My Creative Space 'ribbon porn'

Greetings all,
Well a big week, exciting things like children's resuming school (yippee for everyone), starting my middle-of-the-day shift at Shop Handmade (most beautiful place to work), resuming my diet (properly), taking a visiting teenage nephew out for dinner (diet on hold for 2 hours), the motherload of fabric from RetroMummy (thanks Corrie!!) & cutting into my new bolts of Kristen Doran Sampler fabric (promise to share) . . . then a whopping migraine, oh, the humanity!!  Well i woke from my migraine haze to these gorgeous ribbons from suitably named Ribbons Galore . . .

does it get any better than deer, toadstool & owl on ribbons . . . yes, animals, red riding hood & robots!!

What to do with there glorious ribbons??  My Creative Space next week??  Maybe something fun for Mother's Day gifts at Shop Handmade, or something inspirational & whimsical for Handmade Living - the book of crafty wonder.  So sorry i missed a meeting with Tania McCartney yesterday due to migraine, Tania is the brainchild of Handmade Living . . . just gives me more time to think outside the square & come up with something really interesting & pushing artsy boundaries.  Check it out over here & get invovled in this super fabulous opportunity to show off your style (applications close 7th May!!)  Even Mathilda's Market are on the band wagon, great girls that they are!!
Happy Creative Spacing people, hello Kootoyoo, still a little heady so tally ho for now, love Posie

At My House 'new products & old favourites'

Greetings all,
Well it was a long emotional weekend, thanks all for your super kind comments about ANZAC Day & my husband, he really appreaciates them too.  I kept myself busy (read: distracted) with prettier things than war zones & am delivering these cute tutus to MissChief Maker tomorrow.  They are layered & filled with sequins, pom poms, jingle bells, beads & buttons, lots of fun . . . i asked my girls to model, only one was interested . . .

If you couldn't tell, SHE wanted to wear the red one but i had plenty of pink on the rack . . .

Gorgeous delivery of Kristen Doran Sampler Boarder prints, oh my, i couldn't wait to get started on making things with these beautiful linens but it took me about 2 hours before i could bring scissors to cloth . . . a made a door snake/ draught stopper first, how nervous was i??

So i made this little bag for Shop Handmade, one of the Shop children left this teddy at my place last week, so this is good way to get him home . . .
the lovely Rosalind from Grace Designs sent these beautiful hair clips & pretty bird card over with her gorgeous husband who was returning my light box (for photography) - thanks Ros, lovely surprise & thinking of you - 9 months pregnant & all. 

Being an Army wife with so many lonely nights is what lead me to quilting in the first place . . . so quilt i will - i made these 4 quilts this weekend.  Using up some of my Babushka farbics for Shop Handmade & i know pink always sells well.

But i'm a blue girl, so i'm starting to dig into my Cath Kidston, Rachel Ashwell & Martha Stewart fabrics to try a blue, green, grey with a hint of red look . . . all 4 of these quilts this weekend were square & i like that - they can go on beds, chairs, throws, play mats, seems to be endless uses for square quilts . . . see, i listen to what my customers say when they handle them "this would be great in the cot, then as a play mat".

That just about rounds up my weekend.  Amazing what you can get done when a child has mild tonsillitis, so all activities like sleepovers were cancelled along with the Moscow Circus, ice skating & attending the ANZAC Day march.  ALL the quilts & Kristen Doran new range will be in Shop Handmade this week, along with me as i learn the ropes & start there behind the counter so the Shop girls can actually run the business!!  Can't wait.  Have lovely weeks everyone, mine will be busier than ever with school resuming tomorrow, new job & working on my submission for Handmade Living.  Phew, love Posie
PS how nice, my 'Getting to Know' profile is up on the Mathilda's Market blog - check it out.

a post for my husband, my handsome soldier on ANZAC Day

Greetings all,
How many of your husband's have to read your blog to stay in touch with you??  Well mine does, along with the odd phone call & email, he finds the blog a bright & happy snippet of what we're up to.  So this post is dedicated to my handsome soldier who is far far away & no doubt needs some happy memories & images of his pride & joy - his family!! 
I won't waste time on the negativity of how many people see ANZAC Day as an opportunity to sleep in or for some, a long weekend . . . have you completely forgotten what the point of ANZAC Day is??  Clearly!!  For many of us, we have loved ones in war zones this ANZAC Day, so it's a fierce reality of what the day represents.  I'm all about positivity & believe my time & blog is better spent showing sunshine & happiness, good times & family . . . so enjoy some snaps of what we do when Daddy is home & we're a proper family . . .

