Cotton Kiwi

Back to School: Fabric covered exercise book tutorial

2012-02-02T19:07:00.000+13:00

The girls went back to school today and I have to say I'm feeling a little lost without them at home. There'll be plenty to do and talk about when they get home. There's also the school exercise books to cover and label with all their different subjects. If you are anything like me, you will hate the sticky backed plastic stuff that you buy from the shops to cover books with. It never, ever, goes on without wrinkles for me and there's a whole lot of swearing that goes on. Plus, I don't really like the high waste aspect of it. There's so much unrecyclable backing paper to pull off and the plastic coating, whilst keeping the books dry (and yes, this is a very good move for at least one of my daughters!), it just doesn't appeal to me. I should say now that I do give in to the kids and buy them one pack of the sticky backed plastic but the deal is that I then get to have my own way and create covers for the books that are far easier for me to do.

Fabric covered exercise book

If you have a sewing machine at home (you can get away without one but the cover won't stay on as well), this is an easier and much more environmentally friendly way to cover your kids' school books (and it makes sure that their books will definately stand out in the class room when they go to look for them.) Here's how to cover your books with fabric.

What you need:

Lightweight fabric (old sheets and printed cotton are great)

Glue stick

Pinking shears

normal scissors

pencil or pen

ruler (not essential but handy)

Sewing machine

Iron your fabric out flat and place your opened exercise book on top.

Lightly mark all around the book, leaving about 2.5cm all around.

Cut out with pinking shears.

Place your closed book in the centre of the fabric and cover the front cover of the book with glue and then place it face down onto the fabric. Turn the book over, being careful not to move the fabric on the front cover. Cover the back cover with glue and fold the fabric over.

Open the book at the front cover and using normal fabric scissors, cut a square at the top and bottom corners. Also make a small snip as far as the book at the top and bottom centre (where the binding of the book is). Glue the longer side strip and fold it towards the book. Do the same with the top and bottom. Clean off any glue that might have escaped before you turn the book over. Turn the book over and do the same for the back cover.

I'd recommend you leave your book to dry for a while otherwise the glue can clog up your needle so glue all your book covers on and then make yourself a well earned coffee before you start the next bit. When your books are dry, Set your machine to a zig zag stitch and stitch around the front cover and then around the back. The best needle to use is a jeans one but ordinairy needles will work pretty well. Don't forget to change it before you do anymore sewing though as the card will blunt the needle.
If you don't have a sewing machine, you can just leave it at the glue stage or use some wide tape to secure the inside edges.

I also stitch labels onto the front cover of the books. Just cut them out, glue them in place and stitch them on. There are some really cute ones here:

http://www.ziggityzoom.com/print.php?activity=68

The butterfly ones are here
Good luck with back to school!

Sylvanian wedding dress tutorial

2012-01-26T13:36:00.000+13:00

Maddy received a parcel in the post today. It was a vintage wedding car for her Sylvanian toys. She bought it second hand from Trade Me with her birthday money but couldn't afford to get any more of the wedding set so I thought I would have a go at making a little wedding outfit for her.

I found a set of free patterns for clothes here . They are in Japanese but there are pictures so you can pretty much guess what to do if you have a bit of sewing experience. For the wedding dress, I used the gathered dress pattern which is second from the bottom. Click on that picture. You'll see 3 lines of text underneath it which probably appear in Japanese script on an enabled computer but look like a bunch of symbols on mine. Click on the first one and you'll get the pattern. The second one has the instructions and pictures. If you are just making a plain dress, follow the pictures and you'll see what to do.

To make the wedding dress, I used an old baby t-shirt but you could use any white t-shirt. The benefit of using an old t-shirt is that you don't have to do any hemming because it's t-shirt fabric which doesn't fray and you can also use the bottom of the shirt or even the sleeve to make the bottom hem. This is a really good thing to do because it makes the skirt stick out a bit. Cut out the 2 pieces. The skirt should be about 4cm wide by 19cm long (I've made it a bit wider than the pattern so it's a full-length dress). Stitch 2 rows of 1cm wide lace along the length of the skirt and then stitch one row of lace around the neck. Stitch the two underarm sections on the top as shown in the Japanese pattern picture. Gather the top of the skirt and pin it to the bodice section and then stitch it in place. Try it on your Sylvanian to make sure it fits (there should be some lap over on the back. Fold one side of the back over by a tiny amount (just enough to get it under your needle. Attach 2 long skinny bits of velcro to the back and you have your wedding dress.

To make the veil, take a piece of the same lace you used on the dress and wrap it around your Sylvanian's head to get the right size. Add about 0.5cm on the length of the lace to lap over at the back (you'll add velcro in a moment). Now take a wider piece of lace or about 8x8cm of net/tulle and fold it over concertina style at one end. Stitch the folded end to the skinnier lace at one end so that it will be at the back of the Sylvanian's head when it's attached. Now attatch velcro to either end of your skinny lace with the veil attachment and you are good to go with your bridal headdress.

For the bouquet, I totally cheated and I really don't recommend you do what I did if it's going to be played with by children. What I recommend you do is to hand stitch 3 ribbon roses onto a small piece of elastic so that it can be looped over the toy's hand. What I did was to pin 3 ribbon roses onto a safety pin and loop that over the toy's hand. That's because I'm lazy and because I needed to get off the sewing machine and go and make the kid's some lunch! The safer version will be made later when I have less hungry children and more time.

I've got to figure out how to make something for the groom to wear now. Hm, I wonder if the Mr would notice if I used one of his black t-shirts to make a jacket....

Matchy matchy

2012-01-15T13:35:00.000+13:00

A new job and too many commitments have meant a lot of quietness from me on this blog over the last few months. I decided over Christmas to take a break from selling at markets for about 6 months to give me more time to focus on jobs around the house and doing the sewing projects I want to do but never have time for.

This is one of those projects. I found the tutorial for the dress here. It's for a smaller child than Eloise so I used the bodice of one of her other dresses as a template for upsizing the dress. It's looking a little wrinkled as she's worn it for 3 days this week (*insert happy mummy sigh here*). I ended up cutting off some of the skirt as I made it too long and then saw that this could be one of those happy mistakes as the offcut was exactly the right length for Eloise's doll Mandy. I used an existing doll dress to get roughly the right size for the bodice, used the offcut for the skirt as I mentioned (you only need half of the full circle of patchwork pieces for a dolly skirt) and now Eloise and Mandy can be matchy matchy.

So cute!

Big smile

2011-10-26T20:47:00.000+13:00

Knitted Dan is sitting in my lounge with an enormous smile on his face. You know the main reason why. The boys won! Yes!

There are other reasons. He has Richie McCaw's signature right next to him for a start AND he's hoping very hard that the real DC is going to sign him too before he goes up for auction on Trade Me next week to raise money for Christchurch. Keep your fingers crossed on the signature from the real DC!

We'll be auctioning off some other fantastic Woolly Walkalong pieces for Christchurch at the same time. I'll let you know more soon!

Poor Dan

2011-10-04T16:30:00.000+13:00

Yes, I know you are probably sick of hearing about Dan Carter and his groin injury but I'm still gutted, not least because I'm going to miss my 5 and 7 year olds yelling "It's our Dan!!!" everytime they see him play. My knitted version was looking very sorry for himself this morning too. All the wet weather (and I suspect a few 'helpful' people) had him looking very bedraggled.

Photo SaskiaN Designs

I took him off the wharf this morning to do some repairs and couldn't resist a few adjustments. I would have loved to knit him a sexy nurse to rest his head on but no time.

Knitted Dan is all repaired now. I hope the real one is fighting fit soon too.

We love you Dan!

Dan's back

2011-09-26T20:57:00.000+13:00

I've just realised that I've been very slack in letting non-Facebookers know that knitted Dan is back. He was stolen from the wharf just over a week ago (poor Eloise burst into tears when she heard he had gone). Being the practical sort, I knitted another Dan. He's been back on the wharf since Friday night, complete with a chain through his middle to avoid any further pinchings.

Whilst I was attaching him, I got chatting to one of the cleaning ladies who works at the wharf. She had developed quite an attachment to our knitted tagging and had been holding on to bits and pieces that had fallen (or pulled) off because she didn't know who to contact about replacing them.I was thrilled to discover she had Elmo's missing arm and the missing owl so both got reattached whilst I was down there. Eloise was so pleased to have both arms back on Elmo and Maddy loved seeing the little owls having a hug.

If you haven't been to see the Wooly Walkalong yet, it'll be up (hopefully) for the duration of the World Cup. Fingers crossed Dan stays for the rest of that time!

Dan's STILL our man. Replacement Dan on the wharf on Friday night, complete with padlock and chain.

New Job

2011-09-25T12:55:00.001+13:00

I'm sure I could happily fill all the extra child free time I've got now that Eloise has gone to school but the things I do to fill that time won't generally allow us to fix the roof and paint the ceiling! I've been looking for a job since Eloise started school in August. I've been so lucky to be at home with my girls all this time. It's really important to me that I'm still home for them when they get home from school everyday and as many of you know, it's not easy to find part time work in school hours let alone work that you will enjoy. I was thrilled when I say that Parnell Farmers' Market was looking for a new Market Manager. It ticks every box on my wishlist and I was thrilled to be offered the job. I've just finished my first week as the new manager of Parnell Farmers Market and it's been fantastic. Yesterday was my first market day and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Pukeko Bakery

All the stallholders were wonderfully welcoming to me.

Clevedon Proteas

I met quite a few regular customers too. Everyone was happy to have a chat. Baskets were laden with goodies (I had to force myself not to go and buy everything I wanted. So many scrummy things)

Miranda Farm Shop

Look at these lemons. Aren't they beautiful? There were so many lovely yellows and oranges on the stalls. Citrus fruits, yellow tulips, baby carrots, pumpkins.

Heirloom Organix

I know some of these beautiful organic seedlings are going to end up in our veggie garden before long.

NZ Cheeseman

So many scrummy cheeses. Mmmm.

Cake Concepts

The kids love these sausages in blankets. Those pasties are definately on my lunch list for future markets.

Bethany Flowers

The sights and smells at the market were heavenly. Managing the market means I have to get up at 5.15am on Saturdays now but seriously, how could I mind that when I get to enjoy these beautiful sights?

I love how these gorgeous veggies were displayed. They sold out within a few hours.

Sunset Eggs

These eggs come from very happy chickens. The NZSPCA regularly audits them to make sure they are truly free range. Happy chickens make me happy.

The Farm Gate

I got home from my morning at the market to discover that Maddy had learned to ride her bike and had made it all the way around the block on her own. Happy days! She is just so pleased with herself. Don't you love it when your kids are proud of themselves? I'm sorry that I missed that moment but I'm so glad that I can do a job that I enjoy and still be there to pick them up from school at 3pm and hear all about what they've done at school that day (bad and good). If you think you'd enjoy coming down to the Parnell Farmers' Market, it's on every Saturday from 8am-12pm in the Jubilee Building car park at 545 Parnell Road, Parnell between the library and museum. I'll still be running the Devonport Craft Market and Cotton Kiwi. The next Devonport Craft Market is on Sunday 2nd October (next Sunday). Hope to see you there!

Dan-napped

2011-09-20T16:06:00.000+12:00

My knitted Dan Carter was pinched from the Devonport on Friday night :o(

Photo Knitty Graffity

Believe it or not, it made National news and was even listed on the Yahoo homepage.

Replacement Dan is well on his way to being knitted and will hopefully be up on the wharf by Friday or Saturday.

I'm writing the pattern down as I knit him this time instead of just making it up as I go along. I am planning on selling the pattern to raise money for Christchurch. Any volunteers to pattern test for me? I've got one but I think a couple extras would be good. You'd need to be happy using double pointed needles and a quick knitter because I'd like to get the pattern up for sale asap. Leave a comment below if you are keen or email me. If you fancy donating the Dan you knit to be auctioned off then let me know that too

My inflatable giraffe is no longer distracting.

