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Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas in the other OTLP house...


Despite best laid plans, Christmas has once again turned into a last-minute rush in our house (not quite as organised as Aimee's loveliness, but yes that is some of her bunting!), somehow we got there in the end - these are my children's stockings that I finished late Wednesday night...


And after cutting many many stocking shapes lately, I have just cut these gift tags (inspired by Martha). I also had to share this gorgeous ornament I received from Crazy Crafter in one of the crafty Christmas swaps - learning to crochet is definitely my crafty New Year's resolution, I love it.

Monday, December 20, 2010

MiniEco's festive scented playdough!



With three days til Christmas, I’m firmly ensconced at home with my kiddies, and ignoring the manic shops. With the shopping all done, it’s time for baking, and some last minute crafts. Why not combine the two? Check out these amazing scented play dough ideas with festive Christmas smells from MiniEco. As she says, where’s “smellovision” when you need it?
I have a particular love of Cranberry, just hoping it doesn't stain....Just need to make sure the one year old doesn't mistake it for real food!!!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christmas in the Lily Pad house....





Handmade Christmas: Door wreath, by me. NZ Flower Fairy Mini Stockings, by Greta. Handspun wool NZ Flower Fairies, bought from a lovely lady at the Willow Park Primary fair, mini tree bunting by me, purple trees by my wonderful friend Jaz and her girls, Xmas card keeper, mine, red filigree tree, flat pack kit from Spotlight, six Santa Sacks by me with help from my Mum, for my daughters, neices and nephews, and pink paper fairy by my amazing four year old.



Christmas in the Lily Pad Designs house is always special. Most notably, because my hubby and father in law were both born on Christmas Day. And now one of my closest friend's little girl has her birthday on Christmas too (Happy 2nd Birthday, Allie xoxo).


So officially three of my most favourite people in the world celebrate their special day on the same day the rest of us get presents too, and rather than hating the fact, my hubby is crazily into Christmas. Like, mad. If he could light our house outside in lights, and put a toy sleigh on the roof, he would. Instead we have lights for Africa inside. This year in particular, we are celebrating with a special 'hand made' Christmas, to celebrate our first Lily Pad Designs Christmas. I thought I would give you a sneak peak inside our house.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Some Unique Christmas shopping!

You have probably heard all about Unique Boutique by now, it is such a great concept that creator Tam de Haan has had her products featured in some of Australasia's top magazines and blogs. If you haven't browsed through the gorgeous www.uniqueboutique.co.nz yet, get cracking because there is still time to get some amazing things for Christmas.

Everything is exclusive in New Zealand, and many things have been designed especially for the site. Aimee and I are very proud to have worked on two very different projects that have co-incidently released at Unique Boutique at the same time (we are spooky like that sometimes...)



I have made these Christmas stockings, similar to my Topography Mini Stockings but approx 40cm from top corner to toe. They are lovely and soft with some padding to hold their shape, and feature fabric from some of our favourite designers like Michael Miller. There is very limited stock so if you would like to start a new family tradition, order now!

And if you are looking to really spoil someone at Christmas, now there are even more lily pads to choose from - how divine are they?


Aimee has designed the 'Vintage Boutique' collection exclusively for Unique Boutique, with four new lily pad looks in pinks, blues and a classy grey backing. What an amazing present for a mum who needs a burst of colour in her day (and yes, those beautiful fabrics are from top designer Amy Butler!)


Make sure too that you are following Unique Boutique on Facebook for all the news on new products and giveaways. 

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Baby bites column: bright iDears for Xmas Wrapping



As you know around here we LOVE Christmas and Greta and I have dedicated the last two months to making crafty gifts. But if you are like me, half the fun of Christmas is in the wrapping, ribbons and card writing!!!

There’s nothing cooler than seeing your gift looking stylish with handmade cards, gift tags and wrapping paper. With this gorgeous selection I’ve gathered up you’ll be hovering around making sure the kids don’t rip the paper when they attack the sellotape, or screw up the tags in the rubbish pile!

First up – gift tags. I literally burst out laughing when I saw these “No Peeking” gift tags (see pic above) from iDearPapergoods. Super stylish for school kids and teenagers alike! Quirky and fun, they’re perfect for people who don’t take life too seriously and iDear also has a range of more traditional ones on her store at Felt.co.nz.

Or here’s an idea for your littlies to give to Nana on Christmas morning which will no doubt be more popular than the gift attached. Beautiful ceramic gift tags from Mudbird NZ. Treat them carefully and they can double as Christmas decorations for the tree next year!

