The Creative Mama Series - Sam

I am honoured to be hosting a score of super talented crafty mamas sharing their wisdom, crafting and snapshots of their beautiful lives. This is ‘The Creative Mama series’. Join me every weekend for a wander in these ladies crafty shoes. Guest posts, stunning photography, inspiration, interviews, poetry and giveaways...all coming up. Magic aside it can be hard work this mama business, put your feet up a minute and join us. Hopefully there is always something here to give your day a lift.

Tell me about you.
I live with my partner Fil and two children in Auckland, NZ. I love to craft and to hold craft workshops. I help to run a Steiner playgroup at my children’s school and also help run a weekly Waldorf doll-making group.

What’s your creative outlet? Why do you craft? When do you make time to craft?
I love to craft, mainly I am making things for the home and family, sewing clothes, knitting warm clothes, making children’s toys in particular waldorf dolls. I craft because I love to make things and if I don’t, I get sad. I make time to craft most days, sometimes just in the evening when the kids are tucked up in bed, sometimes during the day when I want to avoid the housework or just do something fun for myself or the kids. I also meet with two groups of crafty ladies each week, one for knitting/crochet and one for making Waldorf dolls.

Your creative space – what does it look like?
My creative space is really wherever I am, my projects are nestled in baskets around the house, I knit in the car on long journeys, in breaks at work, quiet moments when the children are playing.
I have a sewing corner at home which is a small space in a wide corridor outside my bedroom. I did start with a sewing room but I found I didn’t use it. It was just not practical to go off by myself and to sew or create. Now that I am a mama my space is shared with my children. I like my sewing corner, I pass it as I move around the house and when I need/ want to sew it is all there. I spy half finished projects, a mounting mending pile or lovely pieces of fabric waiting to be used. I have often sewn with children on my lap.

How did you learn your craft?
I come from a creative crafting family. I remember my grandmother sewing and my nanny was a wonderful knitter. My family all sleep under quilts made by my mum every night. Growing up my parents would craft in their spare time (and still do), my mum at the sewing machine and my dad in the workshop making pretty curls of paper thin wood as he carved.
I came to Waldorf doll making when my children were young. I wanted to make my daughter a doll and used the book ‘Toy making with Children’ by Freya Jaffke. I made simple doll using one of Fil’s old t-shirts and an odd ball of wool. I was amazed at how something so precious could be made from simple recycled materials. What I also didn’t realize until I made a doll was that I created a little character. At some point during making her, she came alive. She was the first toy Evie really connected with and gave a name. She called her Milly.

A few years later I a friend suggested running a doll making workshop as a fundraiser for our Steiner play group. I have run many craft workshops and had made a simple doll for each of my children and so I volunteered to help. I had a few weeks before the workshop and so I met with my friends to learn how to make a simple sack doll. This is where my love of doll making began.
It was a good thing too as since both my friends I was running the workshop with had very young babies it became apparent that I would need to do all the talking! The workshop was a success and since then I have made many more dolls and now run a weekly Waldorf doll making group.
I love the process of Waldorf doll making. From simple, natural materials, sheep’s wool, cotton fabric, wool a little soul emerges. The key to a beautiful doll I believe is not to have a fixed idea of the outcome but to allow the doll grow. It is such a wonderful thing to make dolls for children that become their treasured companions.

Do you do any crafting with your kids?

I do craft with the kids when they show an interest. Often whilst I am knitting they will want to work with wool too. Sometimes they are happy to wind some wool beside me or make a pom pom, Evie likes to finger knit. More often than not I give them some spare yarn and they happily wind it around the furniture and themselves creating webs and dens.
Can you give us some tips on how you juggle being a mama and working from home (or finding time to be creative at home)?
-Make the most of small crafting windows of opportunity – e.g. long journey’s in the car
-Be prepared for a project to take a long time as you pick it up and put it down whilst looking after the kids
-Accept that sometimes it’s just not a good day for crafting and wait until the kids are in bed before working on your project.
-Enjoy what you are making.

SAM'S GIVEAWAY...Sam is offering growMama readers a chance to win one of her delicious yellow pocket babies...leave a comment below to be in the draw to win. All entries go into the magic hat and the winner drawn by resident small person. Winner will be announced the week after.

Sam's dolls are available at Forest Folk. Go see...they are so very lovely.