2011-09-16T10:16:00.000+12:00

Do you know how to really upset a 50 something year old man who works in a hardwear store? Tell him that you need to buy some spray paint to cover an inflatable giraffe. Really. It makes them do this kind of squirmy dance while they try and work out if you are pulling their leg or possibly escaped from a mental assylum. Women working in craft stores, on the other hand, don't tend to bat an eyelid when you go in and ask them to help you match the skin colour of Dan Carter to a ball of wool. Mars and Venus. It's true.

Once the poor man had gotten over his shock and realised that I did actually really need spray paint to cover an inflatable giraffe (and once he had established that I was over 18.... hah!), he helped me find this awesome retro green colour to spray paint my giraffe (I also spray painted some other stuff but that's another post). Thanks to the lovely ladies who commented on my last post and answered the question that I hadn't asked as well as the one I had! ;o) You were totally right. I did love giraffe as he was but now he's even more awesome and much less distracting. If any of you have need to spray paint an inflatable giraffe, I used fridge spray paint and it's holding up pretty well and feels very flexible so I should be able to keep inflating him. I will be using a pump to do it though. No intention of putting my mouth near that paint!! In between my spray painting shenanigans (and the upsetting the hardware salesmen shenanigans), I've also been doing a spot of sewing.

I found this incredibly cute retro sausage dog print in Spotlight last week and had to have it. I've made it into flat fronted board shorts. So cute! And then I found this perfect blue and orange t-shirt to go with it and added a little sausage dog to the lapel. The set will be on sale at Crafternoon Tea tomorrow. I've got some gorgeous lion fabric too so I'm hoping to get the time to make a few more pairs of board shorts between now and tomorrow. So much to do!!

Oh and I've been making little headbands too. I absolutely love these and can't wait to see little girls wearing one of my flower filled fairy skirts or a little summer dress with one of these in their hair. I wish it would stop raining long enough so I can get some photos of the kids in the outfits. Maybe over the weekend. These will be on sale this Saturday at Crafternoon Tea too so pop along if you are free.

I'm off to play on my sewing machine for the rest of the day (well at least until I go to do the school pick up!). Yay!

Freaky or friendly?

2011-09-14T15:56:00.000+12:00

I was in the $2 shop earlier today getting some stickers for my girls who've been really good lately. I spotted this little inflatable giraffe and knew that he'd be the perfect thing to display my bibs for me.

I've also dug out one of my childhood dolls to help with my stall display.

Hopefully she won't freak too many people out. Even in the lilacs dress she has a look of scarey movies about her. What do you think? Too spooky or cute?

Wow! Wooly Walk Along

2011-09-11T18:38:00.000+12:00

I was lucky enough to be part of an awesome team helping to put up the Wooly Walk Along on Devonport Wharf yesterday. Over 75 metres of knitted and crocheted goodness made by 90 people from around the world. My knitted Dan Carter (after a lot of discussion) was placed next to a piece with a single word: Wisdom. I was so proud to be a part of the group. Well done to Knitty Graffity for all her hard work organising it!

And here's my Dan Carter looking very happy in the sunshine!

The Wooly Walk Along will hopefully remain in place for the full 6 weeks of the Rugby World Cup so pop along to Devonport and have a look if you can!

Possibly the best slice in the World.

2011-09-09T10:42:00.000+12:00

Do you have a favourite slice that you make? I discovered this one a few months ago and it's been a big favourite ever since. Not only is it extremely yummy, but it's flexible (you can include different things each time depending what you have in your cupboards) and it's super quick and easy to make (always a bonus in this house!) Want the recipe? Here it is:

Sweetened Condensed Milk Slice

1 packet (250g) super wine/digestive/plain/malt biscuits

110g butter, melted

1 1/2 cups chocolate pieces/chips or buttons

1 1/4 cups dried cranberries

1 1/4 cups walnuts

1 can sweetened condensed milk (approx 400g)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Put your biscuits through a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs (or pop them in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin).
Pour your melted butter into the biscuit crumbs and give them another whizz in the food processor (or stir the butter through the crumbs in a bowl.)
Pour the butter/biscuit mix into a slice tin (around 30x25cm is a good size) and press them down with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
Pop your chocolate, cranberries and walnuts into the food processor (don't worry about cleaning it in between making the biscuit base and this part) and give them a whizz to break down the pieces (or do the bag and rolling pin thing again).
Sprinkle the chocolate mix over the top of the biscuit base evenly.
Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk all over the top of the fruit/nut/chocolate mix. Bake it for 25 minutes.
Leave it to cool then cut into slices.
Watch it disappear!

You can adjust this recipe using your own ingredients. Substitute dark chocolate for milk or white chocolate (the white would make it too sweet though I think!). Swap the cranberries out for any other dried fruit or even coconut and substitute the nuts out for any other nut you like or leave them out and add more fruit instead.

RWC supporters dresses for girls tutorial

2011-09-08T10:27:00.000+12:00

You may have noticed... New Zealand has gone a little RWC mad. There are seas of plastic flags covering every available surface in Auckland and the souvenirs are flying out of shops as everyone gears up for the first game tomorrow. Our girls had a RWC mufti day at school today. The idea was that you came dressed in your team's colours. Madeleine chose England and Eloise chose the All Blacks.

In the interests of trying something that I've been meaning to try for a long time (and in saving myself a lot of money), I decided to make them little dresses to wear. These are super simple to make but you will need a little patience when making the freezer paper stencils but trust me, it's all worth it.

What you will need is:

This gorgeous free dress pattern from Retromummy.

Fabric in your team's colour (get the amount you need from the pattern. I just used calico because I had some at home)

Contrasting bias binding

matching thread, scissors, pins etc

Freezer Paper (you can buy this from most quilting shops and you only need enough to make your design)

Exacto (craft) knife and board or small sharp scissors

Fabric paint (If your team logo has lots of colours, I'd recommend getting a bottle of acrylic fabric painting medium. It will turn your acrylic paints into fabric paint and makes things a lot cheaper.)

Paint brush (ideally a stippling brush but you can use a make up sponge or other kind of brush. Whatever you have)

An iron

A sewing machine

England and New Zealand battle it out on the pitch

First things first. Cut your two pieces of fabric out from the pattern to the size you want. Grab one of the pieces and pop it on your ironing board. Find an image online that will represent your team and print it out so that it fills a page of A4 paper. Cut roughly around the edges and tape the image on the non waxy side of the freezer paper. Using an exacto knife (or small sharp scissors) cut out your stencil. Don't panic if you cut through small lines. The freezer paper is going to be ironed on to your fabric and you won't notice the break in the join if you iron it on carefully. Keep it simple. Don't try to do too much fiddly stuff if your image is complicated. As long as you get the rough outline, little jaggedy bits on leaves etc aren't going to be missed and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble.

Once it's all cut out, remove the printed piece of paper and put the freezer paper stencil on your fabric where you want the design (make sure the waxy side is next to the fabric). Iron it in place making sure that you iron it all on firmly and there are no gaps between the freezer paper and fabric. Turn your iron off and take the fabric and stencil over to a table. Pop the fabric on top of several sheets of newspaper and paint over your stencil in your chosen colours. A large stippling brush works best but you could use any brush or even a make up sponge if you haven't got a stippling brush. If you are painting white onto black fabric, you are going to need 3 or 4 coats of paint and you can use a hairdryer to hurry things along a bit if you need it to dry quickly in between coats.

Now this is the important thing, put it somewhere inside to dry and leave it there until it's completely dry. Don't do what I did and put it outside to dry. The wind will inevitably kick up the edges of your dress and splatter paint everywhere. You should also avoid lifting the edges of the freezer paper before the paint is dry, because you are so impatient to see how it's going to turn out and then realise that you should add another coat of paint but the bit you lifted up isn't very sticky anymore and the paint seeps under it and ruins your design (ask me how I know that?).

Once it's all dry, peel off the freezer paper and use Retro Mummy's instructions to make up the dress. You can of course use the freezer paper method on any clothing. You could go and buy a t-shirt or simple dress and then there's no sewing at all. Just lots of messy painting fun!

Oh and if you really don't like rugby, you could use this method to put any stencil design on your daughter's dress or your son's t-shirt. There are lots of other tutes out there for freezer paper stencilling. Just google them and you'll get loads of ideas. Have fun!

An interruption to our service.

2011-09-01T11:43:00.000+12:00

Sorry kids but its been suggested by a very nice media person that I remove knitted Dan from my blog in case his image gets 'borrowed' before time without my permission. He'll be back in service on 10th September.

A little teaser

2011-08-24T09:00:00.001+12:00

I'll reveal more soon but in the meantime, here's a clue

A Zooish kind of day

2011-08-22T10:00:00.000+12:00

Wasn't it a beautiful day in Auckland yesterday? Pure blue skies and just the right amount of winter warmth in the sunlight. Maddy had a party to go to and Richard needed to do some work so Eloise and I hung at out home. We spent the morning building a zoo for her toy animals on the deck.

Who needs fences when you have chalk and imagination?

The hippo enclosure. Check out those teeth!

The aquarium got a little crowded, especially when the penquins joined in

Grandma doll took ticket office duty. She needed a bit of a hand from Eloise with
the stamping of the tickets (and then the ticket office got a good stamping too).

The baby zebra learned to climb trees. Very talented.

It was so lovely to have some one on one time with Eloise. She started school 2 weeks ago and it already seems like she has grown up so much. She ran all the way to her classroom this morning and got stuck in practicing writing her letters as soon as we arrived. It's so wonderful to see her passion for learning. Long may it last! I have some one on one time with Madeleine today. She's home sick with a virus that seems to have most of her school in its grips. Poor love is sneezing and coughing away on the couch. Fingers crossed she's better soon. Hope you had a lovely weekend. What did you do?

Not Stupid

2011-08-17T12:05:00.000+12:00

Sometimes I worry that our cats are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Hmm. It said 'one size fits all' on the box...

Kitty Yoga

Other times, I know that they are pretty smart.

Kitty heat-hogger

Just try and take me out of here. I dare you.

Hope you are managing to keep warm too!

I have crap in my drawers.

2011-08-10T12:56:00.000+12:00

Yup. It's true. And it's been there for a very long time and more crap keeps joining it on a daily basis. Oh I know that you have crap in your drawers too. Maybe just in one drawer or maybe you have it in many drawers like I do. Now that the small person has started school (picture very sad face on her Mummy and totally ecstatic face on small person); I have an extra 3 hours to fill in my day. "Woohoo" many of you will be saying but truth be told, I'm feeling a little lost this week. I'm giving myself this week to do whatever I can to distract myself from the fact that my babies are growing up and becoming more independant. And for me, a great distraction technique is sorting out crap.

Eloise on her first day of school

This is also a sure fire way of impressing the other half who, being a Virgo, really can't stand crap in drawers. Every so often (and usually at completely inappropriate times like just before a dinner party or at 11.55pm on a week night) he will empty the drawers of shame (and sometimes the cupboards of shame which are far worse) and begin a mammoth sorting project which doubles up as 'making a point'. This (and you will know this if you have a similar person in the house) is often a wordless but extremely noisy process. It involves a great deal of sighing, swearing under the breath and often some slamming of whatever is at hand, all of which is extremely impressive but unfortunately hasn't yet enabled me to keep the drawers of shame tidy and crap free for very long. Don't get me wrong, I give a very similar performance when I open the drawers of the children of the house. This is mostly because they contain unusual and slightly disturbing items like half eaten biscuits carefully wrapped in tissue and the odd illegal item such as a Bratz doll which has been procured from the school jumble sale and hidden from Mummy who has banned them on account of their wierdness (you have to take their feet off to put their clothes on) and inappropriate role modelling message (mean Mummy).

Just some of the random crap I found in my drawers.

Anyway, back to my mission of cleaning out of drawers. My question to you is, what on earth do you do with the unaccountable crap? I mean the stuff that you don't really know what it is, but it must belong to something (for example that clearish plastic thingamy in the top left of the photo) and you know as soon as you throw it out, you will find the thing it belongs to, which will no longer work without the thing you threw out last week? I know if I just put it back in the drawer, it will become magnetised and attract more unidentified crap until I can't find the particular item from the drawer full of crap that I was looking for. What do you do?

