Teatime in Spring Sneak Peek

Hello!

I've been a busy little bee lately. I have finally jumped on the Instagram bandwagon and find it a little too easy to just post a photo to IG instead of taking the time to write a blog post! I must endeavour to find a balance in this as in all things.

Anyhow. I just wanted to share a little sneak peek of something I've been working on recently. Inspired by the beautiful spring weather we are having here in Brisbane, I am working on a little spring brooch collection. I know, I know, I'm supposed to work a season or two ahead, but I'm not that organised (yet). This is a bit of an expansion of some ideas I have had previously, including some products I have made. I am making a small run of these items in some limited colours. Mint, pastel pink and purple, bright pink and taupe are featuring in my colour scheme for this range. 

As I sit here typing this, I glanced down and noticed for the first time that the colour scheme of the little car my learning-to-walk baby pushes around is very similar to this! Maybe it subconsciously inspired me. This gorgeous floral fabric that is background in this photo was also part of the inspiration. 

So think afternoon tea in spring - cupcakes, donuts, cups of tea and macarons feature in my spring teatime collection. It's hard to work on these as they make me hungry every time!

What is your favourite afternoon tea treat?

Audrey in "How To Steal A Million"

Love this movie! Love Audrey! Love the quirky plot! Love the outfits! That is all.

(All photos in this post are freeze frames from the movie 1966 movie "How To Steal A Million", directed by William Wyler, starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole)

Photography Props

I finally found time to have a little play with creating some props for my photography of my felt dress brooches. I have never loved the basic photos on white backgrounds that I have on my Etsy shop - they do serve a purpose and are great for getting my items in treasuries, which is great for exposure. BUT they don't do a great deal to tell a story about my items. 

I have had the idea for a while, just no time to execute it. Well yesterday I found the time! While by no means perfect, I am quite happy with the initial result. (I say initial result - but that is after lots of sketches of girls that got dumped because they didn't have the right retro quality...)

What do you think? Do you think the girl and the wardrobe drawings are a distraction or add to the story?

I intend to work them together as well - as in, girl standing by her wardrobe, maybe as a sort of paper doll...which made me think of making an actual cardboard wardrobe and cardboard stand-up doll...but maybe that is too much. I get so excited by my ideas, which sometimes don't work out quite how I saw them in my head. Do you ever have this problem?

Let's Go Shopping

Today I am joining in with the BrisStyle "Let's Go Shopping" game. I am going to share with you a few Etsy finds from Brisbane creatives, with the theme 'inspired by nature'. So here goes...

Firstly, 3GIRLSandaGOAT set of 10 gift tags with a silver leaf print on chalkboard grey:

Next, Little Deer Creations has a gorgeous writing set made from handmade eco-friendly paper.

Finally, TreeTomato has these beautifully hand screen printed cushions with a botanical theme.

 Happy shopping!

Decisions, Decisions...

 WARNING: This post is full of lots of words and not many pictures and you are not obliged to read it. It was an important post for me to write and get it off my chest but I don't actually expect you to stick it through to the end. But you can if you want.

Takabisha Roller coaster - Composite Image by Alex Brogan via Wikipedia

 
Oh my. It feels like our household is on a roller coaster ride lately. If you are wondering why I haven't posted so regularly in recent times, it is because...well...I'm struggling to stay on top of things lately. Come on, if I'm going to be real here I must confess I have always struggled to stay on top of housework. And all the more so since having my bubba boy back in November. He will be ten months old on Thursday, and unfortunately for him, those ten months have been some of the hardest of my life. Not his fault by any means, just that we have had a whole lot of ups and downs in his short life.

In our little pocket of the world a rather strange phenomenon is occurring right now - a huge number (what's the latest they are reporting - 15,000 to 20,000?) of people who work in state government departments are going to be losing their jobs in the next month or two. Obviously, this is affecting so many individuals and families in a huge way. And while I neither my husband or I work for the government, we are affected also - because my hubby lost his job in the private sector about a month ago. This makes looking for work rather tricky at present, as so many others are madly competing for the very few jobs in his field that are being advertised. He has been looking far beyond the field he spent so many years training and studying in, and even there, there are just not many jobs about at the moment. 

So the logical decision is that I go back to my "real job" while he is with the kids, right? Hmmm. This is what I have been praying about and agonising over for weeks, months. It seems to be a fairly straight-forward decision. Not enough money coming in, I can earn a decent amount in less than full-time hours, so I go back to it. Unfortunately, there are so many more factors involved. For example, the rather difficult labour and birth process I went through with my bubba boy took its toll both physically and emotionally. In ways that are not socially appropriate to talk about, except in birth trauma support groups and psychologists' rooms. I've been doing my best to let the healing process take place, but as a psychologist, I know how important it is that I don't return to work before I am emotionally ready.

I feel rather embarrassed typing this, as I have the nasty little "Shoulds" whispering in my ear - "You SHOULD be over that by now", "You SHOULD do the right thing and earn money to support your family", "You SHOULD just push through it and get on with the job". Well, you know what? I've been in survival mode for so long now that even though I feel like I am just beginning to get on top of that emotional stuff, I don't think it would be fair on my kids and my hubby if I go back to work just now. Poor little Theo has only really known me in survival mode. And I can almost guarantee that if I go back now, survival mode will continue...

