A therapeutic cushion!

The short version of this blog post goes like this. Had a crap week, made an awesome cushion that made all the planets align and now I feel awesome {insert picture of totally blissed out Byron Bay earth mother cradling baby here}.

The long version goes like this......

I have had complete and utter life-fail this week. Like, COMPLETE meltdown stuff.

Everything I did sucked. From dropping everything I touched, insomnia, burning food, not having enough milk (and not the normal cow kind either if you get my drift...) panic attack central, somehow tangling the threads on my overlocker (?!?!?!), my blog went into free-fall when I deleted some html, general arguments over stupid things with Hubby and a new found phobia of snakes (well, the old lady over the road did have one in her letterbox so that one is kinda legit). My week has sucked. Big time. And to top it off? Hubby went to a titty bar this afternoon. Noice. Just what these saggy, lifeless boobies need. Some perky 18 year old competition. Even my daughter doesn't want them. Don't even get me started on that (I will most definately cry).

And did I mention that Hubby is a Kiwi and the frikin Rugby World Cup started tonight? Yes, woe is me.

There are other, bigger things that happened too which I won't go into here. But let's just say they are pretty pivotal and life changing. Enough to make me a hormonal nervous wreck. And before you ask, NO I am not pregnant. Ew, definately not. Ew. EW! Like wouldn't I like, have to, you know, do.....that...thing? Nope, definately not pregnant.

So while I was trying to scrape my blog back together (you like? It's all shiny and kinda new!) I found all these other reeeeeaaaalllly cool blogs that are doing exactly what I want to do if I ever get time ever, ever, ever again. Instead of being all cool and composed about it, the green-eyed monster came out and I have been super depressed ever since.

I haven't had the urge, want or need to sew all week. For the first time since MLL started I have no orders for bunting. Instead of being upset about the downturn in business I am breathing a sigh of relief. I can have creative headspace and do what I want for a little while. Which this week involved sleeping at odd hours and teaching myself html coding.

Then this afternoon I decided to finish a cushion I had started a week ago for my Spring range. There were bits here, bits there. I accidentally cut the wrong size peice of fabric 3 times. Yep, fail continues. I was trying to 'meet the market'. What would someone want to buy? Were there too many fabrics on the one cushion? Someone suggested doilies, which I had actually been toying with. Definately. Yep, doilies. But no, that didn't work either. After cutting the wrong size for the 4th time I looked at my ironing board, now totally covered in bits of odd shaped pink fabric. What on earth was the universe trying to tell me? Then I listened to my creative heart. I wanted to make a birdy cushion. I wanted to put ric-rac on it, make it zhooshy and girly. I wanted doilies, frills, roses, birds, shabby sewing, applique and it all had to be on the one cushion.

So I started to stitch. And I realised then that when I let myself go, when I made what I really, honestly wanted to make then I was happy. I played for ages with techniques that I had been meaning to try but didn't have time. Using thick upholstery thread, shabby style applique. I let my imagination run wild and when I realised how happy I was at that exact moment I knew that the cushion I was making I could never sell. At what price is happiness? No, this cushion was for my Minky. To say sorry for being a horrible, miserable Mummy this week. With each snagged thread or wonky seam I didn't care about un-picking it to make it sellable. After all it was for my baby girl, to say 'I love you', and a reminder to myself to be honest to my craft. Because that is what will make me happy in the end. So here it is.

Better go, Sonny Bill just had his shirt ripped off on the field. Poor Sonny......

J xx

If the dress fits...

I've been thinking for ages about a new direction. Left, right, straight ahead? Well a bit of each actually...

Since I this blog is a journal of my creative journey I will start with the basics.

I want to create. Design, sew, paint, draw, sing, dance etc. You name it. I want to work with colour and fabric. I want to create beautiful rooms from unique pieces. I want to make the old and dull full of life and colour.

No more sitting around reading interiors magazines and craft blogs. I AM going to do what I want.

