Not much crafting has been done this week - we’ve all been struck by the flu bug and even the newest member of our family is battling a stuffy nose, watery eyes and mild fever. So it’s a good thing that lots of little packages arrived to brighten up an otherwise miserable week.

While flicking through Etsy the other day looking for potential gifts for my Mum and sister-in-law, I found some gorgeous chunky bracelets by Wendy. I instantly fell in love with the colours and design of her “Beautiful Bead Charm Bracelet” range and picked out 2 as gifts and one for me (heehee!). The bracelets arrived in sweet liittle pouches. Here’s my bracelet (and pouch) and I must say that the photo doesn’t do the bracelet much justice! It’s beautifully crafted and well-made. Check out her Etsy shop here.

The second parcel I received came from the wonderful Cia’s Palette - I just adore her fabric collection! Plus Cia provides such excellent customer service - I will definitely be returning to her online store to add to my fabric stash in the future. Meanwhile, these beautiful and fun pieces will now be residing in my studio:

I’ve been hoping to refresh my wool felt stash for a while now but have had some trouble finding a local supplier that produces wool felt in the colours I’m after. After visiting this wonderful blog, I found out about A Child’s Dream Come True, which stocks an awesome range of wool felt. So I decided to give it a go. The package arrived and it was a nice surprise to see that the felt pieces were actually bigger than what I can get over here in Melbourne, and the quality (100% wool from Holland) is second to none.

And finally, I received my little package of vintage buttons that I won on eBay. I adore them all!

Okay, so now that my craft supply has been re-stocked, there are no more excuses to prevent me from getting through my TO DO list. Oh, except this flu thing of course . . .

Finally finished the first batch of the new version of my Baby Chibi dolls. These were so much fun to put together!

Please meet Rosita. She’s made from a gorgeous Robert Kauffman print, wool felt, vintage button and polyfill. She’s named after my mother-in-law who is arguably the Op Shop (or Thrift Store) Queen! So if you like to thrift, this little one will make some good company on your thritfing expeditions :-)

This is Freya. She adores birds. In fact, she carries a little mod-bird in her hands wherever she goes. She’s made of a beautiful Alexander Henry print, wool felt, polyfill, and the mod-bird has embroidered features.

And this is Beatriz, named after my paternal Grandmother who, although is a tough and resilient woman at 90 years old, is still a real softie at heart :-) Beatriz is also made from a retro Robert Kauffman print, wool felt, polyfill, and funky lilac buttons. She’d make a nice little present to someone you consider to be a real softie too!

For more images of each one, please see my Original Chibi Doll set on Flickr. These 3 little ones are available in my shop.

I know it’s Wednesday but I hardly ever have time to post anything on Fridays plus we’re having some lovely winter sunshine at the moment and I had to take advantage of the great lighting :-)

Here is the current state of the floor in my studio - piles of new baby chibi dolls waiting to be pieced together, embroidered and stuffed. I’ve used fabric from my 2 favourites, Robert Kauffman and Alexander Henry.

At the top of the photo you’ll see some slogans I’ve made for each baby chibi to ‘hold’ (yes, I’m planning on making quite a few!). It was a lot of fun thinking them up and incorporating some of my favourite proverbs from around the world. The chibi on the left and right in the photo above will be holding a slogan while the chibi in the middle will simply be holding the mod-bird printed on the fabric. I’ll be embroidering the mod-bird to give it a bit of texture and interest.

And here’s some goodness that just arrived in my mailbox - 70s vintage pre-loved fabric won on eBay. I’ll be using these for my new Shmerpi creatures that will be heading to Morphe II next month and what’s left will be used on more chibi dolls!

While waiting for some new fabric for my new Shmerpi creatures to arrive, I decided to work on my Baby Chibi dolls, which were the very first softies I made. The original four were inspired by my eldest daughter, Ava. I found these 2 photos of her recently - the first is her at 3 months old and the second is her at 18 months of age.

Using these as inspiration as well as the spirit of Japanese kawaii, I came up with this small sketch on the back of an envelope. I wanted to make something rounder and more ‘compact‘ than the original dolls.

And here is the final creation - Baby Chibi Version 2.

She’s made of wool felt, a wool-blend fabric for the body (that I love), embroidery floss, buttons, and cotton applique from one of my favourite Japanese farbrics. I’m really happy with the way she’s turned out - much like my little sketch. Like the original Baby Chibi dolls, this newer version still focuses on the fabric.

I’ll be quietly working away on more of these over the next few days - that’s the plan anyway! My 2 real-life chibis may have other ideas . . .

My little newborn has decided to start catnapping during the day which means I’m running into her room every 1/2 hour trying to get her back to sleep. During those moments of calm while I wait for her to wake up again, I’ve stumbled across some awesome creations via Flickr.

Here are some of my favourites:

1. Gorgeous Collage Paper Dolls by Yael Fran.

2. Delightful Paper Illustrations by Green Bean Baby. Her blog includes a tutorial so you make one yourself!

3. Beautiful Paper and Paint Craft by Wishes & Heros:

4. Colourful Rag Dolls by JoyBucket:

Here’s what I received from Carina as a result of our swap:

The cat is simply adorable - love her happy face! And I love the printed fabric pieces and the cute little outfit for my newborn. Thanks so much Carina!!

I finally had an hour with which to do some crafting the other day and I wanted to make something for my Obsterician as a thank-you gift. I was really hoping to put together a patchwork-quilted tote but it soon became evident that there was no way I was going to finish it within an hour! So I transformed it into a simple table mat instead - something colourful to spruce up a little corner of her home or office.

I love the log-cabin pattern - hoping to make more log-cabin things in the near future. But first, I really, really must get started on some Shmerpi creatures! Oh, and I really need to stop being distracted by this and this and this :-) (found via this equally beautiful blog).