{“132/365 - bench monday - autumn sunshine” by xanthe berkeley}

Pip posted a list of Nice Things To Do this morning . I thought it was such a nice thing to do to close off the week!

So here’s a list of nice things I have done and hope to continue doing:

: listen to music you loved in high-school but haven’t listened to in years
: sit on the banks of a river and stare at the ripples in the water in silence
: eat a freshly-made cinnamon & sugar covered pretzel for breakfast
: watch previous seasons of your favourite comedy show again
: sacrifice something of value in order to help someone else
: teach your kids one of your favourite songs to sing
: go for a nice slow run outdoors with no time limits
: receive a Peace that passes all understanding
: listen to kids tell jokes that don’t make sense
: accept help from others with a grateful heart
: receive comforting cuddles from your kids
: stand in the sunshine on a chilly morning
: be in the company of genuine friends
: eat a cupcake without interruption
: learn a new language
: watch a sunrise
: paint your nails
: pray

Have you got a list of nice things to share too?

Happy Friday all!

Spent some time re-arranging my Flickr sets today. I now have separate sets dedicated to:

My Fawns:

My Woodland Dolls:

My Owls:

And my Peg Bears and Bunnies:

Seriously, I was quite surprised when I collated all the Peggies into one set - I can’t believe I have made so many of these little gals and guys!

Actually, I can’t believe I have made hundreds of softies over the last 3 or so years. How many kilos of stuffing would that equate to I wonder. Not to mention the number of thread spools and metres of fabric used. So weird. Not that I am complaining of course - I have enjoyed bringing every single one these characters to life.

Apart from making it easier to find certain toys, creating these new sets also helps me to ensure that 1) I do not use the same fabric on the same kind of softie, and 2) I don’t use the same name twice! :-)

I ♥ Flickr!

I’m always thankful for good news and just wanted to share this with you:

Yes, Craft Hope’s book, put together by Jade Sims, is now available for pre-order from Amazon!!! Most of you already know of Craft Hope and its purpose. The book (“Handmade Crafts for a Cause”) extends this by providing a number of projects contributed by crafters from all over the world and then matches each project with a charity/cause. The result is an inspirational resource for practical ways to share handmade love with people in need.

Jade (one of the nicest and coolest people I have met in the virtual craft community) has put a lot of effort, time, and heart in to this book. I feel very privileged to have been able to contribute a few simple projects. This includes my Ruby Dolls - which you can see happily sitting on the cover above (*girl squeal!!!*).

Pre-order here!

In the same spirit of Craft Hope, you might also want to read this excellent article on Make & Meaning: What’s Your Creative Mission?

It’s finally Friday! What a week. It’s been filled with craziness so it feels good to be excited about a few things like the book above; an upcoming interstate trip to hang out with an incredible bunch of genuinely good friends; taking up a new interest; travel possibilities next year (very excited about this!); and the Run for Kids event next Sunday, where I’ll be participating - I’m looking forward to being in the midst of that wonderful fun-run atmosphere once again :-) Any other crafters going to Run for Kids too?

Continuing the countdown to Glee’s return next month, here’s another favourite musical number from the show.

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (originally by the Rolling Stones). And if you go over here, you can see the actual performance after Rachel’s solo (for a limited time before it gets taken down again :-)).

Happy Friday/weekend all!

P.S. My etsy shoppe re-opens this Sunday and 3 new fawns will be available then!

Fawns are still in progress but getting closer to completion. I’ll be re-opening my etsy shoppe this Sunday and the fawns will be available for purchase then. Next week: A batch of grumpy owls on tree stumps :-)

I’m slowly working through all the blogs in my Reader (although current unread items still stands at 1000+!) and so far I have come across some real gems that I thought I’d share here:

>> A beautiful pattern by Yasmine entitled “Little Princesses”. I think this would look gorgeous as a little girl’s dress, on cushions, or used to upholster one of those kid-sized armchairs:

{image credit: A Print A Day}

>> Stunning handmade and hand-painted art dolls based on Alice in Wonderland by Cart Before the Horse (via Plush You)

{image credit: Cart Before the Horse}

>> “Garden Nest” is definitely my favorurite Amy Sol painting to date. She also provides in-progress photos, which make me just as happy as seeing the finished piece!

{image credit: Amy Sol}

>> Poketo’s new range of Paper-cut Wallets - especially this one by Jayme McGowan:

{image credit: Poketo}

>> The colourful work by Simon Wild, particularly this mixed media piece “The Sounds That Brilliant Things Make”

{image credit: Simon Wild}

>> Speaking of brilliant, I am continually floored (and once I pick myself off the floor - inspired) by the softie characters created by Jodie of Ric-Rac. It’s very hard to believe she suffers from EITTTS at all! :-)

{image credit: Ric-Rac}

>> The re-styled Shakira dress on Burdastyle. Love the colour! (But pretty sure I couldn’t pull that off myself - might opt for a darker palette and tiny bit longer too . . . that is, once I get over this fear of actually making my own clothes!)

