In love with Ellen Giggenbach

Browsing away on the internet the other day in my quest for unique birthday gift ideas, I stumbled across this amazing paper craft designer who is based in Eastbourne, near Wellington. She has an online presence - a website and Facebook page - but I had not come across her work before and I only live a stone's throw across the harbour. It always amazes me to discover such clever people right under my very nose. I spent so much time on her website in complete awe of all of the incredible work that this talented woman produces that I wanted to share my discovery with you as well. She has published books, moved into textiles with her own fabric line and has some homewares as well. I was reminded of some European influence when I saw them so I was not surprised to learn that she was born in Germany. I am so excited to know that there is someone living on this side of the world who makes such profoundly eye-catching and distinctive art. I really want this horse art, and some of the paper craft would look so great in my children's rooms.

Image reproduced with permission from Ellen Giggenbach.

I bought one of her books, Animals, which arrived too late to gift to my daughter on her actual birthday, and I have had to hide it for an extra day just so I can photograph it for you before it gets massacred.

My first impression is that it is a quality paper craft book. The cover lifts off and converts into a sturdy envelope in which to store half-completed projects or the pages that are still to be attempted. The paper is deliciously thick and hours of enjoyment shall be had transforming the pages into 3-D creations.  There are also stickers included to further embellish the various creatures such elephants and giraffes among many others including this pony - I'm in total love with it all!

The age guide is specified as 6+ which I think looks about right, although I suspect I will still be needed to assist with cutting some of the trickier curves. I have my eye on Ellen's other titles, where an entire zoo and town can be made and used for interactive play. I'm thinking they'd make amazing gifts for someone this Christmas.

This is in no way a sponsored post, I just love Ellen's work and I even emailed her to tell her so. This does not happen very often but I think that offering words of encouragement especially to independent designers who may feel isolated at times, is just nice for them to know that someone out there is looking at and admiring their talent. Not only did Ellen send me a gracious reply but she offered to send me some fridge magnets, which are like six pieces of miniature art. I have two sets to gift to my readers. I will have one giveaway on this blog and another on Instagram.

Magnet art may vary from those depicted here.

This giveaway is open to my international readers. I will draw a winner randomly next week. Good luck everyone.

Seven

Somebody turns 7 this week. We had a small party over the weekend for her with just a few of her friends, which was all about bubbles. The party guests made their own bubble wands using straws and string and even got to experience what it's like to be inside a bubble.

Indescribabubble.

My bubble pun was inevitabubble.

If you want to try this activity yourselves, you will need plenty of bubble mixture. We bought a one litre bottle from Moore Wilsons and probably could have gone through twice that amount. It's a German brand (so you know it's quality, right?) called Pustefix. We tried out several other cheaper bubble solutions too and made our own with dishwashing liquid, but this product gave the best results. We used the lid of our compost bin as the tray to pour the mixture into and laid down some timber to give a platform for the children to stand on. A hula hoop was dipped in the tray and formed bubbles large enough even for me to stand in.

If you decide to try this, the weather needs to be absolutely still. Also, try to set it up on grass. Calm days almost never happen in Wellington so we brought the activity indoors. Bubble solution + slippery platform = parent skidding in ungainly fashion on the concrete kitchen floor when stepping out of the tray. This happened just seconds after the same parent warned her children of the inherent dangers.

Shame-o. Shame-ifying. Shame-adelic.

What another big year you've had, Renee. Looking back on all the photos, I can really appreciate how much you have grown and that you lost both your front teeth along the way.

The year hasn't been without its worrying moments for your parents too, of course.

The last part of the year has been about that arm. It took several months to heal and prevented you from taking part in some after-school activities, but we know it won't stop you from taking on those monkey bars again, nor would we want it to.

Earlier in the year, you took part in a few activities for the first time including rollerblading, skating, the vertical bungee and running in the Magic Mile. You are now old enough to enter the Weetbix Tryathlon next year too, and it is something you are excited to be participating in with your older sister.

Ever the animal-lover, it has been decided that you shall get that pet rabbit that you have been wanting now for over two years. One day. When the hutch is finished. Lucky you're patient. Still, you couldn't contain your joy when the power tools came out of hibernation because you knew it was finally going to happen.Keep being that gorgeous little soul that you are, Renee. We love that you'll try anything at least once even if it might take you some convincing at times. Our twirler, loom band hoarder, gastronome and adoptive parent to the neighbourhood cats, we love you. A million times we love you.

