My Life Will Never Be the Same Again ...

... it will be way "awesome-er"! ... now that a certain pirate friend of mine has introduced me to some of the best music I have ever heard.

Have you ever heard a song and fallen madly in love with it instantly? I did. And here it is:

NOW - I have been told that I have come to this music very late (it is so 2006) - but better late then never. And now that I have been introduced to this band ... my ears, my hips and my feet are begging for more.

Thank God for YouTube ... as I was able to search for the rest of their music and found instant faves right away. Here is Isaac's fave:

And the thing is ... I have yet to click on a song from this band that doesn't have me moving ... or a video that doesn't have me riveted.

I am blown away. Where have I been for the past 5 years? Oh wait - I have been a Mommy of a pre-schooler all that time - and have been chained to kids' music and videos. But the chains have been lifted! And Isaac and I could party hard to this music all day long. Sure, we LOVE our Dave Matthews, Michael Franti and Wyclef Jean ... but Gogol Bordello? We are in heaven. So, thank you my pirate friend. You have made our world so much more enjoyable.

Perhaps now one of my blog readers has been enlightened as well ;)

You're Welcome.

Love, Jodi & Isaac

P.S.

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Baby blue - Star Wars style

Baby boy is not such a baby any more, but his robot room is finally taking shape.

The colours came from these Star Wars posters. The Episode I poster on the left I found already framed years ago in a Rendells clearance (oh how I miss thee Rendells!), the Clone Wars cinema banner was a gift from my brother while I was pregnant.

By coincidence, my Nana crocheted this baby blanket that ties in perfectly (it is his favourite thing in the world, he loves putting his fingers through the holes).

My mum made the curtains from some clearance fabric she found that is in binary! Love it.

(She also made this gorgeous quilt, I have posted about it before here)

This amazing robot mobile was made by some other clever family members of mine, along with some matching letters for the bedroom door.

The scooter was a Christmas present from another Uncle and Aunt, it isn't from space but it does have a sparkly seat (and he is really good at riding it backwards).

I found these mini Star Wars prints (on the left) by Xander at Kraftbomb, and Aimee gave us this awesome Moon Mum robot (on the right, from Holly Chic) which I have framed with a robot poem that cracks big sister and him up.

If you are wondering what else I have made for the room myself.... um.... there are some cushions coming... and Teddy is wearing one of my prototype alphabet t-shirts. Darth Tater is currently the only toy memorabilia from Dad's Star Wars collection that is allowed to be toddler-mauled (note one arm is already missing).

See what everyone else has been doing each week at kootoyoo.com's 'My Creative Space'.

P.s. The other OTLP bedrooms so far:

1. Birdy nursery

2. Far, far away in dreamland

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Indian Couple Boy Friend Girl Friend Romance Love Again

Read-Indian Couple Boy Friend Girl Friend Romance Love Again.

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Quilled cupcakes

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My first attempt at making cupcakes using the quilling technique! Again another simple design from me! hehe! I was trying to make the topping of the cupcake a little more fancy but the only thing fancy about it is the silver glitters! hehe! This card is meant to be given to a guy so I tried to simplify the cupcake as much as possible so that it won't seem so girlish.

I'll bet some of you might find this design familiar ya? Yes.......it's actually a V040 design, with the quilled teddy bears on it. It's exactly the same color.....just like how my customer wanted it.....all I had to do was change it from teddy bears to cupcakes :).

I really love the wordings that my customer made for her BF.....so so nice! Awwwwwwwwww........ ;)

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Handmade Heaven: Yoozoos!

Foo. Oodle. Jooniper. Gooloop and Hooper. The tongue-twister names alone will attract your little guy! These fun plush softies from designer and animator Julian Stokoe from Yoozzoo in Auckland look like characters straight out of a cartoon – and actually, they are.

Oodle

Julian was inspired to make this set of dolls after developing the characters for animation and book form. Yoozzoo dolls are a limited edition series of 50 each of 6 characters. Designed and made in New Zealand, each doll has a polar fleece outer and is filled with 100% NZ carded wool.

