Make Hey Lastnight....

Lovely photo borrowed from Magdalena's blog - The Craft Revival (mine were all blurry)

I've been keeping busy busy busy this week, so I kept my planned date with the crafty girls, and went along to the launch of Pip's new book Make Hey lastnight.

Vic drove to my place and bought me some flowers.... awww what a sweetie, and then we hotfooted it over to St Kilda. I'm pretty sure that I kept my peak hour swearing to a minimum and we made it in plenty of time. Phew!


It was a lovely friendly relaxed chatty event. Just the type of thing I like. I now have another signed book to add to the collection. Yah!

With the beautiful weather, we headed to the park for a little dusk picnic......'twas the perfect end to the evening!

I have an APP

I'm soooo technologically deficient that I don't have an iPhone, or an iPad, or an iAnything.... but I do now have a CurlyPops app!

Pip posted about Bloapp earlier this week and it had me intrigued, so I've now created my own little app using their free software.

To read my blog on your iDevice, all you need to do is download Bloapp from iTunes and search for CurlyPops....

Maybe tomorrow I might see someone who actually owns an iPhone so that I can check it out for myself!

My Creative Space & A Book Launch

In my creative space today is a project that I was supposed to get finished yesterday, instead of spending the entire day faffing around (somewhat due to my lack of patience and interest in computer hardware).... Oh, yes, and I  might have gone out to have lunch at a nice little cafe too.

But anyway, I digress....this is going to be my Softie for Mirabel. It's just a simple little fuzzy bear softie that I designed yonks ago to use for Toy Society drops.

I had grand plans of having a proper tutorial written for making him, but I'm not going to have time, so I'm just going to share my pattern, and some super basic instructions. You can download a pdf copy here if you're interested, or I've also added links via my tutorial page.
It was written in a huge hurry so if there are any glaring errors, I'm apologising in advance!

Lovely photo used courtesy of Kate

In other crafty news, I was very lucky to be able to go along to Pips book launch for Sew La Tea Do on Tuesday night. I forgot to take my camera, so lets just pretend that Pip is signing my copy of her lovely book in this photo, shall we.....


The home of My Creative Space....

Time for Dessert?

I had a bit of a craving for some yummy dessert after dinner tonight.

I made this chocolate pudding a couple of weeks ago after seeing ot over at Pip's, and it was a huge success, so I made it again.

....and the best bit is..... that I don't have to share with anyone!

My Creative Space

Not much creatively happening at CurlyPops HQ this week.

There's been just a little bit of tidying up, and a little bit of re-arranging so that I can finally get back into the swing of things. It seems that no matter how long I spend cleaning up this little space, it still looks like a huge mess! I'm taking consolation in the fact that at least I can see the cutting boards.... which is a start.

In the meantime, I've been enjoying all of the lovely things that have arrived in the mail lately.

Pip has lent me series one and two of the original BBC version of Life on Mars to keep me entertained while I'm recuperating on the couch. Thanks so much Pip! Somedays I wish I could travel back to the 70's... I just love the fashions.

Oh, and if you haven't entered Pip's Super Duper Crafty Night Off giveaway, it's being drawn at 6.30 PM tonight AEST (or maybe don't enter because I really want to win).

Liesl sent a lovely package of goodies with this knitting book, lots of chocolate (some of which has disappeared already) and a bathroom pamper pack. The knitting book has some really lovely large diagrams which may actually help me to get over my fear of knitting something other than a scarf for once in my life!

Another suprise package was waiting on the kitchen bench when I came home - full of gorgeous colourful goodies from Cherrie. I can't wait to make something with the floral tea towel.... just waiting for the perfect inspirational project to hit.... and after having a little chat with Cathie yesterday, I think it may be destined to be a cushion cover.

Thanks so much for brightening up my week ladies!

Of course, if you'd like to see some actual creativity (rather than just planned creativity), make sure to pop on over and visit Kirsty's ginormous list!

My Place and Yours :: On The Shelf

Everybody else is playing along on this lazy weekend, so I thought I'd join in too.

