I think there will be lots of laughter this weekend................

 

 I have a big weekend this weekend.

Lots of laughter guaranteed!

 

I am off to Mt Maunganui for the 

" Little Big Market"

 on Saturday.

 

I am having a crafty girls weekend.

Four of us are hitting the road to go to this lovely market.

Coming with me is:

 

Renee from "The Little White Box"

Emma from "The Little Card Factory" 

and

Lizzy from "Ellaquaint"

 

Watch out the Mount !

I will be back on Sunday to spend sometime with my boys and celebrate Fathers day with MR O.

I will also be at the Devonport Craft Market on Sunday

so if you get a chance to come see me this weekend

please do.

 

Little Ladies

This week some new 

"Little Lady" purses have arrived.

They will be coming with me to Kraftbomb on Sunday,

I will load some in my online shop next week.

In the mean time here's a sneak peak.

Also in October I am going to be teaching some classes at the
"Little Craft Store " in Pt Chev on how to make Pixies and Decorative Hearts 

just click on the above link for more details.

Have a lovely weekend.

Alex O

Special Day

I picked this picture of these lovely flowers as today in America is a special day.

A year ago today my uncle died.

I am thinking of you today Russell.

I am sorry I have been absent for a few days.

I rarely eat meat and on Friday we had a takeaway curry with chicken in it.

Unfortunately I got food poisoning.

I think someone is telling me not to eat meat!

So I have been laid up for a few days and I missed Crafternoon Tea in the weekend

among many other exciting things.

I am back with a head cold so progress may be a bit slow this week.

Before I got sick I made a couple of new purses.

They are lined with this lovely skull and cross bone fabric and can be found 

for sale here

Pirates

Master O wanted a new Hot water Bottle Cover to

go with his Skull and Cross bone PJ's

Of course I could not help myself

and a Lovebird snuck in there!

Greeting Cards

My mother in law who lives in Ireland is the queen of sending greeting cards.

We get cards for Birthdays, for St Patricks day, for Easter, for Christmas,
for Anniversaries.

She really should have shares in Hallmark!

Every time we get a card it is special and they always sit on the

 cabinet in our lounge for weeks.

It is a little piece of Nana Ireland with us.

Greeting cards are special they show that someone is thinking of you.

People always comment on the pictures of my Pixies.
 So I decided to take the plunge and do my first range of greeting cards.

I hope people like them....................

They arrived today all the way from England!

There are five designs all printed on beautiful quality card.

All five come individually wrapped with an envelope.
They are blank inside so that you can write your own special words.

The cards are $5.00 NZD each.
I have not loaded them in my online shop yet.
But if you would like to buy any you can email me your order to:
oconalex@gmail.com.
You can pay by bank deposit or credit card via Paypal.
For all email orders I will post to you for free.

Key Lime Pie

Yesterday we went to visit some friends for afternoon tea.

My friend is a chef and used to own her own catering business.

She stopped this when she had children and now writes for food magazines.

She is always so excited when people bring her food to try.

But by the same token I am always nervous as she is such a good cook.

I made a lovely raw food Key Lime Pie

which Mr O thinks is the nicest thing I have ever made.

Luckily my friend and her family liked it to.

Key Lime Pie

BASE

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup walnuts
¼ tsp salt
6 medjool dates

I have added 1 TBS of cacao as well to dampen down the sweetness and also a nice
contrast to the lime

Process the coconut, walnuts and salt until finely ground, then add the dates and cacao if
you are using it and process until it all sticks together.

LIME TOPPING

1 ½ cups avocado
¾ cup lime juice
¾ cup honey
1/8 tsp salt
½ cup coconut oil
2 TBS lecithin powder

Blend avocado, lime juice, honey and salt. Add coconut oil and lecithin and blend some
more.

Pour over your base and set in the fridge or freezer.

You can top with fresh raspberries or raspberry coulis (blend frozen raspberries with
dates)

My friend had made a lovely Lemon and Lime cake so they complemented each other perfectly.

Nothing like being with good friends eating good food.

Talking about good friends and Lime things.

Some new Pixies joined us this week.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Sunday 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.

Little Girls Bag

I just cannot seem to help myself I am just drawn to colour.

This week I have been making lots of purses and a few 

"Little Girls Handbags"

These little hessian or jute bags are 8 inches by 8 inches with a handle.

They are lined in pretty pink felt with a colourful 

Hydrangea on the front.

I made one to take to the Devonport Market last weekend and it was snapped

up as a present for a special little girl.

Part of making and selling your own goods is the joy of knowing where they end up.

It is such a buzz to see people getting pleasure out of your creations.

On that note have a wonderful weekend and............

Bags

I try to make bags out of recycled books

to put purchases in for customers.

Sometimes I think the customers get more excited by the bags than they do by the purchases.

I love making these bags.

But I have found it is a bit time consuming.

I know with the lead up to this Christmas I might not have enough time to make 

all the bags that I need.

I needed to find an alternative that still looked special for my customers.

The lovely Sandra Waine made me a beautiful Pixie Stamp that I can put on my

Brown paper bag purchases.
I need to work on my stamping skills but here she is.

This Moment

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

Fox Hollow

I am in fabric heaven.

I have just received a new stash of fabric which I think is

absolutely beautiful.

It is called Fox Hollow by Mona Luna.

I can see lots of lovely Purses lined with this delightful fabric.

Here is a little purse that I made last week that has already found a new home.

It is winging its way to Korea.

Have a lovely weekend

Right Now

Right Now I am recovering from the 

"Auckland Art and Craft Show"

I had a wonderful time.

It was all I wished it could be.

I made some great sales, I met some wonderful people.

The only down side is I did not manage to get out from behind my stall to see 

all the other wonderful crafters.

Which is a bit like Craft Hell being so close but not getting to experience it.

I have spent the past few days confirming up and coming markets.

I have some exciting markets coming up.

See the right hand side of my blog under 

"Come see me at"

for where I will be in the future.

I still have more dates to load so do check it regularly.

I have just finished an order.

A lovely lady asked if I could frame one of my Hydrangea's.

I think it turned out quiet well.

It looks very fresh.

I have some Christmas decoration making workshops coming up in 

September and October.

I would love peoples feedback on what you think I should teach 

people to make at these work shops.

There will be a mystery prize for one of the people that gives me feedback.

I will get Master O to draw a name out of a hat next Wednesday.