my creative space 'paper craft'

Greetings all,
Well i've been a bit paper crafty with my replacement printer (burglars trod & broke my printer) & having lots of fun with it.  First stop more stickers for the paper craft packs i keep promising myself i'll actually compile & sell one day . . . how much fun is the excess sticker curly mess??  Of course it has since been stuck to an egg carton to make a crazy headed crocodile . . .

& how much fun is Wordle on bunting??  I made this for Shop Handmade.

So there you have it, a short & sweet blog post.  I have 3 patchwork quilt orders due in the next 3 days.  Today was spent at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) watching my girls zoom around the track, throw & jump - it was freezing, wet, windy, then sun in my eyes = migraine!!  So back to resting my head & oh that's right, i'm running an Election BBQ & Cake Stall at our school this Saturday as a P&C fundraiser.  Tomorrow will be lugging cartons of cold drinks into the car, ice & sausages, fun + tonnes of baking as you never can rely on donations!!
Where does it end??  So you won't be hearing too much from me for a few days, have great weekends & happy voting.  Love Posie

Anyone for tennis??

Greetings all,
An innocent invitation to a 'boy's sports party' had me thinking "how can i make it more glamorous for my daughter??"  I know, we can make it fancy dress, she can go as Maria Sharapova of course!!  This outfit $14 from Target + $6 Nike Sweatband.  I was going to make pom poms for her 'tennis socks' but drew the line at perhaps trying too hard??  Non?? 

So i typed up a SHARAPOVA to iron transfer across the back of her $4 Tshirt & "Singles Champion, Oscar's Birthday Grand Slam 2010" across the front (Oscar is of course, the birthday boy).  My first attempt at iron transfer in ages, i need practise!!  TIP: type up in Word, then cut & paste into Paint & flip it, for the mirror image printing!!
I can not tell you how many hours it took me on the internet to find such useful advice, remember, i'm on a new inexpensive basic laptop, as the burglars took my fancy one with InDesign, PhotoShop etc on it.  I'm clutching at straws with my software here.

A selection of my girls' ribbons from their school athletics carnival.  They didn't hand out all the long distance ones, so there are more blue ones coming.  I promise i was an unbaised time keeper!!  My boy has to wait 2 more  l  o  n  g  years before he's old enough to race competitively!!  FYI he did win every novelty race year 1 held, but look at who he has grown up chasing . . . my husband & i were very sporty too!!  All this glory has them competing at North Canberra this week, from 800m at the crack of dawn to the relays at the end, longest day ever!!  I especially love watching the long jump.  

Are you like me - you do a quick once over the house before you go to bed, fluff cushions & straighten up paperwork . . . look at the surprise my son left on the lounge.  Like a Babushka explosion!!

My children having a Saturday night treat in jammies!!

Have lovely Sundays everyone!!  Love Posie

a weekend of catch up, DIY, goodies & Shop stock . . .

Greetings all,
So nice to be back in the swing of blogging & sewing . . . after a customer prepaid & requested a 'babushka cosmetic purse' at the Shop to collect on Saturday, i whipped up 10 for her to choose from (stock was low anyway, so i took in 15 more).  Loving the new lacey print in pink & purple, it will be perfect for cards & badges too.

Last night i adhered this lovely cream crochet style lace to white cotton fabric, cut into circles & started making brooches.  Humming along until i got the 13th one (cute Twilight Zone music for Friday the 13th today) got jammed in the machine & it's stuck in the down position.  Ooopppsss.  FYI these badge making machines, with the basics & parts to make the first 100 badges are $750, OUCH!!

How inviting is my box of goodies for a Shop Handmade delivery today?? 

What a lovely treat, surprise, token of sweetness (pun intented) from Nic at Yardage Design, with a little note saying 'sounds like i could do with some chocolate', yes indeedy.  Oh la la, fancy Koko Black chocolate too, thanks so much.  Funnily enough, i had just posted off a little envelope of goodies to Nic, then checked my PO Box to find this parcel.  Ahhh, what goes around . . . 

