Mad Hatters Third...

We celebrated the Third Birthday of my son Mihali Jim recently with a Mad Hatters Tea Party.

It started with an invitation.

 

And then a costume...

 

  I found the invite image many moons ago whilst traversing cyber space looking for a sneak preview of Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland opening soon.

The White Rabbit costume was fun to make.  I used a vintage suit that Little Jim wore to my neice's wedding and removed the sleeves to make a vest.  I embroidered the clock face and then made the ears knowing he would wear them only momentarily.

 

He wore them only momentarily....

 I am very particular about cakes.  Some would say I'm too particular.  I grew up with a Mother who constantly baked an amazing assortment of cakes, pavlovas and slices.  Every day in my school lunch there would be Golden Wattle cake or Lemon slice...and endless list of culinary delights.  

As a consequence of this- cakes need to be exceptional for me to take an interest in them.

Which is why I asked BB to make the Birthday Cake.  

This is BB...

She made her famous Chocolate Pavlova.

Its neither too sweet or too chocolatey.

Not too much cream, just the right amount of raspberries.

It is perfect. 

It is freaking delicious.

But I didn't have enough cake to go around. (Sigh!)

 

So it was lucky that my amazing Rachel helped me make other cakes.

Giant chocolate cupcakes with ganache and tiny hearts.

We had an Alice.

The beautiful Lucia in her wisdom was able to masterfully aid the 3 year olds at game time.

We also had a Mad Hatter and the Red Queen of course.

(BB made Aunty Rosie's top hat, it is an extraordinary work of millinery achievement.)

I also made a top hat, but out of cardboard and not so much of an achievement. Although it is still structurally maintained it is covered in tiny cake hand prints.

The Birthday boy somewhat suffered from Character confusion.  He was the white rabbit one minute then he was Buzz Lightyear and then suddenly Mad Buzz.

He loves dressing up at the moment.  Sometimes he has 5 superhero changes a day.

  

There was also Pin the Smile on the Cheshire.  This was really fun.  I had pass the parcel as well but unfortunately had to cancel Mad Dancing and Musical Chairs as it was 35 degrees and we were Meeeeeeeeelting.

Mihali Jim received an amazing array of lovely toys. Manni and I gave him the Plan Toys railway from Eco Toys and friends gave him matching wooden toys to go with it.

But it was simply this Woody doll from Aunty Rosie that won his heart that day and every other since the moment he opened it.

I am often woken at 3am to the sound of Woody crawling into bed beside me.

He says cowboy stuff when you pull the string.

It was a wonderful day, full of yummy food and family and friends, spritely little ones and crazy hats and way too much Sparkling wine.

A most memorable day indeed.

Creative Space XII...

(For April's Creative Space please go Here, Cheers)

Today I am bone tired, I have been feeling this way for weeks now but it is only today that I decided to visit my GP and plead with her to take my tiredness away. She said that I may be tired for one of 3 reasons-

1. I have a virus.
2. I am an exhausted mother to a spirited 3 year old.
3. I have borderline chronic fatigue.

Arrrggghhh, in other words she has absolutely no idea why I'm tired and is grasping at straws and blood tests and why did I not just go and get a reiki or acupuncture instead??????? Sometimes when I'm talking to my Doctor I see a look come over her face which spreads from the corners of her eyes right up through her crinkled forehead and seems to suggest that she thinks I'm a mental case. "Mmmggghhh right, I see" she says with her sidelong doubtful-yet-curious eyebrow furrow.  What goes on behind my Doctor's eyes (countless lonely nights gorging chocolate in pajamas or torrid swingers nights) I can only imagine, but what I really wanted was some kind of magic pill not a psychological assessment.

Anyway today's creative space consists of lying on the couch watching Toy Story 2 for the 30th time and printing out swing tags for my little Shirring dresses which I have been slowly (and what I'm saying is s-l-o-w-l-y) making for a few weeks now. Mostly I'm just laying on my couch with my head thrown back and my hand to my brow being pathetic.  Sigh! 

But there is a compelling sense of completion in the pinning on of those swing tags.  There really is.

Please go and visit some actual Creative Genius spaces at Kootoyoo.

Love Magnified....

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I have just arrived home from a wonderful day to discover that my boy is going to give me a not-so-wonderful night.  I knew it was a terrible sign when I picked him up from Grandpa's this evening and was met with the discovery that he had just eaten an entire Magnum ice-cream and slept for FOUR hours through the afternoon.  I don't care what planet you're from, an almost 3 year old boy having a four hour midday sleep cannot be good for anyone involved.  Yet this revelation seemed to be completely lost on Grandpa who was quietly proud of his amazing sustained somnambulist inducing skills.  He seriously expected me to applaud him and mistook my open mouthed silence for admiration instead of outrage!

Meanwhile I am here tapping away on my computer while the little one is sitting in bed half singing, half crying.... half human, half beastie. And its nearing a hundred o'clock, time we were all asleep!

