My Creative Space

My creative space this week finds me battling the dreary, cold, wet Melbourne winter with all too many days like this...

.... to find enough good natural light to photograph my lovely Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange present from Keera at Live.Love.Sew.
Today however wet, miseable and cold it may be, it is the brightest day we have had all week. So here are some shots of the lovely creative journal I received.
Keera came across one of my posts moaning about how I wish I had more time to let creative ideas percolate etc and she came up with the lovely idea of a journal to draw, doodle and work ideas out in.
The cover for the journal is exquisite. Not only has she created a lovely patchwork front but she has also hand stiched some inspiring wording that winds its way around the entire cover. (I feel Keera has far more patience in her little finger than I have in my whole body)

Right down to my initials in the corner. ( Having the initials ME got me into a lot of trouble with teachers at school who thought I was being smart when asked to mark our initials in the corner of our work, but I digress)

I also received some lovely hair ties and clips for my girls in my package, but I cannot photograph them as they have gone away in the girls hair to their Grandparents for a sleepover while it is school holidays.

School holidays have been non stop to say the least around here but I have managed to get a few more of the cupcake pincushions made and out to new homes.Oh those wonderful wee hours of the morning!
When friends and family saw the one I made for Keera, the requests started pouring in.


The next lot aren't quite as large as Keera's but still just as cute.


This is the only one still to go to its new home....

I hope your week is full of sunshine and warmth and lots of creative space.
Play along at Our Creative Spaces

My Creative Space - with just a 2 month hiatus

Well I know  I said a while ago that I was going to attempt to be a little more regular at posting this year but once again one thing led to another and life got in the way. Even though I have not been posting and updates/ creative persuits etc, I have been keeping up with what all the other lovely people out there in blogland are up to.

Last year I took part in my first ever gift exchange run by the very talented Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous and received a wonderful surpise in the mail, so when it was anounced again this year there was no hesitation in signing up. My swap partner this year was a lovely lady in Outback QLD who is leading a life I thought would have been mine when I first started University.

Reading through her blog, Live.Love.Sew I discovered a very talented and patient Keera ( anyone who quilts is extremely patient in my book) who loves both crafting and cooking - especially guided by the amazing Donna Hay.

So with my thinking cap on I tried to come up with a gift that would bring both of these together.
I immediately thought of one of my upcycled Silverware Cookbook Clip's personalised for Keera as the cooking part , and a project that I had been wanting to try for a long time as the other part.

And after deciding that fleting was not my thing, this is what was born....

... a cupcake pincushion ( I hope it was obvious)

I hoped that with the cotton cupcake wrapper it would have more of a Donna Hay look to it.

So overall I was very happy when I packaged my gift up and sent it on its way to Qld.

I dont think I have spoilt the surprise for Keera either by posting these pictures, as she left for her honeymoon yesterday and reading blogs will not be one of the planned activities for the next week or so.

Well this is just the start of quite a few updates of things that have been happening around here.
I hope to be a little more regular in posting from now on,  but no promises. ;)

To see what other creative types have been up to, check out and play along with  'Our Creative Spaces'

A Day of Extremes

Well today has certainly earnt its title. Either absolute success of abject failure and nothing in between.
First of all  were my Easter baskets for Mum and Caroline. It was obvious this morning that I had been working on them quite late last night as some of my 'logic' had gone astray and there was quite a bit of unpicking to be done before they were finished this morning. BUT, I am very happy with the way they turned out and would be very happy to receive one myself (especially if it is filled with chocolate eggs).

I put these down to absolute success #1.

Absolute success #2 is the easter tree. After searching our dying maple tree for the right branch, this is how you are now greeted as you enter our house.

Our house is white, not pale pink like the photos show but I could not get the white balance right today for some reason. Absolutely no chance on the little automatic (pic1) but getting a little closer (still not good) with the DSLR (pic 2). I will put it down to the funny light today and the fact that our front door is bright orange and alters the colours in the hallway.

