Bonjour Madamoiselle Mitten

Now that her couture coat and matching handbag are complete, she was willing to be photographed in full....
she is wearing her mother's pearls....
but she is a good kitten, she remembered to put a handkerchief in her pocket.

A new banner for my blog!

At last I've got around to doing a banner! Named after little m, my not quite 6 month old baby, I thought it should include a little sketch of him. And his hair really does stick up like that, as if I put it in curlers....
And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be doing all this crafting and blogging stuff. When he was newborn, I was totally shocked by how much time looking after him took up. I found it quite difficult to adjust to my new life, but slowly, bit by bit I managed to get a few minutes a day to myself. And I appreciated them more than ever before! Now I savour every spare moment I get and use it to craft, my own little outlet away from the exhausting, and sometimes mundane job of being a new mother. Little m is my inspiration. I want to make things for him, paint pictures for him, and as he grows be creative with him.

Mess

This is what is currently in progress on the floor in my studio.
Two little embroidered shoes, belonging to one Madamoiselle Mitten....



and the reason they are on the floor as opposed to my desk, is because this is how my studio looks right now....


Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
It's a wonder I manage to make anything at all in this mess. But somehow I do. I finished this little make up bag for a dear friend of mine.


Even when I do manage to clean my studio up, I can't seem to work again until I've got more stuff out and jumbled it around. Its seems the more mess I make, the more creative I feel.

Books

Much of the weekend was spent browsing bookshops, I could just spend hours and hours doing this..... Moving from art to design to sewing, drooling over the sumptuous pictures in the cooking section, and then finally getting lost in what is always my favourite section, childrens picture books. I loved these books best even before I had a baby of my own, before I had neices....and now I have the perfect excuse to buy more books than ever!

So I did buy a few books for little m (that have gone straight up to my studio....) but my favourite purchase of the weekend was this darling little book that is just for me, I just had to have it....

Isn't it divine?
You can find more of Rob Ryan here and also more stunning papercutting here.

Finding little gems like these is what book shoppping is all about.

A dog and a kitten

I've been away from my blog for longer than I intended, me and my husband both caught the most terrible stomach bug and have been laid up in bed for days...thank goodness little m didn't catch it, I don't think I could have coped! I had never thought before about how hard it is to look after a crying baby when you can barely look after yourself.It has been a nightmare.

But it was lovely today to finally get back to normal, and I managed to finish off the 2 other softies I had half finished that are also to be donated to the bushfire appeal.
Meet Bob the Dog.....


...and Mitten the (sleepy) Kitten.

I'll be dropping them off tomorrow, along with the 2 bears. Hopefully than can give a little happiness to someone's day.

Bushfires and bears

I was going to tell you about a new project that I was starting, but because of the events over the weekend here in Victoria, I have changed my mind.

The bushfires have left an overwhelming feeling of sadness in me. My sister-in-law was trapped in one of the worst affected towns, and somehow, by luck, she survived. The thought of what could have been gives me shivers. I feel complete heartache for all the families that have lost loved ones or lost their homes, I cannot imagine how they feel.

It's not much, but I want to do a little bit to help (of course, as well as donating money here) so I am going to make some handmade toys to distribute to the children of the families affected by the fire. If you would like to help too, then pop on over to The Toy Society website.

I made these little guys on Sunday and yesterday, and I think they will be my first donations...

This is Freckles the bear,

and this is Newton, he likes apples...



especially apple pie. I made him to celebrate little m having solid food for the first time yesterday! It was such a lovely moment, as I put the first spoonful into his mouth his whole face crunched up at the strangeness of it all, and once he had tasted it, he just lit up in one huge beaming smile. Delightful.

Softie addiction

hmmmm, who does this honey belong to?

the honey bees seem curious.....



so they go investigating

ah-ha! This is the culprint, the one whose been eating all the honey....


Can you tell I've been spending too much time reading books to little m? He quivers with excitement everytime I get them out, and he's not yet 5 months old.
I only seem capable of baby talk at the moment....that and making softies, I think I'm becoming addicted.
I'm going to start a new project that I'm very excited about, I'll tell you more in my next post...

A little introduction...

For a little while now I've been silently lurking around the craft blog community, obsessively looking for hours at a time, at the beautiful things these crafters create. I am always left feeling so inspired and awe struck, and wishing that I could make things as lovely as these. I've been too shy to comment on the blogs, and I have decided that something needs to change!
It's time I stopped wishing, and started doing...so I am hoping that by starting this blog I will become more confident in commenting to others and that it will inspire me to start being more creative myself.
I've only recently become a mother for the first time, so I don't have a whole lot of time to do crafting. But I'm managing to snatch a few minutes here and there during the day and I'm regularly finding myself going to bed at 1am, as I get so engrossed reading blogs or starting new projects and late into the evening seems to be the only time I get to myself.
This little lady is the latest thing I've made in these early hours, from the "More Softies" book,a Moopy Bunny, with a bird on her headand then I thought she may need a friend,so I made him, he may be a pirate, but he's very friendly.