Handmade!

In alignment with my New Years resolution (quality over quantity!), and due to my distinct lack of shopping while we were in Wellington, I have been doing my fair share of online shopping so far this month... handmade, of course!

Firstly, I was lucky enough to nab a few things in the Silver Circus sale on Facebook.
This wee tee is a firm favourite, and I look forward to Mol fitting into her harem style pants and the other tees I got for the coming seasons!

Secondly, I got two outfits from one of my all-times faves: Hikkepik. Otto was kind enough to model the bubble romper for me! Heh. I LOVE it. Mollie should fit both outfits next Summer.
I was also lucky enough to sign up for the 'Creative Pay It Forward' on Joke's FB page, and she sent me these amazing angel wings! I had admired them at her stall last month, and wished I had bought them - so I was over the moon to be gifted them! Mollie wore them for a whole afternoon, too. Always a good sign : )



Last, but certainly not least, I decided at the last minute to snaffle up one of Dear Colleen's vege calenders. I had ummed and uhhed about getting one since she released them, but we always get given a least one calender so I wasn't going to. But then I realised that it is far better to have a calender I LOVE hanging in my house, than a free ho-hum one. Quality over quantity, aye!?

I have loved receiving all these handmade goodies in the mail, and dealing with the sellers. I find it so helpful for my business, too. I get to see how others deal with their customers, how they present their products and the quality of their goods etc, and assess whether I'm doing things exactly how I want them done and take notes on things I want to improve.

Really, the moral of this post is that buying handmade is AWESOME. But you knew that, right?

A little karma.

I have been decluttering my house. This is always a good thing, for two reasons. A) I have less things around me, I feel lighter and happier. B) The thrift karma from donating carloads of stuff is quite amazing.
It might seem a little silly to get rid of a tonne of belongings, only to be stoked to come home with replacements, and it is probably. But I comfort myself in the fact that the majority of my op shop purchases these days are Croutons-related, meaning they will (eventually) leave as something else, or can at least be counted as business expenses.

This wee case was something I needed to umm and uhh over a little. I have quite a few suitcases now, and am not in dire need of a new one - but it was $2 and I remembered that I needed something to store my patterns in, because my current system is not working.
This used to be a sewing machine case, in it's past life, and the extender arm, feet and manual are still in it. Even the warranty for the machine is here! Anyone have a Husqvarna machine and need bits and pieces for it?

I rarely ever find tapestries in the op shop anymore. Today I found a big pile of them! I, in my desire to strive for quality over quantity, only took half of them. They are quite big ( my feet are in the picture for size reference!) and I'm picturing oversized tote style bags..

And, finally, my usual weak spot - fabric. There are some real treasures in this pile. The bottom piece is a thick linen type fabric, covered in big peacocks, the purple floral feels like it might be silk.. and all the pieces are quite big (well over a metre, some of them a few metres). Score!

Thank you, thrift gods!

Five Friday Felt Finds

I've been absolutely loving Emmas wee Felt showcases, and have decided to join in. For the next few Fridays I will post a smattering of lovely things I have found on Felt, in the hopes of sharing some handmade joy, and perhaps inspiring a sale or two? Failing all else, it sure is some sweet eye candy.
This week: Colourful Kids!

 Mr and Mrs Rabbits by Nord

 Money Monster by Zippitydoodah

 Shark carry case by Mushymoo

 Rustic Quilts ~made to order~ by Totaravale

Blue & Yellow Dress-up Wings by Mandh

I've started my 'Possible Xmas Gifts' list, and thinking all of these would make AWESOME presents! Heck, I'd be stoked to get any of them myself!

Five Friday Felt Finds

I've been absolutely loving Emmas wee Felt showcases, and have decided to join in.

For the next few Fridays I will post a smattering of lovely things I have found on Felt, in the hopes of sharing some handmade joy, and perhaps inspiring a sale or two? Failing all else, it sure is some sweet eye candy.

Bear - Cute Companion By Minu.

Autumnal oak leaf pendant by Midgetdesign

Little brown rabbit upcycled wool jumper by Heart-felt

gold diamond amour by odi (small version) by Odi-design

Standing Fawn - a Timorous Beastie print by Ellaquaint


Happy Shopping!

Tick, tick, tick.

The hormone-induced crazy has officially set in.
I walked past the window of the op-shop today (after going in, of course.. I can't pass a second hand store by!) and spotted this clock. It's beautiful, right? It had a tag on it that said it worked perfectly, had the winding key etc, and it was even fairly cheap. Any clock lover would have been sold on it.
And that there is the problem, I don't like clocks. I don't like the ticking! I can't stand it, in fact.
(And, to make things worse, this one chimes every fifteen minutes?!)
BUT I knew, the minute I saw it, that I needed this clock. It called my name. It was like fate. And I wasn't going to feel happy until I had it in my sweaty little mitts.

That, my friends, is how I know that the pregnancy insanity seems to have well and truly arrived.

Now that I have this noisy wee clock in my house, I need to figure out quite how on earth to get it to tell me the time. At the moment it seems to tick in double speed, and chimes a different time than it shows. Do of you happen to secretly be clock experts?

Findings and precious gifts.

The last few times we have been op shopping in Tauranga have been really disappointing, so I didn't have high hopes for Friday. I thought I would be lucky if I found a few bit of fabric (I rarely don't find at least one piece!). But I was pleasantly surprised with my little bundle.
I didn't find any fabric, as such, but did find a wee stack of vintage sheets. I'm really picky when it comes to linen, but was really happy to see that these were in pretty much unused condition. Stoked! The pillow cases will find their way to our bed, and the sheets will be used as fabric.
The wallpaper is just handy to have around the place, for wrapping gifts and parcels etc. Especially at a dollar a roll!
The bag is super soft leather, with big stitching, and a really nice size. And I needed a new bag, I don't have many (aye, Abraham? haha). The jewellery was a bit out of my normal rice range, but seriously? A HUGE painted wooden necklace, and fur earrings? Who could refuse? (Sorry bunnies.)
The test tubes are a strange purchase, I know. I figure if Aesop doesn't use them for science experiments then I could always replicate this, and have a Real life pin!

