What a day!

Wowee! What a lovely birthday I had yesterday.

Thanks so much to everyone who left me a birthday message via text message, on my blog, on my facebook page and on their blogs! You certainly all know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday.

I had a most delicious lunch at the Boathouse with my sister and one of my girlfriends.

Not only was the food delicious, but the atmosphere was completely relaxing. I could have quite happily stayed there all day drinking cappucinos!

There were so many delicious things to choose from on the menu ....... I'm dreaming about what I'm going to eat on my next visit already.

My creative space - the birthday edition

I spent four hours cleaning up my crafty clutter on Monday........

So now there's lots of clear space to get creative again.......

But first, I'm heading to the Boathouse for lunch to celebrate my birthday (let's just say that I've now crossed over the mid-thirties mark).

In the meantime, make sure to check out all of the other lovely spaces at Kootoyoo.

Just the Ticket

It's only one week to go until the Melbourne Stitches and Craft Show!

I was very lucky to win a free ticket so I have my entry sorted, but if you're really quick, there's still time to head on over to Myrtle and Eunice and put your hand up (or your name down) for a freebie over there.


I've been really busy helping with the preparations, so please come along and show your support for all the Indie Crafters and Small Businesses who will be displaying their gorgeous goodies over the five days.

Alter-Ego Road Trip

The Supasel softie headed off on a road trip on the weekend...... all the way to the country.
Safety is the number one priority when travelling.

She was handed over from the giver to the receiver.

It looks like mum thought the joke was pretty darn funny!

The Weekend

How time flies when I spend time hanging out with my little nephews.

I took Moo Moo and Nico to a friends sons 6th birthday party on Saturday.
The DS pouch was a hit - the birthday boy loved it!
All the kiddies had a great time - there was a pinata, pass the parcel, and pin the tail on the donkey.
I filled the boys up with sugar and food colouring and then delivered them both back home to their parents (that's the advantage of being the aunty).

Collecting firewood

On Sunday I headed out to mums place in the country for some fresh air with my Sister and BIL and the kiddies.

 Climbing into the goat enclosure

The boys had a great time running around and visiting all the animals on Nana's farm.

They got to feed the chooks and ducks, and collect the eggs....

...and talk to the goldfish.
 

There's a big tree in the paddock next to the house with four swings...

.... and plenty of space for fossicking.

What fun!

New Stockist - Lark

I'm very excited to announce that you can now find my flower brooches at the Lark Shop in Daylesford.

They're a perfect gift for Mothers Day, so pop in and visit the shop and check out all of the other lovely handmade goodies too!

Alter-Ego

Meet SupaSel
She's just a big softie at heart (lame craft joke sorry).

Sweet and funny and whispering sweet nothings???

or Weird and freaky and telling tall tales???


If you'd like to make your own, it was really very simple.


I took a close-up facial photo, and then printed it to the necessary size using ink-jet printable fabric. 
After printing, I colour highlighted the features such as the eyes and the lips using fabric marker textas that I picked up at Officeworks, to make the photo look more doll-like. You could also do this in photoshop if you're a whizz (I'm not).

When cutting out the face, make sure to leave yourself a seam allowance all the way around. I made my own template for the body and arms and legs (which is why they're really out of proportion).


I used ric-rac sewn into the head seam for hair, and hand stitched some handbag rings onto the side of her head for earrings. Of course, omit the buttons and earrings if you need it to be baby/toddler safe.

My Creative Space... or welcome to WIP world

Everything is just slightly chaotic in my creative space this week....

I seem to have lots of projects on the go, all in a similar state of unfinishedness.

The dress, arms, and legs above are for a softie that I'm making for mum for mothers day, on behalf of my little sister. When we visited last week, Sel was teasing that there weren't enough happy snaps of herself dotted around mums new cottage. We were trying to hatch a plan of making some sort of cardboard cutout when Liesl came up with lightbulb moment suggestion of making a softie.

I bought myself some ink-jet printable fabric, and I'm going to print a photo of Sels face to make the head of the softie. I'm hoping that mum thinks it's as hilarious as we do!

I'm also still working on a little DS pouch that I started last weekend. A friends little boy is having a birthday party on Saturday and his main present from his parents is going to be a DS Lite.

I've added some heavy wadding to the inside in case of accidents...

.....and a tab with a D-ring, to attach a little lanyard that I whipped up in the same cute cogs fabric.

I just need to make the inside of the pouch (if I can remember the original dimensions as I didn't write it down as I was working...aaaagghhhhh).

Here's hoping that I get them finished today!


As always, make sure to visit the mighty linky list over at Kirsty's place

Watcha Wearin' Wednesday

Another little package arrived in the mail for me this week - all the way from sunny Queensland!

I absolutely adore floral accessories.... in fact it may just be bordering on an obsession. I spotted these beautiful brooches over at Chasing Purple Dreams a few weeks ago..... and now I have my very own.

Note to self: Get thee to the hairdresser to sort out those grey roots!

Kylie also sent me a lovely matching floral hairclip which is absolutely perfect as I'm still trying to grow out my fringe, meaning that I wear a hairclip virtually every day.

If you'd like to make your own, Kylie has a great tutorial written here, or you could just pop in to Handmade Heaven and buy one.