If anyone would like to join Sam to make dolls her group are making them for the Titirangi Steiner school to be sold at the shop and Advent summer fair held in November. If you would like to make a doll for yourself we can also provide doll-making lessons. For more information please contact Sam: phorm(at)email.com.

Update: Giveaway closed!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda Soule. Click HERE to see her moment and be sure to read the comments and links to all her readers moments...it's quite a journey!

bad hair day solution

Most of my crafting is done out of need. About a month ago I had a bad hair day. One rummage through some vintage fabric and a little visit to my sewing machine turned that bad hair day right around. Instead of feeling down and fielding strange looks, I got many comments about my fabulous vintage hairband. While I was at it, I made a bunch for the Growmama stall at Kraftbomb market and they sold like hot cakes. The bad hair day solution has arrived ladies!

I used to live in a hairband like this years ago when I was travelling alot, when I was street performing, whenever I took the five night train across America to a meeting and oh wait, and when I lived on the commune too. Either I have more bad hair days than most or I am lazy. Either way, I am happy to have updated the headband with a more vintage feel and am wearing one of mine 2 days out of three.

To make it easy for those of you who contacted me after the last markets, GrowMama headbands are to be found in-store at Lets Go Retro in West Auckland, they'll be on my stalls at the Titirangi Mums Craft market in a few weeks time and Kraftbomb from August onwards. Oh, and I am listing a few on Trademe. Etsy listings to come. If anyone wants the pattern, email me. Happy to share the love. Or wait for the tutorial, it's coming.

I love that these make use of those special vintage fabric lengths that aren't quite big enough to make a piece of clothing out of.

This is my favourite. Vintage raw silk with animal print. I scored 12 metres of this stunning material at an estate sale for an absurd (if you know me, you think lower on the scale here, not higher!) price. This woman had the most beautiful collection of fabrics, alot of it belonged in a museum. I think of her and her love for vintage textiles whenever i see this fabric. I am still dreaming of what to make myself out of it...twelve metres is alot to play with.

A big welcome to all the folks new to GrowMama - i just about fell off my chair when i saw how many of you are dropping by these days!

LAST CHANCE ...to enter Melissa from Tiny Happy's giveaway, it closes midnight on Friday.

Click HERE to be directed to her Creative Mama Series post, leave a comment to be in the running to win.

kate greenaway

Many of our favourite books have won the Kate Greenaway medal for excellence. I have wondered on occasion who she was and why there was a medal in her name but never got any further in my investigations. Last Saturday on a rare childfree potter in a thrift shop I found The Kate Greenaway Treasury: a collection of all her illustrations, published works, letters and writings. Wow. And for one dollar. WOW.

Kate was born in 1846 and to look through the collection of her work is to garner a rare glimpse of how life was back in those days. She wrote songs, published a book on toys and games of that era, a colouring in book, a book on the language of flowers, poetry and verse. Some border on the absurd, some just pure delight to look at even today, these hundreds of years later.



She also had a special friendship with John Ruskin, a famous art critic turned commentator on the social and political life of the day. He was said to have anticipated environmentalism and sustainability in his musings. To be independantly solvent in the 1880's and with such friends, Kate must have been one interesting lady.

I'll leave you with a quote from one of Kate Greenaway's letters- she was asked to give advice to those wanting to learn skills to work in the arts:


"One never uses the rules, one only feels them - and defies if one likes...
But we should first know and love them"

The Creative Mama Series - Melissa

I am honoured to be hosting a score of super talented crafty mamas sharing their wisdom, crafting and snapshots of their beautiful lives. This is ‘The Creative Mama series’. Join me every weekend for a wander in these ladies crafty shoes. Guest posts, stunning photography, inspiration, interviews, poetry and giveaways...all coming up. Magic aside it can be hard work this mama business, put your feet up a minute and join us. Hopefully there is always something here to give your day a lift.

Tell us about you...

I'm Melissa, I turned 30 recently, I have two kids- Arlo who just turned 8 and Keira who is 6, and a partner named Tom who works as a teacher.
We live in Nelson, in a house on a hill with a big lemon tree outside the front window. We love it here and have friends in the neighbouring houses. We have our parents and grandparents, siblings and nieces and nephews here in Nelson, and being near our family is really important to us. My major loves in life include aforementioned family, friends, beach and bush, watching films, baking and eating chocolate. I love music- listening to and collecting albums, and playing the cello and piano. And making things, of course! I love to knit, sew, and design things and am lucky enough to work on that full-time, now that the children are both in school. I've also joined a volunteer group which helps new refugees and other migrants settle in our city, through making crafts together. I'm excited about that.

