The year that will be

What. A. Year.

A relationship breakdown, a friendship loss, illness - a long list of emotional draining experiences.

But this year, the good far out weighed the bad. A new blog, a new baby, new friendships and a personal strength gained through all those challenging experiences.

I'm one for resolutions, but not one for New Years resolutions. Mine are the type made weekly, that are achievable, that are realistic. What I can say though is next year is building up to be a fantastic year. Each member of our tribe celebrating a milestone birthday, 1, 5 and 25. The Prince begins his long (and hopefully joyful) journey into the joys of school (sob) starting on the 9th of February.

We get to start off the New Year with a visit from my best friend since birth, who's current residence is in Conventary in the UK. Also her mother who lives in Texas, USA.

May you stay safe in your New Years celebrations, we will be sitting on our balcony sipping on tea, munching on biscuits watching our towns fireworks whilst I finish some hand-stitching on an extra special gift.

I look forward to sharing our new year with you all.

Happy New Year,

With Love,

The Wiggins Tribe

Get Orgnaised: My Creative Space

Where do you create? Gone are my days of having a whole room dedicated to crafting, there is just not enough space. For the past few months I have been crafting on the kitchen bench or the dining room table. I don't mind doing this except I found that when I got the crafting bug, by the time I had managed to drag out my huge plastic boxes of fabric and sewing notions, the crafting bug had died.

Not only that - but all my sewing things were stored in those huge UGLY plastic storage boxes on wheels - and they were all stacked in two piles of three in my room. Sometimes they were draped in a fabric I liked - at least to try and hide their uglyness, but most of the time they just sat there reminding me every morning when I woke up how ugly they were.

I can hear all you 'main-land' Aussies screaming in your heads 'Why doesn't this Women go to Ikea'... well, another problem of mine, just make sure you are sitting down before scrolling down...








WE DON"T HAVE AN IKEA!!! (this could be a whole blog post on its own!) Can you just imagine how I survive - I tell you, not well, not well at all.

So off I trekked to the local Kmart the other day and bought a car load of those white boxes that you can see in the above picture and got to work on cleaning out a closet in our dining room to store all my crafty things within easy access. And I must say, I am digging the result (I just won't show you what is opposite this picture - a whole pile of crap which I now have to find homes for)


I still have a lot more crafty things to go through and sort, but now that I have some direction as to how they are being sorted it shouldn't be to long before I will be moving into this wardrobe, let the creating begin!

A Whimsical Find...

A few months ago a friend sent me a link to a wonderful website, Bit of Whimsy Dolls. I must say, I am hooked on Sarah's patterns... (photos taken with my phone so please excuse the quality!)

Meet Tommy T-Rex, made for a friend in WA as well as...

and...

All now special friends to four little people.

I love making them for so many reasons, they are quick and quite simple and also there is nothing quite like watching a soft toy that has quite a bit of character come to life because of your own two hands.

Below is my current project for a friends baby girl - the doll is finished but I am making up a few little outfits to go along with her, some pj's, a jean and top set and hopefully a fairy costume. She is so sweet, I could just see my house becoming full of soft toys made from Bit of Whimsy Patterns!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I will be back later to share our day with you when I have all the photos down loaded.

T'was the day before Christmas...

T'was the day before Christmas and all through our castle,

the Wiggins Tribe was a singing with out even a hassle.

All our presents were wrapped and placed under our tree,

Oh how we can't wait till morning to see what they will be.

With smiles and laughter our Christmas photos were taken,

we are the cutest kids in the world, now don't be mistaken.

With mumma in her jammies, and kids in their Christmas hats,

We ran around our castle getting tinsel back off our cats,

When out in the street, there were Christmas Caroler's a singing,

Oh wow oh wow, what joy they are a bringing.

All our Christmas dishes have been made,

all the Christmas festivities hoorayed,

all that is left now is to lay our sweet heads,

down upon our beds.

To all our wonderful friends good night,

May your Christmas tomorrow be bright.

Merry Christmas Everyone,

With Love, 

The Wiggins Tribe.

Free MCN's

I have a whole heap of newborn MCN's (All in Ones) that were handmade by me... Some are secondhand, some brand new, I no longer have any use for them and they are looking for a new baby's bottom to cover :)

If you, or anyone you know would benefit from them, send me a message via the contact tab above - if you don't live locally all I ask is that you pay postage - I should be able to fit them all in a 3 kg post bag.

go {heart} yourself #3

"go {heart} yourself is a part of my blog where I will share with you the things that I LOVE about myself, in doing this I hope to also change or improve the things that are stopping me from being who I want to be, ME. I'd love it if you would join in with me, so come on, lets all go {heart} ourselves!"