Not sure if anyone has noticed but I have had a bit of a dilemma lately. I have felt for a long time that I want to have a go at making clothes, particularly for girls. But the market is swamped. Which kinda makes me think, well who am I really trying to please? You or me? I certainly don't making a living out of any of it so it has to be about making myself happy.

Girls' stuff is a natural progression for me as I have Minky who is now almost 8 months. Most of my friends have toddler girls too so there is an instant market for anything I make. But again, I don't really want to make to sell. And I don't want to be seen as following everyone else. If any moola comes from it then that's a bonus. It will really just fund my fabric addiction. I just want to create for the love of it. Having spent hours trawling e-patterns I have found a few cute ones that I will try, but for me it isn't so much about shmancy patterns but about colour and using awesome fabrics together to create fun clothes.

The other thing I want to do is more interior design focused. I'm about to embark on a custom order including a cushion. Not a huge deal but it's a tiny step in the direction I would like to see myself head. Could you imagine a whole coordinating My Little Lovebird Nursery range? Ooooooeeeeee!!! Yes please!

Anyways, back to dressmaking. I had a little practice run while I was on holidays. This was the outcome. Eek! Embarrassment time. My MIL gave me some old fabric to use. My French seams aren't perfect but I learnt a lot, like how to ruffle and use an overlocker.

So here goes. Please don't laugh!!

Cute pattern my MIL had at her place. For a first attempt EVER at sewing a dress it was bloody hard!!

First ever pillowcase dress! I even made my own bias. Awww clever me!

So that is that. Who knows what will pop up on my page in the coming months. I just have to repeat to myself 'do it because you love it. Do it for yourself'. That is what I really want.

J xxx

Things I have learnt

~ Follow your women's intuition
~ How to change a nappy
~ 4-7-8 breathing
~ You must water the veggie patch
~ Drive slowly and park carefully
~ Love makes everything better eventually
~ Use good scissors
~ Nothing good ever happens after 2am. Or midnight (thanks Dezza)
~ Riding a bike makes you feel really good
~ Wear sunscreen
~ What ISO means
~ How to type quickly
~ How to make a wicked cassarole with nothing in the fridge
~ There is always a positive in everything
~ Don't swim somewher you have pee'd
~ The correct way to use an apostrophe (but I always forget)
~ How to play "Need to give this broken heart away" by TBG on the guitar
~ Love is the best and the worst thing in the world
~ How to count to 10 in Japanese
~ How to lick my elbow
~ How to drive
~ Don't ever drink and call/text/email/facebook etc etc.
~ How to ski. Sorta
~ When in doubt, don't
~ The collective nouns for more things than anyone needs to know
~ The best places to get cheap designer fabric
~ How to fish
~ I am not always right
~ All the words to every Guns'n'Roses song
~ That the reason Noah took 2 of everything on the ark so they could then reproduce (had absolutely no idea of this fact until recently. Der)
~ How to lay floorboards
~ Where the best coffee on the Gold Coast is
~ The laundry will not do itself....
.....
........
..........
What I haven't learnt

~ What 'off-side' means
~ When to say no
~ How to walk away from the computer and do the housework

J x

Chickens and Eggs

It's been an interesting day in Facebook-land. It all started long, long ago.....

There were these frilly nappy covers. And doilies. And lace. And 'vintage' prints of cute things. Then came along some talented women who turned these things into hot, must-have items for little girls (and the odd boy). Now let's not forget that these are products made by Mums, for kids.

So this morning two very strange and coincidental things happened. Firstly, I found a new designer on FB who is making things very similar to a designer I already follow who has been around for yonks. I noticed the similarities and was going to email her (established designer, not the newbie) but thought i'd leave it, best not meddle. Ironically, this designer had already been alerted today to the fact that someone else completely different had indeed been finding quite a lot of 'inspiration' in her work. So much so that this person decided to almost identically replicate one of her designs and sell it on a popular site. By the time I had finished my coffee I felt so sorry for this poor woman. Here, by her own talent, she had effectively spawned a series of imitators. Or 'inspirations'. Call it what you will, there were undeniable similarities too close to call coincidence.