Baby doll dress and my new BFF

I am rewinding a month to show you the dress I made for Aimee to wear on her birthday. In amidst all the party preparation and baking, I decided to make her something to wear. Because, yanno, what's one more job to add to the to-do list? Admittedly, it was very tempting to just go and get her a store-bought Minnie Mouse dress-up costume, but then I remembered that I had a lovely pale pink cotton polka dot fabric sitting on my shelf. I sketched something that would be relatively simple to make but that would resemble a Minnie Mouse oufit - puffed sleeves, fitted bodice, full skirt. In the end, my design looked nothing like a Minnie Mouse costume at all but it is something she has happily worn since on a regular basis.

Heard of ironing? Me neither.

I sewed the dress with an elasticated neckline, which is quicker for me to do than sew a yoke and insert a button or zip at the back. The top part of the dress is effectively a peasant top with a shortened waist. There were many trial fittings to check that the dress would fit and after the patience of my model started to wear a bit thin, I decided to leave the elastic out of the sleeve casings and quickly hemmed them. The whole project was completed within an hour after dinner one evening.

What I was most pleased about was getting a chance to road-test my new gathering foot for my overlocker and discovering that it is my new best friend. I've owned a Huskylock S21 for a little over two years and still don't really know what it is capable of doing but it does look pretty sitting on my table and that's the most important thing. Using the gathering foot was either going to be a huge timesaver or I was going to end up spending more time than I wanted to hunched over my machine in frustration learning to make this contraption work properly.

Say hello to my little friend.

It is kind of scary-looking and I wasn't even sure which way round it was meant to go on the machine at first. I've put some fake sewing in to demonstrate some fake gathering so you can see how everything should look if you are as technically-challenged as me.

Before making this purchase, I had been doing the usual two parallel lines of basting stitches on my sewing machine first, then gathering and finally sewing the skirt to the bodice. The gathering foot does this all in one step and sometimes quicker is just better, I find. I need more practice to get the ruffles more even by adjusting some of the settings and needle tension on my overlocker but I am so happy to know that this machine can perform this function.

Aimee wears the dress to school the minute it has been washed (but not ironed) and put back in her drawer and it is slowly getting covered in paint and felt-tip stains, which only proves the point that she lives in it, and I kinda like that she likes it that much.

What have you been making lately? Come over and see what everyone else has been up to this week at Leonie's Show and Tell link-up.

Tantrums and sore shins - and a flow-chart

Look guys, I don't want to sound like I am a doomsayer, but man, I just knew that kick in the teeth was coming. Except it wasn't my teeth, it was my shin courtesy of a surfboard with flailing arms and legs that looked suspiciously like my daughter. Far out. Fresh into the new term and I have borne the brunt of some rather spectacular hangry meltdowns outside the school gates two days in a row. Character-building stuff. But, please, for the love of my shins, let there not be a third time. Please.

Well, I didn't say it was a good flow-chart, but hopefully it gets my point across.

Having been so well-behaved for six hours, she just could not muster another 10 minutes of doe-eyed goodness. We only live about 50 metres away from the school, and she simply decided that was about 49 metres too far to walk. I could feel the judgey eyes of parents on me as I disciplined my child for hurting me (albeit accidentally), and guess what? It did not bother me at all. People can assume all they want about my parenting abilities; the bottom line is I have been tested far too many times to actually care what other people may think of me. Maybe I am just jaded from nine years of parenting, or maybe it can be put down to my star sign (sure, why not?), but if you mess with the bull, eventually you're gonna get the horns.

So we made it home finally, with only a few fence posts being apportioned some child rage at the injustice of the world and it was off to her room to calm down before she could join the rest of us for some afternoon tea. I wonder if martial arts are in her future? I should look into some lessons.

Now, my clearly amazing parenting skill-set and ability to handle pain aside, I've been thinking about the best way to handle a child whose temperament makes it much harder for them to deal with frustration and contain emotion. The key is to stop a tantrum before it gets started. So, this afternoon, I am going in prepared. There will be a small conciliatory bag of snacks ready to offer on that obviously exceedingly taxing 50 metre walk home. I could be setting myself up for more calamity because naturally, they will not be the right kind of snacks. I have completely scaled back after-school activities for this term and there will just be quiet time at home instead in preparation for the next school day.

So, if you see me on the school run today, smile, give me a wave and tell me I am doing a good job. I probably won't acknowledge your kind comment since I don't actually care what you think (remember??^^^), but inwardly I'll be crying tears of joy that at least someone is validating me on this thankless parenting journey.

Sweet {stall} success

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. One week into a new routine and I've discovered that there is no such thing as a routine, especially in a family of five. Between physio appointments for various ailments affecting different people, bugs and such-like, it is still in a state of flux around here that I am really looking forward to the school holidays next week just for the chance to enjoy some of that boring predictability.

