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!

Spring sunshine

Wow, what a gorgeous Spring day we had today, long may this weather last. My garden is loving the sun (and all the rain we have just had I am sure). My courgettes are looking just delicious - I love yellow!!

Another productive night ahead... but at least I have a healthy stack of crayon rolls complete!

Busy week

I know, I know... I have been avoiding you... but not on purpose I promise!

I've had a pretty full on week, and not a lot of thinking or making time... so rather than enjoy a relaxing Friday night, I have been busily sewing my little heart out tonight and have a lovely stack of crayon rolls to show for it. I sold out last week at Crafternoon Tea so wanted to get a start on replenishing my stock for upcoming markets.

It's far too dark now for me to take decent pictures, so you will have to wait until the morning... here is one that sold at Crafternoon Tea last week (but I have made more in this combination).

I have also been busy tracing, cutting, folding and glueing envelopes as they have been selling as fast as I make them this week!

Better dash - I have a little more to finish up and really need some beauty sleep : )

C xx

a bit of colour

to brighten up your week...

how divine are these butterfly brooches by Abigail Brown !!

Wild Etsy Treasury

Thanks to TigerLiliesAngelfish for including my 'Where the Wild Things Are' upcycled envelopes in this wild Etsy treasury. You can click here to see the treasury for a couple more days...

This treasury was also featured in the 'Elite Eight' on S&O Productions blog. Lucky me!

Crafternoon Tea Market

It seems I have been quite neglectful of my online shops lately, what with all the craft markets that are currently happening. So yesterday (yes, I know, it was a grey, rainy day - not great for photography!) I made myself busy and took a stack of product shots in order to get some of my new items listed.

I still have to label them all on flickr, and obviously list the items in my felt and etsy stores, but I feel a sense of achievement to get that all ticked off my list!

Speaking of markets. I will have a table at a new market tomorrow. The first ever Crafternoon-Tea market: 10am - 2pm at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall, 400 New North Road, Kingsland.

Click here to see a map.

See you there!
C xx

Books and Vegetables...

Another rainy day today! I haven't ventured outside yet, but took a quick picture of my vegetable garden this morning. The tomatoes and courgettes are going great guns!

I found this gorgeous book at my local library the other day. It has inspired me to get drawing!

I love how the pages have the colour palette off to one side - it really appeals to my sense of order, or something...

 

Our library is currently housed in a small room off to the side of the local leisure centre. They are building a lovely, big, brand spanking new library (which will hopefully be finished by Christmas) so we are waiting with anticipation to get in there and explore. The girls love driving past the building site and seeing the progress! And I must say, I am really looking forward to having a 'real' library to browse around. I have been taking advantage of ordering my books online as there is such a limited selection in the library.

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday !

xx C

Friendly Bunnies

During the holidays, the girls and I borrowed a few books from the library on making soft toys... something I haven't done up until now.

Inspired by the bunnies from Flossys Fancy (the Devonport Craft Market) - (and because it looked like the most simple, straight forward pattern in the book!) I started off with these sweet bunnies.


The pattern is in Softies, 22 Friends for You to Sew, Knit and Crochet. Much to my horror, my beautiful 5 year old has bookmarked a whole swag of things 'we' want to make from this book... so we will be busy!


My first attempt was 'Bunny' (as named for Lucy...) made with some scraps; denim from an old, ripped pair of jeans and some spotty, red fabric which was the lining in an old bag). 'Bunny' was made from the pattern, but I think his body is too short, and head too long, so I made some adjustments for my next attempt.


No. 2 is still not perfect... but I used a beautiful, brightly coloured, vintage embroidered tray cloth (that was stained and had moth holes) and I love her - she is now living on my dressing table and eyeing herself up in the mirror when no one is looking!


xx C

Sunday already...?!!