A third horrible thing then happened when I thought I'd check out my own page on said crafty-selling website. Lo and behold there is someone selling something incredibly similar to one of my own designs. I had NEVER EVER seen one of these particular 'things' before I started making them. And to make matters worse, it wasn't listed months ago, it was listed very recently, like yesterday. Very recently after I have listed very similar listings. Lsts use an example here. Say there are heaps of people selling teddy bears. They all have different clothes on them, some are blue, some are pink, some are big, some are small. Then I start making two-headed teddy bears. I didn't invent the teddy but I did add an extra head to it. Then lets say that within a few days another person starts selling two-headed teddy bears. How do I feel? (Besids making creepy toys, lets not even go there. Probably not the best analogy but it was all I could come up with!) Not only that but this person actually re-worded my text! The bloody nerve!!! Should I feel flattered? Trust me, there aint a huge market here for 'two-headed teddy bears'!!!

So here I was feeling all sorry for my fave designer when I too was kicked in the guts. It hasn't left me all day but has given me a lot to think about.

Is there a difference between 'design' and 'inspiration'? Can a true designer ever claim inspiration without a certain level of artistic credit going to the original object?

We aren't coming up with completely unique ideas here folks. Yes, we put our own very personalised marks on things. This is what makes a designer different from an inventor. None of us invented the ruffled nappy cover, pinny or embellished baby singlet. Hell, I didn't invent bunting but I mix and match certain bits and call them certain things. Nor did anyone invent the dress but it is what that person adds to it that makes it unique. We certainly aren’t the first to up-cycle doilies or make yo-yos or appliqué singlets. Unless you own copyright over a certain image then it is free for all. But it is what you do with it that counts. Or what you don't do with it more to the point. If you are going to use a very distinctive motif then be sure it hasn't been done before. Any credibility you have as a designer will be instantly dismissed, no matter how genuinely original you think you may have been. Research people - sadly someone has probably already done what you want to do.

Today I have been left with an eerie feeling that all this 'niceness' on Facebook can sometimes be a facade for something simmering just below the surface. Or perhaps that is just because I have been hurt and bullied before and I am the cynical one. (I was going to mention bullying here but that is another blog post entirely).

At the end of the day we have to remember who we are doing this for. It might be our own small businesses but our products are for children. Babies. Little people who look up to us as role models.

Oh and if you want to take 'inspiration' from my designs or anyone elses, a final word. Don't make it so bleedingly bloody obvious!

To Market, To Market...

Agh! Another week almost gone. I started writing this blog on Monday and now it is Thursday. Time flying and all that jazz...

~Practice Market @ home~

Well I did it. What an achievement for this little piggy. Last Sunday, 5th June I officially took My Little Lovebird to the public, like, real live people, not just computer people. It was at The Upper Market which is a fairly new market in a school not far from where I live on the Gold Coast.

To say I was nervous would be lying my tits off. I barely slept the night before and when I arrived I wanted to turn around and run, or hide behind my husband (who desperately wanted to get out of there. I think the crafty ladies scared him!)

But I didn't run. Or hide, well, I hid behind my table for a bit but then got brave. And had a triple-shot skim latte so talked my pants off. And I loved every last tiny minute of it!

Here is my little stall.....

Lovebird started when Chloe was about 5 weeks old. Many close to me must have thought I had lost the plot somewhere between giving birth and all those night feeds. I had a newborn baby, my first. She had colic, silent reflux and didn't sleep. But I was bloody determined that I was going to make this little dream of mine work. It was just funny timing that's all.

