applehead

little boxes......

This little lovely turned up in my mailbox during the week from Stefani...it's a "Moon Garden- night blooming flowers under the stars". Charlie was especially yaken by it - her two favourite things, the moon and a little box all in one!
My part of the swap went off to Bosnia Herzegovina late this week.
It looks kind of messy in the picture- all of the gloss medium I used to varnish it came up really shiny. Its a lot neater looking in real life, I promise. I had a lot of fun - albeit at times frustrating fun- making it and I don't think that it will be the last. I was particularly pleased with the way the outside of the match box turned out!

shouldn't oughtta have done it...

I have purposely not looked at the blog's of anyone else who is sending stuff for Morphe II. I thought it best to just trundle along happily doing whatever I decided to do without any idea of what everyone else was doing.
And then today I did it. I peeked at another blog.
      And fell into a great big pit of self doubt.
              And it serves me right too!
I always avoided as much as possible looking at anyone else's submissions at uni - all it ever did was make you doubt the standard/quantity/creative genius of your own stuff.
So after looking at one, of course I looked at a few more ...and a few more...aggghhhhhh! Panic set in for a bit as not only am I still trying to decide which of the several half finished toys I will send, but all of my work started to look boring, run of the mill ,plain and uninspired!  Other People have not only decided what to submit but they've finished them. And sent them!
So I did what any self doubting, indecisive girl should do in this situation. I went to the gym, spent an hour in a body combat class kicking, punching and yelling and then came home and reassessed.
No, my toys aren't boring, or uninspired..however they are in various stages of assembly. My plan...finish the toys I have started and then make a decision on which to send ( perhaps with some feedback from a few fellow craftybloggers). And no more looking at what everyone else is doing or has done.......not until after the deadline has come and gone and my toys are safely in Adelaide. Then I can look and admire properly without the angst !

Sorting through fabric is always a good distraction and I came across this lovely piece of barkcloth  that I'd forgotten I had...

And while the nasty bugs of the last two weeks, coupled with the cupcake- making frenzy that has been August, have eaten up most of my creative energy, a little found its way into these two pieces...

A pincushion/ soft toy/desk ornament/ good thing to throw in frustration crocheted apple...

and a felt zip pouch in my favourite shape- of -the -moment for zip pouches.....

with a touch of embroidery for good measure.

Back to toyland for me....

Where's my baby gone?.....

Just five days old and so tiny...now she's two!
Happy birthday Charlotte!
She has a wicked little sense of humour and a loud belly laugh. Very determined and quite independent but she doesn't like talking trains or buses with faces! Not one bit!

Adores her big sister and whatever Rose is having, Charlie is having too!

Charlotte is fascinated by the moon and stars...moon was one of her first words.

Love you and the smiles you bring everyday, little one!
(Don't grow up too fast)
xxx mama

not for the squeamish but I am in awe of this photo....

the Italians have landed...

a bit of print happiness today...the wallpaper from Italy has arrived!

and this!

and last but not least this one!

All of these can now be found in these updated packs ( complete now with a name and label)

And if you love vintage text have a look here.....

a very merry unbirthday to you....

Rose finally had her big day and fun was had by all....

well, to be honest not all because this mama finally succumbed to the awful bug that has been plaguing our family. Whoever wrote that awful "soldier on "ad obviously had never had to prepare for and host a party for 10 five year old girls ( plus two toddlers). I did not want to soldier on ....what I wanted to do most of all was to find a lovely dark quiet corner and curl up all alone and just be miserable!
Soldier on my #$!@##*!!

The night before I made about a zillion (it seemed) teensy weensy little cupcakes which then had to be iced. You might ask why on earth I did this especially with a killer headache and sore throat to match?
Punishment, of course.
This bad mother went to the supermarket to buy icecream with which to make the special super duper icecream birthday cake and instead came home with a ready made icecream cake ( I can hear the gasps of horror from here!)
Of course I had to ring Steph first and ask whether Rose would ever get over the fact that I had bought the cake instead of making it and in her opinion did it make me the laziest, worst mother in the world? Steph's reply "you sound awful and I can't believe you have to ring and ask - just buy the ready made cake  and go home to bed! The kids won't know the difference or even care as long as its icecream!"
Of course she was right but the fact was that I would know the difference, hence the zillion teeny weeny cupcakes with chocolate icing and a tiny m&m placed just so right in the middle.....

Luckily most of the preparation had been done for the week before , so for the first time in five years of birthdays I went to bed before midnight!
The gods of party must have been on my side because it was a clear sunny day so it could all happen outside.Everyone turned up on time, had fun, ate party food  and were punctually picked up two hours later.They went home happy with their party bags, the button box they had made and resident pet rock! Oh and they all loved the icecream cake especially Rose who said it was the best cake she'd ever had !
( sob, doesn't she remember the masterpiece fairy wonder I concocted last year? Now that was a cake!)

