My creative space: princesses and castles

My creative space has been so crazy busy with my new Summer 2011 lily pad range (I will post some photos here later on today or tomorrow, but they are up on facebook now!).

So busy infact, that on the weekend my Miss Four and I decided to have a 'creative break' from being creative and redecorate her room. Now that's she's nearly ready for school, her tastes have changed a little and she's incredibly interested in fairy tales and understanding all the old stories like Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and the Princess and the Pea.

I recently finished a 'Fairy Tales' range of pinboards for one of my retailers, and she was really taken with the fabrics I used from Heather Ross' 'Far, far away II' collection - of the owl and the pussycat, and Rapunzel. We decided to make her a GIGANTIC pinboard using the pink Rapunzel fabric as the main feature. It's incredibly heavy, being made of a big piece of 1200mm MDF, so Daddy needs to work out a way to hang it yet!

Complementing the 'Princess in a Tower' theme, we've hung a gorgeous white netting canopy over her bed, and decorated the top railing of it with triangle-shaped bunting (like tower flags). I used the same idea as I did for her sister, with some free alphabetical downloads made to print.

Her dollhouse actually looks like a castle already (clever Daddy!).

The final touches will be some new bedding, I'm thinking of using this delicious pink pom pom fringing pictured above all over one side of a throw cushion, for some texture, and some lovely fabric with princess crowns on it for another cushion. Any other ideas?

For more creative spaces coming to life, visit everyone else playing our weekly bloggy game at Kirsty's.

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My creative space: Of fairytales from far, far away, nursery rhymes....now this is how to spoil a child

I've coveted these "Far, Far Away Chapter II" fabrics from US designer Heather Ross for months now, and I wasn't disappointed when they finally arrived in the post. Heather Ross considers herself an artist and illustrator first and foremost, before a fabric maker, and the time and energy she spends on drawing and painting her fabric designs is obvious.

Always focused on childhood themes, innocence and tenderness, it feels as though you are sharing a little bit of love with your child and spoiling them rotten when you create something from her fabrics. Focused on happy traditions, her attention to detail extends even to the fact that rather than use fine-spun quilting fabrics, she has deliberately chosen to use a cotton linen, with a handmade, woven textile, to include a tactile, authentic feeling and experience.

Her "Far, Far Away I" collection drove the 'homemaker' market wild when it launched through design house Kokka, and this year's "Far, Far Away Chapter II" totally lived up to expectations. Key to the theme are the fairy tales about Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and the Princess and the Pea, and the nursery rhyme about the Owl and the Pussy-cat. I knew the minute I saw them that I had to have them, and thanks to the trust and artistic eye of a super-special new retailer (who I can't announce yet!) I was recently given the chance to develop this theme and create a whole new exclusive collection. Oh, the bliss! I've literally just finished my girls' and matching boys' lily pin board ranges, and I had to share with you.

The Rapunzel-themed board has been in the back of my mind for months now. I had a vision that the long plaited ponytails lent themselves perfectly to being accompanied by 'plaited' or zig-zag or woven ribbons for the pinboard - like Rapunzel's hair itself is literally wrapped around the pinboard. I'm rapt with the plaited ribbon I eventually found and think it looks lovely next to the candy-floss pink satin ribbons.

The other board rounded out the sweet, 'sugar and spice and all things nice' vintage theme for the girls collection- it's a baby pink Robert Kauffman damask and would look amazing in a little girl's room.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat blue boys' pinboard just instantly reminded me of the 'snips and snails and puppy dog tails - that's what little boys are made of' rhyme. It's perfect for cheeky, busy, wandering, musical little boys' nuseries. The traditional chocolate and turquoise gingham looks divine too.

My 'fairytales and nursery rhymes' collection is also accompanied by an exclusive range of misty-grey, vintage-inspired lily pads, only available at my new retailer. Watch this space - I can't reveal who yet!

PS: I'm hanging out now for Heather's new range to be available, sometime next year. It's called "Macaroni Love Story" and it features images of newspaper boats; wooden peg dolls; and macaroni play necklaces. Amazing!

For other crafty projects this week, hop over to http://www.kootoyoo.com/

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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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