Let it snow!

The dreamlets play inside a snow globe!

Seeing as we can't get to Canada for Christmas, I bought a little Canadian Winter to the wee ones.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Colourful Caterpillar

Welcome the Colourful Caterpillar, the newest addition to the Mollydag Made family of wooden games for toddlers.

Roll the coloured die & build your colourful caterpillar. 

Who will be the first to complete their wiggly caterpillar?

This game is specially designed for young children’s hands. Through the action of bead threading, your child is developing fine motor skills, a skill which has been found to be key to early literacy. Through play, your child is also talking about colours, pattern recognition & game play. 

Who knew you could learn so much whilst having such a great time!

Game comes with:

4 caterpillar tails & threading cord

20 coloured caterpillar body pieces (stained using non-toxic food-safe wood dye)

4 caterpillar heads

1 coloured die

Instructions

Drawstring bag

I'll be listing them in the store & will have them on display at the Perth Upmarket.

Now, I had better get cracking making more!!

Tickle the Imagination has released their Christmas Magazine today. It is an absolutely beautiful online magazine (free!) full of projects, tutorials and pages and pages of beautiful handmade gifts for Christmas.  

Look who was featured!!!!

You can win yourself a Game-to-go by heading to the Tickle The Imagination Blog . If you live in the Melbourne area, don't forget to enter to win a photo session by Sara Taylor too.

I have to duck away and get the babes ready for school - damn! I'm looking forward to sitting down tonight & having a really good read.

Do yourself a favour and take a peek when you have a spare few minutes & a hot cup of coffee.

Amber

X

Hey! Look who was featured!

What a thrill to be seen in the http://madeit.com.au Gifts Under $20 newsletter.

Thank you to all the new customers who came over to take a look & a special thanks to all who bought something special for a wee one in their lives.

New Instructions

Lovely postcard size printed versions of the Games-to-go instructions were posted from the printers yesterday, so will be arriving on my doorstep soon. If you already are playing the games but would like a new set of instructions, just send me an email & I'll get some mailed out. 

Till then, you can download your copy of the instructions for all my Games-to-go.

I'll be adding some BINGO cards soon so stay in touch here on the blog, or on Facebook for the update.

Bird in the Hand Instructions

Monster Munch Instructions

Memory/Concentration Game Instructions

Bubbles

Posting for no other reason than my dreamlet is just to cute.

Edited to add: Now I have a reason to post this photo. 

While having dinner tonight, we saw Miss T looking at her olive bread and saying, "That's not a penis, it's bread". 

I don't even what to imagine what is whizzing around a 2yr old's brain.

Back in business - well almost

My long awaited parcel arrived today so I set to work catching up on backordered games. 

Even the wee ones couldn't escape being roped into help....

or was that hinder?

Even visitors couldn't escape the production line! Thanks Bec for making the day pass so pleasantly! 

Bugger 'whistling while you work', I'd much prefer chit-chat over coffee. 

I'm just waiting on my printed instructions and I'll be in full production mode. 

so...

Be careful if you get a call from me in the next little while asking for a 'playdate'. You may be getting more than you bargained for!

Little Red Riding Hood

Ohhh it's been a while since I've posted here, so long in fact that blogger has changed it's layout! It's like driving a fancy new car - learning where the indicator & windscreen wipers are, new car smell, shiny & clean......Anyhoo, on to what I'm here to share with you today.

Photo courtesy of Candy Goldsmith Photography

Look at this bonnie Red Riding Hood with her new matching Little Red Riding Hood dolly!

My very good friend Candy was the one who first commissioned me to make her little girl a Red Riding Hood Cape for winter. We sat together (I sewed, she wrangled 5 children) and by dinner time, the cape was made.

Bonnie has just loved the cape, so much so that Candy commissioned a matching doll from Miss Goodie Two Shoes. These wonderful dolls are handmade down on a farm in the SW of Western Australia (you gotta love the talent here in WA!).

Photo courtesy of Candy Goldsmith Photography

The kids & I were over after school having a play at Candy's house when the dolly arrived in the mail. When the satchel was torn open, there was much squealing in delight & leaping around the kitchen (from Candy, that is!). Poor Bonnie didn't even get a look at her new doll until Candy & I had examined every square inch of stunning detail. I have to say, the workmanship in the doll is sublime. She has little ballet shoes, hand crochet flowers in her hair, a removable skirt & cape. 

Whilst there are no custom spots for a Miss Goodie Two Shoes for now, you should head over to the photo album and see the other gorgeous dolls that have come from this wonderful doll maker. While you're hopping around on the interweb, you can visit her fab blog A Country Wife (where does she find the time to farm, raise two gorgeous kids & make dolls! I suppose it's in those wee hours where the rest of us do - ha!).


