On a Christmas tree somewhere...

...there is a little birdie made with love.

And on 129 other Christmas trees there are 129 more little birdies made with love too [the love nearly ran out though after that many!]

I designed these as a little gift to give out at our annual church Gingerbread Nights. I did have a couple of lovely ladies to help me with the assembly but turned out to be a bigger job than I first thought. [isn't that always the way?]
So I was busy sticking on wings, tails and eyes a day before we were off on holiday!
Busy times but so rewarding!

Birthday Girl!

Our little darling Imogen had her third birthday a few weeks ago - my goodness that's gone quick! All of a sudden she's gotten all big and grown up!

I wanted to make her something special to play with, so Alannah and I decided on a princess and the pea playset - idea totally stolen from SouleMama. (we also gave her the princess and the pea book by Lauren Child - of Charlie and Lola fame)

Lannah was my helper - choosing fabrics, deciding which ones looked good together, colouring the paper princesses, sewing the felt pea [with a little help from mama], turning the mattresses and snipping threads.

Immy loved it! They've been playing princess and the pea all over the house. "MUM WHERE'S MY PEA?" is a common utterance around these parts nowadays.

I also whipped up a little tutu and she got real ballet shoes!

And a washing line to help mummy with the house work ;)

We had a yummy hedgehog cake created by aunty Liesey, dressing ups with little friends and treasure hunting - what fun!

Jetlag

We are just back [tuesday] from visiting my darling sister, Mandy, in Perth. There's so much to tell you and photos to show, but after travelling the red-eye special home - involving 1 hr nap by child no.2 who doesn't/can't/won't sleep anywhere but her own bed, and 5 minutes total shut-eye for mama - we are still trying to recover.

Oh and I will get around to showing you some of Immy's birthday bash... eventually [if I don't have fights with blogger again about too many photos!]

Creative Update

So I've been a busy girl making lots of stuff!

Let me see... 15 little girls skirts, 8 marble bags, 2 pencil cases, a couple dozen button hair ties, ballerina tutu, a princess and the pea playset, and even a dress for me! Phew!

Plus there are a few half done projects that are still to be finished off: dress for a sweet little girl, few pairs of pants for Finn, bibs for Finn and I'm sure there are a few more lurking in the studio!

Things we made for Operation Christmas Child boxes we did last month. This was such a great way of teaching the girls about the huge need there is to care for poverty-stricken in this world.

The girls really enjoyed thinking about what a little girl their own age might like to receive and talking about how and why we should help, making a card and praying for the girls who would be receiving the boxes they made.

We are so blessed in our lives and to teach our children to share what we have with those who have nothing is so important to us. I highly recommend doing an activity like this with your kids.

And here's that gorgeous gypsy gal who sold skirts and button hair ties in the peddler's parade at the school fair.

Her costume was thrown together during a raid on my wardrobe - so much easier than trying to make something which was my initial lofty plan.