preview

today is last day to enter the christmas-ish giveaway.

(have you??)

I'll announce the winner tomorrow here and on facebook.

and now, a preview of tomorrow's FB sale:

...plus loads more!

i'm so excited x

new dolls on the block

i'm having a facebook sale!

from 8pm, 1st December NZT

(i'm so stinking nervous about it, all those i's to dot and t's to cross!)

Make my Week #47 - caravan of love

the big reveal!

front:

back:
in action:

fancy a cuppa?

just had to share:

aren't they brilliant?

all images from Clare Gage

glee. gah! gardens.

i spent the weekend at my parent's while JR was fly-fishing deep in a bush somewhere 5 hours drive from here.

i arrived to a sewing table set up in the lounge for me! oh my bliss! (the view = distracting!)

i almost completed the 7 dolls i had taken out to make up - ran short on stuffing....gah!

hands up if you remember my mum's loo?

well, she has equally mad skills in the garden too:

i'm seriously hatching a plan in my head to do a craft-retreat with my mum at her place...who's in?

well, hello~!

(guess what I did over the weekend?

oh, and don't forget to enter my giveaway here. entries close 30th November)

make my week #46 - cushion for a boy

Whenever he is asked, Monte (2yrs) insists he would like a digger chushion for Christmas.

And so...

a digger cushion it is!

i used some orange vinyl that was headed for the dump and an old woollen blanket (you know the ones..)

if you want to try it yourself, (especially you mamas of boys who need gift ideas), here's how:

• go to any free clipart website and search for [whatever] silhouette.
• resize image.
• trace onto felt/fabric/retro vinyl (that preferably doesn't smell a little musty like mine!).
• cut.
• sew. or glue - but in my experience kids like to pick things that aren't firmly atttached!
• make cushion as you wish. i simply overlapped the back of mine because i was officially on parenting duty and thought my absence may have become noticed if i had begun fiddling around with a zip ;)
  

(if all has gone according to plan i will be at my mum's while you are reading this. sewing these:

7 dolls out of all my rescued or gifted vintage fabrics.

show you Monday????

distracted

that awful nasty Aunt Flo has rudely barged her way through my front door, interrupting a most delightful 20 month reprieve.

and not only that but bringing her doubly unwelcome brother, (in my head he's a bitter bachelor who wears musty woollens and has very bad dental hygiene), Mr. Migraine.

except he visits twice a month (usually at 4am!!) - once with his spinster sister, Flo and then again in between just to check on me.

leaves me feeling smashed when i wake up...and seriously considering the only cure i know: pregnancy.

(gah)

wardrobe wednesday - paisley!

wow! i haven't done WW for ages.

nothing too earth shattering this week...

top: thrifted

skirt: thrifted

jandals: gifted

and yes, i took my son out to the supermarket in his polka dots...i LOVE them! (i think i was almost disappointed there weren't any "aww, cute girl" comments...)

i bought a GORGEOUS handmade (handsewn hems baby!) black/floral frock for $2.50 at post-supermarket "detour". can't wait to share~

PS. thanks for the response to my SOS yesterday x

S.O.S!

please, please, please!

I need some ideas for great, meaningful Christmas traditions.

The self-obsession and preoccupation with "getting" is killing me.

tia.

good news or bad news first?

i am down two kids for 48 hours and the other two are being largely ignored while i indulge in needless creativity finish a "christmas present" (hint)

so far, i LOVE!

the bad news is: two losses of epic proportions...two families both only JUST threw out their elderly parents "stuff" (ie vintage fabrics and floral sheets and wooden cotton reels etc) a couple of days before expressing interest in it. one to the dump! (gasp) and the other to the Sallies. too awful to even think upon!

the good news is: postcards of the "let's run away" fabric art thingie (seen above) are on their way in the mail. kewwwlness!!

make my week - giveaway

i'm making your week this week!

around this time last year i looked a whole lot different and would never have imagined the places 2010 would take us.

the very very least expectation is that i would have more than a handful of followers on a facebook page.

and yet...

