Hearts and Vines

Well our bathroom adventure still goes on.

We are at day 27 of no bathroom.

Light is however at the end of the tunnel and we only have days to go now.

I am so excited.

Around all the chaos I have been working some more on my new range

"Hearts and Vines" 

I decided to add some rabbits in for a bit of fun.

 Ipad Cases

Mini Ipad or Kindle Case

These new designs are all loaded in my online store.

plus

More of them will be at next weeks art show

"Affair of the Heart"

What was I thinking!

So it has been 18 days without a shower in my house.

We have been showering at the neighbours, at the local pools and

we went camping for 5 days.

In amongst the chaos of having ones house in an upheaval whilst renovating,

plus going back to teaching part time, and filling orders for shops.

I thought it would be a good idea to start a juice detox.

With headaches for two days and no shower at home to relax in.

With my juicer deciding it needed a little fixing as it started to leak into the motor.

I decided that the universe was telling me 

"Now is not a good time to be doing this!"

So I just had to listen and go and buy myself a feel better chocolate bar.

I will share my juicing journey when I get there (and the time is right)

sometime this year.

One of my lovely stockist "The Petal Store"  in Christchurch

is going to have a stall at the "Ellerslie Garden show".

For the last two years they have won gold medals for there stall display.

So I feel very honoured that they wanted to stock some of my designs

on there stall this year.

Here is a sneak peak at some of the designs I worked on for them:

While I sew I listen to music and TED Talks.

I am just loving this  John Mayer version of "Free Falling" at the moment.

Have a wonderful week and Valentines day.

 

Right Now : Challenges

So our bathroom is all demolished.

The trades are all booked.

The builder came yesterday and dropped off all the wood to start today.

Then at 7am this morning we got the call to say that our poor

builder who is 72 has put his back out!

I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason.

So now Mr O is on the search for a builder at short notice.

It certainly is a challenge!

Yesterday I started juicing.

I certainly ate my way through Christmas.

So now its time to make a change.

Juicing I have found is best started slowly as it can knock you around as you detox.

So I plan to start with juicing one meal a day and work up to two.

Then three meals.

I am hoping to go on a 4 day fasting and juicing retreat the middle of February 

(depending on how the bathroom renovation goes)  

so I am slowly working my way towards a healthier slimmer me.

Here is yesterdays juice : 

BEETROOT ZESTER

2 medium carrots

2 apples

1 medium beetroot

1/2 fresh lime

1 piece of ginger 2cm by 1cm

Feed all ingredients through the juicer, stir and drink..................it is yummy and very filling.

Right now here is my work table:

I am finishing off a few shop orders before I start some new designs.

Master O still has a week of school holidays so I am not fully back into the swing of things yet.

I did however just design these new Kindle or Mini Ipad cases.

I have just received this great book it is all about making paper flowers 

but I think it is going to inspire

me greatly with some new felt flower designs.

I am looking forward to painting some felt and trying out some new designs.

Aren't these paper flowers just gorgeous.

I cannot wait to start these new designs.

My fingers are itching!

Change

 Change comes from thinking thoughts you've never thought before.

Showing up to meet them down streets you've never walked before.

2014 is here and I feel for my family it is going to be a year of change.

The changes that will be coming about are across the board in our lives

and I although I am excited about change I am also a little scared.

I think we often look at change as a bad thing, 

when more often than not change is a good thing.

I read the other day :

Making a big life change is pretty scary.

But you know whats even scarier ?

Regret

 For the past few years I have a motto or a saying that I think will help me 

stay positive through the year.

Last year it was:

"Don't look back your not going that way"

I loved this motto as it was so true for last year and building

up my craft business and not returning to a career I had, had most of my life.

The year before it was:

"You only live once, live beautifully"

As I looked for a new motto this year among hundreds of change sayings.

This lovely simple one struck my heart as the right one for me.

Make a wish

Take a chance

Make a change

It sounds simple but for Mr O and I change is big as we are not real risk takers so

 taking a chance on something new can be scary.

 

We came home from holiday a few days ago and the first change occurred.

A very exciting change.

Mr O started to demolish our bathroom.

We only have one bathroom so this change I am sure will have its ups and downs.

But the builders, the plumbers the tilers are all booked.

So hopefully weeks from now my bathroom has moved on from what it looks like right now

and changed into an amazing new space.

 Do you have a motto or a saying that suits your life right now ?

I would love it if you would share it with me.

Last Market for 2013

 

 

 

Tomorrow I have my last market for 2013.

I go into this market with a happy sad feeling.

Happy because after this market I am on holiday.

Sad because I am not sure when my next market will be.

I think I am going to take a break from markets for a while.

Whether for 3 months, 6 months or longer only time will tell.

This year because we are going away from home for Christmas we

have not fully decorated our house or even got a real tree.

I thought I would share with you snippets of what we do have.

 

 

Master O's Advent Bag Basket.

 

The empty Advent bags around the base of the tree.

 

Master O's stocking.

 

This year I made Master O a ceramic star to go in one of his Advent bags.

I have always called him my "Angel Baby" even though now he is eleven!

 

I just had to give him this decoration from 

The Little White Box

This lovely ceramic bunting was a present I received last year from the

The Little White Box.

I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read my blog, 

for letting me share with you my crafty lifestyle.

To all those people that have bought one of my creations 

Thank you so much.

It is so heart warming to know that my creations are out there somewhere 

in the world bringing Joy to others.

I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas.

Little Birds

A few weeks ago I got together with some of my crafty friends

for a Christmas Lunch and Ceramic making (as you do).

The lovely Renee from The Little White Box

hosted this fine day.

I have always had a thing for little birds, 

you see them pop up on my creations every so often. 

So I just had to paint one on a Christmas star.

My little bird inspired Lizzie from

Ellaquaint

to paint us all a beautiful Robin each.

These little birds made me want to sew some more birds.

So here are my first "Lovebird" Ipad Cases.

Who scares away the birds ?

Why Mr Scottie Dog of course!

I tried something new with some of these cases.

They are one colour on the front and then a beautiful grey on the back.

In my Garden

 

 

Some of you may remember that last summer

my boys built us a couple of beautiful raised garden beds.

 

This morning I went up the garden and found a group of

Pixies with their mother enjoying the beautiful sunny weather.