Simple Wonders

I am truly brought back to earth by my youngest daughter and shown how the simple small things can make children happy.
We went to Story Time at the local bookshop this morning and the main story was 'My Mum has X-Ray Vision' by Angela McCalister. Before the story each child was asked if their mum had a super power. My darling Mia when asked what my super power was, answered with the following, "She can turn the tv on without a remote". Others were, ' she can cook dinner really fast after we have been to swimming' and 'she always knows just what I want in my sandwiches'. Children are so sweet when they are little.
After the story all the children got to make their own pair of x-ray vision glasses.

When story time was all done it was off to the coffee shop for our customary Hot Chocolate and Babycino with orange sprinkles and marshmallows. My hot chocolate must be shared once the babycino is gone as 'yours is much bigger than mine mum so therefore you must share'. It doesn't count that I am much bigger than her and therefore get a bigger drink.

On a me note, I finally finished the cuff  and I must say I am very impressed with how it has turned out. I have been putting off finishing it off as I didn't want it to not be as good as I imagined  it would be ( confusing and rambling arent I - did I actually make sense?) Well I needn't have worried. It is better than I had imagined. I am now inspired to see how far I can get on another one tonight.
Now the only challenge is to find somewhere to sell them that will actually make me a decent amount of money for the time that goes into these.

Lazy Days

Oh how nice it is to be able to sleep past 5.30am on a Sunday. Not having a market to be at today was sublime. The fact that it was raining and blowing a gale just added to the snuggliness of the bed - add to that the cuddles I got from Mia.

Rain - I love it - but not at a market

Even the dog enjoyed me not being at a market as he got a walk on a Sunday morning - The rain did not halt him for a second. The bath when we got home to remove his new mud coat however was not the perfect end to his morning.

Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous has a post today on what it is to be a craft-a-holic and to prove to myself that that title did not fit me, I decided that there was going to be no 'work' done by me today and instead I would spend my Sunday off enjoying the family and everything that entails. I think however that I am a craftaholic as even as I was cooking the chilli mussells for lunch and then watching both girls play horses and riders, designs for new cuffs and possible clasps and then where to source said clasps as I had no idea what the types were called or if they existed, were pushing their way through until I had to jot a couple down on the phone pad notebook.

Craft Supplies Lament

Ho Hum. Tonight I find myself very disappointed with the lack of crafting supplies Australia has. I would love to find ......

1. Freezer paper - but no - only available online ( I only want a small piece to experiment with and I dont want postage costs for something so minimal), 

2. blank aluminium cuffs - again no - available only online from the USA in packs of 12, - I want to experiment with a few different sizes but do not need 50 extra cuffs,

3. Toile fabric - but no - aparently no-one wants this any more and it has gone out of production and supply here, 

and the list goes on. 

What is a girl to do with all these wonderful tutorials out there and then the great ideas that follow on from these only to find that the materials needed are not available in Aus. AAARRRRRRGHHHHHH!!

I think Mia's expression sums it up perfectly - and the tiredness too.

My Creative Space

Well today sees me trying to finish another zipper cuff to go in my madeit shop. The design has been pinned to the foam block and tacked on the to felt backing. Now only the invisible stitching, topstitching and adding the closure remain. I wish it would all happen tonight but I think it will get the better of me. I tend to go crosseyed after a couple of hours staring at stiches on zippers.

So in pictures....

This...

becomes this......

NB: this is a printout of a photo to see if the design looked alright wrapped around a wrist.

While browsing today why not pop over to www.kootoyoo.com and check out what other clever people are up to.

Tickled Pink

Being rather new at having a shopfront and selling through online craft outlets,I dont know about you but I love it when one of my products appears on the front page of a site like madeit or etsy. I know I pay for random front page images but I often wonder if they ever appear as I seem to be able to go days without seeing anything of mine but several of the same item from someone else. BUT last night I was just checking what lovely new stuff was out there when on three clicks on the home page 3 of my products from both Mumasupial and ME2 appeared. (1 each time). I was so chuffed that I had to screen capture the page to prove it to my self at a later date.

me2 crazy felt coffee cozy

me2 vintage zipper earings

Mumasupial beanie

and then this morning when adding more stock both my Adjustable Sling and Bubba Boots on top line of the home page.

Mumasupial Adjustable Sling & Boots

Cross Country Chocolate Cake and Trains

Well the lack of blogging for the last few days has been because there has not been the hour in the day for it.

Friday had Sarah running in the district cross country. She did very well improving almost 20m places since last year but still not quite up to interdistrict level. She has great plans for next year.

Our cross country champ

The rest of the day was spent getting the house ready for the real estate agents visit on Saturday Morning and then a delightful dinner (sans children) at a fabulous local thai restaurant with friends ( also sans children). After a sleep in on Saturday morning ( due to fact there were no children home), real estate agents were met and left just in time to collect Sarah and Mia before Sarah's basketball game. Home for dinner and then the sewing began. A tutu for a 2yr old birthday party on Sunday morning and figuring out how to sew the zippers to the new cuff so they are strong yet invisible. Fine curved sewing needles are wonderful but the eye of the needle is so teeny weeny!!! Needless to say it is working exactly as I wanted. ( Big bummer that with all the photos I do take I forgot to take on of the tutu)

Today was spent at the lovely Diamond Valley Miniature Railway to celebrate Annabelle's 2nd birthday. I have driven past this park so many times before and never knew what treasures lay hidden within.

