It's in the mail...

With the advent of the electronic age, it's very rare we find something special arriving in the normal surface mail. We never seem to have that feeling of knowing something special is on it's way...unless you are an especially regular online shopper. The feeling of waiting for the parcel to arrive, wondering what's in there! Unless, of course if you bought it, then you'd know...

This month, I decided to take part in the 'Sunshine in the Mail Swap' over here at 'Seaweed and Raine'...

Having missed out on a mail swap earlier in the year with the Creative Collective, this was a great opportunity for me to use some of those ideas floating around in my head, AND for a recipient to have a parcel arrive in the mail (and not just those window faced envelopes!)

Sheree from Seaweed and Raine put the call out about a month ago. I'm not sure how many people signed on for the activity, but we all now have the name and address of the person we are preparing our little surprises for!

We each have been allocated a different person to receive the Mail Swap, so our special gifts are for someone other than the person who is making one for us/me! What a great idea!

With the rain that's been hanging around (we've just had a down pour), it's been the right type of weekend to drag out the cutters, the glue, the printer, the sewing machine. Oh...how I long to be able to spend my days just doing this!!

Now that I have a grandson on the way, he'll be here sometime in October, all of my skills and passion for creativity are champing at the bit. I can't wait to see what Mum and Dad-to-be have chosen for the baby's room!

Pinterest is getting a workout! and my blog projects are up there too...Some of the things I've been doing this weekend are for potential new ideas for my Made it store as well.

How about a bit of a look at what I've been making?

The lady I am sending my gifts to, is Greta from 'On top of a Lilypad' across the ditch in New Zealand. How cool that it's 'overseas', well, over one sea anyway! NZ is so close they could be part of us anyway, or maybe they think AUS should be a part of NZ. (The rivalry continues...)

For the swap, we were asked to do a few things or all of the 5 activities, if we wanted to..

Sheree asked us:

... to choose 3 things (more if you feel like totally spoiling your partner!). It's preferred if you could hand make some of it (or purchase from someone who does).

1. Stationery OR  note cards with envelopes.

2. 1 Handmade postcard.

3. Something you have made.

4. Something that makes you think of Spring.

5. A surprise for your partner

My package will include the following:

A HANDMANDE NOTE CARD WITH ENVELOPE

A HANDMADE POSTCARD

This is from a selection of postcards I made earlier in the year for another project by the 

Creative Collective and I've sort of kept it as a bit of a 'signature' for some of my 

'designed to a T' poster/stationary items.

{Photo isn't great sorry, this was during the downpour and I had no light basically}

SOMETHING I HAVE MADE

A few tags using stickers, bakers twine and Washi tape - This tape is one of my favs 

at the moment, it has the days of the week on it - in 3 different colours!

 and

A SURPRISE FOR YOUR MAIL SWAP PARTNER

This is an A4 poster with the quote I used from last week's 'Weekend Thoughts' 

'Don't wish to be anything except what you are!'

Here's the actual graphic for it...I'm going to send it with the clipboard too. This is a great way to showcase art work, especially if you have children. You can change the item regularly and even have some hooks on the wall for a row of 3 or 4 pictures. They look fantastic and are really a cheap way to display. I bought these from Officeworks for a few dollars each...bargain!

I couldn't think of anything to do that reminded me of Spring, but I still have time. The parcels are scheduled to arrive by the start of Spring, September 1. I have some floral fabric in my stash...I'll think of something...

Stay tuned for some more of what I've been making this weekend...

My Creative Space...A gift for Chelsea

Lots of baby news happening at the moment...

My eldest son's best mate, David, and his lovely wife Kate, had a beautiful baby girl, Chelsea Beth, on March 16th. David and Kate were married a little while ago now and I made them this wedding gift for their home.

Brendon and David have been friends since their school days and shared a townhouse in Brisbane (with a couple of other people) for about 5 or 6 years. They play in the same social soccer (football) team, too. Never thought I'd see they day my son would strap on a pair of soccer boots. Both my boys played a lot of baseball and softball growing up.

Anyway back to Chelsea...A few weeks ago I made a lovely day trip to Berrima, south of Sydney. I love this little village but don't get there often enough. I did the usual 'browsing' (with intention to buy whatever struck my eye!!!) at a gorgeous shop, 'The Brown Shutter'. If ever you are in Berrima, you must make the visit to this shop. It is packed solid with fabulous gifts, notions, home wares, baby gifts...Yes baby gifts, and yes I did pick up a beautiful pink and white rabbit for Chelsea. Unfortunately I don't have a photo as the lovely owner of The Brown Shutter gift wrapped it for me.

