A day in the park

A day in the park 03/30/2011 

I don't normally share too much of my own dreamlets (unless they are modeling a new Mollydag creation!) but I had to share this album. My great friend Candy from Candy Goldsmith Art and Photography & spent the morning in Hyde Park & look at the gorgeous shots she caught of my two dreamlets & her little girl Bonnie.

I have to say, those photographers earn their keep! It's hard work getting kids to be where the light is good, stand still enough to be captured and yet remain natural & candid. Between tantrums (mostly Miss T....well and a little bit of mummy tantrum too...), taking shoes off, toilet runs, falls, bonked foreheads, putting shoes back on, broken pom pom wands & an impromptu stop for morning tea you have to snap where and when you can. Candy did a fabulous job and I'm so pleased. I know she has a tonne of other photos to share that she just hasn't had time to edit yet.

Candy you are the BOMB!!! Thank you, thank you XXXX

Easter Feature

Just as I'm organising myself to get a wriggle on and do a little advertising before Easter, look what I found!

Look at all the fabulous Easter goodies the fabulous Bub & Moo featured today on her blog. There are clothes for boys, clothes for girls and a selection of Easter toys. And look.....my wee felted rattle eggs were highlighted. What a treat for me!

Thank You Bub & Moo. I love your blog, because lets face it...Everyone loves to shop!

Cup O Tea?

My friend Candy took these photos of Miss T when we went over for a playdate. Aren't they gorgeous! I love the black & white shot. Miss T is at that wonderful age where tea parties are right up her alley. Mum bought her a tea set for her birthday and she can easily spend half and hour in the bath filling, pouring, stirring and offering cups of tea & coffee with a stern 'SIT' while pointing to the stool to anyone unfortunate enough to walk past the bathroom.

PS. If you have time, check out her new website. We were up half the night putting the finishing touches to it. It looks pretty stylin' if I do say so myself! I wish I could put her in my pocket to do all our family pics!

An apple a day

These are some of the photos the fabulous Candy took today in her studio. We threw Miss T onto a table top so she couldn't escape and gave her a green apple to chew on, and chew on it she did! We barely got a photo of her face.

A sense of relief

I've decided to change my focus for my blog.

I've struggled to write in this space because I'm so intimated by the overwhelming number of fabulous blogs out there which I love, love, love to follow. I'm not witty and urbane, I don't take fabulous photographs, I don't really even tell a story very well. Although I'm an accomplished a gal who has had a blog for nearly 5 years now (in various forms), written science papers, a PhD thesis, presented to hundreds of peers - I hate writing. It isn't really enjoyable for me. I'm too threatened by the thought of people actually reading what I put down on paper.

I am always thinking of fabulous ideas to blog but when it comes down to putting pen to paper I feel like this:

Deer in the headlights!

It doesn't really make sense to even blog does it?? I wouldn't stress my self out by blogging except that I love sharing what I've made, what I'm up to & where I've found inspiration from other people in blog-land. I still want to have a conversation without the pressure of having to live up to others - be the blog to follow - build a readership - show the beautiful life - put up fab tutorials - you get the idea. I want to be here, but how.....

Then it struck me yesterday. It finally dawned on me who I'm writing this for. I want this space to be able to talk to my sister. My fabulous sister has lived in Canada for 10+ years and some days, like today, I miss her terribly. Together we began the Craftymammas blog over 4 years ago when my Wee Man was born as a way of sharing photos of what we've been up to & links to other fabulousness we had found. Back then, she was the sewer, I could barely sew a straight line! Now, I'm much more accomplished, though still have a long ways to go & learning new things every time a tackle a new project. We never expected others to read or follow the blog so it was a pleasant surprise when they did.

Recently we stopped posting to Craftymammas as Jacq now has her own business Sew Simple Designs, and me Mollydag Made so it made sense to have our own spaces. But in doing this, I lost my purpose for why I blog, and the confidence to do it.

So because I can't sit at our local and chat over a cup of coffee, I'll do it here. Consider this my first Chat With Jacq. Who knows what I'll want to blab to you about the next time we'll meet, but at least now I now feel under no pressure to be anything that I'm not.

I've gone back and read over what I've written and cracked myself up. Lordy if anyone that isn't family is still reading this post, kudos to you! I told you I'm not witty and can tell a funny story :)

So, by all means follow along on a regular basis or time-to-time, this won't be a private conversation. Grab your cup and join me when you can.... I'm now ready to have a good chat.

Love Amber
XX

I need to put my feet up!

Whew, what a busy week its been. I've been sewing up a storm leaving my poor husband & two dreamlets to live like a single parent family. The washing, cleaning, toys (you get the idea) have all been mounting waiting for me to finish my first Market.

Yup, that's right, I'm no longer a market virgin! I met the most gorgeous thing, Tansy from Matsy Designs, through Facebook and she offered to share her stall with me at the inaugural Treasure Hunt Market, held here in Perth.

I think we both has as much fun setting up the stall as we did preparing the wares to fill it. We went for an Easter theme with fake grass, a picket fence & this fabulous wire tree that we nicknamed the 'truffela tree' because once filled with my Pom Pom clips, it looked like it was from the Dr Zeuss book.

Tansy had some really beautiful pillowcase style dresses with ruffled bloomers & singlets to match. I wish I had more photos of her dresses for you.

I took my hand-felted shaker eggs which are made with WA merino wool, Easter bunny rattle or jingle softies made from felted woolen sweaters (thanks Mum for clearing out your closet of old moth-eaten sweaters), Chiffon Ruffle Bodysuits, Pom pom hairclips & pom pom jingle wands. Whew, you can see why I was busy this week :)

 

The market was only 3 hours long but I did pretty well for my first one. Lets just say that I can't quit my day job just yet but I can pay my 1/2 of the stall fee & am keen enough to do the next one with Tansy again!

Any hints & tips I can get for next time would be most helpful so come-on & share your wisdom....

Cheers

Amber