If you are interested in a custom-made Red Riding Hood Cape, you can see more over at the shop, or shoot me an email.

Thanks Candy for sharing the photos.

Candy Goldsmith Photography does it again!

Sleep well Little Red Riding Hoods - keep one eye open for that wolf though!

Photo courtesy of Candy Goldsmith Photography

My inner geek

This just so appealed to my inner geek.



Found via http://andrearodgers.wordpress.com/

Monster_Munch_Game

What do you think of my newest addition to the Mollydag Made family? Nice overbite don't you agree?


These little fellas crept out from my sewing machine today in readiness for tomorrow's Treasure Hunt Market. The monsters were inspired by a soap saver monster I had seen on pinterest from Everyday Chaos. They are all made up and ready for my Monster Munch Game. This game is fabulous as a first game for toddlers. I've been playing with Miss T (2 and 1/2 years) and she loves it.


The aim of the game is to try and guess what the Monster is munching on by feel alone. If you guess right, you get a point! First one to five points wins the game. Included in the game are five sets wooden shapes, although you could play the game with just about anything around the house. 


I'll be listing them in the store early next week when the markets are over and done with. 


Enjoy your fathers day everyone! The father in our household will have the pleasure of the dreamlets all day as I'll be away at the Market ;) Hmmm I wonder who is getting the better end of that stick??!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...Once I caught a fish alive

How's your weekend been?

Mine's been a hoot! Mr Mollydag took the dreamlets to see the new Thomas the Tank Engine movie on Saturday and left me (and my sewing machine) at home to finish up a bunch of projects that were all on the go at once.

One of my favourites that is finally complete is the Magnetic Fishing Set that I've been working on. I'm so pleased with my little rainbow school of fish I thought I'd play around with some stop-motion animation today to showcase their fishiness. 




Am I not the biggest Mollydag of them all!!! My housewifely duties have been thoroughly ignored this weekend while I indulged myself but I had such a fun time though. The Boy & I even made a short film this afternoon of his Lightning McQueen & Pals racing along the path. 


Stop motion is so easy (time consuming, but easy), you should give it a go. 


Between 'shoots', we drove out to the Midland Farmers Markets. It has been ages since we've made it out there, with one thing or another happening on the weekend and I'm really pleased we did today. It was fabulous to walk amongst the piles of fresh fruit & veges. 


 

The Boy & I played a game while Daddy shopped - Find the Rainbow.We did pretty well with the exeption of blue. Hmmm,no blueberries here in Perth so we had to settle for a stack of blue strawberry boxes (cheating I know). It was a great way to amuse a 4 yr old boy & I'll be playing that game again for sure.

Look at this poppet. She is obsessed with flowers at the moment. It seems she is always carrying some kind of foliage around with her. It is good but on more than one occasion, we've had a mini-meltdown when said posy can't be located as it's fallen on the ground or been forgotten when something else has taken her fancy. Luckily she is most often placated with a new pretty to hold.

Our day was rounded out with a game of Boules with Poppy. The kids just love going up to 'the bush' to his house. There is so much to see and explore.

Well, I hope that you all had as much fun as I did this weekend. I'm now off to put my feet up in front of the idiot box for a scant few minutes before crashing into bed.


Night Night.
XXX

New head band to tame the locks

Last night I had a wonderful evening with my friend Jo, the fabulous creator behind Joallie Petit. We chatted, compared notes, drank coffee, ooohed and ahhed over our respective new goodies in the pipeline and between all that, we both did a wee bit of sewing.

Best of all, I came home with a fist-full of new gorgeous hair accessories for my lioness-like flowing locks (its been over 12 weeks since my last haircut!)


Jo, I'll come sew with you anytime :) I definitely feel like I was the winner of that trade.


Amber
XX

All you need is love.....

I wanted to show you my newest quilt - a custom piece for the most gorgeous girl at daycare. Vica has looked after both The Boy and Miss T from when they first went in the babies room. She is so full of patience & love for all the babes when she became pregnant with her first baby and asked if I could make her a quilt, I jumped at it and said Yes!


Her husband is a big Beatles fan (have you guessed??) so when she presented me with this stack of fat quarters bought from Ebay I couldn't wait to dive in a start cutting. I decided to go with Rectangle Squared quilt pattern from Film in the Fridge. The blocks were big enough to accommodate the large pattern in the fabric, but simple enough that I could do! Ha!

source

It is a fabulous pattern, easy to follow and quick to come together. I love how the white boarder around each block toned down the brightness of the fabrics. Hopefully it doesn't look too garish now & won't give the baby a migraine when lying on it! The backing is a black with small white polka dots. I love the black/white/red combo. The binding really pulled it all together, don't you think?

