and the craft goes on

I hope you all had a great Christmas day. Ours was good, with a little afternoon Nanna-nap. It was also very very loud!!!!! Mr Ric-Rac's dad and Grandma are both quite deaf and Grandpa's hearing aid seemed to be picking up alien signals all through lunch.

He had the kids in hysterics, each time he waved his hand (or anything else ) by his head , the hearing aid started sqweeblebroxpopping like crazy. Of course Grandma got cross and told him off so he rolled his eyes behind her back and sent the kids off into peals off giggles again. It was all very relaxed really , apart from the shouted conversations and Grandma telling everyone off (for being too jolly perhaps?)



Yesterday was quiet so I gave myself a quick project , it has been in the brain pipeline for ages. The bag is made from canvas from spotlight so is quite heavy duty. I have lined it and put in a covered templastic base for a bit more support. I am thinking it might be good to keep in the car so I can use it at the shops? or the library? or just into the stash with all the others?



I have a few more images like this one - Isn't she gorgeous? I scanned the magazine cover and then printed it out on that plastic backed fabric that can go through the printer. I'm sorry I have used it all so can't tell you what it is called but I think it is pretty readily available.

That is the lead article in the November 13 edition of New Idea circa 1963. There is some seriously good stuff in here housewifey's, like tip number 81. Time-saving trick: when cutting celery or French Beans into slices, put two or three together on the board and cut through the lot .

wow ! who woulda thunk it?

Or number 38. Ideal for the hostess: glue tiny shells to plastic or wooden toothpicks and use when serving hors d'oevres or small sandwiches or cakes.


AHA !!! Now if only I had glued some tiny shells onto toothpicks and stabbed them into the food, Christmas day would have been perfect.

Not quite last minute crafting

I have been busy since finishing work on Friday but not out of control - I have managed to squeeze in a few last craft duties as well as all the other stuff. We aren't having a huge day on Christmas day just my mum, Mr Ric-Rac's parents and Great Grannie (she of the 99 yrs) so there is not a lot to prepare.

We have decorated ( I bought a pre- baked kit) the gingerbread house.


The Christmas cake is cooked. I always leave it until the last minute or it will get eaten before Christmas day arrives.


We tried something new, I found it on the web of course. It is called Christmas bark! White chocolate melts and crushed candy canes - very nice!


Some last minute gifts are ready to be wrapped. Potholders For Grandma and Mr Ric-Rac 'cause he was being a smart bottom about them!


and an ornament each for the kids - How cute is that surprised little gingerbread man. I downloaded the pattern for him from Elsie Marley. A great blog that I have only recently found.



Grandpa was proving very very difficult in the present stakes until I chanced upon this post on the wonderful Pea Soup blog. (super blog, add it to your favourites). Buying this wonderful book mark got me back on track and today I gocco'd a journal to go with it. (M for Mike)



I really love the acorn bookmark - you guys know that I am impressed by all forms of knitting and crotchet because I can do neither, but this is so cute.

I am expecting Favourite-in-law status after he opens this little gifty. I am sure he is going to love it, even though it may take me till lunchtime to explain how I bought it from a lovely woman that I have never met who has a blog...well a blog is kind like a diary Grandpa but its on the Internet........

The grey board books came from Office works and are quite reasonable. I tried this once before and fluffed it, but now that I have figured some out-of-machine goccoing I went a bit crazy......



I even Gocco'd a T-shirt, it was just with the regular ink that was already in Gocco from the journal but it worked !!! The print came out clean and clear. Now I want to ignore the housework and the cooking and just play with Gocco.

I hope you all, whoever you are , in whatever little crafty corner of the world you are in , have a lovely and safe time over the Christmas season.

Thankyou all for visiting this year and welcoming me to the land of blogs.

I wonder what I did with myself before I stumbled through the sewing room into this world?

Rockin' the handmade Christmas

Whilst Miss Grace took center blog-stage last week, I worked away on little gifts so this is a bit of a catch up post.

