Have I ever...

I am supposed to be sorting out my new 'studio' (aka. tiny little room in new house), but the floor is covered in bits and I am totally over it - so thought I would have a bit of fun instead!

Here goes...

*Yes answers are in bold.

1. Started your own blog – Yes!

2. Slept under the stars – thankfully, yes.

3. Played in a band and in orchestras and string quartets.

4. Visited Hawaii – Yes.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity - Not more than I could afford, but I certainly dig deep to help when I can.

7. Been to Disneyland.

8. Climbed a mountain – Yes, too many to list, Mt Ngauruhoe, Mt Tongariro, Mt Ruapehu, Rangitoto to name a few...  

9. Held a praying mantis – yes - I love them!

10. Sang a solo.

11. Bungee jumped.

12. Visited Paris – A few times - I lived in France for a year (in Cognac) in my early twenties.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea - Yes - scary and intoxicating! 

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch – quite a few actually... !

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning - ah, yes unfortunately!

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - I have been to Liberty Island and stood at the base, but could not go up inside the statue itself.

18. Grown your own vegetables - yes, we eat them every night!

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France – yes.

20. Slept on an overnight train - yes, again in France.

21. Had a pillow fight – who hasn’t?

22. Hitch hiked - yes, through Turkey, France, UK, Greece, NZ... but would not do it now!

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill – who me!?

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb - yes.

26. Gone skinny dipping - a-hem...

27. Run a Marathon - not a marathon..., but did the Oxfam Trailwalk in Sydney 2001 (100km through a grueling Sydney bush track!)

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse - yes.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset – Many of both!

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - Yes - my Dad is from Chester, and ancestors date back to Bramhall Hall so made the trek when in the UK!

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language - French whilst I lived in France

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - hmmm, do you ever?

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing – yes, on a school trip

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke – once or twice

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight – yes... more than once. 

46. Been transported in an ambulance - yes, car accident when I was 18... no, I wasn't the driver!

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris – not to the top, but I’ve been under it.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling - Yes, when at the Great Barrier Reef whilst staying in Airlie Beach, Australia.

52. Kissed in the rain – yes.

53. Played in the mud – Yes, quiet recently even as my 2 year old LOVES mud!

54. Gone to a drive-in theater.

55. Been in a movie.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China. 

57. Started a business – Yes, a Graphic Design studio

58. Taken a martial arts class.

59. Visited Russia.

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - yes.

62. Gone whale watching. 

63. Got flowers for no reason – Yes, lovely.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma – No due to mad cow disease... no I don't have it, but was in the UK at the wrong time...

65. Gone sky diving 

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check 

68. Flown in a helicopter 

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy – yes - an old growly bear... a HUGE pink panther, Fisher Price dolls house/people/furniture, dolls... in fact too many to list!

70.Visited the Lincoln Memorial 

71. Eaten Caviar - Yes, I used to be a chef.

72. Pieced a quilt - roughly...

73. Stood in Times Square - Yes, at Christmas time in the snow - so cool!

74. Toured the Everglades

 

75. Been fired from a job  

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London – yes.

77. Broken a bone – nothing big, but a few fingers and toes if they count?. 

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car - once, what a mistake, they devalue as soon as you drive them out of the yard, and then my mother in law wrote it off within a three weeks of my buying it!

83. Walked in Jerusalem 

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible 

86. Visited the White House  

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox – as a kid

89. Saved someone’s life 

90. Sat on a jury 

91. Met someone famous – Yes. Most noteable was Eric Estrada when I was at Telethon as a kid and I was a massive 'CHiPs' fan!!

92. Joined a book club 

93. Lost a loved one – yes.

94. Had a baby - Yes, two gorgeous girls (one emergency c-section, one natural)!

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 

97. Been involved in a law suit  

98. Owned a cell phone – uh, yes quite a few actually, my latest went through the washing machine last week! 

99. Been stung by a bee – yes, but I am allergic to bees, so try to stay clear of them now! 

100. Read an entire book in one day - yes, but now that I am a Mum it seems a distant memory!

Family time

Well, Christmas has been and gone! We had a lovely family day with lots of food, summer wine, gifts and swimming.

And yesterday my 'baby' turned 2 - how time flies by! Again we had a family day and enjoyed the sunshine.

Christmas Eve!

Felt

I had a lovely day at Kraftbomb today. I was in a room away from the main hall with a handful of other stall holders, and although we didn't get as much 'foot traffic' as the main hall it was still great. Much cooler (the main hall gets so hot when it is packed), and nice and calm!

Lots of my bits headed off for new homes, but I also have quite a bit of stock that now needs to be lovingly uploaded to my felt and etsy stores. I have made a start tonight, but it is a slowwwww job, so bare with me. I think I might give in and do the rest tomorrow night!

After all, it is now the summer holidays!

MIA...

It has been a while since I managed to post an entry here - things have been crazy busy what with selling our house, finding somewhere new to live, splitting up our assets, packing, moving, unpacking, finding a new school for Bella for the New Year, plus all the normal end of year/Christmas activities - you know, school prize giving, holiday fun, santa visits, christmas shopping, gift making and wrapping... the list in endless!