Foo

Each doll comes with a swing tag featuring their own story. My favourite, Foo, is described as a 'go-getter', especially if that means going and getting more supplies of quince jelly and milk. Available at New Zealand design store www.toggle.co.nz or direct at http://shop.yoozzoo.com

(Aimee is on holiday this week but this is her latest Handmade Heaven column from babybites.co.nz)

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Craft products for sale

Hello everyone!

I've been getting a lot of inquiries regarding craft products for card making for quite some time now. Before this I've never had the time to spare on selling them. But this year I want to start selling some craft products like craft punch, embellishments, tools etc for card making. Selected items only ya hehehe.

I don't have a lot of craft products in stock at the moment for sale here. I am still collecting some products and also in the process of producing some embellishments for sale. I've already made a new page at my blog under the title "CRAFT PRODUCTS FOR SALE". You can click on the tab to see what I'm selling there at the moment. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't have a lot in stock. But in time I will be adding more and more new items there. 

If you are interested in purchasing craft punch and couldn't find any preferred shapes at your place, do email me for inquiries. I can check for availability of the product in case they are still in stock. All you have to do is just email me your the shapes you are looking for and I'll try my best to provide it for you :). 

The embellishments that I mentioned are items that are made from paper, crochet, foam, felt to name a few. These will be made into flowers, leaves and heart shapes. You can even make requests of the shapes that you wish to buy from me. I'll try my best to supply it for you.

In other words, if you are looking for craft products for your card making needs, do email me. I might be able to help supply them for you! ;)

Thank you for your support! ;)

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Handmade Heaven: Dressing up has never been cooler!

(We love making special clothes for our kids but sometimes you see something so clever you really want to buy it! Aimee is on holiday but this is her recent handmade column from babybites.co.nz)


Funky handmade Melbourne label Paul and Paula has come up with the most amazingly detailed hoodies, tees, leggings and pants with dragon spikes, bat wings, shark teeth and lady bird spots mixing in perfectly with navy, red, stripes and denim. Here’s one ‘costume’ you won’t mind the kids wearing out the door!

Spotted first on the L’il Magoolie ‘L’il Earthquake Appeal’ for Christchurch, I traced these wickedly cool clothes back to their designer’s website and loved them to pieces. Paul and Paula clothing can be bought direct on Etsy or you can bid on the lady bug hoodie over at Lil Magoolie’s until March 30.

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My Creative Space - Abstract on Turquoise

My very neutral lounge needed some colour.

The only colour it had was this board Aimee made me last year and this A Little Vintage cushion I love. So I was inspired to use turquoise, white, black and red.

This square canvas had been intended as a nursery project for my son, abandoned when I found something better than I could ever draw! It is nice and big, 61cm x 61cm.

I chose a testpot for the base colour (Resene Endorphin) - I love testpots because you can get amazing colours and the paint is so nice to paint with, runny but with great coverage. There was enough for two coats (and two brushes, thank you Miss 4), which easily blocked out the really dark paint underneath.

After the base was dry, we did a white layer (just in art acrylic paint), which I left to dry so that it wouldn't turn pink and grey with the next colours. My 'vision' was a messy corner/L-shape, with which my helper concurred.

I had a black testpot already and an amazing new red (Resene Rocket).  Miss chose to use the black brush, so I did the red and we finished it off. It looks even better than I was hoping for, bright and fresh, and reminds me of Japanese writing characters. After a varnish layer only one question remains, which way up?

Every Thursday 'My Creative Space' is at www.kootoyoo.com

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Zombie Apocalypse Survival Bracelets. BE PREPARED!

“A zombie apocalypse is a particular hypothetical scenario of apocalyptic theory that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization.


In some mythologies, victims of zombies may become zombies themselves if they are bitten by zombies; in others, everyone who dies, whatever the cause, becomes one of the undead. In the latter scenario zombies also prey on the living and their bite causes an infection that kills. In either scenario, this causes the outbreak to become an exponentially growing crisis: the spreading "zombie plague" swamps normal military and law enforcement organizations, leading to the panicked collapse of civilian society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain, scavenging for food and supplies in a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile wilderness.”

~ Wikipedia

Well - Are you Ready? Want to be?