Absolute success #3. All my market stock is made ( including a large pile of teaspoon bookmarks which were not actually planned for thoday) and packed in the car before 6pm. This may not sound like a big deal but I could count on one hand the number of times I have been ready for a market before midnight the night prior , and I have been doing markets for 7 years now. I can always find something to do, a sign to remake etc, designing a new stall layout. You maket goers know what I mean - well I hope you do, and I am not the only one who does this.

All these successes had made for too good a day and the failures were about to begin.

Abject failure #1. Beer battered fish and chips for dinner. Hard to muck this up I hear you say-  well maybe, but not if you are me - I can stuff anything up - just ask anyone who has attmepted to eat my scones!!!
I had borrowed MIL's fryer to cook the fish, but all it did was stick the batter to the bottom of the basket so that when it was time to dish up my beautiful orange roughy, it came out in a multitude of pieces followed by crushed/smashed batter. It tasted alright but looked pre-digested. I changed the way I placed the fish in the oil each time but as the basket rotates and lifts the item being cooked out of the oil for short periods, the batter or just plain fish with no batter still stuck and ended up looking the same. A  good night to be a blind dinner guest in our house tonight.


Abject failure #2. Attempting to put royal icing on marie biscuits so that the girls can draw on them with the new food pens. We ( or mainly I ) decided that pre-made biscuits should be easier to ice than home made ones but try as I might I could not get the icing to stay in the desired shape or for that matter not stick to the bench when I rolled it out. I muddled my way through 6 biscuits and gave up. There has to be an easier way amd will be a task for another day. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Failure #3. Hot cross buns were not even attempted today. Maybe tomorrow, when I get home from the market so we can take them for lunch on Sunday, but then again, if I am as tired as I normally am after a market ( and it does go for an extra hour tomorrow), then it will just be dinner and bed for me tomorrow before the Easter Bunny hops his way into our house.

Here's hoping your day was full of success and sunshine and have a Happy Easter.

P.S.  If you are looking for something to do tomorrow and are near the Mornington Peninsula, pop along to the special Easter Market at Mornington Racecourse.

My Creative Space

My creative space this week finds me enjoying Easter fun with the girls.
We have blown eggs ( free range of course - no cage eggs here - Sarah's attempting to get the whole school  to boycott cage eggs by the time she leaves grade 6 in Dec), drawn on them with crayon and then died them and many little fingers along with them.
Here are some of my favourites

I know there are flash spots on them but it is such a miserable wet night here in Melbourne that I cannot get enough light without the flash.

Now comes the assembly of the tree for a centrepiece on Sunday. This was going to be done today but with a shuffle of work days and me working today, it will have to become a Good Friday activity.

Hopefully it will end up looking something like this.....

As my family are not big chocolate eaters , I usually find/make a small present for them with some chocolate ginger etc hidden inside. With a hankering for scones, which I absolutely cannot make, even with no-fail recipes ( mine could be sold to the army as ammunition), I thought this years present to mum and  'lil sis could be something to give them a nudge in the scone making direction.
A long time ago I saw some lovely scone baskets by Mud Tea  and thought that I might be able to make something similar from my ever growing fabric stash. I think Kate has come up with a wonderful idea and it is not as simple to put together as it first appears. My version does not look nearly as pretty/neat but heck - it was made with love and a lot of experimentation and I am still rather happy with the outcome.

Next on the family easter/holiday craft plan is bajing some of these...

with this excellent recipe from none other than the Womens Weekly ,

and, also baking ( my oven wont know what's hit it - poor thing) some biscuits decorated with my new food pens.
After reading a lovely post on Christen's blog Twirling Betty about her children decorating biscuits, I spent the night scouring the internet for food pens that would not cost the earth and I could get before the Good Friday holiday. Baking Pleasures in Brisbane came to the rescue and the pens arrived today - YAY!
Still haven't decided whether we will make bunny biscuits or just plain round ones and let them create their own designs. - Maybe some of both.......

The rest of today ( after work that is  and probably into the mystery hours of tonight) will be spent finishing the other  scone basket, sewing some hats for the market on Saturday and if possible before it gets too late - bashing spoons, especially lots more bookmarks for Saturday too.