What’s your creative outlet? Why do you craft?
I've always loved being creative- my parents gave me a sewing machine for my 13th birthday, so working with textiles is very familiar to me. I like to make objects from discarded things- textile recycling, i guess. But I'm also drawn to fabric stores and bolts of beautiful new linen, printed cottons, etc. Liberty of London prints my favourite fabrics. Why do I craft? I suppose it's just a really enjoyable process for me, turning something old into something new and (hopefully) useful, but I also love to make useful things for others, use my hands and be practical. One day I'd love to learn other practical skills, too, like making things from wood and fixing things around the house.

Your creative space – what does it look like?
I'm lucky enough to have the spare bedroom as my 'workroom'. I'm afraid to say it looks like a small child has been let loose in there to play with things and make a jumbly mess. But actually, I made the mess. I try and tidy it up every few months or so, but the truth is, I know where everything is, and I find it a bore to keep it organised.

How did you learn your craft?
My Mum taught me how to sew and knit as a child. She had unending patience, and just let me have free reign with her stash of yarn and fabric. She also let me experiment in the kitchen completely freely. I was lucky.

Do you do any crafting with your kids?
My kids are really into making things too, and I try and think of projects that we can together. We've made puppets, blank books, beaded necklaces and also worked on basic tapestry/embroidery kits. I'm afraid that the latter requires more patience than I often have, but I am working on channelling my own mother in such moments! The thing that works best, really, is just sitting around a table drawing/painting together. Or all working on our own projects at the same table (Arlo will most likely be building lego castles, K writing detailed diary entries about what she ate for breakfast, and Tom reading his latest library find.)

Can you give us some tips on how you juggle being a mama and working from home?
It's always a struggle and juggle- there are so many other things to do, of course. I just try and fit my work in whenever I can, while still 'being there' to participate in school trips, do the housework (blah), taxi children around to various activities, help out other family members, etc. It's not so easy, but I think all working parents do the same thing.

Digital Riroriro print.

Drawstring bag made with 'Vita' fabric Melissa designed.

Handpainted hellebore card set.

MELISSA'S GIVEAWAY...leave a comment below for the chance to win all three of the beautiful tiny happy creations pictured above. Yes, all three...you lucky lucky people! The giveaway is open until the end of the week and all comments go into the magic hat. The winner is drawn by the smallest member of the household. Good luck!

Update: giveaway closed! Winner drawn Friday night and announced next week. Thanks for entering everyone.

You can find Melissa on her blog: tinyhappy.typepad.com.

The tinyhappy etsy shop is HERE. Enjoy!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda Soule. Click HERE to see her moment and be sure to read the comments and links to all her readers moments...it's quite a journey!

making me happy

- these flowers on my table.

- stumbling across a small paleontologist's digs through out the house

- raw carrots


- new pieces of vintage fabric...this one reminds me of a summer garden.

- scintillating conversation at the lunch table: 'Mama, what does 'catastrophe' mean?'...silence...then, 'Mama, how did you learn all these big adult words?'

- On Jed's request we made playdough together. Coloured naturally. The blue tea set was mine when i was girl, loving those colours together. Noticing my attraction to bright summery colours at the moment...the opposite from whats happening outside my window.


It was a blustery wet winter's day, tucked up snug in my tiny house with my wee man. We read, we sang, we talked, we read, we stared into the fire,we baked. We did our own thing, we came back together. Mama did a bunch of work, while small one dissembled my stash of bias bindings, trims and elastics into a 'market'. Isn't it astounding what huge projects can materialise behind you in the minutes you weren't paying attention?

On the outset it didn't look like it had much going for it (awful weather, mama with alot of work to do and very tired small person) but it was perfect.

AND HEY! Last chance to enter Georgia Leigh's giveaway...go on over to her Creative Mama post and leave a comment to be in to win THREE of her fantastic patterns. Go, go!

re-usable snack bags

Making re-usable snack bags has been on my list for oh, awhile now. (It's a long list that one)

I want to lessen the packaging we throw away. To pack food for lunches and snacks i mostly i use stainless steel tiffin tins i bought in Fiji a few years back. But, to seperate the food within the tins, I would wrap in paper.