Okay, okay ... it is highly unlikely that you will need to be prepared for a Zombie attack. But you may need to be prepared for some other form of disaster. And our Survival Bracelets can help! These bracelets are made of approx. 12 feet of US made 550 pound test paracord as well as a stainless steel clip --- useful items for survival --- always at the ready --- not to mention stylish!


These bracelets are handmade by our family ... and sell in our brick & mortar shop (very well I might add). They come in several colors ... can be custom made ... and are guaranteed to be tough and awesome! Just $10.BE PREPARED!


Just $10 --- could save your life.
(okay - that is likely a bit dramatic - but doesn't it just feel cool to believe it?)

You can buy yours here (see below) or in our online etsy shop: This Handmade Life.

Then send us a picture of you and your family wearing your super cool bracelets! And await the zombie apocalypse in style.

ENJOY!

~ Jodi

PS. What are the many uses of paracord?

"The answer is pretty much anything and everything mainly limited by a person’s imagination to use the product. Broken shoelaces up a mountain? The outer sheath makes excellent bootlaces and will most likely outlast the originals that came with the boots. Need some quick thread? The inner cores are great for impromptu fishing line or first aid. Need some lashing for a tarp shelter? Again take the inner strands and you have all the cord you need! This versatile cord was even used by astronauts during STS-82, the second Space Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Back on earth a broken gear strap on your kayak, making a field repair to your backpack or making impromptu rope for a bear bag…the list goes on and on... Some more examples include: Securing equipment, vehicle tie downs, sewing fabric, repairing equipment, making a fire bow, fish gill nets, animal snares, clothes lines, lanyards, anchor line, animal restraints, tooth floss, splints and tourniquets. There are endless documented stories of people all over the world, in all kinds of situations, using their 550 Paracord survival gear. "

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Wordless Wednesday

(link)

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Hot Tori Praver BodyArt Paintings T-Shirt Panties

Read-Hot Tori Praver BodyArt Paintings T-Shirt Panties

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Crochet flowers and felt leaves

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I had a dream last night. This card was inspired by that dream. I dreamt that a friend of mine got married. I was at her hometown and it was during the time of her wedding. She was really pretty on her wedding day. It was weird to have dreamt her getting married now considering that she had already gotten married years ago. So I have no idea why I had that dream. I wonder what it means. Hmmmmm.......but whatever it means.....it was a beautiful wedding though.... :).

Ok....now back to the card design hehehe. When I did the red crochet flowers previously....I also made these pink ones too. I only bought two color yarns for making crochet flowers....pink and red. So here is my take on the pink ones. At first I wanted to use the crochet leaves but I think they are not that nice coz I'm still not that good at making them....I still need to practice more on leaves. So to replace it, I decided to use multi colored felt instead. And I love how it looks! I can cut out the perfect size of felt leaves for the crochet flowers. It's easy to do too.

I love how easy the wedding pop up cake was to make! Got it done in just a few minutes! hehe! I think the embossed white paper is suitable for such an occasion. The pink flowers was added to match the design on the card. Simple and sweet :).

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Flowers just for you...

JFY004

I was actually inspired by the colors of some yarn that my aunt used to make her handphone casings. They were yellow and red in color. So I came up with a quilled flower design using those combination of colors. It's a new type of flower design that I came up with using my imagination....hehehe. :D

I kept the design simple. Nothing much going on, on the card itself. Just concentrating on the flowers and leaves. I did something new for myself with this type of leaves. I've never done anything like this before. And I kinda like it a lot actually. Perhaps you'll see me doing this kind of pattern again and again coz I love how the leaves look here.....it's like flower petals except they are green in color hehee.

The pop up inside the card is simple as well. All I did was just pop up the wordings. I also decorated the background with green leaves that looks like they are falling from the sky hehehe....

Oh! Another thing! See how the stems of the two flowers crossed each other? That is something new for me! And I love it! First time for me to experiment with this technique. I've seen a lot of other quillers doing it so I just wanted to give it a try. At least now I get to cross the stems even though I'm using the quilling technique. I like crossing the stems a lot whenever I do flower designs but I only get to do it with colored pens.....but now, I don't need to worry coz I already know how to achieve that look with quilling. Yay! :)

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My Creative Space - Ladybug, ladybug...

