side of the fabric.

Sew the pieces to the top of the fabric, about 5mm from the edge. This will make sure that the pieces don't move around when you sew on the other fabric (in my case the minky). I sewed the green teether ear on the corner of the blankie. I placed it about 7mm from the edges. I sewed across the wider part, a few stitches across the thin part in the middle of the ear. You can see I also did a zig zag stitch across the thin part just to make sure it was sewn in well.

Place the fabric pieces (right sides towards each other) and sew them together about 7mm from the edge. Make sure you leave a big enough gap along one edge to be able to turn the blankie inside out.

** October Amendment: You can sew the Crinkly on top of the fabric at this step... Just make sure you don't sew over the gap you left for turning the blankie inside out **

Turn your blankie inside out.

Sew the gap by hand. I then sewed across the edge of the right side of the blankie for extra durability.

And here's the finished product! :)

Let us know what you think - we'd also love to see your versions of this blankie..

Mirror Stickers Project

2012-08-19T13:51:00.001+10:00

The new flexible mirror material is a very versatile product and the other day together with my son we decided to make some mirror wall stickers.. This is a super easy project and here are the steps:

Draw your design on the back of the flexible mirror material using a permanent marker.

Cut our your design.

Peel off the backing and adhere your shape to a flat surface e.g. wall.

Peel off the protective green film.

All done!

You can purchase the flexible mirror material from our online store: www.tomnidesign.com.au

Flexible mirror material and Crinkle material

2012-08-19T13:31:00.000+10:00

We now stock two new EXCITING products!

We now stock the long awaited CRINKLE MATERIAL and MIRROR FABRIC!

The crinkle material makes a lovely, crispy, loud sound when scrunched and is great for using in sensory blankets, or as a stuffing for toys.. A great idea is to stuff a part of a toy e.g. a leg, with the crinkly material, so that the child can discover the hidden sound...

The mirror material is 0.25mm thick. It has an adhesive back and a protective green layer on top to protect the surface while you work with it.

This flexible mirror has so much potential! It is easily cut with scissors and sewn through with a sewing machine.

It is made from a PETG material, which is commonly used in commercially made and sold mirror toys for children. Once again, we have sourced this material from a manufacturer who sells this product to well known toy manufacturing companies..

You can purchase it from www.tomnidesign.com.au

Pull string music boxes

2012-08-06T21:49:00.000+10:00

We have received a shipment of pull string music boxes, which are currently being added to our online store..

We have these available in two tunes: 'A dream is a wish your heart makes' and 'Brahm's lullaby'.

Here's a recording of what the pull string music boxes sound like. This is the "A dream is a wish your heart makes" tune..

listen to the tune on our youtube channel here..

These pull string music inserts play a tune which goes for about 1.5 minutes and is activated when the cord is pulled. As music plays, cord is slowly drawn back into unit. This inserts are ideal for placing inside softies, bears, dolls and all sort of toys, as well as for creating wall and door decorations.

When you put these inside a softie, the toy filling mellows out some of the 'sharper sounding' tones...

For further information, check out the items in our online store - www.tomnidesign.com.au/store, under the 'music boxes' category..

Or to see how these can be used in a softie, check out our previous post here

How to insert a Music Pull String Box into a Toy

2012-07-18T11:51:00.002+10:00

Here are a few pictures from the project I worked on - inserting a musical pull string box into a soft toy.

Inserting the box sounded much more difficult in theory than it ended up being in practise, but I did have to do some 'unpicking' and 'resewing' as my initial thoughts of the involved steps had to be reviewed.... :)

If I get a chance I'll put up more pictures and a more thorough description.. In the meantime if you need help putting one of these boxes into your softie project, please feel free to contact me through the 'contact us' link in our online store (www.tomnidesign.com.au)..

These are the supplies I started off with: front and back pieces of my owl (plus the wings), musical pull string box (available from our online store), yellow teether flower for the handle (from our online store), brown fabric (for the cord) and grosgrain ribbon (for the tie)..

You could apply the same technique to any other softie toy, as long as there's enough room inside it to accommodate for the music box.

After sewing the cord and turning it inside out I sewed it between the front and back pieces, into the bottom edge of the toy, leaving a tiny gap in the middle of the cord for threading the pull string. I also sewed in the tie on top while sewing the toy front and back pieces together.

And here is the end result! A softie owl with a tie on top and a music box inside. The music box is activated when the yellow flower handle is pulled. My son totally loved the owl and so we kept on hearing Brahm's lullaby over and over and over.. and over again!

Help us choose new products..

2012-07-11T14:18:00.000+10:00

We are looking at extending our product range - but would like some feedback as to which products you think we should bring in...

Here's the suggestions:

Let us know which products you would like to see in our shop.. :)

Teether Corner Pieces - how to tutorial..

2012-07-05T22:24:00.000+10:00

The corner pieces have finally arrived and have been added to the online store here

Here's an example of how they can be used - as a corner on a blanket...

Here's a short tutorial on how to add these to your blanket...

1. Make your blanket - cut out two squares / rectangles and placing the right sides together, sew around it, leaving a small gap (approx 10cm) so you can turn it out.

2. Turn your blanket right sides out. Decide which corner you will be attaching the corner piece to. Turn this corner inside the blanket - make sure your edge that you turn in is the same length as the inside of the plastic corner. If using a corner without a hole, you do not need to do this step, as the corner will go over the fabric corner.

3. Sew across the corner. Sew around the rest of the blanket (if you would like to have extra stitching along the edge of the blanket).

4. Line up the plastic corner on top of the blanket corner.

5. Pre-stitch the holes in the plastic corner. You can do this using your sewing machine (by turning the wheel manually, as otherwise you may break the needle), or you can make the holes using a strong, sharp needle. You may find it useful to use a zipper foot on your machine so you can punch the holes further away from the corner edge.

6. Sew on the corner using a sharp, strong needle using thicker cotton. It can be a bit tricky sewing through all the layers at once, so try breaking it up. To start, make a knot and sew it to the fabric. Push needle through the first hole in the corner piece, back down through the next hole and through the fabric, and push the needle out the side of the plastic corner piece (picture shows the needle going from bottom up)...

then keep pushing the needle up through the second plastic lip. Continue until you have stitched all along the corner piece. Finish off by sewing the thread end under the plastic corner lip..

Please be careful when sewing these corners in by hand as sewing though the layers can require some extra force at times..

Feel free to send in your pictures of how you've used these corners in your projects so we can share them with other crafters :)