Our Creative Spaces - Blackout

 Please excuse the pyjama bottoms!

So tomorrow it is here - the opening of the Rugby World Cup - and if you don't live in New Zealand you may not know that it is one of our biggest events ever and  will last for 6 weeks!

 Everything is going black - (Credits: Greg Page, Ruapehu Bulletin)

It has been a long and dramatic time coming, from when we lost our chance to co-host the 1993 tournament, to our Prime Minister flying to Ireland in 2005 to help with our pitch to the IRB, to Christchurch's games being moved after the devastating earthquake in February this year. It is 24 years since we hosted the first World Cup (also 24 years since we won...) which makes me feel a bit old, but it is lovely to see the little ones getting excited (see Aimee's Father's Day post here).

Rugby World Challenge on Playstation 2

Even Mr Toddler knows something is up because 'Dadda fast cars' has been replaced with 'Dadda rugby ball' (apparently after much research this one is the best game).

I had to commemorate the occasion with a little shirt for our future All Black, those of you with eagle-eyes may recognise the applique fabric as a lily pad scrap! I was so excited when I found it, I think it makes up for losing some of the cup's ornate detail in order to make a stencil shape.

This personalised shirt is for a friend's little man, how cute is the alphabet fabric? (I found it at Cushla's). See what everyone else has made this week at Our Creative Spaces.

I have written before about not dressing my daughter in black, of course now I can't find a plain black shirt to decorate for her...


Note: Obviously I can't sell cup shirts but I have a limited number of black shirts left for personalising, details here

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Welcome home...from Madi bleu!

Welcome to my new home. It's a 1930s bungalow, still with original stained glass door...

Which opens to reveal a 'grand' entrance hallway (well, it's grand for someone who's never had a hallway before!). Welcoming in our visitors in pride of place is....

Us!
Courtesy of the fabulous Madi Bleu (NZ artist Amanda), we've proudly hung a personalised family portrait of me, hubbie, Maddie and Lorilou and our wee dog Oscar.

I've loved Amanda's textile and upcycled collages made from fabric, zippers, buttons, vintage scraps and other loved items for a long time now, and blogged about her before on babybites. In fact it was her creations gracing a fabulous striped wallpaper wall that first inspired me to try designer wallpaper in my own house.

So when she notified on her facebook fan page that she would be taking orders for 'family portraits' I jumped at the chance. All I had to do was send in a photo...and wait for a 2011 moment in time to be immortalised into a special Madi Bleu for a forever keepsake. Thanks so much Amanda, you are hugely talented!

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Our Creative Spaces - Kristine's wonders!

I can't claim any of this as my creative space this week, but I really wanted to share with you one of our loyal blog and facebook follower's creative efforts on her behalf.

A few weeks ago I ran a competition to give away several 'grab bags' of Lily Pad Designs scrap fabrics, and asked people to come back and tell me what they made.

The lovely Kristine sent me these photos of what she'd created with her 'pink' based bag of lily pad pram liner scraps. The bunting was a project for her little girl's room, and she added in a third fabric of her own choice to make it go further (nice co-ordinating vintage look Kristine, great choice!).

Then she followed a free dowloadable pattern for a toy turtle from one of my favourite blogs, Make It, Love It - isn't it just gorgeous!

Kristine tells me that until now, she hadn't done any sewing since making aprons at school years ago but having the scraps given to her has sparked up a new creative interest. I'm so pleased, as these bits were just pining away in my cupboard and I love how they have been reused and re-designed. I think it's wonderful that she's getting back into it, and these are fantastic!

Well done Kristine!

To see lots of other people's creative spaces this week, head over to OurCreativeSpaces.blogspot.com every Thursday.

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Upcycling my fabric scraps just a tinch more...

I'm loving making as many things as I can out of my fabric scraps. It's a wonderful side effect of having the opportunity to buy bulk fabric lots for my lily pad liners - their unusual shapes mean I end up with a large stash of scraps perfect for crafting.

Mostly I cover unusual shaped tins and boxes, to create more storage; or I make face washes with flannel on one side; or I make cushion covers. At Christmas time I made Santa Sacks with appliques. Waiting next in line for a rainy day are fabric covered buttons and pegs.