Also during our trip to Tauranga, I picked up a wee basket full of goodies that were given to me by Abraham's Mum's cousin (what does that make her to me? I just call her cousin Cheryl!). She came to visit with us a few months ago and  noticed my full china cabinet. She decided to add a few treasures to our family collection, from hers. So lovely!

She wrote me a wonderful card all about where the cups came from, and even included the little notes that came along with them, and a photo of the lady who gave them to her! Such treasures.
The glasses she won in a dancing competition as a teenager in the 60's! I especially love them and their little retro sayings  'Don't knock the rock', ' Rock around the clock', 'Giddy-up a ding dong' and 'See you later alligator'! I'm a very lucky lady.

50c mixture sort of day.

 (This picture is a, rather self indulgent, picture of my outfit for today. It's completely unneccessary to the blog post, and huge to help with the blurriness, but I like it. That's also a new skirt, yes it is. It's a little snug, but I don't mind.)

I'm not sure if I can say what sort of day it has been yet, it's only lunchtime, but I have a feeling I will be able to call it a bit of a muddly, 50c mixture sort of a day.
It's one of those days where the weather is on the verge of turning to custard, you're not sure whether to put washing out or not, the kids routine is all up the wazoo and you're in between projects and are not sure quite where to start. It's a day where things are so out of routine, that you even feel like blogging for the first time in donkey years! But, most importantly, it's a day that's perfect for op shopping.
I picked the kids up from Mum (they stayed with her last night. Glorious!), and drove alllllmost all the way home. We got to the end of our street, and I decided to detour to the oppies, just for a few minutes. Well, it's safe to say I'm glad I did.

 Vintage crochet booties, in the softest yarn known to man. You know, for my imaginary third child.

 The two most fabulous fitting skirts I have tried on for some time. No altering needed, and in relatively plain colours too. Jackpot!

 A vintage Hanes tee for Aesop, and a gloriously patterned jumper for that imaginary child (oh shush Abraham, if it doesn't happen I'll open a retro kids shop or something. HA.)

 Crafty stuff. Fabric, super lovely soft and thick wool, a pillow case and some doilies.

 Men's jumpers in delightful patterns, for an upcycle project I have in mind.


As for the 'inbetween projects' comment, I'm not really.. only sort of. What I mean to say is that I'm busy stocking up for a market next month, making everything in batches, and I'm inbetween batches. The bags are done (photos later, maybe?) and I finished the rosette brooches last night. Now I need to finish scaling my pants pattern before making a few baby pants, tops and dresses. I am setting big goals for myself knowing that, if things don't sell, my Felt shop will lovely and full. (I'm considering opening a Crouton Etsy shop too. Thoughts?)
Anywho, it's nice to be around these parts, feels like it's been ages (wonder why?), it's nice to 'see' you guys again.

Saturday shopping wishes.

Here are a few things I've been eyeing up on the interwebs lately. I probably would have been smarter to list these BEFORE my birthday, as a sort of wishlist, but maybe it could be considered a wishlist for Christmas? Hah. More like a 'If money grew on trees' list....

Ruffle tank by 'ellainaboutique'. I love this woman's simple tops with cute detailing. She makes great 'basics'. They're the type of tops I hope to, one day, be making for myself.

Frida brooch by 'Cara Carmina'. Perfect size, perfect colours, super cute.. what more can I say? Would look great on the ruffle singlet.

In fact, these would look cute with the brooch and singlet, too. They are the 'Handmade moccasins' by local Kiwi seller 'Spirocreations'. I  pretty much LOVE all of the shoes/boots that this lovely lass creates. They would be perfect for my over-average sized feet (they're custom made) and look so darned comfy.

'Ruffled collar dress w/ pockets' by 'Ananya'. I would need it made a little longer, to cover my knees, but this dress would be the ideal Summer frock. Comfy, light, spotty and super cute. Her other dresses are great too, love the colour of the green one.

This one is right near the top of my list: the 'Angel' dress by 'CAST' (aka Catherine Stonely). I would love it in a bright colour (blue, I think) or in black. It would need to be custom made though, to account for the fact I'm slightly out of her size range and because I would need it to be slightly longer. This is one I actually plan to buy when I have some dosh.

The 'Shape brooch pin' by 'cristinapires'. So big and bright. Would also love pretty much EVERYTHING else in her shop. She is incredible.

This one is the 'cereja wood woven' from 'Iram-inal' designs. Love how big and chunky it is. I can just picture is with a plain singlet and a bright floral skirt in the Summer.

This one would be mine-all-mine if only it had the dimensions in the description and they were BIG. I have seen some of her other work in real life and the brooches were very small and delicate. That, unfortunately, doesn't work for me.
It is the 'rimu veneer doily brooch' by Chloe Jansen.

I love this "Sao Paolo" Neckpiece by The Funk but, as a fabric hoarder, this is probably something I would make myself.  I have been toying with the idea of making fabric jewelry for awhile and this sort of thing is something I had planned to attempt. There are a lot of tutorials online for making braided necklaces and it's not a 'new' idea, but a great way to use up smaller pieces of fabric!
Here are a few other braided/knotted/fabric type necklaces that I really like :

Origami necklace by Homako

The Zia necklace by Anonymous agent

Michele braided silk necklace by Coumon (all of this shop is wonderful)

Knit knot necklace by wonderwonder

Have a lovely Saturday everyone!