Yummy Chocolate Birthday Cake

 Waiting for the train ride

Big sisters help beat the boredom of waiting
    

 Finally on the train

Mum and Mia

Mum and Mia - my favourite - pity about the sun

Devouring the lolly bag on the way home

Now late on Sunday night with dishes done and school uniforms ready I can finally get some time to myself to read all the lovely updates on google reader, update this blog, and maybe do some more stiching on the cuff. This last thing might have to wait as my eyes are very tired ( not helped by the yummy pinot) and when I think about it so it the rest of the body.

My Creative Space

Projects for today.......

1. More wheat bears are required for both the madeit shop and the markets. In the cooler months I can never have enough of these little guys.

2. Yellow Drum order

3. Khaki Drum order

4. Set up  my 1/2 year (182 day) Photo a day blog. Didn't know about these till today so thought 1/2 a year would be a very good test for my organisation and perseverance skills before comitting to 365.

and then there is always the zipper cuffs. ( photos coming soon)


Or check out some other creative people here at Kootoyou.

Time Flies

Wednesday night already. (Well Early Thursday morning really.) Where does the week go? Lets see.... Monday - sick. Not as sick as the rest of the family has been ( what mother ever is?) but still feeling blick. Tuesday - Food shopping and sewing orders. For some reason my family needs to keep eating. Quite and expensive habit really. got to get the orders out to help pay for the munchings.

Wednesday - Today - Gardening on one of the last nice Autumn days left. Apart from pulling the grass that continues to want to grow in my vegie garden I got the small bed ready for the Garlic to be planted tomorrow.

Finished off a couple of zipper creations I had been been working on and started an idea for a different style of cuff. One zipper in particular was being very unco-operative and I ended up just glueing it down in a spiral/curve pattern. When finished I liked it so much I was rather sad that there was shiny glue in all the gaps as I wanted to make it a cuff now. It will need a little more work but the ideas are brewing and I have a better way of making more detailed ones over the weekend.

My sister-in-law is an art teacher and has access to this recycle outlet for school art rooms. They go around  manufactures and collect their offcuts. Schools pay a small account fee and then  take a rubbish bag and fill it with whatever yhey want. Each school gets to do this 4 times before they ask for more money. I was meant to be going there tomorrow to hunt for rubber, leather and anything else I wanted. Sister-in-law only wanted a few small things so the rest of the garbage bag was mine. Unfortunately this will have to wait till next week.

Ah well, C'est la vie.

Now I am off to bed so I can get up warly and make some fresh chococlate muffins to take to Play Group tomorrow  for my day for morning tea.

Some pics of the new shop stock ...

Brooches

Earings

Headband

Shoe Clips

and then the cuff brainchild

Weekend Wrapup

Today being Flemington Market there is never much to say apart from the fact that today really cemented in my mind why I am cancelling out of this market next season. No need to say more.

So instead I though I would post some pictures from Sarah's basketball match yesterday.

This was the best game she has played ( she has only every played 4 - including yesterday). She dribbled the ball and could even have had a clear shot at goal but chickened out at the last second and passed to someone else who scored for the team. Needless to say they won 43 - 3. Go Wildcats!

While Sarah stormed (skipped) around the court, Mia, the little basketball fairy played on the spare court behind us.

Enjoy some of their happiness....

This is not one of the most flattering shot of her ball skills, but most were far more blurry.

 Having just passed the ball when she realised she could have goaled.-  Next time.

Now for the basketball fairy

Never have fairy wings taken such a beating!

Cozy Coffee

As someone who always doubts whether people really use stuff they buy from me at markets etc, it is nice to see my coffee cozy's popping up on peoples cups in unexpected places. I was at the bakery this morning and as I was leaving I glanced at a group of ladies having a coffee at one of the outside tables. As I passed I noticed one of my cozies on a cup and listened in long enough ( i know that is bad) to hear one of the friends ask where she got such a cool cozy and could she get her one. The lovely lady's reply was " Oh there is is this great lady at Mornington Market that sells them and a whole lot of other cool stuff. We should all go next month."

Trying not to smile too hard I decided it was time to redo my photos for my madeit shop and try to show the cosies off to their best not just the prototype that was initially listed. As if it was preordaned, when I got home the sun came out and made for some lovely photos. Here are a few....

Elephants in Skirts

Being stuck at home for a couple of days and wanting to find something to take my mind off what I need to make/sew for the market on the weekend has proved very profitable for youngest daughter Mia.

Ever since we went to see Mali the baby elephant at Melbourne Zoo, Mia has been besotted with elephants.

Combine this with my desire to try out a couple of the wonderful tutorials I have found online and voila - new elephant themed clothes for Mia.

There is so much 'normal' applique around everywhere on kids clothes I really like the idea of ' Reverse Applique'. With the help of 'That Darn Cat's' lovely instructions the Mali top was born. ( Mia is not the type of child to sit quietly for a photo. No matter now much I want to actually see what she is wearing or how much chocolate she is bribed with).

There was just enough pink fabric left to make a small skirt with a waistband taken from a truly horrid, illfitting skirt Mia had grown out of.

So together the outfit was made.

Bouyed from success (my pride that something worked first time and the fact that Mia didn't want to take them off) and being at home again today I thought I would try this tutorial on making skirts from pants.

This one was made from an old pair of track pants....

Again unable to stand still. The previous photo was taken while she was distracted.

and this one from uncut cord pants.

This photo had to be of the skirt by itself as all the ones with Mia in it were nothing but a blur.

Natural Hearts

Continuing on the love theme from this morning is another couple of hearts I found in nature today. I love looking for heart shapes in different places when I am out. Coming out from playgroup this morning, ont of Mia's paintings blew away and on chasing it down I looked at a tree at a different angle to normal and look what I found.

Here are a couple of my other favourite "natural hearts"