Last Night…

…or, more accurately, this morning, I stayed up pretty late drawing & painting the final ‘bots for Bubba#2’s room. I picked up a few $1 frames at Le Oppy the other day too so if I can find some hooks or nails they’ll even get put up today. Maybe.

I love it, LOVE IT, when I get into ‘the zone’. When I can’t do anything else except focus on what I’m doing, & I can’t rest until it’s done. It happened when I made the storybook drawers for Miss Punk, or more recently when sewing up her reversible pinnie, but as much as I love it, it doesn’t happen all that often. Most of the time when I finally manage to convince myself that ‘now is the time!’ to make, draw or create I am so preoccupied with other things I should be doing, or things happening around me that the zone remains sadly unobtainable.

I think that if I could get into the elusive zone more easily I would be encouraged to create so much more, both in volume & time commitment, but when it happens it seems to be more by accident than active choice.

Do you reside in ‘the zone’ when you create? Is it easy or hard for you to get there?

(For more creative spaces, or 'zones' perhaps, Kirsty is back - woohoo!)

Oh, the shame!

I have a terrible confession to make. You’ll think me an awful, neglectful Mother… dare I tell you?! Yes. Yes I should. Honesty is the best policy & all that… here goes;

Before today, I had never made Miss Punk play-dough.

I know!

She has played with ‘playdoh’ & even the handmade stuff at playgroup – but I had just not gotten around to making her some myself.

The massive bag of play-dough cutters I picked up from Le Oppy on Monday for $2 (…me thinks they might be Tupperware? Experts? I have had the good-fortune of not having to attend a Tupperware party in my entire adult life…) though spurred me on to finally get to it. I promised Punk I’d make some, in exchange for her not opening the bag of cutters & distributing them to mysterious places around the house before then.

It wasn’t hard. I made it before I cleaned the kitchen so that I didn’t have to clean up afterwards muttering about the mess being a good Mother makes. It was even…. fun…. & The Punk loved watching the process, choosing the colours & playing, contentedly, for longer than she has played with anything, ever, with the end result.

So, if like me, you have a deep, dark, brooding play-dough secret, I urge you to go make some & get it over with.

You’ll be glad. I promise.

I can vouch for this, from the book 365 TV-free Activities for Toddlers;

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• Food colouring
• Wooden spoon
• Saucepan
• Breadboard
• Plastic containers

With a wooden spoon, mix the flour, water, salt and cream of tartar in a saucepan over a medium heat until thick. When it has cooled, add the oil and knead well on a floured board.

Divide into balls and add different colours….

The Solo Opshop Shuffle.

So it seems that my recently acquired ‘Punk Free Monday’ is rapidly becoming ‘Opshopping Solo’ day, of course Le Punk still comes on the regular oppy jaunt – she does love a bit of 10 cent book goodness, or 50 cent truck joy – but man it’s nice to dawdle about at my leisure…!

Fave find for the day is this luffly pristine vintage toiletries case – it still has the tag attached the keys (both of them!) taped inside. It smells of old lady talc & is just adorable.

Bubba#2 scored a pack of brand new rainbow cloth nappies – we had some for Le Punk but they are long gone – an electric guitar onesie & a funky robot tee that will be used for room decor for a year before he can wear it…!

I found The Punk a tonne of books, both contemporary & vintage, because well, they’re 10 cents & I can’t help myself when it comes to books, shoes, play dough cutters…

Damn I love opshopping.

(Coincidentally, ‘Opshopping Solo’ day today coincides with the slightly delayed ‘Flea Market Finds’ over at Her Library Adventures!)

My Name Is Mud.

Truly.

….she CAN say ‘Mum’, she’ll say it in “Mum-ma” perfectly. Unfortunately though, I am not “Mum-ma”, I am ‘Mud’, just as she is ‘Punk’.

It’s only fair I guess.