4 months of days and nights spent huddled over the sewing machine, cursing each mistake and unpicking 3m of bunting over and over. Turning the dining area into a rainbow of colour, cotton and loose threads. Oh and did I mention completely renovating the living and dining with new floors, paint etc while having my in-laws stay for 3 weeks?

My husband has been amazing through it all, poor bloke. There were days/weeks I could see the look on his face, wishing he had his house back and not the sweatshop that it had become. Wondering why I was doing it all. He has cooked, cleaned, been the best Daddy to Minky. I couldn't have done it without his amazing support (love you babe).

I don't know if it was a reaction to the fear of post-natal depression but something very deep inside me has refused to let failure be an option this time. I was and still am, a prime candidate for it and wether it be subconsciously or not, MLL and sewing have been my saviours.

I didn't sell much at the markets but I don't care. I feel like it was the first box to tick off in my new life. Mother, tick! Wife, tick! Crafter, tick! Business owner and runnerer, tick! Markets, tick! Those who knew me in my 'old life', well lets just say she is dead and buried. And I will never look back.

This is the real me.

For the first time in my life I 'AM' something to be proud of.

J xxx

Time

I don't know how to do it all sometimes. I want to dedicate so much time to my little business but feel like I am neglecting Minky.

We have just started her on solids so the last few weeks has been a mix of hanging my boob over a bowl of rice cereal, pumpkin from one end of the Goldy to the other and sweet potato being blown through raspberry lips.

As much as I am loving it, it is a reminder that life is changing so much. Why on earth did I think it was a good idea starting a bloody business when this little thing came along? I have never sewn in my life before nor worked for myself and sold things. Or had a baby. Am I truly mad?!?!

Had a total complete breakdown yesterday. I had to go to Medicare, Spotlight, buy a new element for the oven which hasn't worked for months, get Minky's passport and go to the post office.... then realised my drivers license expired last week. F#%K!!!!!!! Have you ever tried getting a baby in and out of the car THAT many times between feeds?

Of course it all didn't get done and we both ended up driving home crying. Me in the front, Minky in the back. And she didn't get her lunch because we were so late.

I returned home to a house that resembles a sweat-shop come chinese laundry. The cats were curled up asleep on the lounge where I had left them. Nice work guys.

But the ideas keep coming and I can't shut them out. How on earth does one manage all this? I have more creative energy than ever but less time.

I managed to get to the post office just before 5. When I was driving up there, a big cloud covered the sun, and gold and silver shone brightly around it. Thanks universe. Sometimes you can hear me after all.

So I still haven't got an oven element, passport for Minky and the cats are still asleep on the lounge but my darling baby ate apple for the first time today and the look on her face was divine. That makes up for it all.

xx

Stomp, stomp, stomp...

I am a bit interested (and slightly mad) at this new phenomenon on Facebook involving a certain page that involves 'marching' through other peoples pages to get more fans.

At the risk of offending everyone out there, I am rather proud that I have come this far on my own talent and self promotion. I don't need to pimp my business to get more 'likers' who really just want to get more numbers for themselves.

I like the pages I like on FB because I actually, genuinely like them (wow, lots of like's there). And I hope they like me for what I do too.

Promoting yourself on Mummy Tree etc is one thing, but needing a whole army of 'troops' to boost your likers? I'll stick to hard work thanks.

What I lurve

I am hopelessly in love with so many things at the moment. I have never been so inspired, so full of creative energy. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

So I made a list. As you do!

The list is mainly comprised of pages/people I have met through FB and subsequently blogs, etsy stores, madeit stores, markets... Oh my! It goes on and on and on....

I feel like I have been re-born into this crafty movement. I have turned into a circa 1950s housewife, mother, sewing fanatic and I LOVE it!!

I had a horrible dream last night about packing up my house and having to move interstate. Horrible I tell you! But in reality it's ok because A. I am not moving, and B. Everything I have grown to love is on the internets. Isn't it great??!

So here is The List, not in any particular order, of what is making me so squeekily happy at the moment. Drum roll.....