The little guy was very sick recently and confined to home for a week to save others from contamination, i went a little stir crazy. Might have had something to do with tending a sore sick little fellow, or the lack of sleep - but neither stopped me from tinkering away at creating new patterns for some re-usable snack bags. These are for dry foods like crackers, dried fruit and nuts, biscuits and suchlike. What you see here are the prototypes. I always test run new patterns before sewing them up to sell.

In case any of you crafty seamstress types wanted to have a go...this is my favourite. It has a circular base so it stands up. (Just link back to this post if you have a go okay?) The other ones fall down which drives the little people crazy as it turns out. Test run...see?! I also added these nylon tabs so little fingers can easily open the snack bags themselves.

You can re-use them several times before throwing them in with the rest of the washing. I wash them inside out. They are made with vintage fabric on the outside, are lined with nylon so can be wiped out to refresh between uses, and close with velcro. So far, so good...we are enjoying using them and they feel so nice in the hand. I haven't seen any snack bags like them on the craft circuit and i am looking forward to listing some in my online venues and getting feedback from markets.

One thing though, one of our wee friends is anaphylactically allergic to nuts so i have taken care to keep a snack bag allergen free for the times we hang out...just in case.

The Creative Mama Series - Georgia Leigh

I am honoured to be hosting a score of super talented crafty mamas sharing their wisdom, crafting and snapshots of their beautiful lives. This is ‘The Creative Mama series’. Join me every weekend for a wander in these ladies crafty shoes. Guest posts, stunning photography, inspiration, interviews, poetry and giveaways...all coming up. Magic aside it can be hard work this mama business, put your feet up a minute and join us. Hopefully there is always something here to give your day a lift.

{Creative Mama buttons to share can be found via the side bar. Spread the word, it’s going to be good.} My name is Georgia Leigh and I'm a fabric-aholic!

My husband and I, plus our six kids (I know!), live in a place lovingly referred to as Happy Valley. It is a beautiful mountain valley in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. I homeschool our oldest kids (9, 7, and 5) and mostly hope that the rest (4, 2, and 4 months) don't find the corn syrup and marshmallows while we're busy with that. I hate cleaning, cooking, and laundry but I love spending time with my kids and soaking up their individualism. In my "free" time (hardy har har) I play the violin in our local symphony and love a good book.

What’s your creative outlet? Why do you craft? When do you make time to craft?
Sewing has become much more than a craft for me. I learned how when I was little - maybe 8 or 9 - but didn't really sew regularly until I was married. I had this intense NEED to create something. To make something useful and beautiful with my hands. Now it is more of a skilled trade, I think. Sewing is very complex - I think it exercises your brain in a different way and there aren't any substitutes for it. I feel like music is the same way for me. I feel very lopsided when I'm not participating regularly in the symphony, like I'm not completely whole. At the same time, sewing has also become work. Because our Etsy shop is so successful it is an important part of our income, so it is more work than play sometimes. Your creative space – what does it look like?
My creative space is a humongous disaster area. Think FEMA. In fact, the biggest investment of time for a new pattern or video tutorial is getting my space clean enough to take pictures in. I am lucky enough to have an entire corner of a centralized room in our house, though. I enjoy being in the middle of things while I'm working.
How did you learn your craft? (Did your mama/grandma craft? Self taught?)
I was lucky because my mom taught me! Her mom taught her and so on and so on. I think this type of chain became very rare in the 80s - 90s but is going to come back again with our children. Do you do any crafting with your kids? Are they into it? Can you suggest a project that your small ones have enjoyed?
As much as I'd like to, I just don't get to all the great things I dream up for my kids. But I can say that they have access to all kinds of art, sewing, knitting, and paper-crafting supplies. Our dining room table often looks like some sort of warm fuzzy crafting bomb went off on it. I have one daughter who loves to sew and make all kinds of random items that have no use whatsoever. I have a son who has been taking knitting/crochet lessons from a retired elementary school teacher in our neighborhood. My four-year-old daughter cannot physically fall asleep until she has colored something EVERY night. She's been known to fall asleep with a marker in her hand, leaving a big splotch of color on various surfaces.
Can you give us some tips on how you juggle being a mama and working from home?
I'm not sure I can offer any tips because I don't juggle very well. Because we homeschool and I run a business from home, I just don't have enough hours in the day to do everything. A LOT of things go by the wayside and I just have to deal with it and not beat myself up over it. I try to get the important things done every day and hope that the less important things will fall into place.
GEORGIA'S GIVEAWAY...your choice of three Georgia Leigh patterns from her shop! So much to choose from for the lucky winner! (The car visor CD holder sewing pattern is nothing less than genius...i tell you from experience.) Just leave a comment on this post to be in the running to win. All comments go into the magic hat to be drawn at the end of the week by the smallest member of the household.