Excuse the blurry photo of quilt-on-floor. My camera is so S*#t in low-light I took the quilt to my friend Candy to get some good shots in her studio. She managed to get some fabulous shots but then accidentally deleted them from her camera - whoops! I might ask Vica to bring the quilt in next week & I'll take some better photos to show you the quilting & fabrics a little better.


**Edited to add: I just got a message from Vica, she is such a sweetie, look what she wrote-  "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how much both of us love the beautiful quilt you made for our baby. I keep walking bast it, having another look, imagining the baby all snuggled up snuggled up in it. You are very creative and generous and I wanted you to know how much I appreciate it."


The pleasure is all mine Vica - a true labour of love.


Amber 
XXX

Rainbow Felted Eggs

It's been funny weather here - rainy one minute, sunny and hot the next - so making Rainbows was in order!

Aren't they so pretty. I'm a bit addicted to rainbows these days. My eye seems to be drawn to things in that ROYGBIV colourway and the make me happy. Maybe it's because I am subconsciously looking for that elusive pot of gold......?


So, now I can walk into my sewing room without tripping over a mountain of boxes, fabric, stuff, stuff and more stuff, I got to it and made a small clutch of Rainbow Felted Eggs. I haven't made any in ages so it was fun to get wet and soapy again. Seeing these little gems slowly forming in my kitchen sink was good for my creative soul - a much needed activity these days. The dreamlets sure liked it too. Each time one was finished, they'd run about the kitchen giving it a good shake-shake-shake! I can safely say they've all been 'tested' and work a treat, putting a smile on the dial of the youngsters & the big gal of this household.


Here's hoping there's a little sunshine and rainbows in your world today.

The blitz...part 2

The blitz part 1

More felt lovelies

I'm on a roll - another felt flower rolled off the Mollydag Made production line this morning. This rose barrette was made between buttering toast, making Milo & wiping Vegemite off wee faces at breakfast time. 

Thank you Purl Bee for the wonderful tutorial. I'm pretty sure there will be more of these being made soon. I might even have a couple to take to the next Treasure Hunt Market Place - after all, it is a whole 7 days away!!!

Felt Daliah for Sandra

 

 

 

Another daliah whipped up for my good friend Sandra. She is always there to break up my exciting work day with a coffee & a chat out in the shipyard behind Building 19 so when she commented on my Black daliah, I thought I'd make one for her too. 

I really must find some nice 3mm wool felt to try. The acrylic doesn't look to bad but I'd love a heavier, more dense weave felt to work with. 

Then again, maybe I could just make my own felt...?

Look our girls, I see this as a staple birthday gift this year! Put your colour preference in while you can!!!

Pixies in the Park

Our great friend Candy held a Pixies in the Park photoshoot last weekend and our dreamlets were along for the ride. 


She took some fabulous shots of all the babes including these shots of our babes. Photographing 10 children, most of whom were between 2-3 years old was a horrendous challenge and she did a great job wrangling them all.


I hope you don't mind all the gratuitous shots of my dreamlets but hey, if I can't post them on my own blog, where can I show them off!


Amber XX

Into the woods.....Red Riding Hood Cape

 

image source

 image source 

Aren't these photos of wee Bonny just beautiful. My wonderful friend and photographer Candy approached me a few weeks ago and asked if I could make her wee girl a Little Red Riding Hood Cape. Of course I leaped at the chance! She and I played around one weekend (with all 5 kids screaming around in and out of the house) with a pattern & by dinnertime the Little Red Riding Hood Cape was born. 

Once Candy posted these photos to her Facebook page, I was thrilled to get two custom orders for similar capes. One has made it's way to a young lady named Millie, the other to a wee babe who is still to small to wear it but I know little Ruby will get a lot wear from it in the years to come.

So here they are, my Little Red Riding Hood Capes.

 

 

 

The capes were made from the most luxurious wool/flannel blend (80/20) and lined with a stunning sunny yellow cotton print. Inside you'll find two pleated pockets to keep all your girly treasures. I did see something (or someone) lurking deep in the bottom of one pocket. Millie & Ruby, I'd watch out putting my hand down in there if I were you!

If you love these as much as I do, I have a special treat! I have one extra cape (shown below) which is ready to ship. This cape would best suit a little girl with a big imagination (age 2-5). Visit the store or drop me an email if you are interested.