Firstly Connor's room is done ! The carpet is in but the door needs to be trimmed and rehung. This was the design he chose for above his fireplace.

I have made some Gocco stationary for some friends at work- It is great that more than one person has the same first initial.

Other people are getting little PVC toiletry bags (still unlined but getting there).

And I made these cute little decorations from the Softies book. They are so easy and I have cut out heaps, they are so quick and heaps of fun- a great way to use up scraps. I have some more owls on the way as well, for those people who may turn up their nose at a little girly frock on a tiny wee hanger....

This is part of my gift for my Kris kringle ( secret santa) at work. A vinyl pencil-case for the school nurse. I have her name on the back in vinyl letters. Her favourite colour is mauve and purple and she will probably get the little mauve dress as well.

This is not to suggest I haven't flopped one or two gifts as well - I have...... but funnily enough I didn't bother to take photos of those!

Better Late than never

Hi guys, Yes I am late! Yesterday got away on me a little.

Grace and I jumped up this morning and got started. I cut up all the names and put them in the bucket, Mr Ric Rac was coerced into drawing one out and then Grace took the slip to "read"

With some help she figured out that the winner is Futuregirl !!!! Congratulations Alice!

Insert Clapping and cheering !!!

While I have every ones attention just a quick thanks to you all for entering and for all the sweet comments about Grace and her little friend Violet from the previous post.

I was so surprised to see that many comments and had a great week checking out all the blogs. I don't know why I was so surprised to find people from Hawaii, Canada, France, and Chile- that why it's called the WORLD wide web Jodie!!!

There will be more dollies like Grace and Violet. I am quite keen to make the acquaintance of Toby and Fletcher myself to see if they really are as naughty as the girls say they are. I don't know if they will be giveaways or just popping in or maybe I will do the whole Etsy thing , or maybe not.

For now thanks and I am off to email Miss Futuregirl and warn her that a very vocal someone is already packing.................

I need a new home - 100th post giveaway.

Hello My name is Grace.

I hate Toby at my kinder because today, well first , Lauren said my dress is made of tablecloths and I said it wasn’t and she said I was a table so I said her dress is made of poo-poo and I had to sit in the naughty corner with Toby

and he sat in the other half of my naughty corner and poked his tongue out at me so I told the teacher and she said you can’t tell tales when you are in the naughty corner.

My friend Grace, not Grace with the yellow hair but Grace with the brown hair, well she is going to go and live at a new house and I am going to live at a new house too but at a different new house and I don’t know where is it. Maybe I might come and live at your house.


If I come and live at your house I would like there to not be any boys called Toby or Fletcher or boys who like to play pirates and run everywhere at once and push over girls for no reason and ON PURPOSE!.


I had a chicken pet but I almost dropped it upwards and that made it fly over the fence and now it lives somewhere else and is someone else’s pet but I have a toy chicken bird now and he will come to your house too.



You might live somewhere that is not like here and maybe it is really cold where you live. So I will bring my hat and coat and scarf because being cold is not very fun. Do you have snowingmen with noses that are actually carrots where you live ?


I do not like spiders or sticky insects or flies or any sorts of buzzing bugs and not dead things either. If I see a dead thing I will not pick it up for the nature table but I might put flowers on it to cover it up like at kindy when the dead worm on the cement got all hard and crunchy because he got sunburned and me and Grace and Lauren covered him up with flowers and put water on him to come back to life but he didn’t. I might bring my monkey if that's OK but he will be very good because he is a nice monkey and I will tell him off if he be's naughty at you.



At your house when it is kinda dark or sometimes when it's not but it is still bedtime like at fifteen O’clock and I have to go to bed I would like someone to tuck me in and kiss me goodnight because at my new house I might sometimes feel a bit wrinkly in my stomach and that might make me feel better.

Teachers notes - If you would like Grace to come and live with you, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Grace will travel to you no matter where you live, she will bring along all her bits and pieces and the monkey will even get some ears by then. You have until Sunday December 16 at 6 O'clock to AEST to leave your comment. The winner will be chosen at random.......Please include your URL or an email address or some way I can contact you in your comment.........although she is very very bossy she is really a sweet little girl.