Anyway, I am back, online, up and running!

I have not managed to get a lot of craft stuff done lately, but luckily I was prepared and worked hard to build up my stock before the move. On Sunday I will be at Kraftbomb in Grey Lynn. This will be my last market for the year, possibly for a few months... so pop your head in of you are in the area. I am thinking I might have a wee break from the market scene and work on some projects that have been on the back burner for some time.

Anyway, if you are looking for stocking fillers, I have a great stash of crayon rolls for Sundays market, plus fabric covered kids sketchbooks, fabric covered magnets, lavender bags, etc. Hope to see you there!

Kraftbomb December
Sunday 20th December, 2009
11am-2pm
Grey Lynn Community Centre
Main Hall - 510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland

Christmastime... almost

Almost December... wow - can't believe it has come around so quickly.

I was lucky enough to be featured in this lovely Christmas Treasury on Etsy today - The Twelfth Month of the Year.

Summertime

I've had a great day today... it started off when I was given an overflowing bag of fresh plums off a friends tree... half were eaten by my little monster before we even got them home! I also managed to find a new house so next week will be busy with packing and cleaning and moving!

I was also lucky enough to be featured in one of Etsy's Gift Guides - super exciting!

Don't forget, if you are wanting to do some Christmas shopping this weekend, buy handmade!

Tomorrow - Saturday 28th November
Willow Park Christmas Gift Market
Willow Park Primary School
13 – 17 Compton Street
Hillcrest, North Shore
10am - 2pm

Sunday 29th November
Kraftbomb
Grey Lynn Community Centre, Main Hall
510 Richmond Road
Grey Lynn, Aucklandd
11am - 2pm

Making...

I had quite a productive day today. Managed to get a bit done in my studio, so am feeling somewhat prepared for my two markets this weekend.

Made today...

some new key rings - loving this Amy Butler fabric!

Some more envelopes (I finally managed to track down some more old copies of Where the Wild Things Are!)

New magnets

and some more bookmarks.

In the post...

I LOVE my postman - he doesn't know it, but I do. He always brings me such lovely things! Look what arrived today...

This gorgeous limited edition yardage fabric is screen printed in Melbourne by Susan of Spin Spin Handmade. Can't wait to use it for some new journal covers.

Silly Season

Well, it really is silly season, only 1 month to go until Christmas, and I sure am feeling the pressure!

My 'to do' list is out of control, and seems to be taking on a life of it's own. I managed to cross a few things off today though, including this custom order for 10 bookmarks (in the post today), plus FINALLY taking some long overdue product shots, plus shots of my fabric stash to update my flickr page.

Now all I need to do is go through and label and tag them all (yawn) and update my felt and etsy shops with some new products....

This weekend I will be at markets both Saturday and Sunday...

Saturday 28th November
Willow Park Christmas Gift Market
Willow Park Primary School
13 – 17 Compton Street
Hillcrest, North Shore
10am - 2pm

Sunday 29th November
Kraftbomb
Grey Lynn Community Centre, Main Hall
510 Richmond Road
Grey Lynn, Aucklandd
11am - 2pm

On top of all of this, we have just sold our house (much faster than anticipated!) so I am desperately searching for somewhere for the girls and I to live, and pack up our house before next week - eek! ... watch this space!

xx C

Crafternoon Tea Market

A great day was had today in Kingsland at Crafternoon Tea. It was much quieter than last month, but still lovely to catch up with everyone and see some lovely new faces too.

I actually managed to snap a couple of shots of my table - my daughter kindly lent me her camera (as mine has still not been repaired)!

Next weekend is Kraftbomb - hope to see you there!

Neglect...

What a week! I know it has been ages since I updated this blog, and I am not even going to try and explain it..., lets just say my studio floor looked like this this morning...

I thought the 'elves' may have cleaned it up whilst I slept, but alas, it looked the same when I woke as it did at 3am when I abandoned it and crawled into bed!

Crafternoon Tea is on again tomorrow. Can't wait - it was a great day last month, so hoping we will have as much fun tomorrow. 

10am-2pm at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall, 400 New North Road, Kingsland.

Hope to see you there!
xxC

Envelopes in the making

I have found some fantastic old books lately and this one has to be my favourite! Searle's Cats by Ronald Searle. Copyright 1967, this publication, Fifth Impression 1977.

Due to it's condition (very well loved!) it has been turned into upcycled envelopes, and the hardcover into a sketchbook destined for my Etsy shop.

Normandy Apple Cake

An abundance of apples, and a need of a sweet treat resulted in us baking this delicous, fool proof Apple Cake this afternoon.

Normandy Apple Cake

4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup water

250g softened butter
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs (at room temperature)
2 cups of self-raising flour (I used 2 cups of flour + 2tsp of baking powder)
1 cup milk
vanilla essence or vanilla bean
Cinnamon
Icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180C. Place apples, brown sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes (until apples are soft, but not mush!). Drain apples and leave to cool.
Using a hand held, electric beater, cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and slowly add the milk, beating to combine.
Pour batter into greased 28cm cake tin. Top with the cooled apple mixture and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon over the top.
Bake cake for around 50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
I like to sprinkle with icing sugar once it has cooled a little. This cake is delicious served warm, but is equally as nice after a day or two.

