pin real life - floral&striped dress

 some more real life pinning...my new fave dress... 

the pin:

{source}

and moi:

...

take one thrifted tee + some ol~ld floral fabric:

joiny joiny.

(and add pockets if you're a mother)

ta-da:

(how do you like the vintage bow brooch i added to my Lisa Leonard necklace? LOVE.)

i'd love to see your real life pins too!!

 X

announcey

i was working on something a little different today and it was so refreshing!

so, after rolling this around and around in my head, and bouncing it off other respected heads, i've come to this decision:

• i'm going to take a break from custom ordered dolls for the second half of this year. as a deterrent, the price will go up :( 
• instead, i'm hoping to concentrate on some new patterns and designs that i'm really bursting to try out but just haven't had the chance.
• also, i really think i want to do a market...which means stockpiling!
• BUT, i will still sell dolls as i make them - (which will be at regular price not custom price, bonus!)

peace~

kids art class - mixing colours

using this tutorial on how to fold a book out of one piece of A4 paper, we made little primary colour-mixing 'recipe' booklets:

you will need:

• 1 x A4 paper
• red paint, blue paint, yellow paint.
• paintbrush
• scissors

this activity had a whole lot of LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS!! (as well as the obvious skills learned :) )

now, i like to extend these little kiddos as much as possible, and i wanted them to work a little harder than - blob! blue+yellow=green.

so after we'd established which primary colours mixed together make what new colour, i would hold up 2 tones of the new colour, ie, light grass green and dark green. then i'd ask, "so...which one is green?". a ha! stumped them! but i LOVE seeing their little minds working it out :)

so for each new colour we mixed, i showed them how to mix 2 tones of it - depending on how much of which colour was added...

follow the layout below to see how (each circle represents a 'blob' of paint):

and Monte's one painted (and drying before we could fold it into a book again):

so there you go, proof that although it sounds very tricky, it's actually easy enough for a 3 year old :)

see other kids art ideas here

(only one more lesson to go this term, yay!)

Make my Week #25 - me hearties~

there were some very touch-n-go moments...

but they're done!!

and for size comparison:

Danny (19mo) with the practice doll on left and final on right.

and with my workshop doll:

now, to send them...!!

yikes.

mustard chicken

so i pretty much loved the list Sarah compiled of mustard coloured items of clothing yesterday.

however, one thing that wasn't on the list was

mustard chicken.

and i'm not talking recipes here either. it turns out we have my chicken twin living here:

(the photo quality is terrible because i have about a 2cm zoom on my camera and she is QUICK!)

how many hens you know can wear tights like these?

not many, if any.

woot!

Made my Week #24

{{creating together}}

{{faces concentrating hard}}

{{"horse" riding}}

....

but you know what really made my week?

being on a $2-a-day wage.

{{hurrah!}}

act as if what you do makes a difference.

it does.

- William James.

slick ricks

a cold, dark, rainy day at home = boys with oiled hair.

how IS it that big kids get cradle crap cap?? (or are mine the only ones?!)

what do you do to prevent it, or get rid of it? it grosses me out so much. i hate thinking their scalp can't breathe.

anyway, looking forward to some nice shiny pink scalps again this afternoon :)

(fantastically inspiring stuff today, i tell ya! x)

beware of the super mum

beware of the super mum.

she isn't that super.

 

sure, she might be ok at sewing a doll or remixing some thrifted clothes...but while she is busy grabbing hold of opportunities she's afraid she'll never have again, her REAL opportunities languish and unravel.

yes, it could be testosterone, or the rain keeping her son indoors that is making him behave the way he is. but she knows that this is because she hasn't stopped, bent down and listened to her son for much too long.

see super mums can't do it all (although it may seem like it), something has to give. and he has (they have) been the Give, while the opportunities have been the Take.

momentarily losing sight of what is truly important (and eternal) and the real reason for this season. being lured by something tangible to show for her day's work, because, although it would be lovely, you can't exactly thrust a child's nurtured and shaped heart at your husband as he walks in the door and say,  "here honey, look what i did today..."