I had a lovely little relaxing crafternoon (and cappucino) at Bec's house yesterday, so today I've been cleaning up and catching up on the massive pile of dirty washing in my laundry - I'm up to my fifth load for the day.....

This little set of shelves was in my bathroom at my old house, but now it lives in the corner of the kitchen right next to the sliding door. I haven't organised it at all, I've just plonked special little things in there bit by bit....

I still have many more special things packed in boxes that I haven't yet found, and I've been here for eight months now - all in good time I suppose.

From the top:

CurlyPops embroidery from Missie Krissie
Fabric covered tea light candle holder - housewarming pressie from Hoppo Bumpo
Scented Candle - Blueberry
Tea Cups and Coffee Cups collected from various oppies
Esther Bunny from Little Black Crow
More candles
Ugly clock that has sentimental value (21st birthday gift from my Nana)
Glass whale ornament - had it for years - I think my mum gave it to me

Well that's it - hope everyone is having a lovely weekend..... it's back to the washing for me!

A vintage treasure

I walked out to the letterbox the other day to check the mail.....

When I opened it I discovered a little box.
I wasn't expecting any parcels.

I've been trying to stick to my new budget, so I was racking my brain, trying to figure out whether I'd been online shopping and just forgotten!

But then I turned the little box over, and discovered to my great suprise and joy, that it was a secret gift from Silly Gilly

It's a buttonhole foot for my Singer 201K that I discovered on the side of the road.

I'll have to try to give it a road test on the weekend.

Thanks Silly Gilly!

Words and Pictures - a week late

I'm just a little bit late in joining in with this one but I couldn't resist as the theme was 'School Lunches'.

My sister was unpacking boxes of books to put in the bookcase on the weekend, and she found my Choir scrapbook from Grade 6. All of the loose papers fell out and amongst them was the price list from the school canteen from 1986. Click on photo for larger view.

This is from Gray St Primary School in Hamilton (Western Victoria). A vegemite sandwich was only 54 cents and you could get a Razz or a Sunnyboy for just 25 cents.

From memory, I always ordered a Pie and a small Big M, and then we could usually buy Zooper Doopers once we'd eaten the real food!

I can't believe I still have this..... I've moved house at least fourteen times since Grade 6 (I blame my hoarding genes)

My Creative Space

I'm not being very creative today.... too many things to do and people to see - you know the drill.

I'm hoping that this box of goodies that I'm going to drop in to Meet Me at Mikes today will inspire some creativity as part of the Re-stash a Crafter project. I've inlcuded yarn, knitting needles, sewing needles, pins, fabric, buttons and a little bit of floss.

I've searched the house for my crochet hooks because I really want to donate them too... but I can't find them anywhere. I'd better keep searching!

Bags for the boys

I didn't have the chance to make it to the fabulous bag making sewing bee on Saturday, but I did manage to whip up a few bags to contribute to the Rainbow Comfort Packs.

Four super simple drawstring bags that would be perfect for very little boys to keep their treasures...

....and two super simple tote bags for older boys. I wish I had time to make more, but I need to drop them into Nikki today so I've run out of time.

This is a before shot (I don't have an after shot), but I also have a few headbands that can be included in the bags for the girls, and I just need to have a bit of a rummage around to see if I can find anything else to include.

The next job is raiding the craft stash to gather some supplies for Re-stashing a Crafter. I'm aiming to drop a box of supplies off to Pip on Thursday, and then I'll keep working on some handmade goodness.... clothes, softies etc etc etc.....

I'm wondering whether I should give up on my crochet dreams and even donate my hooks!

I'ts so nice to be busy doing something nice for someone else!

One last thing - thanks to all of the lovely peeps who made purchases from The CurlyPops Shop last week. I was able to donate $110 to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal yesterday.
I'm continuing on with the same offer this week. I'm donating 50% of the value of all sales in the shop. Keep checking the Handmade Help blog for more ways to lend a hand.

My Creative Space.... and Mikes Felt-a-long

More heartfelt creations (bad pun intended).....


My creative space - me on the couch - my creation on the ottoman - lots of hand stitching to be done.... hmmm wondering what's on telly tonight?