Exhibit A: Random thing. The top acorn has a bell in it and the bottom one is hollow.

The next thing on my list is to sort out the 'I have no idea what it is but someone gave it to us so we had better keep it' drawer. Any guesses on Exhibit A?

Eloise's Mermaid Party - The games and activities

2011-08-04T14:35:00.000+12:00

With 15 girls at a 3 hour birthday party, I was in need of easy, enjoyable and fairly time consuming activities to keep the girls entertained. Maddy (my 7 year old) invited 2 of her friends (who had little sisters as guests at the party) to come along and I put them in charge of leading the games and crafts. It made Maddy feel very important and she loved guiding the younger ones. It also left me with a lot more time to concentrate on helping Eloise to greet the arriving guests.

We had a long low table that our neighbour lent to us and Richard came up with the idea of balancing one of my market trestle tables on sturdy boxes to make a table the same height. We pushed them together and put a big cloth over both and then I sent my girls on a big cushion hunt around the house. It's amazing how many cushions you can rustle up in a party crisis! Maddy and her friends used a corner of the table and a chair to run a 'Mermaid Makeover' salon for guests when they arrived. We had pink sparkly sticky gems for earrings, some silver glitter hairspray and a treasure chest of jewels, should the mermaid feel the need to accessorise.

Another corner of the table had a crown decorating area. I bought sparkly craft foam from The Warehouse (New Zealand's version of Walmart) and cut it into crown shapes. I punched holes in the sides and threaded elastic through. The girls had a combination of mermaid stickers, craft foam sea creature shapes and gold stars and glue to decorate their crown (everything came from the Warehouse or the $2 shop).

It was quite tricky making decisions on the best combination of items for your crown.

I made sure every child had their name written on the back of their crown and the first party game we played was a relay race with 2 teams. The girls had to crawl (mermaid swimming style) across the floor before climbing onto the rock (our ottoman), finding their crown, putting it on their head and 'swimming' back to tag the next team member. I have to say that it was a bit of a disaster as the vast majority of the kids had no idea about how to be in a team or about relay races. It hadn't occured to me that pre-school kids wouldn't have any experience of this kind of race. I think they had fun anyway and all of them got some lollies from the jar as a prize.

Another part of the craft table was a mermaid peg doll making station. I used this tutorial as the basis of the dolls but cut up pieces of yellow fleece into strips to use as the hair instead of yarn. I also painted the tail end of the pegs green in readyness for the party as I knew paint would be a disaster. The craft foam and fleece stuck on pretty well with a Uhu glue stick so there was no need for adult supervision at all. They used felt tip pens for the faces.

We played lots of other games including 'Mermaid, Mermaid, Fish' (Duck duck goose);, Mermaid statues and a hilarious game that involved popping balloons to get a challenge out and then completing the challenge. Again, not ideal for all 5 year olds as about 4 of the kids were frightened of the balloons popping. The others loved it though. I got my ideas for party games from here.

There was lots of dancing and an hours worth of enterainment from the lovely Mermaid entertainer.

We had afternoon tea about 40 minutes before the end of the party and then I just let the kids loose with balloons and a bunch of mermaid dolls and they entertained themselves for the last 20 minutes or so.

Hope you get some ideas from these posts!

Eloise's Mermaid Party - The food

2011-08-03T10:31:00.000+12:00

The incredible cake my Mum made for Eloise.

Oysters and Pearls.
Madeleine cakes split down the centre and piped with pink icing and a yoghurt raisin.
Inspired by these

Mason jar of lollies to give to the kids as prizes.
The octopus is a craft foam sticker that I got from the local emporium.

Starfish cupcakes.
We used a star cutter to make the starfish then gave them texture using a bobbly piece of plastic.

Jelly Fish
Blue jelly with fish shaped lollies from our local dairy (I've also seen them for sale in KMart)

Another view of Mum's incredible cake

Dolphin sandwiches and Cheerio (cocktail sausage) octopii.
The dolphin cutter came in a set of 'Lunch Punch' critter cutters
(which are brilliantly designed to cut sandwiches without waste.) You can get them from here

You can see my tutorial for octopii cheerios here.

I'll show you the games and activities tomorrow.

Eloise's Mermaid Party - The Decorations

2011-08-02T16:44:00.000+12:00

Eloise's birthday party was yesterday and it went brilliantly. The 15 little girls who came along all behaved beautifully and Eloise had a blast. I've just downloaded 137 photos of the day so I think I'm going to have to share the party with you in sections! Today, I'll show you the decorations and tell you a little bit about where the ideas and tutorials came from so you can copy them if you want to for your own mermaid or under the sea party. Here goes:

Fish in seaweed curtains.

These are pretty self explanatory to make. Take crepe paper in 2 different colours and cut a slightly curved line through all layers of the folded up paper. Cut another curvy line about 6cm apart until you've cut up all the paper. Unfold the crepe paper and staple it over string. Print out fish from here and cut them out. Staple them in place.

More crepe paper ribbons loosely knotted over the curtain rail

Fish net covering our book case

I bought 4m of bird net off Trade Me to make the fish net. Maddy and Eloise decorated and cut out fish shapes and I stapled them to the net.

The party bag table

I bought these gorgeous under the sea paper boxes off another Trade Me seller. Instead of filling them before the party, the party guests won the contents of their take home box by playing games. Everyone got the same prizes but I found that getting the kids to put their own take home gifts away meant that they didn't empty the bags out just before they left (which normally happens) and I didn't get any treats left behind by any of the guests. They also put the things they made at the party in them and one child even put her shoes in the box to make sure she didn't forget them!

I named each party box and showed the girls where they were. All the girls were old enough to recognise their name.

I made this Mermaid and another out of different coloured card. They are now on Eloise's bedroom wall.

These are some of the decorations in our basement. We set up a staging area for the Mermaid entertainer down there so we could finish preparing the food (and have a cup of tea in peace!) before the kids all came upstairs again. The white fabric with the shells on is a shower curtain that I purchased for $2 from our local emporium. I got 5 of them so I was able to cover up most of the walls and shelves (which were full of very distracting toys as this is where our kids play!). I closed the curtains so it was quite dark down there and put on a low light to really give the impression that they were underwater. The girls walked through blue streamers to get into the room. The mermaid was brilliant and the kids all absolutely loved her. It's the second time I've used an entertainer from An Enchanted Party and they are worth every cent. I think my now 7 year old slept with the fairy dust given to her at her 5th birthday party under her pillow for about a year and when I went to drop the girls at school this morning, several of the party guests came up to me to talk to me about Melody the Mermaid. One Mum told me that her daughter hadn't stopped talking about how the Fairy Queen had granted Mermaid Melody legs for the day so she could come to Eloise's party. Very cute!

And here's our little mermaid. I bought the costume from America via Ebay but I have seen a similar one on Trade Me. I don't think they are designed to last (more of a one off Halloween costume) and Eloise's costume had split down the side by the end of the day. She loved wearing it though so it was well worth it and I can mend it so all is not lost!

I'll show you the food tomorrow if you want to see more!

School holidays, good friends and party preps

2011-07-29T11:05:00.001+12:00

I had a conversation with my other half last night that went a bit like this:

Me: "Oh I am so ready for the kids to go to bed tonight."

Him: "How many have you had today?"

Me: " Just our two."

Him: "I was actually talking about bottles of wine."

The seaweed curtain we made yesterday for Eloise's birthday party. I'll give you the instructions for it at a later date.

Today is the last day of the school holidays here in New Zealand. Much as I love my children and really enjoy having all their friends over to play (seriously, I really do!); there is only so much picking up of toys; picking glitter-soaked glue off the upholstery and breaking up of fights over who gets to hold the very tolerant cat that a person can take. I'm sure you are nodding right now.

Eloise making a fish for the school of fish we are planning on hanging from the ceiling.

If you are new to the parenting game, I highly recommend that you start making friends with other people with similar aged kids as soon as possible and set up an informal swapsies arrangement with them during the holidays so you can get a break from the inevitable bickering that breaks out when the kids spend too much time together. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful group of girlfriends with similar aged kids and our children have been all around the different houses all holidays. One of them took my oldest daughter all day and night when the youngest was sick earlier in the week. You don't have to ask with friends like that. They just know what you need and when you need it. Wonderful.

The paper plate fish we made using the tutorial here

I am looking forward to the holidays being over and the kids being back in their routines (and me in mine) but I also don't want them to end because my baby is turning 5 and will be starting school. Her party is on Monday so we've been busy getting ready for the big day. The entire kitchen table is covered in fish shapes and glitter today whilst the kids finish off making the school of fish we are planning on hanging from the ceiling.

Maisy decided she was joining in the kids game of zoos.

There's a paper mache fish shaped pinata in the oven (it's been so damp here, it's just not drying so I decided to give it some help today!) and my house generally looks like a complete tip. My parents are arriving this afternoon from Australia and I haven't even thought what I'm going to cook for them for dinner or done the shopping for their favourite foods that I like to get in.I think I am going to dig out the trusty slow cooker, take the kids to the shops and playground and try not to panic! There's definately one thing I don't have to worry about and that's the cake. My amazing Mum has made a mermaid cake for Eloise. Have a look at this!

Isn't it beautiful and everything a little girl having a mermaid party could wish for? This big girl certianly loves it.

My only concern (that some of you may have picked up on already) is that she made it in Australia and is therefore bringing it over on the plane. Keep your fingers crossed that it arrives in one piece!!

Crafternoon Tea anyone?

2011-07-15T11:45:00.000+12:00

I've got a lovely new range of tea towels which I'll be selling for the first time at Crafternoon Tea market tomorrow. They are $12 each or 3 for $30.

I've nearly finished some gorgeous Tape Measure Rose Brooches so I'm hoping to bring those along too.

See you there? Crafternoon Tea, 16th July 10am-2pm at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall. Corner of Sandringham and New North Roads, Kingsland, Auckland City.

If you want me to put any of these aside for you, let me know via email or facebook (the links are in the sidebar.)
Sarah x

Broccoli is NOT party food

2011-07-11T13:16:00.000+12:00

I love the conversations my kids have when they think we aren't listening. We have been having lots of conversations recently about what we should serve at Eloise's mermaid party. This is what we came up with last night.

The octopii are cheerios with 8 legs cut out of 3/4 of the sausage (The easiest way to do this is with a small sharp knife. Starting 3/4 of the way up, cut the sausage in half then quarters then score down the middle of each of the quarters with your sharp knife. Don't worry if you don't manage 8 tentacles on each octopus. Not many kids would take the time to count the legs on all their sausages!!Once they are cut out, stick them in the microwave in a little water for a couple of minutes and the tentacles will curl up as they heat.If you don't have a microwave you can use a pan of water. The starfish are carrots cut with a star cutter and the seaweed is green beans and broccoli. This is what caused the outrage because Broccoli is NOT party food. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on serving broccoli at the party but it was fun to suggest it to the kids!

Bubba and Babushka

2011-06-29T11:07:00.000+12:00

Remember this Babushka?

Here she is with her new owner (who is also sporting a Cotton Kiwi Babushka onesie). So cute!!

Don't you love that expression? Priceless! Thank you so much to Emma and Melanie for emailing me the photo. Love it.

Coming up far to quickly!

2011-06-28T18:02:00.000+12:00

My youngest; Eloise, had her first school visit today. It was just a teensy bit heartbreaking for me to see her in her school uniform today. I'm really not looking forward to my little buddy going off to school in just over a month. It's an end of an era when your babies are all at school isn't it? Very tough on Mum and Dad but exciting nonetheless. She is growing up so quickly!

I'm trying to distract myself from the whole thing by thinking about her 5th birthday party. She's having a mermaid party (not ideal for late July and the middle of winter I know!), so the girls and I have been coming up with all sorts of ideas of how we can make the place look like an undersea palace for the event. We bought a whole load of brightly coloured card today to make fish and mermaids so that will keep us busy in the school holidays. We found this great tutorial for making tropical fish from paper plates. They look amazing.

