Crafting Together

I was so pleased yesterday when two little budding creatives joined me at work in my craft room. They brought their own chairs, and Miss A set up a little table beside me.

I was busy die cutting butterflies from pink card, and as I worked Miss A happily collected the scraps and began making butterfly bookmarks for us all.

Master R discovered some new punches on my desk, and it was serious business for him as he worked out how to use them to punch decorative borders around his pictures...one for each of us.

I love that they love to make things. I love that we make things together!

xx

Time out

It has been a whole month since my last blog post. I didn't plan to be away from Blogger for this long, but it is a busy time of the year, and one thing led to another, and before I knew it I was completely out of the routine of blogging.

It all started with a mini getaway in the South West of WA. It is a holiday that my family and I have taken at about the same time every year, for the past few years, and it has now become a bit of a tradition for us. The weather was warm (sometimes in November it is still a bit chilly) and we were fortunate enough to be able to swim and really enjoy the area's amazing beaches. And as always there were the ice creams at Simmo's, lunch at Colonial Brewery, and plenty of strolls through town.

While I was away there wasn't a computer to distract me, and I only had a crochet hook and yarn with me for craft. By moving at a slower pace, and enjoying simple activities with my family, I was able to see just how distracted I had been in recent months with Etsy and Blogger, and I realised I was actually feeling quite exhausted! I arrived back home feeling relaxed, rested and inspired, and with a desire to continue on at this slower pace.

But while blogging and crafting for Etsy did take a back seat for a while, there has still been plenty of handmade crafty goodness happening in my world...here is a little bit of it...

Crochet Party Bunting...while on holiday I did have with me the new book by Meet Me At Mike's Pip Lincolne, 'Make Hey! while the sun shines', and from this book I followed Pip's pattern for making crochet bunting. It was the perfect holiday project, simple and fun, with the added bonus of relaxation and calm that comes with crochet. When we returned from our holiday, I strung them all together with a piece of pretty pink ribbon, and hung them up on the eve of Miss A's 4th birthday celebration. That was nearly three weeks ago, and they are still hanging beautifully, and I do not plan to take them down as I LOVE them!

 Wooden advent calender...I bought this Kaisercraft advent calender in kit form in the post-christmas sales in January...but silly me still managed to leave it until the very last minute to assemble and decorate it! I did get it complete enough to fill with trinkets and chocolates in time for December 1st, but it is still a bit of a work in progress. Maybe we will start a family tradition of adding a bit of decoration to it each year!

Knitted and crocheted Christmas decorations...All over our home there are cute and cuddly little Christmas characters. They are perched happily upon shelves, peeking cheekily out from behind the branches of the Christmas tree, and watching over the kids as they sleep. They have been lovingly handmade by my mum. Each Christmas for the past couple of years she has given us a bundle of new ones, and slowly we are replacing all of our plastic baubles and decorations with these beautiful handmade ones which will be treasured in our home for years to come.

Hope you have been enjoying some time-out this busy season too  x

You sew, girl

Finally a chance to sew...and in my new craft room too! The wet and windy weather this weekend gave me the perfect excuse to stay indoors and get stuck into some long awaited projects. It's been ages since I've sewn anything and I didn't realise how much I had missed it! 

Weeks ago I received a lovely package of vintage fabric from Zwizzle, and I have been itching to use it ever since. I finally started cutting and sewing these pretty floral pieces today, and they will become the 'pockets' on some fold-up shopping bags.

I also stitched together the front pieces for a pair of patchwork cushion covers. The various patterned pieces in gorgeous greens are all off-cuts left over from other projects. I'm going to do the back of each cover in plain green, with an envelope opening.

And I finished off a little bunch of felt flower hair elastics.

The new room was great to work in. The kids were close by, building towers with their blocks, doing a bit of craft...and then pulling out the entire contents from a bag of wadding and using it as snow!

Aside from the actual sewing and craft I also managed to organise my blogging and Etsy photos, list a couple more crochet hats, and have a bit of a play with my brand new overlocker...AND my husband and I even spent an afternoon out at the movies.

All in all, quite a productive weekend...hope yours was too!

