I couldn't resist opening today's post with this pic. This gorgeous vintage Fisher Price set was mine as a little girl. Mum and Dad brought her over to me recently (actually, I think they were bringing her over for my children but I can't see them ever getting their hands on her!). I think she may well have had a large influence on my current self-image. See how important kids toys are? Guess why Bratz dolls are banned in our house!
I've been doing an awful lot of hanging around with the crafty crowd over the last week. My poor husband has been seriously neglected in the evenings as I've been out or busy most nights. Its actually been a good thing though as he has been pretty busy himself. The magazine he publishes,
New Zealand Musician, turns 21 years old this month. He has published this free magazine for all but 2 issues over the last 21 years and I am incredibly proud of his achievements.
The crafty week started with the first of my community education classes in screen printing on fabric. There are 4
Devonport Craft Market stallholders in a class of 8 which makes it a lot of fun.
Tuesday night was a night out at the movies. Helena and Wendy of
Wellington Creative organised a screening of this fab documentary which focussed on the origins of the American Indie Craft movement. Lots of laughs and very interesting too. We had the opportunity to have a last minute stall there and Bronwyn of
R.W.Scissors very kindly ran the stall for us (thanks Bron!). We managed to hand out loads of flyers and sold a few bits and pieces too. I sold one of my tape measure brooches and got another order out of it so I was a happy girl.
After the movie. We went along to the new Lucky Penny
craft club which has been started by Heleen of
Ruby in the Dust . It was lovely to get together with the ladies who came along, drink wine and find out more about what lead them to the crafty existence they now lead. We discussed how we fit crafting into our lives and I was particularly impressed with Helene Dehmer's discovery that she can knit whilst walking to work. What a gal!
Finally, there was the Devonport Crafty Get-Together last night. We had a green-themed craft swap challenge that was due to happen last night but so many were sick or otherwise occupied we've moved it to 13th September. Time to get your thinking caps on girls! As a result of the green theme, I've been spending a lot of time recently browsing the web for green themed ideas. These are a couple that I really liked:
Bottle PET purse 
I love this idea but can imagine doing myself real damage when poking holes in the plastic (don't let me near sharp implements!).
Wallet sized fold up grocery bag 
I really like the way this folds easily into a little pouch. I will definately be having a go at that one. I was also thinking of just making a simple fold over pouch to contain the existing shop bought bags I have and stop them from distributing themselves all over my car and house (I swear they have legs!).
In the end, I decided to let myself be inspired by the amazing
Betz White and her recycled felted sweater crafting. Her tag line is Stitch Beautifully, Tread Lightly so it definately fits in with the eco aspect of the green theme. I had a wonderfully soft and fluffy green felted sweater in my sewing room that I've used for lots of other projects but still had a few scraps left. This is what I came up with:
2 peas in a pod. The pod is made from a felted sweater which makes it a double dose of green. The pea babies are made from scraps of craft felt.
It tried really hard to make the babies look identical but as with all handmade things, this is impossible!
I will have to make another of these to keep for myself. I'll post a tute when I do that one. The next Devonport crafty get-together will happen on Sunday 13th September at the Devonport Community House. Everyone is welcome so if you fancy coming along, just contact us via the blog
http://www.devonportcraftmarket.blogspot.com/ or via our email address
thedevonportcraftmarket@hotmail.com .
I made mince pies from scratch with Maddy's help and raspberry and mint vinegar (yum!)
I used some gorgeous Alexander Henry puppy fabric to make skirts for my girls last night.
They wore them to the BEST puppy themed birthday party this morning. I loved the puppy birthday cakes and the shrinky dink dog tags the kids made. The party food was hot dogs (of course) and gingerbread dog biscuits. They played puppy training (for treats) and pin the nose on the puppy. Just fantastic! Happy Birthday Skye!!