I hope your week and holidays have been creative  and you have a lovely Easter

My Creative Space

My creative space this week is a little late but this week has been so hectic that it is lucky to have happened at all.
With ' real' work amping up this year to more days per week I am finding it harder and harder to get the energy to craft. The desire is still there and many a blank moment at work is spent pondering and devising new ideas but by the time I get home and have cooked dinner, cleaned up the hurricane that decends on our house each afternoon, I am buggered exhausted.
Hence this clean washing  pile is ever growing while it waits to be sorted, ironed and put away.

Any crafting that has been done this week has been restricted to dabbling in projects and finishing none. The glorious autumn weather that we have been having lately has meant that I can set myself up on a trestle table on the back deck and leave my work in whatever state I wish. At the moment the tea cup garden lights/bird feeders are drying, my new from old mirror is waiting for a top coat of gloss paint before being hung in the hall
and the plants I was hoping to keep alive to sell with my spoons at Mornington market on Sunday are well and truly dead. - all of this on one table - I love it.

I have however been luckier in the 'keepeing plants alive' department with my little money plants that I have propagated from the large bush in out garden. According to Chinese superstition, these plants correctly placed in you house will bring monetry wealth to the household. I must have read the book wrong as we are still waiting for the wealth to roll in.

Maybe with a couple more .....who knows.....

My creative mojo has to kick in tonight and tomorrow so that I can have some stock for my market. Coasters are on the agenda for tonight so they dry and be sealed tomorrow, and since flattening and stamping spoons is a little too noisy to be done at night, that will be this afternoon and tomorrows task as well as repotting clivia's to take to the market to put my teacups in, buying more garden stakes for the teacups and the everlasting Saturday basketball games for Sarah that are at the most annoying time of 4:30pm.

School holidays kick in as of today so I hope my next few weeks will be a little less stressful even if they are just as hectic. It is times like this I wish I worked at a school so that I could have the same holidays as the girls. Getting up and going to work whilst everyone else has pyjama mornings is very hard.

Here's to a creative week to you all and check out other creative spaces here.

My Creative Space

My creative space this week finds me loving this autumn weather and with many projects on the go....

New teaspoon bookmarks have just hit my shop.

They are a smaller, flatter version of my Cook Book Clips  and area lovely way to mark you spot in a favourite or current book.
 
My teacup bird feeders are also making a comeback and the supplies are building up for the April and Easter markets. As Autumn moves in down here and the food starts to dry up for the birds in out area it was lovely to see a little bird partaking of our fare this morning. Only wish I had had the camera on hand.

I have also been working on repainting a cane surround mirror that I picked up from the side of the road. I love the cyclic nature of nature strip finds. I find many treasures in this way and always make sure I return the karmic favour by placing my unwanted items out to find their way into someone elses life. They never last long either. This week after finding the mirror I finally decided to get rid of the only remaining wooden bar stool. I think it was about 5 mins before it had been picked up. But I digress.... My new to me mirror was a terrible 'old bathroon pink' and is now on its was to being classic white. Before and after shots to come another time.

Last but not least, my vegie garden has amazed all and continues to grow despite the cat deciding that it is now here favourite place to sleep in the sun ( 3 snow pea plants died for her comfort) and the dog that has taken a liking to nibbling the lemongrass and silverbeet at the base of the plants. Nonetheless, the surviving peas needed a frame to climb up, so, as of this afternoon there is now a trellis hung on our fence. The man at Bunnings wanted to make it so complicated and I'm sure he would not approve of my hanging method. Rather than multiple screws and brackets I have opted for  3 squared hooks mounted to the fence, which will enable me to remove or raise the trellis frame when I want/need. Silly man, there is no rule that says things can only be used  for their original purpose....

Take a break from your creating, and pop over to Kootoyoo to browse through what other creative folk have been up to.

My Creative Space

 I Wish.....

My first creative space for a while finds me wishing....
Wishing for more time  -  my mind is working a million miles an hour with new ideas and there is is not enough hours left in the day after normal work and after school activities to get them all done.
I have new ideas for the silver cutlery that I hope will be a winner for Easter, and, I also want to have time to play around , just experimenting with spoons like the one above - nothing for sale,  just feel good stuff around the house for me.
I also have a grand new idea for fleece this winter. I am calling it B.L.I.S.S. ( but you will have to wait for the great unveiling to see what it stands for.) BUT, and this is a big BUT , BLISS is still in my mind and has yet to have any prototypes made.
The plus side however it that sewing can be done late at night. Bashing spoons flat and then stamping them is a little noisey to be done after dark.