Rose went next door to play, my two wonderful friends Steph and Michele cleaned up, angel baby Charlie went to sleep( despite having consumed half a bowl of Maltesers when nobody was paying attention) and so did I!
Soldier on, indeed......

Just look at that awful icecream cake ( but happy Rose and that 's all that really counts!)
And just for good measure , below is last year's cake ( I was sooo proud of that cake)

And guess which one the kids ate most of ?
Ah well, you live, you learn ( but of course I'll knock myself out making Charlie's cake for her 2nd birthday this Sunday...)

our morning dive...

Found this in one of the old and falling apart children's books that I have been using for my (mostly) old paper packs.
This one's a keeper!

After a week at home with both the girls sick, I had begun to feel a little stir crazy. Not enough fresh air and definitely not enough sleep will do that to a girl!
So when my one -of-a-kind-mother-in-law-Maggie mentioned that there was an exhibition on that Stephanie  and I just had to see, we decided to run away fro a few hours today and breathe  in a bit of art gallery air ( Steph"s been at home all week with three sick children so really I have nothing to complain about!).
We took ourselves off to the roslyn oxley9 gallery   to see the amazing and sadly last works of Bronwyn Oliver. click on the gallery link to see her amazing works or better still if you are in Sydney go and see them ( until 2 Sept). They are beautiful, complicated yet simple sculptures ...welded metal that has this fragility and delicacy about them. Breathtaking.

After this we wandered along the backstreets of Paddington and stopped for a coffee at at little hole in the wall cafe at Five Ways. It had a small kind of window ledge outside with cushions where the beautiful people can sit and be looked at. So of course we sat there. And felt like beautiful people.
The next gallery we stopped at was the Australian Galleries Sydney Works on Paper to see the Tatuar exhibition of  Barbie Kjar . The owls were big works but had this delicacy about them and many hidden layers to discover when you looked closely.

We both fell in love with this drypoint (Anima)Cabellera


and how wonderful is this girls face....Tattoo

A short browse through the used books at Berkelouw Books turned up a wonderful 1891 edition of a Textbook of Botany full of old illustrations .
I sat down for a blissful solitary cup of tea in their cafe( Steph had to leave after the galleries) and I  made it home just in time for baths and bed with the girls.
Just what I needed. Now I feel a little more inspired to make a start on my "scene in a matchbox" swap.

Although what I really want to do is get hold of some wire and learn how to weld......

print and pattern...

amazing paper that I just couldn't resist....

words to get you thinking....

When you have a moment, drop by vintagechica and read her pledge. This has put so well into words, some thoughts that have been trying to take shape in my mind for a while now. I have printed the pledge out and stuck it above my computer where I hope it will remind me to start making some changes....big and small...

5 years old........

happy birthday rose poppet ! Love you and the smiles you bring me everyday.....

A little smile from the rather unwell birthday girl....but I've promised that next Tuesday we will have the very best "unbirthday" possible ( with a nod to Alice in Wonderland)!
I had planned to give Rose a sewing basket full of goodies as she is just starting to show an interest in sewing.
Here's the basket - I had grand plans to replace the lining and fill it up with all sorts of sewing notions..

However with two sick little girls this week, I found myself madly sewing and stuffing a pincushion at 11pm last night...

No time for a last minute dash to the dreaded Spotlight to find cotton and such so I made do with what I had in the cupboard...once Rose is up and about we will go together and fill it up! Probably more fun together anyway!

Some handmade felt, a vintage button and a little bit of hand stitching...there you have it, ready to sew.

A little lady that we have decided to call Miss Bee arrived the other day in this delightful package.

Just what we all needed, especially Miss Rose who is not yet too big to enjoy a cute soft rabbit( a mini Moopy no less) like this pink lovely from the creative soul that is SadieandLance .

Thanks and a big hug from Rose and Charlie!

And this came all the way from Germany ..its taken me over a week to get a photo as I wasn't quite quick enough when it arrived and it was spirited off to preschool for show and tell.

You meet the most interesting people via craft blog world. Elke is a textiles conservator from Cologne, Germany and after a conversation via email we organised a postcard swap for the children. Vincent and Lucie sent my girls these wonderful drawn and stitched cards plus a story book all about the elves of the city in which they live. We found Cologne  on Google earth  and Rose told everyone about it at kindy that week. We have saved the stamps and added them to our growing international collection. Thank you and 'Liebe Grüße' , Elke, Vincent and Lucie!

Even a high temperature was not enough to stop Charlie enjoying a bit of chocolate cake in honour of the birthday...

Off to make up some more packs of (mostly)old paper...I didn't expect them to be as popular as they have been and I only made up a couple to start with. So back to the sorting and packing for me.......