craftjuice

lustful object of the day: lovemae fabric wall decals

Via Kaz/Bloesem, I've just found these amazing wall decals which are made from fabric, not vinyl. OMG! Have you ever seen woodland so cute!?  And I think I might need these in my own bedroom...

And there is GREAT boy designs too!

blackboard toy tags

I saw this idea in a magazine somewhere. They used little blackboard slates affixed to the front of stackable boxes for toy storage.  The slate was big enough (it looked about 3" x 5")to also draw a picture on the front what was inside.

I found these little balsa wood tags at Spotlight and painted them with blackboard paint and tied them to some Ikea Branas baskets with a pipe cleaner.  I've got several boxes of various sizes for Miss M's trains, drawing, tea party, etc.  The Ikea baskets are cheap, sturdy, stackable (as long as you don't overload them!), have handles and are nice to look at (I'm not a fan of the bright plastic stackables).

I guess if you want to go one step further, you could make a little felt shape to mirror the contents and attach that too. Kind of like a luggage tag!

status report: saturday 23 may, 7.26am

it's another rainy day...

Finishing: waking up - waaay too early for a Saturday today, Miss M!

Cooking: coffee and panadol

Planning: to start sorting out my winter woolies and packing for my trip to Auckland on Monday

Checking out: if that smell is coming from Miss M or the dog...

Just discovered: it's coming from the dog.

Listening to: the rain

I really must: do something about all the wet washing on my clothesline...

Watching: Ben 10 Alien Force

Wanting: to go back to bed

Have just finished: doing last night's dishes

Going to: check out what's on at the movies today - it's that kind of rainy day thing to do

Needing to: buy a new pair of jeans and sneakers

Thinking about: yay! I'm holidays for two weeks!

Looking forward to: only two more sleeps until Auckland!

a day at kitefest

Today we all enjoyed a day out to the Redcliffe Kitefest!  I think Miss M summed it up best with "Mum, this is really really fun!". 

You can see we all had a terrific time watching some big kites, a bit of an airshow and Miss M's favourite - parachute jumpers!  It was a beautiful day, but unfortunately, only a little bit of wind...not so great for kites...oh well.

It was a fantastic day out with lots happening and some great Neil Diamond music Miss M thought was 'rockin'!

reading corner cushions

Last night between watching Eurovision semi finals (my heart says Estonia, but my head says Germany - they have a secret weapon!) and drinking wine (I can vouch for its yummy passionfruitiness), I made up these cushions for Miss M's reading chair in her room. 

I've been wanting to make some cozy cushions for her to sit on or snuggle next to for quite awhile and yesterday I became all-inspired and bravely cut into my stash of magnificent cotton/linen blend and hand screen printed (environmentally friendly, solvent free inks) I've been collecting from Melbourne-based Hollabee!  I just love these colours and they look so lovely together.

One cushion I made with pink on one side and green on the other. The other cushion was blue and green.

(Don't you love that little Indian Boy 'Sigh' embroidery up top? He was made by my clever friend Eileen and I bought him at one of her recent exhibitions)

Although cushions are very simple to make, I go into panic mode making them (hence the wine) as any mistake is really easy to see. Perfection is the only option for me. But I was really happy how these turned out - I also thought I did the zips really nicely (if I do say so myself!).

If you have been so inspired, you can buy some of Hollabee's delicious designs here.

status report: saturday 15 may, 7.18am

The morning light on the grass in the vacant blocks behind out house - this picture doesn't really do it justice just how lovely the light highlights the grass seed heads.

Finishing: putting on my cardigan...brrr...bit cold this morning!

Cooking: yep, more porridge

Planning: to sew up the hole where the seam has opened up in my new mother's day pyjamas (why oh why are things that you buy not made properly?)

Checking out: Mr B in the shower ;)

Just discovered: if I unpick the shoulder 'feature' buttons on my new t-shirt, it makes it look a whole lot better

Listening to: Mr B still in the shower (he's taking faaar too long in there)

I really must: start to do some research on crafty places in Auckland - only nine sleeps until holidays!

Watching: The Incredibles

Wanting: more new clothes for Winter. Warm ones. Fashionable ones.

Have just finished: a lovely family sleep in this morning - Miss M managed to stay snuggled until almost 7am!

Going to: the hairdresser today for a new 'do'!  Who doesn't like a new 'do' for holidays!

Needing to: finish Miss M's breakfast

Thinking about: buying Miss M a nice warm dressing gown.

Looking forward to: seeing Star Trek today!

crafty ikea cushions!

Check out these new crafty cushions from Ikea! It looks a bit like a button card printed on!

And only A$10 for 2! Bargain.

brisbane craft markets

There are two fantastic markets you just need to go to if you are in Brisbane or just passing through...

June 7 - Young Designers Market at Southbank (also 5 July, 2 August, 6 September, 4 October, 1 November, 6 December)

July 4 - Etsy Brisbane Street Team: BrisStyle Market, Augustines Church Hall, Racecourse Rd, Hamilton

Put them in your diary now and start squirreling away that grocery money!!!

threads and more

Today Mum, Miss M and I took an outing over to Threads & More.  Wow! What an amazing store! And it even had a cafe in situ where we had to have the freshly baked apple and date crumble with a fantastic flat white! Delish! (See how I jump straight to the thigh busting food?)

Threads & More is a knitting, crochet, tapestry and anything-else-you-can-think-of-to-do-with-thread kinda store, with wall to wall rainbows of colours and textures that Miss M found hard not to touch every one of. (So did I actually!)  Now, I'm a terrible knitter and have hardly even attempted crochet, but even just walking into this store makes your fingers itch to pick up a hook or some needles and a ball of wool and make it into something beautiful.

Actually, even if you can't knit or crochet, they even have a service where they will make the yarned-thing-of-your-dreams for you! Hmmm...

They also had a fantastic selection of crafty books, which I was able to browse for about 15 seconds before Miss M bolted towards the hundreds of rows of embroidery thread. Wow!

Mum was really interested in their 'block of the month' product. Each month, you surrender around $55-65 and they send you a pattern and some of their beautiful wool to make several squares, building each month towards a magnificent knitted rug over six months. Genius!  Now that doesn't seem too overwhelming does it? Essentially you end up with a 'sampler' rug and a whole heap of exciting new knitting or crochet skills!

They also have lots of classes and help, so if you get stuck, you can pop in and get it sorted.

And have more cake.

brid bird giveaway!

I'm just MAD for these right now and the very generous Bridget Farmer at brid bird is giving away one of her magnificent featherstitch fantail brooches! 

Go on - you KNOW you want one!

Head on over to her Featherstitch Fantail blog and tell her which one is your favourite to win!