It is also nearly February.  The whole of January almost gone and I have not so much as even said Happy New Year to the 7 people that read this blog :)

 So Happy New Year.

Here are some revelations that could potentially lead to resolutions....or the other way around.

• The Melbourne Museum is Awesome.  And so I have decided to take Little Jim once a week, starting last week.  He likes to pretend that all the stuffed animals in the glass enclosure can really fly even though they choose not to at the moment we see them.
• Devendra is playing Billboard tomorrow.  How AMAZING is this artist????  Devendra Banhart being ridiculously beautiful and musical in ones home town is about as good as it gets.
• Ron Mueck at the NGV is pretty awesome also.  I was planning on taking my son with me to see this tomorrow.  I have seen Ron's work before and think it will be amazing for a small child for all it's humanist aspects.  Plus I figure if I can take him to the Tate Modern and the Musee D'Orsay, I can take him to the NGV.  However in light of his current mood (yes still singing in bed and its now a thousand o'clock), I'm wondering if it would be tantamount to unleashing a dragon upon the city???
• Being close to the beach is a wonderful thing.  Why did I ever move so far away?  (Crossing the Yarra River may sound simple enough in Theory but in reality North siders rarely do it these days unless they take a packed lunch.) I love the beach, I love Gippsland beaches in particular.  Even just the sight of the sea makes me feel good.  So much natural beauty to ponder and pioneer. 
  
• I have decided that this year I'm going to see at least one film a week. So far I have seen Avatar, Bright Star, Fantastic Mr Fox, Up in the Air and Nine. These were respectively Awe-inspiring, Brilliant, Fantabulous, Unassuming and Not as amazing as you would expect for a cast of great women but nonetheless had amazing art direction and cinematography.
• I believe I need to spend more time going out of my way to meet new people or see new things or new places.  I have been spending far too much time in my head or reading books or blogs or sewing and not enough site seeing.  I solemnly profess from this moment forth to endeavor to do more interesting things, instead of reading so much about other people doing interesting things.
  

There now the little one is finally off in slumber land and I shall soon follow.

See you next week, hopefully with some great pictures from Little Jim's Mad Hatters 3rd Birthday. x

Merry Christmas...

Well it has been a travesty but my little laptop has been struggling along far too slowly for me to upload anything, so I have been quietly wrapping my gifts and biding my time.  Then suddenly a friend of mine appeared and 'defragged' my computer???? Amazing, absolutely amazing.  And now ever so fast again.  Thankyou.

Where I left off was the Made In Thornbury Market, which went really well considering I was in a terrible position.  (Facing the back wall- practically invisible).   It is a very friendly and gracious market and the people that did notice my little stall were very warm and encouraging.

I chatted a little with the other crafters but was able to have long chats with Felicity from Flicketty Splits, who fantastically let me ramble on and on about absolutely nothing in particular.

Now time has gone on and Christmas is nearing way too fast. I'm exploring lots of crafty options this Christmas. A teepee cubby house, dresses, shorts and also I finally perfected my

Little Red Riding Hood doll.

 

On Sunday I had the pleasure of lovely company for my Annual Christmas Drinks which I combined with my Annual Croquet Match.  And I did run with the Kitsch Kringle idea.  It was pretty funny, but not quite as funny as last years Krap Kringle which has made its way into my Top 10 Funniest Moments ever list.

 Thats Little Jim and me with our Kitsch Kringles.  Priceless I know!

I'm very proud to announce that I only needed to buy one Shopping Centre gift this Christmas. Which was an electric grill for my nephew to make his delicious tosdadas on.  All the rest are handmade gifts or gifts that support small business.  Our Christmas tree was purchased from the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Little Jim's toys are again made from sustainable materials such as this Plan Toy which is an ethical company. 

Some time ago I alighted to the fact that giving friends and family beautiful gourmet food and fine wines is always a winner and this year I have boxed up a pile of gifts from Outback Pride, which is a fabulous business providing jobs and training for Indigenous Australians.

They make beautiful jars of  pickles, relishes and spreads amongst other things all made from native bush food grown in outback communities. You can purchase them from Oxfam.   I also discovered my local Naturapath sells beautifully packaged and delicious Organic toasted Muesli. All in recycled materials. The idea of giving natural, healthy and beautiful foods as gifts makes me feel extra good and I'm happy to say that there is no pre Christmas stress in my life.

I'm reading Peter Singers 'The Life You Can Save' at the moment.

Peter Singer is a beautiful writer, speaker and philosopher.  His lectures on Ethics are esteemed the world over and in this book he reminds us as individuals about how we can modestly save a life from poverty. If we all take up his challenge individually then collectively as a Nation we can achieve much. And we can do more than we think.  Read more about his vision here. Or here if you wish to take up the challenge.
Peter Singer will be giving a talk at Melbourne University about 'What responsibilites do Australians owe the global poor' on February 16 2010.

