santa sacks at the ready....

There are great benefits to having a hubbie who is a sailmaker as he is a dab hand on the sewing machine and can whip anything I ask for up super duper quick. He just made these Santa sacks for the little ones. I love this paper doll Christmas fabric that we used for Kitty's. So cute.
I didn't think I could ever get excited about Christmas in Australia as miss the log fires, hot toddies and family way too much this time of year. That was until a girlfriend told me that as soon as I had children and this became the Christmas they were excited about then it would rub off on me too. She was so right! This is my 9th Christmas on these shores, which have ranged from 2003 camping in Byron Bay living off multipack sausages as a backpacker and childless family Christmas's in Melbourne and now Sydney but this is the first year that I have really felt Christmassy.

On that note, Merry Christmas everybody and thanks so much for following my blog. Will be back in the New Year!

PS. I'm still having small conniptions about my badly placed baubles (see above) and haven't had the heart to crush my 3 year olds creative input and move them around whilst she's in bed just in case she notices!

Christmas Decs are up.....

So here are the paper chains which my big girls painstakingly put together for me. All 10 metres of them. They really make the room feel so cosy and even though they sporadically undo themselves throughout the day and need a bit of resticking they are totally worth the effort as I love the overall 'old school Christmas' feel about them.
The tree is up. It took a few deep breaths to stand back and control my OCD with bauble placement whilst I watched Kitty trim the tree. This was a super difficult task and I have since swapped a few of them around hoping she won't notice! (Check out The Snowman playing in the background, my childhood favourite of which I am brainwashing Kitty into it being hers too!)
We have absolutely no colour scheming in his house and this extends itself to Christmas decor too. Like everything in my life nothing ever matches. In fact I will do anything in my power to make sure it doesn't.
I do however LOVE my mushrooms that I bought when I was back home in England last year. I politely asked Kitty if mummy could stuff all the little bunches of them in the tree as had been looking forward to doing that since I bought them in a sweet little Christmas shop in Wales. Thankfully she allowed me that exciting little task!
The big girls made Christmas cards for all the family. I am such a Grinch when it comes to sending cards. My mum and dad, brother and sister in law and that's about it. I have just never been into sending them which is surprising as I really do love cards.
The day was finished off with some Christmas baking. Iced Gingerbread cookies but due to the lack of ginger (quite a pivotal ingredient I think) the girls named them 'bread cookies' instead. They actually tasted pretty nice and they loved using my new bargain IKEA Christmas Cookie cutters.

So we're now all set for Christmas....sort of. I have put my MadeIt shop into holiday mode as of today in order to focus on finishing off some crafty things for Kitty and Spike; Santa sacks, Cushions etc....Will share them with you once I am done.

paper chains.....

Today I'm at home putting up the decorations. Doris Day is singing Christmas songs on repeat (and driving my kiddies crazy) and the kids are up to 150 pieced together chains made from paper. That is also starting to drive them crazy but I have a plan for how I want to hang them (and will reveal my hangings at a later date)

I seriously love old school ANYTHING and the thought of adorning my house with paper chains at Christmas makes my heart sing! Which then led me to find some old pictures featuring paper chains which I have shared here. How fabulous is this room above. Those paper lanterns don't seem so Christmassy to me though do they you!?
This picture is gorgeous from a 1940's schoolroom....(spot the chains on the wall over there)...
...this is a Woolworths store from the 1930's......
....and this is an old Tottenham Hotspur Footie Christmas gathering..LOVE the chains in all of these!

It's funny as the big kids just said to me 'isn't it so different to hang decorations across the ceiling like this George?'.....

Our house was never without decorations strung from the ceiling growing up....

...so is it just a Pommie thing?

Anyway, it's becoming cosier by the minute in my living room with all these chains being hung and is really starting to feel very 'grotto'ish.

Oops Doris has stopped again think it's time for some Band Aid 'Do they know it's Christmas' now......Fa la la la la.....

let the countdown begin.....

So the erecting of the fabric advent calendar was a wee bit exciting this morning. Being a tad unorganised I actually had to rummage around for a little something to pop into number 1's pocket and found a small bouncy ball that Kitty received so long ago she had thankfully forgotten she already owned it!
So made it my mission today to organise some fun (and new!) things to pop in the rest of the pockets. Came up with a selection of rubbers, sweets, hair clips and will probably grab some bits and bobs as I go. Also perfect opportunity to download the fabulous free holiday printables here at giverslog to use for treasure hunt notes and to write down activities like Santa photos today, make Christmas cookies and put up our tree etc.

our creative spaces....