A family affair

I've mentioned before how talented my mum is when it comes to crochet. A few months ago she began making lots of gorgeous hats and beanies for my children. My kids love their hats made by Nana, and my daughter in particular wears one almost everywhere she goes. We've had lots of other mums commenting on them and asking where we bought them from, so my mum has now joined me on Etsy and is listing some of her crochet goodies for sale in my shop.

I got the kids involved in a photo shoot of her items a few days ago. They were surprisingly cooperative and had a lot of fun with it . We were outdoors, in the backyard, and although it was cold there was at least a bit of sun about. Afterwards the kids even decided to do a bit of gardening!

Most of the hats and girls bags that mum is making at the moment are from patterns by Britta Graham. You can find the patterns for sale at Britta's Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BBfromOz. 

But if you don't crochet...or you just want to receive a lovely package of handmade goodness in the mail (who doesn't?)...then have a look at http://www.etsy.com/shop/CottonAndCard for the finished items. Most of the crochet items can be custom made, so if you see something you would like in a different size or colour, just ask!

As for me, I am still plodding along with my Granny Squares, and working on my technique, tension etc as I go...and loving it! Hope you are loving whatever it is you are working on too :)

A breath of fresh air

Yesterday called for some time outdoors and some fresh air and sunshine. We've all had quite awful coughs and colds for a couple of weeks, and have been stuck indoors most of the time, with little energy to do very much at all. And to top it off my son also had a nasty accident with a swing and had to have three stitches in his forehead.

I love these days in winter, when the air is crisp and cool, and the sun is shining. They are motivating and invigorating, especially after several days of grey skies, rain...and coughs and colds.

The kids were happy to just explore along the edge of the lake for a while. I was happy to sit in the sun and crochet (even when my son told me it was a bit weird to crochet at the park)

There was a bit of climbing too, with me hovering underneath a lot as they got higher in the hope that there would be no more incidents involving stitches!

A morning was just enough for us, and we spent the afternoon resting indoors again. But it was a great morning out, and just what we all needed.

Paper, Scissors, Make

After my visit to Scrapbook Secrets a couple of weeks ago, I had big plans for a weekend of paper crafting and card making. I imagined spending the weekend at my craft desk, surrounded in beautiful card, paper, and embellishments, and having uninterrupted time to bring to fruition all of the ideas swimming about in my head.

But with a three and a five year old, of course it was not going to happen this way! Instead I had to fit my craft in around all of the distractions from the kids - making their food, getting their drinks, finding lost toys, cleaning up mess, admiring their drawings, breaking up fights and participating in their games.

Uninterrupted craft time would be wonderful and productive, and occasionally it does happen. But still, I love that the bulk of my crafting and making happens in the heart of the home, with my family around me.  

And besides, even with all of the distractions, I still managed to make a couple of cards, cover a wooden photo frame...and get started on a few other works-in-progress!

To market, to market...I need a new bag

With a visit to the Perth Upmarket (a treasure trove of handmade goodies) planned for Sunday, I decided that a handy take-along shopping bag would be a good Saturday afternoon project.

A couple of years ago I was given a re-usable polypropylene bag. It rolled up when not in use and turned out to be a very useful little bag. It found a permanent home in my handbag and was used on many a shopping trip. However it was starting to show signs of wear and tear, and needed replacing. So I decided to make my own much cuter version of this bag.

With no time for fabric shopping I found enough plain black lightweight cotton and a funky black and yellow paisley in my stash of offcuts, and set to work. I instantly fell in love with the finished product. I toted it around the markets (which were amazing) filling it with all of my goodies, and it served its purpose very well. Friends and family have already put in their orders, and you will see it available at Cotton And Card soon.

Aside from the markets, I had a really nice shopping trip out with both of my children early Saturday morning.  I realise that our routine has changed a lot since my son started full time school in February. I miss having both of my children at home with me all week, just hanging out together and having adventures. I am so proud to see my son growing up and settling into school, and I am loving all of the 'girly' time my daughter and I now share, but I just don't want either of them to grow up too fast.

On the flip side though, the kids often talk about what it will be like when my daughter finally heads off to school too (she is only three) and they have it all planned out that mummy can drop them both off and then do her craft all day. Now that does sound rather tempting!

To finish, here is a sneak preview of the Moda Sugar Pop fabric coasters. They are coming along nicely.

Fabric coasters sneak preview