{image credit: Burdastyle}

>> I also LOVE this Colette dress (Ceylon) that Teegs made. Doesn’t she look gorgeous! I’ve got that Colette pattern on my Must-Make List.

{image credit: Teegs}

Is it only Tuesday?! It’s already been a crazy week. I can’t wait to go for a run tonight in much cooler temps. Hello Autumn my dear friend, how wonderful of you to drop by again!!

The next batch of fawns are coming along slowly but surely. I hope to have them up in my shop in a week or so. Here’s a sneak peak of one currently being stuffed . . .

Just wanted to also remind you that tomorrow is the last day that you will be able to redeem the special Mooo 20% discount for all One Red Robin readers! Don’t forget to hop on over there tonight for a last look around :-)

Also, the deadline for your dolly donations to the Haitian Orphanage supported by The Abundant Ground Foundation is fast approaching - they require the dollies in their office in New York by March 14 March 31. I am hoping to finish my little Ruby dolls by tomorrow night and ship them off early next week.

Thank you for the sweet comments on the girls’ craftiness last week :-) Holly shared a fantastic article on twitter: “Crafting Rich Experiences for our Children on a Frugal Budget” on Simple Mom. The article provides a clear definition of “rich” in the context of a child’s experience; how to go about creating such a rich experience for them; and some really good ideas if you are of the frugal persuasion :-) Definitely worth a read! (The comments on the article are very good too!)

I had an opportunity this past week to go and see a movie child-free. I rolled up to the movie theatre and picked “The Blind Side“, simply because I had heard Sandra Bullock was in it and she had done a fantastic job. And it was the only movie on at the time. I had no idea what it was actually about.

The opening scene showed an American football game and for the tiniest second I wondered if I should cut my losses and leave because I know nothing about American football. I watched a few football games when I lived in the USA back in high school, but I never understood it then and I am certainly none the wiser now!

I’m glad I gave the movie a few more minutes though . . . because I think it is the best movie I have seen in a long time. I won’t spoil the story for you except to say it is based on a true story and it really touched my heart - I found myself crying out of both sorrow and joy. I came away thinking a lot about motherhood; the limitations we knowingly and unknowingly place on the concept of love; and a renewed sense of hope in humanity (after having to personally deal with a hellish two months).

For those of you interested, here is the trailer:

Hope to be back with some finished fawns very soon!

I know this little pile of fabric doesn’t look like much at the moment:

But it will soon be magically transformed into some fawns :-)

It’s funny that in Sunday’s post I was struggling with inspiration and just getting on with it, and tonight I find myself raring to go.

The spark? I recalled that on the weekend the girls and I made up some plaster magnets. My eldest, who recently turned 6, received one of those cute make-it-yourself kits for her birthday. They had been asking me all week, “When are we gonna make these? When? When? . . . When?!” and we finally broke open the box on Sunday afternoon.

Lots of newspapers strung about, lots of accidentally painted hands (and faces . . . and floorboards, whoops!), lots of mess, and lots of fun. After a few hours, we had some new fridge magnets and two girls who were very happy with what they had made.

The following photos were taken by my 3-year-old (quite the little photographer I will admit!):

And so I was reminded how wonderful and exciting it is to get stuck into something new. I’ve been working on completing half-done projects lately and it was getting stale. Time to work on some softies from scratch again; let’s start from the very beginning (and as Julie Andrews would agree, a very good place to start :-)). So new fawns - from scratch - are on the way. And perhaps next week, a completely new softie design, or two :-)

I adore these girls . . .

. . .  the two little souls who keep me afloat at a time when it would be easier to be consumed by the waves.

What a week. I have found myself sitting at my sewing machine every night staring into the distance with no motivation whatsoever to work on any of the half-finished projects sitting my craft room. Let’s just call it the week of “Bleh.”

I’ve been looking for some inspiration and Flickr is always a good place to start. Here are my recent Flickr favourites from some of my favourite creative peeps:

1. You wanna mess with these colors?, 2. spring branches, 3. craft hope dolls, 4. Little lady, 5. Niño-azul-rayas_3, 6. WAWAYA bunka#7, 7. face embroidery, 8. FUNKY FUNGI in the Forest of Shrooms, 9. ram - second try, 10. Traveler, 11. Untitled, 12. Baltimore the Walrus Love=Creature, 13. Fu Doll Print - Framed, 14. Grumpy Girl Hero, 15. juliette, 16. Fangtasia

Some didn’t appear in the Mosaic so please follow the links to see them. I’m hoping to be a lot more productive - and motivated - this week :-)

So lots of people have been asking me about this whole Tiger Woods apology business. Did you see it? I don’t talk about celebrity scandals on this blog but please indulge me while I say a few words just about this one. My heart really goes out to his wife Elin and their kids - I cannot even imagine the pain she is having to deal with on a daily basis knowing that her husband chose (yes it is a deliberate choice, not some kind of accident) to cheat with so many women.