I wanted something to put on the walls to really get the atmosphere right and had been looking at vinyl wall stickers but they are so expensive. You can probably picture me doing a little happy dance in a shop today when I found this.

It's a shower curtain and therefore covers a large amount of wall space but it only cost $2! I got 5 of them which will cover the walls easily. Such simple things that get me excited!!

Home

2011-06-26T11:09:00.000+12:00

Holidays are wonderful things but boy is it hard to come home to the cold and wet!

We got back from Fiji yesterday afternoon. If you have never been, I can't recommend it highly enough. The people are wonderful and you can see from the photos just how gorgeous it is. We had the perfect weather all week. The kids loved going to kids club and we had a lovely time with them in the pool (and a lovely time when they were being entertained elsewhere.)

Back home now and it is cold, wet and dull but it is lovely to be home, feeling refreshed and raring to go!

Holiday

2011-06-16T22:13:00.000+12:00

Just in case you are wondering where I am over the next week... I'm going on holiday. Richard won a trip for us to go to Fiji last year and we are finally going! I really can't wait.

The bags are packed and the house/cat sitters arranged so now all we have to worry about is crazy ash clouds from Chilean volcanos. Fingers crossed!
See you when we get back! x

Woops

2011-06-13T15:41:00.000+12:00

We've had several sleepless nights in a row recently as Eloise has had a dreadful cough and keeps getting into our bed. Why is it that small people take up such incredible amounts of room in the bed and manage to kick like a mule when they are asleep?

The lack of sleep is definately taking it's toll. Today I've managed to lose the ticket for the shopping centre carpark (lovely man let me out thank goodness!); leave the tap to fill up the washing up bowl for about 20 minutes and nearly burnt the house down by forgetting that I had stock boiling on the stove and going out for a couple of hours (boy does the house stink now.)

Today I think I will avoid any further multi tasking and concentrate on one thing at a time (and maybe get an early night tonight!).

Focus

2011-06-10T11:36:00.000+12:00

Thanks to the lovely people (particularly Carmel) who contacted me after my last post with helpful suggestions about shoes for my special kidliwink. I have found the perfect pair for Miss Eloise (well perfect for us, she may think otherwise) so I will show you when we get them. My other daughter has completely average-shaped feet but a very overly developed sense of fashion for a 7 year old, so shoes are an issue with her too. She goes to a school with a uniform so the footwear choices are limited (thank goodness) but we still have a battle most mornings.

mini-fashionistas

This morning as I frantically baked a jam and coconut slice for the take-a-plate to school request I had compeltely forgotten about (organised I know!); we had shoe battles again. Maddy decided that the school shoes that fit her last week no longer fit her (she's been working on getting me to buy her some completely age-inappropriate shoes for school and this is part of the ploy) . I have learnt that completely ignoring the subject of shoes and concentrating on mentioning how many minutes we have before we have to get to school before she is late, is the best policy (usually). Now that TV has been banned in the mornings, things are going SLIGHTLY faster in the mornings. It never ceases to amaze me how children can get distracted from their task of getting ready and eating breakfast no matter how hard you try to guide them in the right direction. This morning the rapidly growing cat-kitten was inside so she provided ideal distraction material. I imagine the thought process went something like this:

"Oh. Kitten. Oh, dolls carseat. Hmm, both together - cute. Must chase cat round house and insert her in dolls carseat to achieve cuteness."

8.15am: Cat exhuding extreme sense of shame and lack of dignity

11.25am: Oh well. It's quite comfy. I might just have a nap here.

At least one of them members of this household has the ability to focus on the task at hand. Good job at napping in the toy dolls car seat Maisy!

What techniques do you use to get the kids out of the house on time in the morning?

Little Feet

2011-06-08T16:09:00.000+12:00

This morning, instead of the loud bickering over tv channels that we usually wake to, we woke to the wonderful sound of giggles from our girls. Richard has banned morning television and to amuse themselves before the morning routine started, the girls had decided to do some colouring.

And no it wasn't the kind you do on paper.

Now it's after school and Maddy's little toe puppet is still there but Eloise's has been washed away by mud and grass. She adores shoes. Really girly shoes with sparkles and bows and things but they seldom fit her. If I succumb and buy her some, they tend to fall off one foot and stay on the other.

My baby girl, Eloise, has a rare condition called CMTC and has overgrowth of the first two toes and upper part of her left foot as part of it. She also has (and will always have) very flat feet which makes finding shoes now she has grown out of the baby sizes, very hard, especially on a budget and especially in New Zealand. I've been thinking about buying shoes online. Have any of you bought shoes for your children online? Where did you buy from and were you happy with the results?

I found a great online shoe size measurer here which I will use to measure her feet properly as soon as I can convince the cat to get off it. Then all I need is some hot tips for online kids shoe stores that will ship internationally. Any suggestions?

It's lucky they're cute

2011-06-04T12:06:00.000+12:00

Guess what the little buggers that call themselves my daughters did to keep themselves amused this morning?

On the plus side, it was a cheap ball of yarn that I was using to knit some dolls clothes for them.

On the down side, it was a full ball of yarn and so this wasn't the only room they did it in. The 'Spider web' continued around every book, fairy light, toy, pram and hanging mobile in my youngest daughter's room before they decided to show me the progress.

For some reason they thought I'd be impressed with their creativity. Hmmm.

They have said sorry and I did enjoy seeing them trying to untangle it and reroll it into a ball for about half an hour before I felt sorry for them and cut it all down for scissors. Good job Eloise's kindy is making peg dolls at the moment. They can have the mess for doll hair.
What chaos have your kids created lately?

Babushka for Baby

2011-05-20T11:40:00.000+12:00

A lovely friend of mine, Melanie, commissioned me to make a Babushka doll for her friend's new baby girl.

She's all ready for Melanie to pick up at tomorrow's Crafternoon Tea market.

I just have to hide her from a certain Miss Eloise who has taken a liking to her. Luckily she has a birthday coming up so I will make her one then. The doll was made using an Ooshka Babushka pattern which I picked up in Australia at Christmas. There's a little boy's superhero version too which I adore.

Have a great weekend and I might see some of you in Kingsland tomorrow for Crafternoon Tea.

Tackling the stash... Our Creative Spaces

2011-05-19T11:03:00.000+12:00

I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment. It was triggered by the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes week challenge last week and the fact that a very wet winter will soon be here (with the inevitable flooding of our basement and therefore my sewing room). My mission is to use up some of my fabric stash and do my best not to buy any more fabric until most of it has gone.

The market skirt made using this tutorial now has 2 pockets.

I've managed to get heaps of sewing done over this week due to some lovely friends offering to take Eloise for an extended playdate on a couple of the days so I could get some sewing done before school pick up.

Love the little gathered pockets.

The flower dress now has a slightly smaller (and far more practical) bloom.

Butterfly pants, size 2.

The benefits of getting stuck into using your fabric stash is that sometimes you find half finished projects that take very little time to finish. If found these little spotty pants underneath a whole pile of fabric. I love this fabric. I might have to applique a little matching t-shirt to go with them.

I got so much done yesterday daytime and felt so inspired, I even went down to my sewing room after the kids had gone to bed and made a start on these little boys' 3/4 pants.

The pockets are lines with the same contrasting fabric as the cuffs. I'm so pleased with them. I've got enough of the fabric to make them in bigger sizes too (these are size 2-3). All of these things will be coming with me to Crafternoon Tea on Saturday.

For more lovely Creative Spaces, pop over here.

Things to do today

2011-05-18T09:37:00.000+12:00

I came across this gorgeous little skirt tutorial yesterday on Made and had to have a go at making it. It's and awesome tutorial with some great shortcut tips (especially the one about cheats gathering).

One more pocket to do and it'll be finish. I love that it can use small pieces of patterned fabric in amongst the white. I've got a lot of gorgeous scraps that need using so I think I might spend today making a few more of these. So cute.

Little flower dress

2011-05-17T09:47:00.000+12:00

I finished this little flower pinafore dress yesterday.

It's adapted from one in the Emma Hardy Making Clothes for Children book that I mentioned earlier in the week.

I used my own pattern for the dress and then roughly followed the flower design.

I'm not very happy with that huge flower on the right so I think that may have to come off in favour of a smaller flower like the other two. What do you think?

Thanks for the advice yesterday. I have decided to go for the top without the bear.

So late I know - Elsie Marley Kids Clothes week challenge day 4 & 5

2011-05-16T11:08:00.000+12:00

I've finally got around to blogging about this little top I made as part of the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes week challenge. It's a size 3-4. I need your help. Do you think that it should have the bear peeping out of the pocket....

Or no bear?

Let me know what you think.

Our Creative Spaces and Elsie Marley KCWC days 2 and 3

2011-05-12T09:19:00.000+12:00

So super efficient and organised am I, that today I can lump 3 posts into one. Fantastic! What a time saver! This is very lucky as time is not something many of us Mummys have these days. Actually, I don't think Mummys have ever had the luxury of time on their hands but that's a whole other post.

So back to the main reason for this post, the one hour a day sewing challenge set as part of the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge. Tuesday's hour allowed me to applique a little dinosaur onesie for a friend who is going to be a Grandmother soon.

I am quite sure dinosaur experts would have a fit and criticize the non specific nature of my dinosaur, but I like him.

The little zigzags on his back were created with ric rac if you haven't already guessed.

And this was yesterday's creation much to the happiness of Dora's number one fan (who admits, even to me, that she has more Dora stuff than any little kid could ever need.)

It's a bubble skirt made using a pattern from Making Clothes for Children by Emma Hardy . I've raved about this craft book author before. I love her simple and straightforward method of making really cute things and this was no exception. It took me 1 1/2 hours (including the time that it took me to unpick a whole bunch of lining fabric that had folded over double under my machine) to make the skirt and she loves it.

You can see where the lining meets the skirt outer to create the bubble effect in this photo. You can also see one of the many plasters currently being worn as an important accessory by Eloise. Does anyone else need to take out a second mortgage in order to keep their children in plasters? I believe she went to kindy wearing 4 plasters this morning. I hasten to add that most of the injuries that the plasters are protecting are weeks old or absolutely miniscule but they are important to Eloise so I tend to just give in and give her a plaster!

Back to the skirt... it has an elasticated waist so no buttons or zips. Super quick and very cute. One thing I would change next time is to make the skirt out of a less crushable fabric. I can imagine this skirt is going to be a nightmare to iron (when that ever happens... hah!) and the pure cotton creases like you wouldn't believe. Eloise is happy so that's the main thing! She has worn it to kindy this morning so I am expecting it to be covered in paint and playdough and mud by this afternoon.

There are some fab outfits being shown off on the Elsie Marley KCWC flickr group so go and grab some inspiration there. And while you are at it, pop over to Our Creative Spaces and check out everyone's Creative Spaces. I can guarantee that you'll be glued to your computer for hours.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge - Day one

2011-05-09T13:43:00.000+12:00

Here's today's finished piece for the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes week challenge. I love this dress. It's so adorable.

I have just managed to squeeze Eloise into it to show you what it looks like. It's a generous size 2 (Eloise is 4 and the dress is pretty snug around her arms) but it would definately be a great fit for most kids aged 2 and 3 and if you got it for a 2 year old, it would probably do 2 winters.

The little teacup pocket is made from pink wool felt and has a floral ribbon trim on the edge of it. The same trim is along the bottom of the dress.

The little mouse is a finger puppet!

The dress is partly lined with a teacup print fabric and there are hard wearing nappy snap buttons on the shoulders for easy dressing. I'll be popping this dress into my Felt shop as soon as I have played a game of Monopoly with the model!

Kids Clothing Week Challenge

2011-05-08T17:46:00.000+12:00

Oh hello. Yes, I'm still here. Yes I know I have been really really rubbish at blogging lately but I'm going to make it up to you this coming week. It's Elsie Marley's Kids Clothes Week Challenge (KCWC) this coming week and I can't wait.

To join in, you need to commit to sewing for kids one hour a day for a week. This is great for me because I've been avoiding the sewing room lately and I need a great big boot up the backside to get myself in there again.