I have been wanting to make a fabric advent calendar for yonks. I was totally inspired by the ladies at no chintz in Balmain the other week when I saw something similar to this on their wall and just HAD to go home and replicate it.
Their pockets were multicoloured linens which looked so lovely but time is not on my side these days so I did strips of alternate dark and light green linens. I bought the fabrics from no chintz and the felt balls too which became my baubles. They had painted their numbers on with a stencil but I decided to cut mine out using all the leftover Christmas felt I have stashed away. The numbers are a little wonky in places but think that actually looks part of it.
I'm still totally undecided as to what I'm going to put in each pocket. A girlfriend suggested a note each day which leads them to the treasure which I thought would be really sweet and prevents little fingers sneaking a sweet when mummy isn't looking.

Do you have a fabric advent calendar? What do you put in yours?

Taking part in our creative spaces over here..

nice rooms

Am totally in love with Lola and Coco's rooms featured on The Design Files today. I have just been drinking my tea and analysing this room above and wondering where I can buy one of those signs on the wall...??? Do we think it lights up in all it's neon glory? Would love that even more then! Any of you guys seen these before? And that hoop art is gorgeous.
This is the the other room. Love the colour of that sideboard.
I don't for one minute think I'll ever own a room that is so minimalist as I'm a clutter freak but I do gaze at these pix thinking how easy those rooms would be to keep tidy....or assuming Lucy actually misses all the messy corners when capturing the houses?

party favours!

I think the kiddies felt a bit ripped off at Kitty's party when they received these initial singlets as a take home prize! More like booby prize! I did give them a fabulous pack of chocolate pencils made by here. A fantastic coffee shop called Foodies which I love to go to ordered me a box of them from their deli supplier. They are from Spain and so sweet and come in a plastic pencil that you can actually use.

Here is my twirling princess. This is the first year that Kitty has really worked out all this party malarkey and have to say it makes it much more exciting. Bring on Christmas!

My girlfriend Tara made her this fabulous carousel cake which tasted as good as it looks.

It's such a cliche 'kids growing so fast' but I did spend a large proportion of the day wondering how in the hell my little baby is now 3!

second babies.....

As much as nobody ever happen to mention first time around how difficult being a first time mum is, everybody did happen to mention that second time round is easier.

I was in a permanent state of shock after having Kitty and was a far cry from the natural earthy mumma skipping through the forest with bub hanging in it's hemp sling cooing away at me. I was the stress cadet pacing the supermarket isles with a screaming newborn wondering what happened to my breezy past life and if I'd ever get a hint of it back.

Three months into Kitty's life I suddenly got it. I worked it all out and I really began to fall hopelessly in love with her. Three years later Spike (pictured above!) arrived. I'm still not skipping through forests with him living off the land but things are so much easier. I fell in love with him instantly. I desperately want him to sleep in bed with me all the time. I want to eat him all up. His crying doesn't bother me one little bit. Waking up in the night is just 'another' part of my life as an unselfish mum and my baby books are still sitting on the dusty shelf!

How bout you? Did you find it so much more normal second time around??

my creative space...CHRISTMAS!

Things are still plodding along quite creatively here at kitty n' kitsch despite the arrival of my little boy a month ago (and the arrival of my little girl's newfound '3yearoldness' which has hit harder than the newborn!). I'm busy with Christmas orders already and totally loving doing them.....
....especially when I know these two NOELS are off to the bonny highlands of Scotland. I can just picture them now hanging from a gorgeous cottage fireplace with the logfire ablaze...heaven!

For more crafty loveliness pop over here...

baby mania....

Phew it seems like I haven't blogged in forever but I have been off having myself a little baby. I now have a new little man named Spike who is just 8 days old who has inspired me to make some onesies! With Smurf fever at the movies I thought I'd resurrect my 1970's vintage Smurf fabric and use it to applique some plain white cotton onesies.

I then got myself all excited about my vintage stash of fabrics and made this one for little girls using some really sweet old bed sheets with Bambi's and Bunnies all over them.
A lot of the baby stuff around is very samey so I'm racking my brains to come up with some sweet little vintagey numbers for Mr Spike. More to come! ...........

T.SHIRT GIVEAWAY!!

Tomorrow night at 7pm I am giving away a FREE T.Shirt of your choice from this selection.

To be in the running all you need to do is head over to my Facebook page here and 'like it' :)
...and then leave a comment on this post below. Easy peasy. Thanks folks!

our creative spaces with GIVEAWAY!

