child of the 70's

I received a lovely surprise in the post today. My father had been sorting through old slides (yes, slides!!), and decided to scan in the ones he could rescue and pop them on a disc for me. I have really enjoyed looking through them this evening, it takes me back to those family evenings when my parents would pull out the slide projector and we'd all curl up and look at old slides... hmmm, now I am really showing my age!

Anyway, here are a few of my fav's... sorry about the quality.

This is me eating what looks like the worlds biggest lollipop (who would be insane enough to give a kids a lollipop that big?  Mum!!) outside the old Stone Store in the Bay of Islands

OK, so this is not a favourite.., but I just had to show you the old roller skates! And that big A-frame house behind is a 'playhouse' that my dad built for us when we were little. It had 2 levels, and at the back it had a deck on the second storey... he also managed to get some old fire house telephones (the old wind up ones) and wired them into his shed (next door to the playhouse), the house and the playhouse, so when we were out in the playhouse, we could 'phone' the house and ask for things - how cool is that! Let's just say we were very popular for after school playdates!

I just love this one. When we were kids, Dad had a yacht so we mostly used to spend our summer holidays up at Kawau on the boat. It was an amazing lifestyle, but I guess we used to do silly things to amuse ourselves... This photo shows my sister and a friend of ours rowing, and me holding the painter for the yellow dinghy carrying the dog... that poor dog - at the time I am sure we thought it was a great game :-)

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
Cat xx

my creative space: thinking about somewhere warm...

I have been thinking about someplace warm this week. It seems as if everyone around me is going somewhere !! I have sold so many passport covers over the past couple of weeks that it makes me feel as if I am missing something :-)

Today I have been trying to replenish my stock.... but think I'd prefer an airline ticket to Fiji !

You can check out more lovely creative peeps at kirsty's.

Hope you're enjoying your week.

Cat

some new faces

Devonport Craft Market is on again this Sunday, and I will have some new faces with me...

10am - 2pm

Sunday 1st August 2010 

Devonport Community House

32 Clarence Street, Devonport

Hope to see you there!
Cat

winter sewing

Today is grey and cold and wet. Yesterday was brilliant. Warm and sunny, and as I was hanging the washing out I was thinking how it is only about 5-6 weeks until Spring. Spring! And how really, our winters are very mild and bearable.

But... I woke up this morning to NO HOT WATER! What a miserable start to the day. Thankfully it is back on now. We came in from playcentre, I put Lucy down for a nap and had the longest, hottest shower to try and warm up. I am now shut in my studio with the heater on high whilst finishing off some dolls. It is so hard hand sewing when your fingers are numb!!

On another note... Do you like polka-dots? It has never occured to me that there are people in the world that don't like polka-dots. I love polkadots and have quite a vast range of polka-dot fabrics and paper ephemera. I was sewing something the other day, and asked Isabella what she thought...

Isabella: It's ok, but I don't like the spotty pattern...

Me: The polka-dots? How can you not like polka-dots?

Isabella: I just don't.

Me: How about this one with pink polka-dots?

Isabella: No.

Me: How about this blue spotty one...??


Isabella: No. I don't like spots.

Me: At all???

Isabella: No, not at all. Can you please make me one with this butterfly/flowery/sparkly....

Lesson to self: Not everyone in the world likes polka-dots!

winter holidays

Today is the last day of the winter holidays and I can't believe they are over already. The last two weeks seem to have flown by, and I am not looking forward to the rush tomorrow morning! We have been so lucky with the weather, only a couple of rainy days, and lots and lots of brilliant sunshine.

The girls and I have done loads of bike riding, visits to the park and zoo, and generally kept busy outside which has been great... Oh, and spent lazy mornings in bed watching movies on their ipods!!

Today I've had a few quiet hours to myself, and had time to tidy my overflowing studio. I managed to sort through my vintage linens, and also found this little face that was painted months ago, but never used... which gave me an idea...

And a new range is born... small, soft matryoshka inspired cushion/ dolls using lovely vintage linens from my stash.

I will have a few of these for sale at Kraftbomb next Sunday, and in my online shop next week.

a craft affair

I had every intention of writing up a fabulous blog post from our day at A Craft Affair, but my partner in crime, the lovely Sarah from Songbird Designs has already done a stellar job, so you could always read that, or there is another great write up with heaps of pics from Maddie at Lil magoolie.
On a personal note, I had an amazing day... even with a 3.45am wake up call (after going to sleep after midnight)! It was amazing flying over the snowy alps, then driving through Christchurch covered in a blanket of white frost at 8am. The venue, Our City O-Tautahi, was simply spectacular. From the ornate fireplaces, stunning leadlight windows to the amazing light filled spacious rooms. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of people through the doors... and they just kept coming and coming. Lucy did a fantastic job, and I could not fault one part. What an amazing market for both sellers, and buyers.

After a few delays with our return flight (really, how long does it take to change a tyre!!) we finally got home around 10pm! Thank god for the bar in Christchurch airport! Long day, but certainly well worth the effort. It was so neat to finally meet a lot of South Island Crafters too.

devonport craft market

The Devonport Craft Market is on again tomorrow. I will be there, armed with a stack of goodies (I have been busy building up my stock for A Craft Affair next Sunday!!), including a bunch of sparkly new crayon rolls. Hope to see you there.

10am - 2pm

Sunday 4th July 2010 

Devonport Community House

32 Clarence Street, Devonport

sewing cards

I looked after my sisters two youngest boys this morning (Sam 4 1/2 and Alex 2 1/2) and as Lucy and Alex are at the same age (that biting age!!) it is always best to keep them thoroughly entertained!

I have been meaning to make up some sewing cards for some time, but as I was unprepared this morning I just printed these ones off the internet onto some red card. Sam (who's a rather crafty wee 4 year old) helped me cut around the shapes and punch the holes. We then made some sewing laces out of this gorgeous bakers twine I had in my stash by wrapping sellotape around one end and tying a large button to the other to act as an anchor.

All three kids had fun with it, the little ones lost interest a lot faster, but Sam finished off a couple of animals and was excited to show his Mum when she collected him (always a good sign)! 

my creative space: gift tags

I can't believe we are into July - the months seem to be sliding past this year. Tomorrow is the last day of term and amazingly Bella has managed to get through two full school terms with no sick days!

Today, Lucy and I spent the morning running errands, then came home and made a large pot of vegetable soup at lunchtime so that it would be steaming and thick for dinner.

I also managed to get a bunch of new gift tags finished off. These are quite time consuming and I tend to do them in stages as I get bored easily! But it feels great to have them ready for the next couple of markets. These are a market only product (along with a few of my other items) as by the time you pay the listing fees, success fees, paypal fees etc associated with online shops, it is just not worth selling them online. But, if you really want to get your hands on some, you can always email me :-)

Better dash, it is freezing tonight and my hands are already numb, am off to enjoy a steaming bowl of vegetable soup, some fresh crunchy ciabatta and a large glass of red!