Jeans and top made for Maddy during last year's challenge

My girls have enough clothes to last them for several winters so I probably won't be making any for them. Instead, I'll be making things for my market stalls and Felt shop. I have so much beautiful fabric that needs using and my addiction to sewing patterns and craft books means that I won't be short of inspiration.

Eloise's fairy wand dress made during last year's challenge

I nearly lost large amounts of my patterns and books (not to mention my machines) on Friday night. Luckily, Mr Cotton Kiwi was wide awake and checking our basement for signs of flooding at 3am and managed to save them all when a huge wave of water came through my sewing room. It's not the first time our basement has flooded but my sewing room rarely gets wet. This time, a few leaves had got stuck in a drain which meant the drains backed up and the water came through the door. Ugh!

Maddy's reversible dress from last year's challenge

Poor Richard was out there in the pouring rain creating a water diversion system that Macguiver would have been proud of. It turns out the roots from a tree next door have grown through the stormwater drain and almost completely blocked it so fingers crossed our new neighbours will be happy to remove the tree.

I've been in my sewing room today giving it a good tidy so I'm all set for next week. Can't wait!

Another clever-clogs

2011-04-26T17:00:00.002+12:00

My clever Mum has been doing a cake decorating course over the last couple of weeks.

Inside this incredible cinderella cake are 3 different flavours of cake (chocolate, caramel and vanilla - all delicious)

Cinderella holds the tiniest bluebird in her hands and there are a couple of sparkly mice and a pumpkin at her feet. Beautiful. Sadly none of the little girls in our family are having birthday's anytime soon so we just had to eat the cake. I did manage to bring Cinderella's head and body home with me in the hope that I can reincarnate her as a mermaid for Eloise's birthday in August. Hopefully I will be able to keep her ant free for that time!!

This fabulous cake on the other hand, does have a home to go to. My nephew is turning 6 next month and this is his birthday cake.

Tom loves wildlife and is having a blue tongue lizard at his birthday party so I think this guy will fit right in!

And here's another photo of the incredible 40 chocolate rose 40th wedding anniversary cake that she made the other week.

What a clever Mummy I have!

This sums it up nicely...

2011-04-25T18:15:00.000+12:00

Have I told you how awesomely talented my oldest neice is? Well she is a pretty clever chook. We've just been to Oz (yes that's were I've been hiding for the past fortnight) to visit my family and this is the music video Caitlyn made using her cousins as actors whilst we were there (and yes I'm afraid that is me in the spotty dress).

The video just about sums up what a fabulous time we had! Thanks Caitlyn.

My lovely Mum and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary during the visit and we all spent a weekend in Noosa to mark the occasion.

The amazing cake Mum made for their anniversary

We're back home now and I'm definately feeling well rested and ready for action. I'll be reopening my shops over the next couple of days and there's a Devonport Craft Market this coming Sunday so I'll be a busy girl.

Mum and Dad having a good old boogie at their party.

How was your Easter break? Did you have a wonderful time? I hope so. x

Cutting corners

2011-04-12T15:52:00.000+12:00

Today I am saving myself a trip into the village by liberating buttons from an op-shopped cardi.

And giving them new life on a cardi for someone little and very precious. He arrived a couple of weeks ago but life has been so hectic that it has taken me until now to finish his welcome gift.

This cardigan may look simple and in fact the first time I knitted it, it was. This time, it has taken me forever to do because I've had to pull it out and start again 3 times due to lack of concentration.

Concentration has been a bit tricky lately. It's the end of term this Friday and it's been a long one. The kids are exhausted and definately ready for a break (and so am I!) so I'm going to take a couple of weeks away from the blog to have fun with them. I'm going to try and resist making stuff too but frankly, I think that maybe too much of a promise to make to the family!

Have a great Easter and see you in a couple of weeks.

My Creative Space - I bribed her with marshmallows to get this photograph.

2011-04-07T12:17:00.000+12:00

I'm trying out new ideas for applique t-shirts for winter today.

I've made this little owl one, baby deers and cupcakes for the girls.

I'll show you the boys ones' when I get around to doing those.

For more Creative Spaces, visit Kootoyoo.

It's Market time again!

2011-04-02T23:45:00.000+13:00

I'll be at The Devonport Craft Market tomorrow (Sunday 3rd April) from 10am-3pm.

It's at 32 Clarence Street Devonport.

You can't miss it. Head for the supermarket and you'll see the enormous sign my lovely and long-suffering other half puts up for us every month.

I've been making stuff.

Lots of stuff.

And my t-shirts are on sale.

I've gone a bit crazy with the flower filled fairy skirt making.

And I've managed to make a few more of these Tape Measure Rose Brooches (once I regained control of the kitchen table from the kids).

And I've got some very cute softies that I don't really want to sell but I'm worried that people will think I'm a little strange if I keep making softies and keeping them for myself so you should come and save me from being locked up. Please.

I've particularly got lots of Easter type bunnies like these ones. They are very cute and totally baby safe (double stitched seams and hand embroidered faces.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow. Not to early (don't forget the clocks go back an hour tonight so you get an extra hour in bed... woohoo!!

My Creative Space - Ugh

2011-03-31T11:02:00.000+13:00

Have you any idea how much crap my kids have in their Creative Space?

I really wanted to sit down at the kitchen table and make some of these this morning.

Tape Measure Rose brooches

Unfortunately, I can't see the table for bits of cut up paper, glitter, pens and shells and inexplicably, half a dozen Littlest Petshop toys.

I mentioned the words 'Mermaid theme Birthday party' yesterday and all hell broke loose in our kitchen. The birthday in question isn't actually until August. Maddy decided she had to make paper shell bikinis for all the mermaids (hmm, going to be great in the middle of winter) and Eloise decided to make paper starfish to decorate the house. Did you know that making paper starfish and flimsy shell bikinis causes deafness in little girls? It's true. I had to shout very loudly to make them understand that dinner was about to be placed on top of their creations before they could hear me and respond.

Anyway, I digress. I still can't see the kitchen table so I'm ignoring the fact that I have a market to sell at on Sunday and sorting out the kids Creative Space instead. Best get on with it...

For more Creative Spaces visit http://www.kootoyoo.com/

Great birthday ideas to make for boys

2011-03-29T16:46:00.000+13:00

My nephew has a birthday coming up soon. I have no problem finding ideas for handmade gifts to make for little girls but boys are a different matter. I've been doing a little research into ideas and thought I'd share a few of my favourite tutorials:

Awesome robot bag tute by Four Wise Monkeys (posted here on Sew Mama Sew)

Great looking t-shirt jacket tutorial by I am Momma - Hear Me Roar

I love this and I think it would be just the thing for my slightly army mad nephew.

Tutorial here by Whipstitch (via Made by Rae)

Monster Tooth Pillow by The Long Thread

Oh so cute cape by The Long Thread

If you want to find more great boy ideas visit the blogs below:

http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/

http://www.made-by-rae.com/2010/01/celebrate-boy-in-february-2010.html

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/celebrate-boy-part-2.html

Maybe I'll make him one of my necktie iPod cases and one of those bandoliers for keeping all his other important stuff in. If you come across any other great ideas for boys, please let me know!

My Creative Space - Nearly finished

2011-03-24T12:13:00.000+13:00

As usual, I've got several projects on the go, at varying stages of unfinished. Sometimes, that last little bit takes weeks to do because my finishing mojo has gone somewhere and I've got my 'must start a new and more interesting' mojo going on instead.

These silk/cotton mix fingerless gloves just have a few rows to go to finish the pair and I could have/should have finished them last night. I'm making them as a favour for a lovely neighbour and she could have worn them today if I took half an hour to finish them last night. For some reason, I just couldn't do it.

Then there is Maddy's new dress that I showed you the fabric for last week. All it needs is the shoulder straps hand stitching in at the back (I want to be able to pull the stitches out easily and adjust it as she grows) and a hook and eye closure at the neck. Again, just don't have the motivation to do it. I just want to start new projects, to put new ideas into practice. Do you have those days? I will have to make myself finish these off tonight and then they can both be worn or put away instead of draping themselves prettily over the arm of the couch.

For more Creative Spaces pop over to Kootoyoo.

Away from home comforts

2011-03-23T09:00:00.002+13:00

My oldest daughter, Maddy, is a real snuggly girl. She loves nothing more than to burrow down in super soft covers at nighttime, especially if they were made just for her. She also loves to go on sleepovers with her best friend, but packing is a pretty tortuous affair. It usually involves at least one cushion and a huge black and white blanket from her bed. It doesn't really matter, but we do struggle to get everything (including half a dozen soft toys and most of her littlest pet shop collection) into an overnight bag. Hopefully this little set that I bought from Megan of Mousehouse (in the Handmade for Christchurch auctions on Trademe) will solve a little of the overpacking situation.

It's a beautifully appliqued heart pillowcase and matching wash bag. I'm planning on keeping them both just for sleepovers so they are extra special. I'm quite sure we will still have to pack half her room but these were to beautiful to resist!

I bought appliqued name pillowcases for the girls for Christmas and they love them (and so do I... they wash beautifully!). Megan's work is just so lovely. If you are looking for a special present for a little girl or boy, I'd highly recommend them.

Beautiful Dreamer

2011-03-22T11:00:00.002+13:00

Morning Lullabies by Ingrid Michaelson.

We've been getting lots of early morning visits from this little one.

I came across the beautiful song above by Ingrid Michaelson yesterday.

So lovely!

Oh I love this country.

2011-03-21T17:14:00.000+13:00

We've had such an amazing Summer. The girls are old enough now for us to really enjoy weekends away. They quite happily go to sleep in strange beds and travel distances in the car.

I had Madeleine about a year after I arrived in New Zealand so I didn't have a huge amount of time to explore this beautiful country (trekking to Cathedral Cove whilst 8 months pregnant was probably the last major adventure I had before she arrived!).

We are so lucky to have amazing beaches, walks and adventures right on our doorstep and we've really been making the most of them this Summer.

We've rediscovered wonderful walks in hidden bays just a short drive from our house.

Found hidden caves that lead to otherwise inaccessible beaches.

Leapt and ducked and squealed in the waves.

Tried and tested lots of different playgrounds.

And walked miles in sand so fine it squeaks.

Summer is almost over. It's raining and much cooler today but hopefully our adventures won't stop here. Muddy gum boots and hot chocolate here we come.

My Creative Space - for the kids

2011-03-17T10:52:00.000+13:00

Eloise has a new friend and is going for a play after kindy today which means that I have several hours up my sleeve. I'm a bit giddy with all the time I have to 'play' today and don't know where to start.

Both of my girls have been going through my patterns and picking out what they want me to make them (bliss for someone like me!). Maddy chose this pattern and asked for something in blue. I found the beautiful floral at Spotlight the other day. The green spot doesn't look like much in the photo but trust me, it's going to look fab when it's teamed as a trim on the dress. M wants the dress on the left with the bow but I think it might be a little too much on the floral print. I will make it without but will have to have a 'back-up bow' in case of meltdown. Why am I such a sucker?!

I've also got this on the go. It's a little cardigan for an old school friend's baby which is due next month. You may have seen me knitting it at the last Devonport Craft Market. You may have also thought that it looked like I had nearly finished it at that point. If you did notice that, you might be wondering why this photo shows the back which is the very first step of the pattern. Lets just say that there was an incident with a couple of dropped stitches (aaaargh to slippery metal needles. You are the bane of my life). The dropped stitches happened to occur around midnight on Monday and were on a tricky decreasing row. I spent the next two days futiley employing a crochet hook to try and get them back where they were supposed to be, but in the end, I came to the conclusion that it was better just to pull the whole thing out and start again. Thank goodness it's a newborn cardy! When it's finished, it will look something like this.

I made this cardy for another friend's baby last year. Isn't she a precious dot? She will be one now. Stop growing up all you babies! Stay cute and tiny for a bit longer!! You are so much easier to knit for when you are this little.

I'm off to have a little peak at other people's Creative Spaces over on Kootoyoo.