A teeny bit of link love…

Sometimes you come across things on le internets that you just LOVE. More often you come across things that are cool or interesting, but that big love is reserved for extra special things like these… (I have been meaning to share these two for a little bit, but for some reason I wanted to post 3 things instead of 2…? OCD much? Anywho, when the third thing was not forthcoming, I thought I best not be selfish any longer….)

#1 is from Maya Made – oh how I adore this idea – an apron smock from two vintage half aprons!!! Oh! Yes! They do say that the best ideas are the simplest ones, & this is the epitome of that, I think!

I have quite the thing for vintage aprons, but I like to look at them more than I wear them (though I should wear them, I’m a grot & a half…), but something like this? Something so damn cute? I could wear this. Out of the house even…. head on over to see how to make your own!

Annnnnd….

#2 I came upon via a link posted on Crafty Mamas by the far-internet-wandering Zofia. I. Want. One. Um… I mean… bubba#2 would like one. In the nursery. Yes. That’s what I mean.

Pretty much the most adorable robot I have ever seen, and again you can make one if you’re all knitty clever & pop over to Little Cotton Rabbits.

….that time again…!

It’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to make for Softies For Mirabel this year… how fast did that go?! Massive thanks to Pip for continuing to organise & co-ordinate this inspiring soft toy drive, & look at that wee lamb… a Jess original of course!

Will you be joining in the feel good & do good making this year? This is what I made last year, and managed to post off *just* in the knick of time;

I think I’ll have to get my softie sorted asap this year though, me thinks I’ll be a bit busy/overwhelmed/exhausted after next month!

Teapot… erm… pots…

I have been persisting in trying to get some Spring cleaning done around here even though it feels like anything but Spring – a glimpse of sunshine is followed by a drop in the temperature & clouds converging en masse – still, a couple of days ago it was the kitchen’s turn for a clean out.

Our kitchen is tiny. Teeny weenie ennie even. It’s also pretty badly equipped & laid out, but that’s another ‘when will we ever get around to renovating it, exactly’ kind of story. Basically, the bitsy size & lack of storage means that there isn’t enough room for my usual accumulation of kitschy whatnots, & finally admitting this I purged some teapots from my just-to-look-at collection & contemplated them sadly, thinking ‘…back to the opshop with ye!’. Just as I was thinking about finding a box to pack them away in, I glanced outside & saw The Boy’s potting bench with his many seedlings growing merrily away…

*insert light bulb here*

Teapot pots! Oui!

A quick Google told me it was possible, & off I scurried to get me a masonry drill bit.

Let me just say, that drilling into something ceramic for the first time is completely & utterly TERRIFYING!

Let me also say that a $3.75 drill bit will get you through three teapots, & only just. I think I might need to invest in a better quality one, because I have a whole lot more herbs to gather, & see little wee teacup planters in my future….

(I just pierced a few holes in the bottom of the bread tin with a nail, and the l’elephants were planters already…)

How are your undies going?

Have you been collecting undies for Project Underpants? I have, and hope to be posting them off soon (the bane of my life is postage & the post office… where is a my teleporter when I need it?).

I haven’t collected as many as I would have liked, but it’s as much as I can manage right now, which is okay I guess, & all anybody can ever do, but sometimes you just want to do more, or feel like whatever you do do is never enough, so make me feel better by telling me of your undie collecting successes, & don’t forget to pledge & post them in!

Fatso & a giveaway winner…

Gah. I can’t believe I’m posting this… but Punky is all cute. At least I’m wearing black. I know pregnancy can be blamed for that bump out in front, but what about the triple chins?!

(34wks)

Winner of the Mamu pattern is Sally – forgot to draw it yesterday, in all the excitement! Congrats Sally – email me your address, I am so going to the Post Office tomorrow, so help me…!

Say “Day-care!”

…that’s what I told her this morning to get this big grin – you can see we’ve been talking it up. Thank you all for your lovely messages of support regarding my being a blubbering mess for Punkster’s first ever day of day-care today, they were very much appreciated.

