Ribbon Fancy

How cute are these ribbons from Ribbons Galore!? I have one of these pirate cuties on it's way to adorn a new softie I'm working on. 

Max and his wild friends

Who could resist these little monsters?!
Designed by Revoluzza

Recent softie creations

A cool competition

Ikea is running a craft competition this month. The focus is to create something (clothing, toys, home furnishings, etc) using at least 70% IKEA textiles from the current range. Entries close August 12th and I'm going to take a drive up to IKEA in the next week to see what would make a good softie. I've not decided on what to create yet but I've got a couple of weeks to play around with some exisiting and new patterns and see what happens! A winner will be selected based on public voting at the end of August and the winner receives a $1500 IKEA voucher!! Get sewing!

A new creation

This pretty little pony went to a new home today. I hope that she is well loved and gives her owner lots of cuddles. This was my first attempt at creating a four legged softie- I won't show you the calico practice-pony as it's head was far too big for the rest of it's body and it struggled to stand on it's own. Anyway, after a little bit of playing around, this little one turned out well. The corduroy wasn't very forgiving and I had to reinforce it in a couple of places. Overall, I am happy with it and think that the saddle makes a nice addition (thanks to my husband's suggestion.)

Michaela is having a sleepover tonight so Jon and I are going to see Inception. We both loved The Dark Knight and are hoping to be entertained by another Christopher Nolan movie. We saw Exit Through The Gift Shop the other week which was really great, a documentary/ mockumentary by English street artist, Banksy.

Seize the Day

The Feed Your Soul Art Project is one of my favourite links to visit. The beautiful art created and shared on this site is bright and cheery and I have a number of them framed in my house. This month's print is lovely- just have to find a frame and wall to put it.

Monday Favourites

How did you begin your week? I've begun my week with some new things and some of my favourite things.

The fabric that I ordered from etsy arrived today- just gorgeous!! Not sure what that fabric will become but I love these amy Butler fabrics and the French wallpaper one is becoming difficult to find.

Michaela is becoming a real girly girl and spent the day wearing the crocheted necklace I bought for her a couple of months ago- she looks so cute wearing it.

The latest Real Living magazine came out today and I was quick to get my copy. I must subscribe this month to get it a little cheaper but I must say that I get a buzz buying it when it first hits the shelves.

My husband bought me The Handmade Market Place recently and I spent some time reading the marketing and blogging sections. It's a great resource for beginning crafters looking to start selling their work. One of my next jobs is to get some business cards created but I would like to hold off until I get a logo designed to tie everything together.

I made another seahorse today using some Amy Butler fabric I picked up on the cheap from Textile Traders adding in a head fin and making the snout a little shorter and wider. This little guy will be for a friend who is having a baby shower next weekend.

And of course, this cold weather means that I consume at least 3 cups of tea each day- i heart tea!!

Hope you've had a great start to the week

Ideas a plenty

Having been a little house bound due to the wet weather these last few days has given me time explore some ideas and get a few projects underway.

1 I found a seller on ebay who will make me some woven tags so that I can start sewing them into my little creations. US $45 for 200 tags and they should be here in about a fortnight- yay!

2 I'm already thinking about and planning Michaela's 2nd birthday party. I've decided on an Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party. So I've begun playing around with an invitation and looking for ideas for bright, 'mad', tea party decorations.

3- A good friend asked me to create her a couple of softies so I made another seahorse and came up with a quick little pattern (thanks to google images for the basic outline) for a cuddly elephant. I think that I'm going to tweek him/her a little to be a bit more tactile for little ones, crinkly ears and maybe some rope for a tail. The same friend has also asked me to create another couple of new softies for her so I'm thinking about some cool pirate features- eye patch, tattered shirt/shorts, a little felt sword, a head bandana, a parrot friend.

4- Made on the Left Handmade Market is on this weekend at The Saint, Innaloo and I'm hoping to get there on one of the days. It's great that they are having different stalls on each day to allow more crafters to show their talents and I would think that it therefore won't be as crowded as the recent UpMarket at UWA. I'm still toying with the idea of applying to both markets for the opportunity to hold a stall........just not sure how much I would need to make for the market and whether I would have enough time to get everything ready.......food for thought though

A busy few days.....

My husband took our daughter out on Tuesday morning so I had 5 whole hours to myself to do some sewing. I bought this fabric a few days earlier in the search for a little inspiration. Even though I have only used one of them, they gave me the kick start to finish off five chubby penguins which will hopefully enter my etsy store by the end of this week. Unfortunately I don't usually possess a lot of patience when I start a craft project, I have a picture in my mind of how I want it to look and I can sometimes rush to get there ....... needless to say the final result and picture in my mind don't match. I think I'm learning my lesson and have taken a lot more time and care with these little guys. I've hand stitched all the felt details and am looking forward to seeing them sitting on my desk!

The weather was glorious yesterday (we're in for storms for the next few days) so the three of us headed up to Kings' Park. Michaela loved climbing the play equipment, going down the slides (always backwards) and laughed the whole time on the swings. Fingers crossed that there is another nice day these school holidays so that we can go there again.

Cedric the Seahorse

I recently came across Lia's blog and immediately fell in love with her Mr Seahorse softie. So, with a girlfriend's daughter's 2nd birthday approaching I decided to give the pattern a go. It turned out really well, the pattern and instructions were easy to follow, it was quite easy to turn out and stuff and more importantly, it was well received at the birthday party.


But, of course, another little girl also took a fancy to the seahorse so I whipped one up for her the other day while she was having her nap. I really love the shiny fabric I used for the fin. We have named him 'Cedric.'