~ Frilly nappy covers. I know, I know, I am late to the bus stop on that one. But hey, ruffles on a little bum are so cute. Tell me they're not??

~ Fabric. Oh lordy, fabric. Soft and floraly, stripy and bright. You name it. I love the feel of it, the folds when it's fresh out of the envelope in the mail. I keep even the tiniest winciest offcuts. I'm scared my cat will eat one and choke.

~ Dresses for Minky. Am I brave enough to start making them? Refer to above point. Bunting just isn't enough to satisfy my crafty-fabric loving ways at the moment.

~ Crafty blogs. Don't have time to mention them all here but sheesh, there are some rippers. That's another bloggy entry all together.

~ Boys stuff. There just isn't enough of it and I want more!!

~ Vintage childrens book illustrations and cartoons. I am getting some serious inspiration from the past.

(from Sweet Eye Candy Creations)

~ This crazy little blonde thing. AND this dress by Here Kitty Kitty (I can't even put it in the cupboard it's so pretty)

Do I really have to say more??!

Kids v's Design

I'm blogging when I should be putting the washing on the line. I'm blogging when Minky is asleep and I should be having a shower. I'm blogging instead of making a coffee. Oh, hang on that last one IS important, back in a sec....

*sip* Ah that's better!

So much to catch up on, so little time. I keep thinking about all these cool things I am going to write about and how I will become the next really interesting person on blogger. Alas Minky keeps me too busy and I am trying to juggle home, sewing and all that. So for now my interesting-ness will have to stay in my own head and be drip fed to you all one post at a (far in between) time.

One thing that I have been thinking about lately though is kid's rooms. Funny that, since I spend most of my day and night in one. I read an article somewhere, maybe Home Beautiful or the SMH or somewhere about a new kid's store opening up in Sydney around Dank Street. Without going into too much detail it basically put forward the idea that people who have mega-trendy homes need mega-trendy rooms for their little ones so they can keep their bedroom doors open without being embarrassed. Why should you let a children's messy, Dora splattered room spoil the overall aesthetic of your shiny, Eames filled inner city terrace? I had to laugh at the photo of this shop. Honestly it had about 3 things on the shelves, none of which the average toddler would find even moderately interesting. I'd be terrified of letting a 3 year old loose in there in case he/she left muddy footprints on the shiny white polished concrete floors! Most 6 year old girls would rather stare at their own reflection, play with their hair and wonder what to dress Barbie in when she got home than admire the fine lines of the retro-inspired foot stools (something apparently kid's reeeealy need in their bedroom).

So it got me thinking about how our own design ideas filter though to our babies rooms. From the initial stages of planning a 'nursery' right up to teenage rooms (the latter I will not *thank GOD* have to experience for a long while yet).

Having a strong passion for design, colour and interiors didn't sway me to make Minky's room 'fit' with the style of the rest of the house. She is a baby, babies need baby rooms. She didn't need a $3000 cot, Swedish bed linen or wall art that would be more at home in the Tate Modern. She needed a cuddly cot, white just to keep it simple, soft fluffy toys and a comfy chair for me to sit in. I kept it neutral with splashes of bright red and green as we didn't know if bub was a he or a she. And the rest I made myself.

Sure, I had off cuts from Cloth fabric which I turned into cushion covers but I always kept it child friendly. Bright. Soft. Not hard and stark. My baby needed a warm coocoon not a reminder that Mum and Dad were at the forefront of cutting edge 'staarl' and just itching to be featured in the next Vogue Living.

Kiddies need a bedroom that is inviting. So what if they want to splash Barbie from one end to another? Have Bratz dolls curtains and a Dora doona cover? Let them be kids. They don't understand the difference between Bebe Jou and the Wiggles. They just care that little Jack next door gets a Ben 10 sheet set and they are stuck with plain white bamboo-organic-dye-free-fun-free sheets that won't scream bad taste when their bedroom door is left open.