a true super mum knows that good things take time and TIME makes good things. stopping (actually physically and mentally stopping) to listen to the construction plans for the latest machine, or the newly created Lego racing car, or to talk about hopes and dreams. a super mum doesn't read to her 4th child as much as she read to her first, but she does read to him.

a true super mum knows that her time and opportunities will come but right now, her greatest opportunity is to raise four beautiful adults one heart-shaping day at a time.

so to all the mums out there feeling Less-Than for pouring your days and lives into your precious children and having (seemingly) nothing to show for it at the end of the day except a whole lot of mess to tidy up, please be encouraged and know that YOU really are the super mums.

and this mum wants to be more like you.

X



i am now a doll-making tutor too!

didn't they do brilliant?

it was the weirdest thing ever to see OTHER people sewing MY dolls!! weird~ (and kinda scary handing out my pattern too..?!)

it was a really nice day and they were so gracious and kind to me seeing as it was my first time and all.

make my week #24 - custom pirate dolls

i was approached by a dentist in Savannah, Georgia to make some large boy and girl pirate dolls to match the branding for her pediatric dental clinic (check out the website, it's totally cute!)

this is the crow's nest in the clinic where the guy pirate is going to sit:

(how cool is that??!!)

the pirate guy above was a practice run...and turned out about 10cm too small still!! so i redrew the pattern and now have almost finished an even bigger mr and mrs pirate.

(check out the size of mrs pirate's legs!!)

ps i have my workshop tomorrow. kina starting to freak out...!

Pin Real Life

i've decided to make it a regular personal challenge to replace wishful thinking with reality.

because, by it's very nature, inspiration cannot remain passive - it must be acted upon. and besides, wishful thinking only creates a nice cosy spot for Envy and Discontentment to settle down and strangle the gratitude in your heart.

and so, the pinspiration:

{imagefromhere}

i found this lonely (lovely) lambswool covered stool for $3 last week:

and although i had a list as formidable as Everest, i procrastinated (can anyone say 'denial'?!) and made a dottie angel inspired cover for my new stool instead.

i'm pretty useless at the whole mismatching on purpose thing. it's not natural for me, but i tried and i keep wanting to look over at my new stool all the time so i think i did ok.

want to join in the challenge?

here's how: add your real life pins to the flickr photo group

or grab the link-up button below

<div align="center"><a href="http://dee-construction.blogspot.com/2011/06/pin-real-life.html" title="Pin Real LIfe"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5156/5911181965_0881300be9_m.jpg" alt="Pin Real LIfe" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

i'd love to see you "Pin Real Life" x

on my mind

1. a loyal supporter gave me the heads up that there are what seem to be copycat boy dolls being sold at The Dowse in Upper Hutt. (if anyone is going there for Craft 2.0, sneak me a pic eh? ta)

2. i just recovered a stool instead of doing one of the million things are actually ON my list.

3. i really really want to have a table in the December Auckland Art & Craft Fair with my mum. reckon they'd let us country girls in?

4. there are only 5 more sleeps until my doll-making workshop (that's taking up at least half of the million-things-to-do list)

5. here is Monte reading (remembering) Hop on Pop:

art for kids - symmetry + portraits

for my little "art lesson" today we looked at symmetry and our faces:

you'll need:

* one enlarged photo of child's face and cut down the centre.

* colouring pencils.

this really stretched the kids (4-6 yo) but they coped fantasically and did a brillant job I thought.

After they had finished colouring their faces in, we had some extra time so, to make it really personal, i had them draw some of their favourite things around the space by their heads.

(Ty did fish, playing Cowboys & Indians -is that even pc?- and writing books i think! :) )

Make my Week #23 - sweatshirt restyle

like my new mustard blazer?

here is what it used to look like:

an XL men's sweatshirt (who had the good fortune of being a delightful colour!)

gather here, snip there...

surprisingly it worked,

is comfy,

and i have worn it lots!

{WIN}

{{EDIT::TUTORIAL NOW HERE}}

X