Etsy Friday Finds

Some new things from some old favourites ... enjoy!

London Bus Cot Blanket by Sally Nencini

Sally's work is just gorgeous, check out her cushions!

Venus Necklace by Zippan Designs
I got one of their butterfly pendants a while back and everyone comments on it. This will be my next piece from them!

OOAK Imagination Ring by toolis jewelry

This ring costs a fortune, but can't you see why? Toolis Jewelry have an amazing selection of different contemporary rings.

ABC Pillow Cover by Helen Rawlinson
I have noticed this fabric popping up everywhere at the moment.

Fish and Chips Teatowel by Mr PS
I think that this would make a gorgeous wall hanging, if only the tea towel was in red!

Have a great weekend guys!

Over the Rainbow

She wanted a Wizard of Oz party for her birthday. But we were not too crash hot on a big gathering. Birthday #5 can be big, but the rest can be smallish. So she was given the opportunity to identify a handful of friends and we held a small afternoon tea in the local park.

Even though not many came dressed up, she had her Dorothy dress and that is all that mattered.

The difficulty was actually getting a picture of her, she kept on running away to play on the huge playground.

But we did get a few snaps of her!

I had the most amount of enjoyment with the baking. Making a cake for her on the theme Wizard of Oz. I'm no good at the fondant stuff, so I opted for a smartie rainbow and a meadow of flowers on a vanilla cake with cream and raspberry jam

Outfit Notes:
The blouse and petticoat was from the German Dirndl outfit that I made last year. I popped some light blue Ric Rac on the blouse and I unpicked and sewed up the petticoat so that it was more flouncy. The dress was a simple pinafore style dress with an invisible zip up the back and interfacing in the waste band. the pinafore used about a metre and a half of fabric. The skirt was just a length gathered, no fancy half circles or anything. The top is similar to an apron with straps that crossed over at the back.

Happy Birthday Victoria

I still can't believe that my baby girl turned 4 today.

The last 6 months have been jam packed with learning curves for her and now we are having full intellectual conversations with her. Now she is a little girl and this time next year we will be preparing her for school in 2013.

We picked her up early from Kinder, washed her, dressed her and decided to take a few photo's early knowing that she probably wouldn't be up for it later on in the evening. She has been battling a low grade fever for the last few days and was understandably tired. This is not unusual, we always seem to be sick around her Birthday. Two years ago she ended up at the Royal Children's with dehydration due to a bad case of gastro that we all ended up getting.

She has been wonderful with Nicholas, rarely showing jealousy. She sings to him, gets down on the floor with him and is quick to put a dummy in when he cries. She takes her big sister responsibilities seriously and likes to help at nappy change times.

Victoria is quite crafty and loves to create things and then play with them. Her craft desk is always a work in progress and once when I was doing hand sewing she came up to me and asked me to teach her. So I hope when she gets a bit more dexterous I can teach her to hand stitch and crochet.

And of course she loves to sing and dance. She has wonderful memory recall for songs and wants us to sing to her each night. She is always excited to learn a new song. Her favourite CD's are the Justine Clarke ones at the moment.

For my reference, here are the blog posts for her Third Birthday and Second Birthday.

My Creative Space

Life has been a bit frantic this week leading up to the 4th Birthday of my daughter. Lots of creative things happening including a moment of quilting indulgence using some vintage Sesame Street Fabric.

Baking has also been high on the priority list, playing around with making gingerbread pops for my daughters birthday.

More creative spaces here ...

Finalist in the Concept Radical Art Competition

I was very excited to receive an email to say that my picture, "Going Down" is a finalist in the Concept Radical Art Competition. I received an email from Diane, a reader of my blog telling me about this competition and decided to enter one of my Decay images from Camera Club into it.

You can see my image on the web site and in November it will be on display with the other finalists. Take a look at the other entrants and if you my interpretation of Decay then please vote for me (please!).

My favourite image is the Theory of Aging entrant.

Exhibition Details

Where: George Paton Gallery, Second Floor Union Building, University of Melbourne
Dates: 2nd – 9th November 2011
Time: 11am - 5pm Monday – Friday

Wedding Favours

It is amazing what you find in boxes at the back of cupboards. In an old Tunnocks Snowball box was the left overs from my wedding favours back in 1995. I had forgotten that I still had them and the chocolates were well past their due date.

In 1995, there wasn't as much flexibility with printing so we got a stamp made with our names and date to stamp the attached cards.

My grandmother in Scotland wanted to contribute so she made 100 of these little favours and in this box are left over doilies, prototypes and flowers. Of course she then came out for the wedding and we added the chocolates.

Edit: According to my Mum tonight, my grandmother made them all just weeks before the wedding AFTER she arrived in Australia. I always thought she did them in Scotland!

I am thinking that I might want to make a brooch or something from the left over doilies. Probably dye it red or black.