One of the most important things I learned from my parents while I was growing up was that what seems to be the most financially sensible thing to do is not always the right thing for the family unit. Of course, it's a very personal decision, but I know they never regretted my Mum being at home with us kids even though it meant going without a lot of physical things and living within a very tight budget. And I didn't regret it as a kid either. It was what was right for our family, and that is a part of who I am. I am in no way suggesting that Mums who work outside the home are doing the wrong thing for their family - it's about being true to yourself and your own family's values, and for many people, that does involve working outside the home. But I've finally realised that for me and my family, for right now, the right thing is for me to be at home.

That doesn't mean I won't be working though. In fact, I feel like I have been released to do more with Candykins Crafts, and move it from being a hobby to being a legitimate small business. And that, my friends, is exciting!

Nursery Decor

I had the pleasure of attending a baby shower yesterday for a dear friend and cousin. It got me thinking about how many friends and family members have had babies in the last twelve months. I stopped counting at TEN. 

I just adore babies! There is something so special about preparing for the birth of a new little person.

One of the first questions people tend to ask a pregnant woman is: "Do you know if it is a boy or a girl, or are you going to have a surprise?" I have had two surprises, mainly because my darling hubby really wanted it that way. Part of me was itching to know in order to prepare. We stuck to a green jungle theme for the nursery.

 A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a new customer who is pregnant with a baby girl. She asked me to embroider a drawing her five year old son did of his new sister, to hang on the nursery wall. She is decorating in pastel tones, with a collection of different sized embroidery hoop art pieces on one wall.

As you can see from the above drawing, her son chose bright, bold colours. However, we adjusted the embroidery colours to match the pastel colour scheme of the room.

After receiving the embroidery, the customer emailed me, telling me of her son's delight in seeing his drawing in stitched form, and commissioned me to do another embroidery for the nursery. What an honour! This time, I shall be stitching the Napoleon quote: Let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains. 

I can't wait to see the finished nursery wall!

 

My First BrisStyle indie Twilight Markets

Well, hello, friends! How fare thee, one and all?

Yes, I know it has been a while. I can't keep using the excuse that life has been crazy busy (even if it's true). 

I had the privilege of attending the BrisStyle indie Twilight Markets last night, for the first time as a stall holder. It was rad. I had a great time meeting people in person that I had only "met" online previously, seeing lots of new faces, chatting with heaps of lovely supporters of handmade AND seeing some lovely friends, including one I have not seen in a couple years (hi, Amy!). Maybe even some of you reading this post have come across this blog via my business card that you picked up last night. Welcome!

It's such a great atmosphere at these markets, I shall be going back, methinks!

Bloggiversary Giveaway!

Good morning, friends! Today is a special day. It's my nephew's birthday, AND it is the first anniversary of me starting this blog. HUZZAH!

To celebrate, I am offering one lucky reader $25 store credit to spend in my Etsy shop, as well as free shipping to anywhere in the world. 

(The giveaway excludes custom orders and made-to-order items.)

All you have to do to enter is COMMENT on this blog post below, telling me what you would buy if you won. Please make sure you include some way for me to contact you in the post, such as your email address. If you are having difficulties, email me at candykins.crafts@gmail.com for help.

Feel free to share info about the giveaway with your friends and family, new readers are most welcome :)

Giveaway is open for ONE WEEK, entries close on Sunday 19th August, at 12 noon Australian Eastern Standard time, and I will draw a winner that afternoon, with instructions on how to claim your prize.

UPDATE: Entries have closed, and the winner (chosen at random) is...SHERRY S. Congratulations, Sherry! I have emailed you with the details on how to claim your prize. Thank you to everyone who entered. 

Kids' Art Portfolios

I can be rather last-minute at times. Like this past Saturday, when guests were arriving for a family celebration and I was sitting at my sewing table, finishing off a present for one of my guests, while the apron I showed you in the last post was hanging on my dress form, waiting to be wrapped up for another of my guests. Oh dear. *Blushes with shame*

So I had the idea to make my niece who did these drawings an art portfolio. She loves drawing, and I figured it would be a great idea to have a little portable folio for her to take on car trips, or out to appointments, etc. I had the idea back before Christmas, and went so far as finding some tutorials on Pinterest, but just did not get to it. I remembered about it on Wednesday last week, while preparing for my daughter's birthday party. My niece's birthday is also in August, along with her mother's and brother's. *CRAZY MONTH*.

I used this tutorial from Jengerbread Creations blog, just adding a fold over flap with snap clip to hold it all together. For my niece's, I also appliqued a piece of linen on the front cover, on which I had embroidered one of her earliest drawings of a person. 

Due to my hurried, antisocial, last-minute rush to finish my niece's portfolio, I did not get any photos of it. Oops. I did, however, get (some rather poor) photos of the next one that I made for a little friend of my daughter's, who had her birthday party the next day!

I highly recommend the great tutorial from Jengerbread Creations.

*Confession time* My daughter's birthday came and went, and I still didn't get on and finish her Quiet Book cover, even after writing this post. Aaaaah!! Really, really must complete that this week!

Birthdays, Birthdays, and More Birthdays

Hi. Busy, busy, busy with birthdays and parties here, so I can't stay and chat. I just wanted to pop in and show you the latest apron I made (as a present for my dear sister). Don't you just adore this fabric? It is too lovely. Kind of regretting only buying one metre of it. But kind of not, because my fabric stash is already at bursting point. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I hope to pop in again soon...but have another birthday party to get through before I have time for this. Cheerio.