my creative space: fairy peg doll

A while ago I wrote a post about the Small Acorns peg doll competition. I received a peg doll for Amelie to decorate but I didn't send it back in on time to enter the competition- oh well she had fun making it even if she found it a bit tricky drawing on the face!

Take a peek at some of the gorgeous peg dolls entered here... www.smallacorns.co.nz/index.php/ps_alias/happeningnow- you can even vote for your favourite.

Anyway, it reminded me of a fairy peg doll tutorial I saw in the Christmas issue of Australian Womens Weekly last year. I decided to try it, not for the competition but just to give it a go really. I should have read all the instructions first though, then maybe I would have realised how much I had to do to make it!

I also didn't realise how hard it would be to find white florist wire but after ringing nearly every florist in town Abby at Blanc Florist very kindly sent me a metre of it for free. My paper doilies were far too big so I should have read the 'you will need' instructions a bit more carefully too!

I do like her pink shoes

The finished product is very cute but I think I will try an easier peg doll next time!

And here is a pic of a gorgeous wee zip purse and some lovely flower button earrings I won in a giveaway over at Gnomeangel- I love the beautifully stitched bird- thanks again Angie!

To see what other people are up to today head over to Kirsty's here☞
Megan x
PS: There's an awesome giveaway over at Kelly's "Reclaiming Me" blog here...

haberdashery, orca whales and japanese crafty stuff

We have just got back from a lovely long weekend in my home town of Napier, the 'Art-Deco capital of NZ'. We got to have dinner out with a special friend back from Japan at a really nice restaurant, Milk and Honey, did a bit of relaxing reading mums 'Country Living' magazines and even got to go out for coffee and a spot of window shopping without the kids which was a bit of a treat! I spotted this neat sculpture in the main street and just loved it- anything with hearts gets me smiling!

I did buy one thing- this awesome tea towel from the Esther Diamond Range, Dick Frizzell's "Haberdashery". Isn't it crafty cool?!

I have already got one Esther Diamond tea towel- Martin Popplewell's 'Study for Found' which I stapled onto a canvas for our kitchen.

 I am thinking of making a cushion cover with this one though.

And just to top the weekend off- look at what we got to see on Sunday morning down at Ahuriri- a pod of 5 Orca Whales cruising back and forth between the two bays. It was really incredible to see them so close to shore- weren't we lucky!

2 orca's cruising along the shore

it looks really close here!

watching from Perfume Point

And here's a pic of some of the Japanese crafty stuff my friend bought back for me- I just asked her to find me some of that Kozo masking tape but she went a bit crazy and got all this! The envelope template thingee looks pretty cool- hope I can work it out!

Megan x 
PS: there's an awesome giveaway over at Sarah's Cotton Kiwi blog- check it out here... http://cottonkiwi.blogspot.com/2010/04/its-been-year.html

my creative space: wrapping paper

On my list of 'things to do' this year (down the side of my blog) was to make all my own wrapping paper and greeting cards, and out of all the things on the list this is probably the one I've managed the best so far!!! For Amelie's birthday today I bought a roll of brown paper from the PostShop and just used my stamps to decorate the paper. It was a bit tricky doing the stamping after I wrapped the presents so I might have to do it the other way round next time!

Amelie loved her rabbit from Little Minx and her pillowcase too.

We went to the beach this morning- what a stunning day

Amelie's family 

Looking at the Mount from Omanu Beach

Well, we're off to Napier for a long weekend to see friends and family so better start getting organised while the girls are asleep!

To see what other people are up to today head over to Kirsty's here☞

Megan x

a box of threads and a wee mousie

I was very lucky in the weekend to be given an old box full of my Nana Noelene's embroidery threads from my Aunt. What a treasure trove of a box- I can't wait to get started on a special stitching project in honour of my nana who was an amazing seamstress. Will have to work on my skills to be up to her standard though!
Look at this lovely sampler she stitched that was in the box with the threads- wasn't she clever. I love the little rose buds down the sides.

I am going to get it framed; it will look so lovely in one of the girls bedrooms. Very sad that my nana developed debilitating arthritis- what a cruel disease for somebody who loved to sew, embroider and knit. She was a lovely lady who got so much joy from her crafts- I wish she was here today to see my fledgling crafting using her old sewing machine and her embroidery threads.

And this morning after a rough nights sleep and dealing with two little ones with tummy bugs (again!!) I received a little parcel in the mail...my gorgeous pin cushion from the Fox's Lane pin cushion swap. Great timing to cheer me up thank you so much Laurel! I love it and the little mousie is so cute too! I love the little green heart pins as well, and the chocolate is hidden away for tonight when two little children are tucked in their beds.

Megan x

my creative space: red and white polka dots

I think one of the best things about becoming a crafter is being able to make my own gifts- it is so much fun thinking about what I am going to make, choosing fabrics, planning the design, and putting it all together. I went into a couple of gift shops yesterday, saw some gorgeous things and it was so neat to think....'I could make that!'
Here is a little something I have just finished for Amelie, my nearly 3 year old's birthday next week. A while ago I made a personalised pillow case for a little boy  so I decided to make one for Amelie too.  I  appliqued her name and then embroidered the hearts and the words 'Good night sweetheart' onto the pillowcase. It was so tricky pushing the needle through the two layers of fabric I think I ended up with bruised thumbs!

I learnt a good lesson doing this project..... gather all your supplies before starting a project.  I stitched about 6 of the hearts using the last of my favourite pinky red embroidery thread I had, then went to Bernina the next day to get some more and it wasn't there. So I had to choose a different red and unpick the hearts I'd already done! And I forgot another lesson from last time too...check the iron is clean before ironing onto white fabric!!
I'm pretty sure she is going to like her new pillowcase and I think I will be making lots more of these for my friends children :)

And for more polka dots....I made a different type of waterproof zip purse last night, using oil cloth for the outside and parka nylon for the inside. I boxed the corners for this one- it was a lot quicker to make than my plastic covered ones so I might have to put some of these on my Felt shop too!

