Creating, Making, Living

Much love for my custom printed Spoonflower fabric!

2012-05-01T22:16:00.002+10:00

I recently purchased some custom-printed fabrics with my designs on it from spoonflower.com

After a week or two of eagerly awaiting my 2 Cotton fat quarters, they finally arrived today!
Two designs I've popped up to sell on Redbubble.com as prints and tees I thought might translate well to fabric, now what to do these lovely cotton quarters?

They turned out lighter than I thought, but I would put that down to monitor differentiations.
Otherwise I was quite impressed. There is still a lot of detail in the smaller print and the Kona cotton is lovely and soft.

I have these designs for sale-
Mermaiden Delicate Bubble Feast- As fabric
As a poster, tee, print, sticker or card
Avec de lune (With the moon)- As fabric
As cards, tees, prints and stickers

Spoonflower.com will print your custom designs and make them available for public purchase once you have bought a 'proof' print of the design with a small amount of profit (10%) back to you as an artist for each order of your fabric bigger than a test swatch.

I'd definitely use their printing service again.
Any ideas what I could sew with these fabrics? I was thinking of a simple purse or bag.
Wish you a fun night or day, either way :)

While the tots are away, the mums will munch on Mee goreng!

2012-03-24T16:17:00.000+11:00

Well today is a brilliant day! Our little toddler's off at the farm with his grandparents and his daddy pops is at work. I have the house to myself (after I convince the cat she is an animal and needs to do more than sit inside and try to devour me or lay across my laptop).

After 12 (yes, 12!!!) hours sleep (let's call it well-needed rest), I am ready to take on the world!
I've been sick from stress with ulcers and tension headaches among other things, so for the first time in a long time I feel I can finally function.

Lunch is mee goreng because I can finally have some unhealthy crap without worring about demands to share it. My plans for the day are- rest and revise old artwork and go to movies with finace' in the evening, sneaking in our own unbuttered popcorn (ooh, rebels!).
I once snuck in a whole roast dinner to the movies with a friend... :)

Being a mum can be so consuming sometimes, it's just nice to have some alone time (with LOUD music!) to try and figure out why the saturation of this .png image is lost when I save it in GIMP 2.6.. oh the compression level..

I'm currently working on Mermaiden delicate Bubble feast .
I haven't sold any designs online in a while, but have noticed that my photography and paintings, my least loved art vices are most popular. Thankfully I'm not scribbling for my supper, but personally I'd much prefer this drawing on a poster in here than the three oils/ acrylics on canvas which currently hang above my head,-

Well that's enough complaining and procrastinating for one day, on to figuring out why the colours are all topsy turvy on my tee...
Ciao~!

Raising a vegetarian tot

2012-03-23T01:07:00.001+11:00

Our (nearly 3 years old) little boy has been vegetarian since birth. I'm a vegan and his daddy is a vegetarian so there's no need to cook different meals and we can mostly share our food; we're not extremists, we just eat our thing and other people eat theirs.
He never had any formula, has only ever been ill once in his life, is perfectly healthy, a tornado of energy and has always been ahead or right on time in reaching his developmental milestones; he seems a very bright child.

We as parents, after a lot of discussion, came to the agreement:
When he was old enough to understand what his choice to eat meat entailed and where it came from, he could choose for himself if he would like to eat meat.

So far, he's a compassionate little man who loves animals and babies. We don't eat much fake meat but he does love veggie dog 'sausages', as does our sneaky omnivore cat. We don't really have trouble getting him to eat his veggies and he doesn't have to eat anything he doesn't want to, but he DOES have to try it first.

I just thought I'd share our experiences so far about raising a compassionate and aware human being.

*Our cat ducks under the gate, into our backyard, carrying her hunt in her mouth. I spot it and tell mister two, "It looks like she's been hunting and has caught something, it might be a mouse.. it's too small for a mouse, what is that?", I wonder to myself. Mister pulls the orange butterfly confidently out of the cat's mouth and holds it up to me as it flaps around feebly, he turns to the cat, "No, you can eat CAT food!".
I try to tell him it might be too injured to go on, which he disagrees with and simply throws the butterfly in the air and off it flies.
I'm left in awe and so proud of the compassion and quixotic intent of my 'insect hero'.
For the rest of the day as we travel to the library and back, an orange butterfly seems to pop up every now and then.
Everyday magic is such a blessing.