If you’re after free downloadable gift tags, check out the lovely designer selection by Creature Comforts here or here.

For handmade Christmas Cards, check out iDear’s range again: I love the “Have a bright Christmas” card featuring bright blue sunglasses, and the “Seasoned Greetings” card with old fashioned salt and pepper shakers!

Cupcake Cutie also has a lovely range for the little sweetie in your family – cupcake designs perfect for little girls.



And anyone would love receiving these heart-felt cards from Tinch Design Studio, which double as fridge magnets for the rest of the year, or check out her little birdie-themed 2010 Christmas card and matching gift tags design.

If you’re after a free downloadable card design, check out this early morning-inspired one by Designs from Val. Coffee is a must when up with the kids so early!











As for wrapping paper: while you’re looking at Tinch’s designs, you might notice her freebie – some colour-in-your-own wrapping paper! Too cute!

Other free DIY wrapping paper downloadables include this lovely range in traditional red and green spots or this range including duck egg blues and damasks from Mae in Australia, or this carved stamp wrapping idea spotted on Li'l Magoolie.

Have fun wrapping – I know I will this year!
To read my original column and other 'handmade heaven' columns on Baby Bites, visit http://www.babybites.co.nz/

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Saved by the Snail Mail

There is nothing like a parcel in the mailbox to brighten up a crappy day, and yesterday I got three, all handmade! The Christmas swaps I signed up for are now in full swing - I better get mine to the post office...


My swap buddy through New Zealand Handmade is Amber, from the amazing blog MamaMoontime. Not only did she make this beautiful robin ornament, but also another felt bauble and... a handmade book with the story of Robin Red Breast! I don't think I have heard this story since I was little, it is so sweet. You can imagine how excited Miss 3 was as we unpacked everything, and although we don't have a tree up yet the ornaments had to hang on the wall right away (along with some of Aimee's Christmas bunting, so cute!).


There are five crafters in my group for the other ornament swap I'm doing and this is the first to arrive, from the lovely swap-organiser sew-funky. Lately I have been developing a little crochet obsession so I love this look! In real life it is a really pretty blue too. And look at the sewing on the address label! So crafty...


And finally, a gift to myself, I couldn't resist this personalised ring made from a vintage typewriter key, Etsy seller The Apple was a pleasure to deal with.

At OTLP we love snail mail, especially at Christmas - I can't wait to fill up my lily pad designs Christmas Card Keeper!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Mini Stocking Stuffers



My Mini Stockings have had lots of attention this week (at the Devonport Market and on the amazing Li'l Magoolie blog), so I thought I would put together some gift ideas for what to put in them (as always we would love your feedback so please feel free to add any other suggestions!).


I fell in love with Nut and Bee a few months ago and just made my first purchase - 'cute' is a serious understatement! Annette M Russell designs kawaii-style illustrations that often have a New Zealand twist - my daughter will be getting the native bird magnets in her stocking. There are 132 designs you can pick from for magnets (4 for US$6.50) or pin buttons (4 for US$4).


These finger-puppets are self-explanatory I think! $10 for the set from Kazzalblue.



Upcycled crayons are everywhere on Etsy but I haven't seen any in NZ lately, have you? As an alternative these Crayon Rocks look like fun, available at Bubbalooz from $9.90 for a bag of 8.


Songbird Designs has custom hair pins ($4 each) that can be made from your choice of 120 fabrics!


p.s. I have added listings to my Felt shop for Two Stockings ($22) and Three Stockings ($33) so it is easier to buy for all the kids at once  :)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

My creative space: custom orders...







This week my creative space has been filled with lots and lots of custom orders, specifically personalised Santa Sacks for Bay Bee Cino, and a range of children's aprons. I found fantastic little wooden utensils to go with them and hope they sell well for Christmas. I get Greta to hand make the appliques - aren't they gorgeous?

It's been a little hard to concentrate in the past 24 hours though, with all the tragic news about the miners and their families in Greymouth. We are sending them all our love - it's unbelievably horrible in what should be a happy, festive, family time. We are thinking of you all day and night. xo

(NB: for loads of other creative projects happening around NZ and Australia this weeek...head over to Kirsty's and play our regular Thursday bloggy crafty game.)

Friday, November 19, 2010

Our last market of the year is tomorrow!!!


Tomorrow is OTLP's last market of 2010, before we take a summer break (read: both start new jobs!) and come back with new products next year.