Handmade christmas progress - for my neice-next post is 100-GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hello, I'm Violet and really I am awake but I am just pretending to be asleep so I can stay in bed.

I like staying in bed but I don't like going to sleep . I like beds best when I am awake in them and I can look out the window and look at all the day happening.

Then I get up and I ask mum what time is it and what are we doing today and is it a going out day or a staying home day and can we visit someone today or maybe we could buy a pet today because Grace at kinder got a pet and it was a chicken pet but it flew over the fence and now it is someone else's pet and at kinder there is boy who says poo all the time and he has to sit in the naughty corner. This is my favouritest red dress that feels nice and cosy and not scratchy at all.

Mum doesn't really like my favouritest red dress for going out days. On going out days I wear my next favouritest dress which is actually also red because that is my favouritest ever colour in the whole wide world and Grace at kinder, well her favouritest ever colour in the whole wide world is green.

So because it is a going out day I will wear my red dress and my spotty cardigan that is soft like a kitten with spots on the front. Grace doesn't have a cardi like mine because hers is pink and she doesn't like it because we both are not fans of pink at all.

Mum says I need to wear a coat so I have to take off my spotty cardi that is soft like a kitten and find my best ever but not quite red coat which is pink because mum says pink is almost like red just not reddish enough but i am not a fan of pink at all like Grace, and then we can go. But I think the park is long way and I need a drink and a book and toy and I might get hungry so I think it would be good to take some snacks and we could put them in bags and we could write our names on them so mum doesn't eat my snack by mistake because I want chippies and mum's snack will be a banana. I think we should take a snack for Grace because maybe she is at the park or someone else who will be hungry or maybe whose mum has no snacks left at her house because the place is wreck . Mum says our house is the only wreck and all the other kids can organise their own snacks and if I am taking all that stuff to the park I can carry it myself and she will not carry it home for me when I am tired no matter how much I whinge.

We are going to the park right now this minute , or not at all says mum.............

Post 97 - the weekend went where?

The weekend was filled with painting again.
This room has been a bit of a struggle - the wallpaper was a cow to remove and of course then we had the "great wait" for the plasterer. The walls are the same colour as Jem's but the difference in the light made it look very yellowy. I had to keep lightening it until I got something I was happy with. The fireplace is not finished , and the window isn't started but we are getting there. The picture rail is the same grey as the mantle and the carpet (when it gets here) is a dark charcoal grey. I am thinking of red curtains.

The rest of the weekend passed like this !

These are some of the pics we are using in the snapfish book I am making for Mr Ric-Rac's grandmother for Christmas , she's a very sprightly 99 who has everything (as you would by the time you are 99 I guess).
This was hysterically funny to do and I could easily make another book of all the blooper shots. Connor's moustache changes design every few photos because he kept smudging it. Jemma's dress is held together with bull-dog clips . There are lots of shots of the dog's bum or a pushbike, or pieces of garden junk in the background.
This took two days over two weekends but I think she'll love it. Even though I am not actually manually making the book - maybe this can squeeze in as handmade Christmas?????

Its really number 96-thankyou

Have you ever received a gift that is just perfectly "you". Like someone really gets you and gave you the ultimate perfect thing?

Well that has happened to me twice lately.

Firstly Lara of thornberry sent me the most amazing scarf - a work of art. This is me - perfectly. red - my favourite colour and kind of unusual-just like me!!!

The most amazing thing about this is that Lara doesn't even "know" me in the traditional sense. We read each others blogs and share a love of chenille but we have never met.

Lara , for no reason, sent me this beautiful scarf and it is my most favourite all time ever scarf (I own about 20 so I know what I talk about when we speak scarf.)

I want to say a thousand thank yous to you Miss Lara -pop over and see it in all its glory here.

That's me about 2 seconds after I unwrapped it -school bags in the background - junk on the bench. What great styling !!!

