My Creative Space

My craft (kitchen) bench is full up with all this sort of stuff today. I always feel that i'm hunching over when I paint these faces though, makes for very sore shoulders!

This ones going to have a dress of maori braiding. It is very thick and luxurious, so will hopefully make a lovely little modern dress.

This girl is off for a London summer.
(wish I was going with her!)

And these are some transfers I did yesterday...

...for some long sleeve tops, with additional vintage buttons.

The tops are black, white, pink and purple. They'll be available at the market this sunday!

To have a nosey at some more Creative Spaces - pop over to Kirsty's!

What have we here...?

Someone has arrived in the post all the way from Vancouver, Canada!

This is a new dolly for us to get to know. She has come to visit and see what we get up to around here. We'll try and post a pic every week for you to see how she is settling in. The girls are going to name her, so we'll let you know how that goes. (if they can agree!)

In the mean time, if you want to check out how our girl - who went off on her travels is doing ... pop over here. ( ps. our girl is from New Zealand!)

A bit of brightness for the weekend...

Thank you, thank you to all the positive people who are so supportive of handmade!

I met some more people today who were just so lovely about what I make.

It makes all the hard work worth while and I am so glad I didn't listen to the negativity I had when I first started making! If you have an idea, that you can't get out of your head - please just go for it!

My Creative Space

Theres not much actually happening in my creative space this week.

These girls have been waiting around for over a week now.

They have been very patient. With a bit of help, their heads will hopefully be pinned and stitched up by this weekend. I'm not sure - we'll see. (yes, I think I might have gone a bit over board with the blusher!)

Heres some different legs/boots.

And the start of a cushion, waiting for me.

This young lady has been very creative though.

She was right when she insisted that she would be able to balance the Cat in the Hat hat on top of her pink milliners hat! Yup - thats her PJ's underneath.

For some other creativeness to brighten your day - visit Kirsty!

Happy B Miss E!

Happy Birthday to our Miss E who is 9 years old today!

(can't believe that one!)

She wanted a doll with black hair!
(she's a blonde herself)

And she chose the fabrics for her dolls outfit.

And also for her cushion.

Though of course I asked if I could add a doily please?!

I'm so glad I had made the doll last week, and only had to finish off the cushion this week. My hand is feeling a bit better, but still not able to hold anything properly. So stuffing arms and legs are out of the question at the mo!

Crafternoon Tea and me

Crafternoon Tea Craft Market is on this weekend, for those of you in Auckland!

There are a couple of bright eyed girls on the poster this month. The girl on the left will be available this weekend, and the one on the right was a custom order for a 2 year old. It was made from her 1st birthday outfit - so very special.

I will be trying to take it easy (at the market) as I had a bit of a fall yesterday.

Can't bounce off concrete very well any more!

So my hand is strapped up and my knees feel like someone has hit them with a mallet!

My Creative Space

I've been working with felted wool rugs.

Seeing as its sooooo cold here at the moment!

NZ wool rug zipper bags.

And this is my attempt so far, at a quilted cushion cover...

Click over to Kirsty's for loads more Creative Spaces!

Going on a journey...

This girl is all packed and ready to go. She is going on a trip overseas, and has promised to let us know what she gets up to. She's attempting to take all that luggage with her - somehow I don't think thats going to happen! (we are also expecting a visitor from another country!)

I would also like to say a big thank you to my photographers assistant - always a pleasure to work with !xxxx

Giveaway Winners!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my giveaway!

There were some very entertaining answers to my question.

See here if you want to read them all!

My trusty side-kicks have chosen the following winners...

Handpainted doll: Naomi

Doll greeting cards: Kylie

Doll greeting cards: Kelly

Congratulations! And I will be in touch for your details!x

Vintage Dollfaces

We took the girls to the Auckland Museum recently. (free for Aucklanders!)

These are some of the vintage doll faces we came across. Some of them are a bit scary! But I must say - they have loads of character!

We were quite surprised at how much Miss 4 enjoyed the museum. I thought she would get bored at some point - but she really loved the whole thing. Yay!

Flea Market Finds

I haven't had much time for treasure hunting recently.

So this is it for the last few weeks!

A NZ wool blanket in some of my favourite colours.

Some very fine doilies, that come to life on dark fabric.

Embroidered doilies and buttons - a few lovely wooden ones there!

The embroidered leaves were part of a little package sent by my very thoughtful aunt (for my birthday - thank you!!)

If you want to have a nosey at some other op shop finds - pop over to Sophie's!

My Creative Space

I've been working on some more dolls for the Art Gallery Fair next month.


I found this linen fabric in a gorgeous deep pinky colour last week. Its been fine to work with - apart from when I put the doll together to sew up the body. The linen sleeves made it VERY difficult to sew the legs in the usual way!

...I got there in the end...!

For lots of inspiring Creative Spaces, click over to Kirsty's!

Flower Face

I've had a couple of goes now at painting faces on different fabric. This is a very delicate linen with embroidered flowers. It was quite difficult to paint on, compaired to my normal tea stained calico!


The other thing with this doll was deciding what she should wear. Having a face that is busy with flowers - I was going to make her a plain, solid colour dress. But in the end, went for a blue flower print from some curtain samples. The black capelet breaks it up a bit!
I keep thinking her face looks a bit creepy though!?

This weekend

This weekend its the Devonport Craft Market for me. I'll have some new greeting cards of the most recent dolls. (not bad for $3 each!?)


I've just made this girl to go with the gorgeous granny square capelet, made for me by my lovely friend Cathy. (thank you!!)


And some vintage Miffy zip bags, repurposed from a Dick Bruna curtain. Illustrations circa. 1962.

So if you're in Auckland this weekend, come and see us at
The Devonport Craft Market
32 Clarence Street
Sunday 10am - 2pm
Just a short walk from the ferry building!

My Creative Space

1 Vintage napkin and wool cushion.

2 Orange wool rug brooch.

3 Dolls felt flower hat.

4 My first attempt at a fabric flower, its now attached to Gordons head with elastic under his chin!

5 I changed my mind about this girls hair and ended up handsewing each piece of felt on...

For some fabulous creative spaces to look at, pop over to Kirsty's place!

a little vintage giveaway #2

Up for grabs is this green eyed girl. She has deep purple hair and is made from tea stained calico, felt and cotton fabric with a retro lampshade print dress. Her arms and legs are double stitched and she is stuffed with new polyester fibre fill. She has no buttons/earrings, but does have a bead necklace, that you can remove if she is for a younger child!
I will also include 5 doll greeting cards, which two runners up will receive as well.


To enter, you need to answer this question:

What would a cushion say?

(just a few words, not long statements, examples are "i'm stuffed", "lean on me").

Make sure you include your email address/blog link for me to contact you. And you will get an extra entry if you are a follower! You have until Saturday 12th June 10pm(NZ) and the winner(s) will be announced on Monday 14th June!