Enjoy!

Inspiring

I am just loving Carla Bruni at the moment - I have been listening to one of her albums, Quelqu'un m'a dit over and over for the past few days - it is so beautiful. So I just had to share a link to one of my favourite songs on the album of the same name...




On another note, look what I found on Lilla Rogers blog... how gorgeous is this illustration by John Coulter of Terrible Yellow Eyes - inspired by Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  I just can't wait to see the movie!!

Tooth Fairies.... cos apparently there is more than one!

My beautiful 5 year old lost her second tooth tonight - so she is currently looking more 'gappy' than beautiful, but that's life I guess.

As I was putting her to bed, she had a 'squillion' questions for me about the tooth fairy... you know how it goes...

5 year old "does the tooth fairy fly really fast?"
Mum "Sure"
5 year old "Well, how fast?"
Mum "Really, really fast"
5 year old "Do butterflies fly fast?"
Mum "Sure"
5 year old "Well, how fast?"
Mum "Really, really fast"
5 year old "So do butterflies fly faster than tooth fairies (cos apparently there is more than one)?"
Mum "Hmmm, I'm not sure - now go to sleep"
5 year old "Just go and google it mum..., you know 'google it' means just look on the internet!"  !!!

Oh how times have changed!

On another note - the Devonport Craft Market was on again last Sunday and Sarah of Songbird Designs kindly took some photos of my table for me.

It was a very quiet day in Devonport on Sunday, I think everyone was at the Parent Child Show, or the Auckalnd Marathon, but it was a really nice day to catch up with some other lovely, super crafty stall holders! I got to spend a lot of my day chatting with Heleen from Ruby in the Dust, and Jess from Bam Bam Creative. It was also really cool to finally put faces to the names of Lucy from Felt and Mel from Black Swan Designs.

C xx

Taking it slow

I don't feel as though I have achieved a lot this week... Isabella has had the week off school with tonsillitis, so we have really taken things slowly... and it has been lovely! (If you ignore the sleepless nights and grisly kids!!)

Yesterday we spent an hour or so creating sand saucer gardens... I can vividly remember doing this as a kid and it was so nice watching Bella enjoying it so much too. She created quite a few wee masterpieces, but this was our favourite!!

Tomorrow is Halloween, and although we don't really celebrate it here in New Zealand I have certainly been more aware of it now that Bella is at school. She missed her school Halloween day/after school party today, but hopefully should be ok for the Halloween party she has been invited to tomorrow night.

We spent a bit of time making her 'witches' outfit at lunchtime whilst Lucy napped.

We got a layered chiffony singlet top from a thrift shop for $2, and I was lucky enough to find the motherload of black tulle at another thrift shop a few weeks ago for a mere $2 (we are talking almost a whole bolt of black tulle for $2!!)... so that worked nicely. My little helper and I sewed the layered tulle onto the singlet and then took to it with scissors (the fun bit) as Bella was quite concerned that a witches dress should not be at all pretty (even though she wanted tulle... O to be 5!)

Please excuse the pink leggings in the photo! She promises me tomorrow she will wear her black leggings underneath! At least she wont need any witchy make up with the pale skin and bags under her eyes from being sick all week!

On another note, it is the Devonport Craft Market on Sunday - 10am - 3pm at the Devonport Community House, 32 Clarence Street, Devonport. Hopefully I will be a little more organised by then!! I did manage to sort my crayons into colour groups this morning to pop into my (thankfully) completed crayon rolls!

Clever Kiwis on Etsy

Sarah Bird of Cotton Kiwi has just put together a lovely 'Kiwi' Treasury on Etsy... and I am lucky enough to feature among some other seriously talented kiwis. Thanks Sarah!

Feels like Summer...

The weather today was just divine! Perfect weather - lovely hot sun, and a nice breeze to keep you cool. The perfect washing weather. And as it happens I had a line full of beautiful new fabrics fluttering in the wind - I just couldn't wait to get them in, iron and fold them and pop them in my stash... Ooo the obsessions of a fabricoholic!

Isabella has been off school this week - she has a nasty case of tonsillitis, which means I have had no sleep for the past couple of nights. Lucy and I took her off to the doctor today and she now has a tidy supply of drugs to hopefully make her better quick smart. Both girls had a rest at lunchtime which gave me some much needed 'sorting out' time. My studio looks like a bomb has hit it, and I still feel totally disorganised....

We have spent the afternoon quietly pottering outside... the girls in the sandpit and Bella teaching Lucy 'ring a ring a rosies' (of which she wanted 'more, more... more'!) and I pottered around tying up my incredibly healthy tomato plants, peas, beans etc. Dinner tonight included some lovely fresh salad with lettuce, radish, mint, parsley, and oregano from our garden... can't wait until the tomatoes, peas, beans, courgettes etc are ready too!

Zip me up

I managed to log into Etsy yesterday, just as the magic '333' was coming up on the Etsy Treasury, so had fun picking my own Etsy Treasury Zip me up.

What fun!