{Image source}

My original intention was to make some bunting for her nursery in the 'Pink Diamonds' fabric range I designed, but knowing I probably wouldn't have enough time to make it before I left on my recent work trip, I felt at least it would be nice to have the gift for her (just in case it would be a while before I could make the bunting).

Wouldn't you know it, in the rush to pack and leave for Brisbane and Toowoomba, I left the gift in Sydney...Arrghh!

While still in Berrima, on the way back to the car, I came across this little gem, Berrima Patchwork.

 {Image source}

Didn't even know it was there, it's a little bit hidden from the road, back a bit for the actual street, behind some trees. This store apparently has a 27 year history in Berrima and Sue and her Mum were so lovely. I bought some contrasting fabrics for the bunting and really had to restrain myself from walking out with a piece of every Amy Butler fabric they stocked. Don't worry Sue...I'll be back.

I knew I didn't want to use the 'Pink Diamonds' range for the front and back of the bunting, so I selected a pink stripe, to match the pink diamond fabric (was a great match actually), then I found a yellow check/gingham and a green spot. The yellow gingham and green spot are the backing fabrics. The bunting is finished with a yellow and white spot ribbon on a white tape. Lastly, I printed her name in a matching green as a transfer and ironed each letter to a flag on the bunting. 

If you look closely at the transfer, it didn't come out 'that great', but the fabric is a linen base so it has a texture anyway, which makes the transfer look like it also has a texture. All in all, it's pretty cute..well I think it is.

The only place I could find to take a photo of the end result was on my dining room blinds, it looks better against a white background.

Two more lovely bits of baby news to come...standby, one is very close to home!!!

More Creative Spaces over here at Kootoyoo every Thursday. Kirsty is having a break until the holidays are over, so Creative Spaces are back on April 28. I thought I'd still like to do one though!

Creative Collective - February Challenge

This is my postcard for the Creative Collective 'ROAK' (Random Acts of Kindness) February craft challenge.

 {Card Front}

{Card Back}

I've been working on the design for a little while, but changed it a bit to fit in with the challenge. But you know what...I really like it. Very happy with the way it's come out.

The postcards are all printed ready to go. I had an early-ish finish at work today, so I headed home in a flash, to spend a couple of hours working on the idea as a series of this design. 

I'll leave the postcards I've printed tonight in some unexpected places and take some photos. The idea is to leave them where someone you don't know can find them, and have them log in to the Creative Collective blog and tell us where they found their card.

The original idea for this series is 'Bird on a Wire', another is, 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'. The idea is to think of an animal that I can incorporate a 'curly' bit, and also that connects to a movie name. So I'm still in the process of researching and creating the animals in Illustrator. I haven't decided what they should be, maybe a notepad or some sort of stationery item.

Hugs & Kisses

I'm a bit late for Valentine's Day, not that I made this to celebrate the day of love, it's for a birthday present for someone who has a special place in my heart.

To all of you who were made to feel so special, or made that special person feel loved, a very happy, although belated, Valentine's Day.

It's not that I've never celebrated Valentine's Day, it's just never really been a big thing. Although when it did happen, it was a surprise and all the more meaningful. It's difficult when you have two differing views in the one household.

I was thinking of the connection with Valentine's Day when I made this, and decided it would be a gift for my beautiful niece who is turning 20 this year. I can hardly believe we are one year away from celebrating her 21st.

It seems like yesterday she was a littlie, with my boys looking out for her and pushing her around in a pram. In recent years, I copied an Alex Perry dress for her formal, then I took a trip to Brisbane to surprise her for her 18th birthday.

She's actually not my niece, but she calls me Aunty Terese. Her Mum and I are cousins and very close, so we see a lot of each other whenever we can. She is something to be proud of.

Keep those bids coming...

Monday night at 9PM is the cut-off time for Auctions on the QLD Flood Appeal blogs.

Remember to scope out the items you have your eye and have you bid placed by this time, so you don't miss out.

Is it going to be a race to the finish to get that handcrafted item, and all for a worthy cause.

My Creative Space is back...

I didn't realise it was back until yesterday when I read Posie Patchwork's post. Haven't done anything this week that's very creative, but have just picked up some more wallpaper and fabric offcuts from Signature Prints for some projects to be featured next month.

Hopefully I'll have had time to finish setting up my 'Made It' shop by then.

The pieces are fairly neutral, but they need to be for the projects I have planned.

The newest piece I've created was for our Flood Appeal Auctions, as shown below.

Don't forget to get behind the great work all these wonderful blogs have been doing to help raise money for QLD.

Auctions close on Monday 24th January, 2011 at 9PM. So if you waiting to see how high the bids go, this is the cut-off time.