My antidote to all this silliness was to hand make a heap of stuff and recycle things from the shed (shock horror!). I've mentioned the birdy mobile before, and also my cushions. My dear friend crocheted a blankie and I made my first bunting. Minky got thousands of teddy bears when she was born, so they adorn every corner and shelf. There is an old set of drawers that I put in there. They were the first thing I bought when I moved out of home 12 years ago, and now they are hers. I didn't even get time to paint them. Her big designer pieces are a $18 lamp from Ikea and a wardrobe of French clothing her Grandma bought from ozsale.com.au. Other than that my aim was to have a place she would feel safe and happy.

The end result was something that I am proud of because I put MY heart and soul into it for MY daughter. And if it is a mess, well then I guess it does match the rest of the house, and I will keep that door wide open to show the world that I have a baby, and her comfort and enjoyment of her surrounds means more to me than anything else. See how it has evolved below...

So if you really want to integrate your children’s room with the rest of the house, stop and think for a moment. Will it really give them an advanced sense of style at age 3 or just make them feel sad they don't have a fun bedroom they can relate too? Bring on Dora I say.

Minky's first cot photo - I was so proud of this.

And after a few months of settling in, it's much pinker.

Inspiration, where art thou??

I haven't blogged as I am having one of those moments/weeks where I question my ability/inspiration etc etc. Am I good enough to sell? Why can't I come up with any new ideas? I think the FB fraternity were recently calling it 'loosing your sew-jo'. Well I thought I had lost mine.

Until.......(I've never blogged about another business before so please forgive me if I haven't given enough credit)....

Sipping my morning coffee and opening my FB page one of two amazing things happened.

Firstly, somehow, somewhere along the way I have accumulated 200 'likers'! That is 200 individual, special, lovely people who have stopped by my page, looked at my things and said lovely words about them. I honestly feel so totally and utterly undeserving, yet proud and motivated at the same time. What a cool morning this is!

Then, among the last 199 or so visitors to my page was a business that has totally re-ignited my passion. Photos so pretty I got all giddy inside. Images with such delicate, pure beauty I am almost ready to become a florist myself!! I am talking about Velvet Lily Florist who are based in Melbourne. Their Wall Photo gallery contains daily inspirational images of based around wedding photos and floral design. Even if you aren't in the market for a wedding florist (such as my happily-married-self) their exquisite collection of shots are sure to pique your interest.

My dream has always been to provide a snippet of daily inspiration to you, my readers. Wether it be a photo or other tid-bit, I have wanted to keep an online journal that gradually accumulates to be a nice little place for people to visit to be refreshed and inspired. Unfortunately having a new baby means that some days I don’t even get to shower let alone blog, but we will keep that dream in the pipeline!! Velvet Lily have nailed it though.

I have a bit of a secret that I will let you in on. I am a wedding connoisseur. Lover of all things lacy, floral, shiny and happy. The pureness of love and innocence that is reflected in a couples wedding through all those tiny details just sends me over the threshold! Those who know me personally will already be aware of my Royal wedding dress-up last Friday night in which I squeezed myself back into my wedding gown. Every time I go to a wedding I am the first in tears and the one taking photos of every flower, table arrangement, goodie bag there is in sight.

More than that, I think I have a slight obsession with whimsical photography. The way a single image can change my entire day is so powerful. The two I have included here have really touched me in two entirely different ways.

This picture by Three Nails Photography confirms my belief I should have been born in a Jane Austen novel. My life would have been that of picking wild roses, sitting in front of a fireplace doing cross-stich waiting for Mr Darcy to come and sweep me off my feet.

This next one by inspires me in a totally different way. The same way reading Country Style does. Instantly I am whisked off to a fresh country laneway, bright sunshine in my eyes, crisp air filling me up with all things good, wholesome and yummy. Tell me you wouldn't want to be here! (Adrianne Smith Floral & Jennifer Dery photo)

My head is now floating in the clouds surrounded by fluffy David Austen roses, lavender, sweet peas and poppies!