Mount Selwyn 2008 - we laughed soooo hard that trip!!  Anyone else think my husband looks like an assassin using a family as 'cover'??  Like father like son - they are so close, warms your heart.

. . . we love roller blades, bikes, bush walks, dogs & picnics;
i love that my husband seems oblivious that our son is actually standing IN the fire they just built . . .

. . . eventhough we know at least one child will end up IN the Tumut River, we still let play by it;
our adventurous children doing what they do best, running free & playing at a park . . .

. . . they never can walk in a straight line, always climbing over something, log tracks off Cotter Road, Mount Stromlo National Forest; the children outside the 5th house we've lived in . . .

Well they say girls marry their 'fathers' & i seem to fit that mould, yet i hate being told what to do by a man??  Maybe the two main men in my life (father & husband) have incredible respect for woman & know i'm to stubborn too argue with.  Anyway, here is my Dad, retired career Naval Commander & from all those medals - apparent trouble maker!!  Married 55 years to my lovely Mum, who was in the Women's Royal English Navy as a volunteer when they met.  They married less than 6 months later, had 4 children (2 boys, 2 girls) & 14 grandchildren (7 grandsons, 7 granddaughters).  They like symmetry & order!! 
I hope this gives you some insight into ANZAC Day from the family of a current serving member.  We love you handsome soldier, come back to us soon.  Have a thoughtful weekend everyone, love Posie

My Creative Space 'Mother's Day G I V E A W A Y' & a handmade book opportunity

Greetings all,I’ve been stretching my creativity lately in a few directions, mainly craft with children, as you do in school holidays.  So i'm offering up a Mother's Day G I V E A W A Y of a few things i'm playing around with - an applique book bag with a cute girl (if you can't softie it, applique it), 3m twine, fabric card, badges, hair ties & 2m washi tape flags.  All you have to do to enter is become one of the 'fun people who like posie' by following this blog (if not already) & leave a comment - say something nice about your mum, something she taught you, why you love her, her favourite recipe . . .
i'll kick it off with what i'd say to enter "my mother's catch cry was 'not the good scissors' as she could feel us using her good scissors on paper, card, hair, herbs . . . from 50m away".  To be drawn 1st May, i'll pick my favourite, all welcome!! 

. . . i'll even throw in a set of un-drawn-on Paper Dolls to play with the prize . . .
i know, this is not from the Master's Collection from Musee D'Orsay, common mistake, it's 'paint & texta on card, circa 2010 by many children under the age of 10'!!  They were done on a pile of newspapers, i know my husband freaks out about texta on carpet.

Getting back to slightly more sophisticated craft . . . along came this amazing opportunity to be in Handmade Living - a gorgeous new hardcover designer book full of amazing design inspiration from clever creative types.  Riding on the incredibly successful Handmade ‘must-attend’ Market & it’s retail space Shop Handmade, here in the heart of our nation’s capital city . . . comes THE book!!
Now I’m a super fan of Tania McCartney who is the mastermind & have a copy of every single one of her books (grown up & for children) so I know she’s an awesome writer, but she’s also beautiful, talented, fun & super stylish!! Remind me not to stand next to this blonde-amazon-former catwalk model in a photo for the newspaper again!!  I am NOT that tall, 'twas wearing sky high heels. 

The twine is heading to Shop Handmade, so handy to have nice twine on hand don't you think, even better on a dolly peg, non??  The washi tape flags are something i've been playing around with for months, with my growing collection of tapes in pretty colours & patterns.  Check out the pretty Handmade Living logo below . . .

