Busy as a Queen Bee

I haven't been around much these last few weeks... I have been busy, getting organised for a few new things, settling into the school routine, crafting it all leads to a very busy schedule and not much time for electronics.



So here, in a few snippets is what we have been up to. The Princess is now eating with gusto, her favourite snacks being watermelon and sweet potato. I have been sewing up a storm of toys for an up coming market, designing my own doll patterns, making clothes for the princess (that jacket is reversible, and made from scratch from my own pattern YAY!) I have been really getting into the swing of making Waldorf Dolls, the Prince got his very first school sticker on his second day of school for his behavior (beaming mumma here!!) and also again on his third and fourth. He was born ready for school this one, and comes home each day full of excitment, yet when asked what he has been up to says with disappointment... 'they still haven't taught me to read yet!'. Last of all, I have been working on my very first Waldorf doll for sale... the pink hair beauty. She still has some work to go, but is coming along nicely... this one is for a friends little girl!

So, hopefully now I am back in the swing of things... I hope you all had a fab weekend!

Meet Annabelle

Annabelle loves reading and spending time at the library. She is a dear little soul who is as quiet as a mouse but does an awful lot of thinking. She is just about finished... but I just couldn't wait to share her with you all!

I am thinking that I might sell her once she is complete...  

A Bit of Inspiration

So, I have a bit of an idea. I'm not going to share to much at this stage, I still need to work on it a bit and decided on the finer points (and wait for the postman to deliver me some yummy goodies) But here is a little sneak peak. I really excited about it, I think I am really starting to find my creative groove its just getting things out of my head and making these hands of mine work. This year is going to be swell for creating, I can just feel it!

Auction for Lori

Meet Violet the cat. Violet is sending a helping hand to Lori by lending herself to be auctioned off to help out Lori and her family.

The prefect addition to your family, she really is a sweet little thing, doesn't nag for food or scratch the furniture and certainly will never run away or use the pot plants as a toilet. (made from abitofwhimsydolls pattern).

Sarah from 'Just Me' is organising the auction to raise money for Lori, if you are able to help with donations you can find Sarah's blog post {here} with details. If you are unable to donate, keep an eye out on Sarah's blog for when the auction is underway.

She is doing a fantastic job, and I am totally in awe of her, words can not express how awesome she is, along with the many others that are standing by Lori and will continue to do so for many years to come.

There will be a few more items to come from us for this auction, and I will share with you what they are once photos have been taken.

(Please note: Local Readers, a cousin of Violets has also been donated to the raffle organised by the  Penguin Leo's Club to raise money for the QLD flood victims. They will also be holding a Car wash in Penguin this weekend to raise funds for the Relay for Life and the QLD floods)

Handmade Christmas Gifts - Beloverly

I've mentioned Cat, from Beloverly numerous times before, and we were lucky enough to grab two of Cat's pieces for Christmas. The above is the Princesses, and was placed under the tree with the book of the same theme 'Guess How Much I Love You'. These pieces, are pieces that you have to see with your own eyes, to know how great they are. I knew they were good when I seen Cat post photos of her goods, but to actually hold these in my hands and 'really' look at them I was blown away.

This one is currently sitting in my room at the minute (the princess is still sleeping in my room) on my work in progress shelf, I was going to move it for the photo but I thought that it is nice to see where your own creations end up living. I think all the dolls and creatures coming to life are enjoying having it by their side though.

I haven't taken a picture of Charlie's yet, his is yet to find the right home to sit or hang, but as soon as it does I will grab a picture. (He loves it by the way)

You can find Cat's work over at ETSY or Madeit and here blog can be found {here}.

Thank you once again Cat - I'm sure these will be treasured for many, many years to come.

Dino-riffic!

I am really going to be trying hard this year to get creative, to get crafty which I hope in turn will help 'get me happy'. Not that I am not happy, but certainly not as much as what I want to be.

Heck, I studied art at Uni I SHOULD be doing something arty... shouldn't I?

You've heard about writers block, well I have been suffering from creative block. Not the type where I don't want to create, but more so I don't know WHAT to create. Not sure what has caused it, but I do know that these little toys I have been creating are slowly bringing back my want to create which is such a breath of fresh air... I might even be tempted to get the easel out sometime in the next few weeks and get back to what I always used to be about. It has been a long while since I was walking down the street with paint in my hair and on my clothes because I had been awake for over 24 hours painting or even drawing up a storm.

Anyway, sorry for getting you lost on my little tangent... I did forst off come here to show off my creation today... another T-Rex and I am loving the colours... very similar to Charlie's Bedroom (although this is not for him, he has requested a lizard?!?!).

I love making these, they are the sweetest thing.

charlie&ava

You might have come to this post thinking that it was about my children... Well your half right anyway!

I'm extremely excited to announce the launch of my handmade children's clothing label, 'charlie&ava'. You can find out more via the blog here, which was designed by the talented Amanda Fuller. Come along and check it out, there will be a few fabulous give aways in the next two weeks in the count down till the opening of my etsy store.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

I'm still here in the background...

So posts have been few and far between lately, I've been working on a few things and just taking sometime out with my little tribe. I'm over at Hello Owl this week, as part of a series of Mum Interviews by the lovely Danielle. Danielle's blog is one of my favourites, she is expecting babe number three any day now, pop on over and say hello, I'm sure you'll be in for a lovely read.

Stay tuned for a very big unveiling of what has been keeping me so occupied lately.

Have you met Amanda?

A few months ago, whilst reading a blog I love (thank you Cat!) I was introduced to the lovely and ever so talented Amanda Fuller of Calico & Co. and Lemon Tree Lane fame.

Over at Calico & Co, not only will you find a blog that is super fantastic to read, you will find lots of lovely giveaways (one of which I can claim fame to winning), Amanda is also a great supporter of other handmade / indie artists in her Handmade Heaven section of her blog.

She has recently launched her stationary line 'Lemon Tree Lane' on madeit & ETSY and I can tell you from my own purchase for fathers day that the products are just divine (I could of kept the card for myself if it didn't say the word dad!)

And to top of her already impressive list of creative talents, she is also a fantastic blog designer... have a look at Beloverly for an example.

I'm introducing you to Amanda for two reasons today, number one being she is SUPER talented and number two I have hired Amanda to work on something for me that I hope to unveil to you all in the next few weeks and she is doing such a fantastic job, I can't wait to share it with you!

I highly recommend that you have a look at Amanda's wares via the links above, or you could even check out what is on Amanda's Desk.

For now I will leave you with a few of my favourite piece's of Amanda's work.

A Dying Art Form...

image from here

After reading Cat's post here, I started to have a think, I'm one of those over-thinker type of people, once my brain gets going it just does not stop.

The last time I really sat down and wrote something was probably in a University lecture a few years ago and the last time I wrote a proper hand written letter was probably when I was 12! I think its sad really that gone are the days of receiving a letter in the mail that does not consist of typed words or worse, bills!

So thats when I got thinking, (and haven't really stopped) who would be interested in a handwritten letter swap? I haven't really thought of the ins and outs of the whole thing yet, but maybe I could set a topic, or a series of questions that you could write about in your letter to an assigned partner (or group if there is enough interest) and then you could all send away and hopefully receive one in return... who knows, you may even find an old school pen-friend in the making, and maybe we could put a bit of life back into this dying art.

So are you interested?

Creative Love

One of the best things that I have found since becoming a blogger is all the amazingly talented creative people out here in the blogging world.

'Wouldn't it be Loverly'

Bramble and Bear

Tiger & Hare
(I bought this for the little miss)

Go and take a look at what else these talented people have to offer, I promise you won't be disappointed!