Meet my first machine-sewn softie (i.e. not involving a sock!)

I wanted to make something special for Softies for Christchurch so this took a little while. I really liked Cotton Kiwi's post the other week about design, and how handmade projects develop, so this is what happened...

Looking for something with a basic shape, I was inspired by my daughter's turtle - he is so cute and I love how his little legs flap if you shake his body. A friend gave me some textile samples a while ago so I had this velvet-y green and beautiful Royal Doulton gold for his tummy.

On closer inspection, I decided that it would be important to get his head right, and it looked a bit complicated for my first try. So I needed a flatter animal, like a ladybug! (and yes, I did always call them ladybirds until my children started watching American television...)

Fighting the urge to go out and buy some gorgeous red material, I embraced our re-design theme and remembered a red tea-towel I had used to back some coasters at Christmas.  I figured it would be soft and practical for washing. I kept the Royal Doulton gold tummy because it is so pretty.

I needed to break up the red to show two wings, so I used this spotted ribbon that has been waiting for a project for ages. After sewing down the middle of the ribbon I realised it would have looked tidier to sew down each side of it, but now little fingers will be able to ruffle it a little.

The black cotton is from Aimee's lily pad offcuts, I just sewed a piece to the tea-towel, perpendicular to the direction of the ribbon, and then cut out a big oval to get the body (and a matching oval from the gold).

I actually made some little cardboard circle templates for spots but at some stage I decided hearts would be cuter, and I think they have made a big difference. And I was about 95% done before I realised red and black are the Canterbury colours, so that was just luck (and ladybugs are lucky too!)

The legs were just black rectangles sewn and stuffed, and then pinned between the front and back (right sides together), so I could sew it all up in an oval, leaving a little gap for turning. Then I just had to turn, stuff, and handsew the opening. The hardest part was getting the little fat feet through the opening when I turned it, next time they won't be quite so chubby!

I was going to leave it without eyes until Miss 4 found it, fell in love with it, and then asked "Mum, where are my eyes?"  So there will be eyes tomorrow before it is posted off.

Softies for Christchurch is collecting handmade toys to distribute to children that need something to cuddle. You can find out how to donate one here.

('My Creative Space' is a game we play each week at www.kootoyoo.com)

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Top 5: Jane Austen-esque Movies

The Pride and Prejudice 'Classic Smackdown' at Meet Me at Mike's has been a landslide, with almost everyone preferring the BBC mini-series starring Colin Firth to the 2005 film. The consensus is that you can not capture enough of the book in two hours.

Which got me thinking, if you only have two hours free for a Jane Austen-fix, what are some fun options that won't just leave you feeling like corners have been cut? These are my picks (that will surely have you reaching for a book afterwards too!)

#1 Bridget Jones's Diary (Inspired by: Pride and Prejudice)
One of the best romantic comedies ever. Bonus points for the definitive Mr Darcy playing Mr Darcy. Perfection.

#2 Bride and Prejudice (Inspired by: Pride and Prejudice)
Ok, it looks silly, and it is... but in the best way - colourful, fun, musical, and actually very faithful to the story. Martin Henderson may seem like an odd choice for Darcy but he does arrogant and aloof well. Bonus point for Gilmore Girl cameo (Gilmore Girls will be another post...)

#3 Clueless (Inspired by: Emma)
Relive the 90s and laugh at the fashion, slang, and some great one-liners. If you want traditional and pretty, the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma is sweet, but this one is a clever adaptation. Bonus point for Paul Rudd who really doesn't look very different!

#4 The Jane Austen Book Club
I think I watched this as an insomniac early one morning during my second pregnancy. I cried a lot, but I enjoy a good movie-cry. The characters are pretty one-dimensional but the idea is genius - 6 people, 6 Austen books, 6 months. Their passion for Jane Austen will make you hunt out a book immediately.

#5 Becoming Jane
I haven't seen this one but it has been recommended to me as an enjoyable watch, and sounds like a good candidate for a movie-cry... young Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) dreams of marrying for love until issues of wealth and class arise.

I have a very good friend who has a passion for 'P&P', are you a big Austen fan too?

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