 

Tania’s brief goes something like this ‘the more outside the square your design, the more likely we’ll choose your idea’ so it’s thinking caps on, tight!!  It’s also made me go back to where I started to get serious with craft & design in the 90s . . . hand stitching, applique & ribbon detail mixed with today’s gorgeous Japanese printed fabrics & cool styling.  Thus the giveaway, i'm playing around with different materials, felt, fabric, ribbon, thread . . . i love being pushed by a challenge like this.  What to submit, what to detail, where to start??  I think i'll do patchwork as that's me to the core, but i've entered a few different categories.  Stay tuned for next week, i might actually have some direction . . . me thinks quirky ribbon detail, but on what??  FYI interstate handmade designers welcome, just like you're welcome at Shop Handmade!!
PS Birthday Girl Rachel loved her purse from the last post, yippee, smiles all round.

Happy Creative Spacing everyone, check out more over at Kootoyoo today, love Posie

for the love of giving . . .

Greetings all,

Well i love giving.  Be it babysitting your children, making a handmade token or baking my way to your heart.  My mother would NEVER attend a friend's house with empty hands, she was quite the queen of sewing & baking, plus happily had all the neighbours children over non stop, effortless & welcome.  I hope i replicate that same attitude, i certainly try.
I know my girls LOVE anything quirky from Japan & collect Babushka dolls so when i read a tip off over at Sheeps Clothing that My Poppet was having an instore closing down sale or 15% off on line, i had a peek.  Cintia has some gorgeous goodies, so i stocked up some pieces (to add to 'our' collection) including a set of Matryoshka dolls, a wooden plaque, pig fan & these super cool paper balloons (monkey, tiger & world globe).  Like the shelf, the children play from this shelf all the time.  Also got some 'jumping' elastics for the playground & a book, ace!!  A fun school holidays gift bonanza!!

Now tomorrow is awesome Rachel's birthday - she is one half of the fantastic Shop Handmade & simply full of love, happiness, creativity & kindness.  After playing around with ribbons today with her daughter, i had to incorporate one into her gift.  I picked these fabrics which i know she'll love (all from Retro Mummy) & instead of a Posie tag, added a pretty one which reads 'handmade', how perfect.  The back fabric has the recipe for chocolate cake & inside a cute strawberry cross stitch print.  Sealed up in tissue with a Dutch sticker.


How cool is this - Shop Handmade Staff get to nominate their pick of the month, voila!!  Loving this pendant from Danielle Kathleen, i already want another one, like her Victorian cuff which she's about to release!!  How on earth am i going to work there & not buy up the whole Shop??

Finally - notice the new badge over on the right??  As my knowledge & experience is growing with all things Handmade, i'm going to give a tip off each month as i have my eyes open ALL the time.  Check it out!!  Have a lovely day, i'm taking all 4 children to the dentist, they LOVE the dentist, weirdoes, love Posie

At My House . . . Il Cucchiaio d’Argento (The Silver Spoon)

Greetings all,

Ok, so I’m coming down with a head cold, itchy eyes, runny nose, ears popping . . . I know, I’ll try out some new recipes I can’t taste & with 4 extra innocent children here to test recipes on . . . I’m in the kitchen. So by 10a.m. I had baked a cake & a dozen muffins, boiled eggs for lunch sandwiches & sifted through a few recipes to test drive. I woke up feeling like I must make pasta today, so I’m focussing on the sauce, as I’m actually rather awesome at making pasta dough.

The Silver Spoon cookbook – well this is one HELL of a cookbook, no wonder every kitchen in Italy is said to have one & it has been a best seller for 50 years. We have the Children’s version & now the mother ship – all 1263 pages, with both a List of Recipes & Index section at the back, it’s just that mammoth. I love the type face, layout, illustrations, colours, colour coding, terms/ glossary, tools, paper . . . even I can follow all this!!