You can find Georgia on her blog, Georgia Leigh Designs, HERE.

Her patterns can be bought at her shop HERE.


AND, and and...Georgia has a nifty series of learn to sew videos on you tube...view them HERE.

Giveaway now closed folks...but check out the other Creative Mama Series posts and giveaways ...every weekend there are more lovely crafty mama's interviewed!

titirangi mum's craft market

I got about three hours sleep last friday night. Little fellow had a high fever. I woke up ten minutes before i needed to leave for the Titirangi Mum's Craft market. I looked like something the car dragged in, Jed was in good form. Hmm.
Lack of sleep and forgetting half my stall set-up aside, it was a lovely market. This was only their second market day...i was impressed. They have a bouncy castle and face painting for the smalls, and the quality of crafting was superb.



Second Saturday of each month. If you live in the 'hood check it out.

I saw some wonderful friends i don't usually cross paths with, met some new ones and you know, it is always lovely to be in the company of women. Especially crafty kindred.

I was perversely happy to hear there was a coffee cart outside too. Three hours sleep = several drinks of coffee required. It's an age old equation.







The winner of Heleen from Ruby in the Dust's giveaway is: Annie from Annie B Handmade.

Heleen will be in touch one day very soon...congratulations Annie.




Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a Creative Mama Series interview with an awesome lady from the USA...and the generous giveaway she has up for offer. See you then!


PS: Hang in there NZ'ers...the sun is shining here for the first time in ten days...headed your way soon. Now, to scrape the storm detritus and sand off my car...

papermaking

After five days of the small one having a nasty virus, we are out the other side and crafting together again. Phew. To say the least.

We made Jed's birthday invitations this morning. His favourite colour is green at the moment and we used paper he made himself for the front of the card. I was racking my tired brain for what to put on the front of the cards and Mr almost four said 'Mama, it's my birthday, you should just ask me...i want rainbows!'
Quite.

We have had a papermaking kit on the crafting shelf for years now. I was waiting for the right time and last week was it. We ransacked the paper recycling bin and had a fine time ripping up different pieces of paper into stamp sized bits.

Added water and stirred. Jed was fascinate with the whole process, he stirred and stirred and got his hands in there and played in it for hours each day. Cheap entertainment i tell you!

Take your paper pulp and add more water and whizz. We used the manual swiss whip but then graduated to the food processor for a thinner, less lumpy pulp. You can see the paper making deckle (wooden frames that fit together with mesh screening on one) in the background in this picture.

We added glitter to our mix. You can add colours, flowers and make different weights of paper.
You pour your paper pulp into the deckle frame and put the other screened part of the deckle on top, squeeze/tip excess water out then turn it out on your drying boards:

The sponge soaks up the rest of the excess water and voila! Pop it in the sun or hot water cupboard to dry and you have handmade paper!

HERE is a link to a old Sesame Street playlist...all about crafts...one of them is about kids learning to make paper from old fabric.

Don't forget to check out Heleen's Creative Mama interview in this last post and leave a comment for her giveaway...it closes Friday...hurry hurry!

The Creative Mama Series - Heleen

I am honoured to be hosting a score of super talented crafty mamas sharing their wisdom, crafting and snapshots of their beautiful lives. This is ‘The Creative Mama series’.
Join us every weekend for a wander in these ladies crafty shoes. Guest posts, stunning photography, inspiration, interviews, poetry and giveaways...all coming up. Magic aside, it can be hard work this mama business, put your feet up a minute and join us. Hopefully there is something here to give your day a lift.
{Creative Mama buttons to share can be found via the side bar. Spread the word, it’s going to be good.}

My name is Heleen Webb and I live on the North Shore with my husband Craig, an arborist, our two boys Daniel, 6 and Joshua, 4 and our crazy cat Siwa. I am a full-time mum and part-time crafter/designer who work and blog under the name Ruby in the Dust.

What’s your creative outlet? Why do you craft? When do you make time to craft? I have always been a creative person but neglected it for a few years while I studied and worked in adult teaching. When Daniel was born, I had more time to start sewing again and I rediscovered how much I love it. My crafting time has fluctuated over the last 6 years most recently, with school hours.
Since I’ve started selling my work, I am very disciplined about my work time. When I’m home alone, I spend the time in my craft room making or designing rather than doing house work or reading on the couch. I also go to bed far too late, because I get my best thinking time at night.
I am a very visual person: I love colour, pattern and texture and I think that’s why I adore fabric so much. I adore being able to combine different combinations of those elements and to create something beautiful and useful as a result. I mostly sew bags and pouches, but also dabble in quilting, knitting and hope to learn to crochet one day.