*While trying to (again) explain most of the population (what is it, 97% percent?) eat meat, I pointed out that at dinner at a family member's house, they ate a chicken leg. "Me want a.. a veggie leg!", was the reply.
(He finds it very hard to accept that people and animals eat meat.).

*I was playing with his wooden toy snake and spotted a mouse toy. "Yum, nom nom nom.", went the snake. "NO!", came an angry and astounded cry. "But snakes eat mice sweetie and he's just hungry.". "No!", he said very matter-of-factly, "He can eat an apple.". Off to the fruit bowl he trotted and soon was sharing an apple with the snake.

*Tonight we were watching a documentary on birds. The vultures were picking at a dead animal (not very graphic in the show's visuals, more suggestive), mister two protested, "You can't eat thems!". . He asked me why they don't eat vegetables. "I don't know. I don't think they could dig them out or if they could eat (digest) them. I don't actually know sweetie.". The beautiful swallows eating bugs, the cat hunting a pigeon, and the cranes being robbed of their fish by the eagles and foxes were in turn explained as the show went on.
The cat got a dirty look and I was hit with question after question.

As we read our bedtime story, he asked about a picture, "Does the giraffe eat the caterpillar?", he asked (the giraffe chewed a branch with one upon the end). It was nice to say no, that they were vegetarian and wouldn't intentionally eat bugs. He seemed relieved that not all animals ate animals. Then he asked about the tiger's bone in the picture.. sigh.

Everyone parents and lives differently and we've chosen to parent as honestly (with care and support) and as close to our deepest beliefs as possible. We're proud of our amazing little man and are impressed with the compassion, interest and understanding he's shown.
We feel very lucky to have the freedom and support to raise a happy vegetarian child and so hope to teach the same respect and tolerance for freedom of choice to our next generation; as well as a realistic view on the world. We hope to instil the confidence in him to follow his own path, while letting others walk their own; leading by positive example if he desires, rather than imposition.

So far he wishes to be a vegetarian. We bet that won't last in the rebellious teen years but only time will tell.
You can grow happy, healthy and soulful vegetarians with a balanced and varied diet, here's more proof to the growing pool of evidence.
And no matter what we love him immensely.

Sew sew, oh no! -A cat under the pedal!

2012-03-05T14:13:00.002+11:00

Well between working on my art- from sketches to tees, prints and cases.

and just plain old trying to be the best Mum I can be, I've only sewn a few more treasure Window bags.

A wonderful vegetarian cafe' I love has agreed to sell them on commission for only $25AU each.

I'll be looking to sell them on this great new eco-concious site-

Recycled Market

when production picks up too.

With a new addition of a beautiful tabby/tortoiseshell cat to our family (a nine month old girl from the RSPCA) whom loves ANYTHIN
G that moves, sewing got a little trickier as EVERYTHING has to be catproofed (and stored away for allergy-mindfulness). Poor Kami cat nearly had an impromptau nail clipping as she pounced on my cutting table and I was very near becoming a new piece myself as she decided under the machine pedal was a good place to nap and play, hanging off a top I was trying to make by her teeth at one stage!

For safety's sake she's now locked out of the main room when I sew and curls up happily on her own quilt on the bed in her home made chevron collar.

I wish our curious toddler were that easy to keep from the wonders of the sewing machine and bag trinkets!

Well I did make a few wonderful bags, double-bagged for the sake of safety and now with wipe-clean tags (the tags take a while to make but turned out well I think).

Lovely pink, roses and creamy lace.

A nautical bag.

Pink and floral.

A lucky clover bag with...

Ruffles on the back of the bag! Cute!

I love these bags and kids do too. I hope I can find more time to sew and sell more quickly and spread the fun!

I'll be scanning some old film photos I developed next to get that big stockpile of art I have out there in the world.

Thanks for reading, hope you have a lovely day!

A bag full of treasure to spy = quiet kids : All about i spy bags

2011-11-22T02:06:00.004+11:00

It's been a busy couple of days, recovering from having 4 wisdom teeth out and the pile of housework which waited patiently for me.

After about a month, my plastic pellets for a project I've been dying to finish arrived!
The bag had been punctured and retaped, sent back to the supplier as 'address does not exist', sported a boot print and the bags of pellets had split open and were all through the package. Not impressed with the postal system lately, but that's yet another thing to do, angry letter pending.. sigh.

So here's one of them, rose-print lycra-feel front with black ruffle fabric back:
An eye-spy-like bag for little ones to find treasures in. Included is a picture list of things.