Any other ideas for what to do with the left over little doilies?

Tori discovers Photo Booth

A while back we got ourselves a brand new spanky iMac. Initially it was for my hubby to do Photoshop on, but since then he has discovered World of Tanks and it has therefore become my study Mac for Uni given I can't get near the PC.

We are a mixed family, with both PC's and Mac's and I see the merit in using and being familiar with as many operating systems as possible. Not just because my background is in ICT in schools, but because each OS has it's own strengths and weaknesses. I believe that students need to be familiar with both environments as it allows them to be more flexible when they get out into the workforce. After all, we don't just teach students to write with pencils, they learn with a variety of tools and they learn the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

Anyway, I digress ... Tori and I were playing on the Mac this afternoon and she discovered Photo Booth. Here is a selection of what she created ...

Look Mum! It's me on the screen!



What if I make a funny face?



And another ..



If I close my eyes will it still work?



Oh look, special effects!



I'm a ghost!



We are all underwater!

The house that Margaret built

It is someone's birthday next week and I have been playing around with baking in the kitchen. When I told Tori I was going to be making a Gingerbread House, she said "Just like Masterchef?"...

A while back we made some cookies at a friends place from a recipe in the Nursing Mothers Recipe book and so Tori and I decided to give it a go.

Tori and Dadda picked out the lollies and with a great deal of mess we put the house together. Being held together with bowls and cans until the Royal Icing set.

My first attempt and I am pretty happy with it. The next one will be a bit larger and I might venture into using some chocolate.

Have you ever made a Gingerbread House? Advice?

Etsy Friday Finds: Elephants

I have some friends who are mad for elephants, these finds are for them!

Wax Seal charm by RQP Studio

Safari Decal by BubbaAndDoodle
I can't see my friends with this on their wall, but I think it would be a cute for a child's bedroom.

Elephant artwork by rachellelevingston
Check out her other pictures, especially this cute one.

Elephant Sillouette by ArtiiCraft
Even though they like Thai elephants, this is kinda cute and stylish.

Elephant Pillow by Petette
These guys have some gorgeous pillows.

What have you found online this week? Anything interesting?

My Creative Space: Sewing Room

I am slowly getting there with the sewing room. I was chuffed when the letters went up on the wall and even more pleased when I noticed that my Flowerpress Hottie fitted on the wall next to the window.

My larger space was way overdue for a sort and chuck, things that I had been hoarding for decades. Consolidating things into a fixed space has been a good exercise for me. The space still looks like a bomb has hit it, but it is slowly coming together.

I ended up purchasing some Ikea wardrobe organisers to put my fat quarters into in black, however I still have to properly colour sort and press my collection. I still have to get some blinds to put in the room and a few other things up on the wall next to the window. The coloured noticeboard that was in the old room is shorter than the shelf above it. That is going to annoy the crap out of me, so I will be making a new one!

On Tuesday, with Nicholas strapped to my back in the ergo, I tackled my costume box and chucked half of it. Most went to the op shop, but some hats gloves and skirts went off to childcare. I have kept a few costumes for either sentimental or rarity reasons.

I guess to sum it all up, if it is not functional or beautiful, I'll be finding a new home for it. For more creative spaces, head over to Our Creative Spaces.

In other news, our old cat Anastasia has spent the week at the Vet. She is 16 years old, has kidney disease and a tooth abscess. So things are a bit tense here at the moment. She has had a good life, but I am not ready to loose her yet.

Some time for me

Another crafty friend has organised a craft day today. What a lovely day for it. It has been ages since I have had a few hours of uninterrupted sewing time just for me. So what is on the to-do list?

Believe it or not, I have the final blocks for Tori's Paintbox Quilt to finish and then I have to lay it out and decide where the colours will be positioned. Best done in a room full of other crafters!

I've been chipping away at this project and it has probably taken far too long, but I am happy with the block choices and every few weeks I would come across another great monochromatic fabric that I wanted to include in her quilt.

I also have a great idea for some scrappy patchy monogrammed pillows for her bed from some gorgeous Jelly's that have been sitting for far too long on my shelf.

I have no expectations of achieving anything except sewing and chatting.

Etsy Friday Finds

I am still in home decorating mode this week, but I have come across some lovely things that I might be tempted to get.

Robot Letterpress by sweetharvey
Letterpress is on my "crafts to learn" list .. I am only presuming that this is a "sorry card"!

The Intrusion by UntamedMenagerie
This range of jewelry is just gorgeous, you must check it out!

Turquoise Block Print Cat Quote by cursiveart
Gaiman quote .. enough said!

Peacock Butterfly Pillow by Pillowation
Love the colours on the basic grey

Robots in Love screenprint by mengseldesign

I just thought that this was cute!

What about you?

Have you found anything interesting this week?

You must share!