Mini milk bottles

Just had to share my new find from one of my favourite shops 'Found Store'.  I've seen these in magazines but could never find them to buy...until now.

Six little milk bottles you can use for children's drinks or as I have for now....flowers.  Rosie (nearly 2 years) is still on the plastic bottles for now.  We picked some wild flowers from the wilderness behind our garden and a frangipani from our tree.  Looks quite eastery. I'll take more pictures of them in the sunshine soon.

Enjoy
Jennie

Doodling cutey card packs

I'm starting to do a few card packs for my Esty shop and trying to get a variety of cutey things together to do a market stall somewhere local soon.

Hope you like them, more to come soon and these little bunnies will be on Etsy tomorrow.

Set of 4 bunny cards, prints of my doodling then I've sewn them on with hot pink thread using Phyllis the sewing machine

Enjoy

Jennie

Custom Pet Portraits

I've been wanting to load onto my Etsy store some examples of the pet portraits I do and it's finally happened. Check out some of the pictures below and browse in my Etsy shop.

Hope you like them, please tell a friend.

They make an excellent gift.

Enjoy

Jennie

Collage calender

I organised craft at playgroup last week.  I had been collaging with Rosie on her easel using cut outs from magazines.  She enjoyed me gluing and her just sticking them on.

So I thought a collage month calender would be fun to do at playgroup. 

Take a look at the results and then I'll tell you what you need.

You will need:

coloured card (I used square scrapbooking size, larger than A4)

magazine cuttings

a copy of calender months (I just drew onto white paper a grid with the month of March on and photocopied it, you could do this or print one from the internet)

glue stick

hole pinch

ribbon

Then the fun begins...............

hole punch the card, top centre. 

glue the calender on

add their name if you like

then just let them pick the magazine cuttings

glue and stick

Tie ribbon through hole punch to hang the masterpiece

It's lots of fun

Enjoy

Jen

How to be an explorer of the world

I came across this book when I was looking for a secret Santa gift for my friend Emma.  She is soon to start a design course in Melbourne and I thought it would open the mind and get her exploring.

How to be an explorer of the world by Keri Smith



It's packed full of fun things to do and will appeal to any age.  Theres lots of things like I can do with Rosie (she's not even two) to make and play.

I like the the 'found paper' page.  It tells you to collect paper you find and then arrange it together. Singly they aren't that interesting but together they look good and what child doesn't like paper!

Found paper

I like the whole book but heres some of the pages...

World of colour, collect colour paint sample card you like and write what the colours remind you of

Miniature Ecosystem - collecting water from three different places in one jar
placing in a sunny window and watch / document the results

Grocery shopping - making list or collecting items that maybe are the same shape, colour, things you've never eaten before, all the types of cheeses etc.  It would be a fun one to keep the kids occupied whilst doing the grocery shopping.  It could be a competition for them.

Library exploration - picking an item and then going to the library so research  all about it, it maybe to collect pictures, make notes, sketch.  See what you can collect and present it as an installation.

It's full of thinking and observing projects that everyone can enjoy.  Check out Keri's website for this and her other very cool books.  I got mine from kinokuniya book store in Sydney city priced $19.95. www.kerismith.com
Thanks to Keri for letting me tell you about her book.

Enjoy

Jennie

Tree Child

If you are a grown up and love the Tree of Life store then you must visit their new Tree Child.  It's opened in Westfield Bondi Junction, in Sydneys Eastern Suburbs. Check out some of the beautiful things.

The beautiful shop front

Go in and colour a picture for their 'Touch of Love' project sponsoring children in India.

 http://www.treeoflife.com.au/Global-Love/a-touch-of-love

I'm sure you'll see more stores in the future.

http://www.treeoflife.com.au/

enjoy, Jennie

Bindi-eye bop

Margaret brings her grandson to my playgroup and is a talented singer and songwriter.  She's just self published a children's book filled with sixteen fun songs.  It also comes with a CD and is beautifully illustrated by her friend and artist Janet Selby.

Example page - Easter Bilby song

From jumping on trampolines, dodging bindi-eyes, caring from the environment and saving water.  It features echidnas, bilbies, dinosaurs, blowflies and cockatoos.

It's $25 including postage within Australia.  Check out http://www.margaretbradford.com/ or call Margaret on 0403 936 785 or Janet on 0421 369 707 to order your copy.

Enjoy, Jennie