Dolls and Daydreams

2011-03-16T10:41:00.000+13:00

Meet Leilani. She's my new little Pasifika doll and I think she's quite lovely (and wonderfully easy to make). I made her on Monday using a pattern by Sarah Hanson of Dolls and Daydreams.

Sarah is the very clever (and high energy!) lady behind the blog Dolls and Daydreams and the organising force behind Dolly Donations. Despite being really quite pregnant, she has been creating some wonderful dolly and toy patterns recently for sale in her Etsy shop. There are some truly scrumptious ones in there and if this little lady is anything to go by, I know I will be back for more. Just look at these patterns.

Those little mushroom babies are high on my list of wants. I just have to get through that pile of 'to dos' I created when I went to the Spotlight sale yesterday first.

Sorry...

2011-03-15T15:58:00.000+13:00

I am that woman that's in front of you in the queue when there's only one person serving at the counter during the Spotlight sale. I am the one you mutter swearwords about because you only have one roll of fabric and she has at least 8. Plus, who needs that amount of toy fill? Pah.

I am the woman that the Spotlight staff actually smile and talk to because I am in there so often and have frequently sympathised with their plight (have you EVER seen a happy Spotlight staff member?!) The two way conversation with the staff member actually makes things worse I know because you are in a rush and it seems like things are taking longer because there is talking involved.

I am the woman who is ever so sorry to the ten people in the queue behind me (and to my other half who is going to spit tacks if he sees how much fabric I bought today).

Please forgive me. I promise not to buy so much next time.

My Creative Space - Smug

2011-03-10T10:08:00.000+13:00

Take that you scarey knit fabric. I am no longer fearful of your wiley, slippery ways. I have purchased this book and it has taken away my fear of you.

In fact, I am so unafraid of you that I even made the world's most awesome kiddy undies!

I have actually made 3 pairs of awesome kiddy undies and I am thinking that lots more will be made. Why don't I just go and buy some kiddy undies for my children I hear you ask? Very sensible question and had I been reading this blog a week or two ago, I would have been asking the same thing. The answer is that these undies are particularly awesome because when small girls are hanging upside down on swing sets (as they are prone to do around here) whilst wearing a skirt and NORMAL undies, well, it's just not a good look. With these undies however, all is covered and is just extreme cuteness in the form of funky looking gym knickers/boy leg undies/hot pants.

So if you have ever had the urge to make undies for the small peeps in your life, I highly recommend the pattern by kitschycookids which I got here. It's super easy and if you don't have an overlocker, you can just use the zig zag option on your normal machine. The only extra thing I would recommend that you do with the pattern is to fold over a little bit of ribbon at the back to act as a label so the kiddliwink knows which way they go on.

For more creative spaces, pop on over to Kootoyoo.

Devonport Craft Market tomorrow!

2011-03-05T19:32:00.000+13:00

I bet I'll be up and out of the house before you lot tomorrow.

It's market day tomorrow which means a very early start for me.

No matter how early I get there to open up the building, there's always someone who has beaten me to it and there is lots of good humoured tutting and watch tapping. I'm beginning to think that they get there that early purely for the joy of tutting at me. Yes, you lot know who you are and I am going to do my best being the one tutting tomorrow!

I've been very hard at work building up my stock again so I have lots of lovely goodies for you.

It's forecast to be a wet day so you won't be at the beach will you?

That means you should come and see us at the market.

If it's not too wet, you could join in the Treasure Hunt (see the poster in my side bar)

Hope we get to see you tomorrow!

Devonport Craft Market, Sunday 6th March, 10am-3pm, 32 Clarence Street, Devonport.

My Creative Space - monkey business

2011-03-03T11:16:00.000+13:00

Meet Bubbles. She's a cheeky lass. Loves a trip to the beach and a flirt at the icecream shop.

And this is Rose. Bubbles is her best friend and she does worry about her sometimes. She likes to go to the beach too but she prefers to collect pretty seashells to add to her collection.

This is probably Ringo. I'm not sure until he's finished. You never know with sock monkeys, until you meet them properly, who they are.

Sometimes I don't find out who they are until they go to their new home.

Take Stripey for instance.

He didn't have a name or a personality until he went to his new home with Maddy's friend Olly last weekend. He was given both when he was unwrapped. I hear from Olly's Mum that Stripey is spending an awful lot of time being cuddled in bed which I think he must be very fond of (all sock monkeys like a good cuddle).

I do love making these guys and I love seeing them go to a new home. Bubbles, Rose and Ringo (if he is indeed a Ringo) will be coming along with me to the Devonport Craft Market this Sunday, 6th March, 32 Clarence Street, Devonport, 10am-3pm. Come along and say hello if you can.

For more Creative Spaces, pop along to Kootoyoo.

Four go on an adventure

2011-03-01T18:54:00.000+13:00

These 4 went off to Waihi today on their way to Christchurch to hopefully provide some comfort to kiddies down there.

If you would like to make a softie for a Cantab kid, pop along to Leonie's and register.

A baby's smile

2011-02-28T15:50:00.000+13:00

There's nothing quite like a baby's smile to brighten your week. One of my lovely customers sent me this photo of her daughter wearing a Cotton Kiwi onesie. A gorgeous smile to brighten a horrible week.

Isn't she gorgeous? I love to see my t-shirts and onesies in action so do send photos through if you get the chance. I will always ask your permission before I post them on my blog.

I had a little time over the weekend to make some more onesies for an order (and to restock my market stall).

On another note, if you are a kiwi and have access to Trade Me, there are some great auctions of handmade goodies going on to raise money for Christchurch. Check out Handmade for Christchurch. Cotton Kiwi has donated two brooches and a fairy skirt to the auctions so head along and bid if you can.

My Creative Space - Design

2011-02-24T10:10:00.000+13:00

I've been thinking a lot about design lately. In my opinion, the design process is as important as the making of something. For me and for many of my fellow crafters and artists, it's the design part of their work that makes it individual. When I make something for my Cotton Kiwi line, I might follow a pattern to construct an item, but the fabrics I chose and it's ultimate look will involve some elements of design and the finished product will be a reflection of my style.

A Cotton Kiwi sock monkey.

My sock monkeys, for instance, are based upon the original sock monkey pattern that has been around since the turn of last century. My version or design of sock monkey is very much a reflection of my style and technique and I'm sure that even if you followed my sock monkey pattern to the letter, your monkey would look different again. You would chose the colours of the socks, you might stuff it more firmly and place the ears and mouth further up or down the head and the final expression of the monkey would look different. That's the joy of handmade. No two things are the same.

Classic sock monkeys.

Image from here

The Maori Tiki (or heitiki) is a much repeated design in both art and popular culture. Although keeping the same approximate design is important for both cultural and recognition purposes, it can and has been interpreted in many many different ways.

Detail from Songbirds by Sarah Bird January 2011

I've been playing around this week with my version of a tiki. I've been recreating the same design using different techniques and materials and seeing how it changes the look. The first one is applique using stretch knits onto a bobbly red synthetic fabric that I found in an op shop. I've turned it into a cushion.

I'm really happy with the colours of this version. The texture of the red fabric and the stretchy nature of the applique fabric has led to quite a naive look.

Here's the same design recreated on Monday night with a simple back stitch, using embroidery thread onto an old wool blanket. It's much simpler but still very recognisable as a tiki. I don't need any more cushions so I'm thinking that I will turn this one into a laptop case.

My plan is to use the same image and do both a reverse applique and free motion embroidery version of it but it will have to wait a bit. I've got sock monkeys to make for Christchurch kids via Kiwi at Heart . Please do what you can to help.

For more Creative Spaces, pop along to Kootoyoo.

Gone

2011-02-23T18:22:00.000+13:00

Yesterday Christchurch (and many areas outside of the Central City) was hit by a devastating earthquake.

Photo from here

I can't begin to imagine the sense of devastation and loss that those who live in the area (and their friends and family) have experienced since yesterday lunch time. There have been some miracle escapes and some awful tragedies.

image from here

Whilst the amazing work to find survivors continues in Christchurch by the professionals, many of those who have survived unharmed in the vicinity are working to help those in need. Imba's wonderful parents drove to Hagley Park last night and collected a bus load of people which they found shelter for in their own home and in the homes of others. It's actions and attitude like this one which will ensure that this City and it's people recover from this awful time.

Here in Auckland, there is little we can do but wait until we are told how we can help. There are a number of places you can go to find out what you can do at the moment. Paisley Jade has a list on her blog of ways you can help so I won't repeat them here.

Leonie from Kiwi at Heart has set up a Softies for children of Christchurch appeal

My daughter's school is having a mufti day this Friday to raise money for Christchurch. A child at her school suggested the idea and asked the principal if he could email all the other schools in the country and ask they do the same. If all schools in New Zealand hold a mufti day (and charge each child $2), then they could raise as much as $1 million for the appeal. Go that child. I believe that all the schools have now been emailed so if your kids are at school in this country, please encourage your principal to take part (even if you don't have a uniform, the kids could pay $2 to come to school in their PJs or something equally fun).

If you are in Christchurch or have family and friends there, our thoughts are with you. xx

We were actually quite busy for a change...

2011-02-21T09:55:00.000+13:00

Friday night is pizza night in our house. It's a great easy meal and it allows Richard and I to eat more 'grown up' food because we have our own pizza and the girls have theirs. It also lets us use up lots of wonderful garden veggies. This one has spinach, red onions, baby tomatos, basil and mozarella on it. Yum. The girls love to make their own and they take it to their Wendy house and pretend they are in a restaurant (with lots of bossing waitress Mum around!)

We had a busier than usual weekend this weekend. It wasn't planned that way but we seemed to do an awful lot. We woke on Saturday to discover the girls (including Maisy Kitten) were 'camping' in the lounge. They had packed their suitcases and draped blankets over chairs to make their tent.

So cute.

I'm getting ready to teach my Sew Inspired course out at Corban Estate this coming weekend and Maddy helped me hang out the freshly washed blank tea towels that we'll be using for part of the course.

We also managed to take all the furniture out of Maddy's room and fit a new carpet in an attempt to make it more asthma friendly.

It's incredible how much stuff a 7 year old can own. It almost filled our bedroom (and our room is twice as big as hers). Thank heavens for good storage!

We managed to get the room back together again by 7pm and took the girls out to the Lantern Festival in the city. They thought they were going to a music concert and dressed 'cool'.

I don't think they were too disappointed when they realised there'd be no dancing.

The lanterns were incredible. I'll post more about that later in the week.

And no Saturday is complete without a something wonderful in the letterbox.

I was lucky enough to win the Tiny Eyes Valentines giveaway on Lil'Magoolie last week. Isn't she gorgeous? Eloise was so excited to open the parcel and find her. She's sitting on my (very messy) desk at the moment and I'm loving looking up and seeing her smile. Thanks so much Dee. I love her.

Hope you had a lovely weekend too. x

My Creative Space - all over the place

2011-02-17T11:18:00.000+13:00

I was going to show you some of my knitting today but it's a little all over the place.

It's here

and here

one end of the house, to the other.

Did you do this Miss Crazy-Maisy?

No? You were busy doing Kitty Yoga and looking cute?

Very impressive Kitty Yoga but are you sure you didn't do this? You were the one inside looking suspciously interested in the knitting-that-I-forgot to-put-away when I left the house this morning.

How about you Mr Kipper?

No?

You were testing puzzle boxes for size and strength?

Well... I think there may be some little white lies being told here by certain pussycats.

Well what am I going to show these lovely people now that you two have destroyed my knitting?

Another photo of the heart cake? Oh alright then.

Ta Da!

For more (hopefully less wrecked than mine) Creative Spaces, pop along to Kootoyoo.

Miss Pink

2011-02-16T15:49:00.001+13:00

I made Eloise a little patchwork quilt for her dolly's pram the other day.

The pram isn't getting used for dollies at the moment.

Miss Crazy-Maisy is one very tolerant kitten.