Am finishing off some t.shirt orders today. Have had some really nice feedback on them so far which is lovely. To celebrate the launch of my clothing I thought I might just have to give one away.

All you have to do is become a liker of my Facebook page HERE and a liker of my blog right HERE , leave me a way to contact you in the comments below and on Sunday at 7pm I will pick a name from the hat. You can then choose any one t.shirt of your choice, size and colour and it will be on it's merry way to you. Easy!

For more creative lovely people pop over here.....

london bus tee (our creative spaces)

Well, I have officially launched my t.shirts and taken full advantage of the free Madeit listings to do so! I changed the London Bus design slightly and am much happier with this new version.

I love the red and white spotty fabric for the girl's bus but thought plain red would be better for the boys. I picked up the Union Jack trim when I was back in the UK last year and thought it finished off the bus perfectly.

I'm off the London theme for a bit now and came up with another cool idea for a boy's t.shirt in the middle of the night (on one of my million toilet runs-36 weeks pregnant!) and will try that out today and post tomorrow for you to see.

For more crafty loveliness pop over here....

one for the boys..

Still t.shirt making frenzy going on here at kitty n' kitsch. Thought it was time I started on some designs for the boys so thought I'd kick start it with a bit more of my home town! So here is the London Black Cab tee.

I adored my black cab account I had running back in London and that probably cost my company a small fortune. These lovely modes of transport are super expensive to ride but you will never find a London Cabbie checking his A to Z even if you've requested him take you to tinpot alley in buttf*ck Idaho! So you sort of pay for what you get....sort of.

Anyway, have perfected my London bus design for boys which I will be showcasing tomorrow and then I might need to take a break from London and visit another city for some inspiration....

What do you think of this design anyhoo?

a top a day-Sunday

Here's an English icon that is instantly recognisable! Being away from home has definitely reignited my patriotism and I just had to feature some iconic London images on my t.shirts.

Man, this was SO fiddly to make and probably the most difficult t.shirt task so far. Drawing the bus was tricky and as for zigzagging around all those insy windows well let's just say I'm pleased I'm up the duff so was off the wine last night!

I do love this design though and loved using some recently acquired London fabric as the traditional advertising strip found on London buses.

One thing I do miss about London is hopping on my trusty number 8 bus which took me straight from my front door to work. The number 8 also runs 'a night service' which more often than not took me straight from the pub back home again.

I'm going to make a boys version of this top too. Watch this space for more designs later in the week!

a top a day - Saturday

I was so excited when I came up with this Helta Skelta design but was met by some blank faces when telling my girlfriends. It seems Helta Skelta's aren't very Aussie and nobody had any idea what I was talking about.

I still had to go ahead and make it though as I have always loved the old fashioned English fairground scenes and Helta Skelta's are such a romantic symbolism of these. I remember every fair I went to as a kiddie had the obligatory Helta Skelta and it was always red and white striped!

So I created my design with red and white striped fabric (no brainer), some vintage trim for the slide, some sparkly fairground sequins and a ribbon for the flag. Every item is appliqued (besides the sequins which are hand sewn) and secured with machined zigzag stitch.

Are there any Aussies reading this who knew exactly what this was or is it just an unrecognisable pretty design?

a top a day -Friday

I loved making this t.shirt. Cutting out all the rainbow stripes and sewing on the gold sequins was possibly my favourite sewing experience to date.

Funny, as a mummy to two stepdaughters and one daughter I really don't go in for sparkly bits at all. I would always choose the white canvas plimsolls over the pink sparkly sandals any day!

However, I did need to feature a rainbow in my designs as that symbolises my beautiful nan who I lost 3 years ago. Every time we see a rainbow Kitty says 'look mummy there's Marmar's house' as I told her once that Marmar lives on rainbows now. So rainbows have a huge place in my heart and 'Somewhere over the rainbow' was played as my nan's exit song at her funeral (sang by Carly Simon my mum's favourite singer).

My mum is completely opposite in me in that she is obsessed with anything sparkly. So I added that 'bit of sparkle' for you mum and loved every second of it!

What do you think of this design? Do you like sparkly bits?

a top a day (our creative spaces)

This week has certainly been a learning curve for me with the slow launch of some kitty n' kitsch t.shirts. I have introduced a t.shirt a day and am learning a lot as I go.

I have been in a very cosy comfort zone sewing my buntings for the past 2 years that I feel like I've mastered the art with those and could happily sew them with my eyes closed.

However, clothing....is another ballgame. Thinking up designs has been easy peasy, the drawing and cutting of applique has been easy peasy, BUT the zigzag stitching to secure the applique has been a challenge. I only just worked out by Thursday how to change the size of my stitch which made it a bit easier when swerving around the curves of this unicorn rocker!