Christmas is a good time for us all to think about how much we have, how fortunate we are and about how we can help others too. There is no greater evidence of this than the effigies and Nativity scenes all around us at this time- as Mary and Joseph are the most famous refugees in all of history.

I would like to leave you all with a little Christmas wish list that a crafter like myself would be extremely excited by.

•  Oxfam Christmas Decorations (now half price). Stunning and proceeds go to a great cause.
  

• Subscription to Frankie Magazine  A magazine to your door = Yeah! Plus one that features other crafters, double yeah!
  

• Honeyweather and Speight Dolls House. Made from recycled cardboard. For the child within, you can never be too old for something so beautiful and handmade.
  

• La Creuset cookware I'm told it's the best and makes cooking pure unadulterated joy. Now this one is an expensive gift but you can spread the love by cooking for friends, family, neighbors and cooking for them Forever as this cookware lasts a lifetime.  No more throwing away crappy pots!

• Barkcloth.  The most challenging gift of all to find, but this is like the Holy Grail of fabric for a crafter or lover of vintage, the most beloved and coveted fabric imaginable.  Buy it on Ebay or buy it here. Buy it anywhere you can.  Don't ever feel weird about buying second hand.

Merry Christmas to everyone and hopefully will catch you sometime before the New Year. x

Made'n Thornbury Market Today...

Creative Space XI...

Today I am pretty much like Kirsty who hosts Creative Space over at Kootoyoo, finishing off all my projects and getting ready for Christmas.

I have a terrible tendency to start something and then become distracted by some other venture- so today is all about Completion.  Especially as the Made In Thornbury Market is only 2 days away.

Here is my Kitchen table...

This particular table was once my Nanna Molly's and then it was my Mum's and now it is mine and that may have something to do with why I love sitting at it.  I have a seperate sewing space but it just does not invite me in like this table does. I also like to do all my embroidery on my couch and only at night.

Here is a close up of some faces that will become my Mama and Baby dolls in the next few hours. Well.... Hopefully!

A face for Little Red Riding Hood for my Thread Den order.

 

This little flock of birds need some stuffin. (Can see how they will remain this way until the last possible minute...)

And the Beeeees, the Beeeeeeeees.

Hey wouldn't it be great if I remember to photograph the finished toys before they sell this time!!!!!!

Here are some realisations-

• You can lure an obstinate Birman Pussycat away from precious fabrics by placing a woollen blanket on the workspace as well.  Then you need to take her off the blanket 2 or 3 times to prove that it is also precious and then finally she will settle there thus saving your fabrics from catness.
• You can place a lamp underneath an ironing board as a very easy light box for tracing faces.
• Sewing Velvet to Cotton is freaking hideous and therefore I don't recommend it. 
• Sometimes the faces of dolls resemble your friends but never, never ever tell that particular friend about the likeness you alighted upon.
  

As this is the last Creative Space for 2009, make sure you head over to Kirsty's to check them all out.

Oooh some lovliness.....

Today I have decided to chat to you about random stuff and not show you any photos of my week of craft whatsoever. I Have been doing lots of sewing for the upcoming Made 'n Thornbury Market but everything seems to be unfinished and forming little puddles around my home in a topsy turvy kind of crazy way.  But there is some kind of method to my madness... I think??

Firstly- I am very excited about the summer.....

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I cannot wait for the weather to become consistent here in Melbourne.  Oh when will it ever?

My own garden is a mess at the moment.  I'm embarassed about it but aim to have it fabulously planted for my annual Christmas party which will actually be combined this year with my annual croquet match.

A Very Croquet Christmas.

Surely that can work.

Marty came up with the brilliant idea of having Kitch Kris Kringle this year after she fatefully received a dirty old vaccuum cleaner at last years Krap Kringle. Krap Kringle was the funniest group present unwrapping I have Ever been to.  But I think Kitch Kringle will be just as humerous.

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I have been thinking a lot about presents, but have actually sorted none.

Last year my family received handmade gingerbread, florentines and heart and bird shaped shortbread.

This year I was thinking of  making Lemon and Rose water cordial. I would need to find beautiful bottles. The queen of craft Martha Stewart has a great 'How To' for turning an ordinary glass bottle into a lovely vase. But as for finding beautiful bottles for cordial I have no idea???

I can already tell I will be slow sending off my Christmas cards again this year.  My sisters Julianne and Rosie have an unspoken rivalry between them about who will get their cards out first.  It's pretty funny, they are earlier and earlier each year.
My card making last Christmas led me to fall in love with Elsa Mora the most amazing artist/crafter/fashionista and whenever I check in on her I am utterly blown away at the magnitude of her papercut imaginings.

And lastly I will leave you with this lovely free Christmas Calender from 74 Lime Lane, you can download it and print it and put it on your fridge like I have done so I can keep track of all the millions of little things to do for the countdown to Christmas. I'm off to play Kamahl now, I love that his album is sponsored by BP??? And the way he sings The Little Drummer Boy touches me somewhere deep inside. Cheers.