Well - it has certainly been an eventful week. Lucy had a 'bit of a fall' on Wednesday morning... she was knocked out and we ended up spending the day between doctors and radiology due to her concussion - not a fun day. On Thursday we were back at North Shore Hospital as they found a heart murmur on Lucy, so another few hours of tests... poor wee mite didn't know what had hit her.

Yesterday I took Bella and her friend to see 'Up' at the movies... unfortunately Harri was a little scared, so we ended up leaving halfway through. I had to make up a very sweet ending so she wouldn't go home with nightmares of evil dogs. Someone needs to start up a Kids movie theatre with 'pink fluffy' movies that aren't scary for little ones, but still gives them that 'movie experience'!

We saw the trailer for 'Where the Wild Things Are' yesterday - the music is so beautiful. Bells and I have been watching this over and over this morning! Can't wait to see it.




School starts back tomorrow - I can't believe the two weeks have gone that quickly! Last term before Christmas... where has the year gone?

x C

I had a lovely day (as always) at the Devonport Craft Market yesterday. Even though it was pretty quiet (I am guessing the rain kept a lot of people away), it was a great chance to catch up with fellow crafters/sellers.


I have a lovely spot with fun 'neighbours' including Sarah McLeod, Sarah Bird and Sandra Waine and so its all good fun. All we needed was a local cafe to do a coffee round for us and we would have been all set!

I managed to get a couple of snaps off Sarah's camera of my table... I also dug out my old camera today, but am still hurting over the death of my latest model!

C x

Rainy days...

It is supposed to be spring... it is wet and grey and cold... and it is school holidays... ughhh.

Now I have to say, I have 2 girls so I am comfortable with pink, I know what I am doing with skirts, and dolls, and arts & crafts.... I am used to everything being about babies and barbies and princesses....

The problem is I also have a sister who has 3 boys - which means 3 nephews! One of which is turning 4 tomorrow. Now Sam loves balls... and I mean he LOVES balls. I think he has every sort of ball you could possibly find, and everything to do with balls... which means presents are kind of tricky.

We've racked our brains thinking about a birthday gift for Sam and had just about given up, when today's rain prompted an idea. Isabella and I decided we would make Sam a library bag for his birthday. A ball library bag. Now, would you believe I am all out of ball fabric?! Yes, yes, I know I could have been imaginative and done some applique or something like that, but I just didn't have time! So we had a little trip to Spotlight this morning to get some ball fabric... and would you believe after scouring the entire store, we could not find any ball fabrics (and I mean NONE)... so - next best thing for Sam - rockets. Luckily I have some rockets fabric (purchased especially with Sam in mind).

After what seemed like hours in Spotlight, we came home, popped Lucy into bed and went about making Sams library bag (and of course Bells had to have one too since she was helping!). The finished products are interesting to say the least : ) Bells chose her fabrics and patches (see what I mean about girls!).


For Sams I used an old pair of jeans and some of the rocket fabric, and a waterproof inner (cos you know what boys are like!).


For a first attempt I think we did ok. My little 5 year old assistant was stoked with her bag, which prompted a late afternoon visit to the library.

C xx

what a week!

I know, I know - I have been particularly slack in blog-land lately... but I have a couple of very VERY good reasons:

a.) The girls and I have just spent the week away at the beach, along with torrential rain, storms and tsunami warnings (including sitting on top of a hill with around 1,000 others for a couple of hours), but that is a whole other story!

b.) My camera was inadvertently dropped on the floor (whilst it was on with lens out...) and now has a very LARGE crack in the lens and will not close..., or turn on... which means no photos!

So I am busily sewing up a stack of crayon rolls, bunting and lavender bags for the Devonport Craft Market tomorrow, along with a stack of other bits and bobs, and have no means of taking any lovely shiny photos for you. Sorry!

All this means is that you will have to head down to the Markets yourself - extended hours of 10am - 3pm, so you have no excuse!

But I couldn't possibly leave a post with no photos - so here are a couple from Kraftbomb last Sunday - I will have most of these items again, plus a couple of others.


See you there : )