I will be introducing a further 3 tops this week and then will start work on my boys designs. I guess practise makes perfect.......

For more crafty loveliness pop over here....

a top a day-Wednesday

Kitty is completely obsessed with umbrellas and feels the need to take one out hail, rain or shine. Shame she wasn't born a pom like me she'd be in her element as they get a lot of use over there!

So, I thought I'd better make her an umbrella t.shirt. The umbrella is a mix of cotton fabrics with pompom trim and the raindrops are felt.

Any thoughts?

a top a day...Tuesday

So the top today is an Apple Tree design. The tree has been made using vintage green velvet, some appliqued spotty apples with embroidered stalks and a trunk made from 20 year old quilting fabric donated to me from my sewing retired mother in law!

Would love to know your thoughts......

a top a day....Monday

I remember the conversation two years ago when my mother in law and myself decided to start making and selling clothes. She was going to make chenille pants and I was going to embellish matching singlets and t.shirts. Hence, the idea of kitty n' kitsch.....

...... however, after countless market trips, Madeit investigations and Facebook stalking I was feeling really uninspired on the clothing front as couldn't seem to come up with anything original and felt chenille had been done already and done so well that I felt the competition was way too high.

I had made some personalised buntings for some friends as pressies and then friends of friends started to order them and before I knew it I had my Madeit shop up and running selling those instead.

In the past month or so I have been inspired by some things that Kitty loves and have been dying to make some shirts to symbolise them. So I began playing around making shirts for Kitty and putting them through the wash which has been a great learning curve as to how I can successfully put the t.shirts together (I'm no fashion expert!-especially when it comes to sewing).

In the end I decided to use a combination of vintage and contemporary fabrics secured with applique and have found machined zig zag stitch has been the most affective way of adding that extra security to the design when going through the wash (if anybody has any better advice here I'd love to hear it!).

For this week only, I am going to post a t.shirt a day and would love to hear some feedback on them. At the moment I have only done girls designs but have some boys ideas drawn up, I just have to make some patterns.

I also wanted to share my divine brooch that I just won in the Made By White giveaway. I have been eyeing up her gorgeous stuff for so long and am so happy to own one of her lovely creations.

Next top tomorrow.....

our creative spaces....

I have so many creative spaces on the go right now I'm barely finding time to shower! (well I am a pom I have a reputation to withhold). There are bubbas being born everywhere and it is making me a very happy crafty lady indeedy.

A very special little lady named Beatrice was born to one of my closest friends back in London. I embroidered this for her using this pattern. I painted the frame in Treasure Isle paint leftovers.

I'm still trying to work out how to successfully embroider and am guessing as I go but I really love doing it and putting all the bright colours together.

For more creative people pop over here.....

our creative spaces....

Another new bubba born in my hood. I love being able to make pressies rather than trawling around the shops and not finding anything too personal. My girlfriend just had a little girl called Evie last week so I made her this fabric door sign.....

.....and made some cottage style bunting to match.
For more creative lovely people head over here.....

our creative spaces....

It's still Happy Christmas time over here at land kitty n' kitsch. Just finished this order which is on it's way to the beautiful Mornington Peninsula tomorrow. Have been stocking up on more fabrics which I've been buying from the UK online and have so many ideas for fabric Christmas decs spinning around my head. Even have my hubbie knocking up some bauble patterns for me.....

Ridiculous I know.

For more craft pop over here.....

our creative spaces....

I had my first order for Christmas this week and I must admit it has gone and got me all excited to get started on my festive range of buntings. Toddled off to the local fabric shop to buy some bits and pieces to get me started. It must be the English in me to start obsessing over Christmas decor in JULY!....
....here's a little look at the order I made.......
Pop over here for more crafty lovlies....

our creative spaces....

I bought this tea towel from an op shop about a year ago and have been not wanting to use it but not knowing what to do with it either....

.....and then I unearthed the trusty embroidery frames (so easy to turn to them as really not much effort or skill involved!) and cut it up and popped them in. I did paint the frames red to emulate the underground sign.......it's funny as it was the musty, glum, 'armpit in my face way too many times' ride along the central line daily that probably forced me into travelling in the first place. But like anything, when you don't have it anymore you kind of miss it. Living overseas definitely kick starts the nostalgia cravings and I'm very happy to look at these on my wall and reminisce about those grotty trips I don't have to endure anymore!

Pop over here for more crafty lovely things.....