On the plus side, Aimee has settled into school with ease. Alarmingly so. This is the child who cried almost every day for 18 months when I dropped her off at kindy. I would have to extricate her little arms from around my leg and quite often not succeed so would resort to walking across the room John Wayne-styles with her koala-fied to my leg to get the help of a teacher. It's funny now but so unpleasant at the time. I braced myself for something similar to happen at school. I don't want to sound all glass half-empty, but the transition has been just a little too easy and I find myself wondering when the curveball is going to be thrown in my face and smash a couple of my perfect teeth. By the end of the day, I have one very tired little five year old but each morning, she is the first one dressed and ready to go get 'em again. I hope that enthusiasm continues.

You might be wondering how a parent who has no preschoolers at home fills her days. I say quite easily, thanks for asking. Especially when one of my children announces she is going to have a fundraiser to help raise money for the new school playground. Our slightly abridged conversation over breakfast one Friday morning went something like this:

Her: "Mum, I've got a meeting with the principal this morning".

Me (vaguely alarmed): "What for?"

Her: "I want to have a lolly stall to raise money for the new school playground".

Me (quietly impressed): "Oh, that's a good idea. When are you doing it?"

Her: "Tomorrow".

Bless her. We managed to reschedule a more achievable date, which was Election Day and then set about purchasing sweets and sourcing donated goods for our stall. After chatting to a few knowledgeable people within the school community, we were able to use some surplus cellophane bags, lollipops and treats left over from the school discos, which helped to minimize our expenses. My sister and her husband also very kindly contributed two tins of sweets they received from the current Resene paint promotion. We used them for a lolly jar competition, and it was a very popular addition to the stall. Thanks, sis *mwah*.

We woke on Election Day to the sound of hail hitting our roof, and the weather did not improve at all throughout the day so I was surprised (but glad) to see so many children out and about with their parents as they passed through on their way to the polling booth around the corner. I didn't even realize that my husband had taken this photo, but I am glad he did because it's the only one that shows our stall before it was pillaged.

A number of other stalls were lined up with us underneath the school verandah, including a sausage sizzle, bake sale and lemonade stand. We all managed to make a combined total of about $1200, which was such a great achievement given the terrible weather.

Leading up to the event, I spent a few days huddled over the kitchen bench with the curtains pulled in case Nigel Latta showed up making all kinds of treats from quite possibly the most versatile sweet of them all, the humble marshmallow. Some were successful and very quick to make, like the Hello Kitties. I stumbled across a blog that showed how easy and effective marshmallow flowers are to make. Instead of skewers, I used a fruit stick so the whole flower was edible. Once I started making them, I couldn't stop; these are very addictive.

We also made lolly necklaces, cars from Moro and Crunchie bars with edible axles and marshmallow wheels, Jaffa flowers and the girls sat down with a friend one afternoon after school and created monsters using different types of lollies joined together with toothpicks. They had unique painted facial features using food colouring. These were a surprise hit. The fact that each individual monster was concealed in a plastic egg was really appealing to other children and they quickly sold out. In fact, everything sold within a couple of hours despite the miserable weather so my husband gallantly made three trips home to whip up some more bags of treats to top up our stall.

I didn't stop to think about photographing the stall items so these are the ones that I took throughout the week with my phone. In fact, if it weren't for my husband and the school principal, we would not have even had a photo of the stall itself on the day.

This was most definitely a team effort, a fun family activity and a very important lesson for all of us to see exactly how much is involved in fundraising. The whole exercise was very worthwhile even just to see my excited daughter and her friend proudly marching into the school office earlier this week to hand over the proceeds. Plus, we made it into the school newsletter. Ticked that puppy off the bucket list.

Big Little Pixie Pants pattern and blog tour

This week is shaping up to be a goodie. I am one of several bloggers taking part in a week-long blog tour showcasing the latest children's clothing patterns from Lisa of Big Little. It is a good opportunity to discover other like-minded creatives - unless you're like me and following them already anyway. Even if you read nothing else I've written, be sure to read the last couple of paragraphs *eyebrow waggle*.

I've never met Lisa in person, but we share a love of beautiful fabrics and whimsical garments for children and if ever I could find as much beauty in the local secondhand stores as Lisa does with her thrift-shop finds, I'd be making many more garments out of refashioned clothing. As it is, I content myself with admiring her beautiful blog and the clothing she makes and sells in her store and on occasion, am lucky enough to test some of her patterns.

I have mentioned before that most of my girls' clothes are passed down to them from older cousins and so far, they are always excited to receive them. I do buy clothes when necessary, although nothing is more satisfying to me than being able to make something for them to wear. When I was invited to test the Pixie Pants pattern, I was quite excited firstly because I had a valid reason to eschew housework but also because I have never made pants before.

I know.