USE:
To give parents and carers a break (even some quiet) , kids some fun and the world something pretty :)

Toddlers to preteens (although I've admittedly sat happily with one for more than a few times) can find the special hidden objects on the list through the peekaboo clear window by moving the bag around, squishing, tapping and turning it.

On long car trips or for older children, you can ask them to find things by color, make up a story about what they find, guess what they might find next, or use a list of written words to improve their vocabulary.
In my bags with letters included in them, older kids can find the word, and perhaps even make up some silly acronyms, and find some anagrams.

Also for young children and those with special needs, it can potentially help develop motor, sensory, puzzle solving and coordination skills.

I love the little spy bags and made a few (less girly) ones with rice in them for our son.
I thought I'd try my hand at selling them potentially, so here's one of my prototypes with plastic pellets.
My aim was to make them unique, eco-friendly and pretty/cool.
They're made using fabric samples from a resource recycling center and both new and clean pre-loved treasures inside the bag.

Here are the contents of one of the bags.

I actually did a lot of research on the general concept.

The generic fleece ones didn't quite suit my taste and I thought I'd try and make some cute themed ones, thinking to combine another sensory experience by adding some ribbon tags.
I really thought about some of the common issues with the bags, here's what I came up with.

PROBLEM: If a rice filled bag gets wet it smells or the rice may potentially attract rodents.
SOLUTION: Plastic pellets (most are made from recycled material).

PROBLEM: Some fabrics may fray with use or time.
SOLUTION: I used two bag layers.

PROBLEM: The vinyl window commonly comes apart.
SOLUTION: I cut a large bit of vinyl and somewhat quilt it around the window for safety.

PROBLEM: Sewing up at the end looks uneven.
SOLUTION: I stitched a straight line then used a strong decorative stitch below it as a feature.

PROBLEM: A common complaint was of cheap plastic toys breaking.
SOLUTION: Sturdier everyday objects can be fascinating to children (take the plastic bobbin for instance) and beads from old necklaces/brooches, buttons, blocks, dice etc. seem a good replacement to me (though I may invest in some cute plastic animals in the next one).

IMPORTANT: These greatly resemble the bean bags children are so used to throwing.

I must urge people NOT to use glass objects such as marbles in them for this very reason.
If you make or purchase any, think reasonably about the contents and their impact resistance.

Feel free to use these ideas and constantly think about how you can improve the safety and fun of such a versatile idea.

Well I'd better toddle off to bed, I hope I helped some DIY crafters or spying bag curios out there this morning.
I'd love to hear your ideas/comments on your own experiences with treasure bags.
Also any feedback, would you buy something like this?
How much should I price them at?

Thanks for reading :)

Chevron got me.. the iPhone case case.

2011-11-19T01:07:00.001+11:00

Well I've been resisting all the new an kitch things such as owls and chevron, but alas, I've crumbled.

Thanks Pinterest, you wonderful inspiring tool..

I've been thinking in a chevron pattern (that retro cool zigzag that should soon pop up everywhere) and so designed a few iphone cases to sell on Redbubble (Click the image to view or buy the case).

Another new thing I tried today was giving our toddler some ice to play with in his sand and water table, he loved it, shoveling it into a water funnel and watching it melt.
We also played 'what floats?', dropping various objects in the water after guessing the outcome, a great learning game for lovely hot sunny days.

Hope you had a great day, any hot summer day activities for tots or suggestions for new iPhone case designs?
Comment below to let me know ;)

Hello big bright beautiful world! Feeling creative?

2011-11-17T23:23:00.000+11:00

Well hello wonderful world, this is my brand new blog where I plan to share what I make.
About me: I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home Mum of 1 busy boy with an internet business on the side and a love of all creative outlets.
I make amazing vegan food, I paint, draw, sculpt, do kids crafts, sing and play guitar and keyboard, dance quite badly at parties, sew, bead, knit, recycle and repurpose things around the house, write poetry and stories and I'm never far from a quality SLR camera to capture life at it's most interesting.

Here shall be a random disorganized (ahh the calm of chaos) assortment of things I've made/am making.
Why not follow my blog for ideas and share your own?

I'm still recovering from having four wisdom teeth removed, but here's my effort for tonight:
My artwork, iPhone cases and tees on Redbubble (oh, do ask Siri to marry you, it's funny!)-

I put eight up tonight, including these three from my family portrait series:

Any comments/feedback appreciated, hope you have a great day!