We've been busy making Christmas goodies and we need to share them so come and see us at the Devonport Christmas Market tomorrow 10-3pm. There will be over 60 stall holders - I guarantee you'll love it!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Carnival Chaos! Amazing fair at Michael Park Steiner School...




I've just realised that I forgot to blog about the Michael Park Steiner School Fair last weekend. It was a real highlight of the month for me - I have never been to such an amazing school fair before. There were literally thousands and thousands of people pouring into the school to share in their friendly, colourful, entertaining fair. From castle playgrounds to dragon's 'reading' dens, go-fish ponds, flag sellers, archery games, live music all day, Mexican food, coffee shops, craft stalls and vendors galore, the event was not to be missed!
Well done to my crafty colleagues Songbird Designs, Cotton Kiwi, Cat Taylor Design, Softearthart, Zippydoodah, Cuckoonest, Linen Tea, and Ruby in the Dust - fantastic stalls, all of you.

The venue itself was gorgeous. The school is made up of lots of little 'houses', with curved roofs and doorways - it's like a little village. As a Rudolf Steiner school they teach the importance of creativity and development of the child's character and spirit and it was so neat to watch the children perform on the stage and field - from singers to ballet dancers, just fantastic. When they drew the raffle, one of the prizes was jewellery from a young, funky local jeweller - wish I could remember his name. But he got up on stage and talked about how he was a Michael Park graduate and after he'd left school he'd opened his own jewellery shop. So clever.

For Miss Four, the top thing to rave about to the grandparents was the 'flag' seller. She was particularly in love with the rainbow silk streamers high on bamboo sticks. (Oh, and the lemonade popsicles).

For hubby, it was the super-cool "NZ" t-shirts by Kolektiv Design Studio.

For me, it was the Mexican food... Organic avacados and just-spicy bean mixtures cooked by an amazing team of parents, lashings of salad and corn chips and sour cream. And for dessert - meringes, cream and strawberries. Needless to say we have copied that menu for dinner this week already!!

Here's a few pictures of our On Top of a Lily Pad stall (OTLP equals me, Topography and our honourary member Lisa at Estella Rose). Lovely to meet you all!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Christmas giveaway winners announced!


I was very excited tonight to be able to sit down and draw the winners for our Christmas Santa Sack giveaway this month just now, using the random draw function on http://www.random.org/ .


Compiling the 109 entries was a mammoth task - thank you, thank you, to everyone who shared our giveaway with others on their blogs or facebook, and received their 'five' entries. Turns out, somehow it must help as our two winners both had five entries each.


The winner of the OTLP Secret Santa Pack is: Lady Chelini!


The runner-up winner of the Songbird Designs 6x card pack is: Kriss!


Please email me ladies when you see this message to talk and claim your prizes!


It was truely heart-warming to read all your cool messages about what you liked best about Christmas. I thought it only fair for us to share our own stories about what we like best about Christmas.


I LOVE Christmas for two reasons. One is because my Mum has always made Christmas so special and so caring for my sisters and myself: the thought that goes into her presents, many of which are handmade, always delights me. She stores things away for months. She also lovingly made us three girls gorgeous heirloom stockings when we were born, that she still fills today (and I'm 33!), and she now has made more for all six of her grandchildren. I love you Mum! xoxo


Secondly, I love Christmas because it's also my husband's birthday, and his Dad's too. They are wonderful people with hearts of gold and I love that we get to celebrate with my husband all day, focusing on Christmas for the kids in the morning, and birthday dinner and cake for my hubbie at night. I love you Mr! xoxo



Sunday, October 31, 2010

Our Christmas Shops are Open Now!

Don't panic, it is only November, but the perfect time to get some of Christmas organised early...

We have both been working on Christmas products for months so it is very exciting to have them finally ready to go in our lily pad and Topography online stores.


At Topography, our new red shirts are perfect for the holiday season, and you can order them with whatever design you like - a letter, a number, a kiwi... gorgeous for dressing up the little ones for special Christmas photos.

Mini stockings are another personalised option, small enough to hang on the Christmas tree, but with a small pocket so they can also hold (tiny!) gifts. Also available in any of our fabrics.

I am so excited about the new handmade Christmas cards exclusive to Topography, my sister Laura made them and they are gorgeous! Each card comes with an envelope and protective plastic sleeve and they are only $10 for the pack of 3. I am so proud of them I will send one free with every shirt order placed in November.


The cards are shown on one of Aimee's elegant Christmas Card Keepers, I have the blue vintage-style one up in my lounge already with photos and notes on it until the Christmas cards start arriving. I also have a tui-print one ready to take to my Nana's house (it is a surprise but I don't think she reads this blog!)