Thanks so much Kylie, I think I'm in floral love!

Myrtle the Turtle

Meet Myrtle* - this amazing little creature arrived at my house yesterday. When I signed up for the pincushion swap, I would never have imagined that I could have received such a perfect pressie, in all my favourite colours!

Christy from Little Betty Designs has crocheted an absolute masterpiece for me. I'm sure everyone knows how much I truly appreciate the art and skill of crochet, because I've failed miserably at trying to learn it myself.

I don't think I want to stick pins in Myrtle just yet in case she is ruined. I think she'll be joining the gaggle of merry critters that live in my bookshelf instead.

Christy also sent me a lovely little crochet brooch - the perfect accessory for autumn. Thanks so much Christy and Kate!

* When my siblings and I were very little, we had a babysitter named Myrtle, so of course we called her 'Myrtle the Turtle' (nothing else rhymes with Myrtle - right?)..... as soon as I saw my little turtle, I just knew she was a Myrtle.

SwapPIN'

I'm late, I'm late.... for a very important date!

After all the busy-ness of last week, I only managed to finish my pin cushion on the weekend, so I'll be on the doorstep of the post office first thing thismorning to send it on its way.

I'm doing the 'big reveal' early, as I'm quite sure that my swapee has absolutely no inkling that I was her swapper.

After stumbling at my first gung-ho attempt at this, I decided to tone down my crazy patchwork with a bit of soothing green. It was still missing a little something.... so some extra random stitching was required to get it over the line. In the end, it's a very super simple, little pin pillow design.

I've packaged up with some little pins and yummy chocolate. I hope my swap partner likes it!


A huge huge thankyou must go out to Kate who put in so much time and effort to organise such a wonderful (and rather gi-normous) swap.

Flea Market Finds

I have a handed-down op shop find to show today...

While mum was moving house earlier this week, she was getting rid of this sweet little butter dish. I remember this always being around from the time that I was a littlie, so I grabbed it to keep.

It was apparently found in an op shop in Penshurst some time in the 1970's. It was lovingly used by us for years and years (as you can tell from the crazing).

After doing a minute amount of internet research, I've found that it was manufactured between 1951 and 1952. Now it's going straght to the pool room treasure shelf.

For more Flea Market Finds, pop on over to Sophie.

The Dirty Thirties...

It's my little brothers 30th birthday today!

You may ask - what on earth do you make a blokey bloke for his 30th birthday (I was asking myself that same exact question)?

Luckily the tea towel stash came to the rescue. I had ONE 1980 tea towel in the pile, and amazingly it wasn't covered in Australian Wildflowers like 99% of the other calendar tea towels.

There's not much choice when it comes to blokey fabrics, so I went with a camo print for the sides and brown and white gingham for the trim.

Now he's all set for tonights birthday barbecue!

Just Five Days

Houdini's Granny Blanket on the couch

Houdini dog lived up to his nickname after just five short days......

I've been feeding him his favourite foods, and I even let him sleep inside as it was really quite chilly, but then I came home from work lastnight to find him gone, although I could hear him yelping. I'd had my fences re-inforced all around the back, but he'd managed to dig himself a little squeezy hole at the side of the house instead. It seems that he'd had a jolly old day playing with Zane the malamute next door.

After dinner, I made him a nice little spot on the couch with an op-shopped granny blanket.....

Can you see me?

But where do you think I found him instead?

I think he might be in hiding from Hissy Cat.

I promise this is definitely not becoming a Dog Blog...... it just seems that way at the moment! 

My Creative Space - MIA

New pouches sent to Handmade Heaven

My Creative Space is officially MIA today I'm afraid....

The only crafting that has been happening in the last week is of the Super Secret Non-Bloggable pattern testing variety. But, I do have a 'to sew' list for the weekend, which includes two birthday presents. April and May are always crazy for birthdays. I can think of nine family members / friends right off the top my head that have birthdays in these two months.

One thing that I did actually manage this week was to send some new stock to Handmade Heaven, so if you're in the area, make sure to pop in for a look!

The home of My Creative Space....

Whoops!

Warning: Blurry mobile phone photos ahead - please proceed with caution

I didn't mean to disappear from the land of blog, but sometimes real life takes over, and the poor blog gets neglected....

Sorry if I worried anyone with my sudden MIA status, and thanks to all those who checked up on me! I didn't realise that I'd been missing for so long.

I've been helping my mum move house (by towing trailerloads of things to the new country abode),  sorting out a little kitchen reno issue (where I may have ordered the wrong size benchtop) and adjusting to the new routine of having an extra critter in the house.

Houdini dog hasn't managed to escape yet (I had the fences re-inforced before he arrived), but he has managed to wake me up at ungodly hours of the morning by howling like a dingo. I think he's missing his former fluffy companion (my mums dog).  The mexican stand off between Houdini and the cat is also a continuing saga..... there's a lot of hissy cat fits going on around here.

After moving the last load today, mum and I popped into the local cafe/coffee shop/ bric-a-shop in Beeac where I took some happy snaps on my mobile phone.

If you're ever heading through Beeac, it's definitely worth a stop. I indulged with a choc muffin and a hot chocolate.... but I checked out the menu while I was there, and the Sunday morning big breakfast for $7.50 sounds like a plan on my next visit..... yum!