book lovin’

Making Peg Dolls – A book review

Today I’ll be reviewing a book generously sent to me by Margaret Bloom, the author of Making Peg Dolls* and blogger at We Bloom Here. Both Margaret’s book and blog have a basis in the Waldorf/Steiner philosophy. Although we are not a ‘Steiner’ household, I do try to embrace some aspects here at home, especially when it comes to handmade toys and play. When Margaret suggested her book to me, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some making time with Emma. Emma can be a little distracted at the best of times, so I was pleasantly surprised at how engaged she was when we made these little dolls.
Continue reading →

Upcycle Style: Monster Tote Bag from an Old Cushion Cover

There is nothing I find more satisfying than reusing something unwanted to create something practical. This Monster Tote bag is made from an unwanted cushion cover that has seen better days. The fabric was still good but the design a bit tired, so rather than throwing it away, I put is aside for the right project to come along. I’m not one to craft or make just for that sake of it, and am more inspired to create an object if there is a need. I’ve been feeling a little uninspired to craft lately because we just don’t need much stuff at the moment, so when one of the mums at school was a little concerned that she’d forgotten to get a book bag for Library day, I came to the rescue and told her I’d make one. The truth is, she came to my rescue, because I was needing a project to get motivated to sew again.
This bag is super easy to make even for a beginner, I’ve photographed every step and even created a template for the monster face. If you aren’t into monsters, you can still use the basic steps to make a tote bag from a thrifted cushion cover you like the design of.
Continue reading →

Free Printable – Floral Bookplates

Bookplates are a beautiful way to personalize a gift, ensure a loaned book is eventually returned or in our case, update the ownership of a collection of thrifted books. It’s not uncommon to find the previous owners names written in children’s books, so Emma really loved the idea of sticking some pretty labels with her name over the old inscriptions. I’ve created a set of four retro inspired floral bookplates. The printable PDF is free for personal use, so feel free to print as many as you need.
Continue reading →

Six Baby Gifts to make with Fabric Scraps eBook

Six Baby gifts to make wiith fabric scraps

I’m so excited to launch my new eBook – Six Baby Gifts to make with Fabric Scraps.
It’s a colourful collection of practical gifts for new arrivals, and teaches some handy skills along the way.

If you are like me and love to craft, you may find yourself accumulating a collection of fabric scraps. It can be tempting to just throw them away, especially when most sewing projects require larger fabric pieces, but please don’t. Sewing with scraps can be a wonderful experience that requires a little creativity and patience, but the results are truly satisfying.
Even though I have a big fabric stash, it pains me to waste any of it, and I keep all my scraps. Waste not, want not, I say! Continue reading →

Hooray for E-books – The Craft of Markets

I’m so excited to finally share with you a project that I’ve been working on with Jodie from The Haby Goddess for what seems forever. It’s finally done and I’m so pleased at how awesome it’s turned out.

Our first foray into E-book publishing…The Craft of Markets. Aimed at those of you starting out or even just considering running a market stall.
Jodie and I met as craft market neighbors, so we thought combing our experience and distilling our hard earned knowledge into this handy resource would be a great idea.

So much of the advice and references contained, we learned the hard way, and if I’d had access to information like this all those years ago it could have really helped me a lot.

The e-book contains honest, practical advice written by Jodie and I from an Australian perspective, answering some important questions every prospective market stall holder needs to ask themselves before they take the plunge into the craft market world. International readers will also find the advice very useful.
Having over 10 years of market experience, and many more in both bricks & mortar and online retail between us, we share all the tips and tricks to having a successful and profitable market stall with a minimum amount of stress and a maximum amount of fun!

The e-book is written in an easy to read format (and attractively designed by me!) and covers many topics such as Picking the right market for you, Market applications, Products, Pricing, Merchandising, Logistics, Selling tips, contains a handy printable Essentials checklist and a Resources guide with links to packaging and display item stockists and more. Some extra handy hints from market organisers are also included.
Comes in a PDF format that you can load on your iPad or mobile device, read on your computer or even print out.

Available now from the My Poppet Shop

www.mypoppet.com.au

Giveaway: All Sewn Up + Vintage Bunting Kit

Crafty giveaways don’t come better than this! To celebrate the inclusion of My Poppet’s Vintage Bunting Kit in the new book by Chloe Owens, All Sewn Up, we are giving away a signed copy of the book and a bunting kit to one lucky winner.

Like me, Chloe loves using colourful vintage fabrics in her projects. She combines them with contemporary prints and free style machine embroidery to create beautifully textured pieces.

And the love is mutual, here is what Chloe says about My Poppet:
“My Poppet has the most delicious array of vintage and handmade goodies! I thought the ‘make your own vintage bunting kit’ would fit perfectly within All Sewn Up for the ‘Stylish Scraps Bunting’ project as a lovely alternative to sourcing and cutting out your own”

So to be in the running to win this great prize, leave a comment on this blog post telling me about your proudest crafting moment. What did you make and why was it so special to you?
Entries close 10pm (melbourne time) 22nd May 2012 Winner will be announced on this post and notified by email
(Please make sure you have your e-mail enabled or leave your contact details in the comment)
Winner has been chosen by Chloe and is PJ Edwards – Congratulations!

www.mypoppet.com.au

How To: Vintage Storybook Gift Soap

This pretty storybook soap is an easy and inexpensive gift idea or party favour. You can use this wrapping technique to make any small gift look extra special.

You will need:
-A lovely bar of soap, the handmade kind would be even better.
-A scanned and printed image out of a vintage story book. I’ve just used normal office paper to print on, some pretty gift wrap would work well too.
-Double sided tape
-Scissors
-2 x metal eyelets
-eyelet tool (usually comes in pack of eyelets) or eyelet pliers
How to:
-gather your supplies
-trim your paper to size so the edges overlap when wrapped around the soap, affix with a piece of double sided tape.
-with the ends (about 2 inches on each side), flatten them out and fold over twice as pictured.
-With your eyelet tool, insert eyelets as per instructions on packet. Try to keep them centered.

All done!
Now you have a pretty and unique gift that you’ll want to keep for yourself.

You may also like to make a Vintage Storybook Coin Purse

www.mypoppet.com.au

Vintage Book Lovin’ – The Grey Kitten

Our lovely neighbor in Argentina lent Emma a pile of old books to read whilst we were there, amongst them all was this little treasure about a grey kitten. I can’t even tell you if the story was any good as I was immediately memorized by the collaged illustrations. The pictures are all created with images of textiles and objects, and in the days before digital collaging with photoshop, I’m assuming it was all literally cut and paste.
I’m hoping it will inspire you to get out some old magazines and fabrics scraps and make a collaged picture of your own, I’m sure the kids will love it.
If I can get Emma to sit still long enough, we may give it a go too.

www.mypoppet.com.au

Page 1 of 312 3 »