With all my heart

2011-02-15T15:36:00.000+13:00

How was your Monday? Did you celebrate Valentines Day? I am a complete sook at heart and when you come across awesome tutorials like this one (via Lil Magoolie), and you are me, you just have to have a go.

Richard took me to see Lloyd Cole for my Valentines gift. I love his music. I love my man.

So I made him this cake. There was a surprise inside.

The Mr was very impressed. You know what they say about men and hearts and stomachs.
This cake is a perfect fit.

I shall be making one of these for my parents wedding anniversary too
(so act surprised if you are reading this Mum and Dad!).

They celebrate 40 years of marriage in April.
Here's a photo of them with all their grandkids.
It makes me smile.
Happy Valentine's Day.x

My Creative Space - cupcakes and princesses

2011-02-10T10:00:00.000+13:00

My oldest, Madeleine, is rapidly growing out of most of her clothes. Being a November baby means she crosses two seasons and I've always had to top up her wardrobe with a bigger size at the end of Summer. She has a school uniform for most of the time but her nighties and pjs are all getting far too snug and short so I made her a new nightie last night to tide her over until the end of this season (and hopefully last a little into next Summer too!).

Miss Madeleine is quite fussy over her clothes. She likes comfort above all. Definately nothing tight across her chest (so empire and princess lines are totally out). She hates to wear layers (unlike her sister who is the layering queen) and stiff fabrics are definately a no no.

Making her clothes has always been a bit of a hit and miss affair. Sometimes I can't get her to change the outfit I made for her and other times, she hides it and refuses to wear it. When I find a pattern that she likes I tend to stick to it and adapt it. I've made dozens of House on Hill Road's twirly skirts for her and Kwik Sew 3169 has been another well used pattern. It's very easily adapted and I've used it to make tops and dresses (and now nighties) for both my girls. It's so quick and easy.

I made this cupcake nightie for Maddy last night. Instead of threading elastic through the sleeves (which I knew would make it uncomfortable for her), I cut them at an angle to make them quite floaty.

I also added a little diamante 'M' that she picked out one day in Spotlight to make it extra special for her.

I haven't shown Maddy the nightie yet because I need to make one for the small person in the house too or there will be a riot. Thank goodness I only have two girls! This is the fabric Eloise has chosen for her nightie.

Both fabrics are knit fabrics which I got in the Spotlight sale a few weeks ago. I'm actually terrified of sewing with knits as I always seem to mess something up. This pattern is so easy though and there is no attaching slippery neckbands so it's definately my kind of pattern for knits. I'm determined to be braver and do more sewing with knits this year. I think it's just a case of practice and know how. If any of you have any good tips, I would love to hear them.

For more Creative Spaces, pop over to Kootoyoo (thanks Kirsty!)

Romantic gesture.

2011-02-09T17:24:00.000+13:00

This is what counts as a gift of love in our house... *smirk*.

This was waiting for me when I walked into the kitchen this morning. I'm not entirely sure why the Mr tucked this enormous courgette that he grew into his running shoe. I think it was to demonstrate how big it was. I was of course very impressed at his manly gardening skills and am planning a suitable impressive vegetable lasagne with this as the main ingredient (the courgette, not the running shoe). Do you get strange romantic gestures from your Mr or am I alone with this one?

A busy week

2011-02-08T11:05:00.001+13:00

We had our first Devonport Craft Market of the year on Sunday. I usually go into a bit of a frenzy during the week before a market. I always panic that I don't have enough stock and end up staying up until the wee small hours making toys or appliquing t-shirts.

After nearly 2 years of running the market and repeating this habit, my famly are getting pretty used to it. The housework tends to be neglected a little and dinner is often a last minute, thrown together affair (thank goodness for our beautiful veggie garden!)

I've made a promise to myself to slow down this year, to be more organised and to prioritise what is important. Keeping my family happy is obviously the most important thing to me so I made a real effort this month not to go into a making frenzy and to actually slow down and enjoy the process of creating. It helps when small fluffy things have you pinned down to one spot for long periods of time.

Sometimes, there is movement from the knee-hogger in the form of Kitty-yoga. Yes, those are Maisy's back feet round by her eyes. Very impressive.

The only problem with the slowing down process is that I have to wrestle small children for stock that has mysteriously disappeared instead of just giving in and letting her keep them. (In case you think this is mean, the below pictured small child has a room full of dollies and soft toys and can hardly get into her bed she has so many).

So Miss Daisy here managed to make it to the market on Sunday. Nobody chose to take her home with them but there's always next month! I had such a lovely day catching up with friends, both customers and sellers. I nearly sold out of t-shirts and have a few orders to do this week which I'm really looking forward to completing. Applique is one of my favourite things to do and I love it when I have an excuse to do more.

This week started off really nicely too with an award from the gorgeous Wendy of Little Green Bums. Not only does this remarkable lady have 6 gorgeous kids, but she manages to fit amazing crafts and some yummy cooking into her very busy life (all with a great sense of humour that I love). So thanks Wendy.

Now what I need to do is:

1. thank and link back to the blogger who nominated you
2. tell 7 things about myself
3. pass on the award to 15 recently discovered blogs
4. let them know about their nomination

I've already completed number one so here are 7 things about me:

1. I'm not actually a Kiwi (I'm English). I ended up here in New Zealand whilst on a working holiday. I gatecrashed a party and met my partner Richard and the rest as they say is history.

2. There are toys in my house that my children aren't allowed to play with.

3. I'm trying to get better at playing Scrabble.

4. I believe coathangers have built a nest in the back of my wardrobe and are breeding at an incredible rate.

5. I need therapy for my op shop addiction.

6. I can speak a little Swahili.

7. I'm terrified of earwigs.

There. I've confessed. So now to pass on this award to 15 well deserving recipients.
Cat of Cat Taylor Design
Chantal of Chantal Vincent Art
Hanna of Craftykin
Dee of Dee Construction
Sarah of Dolls and Daydreams
Janelle of Heart Felt
Mel of Loved
Joanna of Little Minx
Megan of Mousehouse
Kristy of Paisley Jade
Lou of Seaside Siblings
Sarah of Songbird Designs
Jess of Teddybearswednesday
Stella of The Golden Adventures of a Very Dark Horse
Notchka of The Wardrobe

Do have a look at these blogs if you haven't already. There's some great reading there!

Rapunzel Hair Clip Tutorial

2011-02-03T09:50:00.000+13:00

I did a guest post over on Pink Tea earlier in the week for a Rapunzel Hair Clip (Barrette) holder. Here it is for any of you that may have missed it:

What you will need:

2 pieces of plain, light coloured cotton measuring 20cm x 50cm.
Double sided fusible webbing.( I used HeatnBond Ultrahold but you can use any double sided fusible webbing.)
Fabric scraps for appliqué. I used green gingham for the hill, pale pink and white polka dots for the tower; dark pink for the window; flesh colour for the face and purple gingham for the dress. You can use what you like.
1 piece stiff fusible interfacing (20cm x 50cm)
1m of 1.5cm wide yellow ric-rac
Small piece of flower trim for base of castle (optional)
About 20cm of pink ribbon for hanger
Thin cardboard (e.g. cereal box) for templates
Pencil
Iron
Sewing machine
Paper scissors
Fabric scissors
Black fabric marker or permanent marker pen

How you make it:

1. Cut out your background fabric.

2. Using the photograph as a guide, draw a simple tower shape on thin cardboard and cut it out. Do the same for the window shape, the hill shape, the face and the dress. Put them all together on the background fabric to check that you like all the proportions. If not, adjust them until you are happy.

3. Draw around the templates on the paper side of the double sided fusible webbing. Roughly cut out the shapes from the fusible webbing (don’t cut them out properly yet). Fuse the webbing on to the wrong side of the corresponding fabric pieces (ie green for the hill) and then cut them out carefully.

4. Measure 1.5cm from the bottom edge of the background fabric and make a light mark. Line up the hill piece and fuse it to the background piece.

5. Using the picture as a guideline, pop the castle tower in place next, followed by the window, then the dress and finally the head.

6. Once all your pieces are fused in place, you can stitch around them. I used white thread for my stitching but you could use any light colour. Don’t use black as it shows up every little mistake. Set your machine to a zig zag stitch with a stitch length of less than 1 and a zig zag width of around 2.5. Do a test on a scrap of fabric to check you are happy with your width and stitch length. Once you are happy, stitch around all the pieces, starting from the bottom, going all around the hill and along the bottom of the castle. Snip the thread and then starting at the bottom left of the castle, stitch all around the castle. Snip the thread again and stitch around the dress and around the bottom of the face. Stitch the rest of the face. Check that you have snipped off all threads on both the back and front of your piece and that everything looks tidy. Press your work. Set your machine to a straight stitch and stitch some flower trim to the base of the castle (I stitched mine top and bottom).

7. Iron the stiff interfacing to the wrong side of the front piece.

8. Pin the back piece right sides together with the front piece. Starting at the top, stitch around all sides, using a 1.5cm seam allowance and leaving a 3cm gap for turning at the top.

9. Clip all four corners and layer the seam (cut the interfaced seam allowance close to the stitching.) Turn right sides out, gently poke out corners using a chopstick or similar and press.

10. Fold down the top edge 3cm towards the back and press and pin in place. Top stitch close to the bottom of the folded piece, creating a channel and closing the turning gap at the same time.

11. Turn the piece so the front side is up. Starting just below the channel you created, top stitch around the other three sides. You are nearly finished!

12. Take your yellow ric-rac and fold over one end by 1.5cm. Fold it again and stitch it in place. Do the same with the other cut edge.

13. Fold the ric-rac in half to find the centre and pin it in place around the top of the head. Use a zig zag stitch to fix it in place in the middle of the top of the head and down the sides. Using a marker pen or fabric marker, draw Rapunzel’s face on.

14. Take the ribbon and thread it through your channel using a safety pin (I poked mine through with a pencil.) Tie a bow in the ribbon to create a hanger. Attach your hair clips/barrettes and you are ready to go!

Do let me know if you make one of these. I’d love to see your version.

Guest Post on Pink Tea

2011-02-01T15:39:00.000+13:00

I was thrilled to be asked by CJ of Pink Tea to write a guest post for her blog over the Christmas break. It's a tutorial for a Rapunzel Hair Clip holder. I don't know about you but my girls have silly amounts of hairclips and these are going to definately encourage them to tidy them up. Pop along to Pink Tea for the full instructions.

Anniversary day

2011-02-01T10:40:00.000+13:00

It was Auckland Anniversary weekend this last weekend which meant an extra day's holiday for us yesterday. I love long weekends. There's always so much to do around the house on normal weekends, that we don't often get the chance to have a family outing. Do you find that or do you make a real effort to have a trip somewhere with the family every weekend?

Getting out of the house at a reasonable time seems to be our main problem at weekends. The girls are at an age where they are happy to potter until we get up which means that by the time Richard and I get up and have had a cup of coffee, it's close to 10am and by the time we've done some gardening and other jobs around the house, the day is gone. We managed to get out of the house in time for the Anniversary Day Tugboat race yesterday morning which really made the weekend special. We all picked a boat and walked around the top of North Head following to see who would win.

Eloise insisted on taking her baby doll, Jasmine, with her to see the race. I made her a dolly sling (using Amanda Blake Soule's tutorial in her book Handmade Home ) a while ago and that sling gets so much use from both girls it's fantastic. So much easier than lugging a doll's pram up a steep hill!!

We got back from our tug boat race excursion with plenty of time to do our jobs and it's really making me think that we should be making more of an effort to get up earlier and out of the house so we can make the most of our weekends. What do you think?

My Creative Space

2011-01-27T12:41:00.000+13:00

Eloise went back to kindy on Monday so afternoons are being spent at home, just pottering, playing and having fun.

Crazy Maisy (our kitten) is providing endless entertainment. It's amazing how many hours you can while away playing with a cardboard box, a sister and a kitten. I remember doing the same when I was a child. I'd spend hours making elaborate cardboard box houses with shutters and tunnels for my cat Snoopy. Maddy asked if that was why I was so good at making stuff. Probably :o) .