She LOVED IT. Loved it with a crazy, manic, hyper love – she was bouncing off the walls when we got home telling me everything she got up to, & I am so glad, but leaving her this morning was still hard… for me. She had run off to play with hardly a second thought – I had to cajole a goodbye hug out of her before I left! She was only there for 4 hours, & yes you smarty-pants-lot, you were right, it did go fast, but I have felt weird all day. Nervous & emotional & just plain weird.

So what did I do with my Punk-free time? What do you think, really?

Yes.

I opped. At a leisurly pace. I didn’t have to keep an eye on the toy section, or drag a disgruntled Punk about like a stubborn ragdoll, or leave without having a really good rummage.

(Some goodies: bookshelf for bubba#2’s room, a coat rack (to be painted & robotised), sea-monster wooden pull along toy, coathanger with knitted cover, a ‘paint your own’ robot canvas, quilt cover that I’m going to make into curtains & a gorgeous red bag I had ummmed & ahhhhed over last time I was in…& regretted not getting, obviously meant for me because it was still there…)

And I had lunch with My Boy, without having to pick up things from the floor or give up most of my drink… nice, but not-quite-right feeling…

Good morning Sunshine!

We woke up this morning to some SUN! It really is amazing what a difference a little sun can make to your mood, it makes you want to jump out of bed rather than hide under the covers…

…& have a mini-photo shoot before breakfast!

Here is Miss Punk’s new hat, I made it yesterday, from her colour specifications (bloody pink, pink, pink, pink….) using the Make It Perfect Lazy Days Hat pattern. You see, tomorrow, *sniffle*, Punkerella is going to a few hours of day-care for the very first time. I am super nervous, perhaps more for myself than for her – she has never been looked after by somebody else before. I have never had to pack her lunch for her, so that she, like a big girl, could partake without me. I know I am going to cry. Or at least blame my watery eyes on hay fever. Or something. I digress… THE HAT. Since we’ve not seen sunshine for months, her previous summer hats have been lost &/or grown out of, so she needed a new one to be allowed to play outside at day-care.

I thought, as I presented it to her yesterday, how good it is that I can make some of the things she needs, just like that. Sure my stitching may be a bit wonky, & I may have actually SHED SOME BLOOD (…first sewing machine needle incident in quite some time), but she loves it, we didn’t have to shop around for something that wasn’t emblazoned with Bratz girls shaking their booties & it didn’t cost me a thing.

Wish me luck for tomorrow, won’t you… I’ll be the Mother sobbing at the door while her not-so-little-anymore little girl runs off to explore with new friends.

(Oh, & I think I might draw the winner of the pattern giveaway tomorrow, to give me time to get your address & post it off on Wednesday, so if you haven’t entered yet, do so here.)

tIePod Cosy – Tute

So, maybe you want to make an easy cosy for your iPod or iPhone (or maybe you don’t, who knows… you ARE fickle…) from one of the vintage ties you’ve been unconsciously stashing, knowing they’d come in hand for something, someday?

Just so happens I took some pictures as I was making mine, because, well, that’s what we do, isn’t it?

First of all, let me just say I hope you’ll use this more as a general guide than a hard & fast ‘How To’ – I just sort of made it up as I went along & can see now there may have been better/neater/easier ways to do it, so read through & come to your own conclusions, you’re a clever bunch, and most much more cluey about sewing than I!

(Note for above: Some ties will be tacked on the inside, you may need to unpick a little & re-sew the front seam… or, if you’re lazy like me… choose another tie…)

Animation Friday

I have been meaning to join in with Animation Friday over at My Poppet for weeks!

Finally I have cobbled together a quick animation & it was much easier & quicker than I thought it would be… why don’t you give it a whirl too? Instructions here.

Make-shift iPod Cosy.

I want a cool cover for my iPod (I promise I’ll shut up about it soon!), something like this;

…or this;

…but I’m poor for now & also needed something asap to prevent scratches & whatnot when I’m carting it around, so this evening I whipped up a quick cosy from a vintage tie… I have quite the little collection of such ties for some reason…

It’ll do for now!