Now the sauces section, there is even a recipe for avocado mayonnaise – I have a child who loves both a dash of mayo & plain avocado sandwiches . . . perfect. Her twins is obsessed with Italian meats so the antipasti section if for her. FYI the Antipasti section is divided into fish, vegetarian, entrees, pastry, pizza etc. Brilliant!!

I picked up this cooking bible yesterday at Borders at the Canberra Centre, along with these beauties . . . who says blog advertising/ word of mouth/ unpaid promotions don’t work – I saw Peppermint Magazine & thought, oh, everyone raves about that, must try; I spied the Sew Darn Cute book & without even opening it, added it to my bundle as I’d seen it on sew many blogs lately. Either that or I’m completely unoriginal??!! Hmmm . . . I have an ace Tshirt which reads “advertising helps me decide” & I giggle whenever I wear it, mainly as I’m so not a victim to advertising. I do have a psych degree as my weapon & when I see an add for Cadbury’s, Coca Cola or McDonalds, I think “fat” not “I want some”. My children are those who never ask for anything, or if they ask & I say no, they cope at the supermarket & might point out that they’ve seen a product on television, but don’t seem to like the mainstream clothes/ food/ gadgets/ magazines their friends go for.
So tonight i'm going to take a break & read the article about Jennie who ReJenErates things, like her most of all as her name is the same as mine . . . then look at Ink&Spindle who i'm about to order from, both in Pepperming magazine . . . then there are so many projects in Sew Darn Cute that i used to do when i was big on hand stitching in the 90s & have wanted to revive!!  I was going to do gorgeous fabric covered tins for the scissors & rulers at my Stitches&Craft Craft Lab sewing classes but Canberra was cancelled & i have all these empty peach & beetroot tins dying to be dressed up.

So I’m going to play the At My House with Buttons by Lou Lou after I wasn’t sure I’d have time to blog today with head cold, work, children, baking, alas play dates keep your children busy too!!
Now off to tidy my studio then run some errands, too cold for the park today, brrrrr, welcome Autumn. Love Posie

oh la la, when Paris came to Canberra . . .

Greetings all,
Well i did leave it until the very last afternoon (of the extended exhibition) to visit, but wow, wasn't it amazing!!  Seeing i only had my big girl & little boy, it was a smooth trip through the National Art Gallery of Australia today (my twins are horse back riding, you can imagine which was more exciting to 8 year old horse loving girls).  The Masterpieces from Paris, Post-Impressionism from the Musee D'Orsay collection was amazing.  Oh to be 2' from art worth gazillions of dollars . . . i actually had a tear looking at Monet's incredible work!!  Breathtaking. 

I will admit, one of my MOST child-unfriendly experiences has been at this gallery, actually on a year 1 art tour . . . why run them if you hate children & can't smile i ask??!!  So it was to much surprise that they had an entire Van Gogh inspired children's art room with child friendly chunky furniture (to replica the genuine art work) where gasp, children were allowed to draw, touch, cut & breath.  Naturally my creative children spent an hour in there, doing a self portrait, still life & making 'Stary Night' stars.  Retro Mummy did this with her children too when she was down for Handmade Market, highly recommended, i concur.

Oh didn't i make it past the gift shop??  How lovely is this French basket + a gorgeous yellow Prim&Pretty ribbon brooche to celebrate my art journey.

Farewell Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Monet, Signac, Angrand, Cross, Seurat, Pissarro, Luce, Picasso, Serusier, Toulouse-Lautrec, Moreau, Redon, Denis, Bonnard, Vuillard, Rousseau & friends, you were amazing.  They actually sound like 21st Century grand prix race drivers, non??On my way home i picked up a copy of the Canberra Times to check, gulp in my throat, if Shop Handmade made the Out&About hot list . . . of course, a FULL page spread of handmade love.  Just for reference in my image, i'm between Tania & Vanessa who are very very slim, i have Rosalind Grace Designs white gardenia hair accessories attached to the side of my head.

Have a lovely week everyone, i have 4 extra children tomorrow, but i think i have things covered with an additional Wii motion plus (apparently a very important tool to enjoying the Wii) & the new Avatar game.  My children speak a different language!!  Love Posie