In spare moments at the playground, I've been knitting little brown kitties for a lovely lady in Australia.

And these faceless sock monkeys are due to get their individuality and character during Glee tonight.

How is your Creative Space going? Can I recommend you grab a cuppa and pop over to Kirsty's?

Happy Ellie

2011-01-26T10:13:00.000+13:00

I took the girls to Auckland Zoo yesterday. Burma the elephant put on a wonderful show, throwing sand onto her back. She looked so pleased with herself! She's a very creative elephant and apparently paints everyday (they sell the paintings to raise money for the zoo). How cool would it be to have an elephant painting on your wall? Definately a conversation starter!

Corban Estate

2011-01-25T12:39:00.001+13:00

Corban Estate ran their annual Summer School last week. I was on the original tutor list to teach during the week but unfortunately the class got cancelled as there weren't quite enough people signed up to make it viable.

Some of the knitted graffiti that was going on during the course of the Summer school week.

I am teaching a shorter, weekend Sew Inspired course on Sat 26–Sun 27 Feb from 10am–4pm. The fee is $105 (including some materials), so I'm hopeful that the hours and fee will be more accessible for people. If you are interested, you can find out more and sign up here.

The Summer School had an open day last Thursday and as I was keen to go along to see all the classes in action. I had a piece in the Tutor exhibition as well.

Bronze casting in action

I had the chance to visit all of the classes in action. The painters and sculpturer were all looking in deep concentration so I didn't feel I could take any photos of those classes in action but the works being produced were incredible!

The chapel on the left was home to a writers course for the week

The Estate is absolutely beautiful and definately a location to inspire creativity. If that wasn't enough, there was a fantastic Summer School cafe which had been set up for the week to feed all the hungry artists.

Look! There's my name!!!

I had a great time having a wander around and finished my tour with a visit to the gallery. Soooo exciting. My contribution to the Tutor Exhibition was there and my name was on the wall. Not very professional of me to go so completely gaga over this but honestly, I was so excited! I think I'm allowed for my first exhibition aren't I?

How cool is this? That's my piece in the middle there. My first exhibition. So thrilled to be part of it.

I'll be posting more about next term's weekend course over the coming weeks so you can see the sort of thing I'll be teaching. In the meantime, if you are keen to sign up, then pop along to the Corban Estate website and sign up.

Come hell or high water

2011-01-24T12:07:00.000+13:00

I'm not entirely sure where that phrase comes from but recent awful events in Queensland and Victoria have certainly brought it to mind a lot. There's an explanation here which is pretty fitting. The determination to carry on no matter what is running strong and it's wonderful to see so many of my blogging friends pulling together to help out where they can. I've joined in Steph's campaign and posted off a parcel of softies last week. There's a dolly drive too and plenty of other ways to help if you want to.

We've had our own adventures with water here in Auckland over the weekend. These photos sent in by the public to the NZ Herald over the weekend show just how high the tide got (3.5m) and how the addition of torrential rain didn't help much either.

Auckland Harbour Bridge at high tide 23rd January 2011

Lake Road Devonport

Our basement (where my sewing room is) ended up under about 3 inches of water, despite the pump working overtime. Unfortunately, my sewing room which usually stays relatively dry, got completely soaked.

My sewing room after the carpet and most of the water were removed

I'm usually pretty diligent with making sure everything (particularly electric things) are off the floor, if I think it's going to flood, but of course I completely forgot this time and my sewing machine foot got wet.

My vintage toy collection stayed nice and dry up on the window sill

When I realised just how wet the room was, Richard and I decided to pull the carpet up completely to let it dry out. When it's dry, we'll pull up the old carpet in Maddy's room and replace it with this one which is much newer. If it's getting this wet in the middle of Summer, I expect we are going to have a very damp winter and I just can't bear the thought of a perfectly good carpet going mouldy.

The contents of my sewing room waiting to go back into the room. Time for a sort out I think!

I'm actually quite enjoying the plain concrete floor now that it is all dried out. It's much easier to scoot around on my little office chair (lazy I know!) and a sooooooooooo much easier to clean up bits of thread and pins.

Cute pink tulle for Flower filled fairy skirts

My overlocker is luckily still working so I'm doing as much as I can with that and I'm taking my sewing machine to a repair man this afternoon in the hope he can fix it. It is about 20 years old now but I do love it and I'll be very sad if I have to replace it. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Flowers ready to go into Fairy Skirts.

My new little helper

2011-01-19T21:39:00.000+13:00

Our home has been turned upside down by a new addition. Her name is Maisy and she has come to help our big grey Moggy, Kipper, in his efforts to disrupt daily life by getting in the way as much as possible.

Although she hasn't quite developed Kipper's incredible talent for in-the-way-getting yet, she is showing great promise.

Her curiosity is definately a bonus.

She wasn't a huge help whilst blocking this baby cardigan but she did make me giggle a lot.

She was absolutely no help when I was making plum pickle.

And I managed to sneak a bit of monkey tatooing in whilst she napped.

I think we are going to be firm friends.

Songbirds

2011-01-17T11:29:00.000+13:00

Songbirds by Sarah Bird

Jan 2011

I've got a piece of art in the Corban Estate Summer School exhibition this week. It's my first time exhibiting which is pretty scarey, but also pretty exciting.

The piece is called "New Zealand Songbirds" and includes the names of iconic Kiwi female musicians which have been double stitched in place to represent their permanence in New Zealand culture.

You can't see it in the photograph unfortunately, but the Tui's have mirrored wattles which shine in the light and represent the way Tuis reflect the sounds around them in their song. Did you know that the songs of Tuis vary from district to district? They are such wonderful birds. If you aren't familiar with the Tui, you can hear their song here. And a funny piece about Tui's mimicking their environment here

I have used both vintage and new fabrics in the work and really enjoyed trying out new techniques to make it. It's being displayed (and is for sale) at the Corban Estate as part of the Tutor showcase this week. (14th - 21st January). I'm unfortunately not running a course this week due to lack of enrolement numbers but I'll be doing a weekend course next term which should be more accessible in terms of time and money. I'll fill you in with details soon. If you want to visit the gallery and see my work and that of the other tutors, pop along to the Corban Estate this week. You can get directions and more details here.

Limited service resumes :o)

2011-01-13T09:50:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year to you all! How were your Christmas and New Year celebrations? Are you back into the swing of things or still taking it slowly?

One of the Christmas cakes Mum made and decorated with her Grandchildren. This one was done by Thomas.

It's been a great and much needed break for me and I'm feeling well rested (and much healthier!). I had two wonderful weeks with my family in Brisbane. I'm so glad we went over before all this week's dreadful flooding events. To all of you affected, I wish you a safe and speedy return to normality. My parents and siblings are thankfully unaffected so far (although my brother was in the city yesterday helping to sandbag properties on the river and stopped to help one of his favourite restaurants load up their vans in an effort to keep some things from being damaged).

The scooter cake Mum made for my nephew Ollie

It's my Mum's birthday today. She and Dad were meant to be going away to celebrate but have understandably (and thankfully cancelled). Some of you will know that she is the main reason and inspiration for my creativity and as it's Thursday (Creative Space day), I thought I would dedicate my first post back to her Creative Space.

Our yummy starter at Christmas. The glass holds chilled cucumber and coconut soup which is divine.

Mum's Creative Space is mostly cooking these days as her eyesight isn't good enough to cope with detailed sewing and cross stitch anymore. All the photos in this post were taken during the 2 weeks we were with them in Brisbane. Pretty impressive isn't it?

Chocolate berry roulade

I particularly loved the extra touch to this dessert. She just dusted cocoa powder over a spoon and fork. It looks so effective. I'll definately be stealing that idea!

So Happy Birthday Mum. Hope it's a good one despite all the floods and rain. xxx

I'll be back posting on a limited basis until the kids go back to school (and a little of my sanity returns!)

For more Creative Spaces, pop over to Kootoyoo.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-17T12:11:00.000+13:00

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Are you feeling ready and organised or just totally stressed and over it all?

I have to say, I'm feeling pretty stressed and pretty disorganised and I don't think I'm alone.

The decorations are up and all the presents are bought but there's always more to do isn't there?

Do you try to do too much at this time of year? Set yourself ridiculous goals and then

beat yourself up if you don't acheive them? I'm afraid I'm pretty guilty of that.

Given that I still have this horrible throat infection, I'm making a concerted effort to try to relax and let the kids lead the way with what we do over the next couple of days. They are old enough (and not too old!) to help out with lots of the preparations so my pre-New Year resolution is to let them help and not to let myself get stressed over the small stuff that doesn't matter!

If I don't make it back here to update the blog before Christmas, have a wonderful break and a lovely time with your family.

Sarah x

Dance 'till you drop

2010-12-14T15:59:00.000+13:00

I'm sorry I haven't been updating my blog recently. As many of you will know, life tends to get in the way of normality and routine at this time of year and things have certainly been a bit crazy around here. The kids have had dance concerts and school concerts and we had the big Devonport Christmas Festival on 5th December which was my last market of the year thank goodness! I've been filling orders for Christmas since then and last weekend, my body decided it had had enough and I came down with a really nasty cold which knocked me out all weekend. The orders are nearly all done, but I now have a bacterial throat infection which isn't much fun at all. I'm really looking forward to the Christmas break and just spending time with my family so I hope you will forgive me if I'm not a regular blogger for a few more weeks!

My girls had their dance concert on 4th December. I know that lots of you wanted to see photos of them in their costumes so here they are.

They looked so grown up with their stage make up on!

Sorry about all the blurriness but you get the general idea!

Maddy and her hip hop class danced to a Justin Beiber song

The ballet flowers again. So cute!

In the end I made 6 of the silver tops and headbands for Maddy's hip hop class and 12 headbands and 10 fairy skirts for Eloise's ballet class. Unfortunately the headbands started 'wilting' before the show but lots of hairspray onto the acrylic felt seemed to fix them all long enough for the dance! I was helping backstage for both dances but Richard took some film so I was able to see the girls perform.

One more photo for you. This one was taken by Richard's nephew, Nick, at his Dad's birthday party a few weeks ago. Definately one for the 21st Birthday album!

How's a girl supposed to go anywhere without keys?
Photo: Nick Thorne.

Take care. Sarah x

My Creative Space

2010-12-02T10:57:00.000+13:00

I SHOULD be getting ready for this Sunday's Devonport Craft Market on the Windsor Reserve (part of the Devonport Christmas Festival). I SHOULD be updating my online shops in time for last minute Christmas orders. And I SHOULD be busy making Christmas presents for family and friends but guess what? My sewing machine is throwing a complete fit this morning so I have left it to rest for a while in the hope that it will be in a better mood later on and instead, I'm making Christmas fruit mince.

This is going to be SO good. I can't wait to stick it in Christmas mince pies. Yum! It has to soak for a few weeks though. It's meant to be a month but I'm counting on the amount of alcohol in there to do the job quicker!

I was loosely following a Women's weekly recipe for Fruit mix but I've basically added the contents of my baking cupboard. There's sultanas, dates, fruit cake mix, 3 grated apples, lime juice, a grated and chopped mandarin, some crushed pineapple that was sitting in the fridge, ground almonds, mixed spice and lots of cointreau in there. I'll add some more goodies like glace cherries and ginger and probably some more fruit cake mix once I've been to the supermarket. It smells so good already. Even my 4 year old told me it smelt like Christmas. How does she know? Amazing what these little ones pick up on and remember from year to year.
Keep your fingers crossed that my sewing machine recovers and pop over to Kootoyoo for some fab Creative Spaces.

A little scrumptiousness!

2010-12-01T12:13:00.000+13:00

I've just ordered a pattern from Sarah of Dolls and Daydreams for her Dolly Daydreams dolls.

I really love the look of these. Eloise loves them too so I know what to make for one of her Christmas gifts! As well as being an amazing crafter, Sarah is a very talented artist and I think that really comes out in the detail of these dolls. I can't wait to make some. I'm planning on making a couple extra for my stall too. You can buy your own pattern in her Etsy shop here. While you are there, check out her awesome printable eco-dolls houses.