But I also love to share my fabric scraps around, as one girl can't use them all! Recently I sent some to one of my favourite crafters, Helen at Tinch Design Studio.

I was delighted when she sent me some photos of what had become of them - gorgeous little bird magnets.

Only one or two of each colour exist and they are up for sale on her felt.co.nz store.

Do you love upcycling fabric scraps? If so, leave me a comment below - I've bagged up three bags of mixed offcuts and I will randomly pick 3 New Zealand bloggers addresses next weekend to send them too - just tell me what your project will be by either leaving a comment here - or on my facebook page.

Each bag contains a random collection of offcuts from designers such as Amy Butler; Anna Maria Horner; Valori Wells; Studio E; Patricia Bravo or Robert Kauffman.


FREE IDEAS AND PATTERNS!

This week I was also delighted to find a funky collation of 24 projects on Make It: Love It full of ideas for how to make great modern stuff by upcycling fabric scraps. All the projects and patterns are all free!!! What a find. Two of my favourites are below. I hope you find something you love in there too!!

Check out everyone else's loves over at Paisley Jade this week.

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My Creative Space: bum-shuffler pants

My Creative Space this week is filled with scraps of fabric and wadding, which piece by piece I am trying to put together to make a pattern for special bum-shuffler pants.

My 15-month old is a dedicated bum-shuffler who has no inclination to want to walk yet. I am getting sick of ruined leggings, shorts and MCNs (modern cloth nappies) - with ingrained dirt, food and floor messes on them, so I'm trying to come up with a solution.

She also gets grazes on her little bottom and legs a lot too, as a result of the friction. (She is SO fast!)

I figure a gusset padded inside with slim-line wadding, like what I use in my lily pads, will cushion and protect her bottom. If the gusset is made in plain black or brown or grey, to hide the stains and wear and tear, I could then use my lovely patterned lily pad fabrics to decorate the legs and make them look stylish. Maybe even with turn ups or ruffles? Maybe even turn it into a skort pattern?

If I use my 100% cotton fabrics, then she won 't get too hot in this heat. In the winter, maybe I could instead make them from merino (if she's still not walking by then!)

The great and wonderful Made by Rae blog has given me the idea for this project - she makes "Big Butt Pants" especially for babies with MCNs (modern cloth nappies) - the pocket style of cloth nappies of which I am a dedicated convert. I'm going to buy her pattern, then work on re-designing it with the wadding in the bottom, for my bum shuffler.

Wish me luck!

For other creative projects coming to life this week, visit the other bloggers over at My Creative Space on Kirsty's blog.

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My creative space: lily pad flower skirts a la tinkerbell!

I had the loveliest surprise last week when a new-found cyber-friend of mine, Marie from softearthart, sent me this lovely "Thumbelina on a water lily pad" in the mail as a gift for my four year old. We had begun talking online when I joined New Zealand Handmade, which Marie is a team member of, and were conversing about how apt the lily pad doll was for me - not only for my business, but for my family. My four year old is obsessed with Thumbelina and Tinkerbell and all fairy creatures, and we'd just been watching and re-watching Thumbelina and new Tinkerbell Disney movies on DVD. Now we sit with this delicate needle felt art creature in our hands and tell the story verbally to each other - it's a wonderful tool for developing her recall, language and story telling.

So I want to thank Marie not only for her gift, but also for sparking my latest new 'creative space' project, which I've made with my four year old this week.

The clogs began turning in my mind for this project the minute I received Thumbelina. Her body sort of melds into the lily pad petals and leaves. And in the Tinkerbell movies, Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Iridessa and the other fairies wear dresses made of petals and leaves. One thing led to another...Maddie and I first made a sketch, and then raided our tulle fabric scraps to put together a new invention - the "lily pad flower skirt". The skirt itself is meant to be the "lily pad" - made of an opaque green organza with a gold thread through it that looks like leaf veins. The "flower" on top is all different coloured and shaped tulle petals, with a few ribbons thrown in to represent stamins. I don't know if this is anatomically correct - but she loves it!

For more than 160 other lovely crafters creative projects this week, visit Kirsty at Kootoyoo.blogspot.com

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