As for all the other ideas, eg  the clothes that I would like to make,  learning  to crochet/knit , free form stiching, being creative with coffee sacks, the list goes on -   well, they will just have percolate in the brain a little longer.

I hope you find time for your creative persuits and play along at Kootoyoo

Bite Size Snippets .....

After the recent success of my 'Mini Maps of Melbourne' Coaster sets which were chosen to be gifts for the International VIPS at last weeks Loreal Fashion Week here in Melbourne and the requests I have had for sets from more northern destinations, Bite-Size Bits of Brisbane and Snippets of Sydney Coaster sets have been born. So favourite or memorable places in any city up the east coast can now be a talking point and create a drink with a difference.

The original .....

how they look when assembled

and the new additions....

Next in line is a wider range of aviation map placemats and some travel tealights ....... stay tuned .....

. . . Hiatus Over . . .

Big and Little has been on a hiatus for the last 4 months due mostly to the fact that I cannot do everything. Now however due to so many email and  other requests I will attempt to get it back up and going.
Just before the hiatus last year I started my Hand Stamped Silver Spoons and Forks. I thought these might be a cute little gift  for Christmas and that I might sell a couple or three. Over 500 spoons later I am still amazed how successful they have been and continue to be. With this, Christmas, school holidays, work and wanting to spend as much time as possible with the family in the small glimpses of summer that we had, it was necessary to sleep at night and take a break from blogging.
Over the next little while I will show you what I have been up to creatively over the last few months. To do it all now would be too much for anyone to handle - including me.
Lets just start with the fact that it is work tomorrow and my vow this year is to me more varied in the jewellery I wear ( and the wardrobe for that matter). Normally I have one necklace and wear it to death - not this year - this is the year of change!
On this note, tonight, I have been inspired by all the dandelion (or fairy clocks as they are called in our house) craft there is around at the moment and have made/stamped myself a pair of brass earings to wear tomorrow.
Not quite how I imagined them but pleased all the same. No one at the office tomorrow will notice ( a downside of all male co-workers) but I will know they are new and different.
Judge for yourself.......

I will change the jump rings and hooks for brass coloured when I have a chance to get to Spotlight etc but to be able to wear them tomorrow silver will have to do. I am a perfectionist when it comes to selling my products but for my family and myself, many shortcuts or 'modifications' are made - all in the name of experimentation of course.
'till next time - happy autumn

My Creative Space

Christmas has come early in my creative space this week as I work through the final touches, problems and hiccups, for the tea light Christmas carols to be launched at the Red Hill market on Saturday. I am very happy with them and I hope many customers will be to. Perfect for that little gift for a friend or prehaps a teacher?

Play along with your creative space at Kootoyoo.

@my house - a little bit late

My house this week finds me totally our of whack! Don't get me wrong, I love 4 day holiday weekends but it does throw my time/day clock out of whack. I went through today thinking it was Sunday and that I had plenty of time to get everything done for the Red Hill market next Saturday. Just after lunch it hit me that I have less than 2 days to get everything done as tomorrow is out with 'normal' work and the candle holders will not even arrive until Thursday arvo. So.... I pulled my little finger out and got on with all the new fork and spoon options I have had floating around in my head, and I must say they have turned out rather well.  They are now all up for sale in my madeit shop

My favourites are the custom teaspoons ....

I had never like the idea of garden forks but when I stuck a couple of them in the garden at jaunty angles, it changed my mind. They now come in single forks, sets of 3 or mixed sets with spoons.

Now there are just the pile of coasters to do, more spoons and forks to stamp, cook book clips to stamp and fold, and the christmas tealight holders to create from scratch. Somehow I think I will be seeing a lot of the 'mystery hours' in the next few days.