I know it has been a few weeks in between go {heart} yourself, but I am back on the ball this week. Last episode, we had two great entries, I enjoyed reading them and have visited them both a few times to re-read.

This week, in the lead up to the peak of the festive season it is really easy to get carried away in giving your all to everyone else around you and then forgetting the one person that matters the most... YOU! So this week with go {heart} yourself, why not declare something that you are going to do for YOU, be it something physical or mental.

This week, I am going to let go of all the things I feel I 'should' be doing for everyone else, I'm going to use that found time to spend some quality time with my children, because there can never be to much of that. Today we are going to be making some handmade Christmas cards, and for the rest of the week we have shortbread and a gingerbread house to make.

Enjoy your week, and remember to love yourself, because YOU are amazing xxx

Gifts for my Bloggy Friends #2

{If you want to know what this is about, check out the first post here}

For Hayley, from Our Unique Journey

Hayley, It took me a while to pin point one thing that I would make you this year if I had the time, but in the end, I settled with a few things that 'go' together... A sewing kit, handmade high heel shoe looking pin cushion, a sewing bag, a cover for the new baby in your life (aka your sewing machine ;) and also including little handmade tags that say 'handmade by hayley' to put on all those lovely things you have been creating... they would look something like this...

If I was a millionaire, I would buy you two things. The first, going along with my sewing theme... one of these baby's (I'd also buy one for myself)

The second, was something I thought about while writing this post... and you know what made me think of it??? I can just imagine little Coop looking so utterly adorable in some Mickey Mouse ears... Thats right, a family trip to here!

Hayley, I hope you, Cooper and hubby have a really great Christmas, I've enjoyed watching Cooper grow up this year, can't believe that he is almost one - it seems like only yesterday I was reading your blog for the first time and he was only four (or so) months old!!

My Creative Space

I have been making so much for everyone else lately, I thought it was about time that I made something for my own daughter. I have a pile of old clothes that I don't wear, but just couldn't throw away so I rummaged through them this morning and pulled out one of my all time favourtie tee's. A few cuts, a few stitches (maybe one swear word!) and about an hour later I had a cute little t-shirt dress for my princess. This is the first time that I have really tried to sew with a stretchy fabric. I normally stick with cottons, easy to sew, great results... So I am very pleased with how it turned out... stretch is hard to sew when you are used to sewing cotton. It doesn't do what you tell it to do and the machine will eat it if your not careful!! (I was lucky, my machine must of been full this morning)

So, she has a little bit to grow into, but I think it looks cute! Ever so soft and comfy and best of all I didn't need to buy a single piece of fabric, talk about saving the environment ;).

Now I am off to rummage through my wardrobe to see what else I can cut up... I wonder if I have any old Christmas tees??

Gifts for my Bloggy Friends

I have been reading a lot of posts lately about gift buying. Great finds and buys for the whole family. I was thinking of posting something similar, but then I thought that I would mix things up a little...

So, here is the first of gifts that I would make (if I had the time) and that I would buy (if I was a millionaire) for my bloggy friends :)

For Cat, From beloverly

Cat, if I had the time to make you a Christmas present, it would be a journal cover. Not just any journal cover, but one to fit a moleskin diary. On the front of it I would make a patch that said 'Bebito Dictionary'. I would hope that you would use it to place all those wonderful posts you write about words that your Bebito uses.

If I were a millionaire, I would cheat and get you two things... This... and this....

Come back tomorrow to see what I would make and buy Hayley. :)

5 Months

My sweet princess is now 5 months old. Its so cliche to say 'where has the time gone', but it really does feel like it was only yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting her arrival.

In five short months she has gone from snuggly newborn, to a delightful, giggly girl who is just about crawling. We have had a few presents opened under the Christmas Tree, and any toy that her brother leaves on the floor is up for grabs.

She is such a peaceful babe, never really uttering a cry. She loves being read to, and loves her brother jumping up and down.

Her favourite song is 'You are my sunshine' or 'Open, Shut them'.

Favourite toy is her butterfly wrist rattle (or her brothers toy cat if she manages to grab it)

Her favourite noise to make is a high pitched girly squeal.

We are still breastfeeding, and it is such a joy.

She is a blankie baby, she loves blankets to cuddle, suck, play you name it!

Her favourite game is 'Where is Ava' (pick-a-boo)

Dear baby girl, while I enjoy watching you grow day by day, please slow down, if only for a little while. I love those baby giggles, and those baby smiles. I'd like to hold on to them, if even just for a little bit longer. You and your brother bring me such joy, I'm so glad you picked me for your mama. 

Just a quick post

My little princess is growing to fast!