This is going to be my Valentines weekend drop for the Toy Society.

Watcha Wearing Wednesday & Mikes Felt-a-long

It's a two-in-one meme special today!

I've been playing around with lots of felty bits and pieces for Mikes Felt-a-long, and this is my latest creation - a felty beaded heart brooch with a bit of crazy stitching.

Today I'm wearing the brooch, along with the Elk necklace that I bought at the Design Market.

Sunday Arvo

What a perfect sunshiney day we had in Melbourne yesterday.... it reminds me of my favourite Brady Brunch song.


What better thing to do on a perfect sunshiney day, than meet up with some lovely crafty bloggy girls for afternoon tea. Megan is in Melbourne on holidays for a few days so it was a great chance to meet up (or have an internet date as we all like to chuckle about) and I also finally had the chance to meet Liz aka Betty Jo.

We had some scrumptious crepes at Breizoz in Gertrude St. I had chocolate crepes (of course), but I forgot to take a photo before it was all gone!

We wandered down Brunswick St to check out Meet Me at Mikes and say hi to Pip.....

....but we were too late, so a photo had to suffice for the day!

A big thanks to Tinniegirl, BugandPop, Betty Jo and Mellimoomoo for a lovely Sunday Arvo.

Love Fridays....

Today I'm loving Friday because I finally received my tax assessment from the ATO and I have to pay them less than what I originally thought...yippee for that!

But now onto some crafty matters.

I've made some stencilled t-shirts for my little nephews for Christmas, but I also wanted to make some for my older nephews. My designs were just a little too naff for the older boys, but I spotted this book right here on Pip's Blog.


So I ordered it online and it arrived in the mailbox this week. I went to the Bonds outlet and picked up some $4 seconds t-shirts (just in case I completely ruined them)!


With my previous attempts at stencilling, I used acrylic paint mixed with fabric fixative.
This time I used fabric paint which was really quite a lot runnier and a bit more difficult to stencil with.

You can see where the paint bled underneath the stencil. I think I should try some spray adhesive on the stencil next time instead of just masking it down around the outside. I'm hoping that the spray adhesive will give a nice clean finish like the freezer paper stencils.

To give some extra definition, I've used a laundry marker (the one that comes with iron on clothes labels), to highlight some of the areas.

I hope the boys will like them!

I'm going to head over and check out Ed's blog for some more tips and tricks before the next attempt.

Mirakitty

Inspired by this post, I quickly whipped up another Softie for Mirabel yesterday afternoon. If you haven't read Pip's post, then please do....

Mirakitty will be living in the high chair until I have time to drop him off at Meet Me at Mikes...

Mikes Week of Happy - Day 6

Todays happy is happy mail......

I was extremely lucky to win Lisa's The Princess & The Monkey Blogtoberfest Giveaway.....

Look at this amazing embroidered notebook cover (with notebook inside) and matching pen holder....

I'm always fascinated by gorgeous embroidery stitches as I just don't have the patience to do it myself.....

You can't actually see from the photos but I also love the way that the pen holder is elasticised at the back. This means that I can take it off the cover and put it around the entire notebook, and then throw it in my handbag without having to worry about it opening up...ingenious!

Thankyou so much Lisa, this one is heading for my handbag right away....

Mikes Week of Happy - Day 5

A happy Melbourne Sunday.....




The Bizarre Bazaar and Sunday Market at The Arts Centre.....



Blue skies over the city......


Eye Fillet Steak with garlic mash, asparagus, and pesto at Bellisimo at Docklands (forgot to take a photo)....


More sunshine......

....and photos taken out of the window of the car (no I wasn't driving)!

Mikes Week of Happy - Day 4

Todays happy is my happy shopping from yesterday......

This beautiful fabric from Kimono House makes me happy.....

These bag rings and buttons from Buttonmania make me happy......

My sweet Hokey resin ring makes me happy.....

These zines from Sticky make me happy.....

Tomorrows Bizarre Bazaar inside the Spiegeltent on The Arts Centre forecourt makes me happy....

Some very talented girls will be selling their wares and I'm off to check them out!

Head on over to see Pip for much more happiness....