Apart from all of that it was Melbourne Cup Day today ( hence the holiday, yesterday was mid-term break) and  'the race that stops a nation' did stop everything at our house, as, for the 3 1/2 minutes that the race took, we were all glued to the TV.

Play along with your house here

My Creative Space

My creative space today finds me creating new spoon ideas for the upcoming Christmas shopping markets.
Here is cook book holder idea #1

This one will be mine as I was a little distracted by a 3 yr old this morning when stamping the 'H', hence its wrong alignment. I can't believe I had stamped all the other words, spelling backwards, as I went without incident and I stuff up on a simple H , two words from the end. Arghhhhhh!!!

~~~~~

I also spent the day remaking  2 of my toddler drums that I thought were winging their way to my lovely madeit shoppers. Australia Post contacted me today to advise me that they had been involved in an 'accident' and were destroyed. They will reimburse me the cost of the goods and the original postage but when I said the replacements should be sent express post, I was politely told that that would cost Australia Post too much. Really???

~~~~~

While trawling the net the other day I came across a small brooch with the 'unknown Beatrix Potter tea drinking rabbit' on it and now I have located a copy of the picture for myself, I am trying to decide what to do, make with it etc.... (the original 10cm x 12cm painting sold for 15, 600 brittish pounds 2 years ago, I wrote this out as I couldn't find the pound symbol,).

Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.
If I think about this some more I am sure I can put off other proper work for a bit longer.

How has your 'space' been? Play along here at Lou's

@my house

The week started early at my house today with Sarah heading off on a 5 day camp to a wilderness village. Last night she was counting down the hours and was up by 6am this morning, ready and rearing to go. Going back to being a single child household is very quiet and easy.
The rest of the day was spent finsishing off this little guy ( why a red cat with pink spots is a boy I don't know but it is). He was made from a pattern by Wee Wonderfuls and you can download it here.

Mia has named him 'Cat'

When I had Mia, a lovely lady by the name of Jenny, would sew my baby slings for me as there was no way I would have been able to keep up the supply for shops, markets and internet sales with a new baby.
When  I was back in the swing of things I bit the bullet and outsourced a lot of my sewing to a commercial sewing company, which just left the finishing touches - ie 50 studs per sling for the adjustable version and the final sewing that could only be completed after all the studs were done.
With time on her hands and now back in the swing of sewing Jenny came up with these gorgeous heirloom dolls. They have painted feet, tea stained socks for the vintage look, designer heirloom fabric for their bloomers and dresses and high quality wool for their hair. Each of their faces are hand stiched and as every one is different they all have their own unique personality.
Anyway, Jenny attended a few markets and received a huge order for the dolls only to find out when they were all finished ,that the person renegged on the deal and only took half the initial number ordered.  I hate these people, and may Karma come and bite them in the bum!
Anyway, unsure on how to list things on madeit and also how to get good photos of her stock, I agreed to set up her shop and get a few of the dolls listed. If sales take off then I will pass it back to her to manage. To check out these dolls and prehaps have them join your family check out her shop, 'The Dolls House'  here.

The lovely weather today provided the perfect opportunity for photographing the dolls and Mia loved posing with them and introducing them to 'Cat'

 What's happeining at your house? Play along with here with Buttons by Lou Lou

My Creative Space

My Creative space finds me a lot more creative and happy than last week. It has however, not been a very crafty creative week so far. Instead, it has been creative in the sense of completing the company website and getting it live, finding a venue, and then creating the invitations, for the company Christmas lunch. I did finish and post my softie for the softie swap I am taking part in, so there was a bit of crafty goodness.

Now my 'real' work, as hubby calls it, is over for the week it is time to get all the 'playwork' (spoon, drum and baby sling) orders finished and posted out tomorrow. For once I wish it was going to rain so I would want to stay inside instead of being a beautiful 29'C that I will want to spend every minute outside soaking up the wonderful warmth.

Mia has made up for my lack of crafting this week as every morning as I am getting breakfasts and lunches ready, she sits at her table making wonderful creatures out of playdough and then today had an absolute ball at playgroup when the outside craft activity was messing around with shaving cream. - Oh such simple tactile pleasures.

Happy creating. Play along at Kootoyoo.