here we are. over two-hundy! (whaaa...?)

astounded.

and so, to say a sincere and deeply grateful "thank you" for the phenomenal support i've had this year from the blogging/hand made community this year i present you with this giveaway:

~the blue-ish, red-ish, christmas-ish

TINY EYES giveaway~

giveaway includes:

* 3 Christmas decorations

* one plush owl

* one 6x4 paintingette

* two pieces of yummy vintage fabrics

* one "our folk" postcard print

* one repurposed teatowel bag

it's all wrapped, ready to be sent to your mail box!

conditions of entry:

* you must be a follower here or a "liker" on my Tiny Eyes facebook page

* leave a comment here or tag the image over on fb (or both!)

entries close on 30th nov 2010

winner will be drawn 1st Dec 2010

thankyou.thankyou.thankyou

xo

let's run away~

and my fave:

inspired??

me too.

i am really excited about a new little project that i am turning over and over in my head.

now, for some free time!!

images from weheartit and google images

a sense of the silly

i breaks my brain to comprehend this guy is ONE next month.

(yep, *snap* there it goes. did you hear it? just.can't.believe.it)

that means a first birthday party. (doesn't it? or am i off the hook with it being no.4 and all?)

sigh, because i have so much pity for any child who is born under the great looming shadow of Dec 25th i'm bound to do something. (i'm actually seriously considering stealing Stella's circus theme - pretty sweet isn't it?)

in other news... i have just sneaked over 200 likers on my Tiny Eyes facebook page so am putting together a real pretty thankyou/Christmassy giveaway. it's a whole bunch of stuff and i'm so excited. i *love* giveaways!! will show you soooooon!...

other than that there is a GA-zillllllion things on my To-Do list and i'd love about 2-3 solid days of solitary confinement in my own home! haha

am i the only one starting to get a strong sense of the Silly?? (season that is)

peace! xo

a letter...

To the Mother of My Children,

I know (that you know that you know) this already but I sensed that you could do with a friendly reminder. After all, why should Telecom be the only one giving out the "friendly reminders"? Are they really even friends with you? (Probably not if they're needing to "friendly remind" you!) I digress. I am your friend (mostly). And this is a genuine 'friendly reminder'.

I wish to remind you that your children are human beings not human doings. What I mean is, don't get too caught up in what they're doing (or not doing!). All the dance-ing and language-ing and music-ing and sport-ing and educate-ing (and then also, all the sport-ing and music-ing and educate-ing they're not doing...) is really not real at all is it. In fact, it's not much more than a whole lot of STRESS-ing!

And besides is it really that urgent that your children excel in every.single.area? Consider for a moment the expectations your child must feel?

Please, allow them time to just be. To be children. If anyone knows how quickly their childhood is disappearing it's you. Please, I urge, let them have it. Consider it a gift from you to them. In 20 (give or take) years from now, when your children are reminiscing with their peers about their childhood, what do you them to be saying? Oh, I remember when we were kids we used to...???

And then, there is the other kind of 'doing' you are far-too-often concerned about...their external behaviour. Oh mother, mother, mother. The What? of their behaviour is of far less concern to you than the Why?. Behaviour modification is easy (really!), but modifying motives and attitudes of the heart is the hard ask. Human beings remember? Always be more concerned with what kind of people your children are, and less with what they're doing. Any child can learn to obey/speak politely/share when their mum is around...but are they like that when mum isn't?

And if I can offer this one last (friendly) reminder - you aren't raising a daughter and three sons. You are raising a woman, a mother, a wife and you are raising three men. Three husbands. Three fathers. What kind of husbands and fathers and wife and mother do you want them to BE?

Or, is it more important to you what they DO? (So you can have a wee skite to your friends about your fancy-pants son/daughter??)

At the end of the day one goal is all about you, and the other is all about them.

Remember, human-beings.

Sincerely,

your friend (mostly),

Dee

*

Guard your heart with all diligence.

For from it are the wellsprings of LIFE.

(because sometimes i just need a jolly good reminder!)