We have had a few interstate visitors the last few days, so have been spending a lot of quality time with them, usual programing returns tomorrow :) We hope you had a nice weekend xx

Christmas Stocking Tutorial

So here goes, my first EVER attempt at a tutorial... so grin, nod, applaud if you will, but more importantly bear with me whilst I iron out the kinks ;)

Personalised Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Christmas is fast approaching us, and here is a nice little Christmas craft project to fill up an afternoon.

For this project you are going to need the following:

• 1/2 m of fabric for the front (you made need at least a meter if you have a printed fabric so that the print runs the right way.) 
• 1/2 m of fabric for the back (you could either have a contrasting colour or keep it the same as the front)
• 50 cm of Ric Rac (or lace/ribbon etc) in a contrasting colour
• scrap of Calico big enough for the name plate

Step One: Cut Out Stocking

First things first, you are going to need a stocking template. I used my brothers childhood stocking because it was on top of the decoration box and also has a really nice shape. You could free hand a stocking shape or pick up a cheap stocking from your local $2.00 shop to use as a template.

Lay your fabric on your cutting surface with right sides facing each other. Pin template/pattern to fabric and cut out, making sure to also cut a seam allowance.

The green boarder you can see here is how much seam allowance I gave myself - I also add an extra few cm's to the top so that I can give it a nice hem at the end.

You should have two pieces now, a front and a back.

Step Two: Cut out name plate


Next you need to cut out a piece of calico for the name plate as wide as the stocking where it will be placed and its height can be as big as you want/need it to be. Remember to add on a seam allowance to the height so that you can hem it before attaching.

Step Three: Decorate Name Plate

Now you can decorate your name plate - I embroidered mine and the Prince chose two iron on appliqués from the local craft store., but the list is endless in what you could do. Applique, fabric paint etc. When decorating it, remember about the seam allowances and try not to decorate in that area or you will lose some of your design when you put it together.

Step Four: Hem and Attach Name Plate

Next step is to hem your name plate on the longest sides, I do this just simply by ironing over the sides.

Place your hemed name plate on the right side of the fabric you want for the front of your stocking. Lay your ric rac (or other decorative ribbon) along the top and bottom of the name plate and pin in place...

Sew along the ric rac (making sure that you are catching the name plate underneath as well) 

Step Five: Sew Stocking together

With right sides facing pin the stocking together and sew. (remember to leave to top opened, or santa won't be able to fill it up ;)

I then like to go around the edges in a zig zag stitch to give it a longer life. You could also use an overlocker, but I was to lazy to drag it out of the cubboard ;)

Step Six: Hem Opening and attach hanging string

Your stocking is almost complete. Now you need to hem the opening. I fold over the hem once and iron in place and then fold the edges under, iron and pin in place.

Sew hem in place, remembering to keep it neat because you see the hem stitch on the outside.

Next grab some of your left over ric rac, fold in half and sew to the inside seam of the stocking

Step Seven:

Turn in the right way, iron to shape and tadaa, your own personalised Christmas stocking. Now that was easy wasn't it. If you have any questions or you feel as though there is something that I need to add to this tutorial comment below. If you use my tutorial to make your own stocking, I'd love to see it.

Join us for our next Christmas tutorial in a few days until then, stay smiling :)

Slip of the finger

Oh boo hoo to me - I was changing the colour of my blog post font in the blog design part and saved changes I didn't want to save... So please bear with me while I get things back to normal.

Christmas with the Wiggins Tribe

I love Christmas, I mean, REALLY love Christmas. Even as an adult I struggle to sleep past three o'clock in the morning on Christmas day. I can't label any one particular thing that makes Christmas appeal to me so much, whether it be the yummy food or gorgeous decorations, I love it all.

Not only is it the Princess's first Christmas this year, it is also the first Christmas for The Wiggins Tribe Blog, so we are going to celebrate in big style.

Over the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas day, I am going to be running a BIG Christmas special. With lots of sewing, craft and cooking tutorials as well as some handmade gift buying guides. First up tomorrow will be a tutorial on how to make your own personalised Christmas stocking.

Do you love Christmas as much as me? Do you have something that you would love to share in a guest post?

Fighting with a smile

Now, I must not complain, the princess is in a nice pattern of sleeping from around 7.30-8.00 until around 4.30 - 5.00 most nights. Its of a day that she fights with me to sleep, even though she is tired she is at that age where there is to much going on around to actually want to close those little eyes. So begins the fighting.

The wrapping of the arms coincides with fits of giggles - which she knows makes me giggle.

The rocking or bouncing method starts off the cooing.

The lullaby singing starts off her own attempt to sing.

An hour later, no sleep happening yet its time for another feed and then it all begins again, hopefully this round produces an exhausted princess, because it sure produces an exhausted mama.

Doesn't she get that when she sleeps well of a day,  she sleeps better of a night. Obviously no one sent her that memo!

Jumping is Hilarious

I think I'll let the video do the talking!