The pattern is easy to follow; it's a little like having Lisa right there next to you holding your hand which, for someone new to sewing pants, is quite reassuring. I would say a confident beginner would be able to tackle this with ease. To make these pants, I found that I actually had everything I needed in my sewing space, which is a rare thing. It made me realize that, while not very sexy, interfacing, white thread and 2.5cm elastic are quite important sewing supplies to have on hand, would you agree?When I cut out the pattern pieces, I had always intended for the scallop pattern on the fabric to align but it actually wasn't all that easy to achieve. Fortunately, due to the way the pants hang, it isn't all that obvious where the scallops don't line up.

I really love that the pants have pockets, because what little person doesn't like to stash their treasures? The contrasting fabric in the pockets is another detail that I really like on this pair, although there is the option to make them without pockets too.
All told, it took me an afternoon without children around to make these pants and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of putting them together. While they can be made from heavier fabrics for wearing in the cooler months, I opted to use a thin cotton fabric which makes them quite light and summery. Unlike Aimee's expression.
Thank you Lisa for allowing me to test the pattern for you. The pants are adorable and are a relaxed fit which is so important for my active child.

*LAST COUPLE OF PARAGRAPHS - Caution: may contain exciting, wet-your-pants information*

If you are eager to have a go at making a few pairs for your own children or other lucky little person in your life, you can enjoy 15% off the newly-released Pixie Pants and shorts variation in Lisa's store for the duration of the blog tour.  All you need is the coupon code PIXIEPANTS15, valid until Tuesday 23 September.Be sure to check back in on the Big Little blog next Tuesday for a giveaway too. I can't wait to see the other blog tour participants' versions. Tomorrow is the turn of a lovely fellow Kiwi blogger, Jenny at Mend and Make New, who not only makes cute clothes, but also really cute children. See you there.

Just for a bit more overkill, I am showing and telling at Leonie's this week.

Minnie Mouse birthday party

Thanks for your supportive comments on my previous post. Four days, one birthday party and one official kindergarten farewell later, I'm feeling bouncy again and thought you might like to see how the party went.

For months now, Aimee has been fixated on having a Minnie Mouse party for her fifth birthday. Being reticent about buying items months in advance to tie in with party themes because I know how fickle most children tend to be, I decided to wait until the week before her birthday to hunt for supplies in case she changed her mind. She never once wavered from her decision. This girl knows her mind and I should never doubt that.

Rather than go too crazy with purchasing licensed products which are ridiculously expensive, I opted for the simplicity of polka dots and incorporated that idea in the decorations and food. Fortunately, over the years, I have built up quite a supply of polka dot decorations and tableware that tied in nicely with her theme.

Pink paper lanterns were perfect to hang in the house and I bought a packet of white round stickers that the girls used to decorate our front door.

There were the odd nods to Minnie Mouse in the paper cups and I made the personalised labels on the glass jars using Picmonkey and a free Disney font. Mickey and Minnie also welcomed the guests from their spot at the head of the table. I have had those soft toys since I was a little girl when my sister brought them back from her trip to the States and Disneyland.

In all, nine kindy friends came to help Aimee celebrate and on their way in they were invited to help themselves to some mouse ears that they could take home with them afterwards.

The table was covered in a polka dot fabric that I bought a few months ago from Spotlight and it was laden with Aimee's favourite food - cupcakes, cheese balls, sushi, popcorn, marshmallows, oreo biscuits, grapes, carrot sticks and hummus and lemonade.

At Aimee's request, the cake was chocolate and covered in pink icing with polka dots made from fondant. The cake was polka dotty inside too - this is a variation of the coloured dots cake that was popular on the internet a couple of years ago. I made vanilla balls in muffin trays first and then when they were cooled off, put them in a cake tin and poured chocolate cake batter over it and cooked it again. There's always that moment when you cut into a cake that's meant to have a hidden surprise in it but it turned out well and it was really tasty too.

It rained the whole day but there was a little break in the weather that allowed us to get outside to smash the pinata. Two hours flies by in record speed when there are so many little energetic souls sapping you of your own life source. My older daughters were tasked with overseeing the other games of musical statues, duck, duck, goose and pass the parcel. Now that they are a little older, they relish being given some responsibilities, although I did add an extra couple of layers to pass the parcel in case they decided they weren't too big to join in after all.

Happy birthday Aimee. What a livewire you are. We always joke that you have two speeds - fast and asleep. You are so capable for one so young. My spirited daughter, we are never left in any doubt as to how you feel at any given moment. You are about to embark on a whole new stage of learning. It is bittersweet to see you grow up, but it is time for you to join your sisters at school and I know that with the right guidance, you are going to soar. We love you. Always and forever.