More recently I was a winner on the Lino Forest blog. If you have not visited you must go there right now and have a look. Betty Jo has the most unique creations - I know that word is bandied around in blog land quite a lot but it is true. I received this most exquisite brooch.

It is quirky and vintage and is just so cheerful and beautifully crafted - please go and take a look.

I adore it !!! Seriously. Just like my scarf , I wore this to work to rave reviews!!!! So a thousand thank you also. With gifts like these people at work are going to start raising their fashion-expectations of me.

With my 100th post coming up I am looking forward to being able to pay some of this great feeling and gratitude forward, so four posts to go!

Have you ever received a perfect gift ?

Post 94 and a half

Well, three days with no computer certainly affects the craft output I must say !



Lottie and Lester dressed and off to Mirabel

A bag that has been awaiting its finish for far too long - Done !!! (bad photo-sorry)

Two frilly aprons as part of the handmade Christmas for my little ex-neighbours. I will give these along with chef's hats and a cook book!

My owl that was inspired by the gorgeous owls over at moonstitches. Mine are a bit rougher around the edges but have their own hairy eye-browed charm.

A parliament !!!! These are going to be pre-prepared last minute gifts - well they were. I had five this morning and am now down to two after showing them off at work - Luckily they are super quick to make.

and finally a doll quilt for my niece, to go with her dolly and accessories - just needs the binding

I am running behind on some important thank you's but they deserve their own post tomorrow- 94 and 3/4 maybe ????

Post 94 - tagged

I was tagged a little while ago by the lovely Linda of two pink possums with the crafting meme.
here goes:

1. When did you start to create and make craft?
I grew up on a farm so I think there is an essential sort of resourcefulness that comes from that kind of childhood –a sense of making-do. When I went to university to study welfare I really envied the art students. I loved the way they carried those big portfolio folders on the bus and all the exciting stuff in the art building. I lived with an art student and she was always drawing funny little pictures. One day for no real reason I made a softie of one of her characters and she loved it.


2. Why did you start creating?
I guess I started to craft during that university time because I had no money to buy gifts. I made rag dolls for my nieces out of chopped up clothes. I remember writing stories about each doll. They were called Pavlova and Asparagus! I developed a deep and binding love of the spotlight remnant bin, which I now extended to include all remnant bins.




3. Why do you create?
Wow ! What a question. Without being melodramatic I know that I need to create. It is a bit like having a secret identity , On the surface I do all the normal things, go to work, hang out with the kids but all the while some part of me is thinking of the project (or projects) that I have on the go or am constructing in my brain. Crafting slows me down and cheers me up.


4. What do you create?
These days I mostly sew and I joke with my friends that I am a novelty sewer, I have a lot of different projects on the go at a time. I have done so many things, paper making, dyeing, wire work, mosaic, raffia -hat making.............Right at this moment I get the most enjoyment from softies and dolls but that can change week to week or month to month. I often start something like the dolls and then get stuck on one element so I go back to bags or something else until I get an idea of how to proceed.

5. Has this changed since you began crafting?
The biggest change for me has probably been in my attitude to my craft. I know how important it is to me so I schedule it in as a priority. I have a sewing room that I love (way too small and always messy) and I no longer apologise for spending time in there. I am out and proud !!!!The change to my actual craft is that I don’t tend to feel I have to make useful things – even though my kids are big I love to make toys so I just make them and give them away.


Thanks Linda - this was really interesting, well for me at least. I guess I have never really stopped and thought about why I do this stuff, it is just so much a part of who I am. I really enjoyed this and will tag Annie of course - even if she has been dobbing on me lately !!!!!
and anyone else who would like to join in - I'm not very good at tagging am I?

Now I am about to take my not quite very well computer in to the computer doctor so it may be a very quiet weekend for me. Hope you all have a great weekend ........hmmmm no computer for a whole weekend, no blogs to read....................ok, I can cope -just don't do anything exciting till I get back !!!!