So totally happening cool crafty types - what are you doing on Friday night??  I'm protecting my new soft leather ankle boots, ahhhhh, i've been dying to wear these all week but not in the rain, they're too precious!!  I know, totally wild night in.  THEN some lounge craft, hand stitching, rock on!!

Finally, this little bloke has been wearing his puffy parker hood seperate to his puffy parker at school, part aviator, part dag!!  Oh well, keeps his ears toasty. 
Have lovely weekends people, for us, it's the party agenda - i'll post about it tomorrow, love a good dress up opportunity.  Think Russian tennis players, oh yes, for a sports party of course!!  Love Posie

my creative space . . . 'collaborations'

Greetings all,
Well after missing the last half dozen My Creative Spaces, i'm back in (& my trip to Europe is now a lovely memory).  Just loving the collaborations i do for my business & others . . . like these Australian Screen Printers (Sami & Thea, Yardage Design, PippiJoe & Kristen Doran) on my new awesome 57mm badge making machine.  Instant inexpensive brooches, well i do use iron on adhesive to ensure no unruly edges & fabric unraveling, so once all the hard hand cut preparation work is done, the actual badge making part is speedy.

This basket of 150 brooch lovelies are at Shop Handmade, only $7.50 each.

Fabric covered buttons have been restocked at Shop too, 55 new cards, $4.50 each card (2-3 buttons).

What's that up the tree, call the firemen (does a gal ever need a good reason to have a fireman rescue her or her pets) & save the kitty!!  Posie tough toy pussy cat ($17.50) & cool Cosmic Collars, all in Shop.

How sweet, a photographer bought one of my soft headbands ($14.50 at Shop) earlier this week & brought in this gorgeous photo for me to display today.  How LOVELY, thanks Jane!!

Plus a tonne of new coin purses ($14 each) using lots of Retro Mummy fabrics, & my many collaborations are complete. 
There is a new batch of PVC purses in Shop this week, i've been busy!!  So i'll spend the rest of my week watching protective film go on my studio windows then grills worthy of a prison, that should keep the burglars out.  Have great Creative Spaces everyone, love Posie

let me distract you with Maeve while i gloss over a huge faux pas . . .

Greetings all,
Slowly getting life together after burglary & even though i've put my on line Shop on hold for another month, i've got some big orders to complete, so i'm happily sewing away . . . in the mean time i'd like to draw your attention to this cool on line magazine, it's the second issue & all about Spring.  On a wet, cold, windy, Winter day like today in Canberra, it is defrosting my soul.

Now, i can sheepishly confess to one of the dumber things i've done in my life . . . picture this . . . birthday present shopping for one of 15 children's birthday parties we have in August (!!) on the weekend at a city shopping centre with 4 children who had just suffered shoe shopping for mummy (the new cute soft leather ankle boots from Country Road came home with me, if you were wondering).  So while i was juggling my shopping, birthday gifts, groceries & carrying no less than 5 coats . . . i popped by the chemist for some Voltarin (as i predicted i'd need some later that day).  Anyway, after dropping off various children at different parties all over the ACT & into NSW . . . i indeed had a stiff neck & reached for the Voltarin, um, in my shopping bags, no, in my shoe box, no . . . OMG, i've dropped the Voltarin into a birthday bag full of goodies for a 9 YEAR OLD GIRL!!  That was a sleep over too, of course, maybe the parents would find them & need them more than me??!!  Great, so this former pharmacologist made one of the bigger faux pas possible.
So you can all look in the mirror & consider yourself superior to this blogging mummy, unless you've also given muscle relaxants to a child as a birthday gift too??  Seriously, where do i begin to apologise to the parents??!!  Have way better weeks (& weekend birthday parties) than me everyone, love Posie 

PS still fiddling with the font size on my blog, hang in there, from my end it looks like giant print for people with failing eyesight!!

the aftermath & getting tough & winning with positivity (blog style)

Greetings all,

Thanks so much for your support bloggers, you're all aces.  Quite the year of theft i've suffered . . . an entire basket of pencil rolls from a Mathilda's Market, then my phone/ coin purse in Venice, now a break in at home.  Promise i'm a good person, but geesh, what bad luck.
So looking on the positive & after a pep talk from my butcher (of course) who told me to "refuse to be a victim" you do start to get over such personal violations & get TOUGH, beat them with the positives in your life!!  Look at all the beautiful things i have had arrive in the past couple of weeks for me to play with, sewing & creating new things . . .