Is his apology sincere? Only time can prove sincerity and a real change of heart. However, an apology without immediate changes in behaviour and deliberate action to do what is right, are also empty words.  The only two things that I would commend him for: 1) he defended the integrity of his wife in public, and 2) he is getting professional help.

And lastly, I do hope the media will stop giving so much attention to all the mistresses. Seriously, who cares? Some of them say they deserve an apology. How about they personally apologise to Elin? And THEN to her kids? How about that? Consider the depth of narcissism, selfishness, and lack of respect that would make someone think it is okay to sleep with another woman’s husband - especially if there are kids involved. It is NEVER okay. Let those mistresses fade into utter and complete obscurity. Be done with them.

So now that I’ve got that off my chest, I promise this will be the first and last time I mention Tiger Woods on this blog :-)

But I can’t end this post on such an unhappy note.

I know there are a lot of Gleeks who read this blog and I am sure you are counting down the weeks until the show returns in April. So, every few days I’m going to post up one of my favourite musical numbers from the season until its return in April.

First up, a number from my favourite character, Rachel (played by Lea Michele). I can relate to her ‘under-dog, so-not-popular‘ character in so many ways :-) The only difference is that I am completely tone-deaf and can make babies cry when I sing, whereas Rachel OWNS every single song she sings. She is simply amazing.

Here’s one of my favourite Rachel solos, and given my rough week, I think the song title is very fitting :-)

“Don’t Rain on my Parade” (originally sung by Barbra Streisand from ‘Funny Girl’ (1964))

Back to hopefully less random posts this week :-) Have a great one!

Still working through my half-finished-projects-from-last-year pile. After a few quiet nights of sewing and stuffing, February the Fawn is finally ready to be sent to her new home:

It’s been a tough few days so it feels great to have actually completed another project and to cross it off the list! Have to focus on the wins!

Thank you for the wonderful participation in the Mooo $50 Voucher giveaway (and gracious comments on my poetic skillz - or lack thereof!). It was fun to read through your top picks. I personally am a sucker for personalised stationery, the wooden puzzles and the wall stickers :-)

So enough with the suspense! Here is the winner (picked randomly):

31. Comment by Samelia — February 14, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
Great website with so much to see and buy.
I particularly loved the chalkboard stickers and I can imagine my little girl would love them too.

Congratulations Samelia!! I will be in contact with you soon with the voucher details!

If you missed out on the voucher, not to worry! Why? Because Mooo are generously offering all One Red Robin readers a 20% discount!!!

This discount will be valid until February 28th so if you were thinking of buying some goodies from Mooo, hop on over there now and use this promotion code during checkout to ensure the discount applies: redrobin20

Thanks again to Ben and the team at Mooo for their generosity!

Let me ask, if I may
Have you heard of Mooo?
You say
And what is Mooo, perhaps a clue?

And yes I say, you must see
What you can find
Lovely gifts of different kinds
And puzzles for all growing minds

Stickers, labels, even bags
T-shirts, invites, and little tags
None ever quite the same
Each will bear a special name

And look! Here there lies
A $50 voucher surprise
For one lucky comment made
On this post, don’t hesitate!

Just go to Mooo and look around
Find one thing liked most of all
Then comment here on what you’ve found.
Picked at random.

That is all.

———–
Hope you enjoyed that little poem of sorts and hope it made sense! Please leave your comments on what you liked best on the Mooo website on this post by midnight Tuesday 16th February (Aussie EST) and I will announce the randomly picked winner on Wednesday. Thanks to Ben and the team at Mooo for this generous giveaway via my blog!

After much procrastination, I spent some time on Spoonflower this week and set up my little fabric shop :-)

I’ve received a lot of enquiries about my fabric designs and whether I would have more on sale. Admittedly I am quite hopeless when it comes to ordering things online, then waiting for it to arrive, then cutting it all up, then packaging it, then sending it out again :-)

Thankfully Spoonflower recently opened up the ability to sell your designs directly from their website. All you need to do is register/login, pick the design you want, pick the base cloth, choose the size of your order, and make a payment via Paypal. Spoonflower will ship it to you directly. Easy peasy lemon squeasy (as my kids would say!). And there are so many gorgeous designs to choose from within the Spoonflower community.

So here are the designs that are currently available from my Spoonflower shop:

Find them all here: Spoonflower: Fabric by Jhoanna Monte

I would love to see anything that you happen to make using my fabric!

Thank you for the well wishes received on my 3 year old’s first day of pre-school! She was such a star - no tears, just smiles and giddy excitement.

She went straight into her classroom and didn’t look back at me once. It broke my heart but in a good way :-)

P.S. Thank you to Leigh for choosing me to be the featured blogger this week on Blog Chicks (a fantastic blogging community for women)! You can read my ramblings here: Blog Chicks Featured Blogger - Jhoanna Monte (One Red Robin)