Your creative space – what does it look like?
My workspace is a sunny room where I can make a mess and then close the door. I am very lucky to have enough space for my fabric collection and all my other stashes: knitting wool and yarns, bags of cotton reels, vintage kid’s books, buttons, my cloth dolls, the list gets longer by the day. I have a desk for my sewing machine and a table for all the other jobs like cutting and over-locking. The room used to be the nursery when the boys were little, and has very special memories for me.

How did you learn your craft?
My mum taught me to sew and gave me my sewing machine when I turned 21. She has always been interested in sewing and crafts and gave me and my sisters the crafting bug when we were young. My dad has also been a big inspiration to me. He is a farmer and very clever with his hands, and taught me to see the value and potential in things that may look worthless to others. Most of the craft I do today has been learnt through library books and blog tutorials though. My nana knits, but I only really learnt to knit last year with the help of YouTube! I appreciate how much you can learn from other crafters in the blogging community; it’s such a great place to pass on traditional skills in a modern way.

Do you do any crafting with your kids? Are they into it? Can you suggest a project that your small ones have enjoyed?
Our boys really enjoy making things, which makes me very happy. Recently they’ve been doing some embroidery by drawing a simple picture on fabric, stretching it over a hoop and then ‘drawing’ it with thread using simple running stitches. I was really amazed at their concentration span; they both sat there for over an hour one night, and when Daniel got up the next morning, he wanted to do some more before school!

Can you give us some tips on how you juggle being a mama and working from home (or finding time to be creative at home)?
As I said before, I put my crafting ahead of my role of ‘housewife’... I dislike that word so much, and I’m certainly not one. If you see my house you’d know what I mean. When I’m really busy, something’s got to give, and it’s always the housework. I’d much rather be known for my creative work than my spotless floors. Being a mum comes first though, so when the boys are at home after school, I close the craft room door and do normal mum-stuff. The boys like helping me in the kitchen and we sometimes do craft together, which is precious time because I’m sure in a few years’ time they won’t think those are cool things to do with their old mum! Craig is also very encouraging, and gives me plenty of time to work on the weekends when I have deadlines and markets to get ready for. I am so glad that he appreciates how important my work is to me. I honestly could not have done as much as I have so far without his support.

HELEEN'S GIVEAWAY...a Ruby in the Dust children's play crown. Colours to be chosen by the lucky winner. Perfect for the play box or for a special birthday child. Be sure to leave a comment to be in to win! All comments go into the magic hat and the winner to be chosen by the smallest member of the household at the end of the week.

You can see more of Heleen's world on her blog, Ruby in the Dust HERE and find her work for sale HERE. I love the fabric she designs...check it out!

The Creative Mama Series

Next up! The Creative Mama series. Coming to a screen near you. A little while ago I checked the Growmama blog stats...something i hadn't done, and was thrilled to realise my readership has rocketed in numbers. I mean really folks, there are alot of you!

So, to celebrate, I am excited to host an amazing line-up of talented crafty women from New Zealand and beyond, in guest posts, giveaways and interviews in 'The Creative Mama series'. These are all women who inspire me, whose life seems vibrant and whose work is forging the way creatively, sustainably and passionately. It's going to be a wild ride.

Saturday, we begin!

modelling and matariki

I had a few deadlines crashing down around my ears these last weeks. This has involved small people doing alot of, well child-led limited resourced projects, which luckily, Jed excels at. However, it is always good to have a plan in place: The latest work the small one does sitting next to me at my craft/work table is modelling. We came home from our local Steiner schools Matariki Day with some beeswax modelling clay. Such vibrant colours and am enjoying the ritual of warming it in your hands before beginning to shape the wax. And the smell....sigh. Forest Folk stock it.

And before anyone emails me about where to find that fantastic hippo placemat...it was mine when i was a kid. There's an elephant lurking around somewhere. What can i say? My mother the packrat!

We enjoyed making the Steiner school grounds our own...exploring the pond, the fields, gazing out on the bush that surrounds the school, and playing in the many little huts and houses that dot the land. Such a magical place that school.