Happy bidding, and thank you all for the interest you are showing in my auction items.

You'll find more Kootoyoo creative spaces here every Thursday.

QLD Flood Appeal Auction update

Auction Item #1 - photographic print by Brendon Grove - $40 bid from Kylie at My Flying Ducks

Auction Item #2 - set of my 'Keep Calm and Sew on' - $40 bid from Michelle at Sew Frayed

Auction Item #3 - Framed Paper Flower 3D Art - $30 bid from Jennie at Posie Patchwork

Thanks girls. Let's keep the momentum everyone. News is after 3 days the 240+ bloggers participating have raised about $45,000. 

4 days to go.

Happy New Year...and a post Christmas wish to everyone

Welcome to the eve of a New Year everyone.

I've been a bit absent over this last month, so it's time to catch up a little bit.

Firstly, Merry Christmas to you all. I do hope your Christmas Day was filled with love and cheer. My Dad is visiting from QLD and it was nice to have him here on the day.

My thoughts go out to my friends and family caught in the floods in my home town, Bundaberg and a very dear friend in Emerald. Both towns are in dire straits, so if you are able to donate to the flood appeals, please do so to help them out.

I've had regular contact with some of them and they are all doing fine, with no evacuations...yet. It's hard to believe the amount of water in the Bundaberg area. I remember the floods in the 70's, and yes I was 'very young' then.

A big thankyou in advance if you can help. 

So, the lead up to Christmas was pretty busy for me at work, including a quick 2 day trip to Melbourne to join the national team for some strategy days on what's in store for 2011.

Silly me, I decided a few weeks out from Christmas, I'd better get a move on with making the Christmas pressies for this year. I did OK in the end, thanks to some great ideas from you wonderful bloggers. I'll let you know who they are as I go along.

My boys have both moved into new addresses, and I thought as a surprise, I'd make them each a set of Christmas decorations. Darren's set was in green and Brendon's in blues.
 
I started with wreaths made out of circles cut from some Murobond paint chips I had accumulated. 

If you've seen the paint samples from Murobond, you'll know they are a decent size, so I was getting 3, 4 and 5 circles from each colour in varying sizes. I included some contrasting papers also. The project was finished with some small silver hearts and buttons for embellishments. Viola!...instant wreath in about 1 hour.
   

Then I moved on to making some birds from a post Tina at Rubie's Place featured. These are also featured on the 'Christmas Tree' we had at home this year. You'll see what I mean soon.

Next some wooden heart shapes covered on one side with a flocked transparency and a contrast blue (or green) on the other side. The wreaths and the ornaments were finished with a white or an ivory ribbon to hang them.

Garlands were next. Again, the theme of circles was carried through to these. There's also a photo of Brendon's tree (well branch) with the decorations.

With the decorations finished and mailed off, I settled in to making a present each for the girlfriends. Brenda at 'Hoo are you lookin at?' has fabulous fabric boxes. Mine aren't quite the same, but they were OK in the end and both the girls liked them, which is more important.


Sarah's is the owl and Natalie's was a shooting star.

The Christmas Tree was a bit different this year!!! 

There just wasn't any room in the house in Sydney to accomodate a long table for 12 guests, the loungeroom furniture and the usual Christmas tree. 

I used some brown paper to cut triangle panels to make the different levels of the tree then decorated it with bunting, christmas birds the same as the decorations I made for the boys, some more silver hearts, and circle 'baubles'. The tree was topped off with another dove.

I was really happy with it!! It all came together at around 11 pm on Christmas Eve.

This is what the normal tree looks like. It's quite big but beautiful, so we missed it a bit this year.

The theme for Christmas wrapping this year was white paper with a contrast tied off with twine and the gift tags I made in November for the 'Christmas Giveaway'.

Some other projects completed in the lead up to the big day...

A matching set of cushion and matryoshka doll for my niece in Bundaberg. The print 'In the Pink' is another great idea from Tina at Rubie's Place, using freezer paper as a template for the print.

 


Lastly, phew it was a busy week and a half, was a present for the wife of one of my co-workers. One of my products soon to be on 'jane on jane st'. Fabric Art similar to my Wallpaper Art. They will both be available soon and in 3 sizes. Stay tuned.

I took the photo at work on the carpet, with my phone, so it's not a great photo, sorry. The fabric is some curtain fabric offcut from Ikea. Beautiful colours.

So everyone, that's what I've been up to in the 4 weeks since my last post. I do hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and have a fantastic start to 2011.

May everything you hope and strive for comes to fruition.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

(Anyone else having trouble with Blogger formatting. It drove me crazy doing this post!!!)