Right, I'm off to the fabric shop now while my sister takes the girls around the Mount- lucky me!!! She is starting a new job next week though so my creative Thursday mornings will be a bit different soon!
To see what other crafters are up to in their creative spaces visit Kirsty's here
Megan x

baby gifts and a flower pin cushion

Baby Thomas received his little rabbit today so here is a pic of the finished toy and some other goodies I included in the pressie- one of my toilet bags with some baby bath wash and little flannels.  I ended up just stitching across the bottom instead of putting a circle at the bottom but I will try the circle shape next time when I'm feeling a bit braver!

And my swap partner from the Fox's Lane pin cushion swap, the lovely Selina from Selina's Vintage, received her pin cushion from me last week so I can put a few pics of it on now as well. I chose this pattern from here and it ended up being quite a bit trickier that I realised!  Luckily I think the nice bright fabrics detracted from the numerous mistakes in the pin cushion! I sent one of my little zip purses too in the same fabric.

Well, I need to put my feet up now - have had a mad day of cleaning...instead of just doing a bit of housework each day I leave it for ages and then go crazy cleaning for an entire day in between baby/toddler tending to. Does anyone else do this?! Dusting, mopping, cleaning windows, vacuuming the car even!! Had to take the girls out for a walk once I'd finished so my hubby could walk in and actually see a tidy house for once before Amelie and Stella messed it up again!

Megan x


PS: tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway- anyone can enter...good luck!


PPS: have just seen the most gorgeous pin cushions ever by Sarah at Red Gingham- she is so clever!!

Felt finds and a sunshine blog award

Look at this little fellow reclining ever so happily on the bed. Isn't he gorgeous! I bought him for Amelie's 3rd birthday in a few weeks from Little Minx on Felt.

Joanna's 'Little Minx' blog is such a lovely place to visit with her beautiful photographs and craft projects.  Her blog was one of the first that I came across, along with tinyhappy, Cat Taylor, Modern Make and Twenty Cent Mixture, that really inspired me to get into blogging and crafting.

I also bought some of these cute hair ties from Sarah at Songbird designs. It was neat to be able to choose my own fabrics for the hair ties from her huge collection of fabrics!

And I have just finished reading the latest issue of Extra Curricular magazine. I have had a rotten cold all weekend so at least I had something good to read. I finally got my hands on a copy of Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home from the library too- I've had it on reserve since January so it must be a really popular book.

Ooh and that reminds me- my lovely friend Rosie emailed me this website yesterday

www.bookdepository.co.uk. There are heaps of awesome craft books on there and it is free shipping worldwide!

And a random pic...here is a photo from Friday of Stella 'bum-shuffling' along the sand leaving a trail like a snail behind her! Our GP has told us she is most probably Hypotonic (low muscle tone) as she still cannot weight bear/ stand up even though she's one now. We have had her hips checked and they are fine thank goodness. We are going to a paediatrician next who will hopefully confirm that she is just Hypotonic and that she will get up and stand one day and not to worry about it!!!

Megan x

PS: Sunday night...

I have just read on Sarah's Cotton Kiwi blog that she has nominated me for a sunshine blog award-how lovely thanks Sarah! Very exciting to see my blog with lots of my favourite bloggers.  I love reading Sarah's crafty blog and admiring her sewing and knitting skills, and she co-runs the Devonport Craft market too busy lady!
And thank you also to Kelly from Reclaiming Me and Katrina from KiwiStitching for nominating me too:)

Here are some bloggers I am going to nominate (I pretty much read every post they write) but its soooo hard to choose only 12 though as I read so many awesome blogs, especially on kiwimummyblogs.blogspot.com.

Cat at Cat Taylor Design

Joanna at Little Minx

Jennie at A Little Vintage

Clare at Green Valley Crafts

Kelly at Reclaiming Me

Melissa at Tiny Happy

Sarah at Red Gingham

Jacqui at Hazelnuts

Sarah at Bobby Robbin

Heleen at Ruby in the Dust

Deb at Works in Progress

Lou at Seaside Siblings

Jess at Bambam Creative

Maddie at Lil Magoolie

Sarah at Songbird designs

ok a teeny bit more than 12...and thats just some of the kiwi blogs I read, I would be here all night if I made a list of all the aussie and other blogs I read!

Now all you have to do (if you want to of course!) is

1) say cheers to the person who nominated you
2) Copy the logo and place on your blog or in a blog post
3) Link to the person who nominated you
4) Pass it along to 12 other people

And back in Feb Christi nominated me for a beautiful blog award and I never got around to passing it on (sorry for being so slack Christi!) so here it is now.  One of the things you have to do when you receive a beautiful blog award is write 7 interesting things about yourself so here goes...

*I could live without my mobile phone but not without my laptop

*I am hopeless at cooking and have never even made scrambled eggs

*Autumn is my favourite season
*In my second year of teaching I presented at a conference in Atlanta, USA about the use of ICT in the classroom, and we got to go to Paris, London and New York on the way home (feels like a million years ago now!)
*When I go to the beach I am covered in sand within about 30 seconds
*I've only been to the supermarket once in the last 3 months as I do all my grocery shopping online now

*I absolutely love french films, even though the subtitles are a bit tricky now that I'm trying to craft and watch at the same time!

And finally in this really really long blog post, here is a new blog from a very talented artist I know (we used to teach together)

Sarah at Purple Vibrations.