And of course we also have the perfect Christmas gift for 2-6 year children, our lily pinnie aprons in a range of fabrics including this festive look.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

My Creative Space....bunting, bunting

I’m officially obsessed with different ways to make bunting at the moment. As well as a nursery room decoration, I’ve used it as a party decoration for my daughter’s first birthday.

I discovered this gorgeous free downloadable ‘alphabet’ bunting and made a string of bunting with “Loren-is-one” out of scrapbooking paper. It prints with a pattern on the front, so I used the print of the scrapbooking on the back so it's fully reversible. I simply sewed the scrapbooking paper onto a ribbon – whola! I wrote about it for Baby Bites magazine here. I love it so much I’ve now transferred it to her bedroom wall.

Working with the paper to make the celebratory-themed bunting has led me down the road of two new ideas now.

I’m making ‘mini’ Christmas themed bunting for my Christmas tree, instead of tinsel. For first one I’m using the scraps left over from my Christmas Card Keepers (don’t forget our giveaway, ending this weekend!).


But once I’ve finished that, I’m going to go and buy a whole bunch of red and green scrapbooking paper, and some high quality Christmas wrapping paper, to make some 'mini tree bunting' to sell at my upcoming markets – the Summer Fair at the Michael Park School, Ellerslie next weekend Nov 6, and the Devonport Craft Market, Nov 21.

Fun, fun! Hop over to Kirsty’s for more creative projects coming to life....

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

My Creative Space: Getting into the spirit...

Another reason I‘m so incredibly organised for Christmas this year is because my retailers have asked me for Christmas stock already. This has included a great new challenge to create custom-made Santa Sacks for Bay Bee Cino, to the store's own specific design.

I asked for permission to add a little bit of ‘lily pad designs’ style to the look of the bags, which included ‘funk-ing’ up the patterns in the layers of fabric on the patchwork design by including signature patterns from my other products.



After hours and hours of folding, layering, and critiquing, I finally created a red and green ‘traditional’ one, which is for boys or girls, and a pink ‘modern’ girly one.


The hardest part of meeting the design brief was trying to find pom pom fringing. Pink I managed to find ok, but no-one stocks red. Turned out to be an almost impossible task unless I was prepared to dye more than 45m of the stuff myself, which seemed far too risky!

I would have thought our obsession with vintage would have meant pom pom fringing was in easy supply! There’s a market opening there!!!

After trying all the major trims wholesalers, in the end the lovely Helen from the brand new ‘Little Craft Store’ in Pt Chevalier suggested thinking of different ideas, and it led me to think about using tassling or loopey fringing instead, and I think it’s given a nice point of difference between the two styles.

Lovely small, jingly reindeer bells and shaped buttons finished the styles off nicely (triple and quadruple stitched for safety!)

Each sack is made to order and personalised with a child’s name. These are exclusively for sale from Bay Bee Cino, Newmarket, from this weekend, contact info@baybeecino-newmarket.co.nz or email me directly to facilitate a sale...

For other creative projects coming to life this week, visit http://www.kootoyoo.com/

PS: Don't forget to enter our pre-Christmas Santa Sack giveaway...only one more week to enter! Click here to find out what to do.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

My Creative Space - Christmas {hearts}

There is so much Christmas going on in my head at the moment that sometimes it is a relief to realise it is only October! Not only do we have our huge OTLP Christmas Giveaway, but there are also crafty Christmas blog swaps popping up.




I have signed up for a couple of swaps, so now I have to figure out some ornaments to send,  and yesterday I experimented with some hearts... I was inspired by My Little Jedi's turquoise and red Xmas post  and it came out quite sweet, the plain heart side is a pocket for some yet-to-be-determined christmas treat!


(p.s. I must add that cutting out a big pile of heart shapes can be very therapeutic).

As today is Thursday, you can visit www.kootoyoo.com to see what other bloggers have been up to this week.







And if you would also like to get in the holiday spirit a bit early, check out these links:

Our talented friends at New Zealand Handmade have a single ornament swap open internationally, click here to sign up (by October 23rd) and get the details.

If you like the idea of making (and receiving!) 5 or 6 ornaments, www.sew-funky.com is co-ordinating a swap for NZ crafters, info is here and you have until November 5th to sign-up.

And finally, if you can stretch to making a soft toy instead of an ornament, Meet Me At Mike's is organising a children's charity drive for handmade soft toys. The sign-up sheet is here (note: you won't be able to read about the charity without signing up!).