Gift taggy fun.

Hi again,

Two posts in one day, insane stuff (for me).

These are some of my finished Christmas present gift tags, which I started a few weeks ago.

They are not half as nice as Emily's, hers are absolutely gorgeous, do have a look.  I have gift tag envy, that's for sure.  

My hand made Christmas is slowly coming together. 

Have a great evening.

Cat.

Four happy snow men, all in a row.

Hi lovelies,

I am finishing up lots of little sewing projects, now that I have found where to buy stuffing in Hong Kong.

Four little happy snow men heads, all finished.

They really are so cute.  The felt works much better than the linen I used last time.  The snow man pattern can be found here.

Have a great day, Cat.

Hoops for a Nan and a Granny

Hi lovelies,

I was so happy with my Christmas hoops that I decided to make a few more.  One for my Grandma and one for the Shropshire boys Nan.  I know they will both love this fabric.

Yay, two more hand made Christmas presents finished.  I still have some more to complete, so I better be off.  Are you busy making any Christmas presents?

Have a great day.

Cat.

My (Christmas hoop art) Creative Space

Hi lovelies,

This week I had a brain wave.  An idea, for an easy way to decorate our rented apartment in Hong Kong ready for Christmas.  The good old "fabric in the embroidery hoop" trick.

Quick, easy Christmas decoration completed.  I like it!

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat.

My (Christmas punchy) Creative Space

I have met lots of people since arriving in Hong Kong in July.  Many are mums and helpers (maids) from Abbey's kinder or Zoe's playgroup.  Often I will chat with other parents and helpers at the local playgrounds, of which there are many close to our apartment.

In all of this, I have made one true friend (so far), one person I have really made a connection with.  We have many things in common, she loves exploring Hong Kong as much as I do and we parent in very similar ways.  Both our big girls go to kinder together and love playing with each other, and our toddlers get along really well too.  She is also crafty - she makes cards and does beautiful scrap-booking.

Look what she has lent me this week, to have a play with.  Oh boy, did I have some fun last night with her paper punches!  Like I needed another crafty hobby.  I am now hooked, and want to start my own paper punch collection.

Today when Zoe sleeps, I will put some music on, make a cup of tea, sit down and make some Christmas gift tags with all my paper punchy lovelies.

Pop in and see what all the Creative peeps are up to today.

Happy Thursday to you.

Cat

My (happy alien doing yoga) Creative Space

This week in my Creative Space, I have been busy making an alien.  A happy alien who loves to do yoga.  See, he loves it.

My yoga loving alien was almost a huge craft fail.  In my mastitis effected state, I kind of forgot felt is not that easy to turn inside-out when sewn into fiddly shapes like little alien feet, hands or head appendages.  I had to unpick all my sewing, cut off the seam allowance, then sew him back up again, this time on the outside, using blanket stitch.  I am so glad I could save him as I spent a very happy afternoon, during Zoe's nap time, hand sewing on his face and tummy detail.

Here is the happy alien, right way around, with a little help from my assistant (2 year old Zoe).

My assistant also thought happy alien needed a nappy change.  Aawwwww, too cute me thinks.

I am going to have to sneak the happy alien and my little squishy butterflies out of the house so I can post them to Pip for the Softies for Mirabel drive.  Both my girls love them, and would happily have them as their own.

Have a lovely Thursday, peeps.

Cat.

Little squishy butterflies

Hi Peeps!

My little squishy butterflies from Thursday are finally finished.  I made them happy ones with a smile and had to add antenna.  I wanted my butterflies to be anatomically correct, you see.

So three cute little squishy butterflies are all finished and ready for the Softies for Mirabel Foundation.  It is such a good cause, do check it out if you have not heard of it before.  Get your craft on and make a softie or two or more.

This is Super Hero Butterfly:

Abbey named this one Carrobell:

Abbey likes this one best:

Group hug:

I have one more Softie for Mirabel in the making.  There is a sneak peek of him over here, he is not finished yet and I am a little smitten with him.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cat.

My (fluttery) Creative Space

I was not going to join in with Our Creative Space today, I had nothing much on the go apart from another pile of zippered pouches.  I also made a Happy Snowman a few days ago.

Today though, I find myself taking it easy, Doctors orders.  I have mastitis and am feeling all achy and awful.  The silly thing is, Zoe weaned 3 months ago - but I still have mastitis. Not fair.

So what is a girl to do when she is taking it easy?  Start on a few softies for Mirabel, that's what she can do.

Little fluttery softies.....

That will soon look like this:

From this cute book called Make your own Misfits.

Have a great day.

Cat

Happy Snowman

Yesterday I received the Christmas edition of Tickle the Imagination magazine in my inbox.  I knew straight away that I would be making a snowman that day.  And I did.  Even after I realised I had no white felt in my stash, I was not deterred.

I raided my scrap box and found some linen scraps (left over from making Abbey's kinder blanket)

I used blanket stitch around the edge of the linen and hope this stops it from fraying.  I will be making a few more of these, I am sure.

Have a great day.

Cat.

Miss Representation

Have you heard of Miss Representation? Kirsty over at 4 kids, 20 suitcases and a beagle recently wrote a fabulous post about this new movie.  The extended trailer to the movie is in this post and I find it very confronting and terrifying as I am the mother of two little girls.

If I was to be totally honest with you (and myself) I must say I am terrified of raising my two girls.  I want them to be confident and happy.  I want them to love who they are and love what they do.  But how do I encourage them to be like this when some days I struggle myself?  It feels so difficult to achieve in this modern age.  It has taken me the best part of 20 years to really like who I am now, to be happy with myself and to know it is OK to have some squishy bits, I do not need to be a stick figure to be happy.

I will continue to tell my girls they can be anything they want to be when they grow up.  I want to believe this - but more importantly, I want my girls to believe this - to know this is possible.

I hope the movie makes it to Hong Kong.  If not, I am sure the interwebs will allow me to watch it some time in the future.

In the meantime, I want to remember (and never forget) how gorgeous my two girls are, just for being themselves - especially when they hold hands while walking along sharing an apple.

Cat.

Happy Halloween

Boo!

Dotty Doll and I hope you all had a scary Halloween.  

Cat