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My name is Samantha and I like to create sweet art and handcrafted treasures. I like monsters and robots and making stuff out of salvaged and recycled timber and fabrics. Thanks for visiting!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Is home where the heart is?

(the view from my front door)

Someone I know recently said something about my home.  Not in a mean way mind you but in a roundabout way they implied that my home is a little bit crap.  They'd recently decided that no one 'has it all' and used me as an example saying that even with my great stuff ie great kids, great husband etc, etc, I had no great home to enjoy it all in.

It got me thinking.  It got me thinking because often I feel like my home isn't so great too.  I get embarrassed by it.  I get embarrassed to say that I live in a shed (sorry, shouse) and sometimes, well pretty much all times I don't invite people over because of it.  Me who cares not what others think, cares what others think about my home.

I thought about it quite a bit when I heard this little titbit of gossip and I thought about what makes a home great.  Is it granite benchtops, a rumpus room (which usually don't see much rumpusing) and a massive bathroom sink or is it memories and laughter and the occasional cobweb in the toilet?

One day, when our house is finished, will I look up here at our old shouse and miss it just a little?  Probably not so much but what I do know is that this little shouse of ours is more of a shome than I realised.

What do you think?  What makes your house a home?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

A work in progress...

It's all happening in the nest at the moment.


The boys are building another chook-pen for some new ladies joining us soon.  This one is big with a capital B and will be home to about 15 lucky chickens.



Things are moving along on the house.  The slab will be down soon...I can hardly wait!



Surrounding all this hustle and bustle are the trees we planted years ago, once tiny seedlings, now full of colour.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Mumma made....


So often with markets and etsy and everything else on my plate, I forget to make time for some mumma made goodies for my own little monsters.

You can't really go wrong with baby pants though can you?  I mean they take 15 minutes or so to whip up and are cutie-patoot not to mention a fantastic way to use up some of the fabrics I've been saving for my 'just in case' baby girl.

I use a very basic one piece baby pants pattern so they're not only quick but kind of fun (I love sewing up the leg seams in a big U shape!).  I even whipped up little Xanadu a pair of denim pants the other day...denim with red polka-dot cuffs!

Then there's a bit of boy sewing.  Littlest boy is the biggest fan of mumma-made shorts ever so when I saw this amazing Japanese fabric that the very lovely Mel from Kimono Reincarnate was destashing I grabbed it without hesitation....and here's the results.....


I wish there were more hours in the day or more days in the week for more mumma-made sewing....it really is my favourite kind.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Feelin' Crafty...

Where has the time gone?  It's already mid January...kids are nearly back to school and the little babe is already 5 months old!  

There's been very little making going on lately but a few of my Christmas gifts have inspired me to get back into it.  I was a very lucky girl this year.  Mr Jetta's Nest gifted me with a beautiful set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils......eeeek!  I can not wait to use them.  I've played with them a little and their the absolute nicest pencil I've ever, ever used.  I also was given a nice little stack of my favourite drawing pens and loads and loads of sketchbooks and artist paper.  Yes....I was super spoiled!


Anyways...here's a little something I knocked up last night.  Littlest brother and I have been in negotiations for quite some time about this girl.  We've planned adventures for her....maybe even a sidekick and of course she has plenty of cheesy sayings.............so without further ado, let me introduce to you.......Craft Girl - she's got it all stitched up!!

How's your new year proceeding so far?  Is it tumbling along as quickly as mine is right now??

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Building...



....a gingerbread house.  Flat-pack from Ikea.  It didn't look so good and it didn't taste nearly as good as homemade but hey, it was up in 5 minutes and then down in about 2!


Nimble little fingers stealing adorments

I'd love to make a beautiful one from scratch....I'm pretty sure it'll never happen though.  Have you ever made a proper one or even a flat-pack that looked ace?

Friday, December 16, 2011

{this moment}


{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. 

This week I've decided to play along...you can see more moments caught in time here.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The 4 Gift Guide...


This is great!  I found it here and they found it here.