These are the tip of the iceberg! I can't wait for my daily image from these girls to come floating into my FB news feed. Thank you for my first dose. Sew-jo has liftoff!!!

♥

The Handmade Originality Pledge

Something that has been playing on my mind for ages is copyright of handmade products on Facebook.

I've mentioned before about the amazing online community of WAHM's that has sprung up (particularly in QLD for some reason). I spend hours looking at gorgeous things for babies and kids and often think 'oh I could make that'. And there is that line. Do you go and make something because it is easier and cheaper? Do you do it because it gives you more satisfaction than buying it in the first place? Or do you buy it from the person selling it?

I first encountered this when I was looking for a mobile for my daughters room. There was one that I had seen in a shop that was handmade, but it was a few hundred dollars, and there was no way that I would pay that for what it was. I scoured madeit, etsy and the like for something similar but couldn't find anything I liked. There were loads of mobiles, but nothing fitted the look I wanted. So in the end I bought some fabric and made one myself, taking inspiration from both the expensive one I saw in the shop, and also others online. It took a few weeks in between feeding/washing/sleeping with a 4 week old baby but in the end I had personalised it and made it myself and was really proud.

Loads of friends said I should make more and sell them but my conscious has told me not to. It wasn't my idea 100% and I felt that it wouldn't be fair to capitalise on it.

However the creative bug had found me and had to keep sewing. I had seen bunting popping up all over the place and thought it would be easy enough to make. So off to Spotlight I headed. I spent ages trying to perfect the right shape, length, colours etc. to make mine just perfect for Minky's room and when I finished it I was proud as punch. I didn't use a pattern or copy a picture, I just let my basic sewing skills guide me through and in the end came up with my own idea.

Now I am in the process of playing with lots of different embellishments on my bunting and am so proud of all the little bits I have put together. I am really hesitant however to put it on Facebook. What if someone copies me? Sure, I didn't invent bunting but I have put together some cool combinations of things that are all my own idea.

I have also invented a new product that involves singlets. I am not going to say more now, but I have already spoken to friends in marketing about potential copyright, but again, there isn't much I can do, and it will undoubtedly be copied. So do I make this product or not? Who do I go to if it gets stolen?

Go to any markets these days and there are so many bibs, frilly nappy covers, baby singlets with bits on them, softies etc. It is so hard to come up with an original idea.

I have made a few baby singlets and love playing with lacey bits and frills but I don't think I will seriously make them to sell as my major product because there is so much out there that is samesy already. I have a stack of doilies I stumbled upon on ebay ready to put on my frilly singlets, but after a recent trip to my local market saw that there is already sooooo many out there. It isn't worth my time to try and break into that market. I thought I was being original by threading ribbon through the neckline of bonds singlets but within a week I found someone else doing the same thing. I also thought using a particular fabric was also original but saw 3 others the same within a week too. Damn Spotlight is too popular!(Having said that, they are so fun to make that I will use up what I already have but no more after that!!)

It is hard to be creative in a modern, small world. But there is similarity due to popular styles and there is blatantly stealing an idea.

So when I found this today, I had to share it. The Contemporary Handmade Alliance has started a pledge for all crafters to keep it real. I have signed it and am promising to only exhibit my own, original ideas. I hope others follow by example too. It is such a great market that has been created and it should be respected for what it is.

I am proud of my designs. They usually come to me surfing the net looking at fabric websites, but more often than not it is when I am feeding Minky at 2am, in the dark, alone with my thoughts.

True, honest creativity comes from within. ♥

I am in love!

Amy Butler is a new love of mine. She is a surface and fabric designer from the US who uses bright colours and floral inspired motifs to create bags, quilts and clothing.

These are two photos of her work I love. Want that bag!