. . . patterns & prints from The Red Thread, thanks Lisa!!

. . . 80 yards of fabrics from the USA & Japan . . .

these beautiful screen prints from Thea&Sami in Qld Australia

. . . from Venice, if i can bare to cut into them, those 3 little pieces were 200E, ouch . . .

i have quite the collection of buttons like this, TOO cute, it's all in the details

. . . my new badge making machine, 57mm & fantastic, for screen printed prints to birthday badges, coming to Shop Handmade next week - seriously inexpensive brooches. . .

sigh, my old laptop, i miss you, my custom settings, ease of use, let me tell you - learning a new photo resize & rejig system for this blog post has taken me ages, these are the annoying things post-laptop-theft!!

. . . but how could i be sad when this arrived in the mail . . . check out this incredible blog win - thanks Heidi, i'm wrapped, love everything about it, from the necklaces to postcards & personal touches - friends, Heidi said the giveaway was for the Danish scoop, but look at all the additions, love her!!  Check out her amazing vintage loving blog.

On a final note, from my pal Brenda, all you do need is LOVE, burglars clearly have no clue!!  Yes, we're all safe & now our front hedge has a serious military buzz cut & the grills have been measured up for the front window, we'll feel a whole lot safer in no time.  Have great weekends, i feel a giveaway is in order, stay tuned, love Posie
PS just had Stacey over & a police officer came to my house to ask me about my neighbour being broken into 6 days before me, i was gob smacked, bastards, they've hit a few houses now, same thing, electronics, cash & incredibly neat!!  Just wish i knew so i could have removed laptops & left puppy IN the house!!  To think we live in such a low crime area, they're just after cash but what a way to go about it!!??

Finally - excuse the tiny print, i'm trying to work out why it's so huge my end, tiny on the internet, i think i have set up something on this replacement laptop, differently.  The IT guy i sleep with, you know, for free IT help - as i'd rather be sewing than learning computer technology thanks, anyway, he can fix it when he returns from war!!  This is my 'good enough' mean time computer skills, bare with me.

what's the point of deadbolts & large dogs when burgulars smash through your window??!!

Greetings all,

Yes, your mild mannered patchworking mummy here has said plenty of angry rude words this week, after we arrived home to discover some bastards had smashed through our front window (my studio no less) to break in. 
What a horrible feeling, laptops gone, watches gone, money boxes empty, pricks!!  So there goes my work laptop full of my life/ work/ images/ tax/ everything (sure it's backed up onto a hard drive, which they left, but man, so annoying & never updated as much as you need).  I've contacted Army housing & demanded (i was quite the non push over i tell you) grills on the front window, our German Shepherd can take care of the rest . . . after 3 levels of management said no, plus the house owner, someone high up said yes!!  So i'm spending my days off from Shop (sigh) meeting with hedge trimmers & metal workers, insurance claims, reinstalling software, oh & my accountant to see how much i can fudge my tax return to complete it!!  All friggen annoying, i hope they're not coming back for anything else, they even went through the fridge!!
 Argh!!  Yes, i tossed all the toothbrushes out, you never know . . . & needless to say my handsome soldier is furious, worried, annoyed he's not here to protect us.
They didn't seem to touch anything in my studio, so clearly, they have no taste!!  Losers!!
Have nice weekends everyone, we have the usual party schedule (not me, the children have the social lives) & i'm hoping to drown myself in sewing as a healthy distraction.  I'm leaving Posie on line on hold while i sort all this out too, then i'll re-open with a huge sale, that should make everyone happy. 
So add this break in to me losing/ someone taking my mobile, Visa card, coin purse with cash & my driver's licence in Italy last month.  I loathe my new cheap replacement mobile phone, i hate relearning technology!!  Love Posie