Sponsor Giveaway: Christina Lane, Artist and Needlefelting Queen

Isn't this just the cutest thing you have ever seen???

A little tree stump, and what's this? A baby owl stickbeaking his head out of a hole!

My lovely friend Christina Lane, of Fruits of Heart  has kindly donated this gorgeous creation for one lucky MamaMoontime reader.  Will it be you???

And look inside...

Two more owls. 

Mama Owl and Papa Owl. 

I'm so envious that this set of three owls and their woodland forest treestump home will be going to live with one of my lovely MamaMoontime readers!!!!!  Lucky duck! 

This lovely creation is a one-off original.

But Christina is happy to take orders of owl sets similar to these, 

and all her other needle-felting creations.

They really do have to be seen to be believed!!

Christina is in the process of setting up her etsy and facebook sites, 

but in the meantime, you can contact her via her email:  mohittoe@gmail.com 

Thank you Christina, for your generous gift to MamaMoontime.

To enter to win this little Owl Set, 

all you need to do is to leave a comment here.

(and maybe your email or blog address 

so I can contact you if you win....)

Entry is open until Saturday 9th July at 5pm Qld time.

The giveaway is open to all kindred spirits around the world. 

I'll be announcing the lucky friend when I return from Melbourne on Sunday 10th.

Remember to check back here to see if your name has been drawn.  

In the meantime, hang about for lots of recipes and a few thoughts about outdoor playground set-ups.

Happy reading!!

And remember to leave a comment now, my friends!!

(Won't you be generous and share this giveaway with your friends on Facebook too?)

See you very soon!!!!

MamaMoontime is visiting Melbourne, 2011

I'm going to Melbourne!!

I love Melbourne.  In fact, I love all Australian cities but Melbourne holds the key to my heart and it is probably the city that most 'gets' me.  

My two sisters and I are planning on spending two solid days exploring (hint: shopping and eating) and catching up with friends.

This is the first time ever that my sisters and I are going on holidays together, without kids, since WE were kids.  Oh, I'm all tingly at the thought of the mischief we can get up to!!

Daddy is on Ned duty, and I'm so grateful to him for giving me this time away.

Thank you, lovely husband.

After our fun, one sister and I are off to "Vital Years", the rich and gorgeous early childhood conference that is to be hosted this year by the Melbourne region.  

Stay tuned for lots of photos and feedback and stories from this grand event...

But in the meantime, there will be four delicious recipes for you to taste, (the ones from our winter festival- don't miss the vegan-friendly hedgehog slice!!) and a whole lot of pondering on outdoor playgrounds.   Enjoy the coming week of articles and ideas...

And do stop by tomorrow.

All going to plan, I'll be hosting an absolutely gorgeous giveway from one of my sponsors, Christina Lane.  I'm sure you'll be excited and determined to be the lucky one to take this home!!

Entries will be open until my return next week, so be sure to pop by and leave a comment, and also tell your friends!!

How to make a wrist-ribbon pin cushion

A few weeks ago, my friend Carrie and I travelled to Brisbane for an afternoon of embroidery and stitching. 

 I finally finished it (!!!) and decided to make it into a pincushion that you can tie onto your wrist.

I love this idea, mainly because I am forever (FOREVER) losing my needles and pins, 

putting them down when I hop up to help Ned, or answer the phone, or do a task.

This way, the pin cushion comes with me!

You can make one too!

Simply draw a pattern of your liking on a sheet of calico.

By the way, the best tip we learned at the embroidery group was to attach a piece of iron-on interfacing to the back of your material before you begin embroidering.  

Handy!  This keeps the material firm, and prevents pulling, all of which makes the work of embroidery that much more stable and satisfying!

Our piece (the original circle) is about 6 cm in diameter.

But I drew the inner circle to fit the width of my wrist, and reduced it to a diameter of about 4cm.

I also cut out a piece of sturdy felt for the backing.

Sew the backing felt onto the middle of a piece of your favourite ribbon.

The ribbon needs to be long enough to tie around your wrist, with a bow.  

Use a gather stitch down the centre of the ribbon to tack it in place.

To put it all together, run a gather stitch around the border of the embroidery piece, 

being sure to tuck under a small hem as you go. 

Pull the gather stitch in to help the piece match the size of the backing felt.

Fill the scoop with wool batting.

Then blanket stitch the top embroidery to the backing felt with blanket stitch. 

It helps to have a friend tie the ribbon on for you, but it is manageable by yourself. 

I love it!

You can also tie it to a small sewing jar that holds your scissors and knitting needles and odd things. 

I love beautiful AND practical crafts!

Don't you?

How to make a 'Winter Wattle'-inspired wee peg doll

Firstly, paint your wee doll forms using acrylic paint. 

Wattle friends bodies can be forest green.

Then cut out these two templates from lemon yellow coloured felt.

The top form is Mr Wattle's coat.

The bottom form is Miss Wattle's skirt. 

Be sure to round off the edges that will cross over, as Mr Wattle is nice and round himself and finds sharp edges rather bothersome.  Place some PVA or craft glue onto his coat and glue this to his body.

Use a yellow thread to stitch the two coat flaps together.

Add a few gold seed beads for a wattle button embellishment.

Miss Wattle's skirt is simply gathered up with a gathering stitch.

Pull the gather tight and slip it around her waist.

Knot the skirt firmly.

I plaited two 6cm lengths (about 1cm in width) of green wool fibre.

One goes around her waist as a belt over the top of the skirt.

The other becomes her tiara. 

Stitch gold seed beads in groups of 5 or 6 at intervals around the tiara.

Hey presto, bunches of wattle flowers!

Cut a crown shape, as shown, for Mr Wattle. 

Embellish with a single bunch of 'wattle flowers' (gold seed beads).

Use PVA or craft glue to secure their crown and tiara onto their wee heads. 

Now, to find them their own new Wattle Tree home!

These little friends are about to embark on a southern hemisphere journey adventure!!

Moondew Winter Festival Glow Worm Walk 2011

(Ned and his aunty Holly and Uncle Yochen)

Last night, 95 of us (I couldn't believe it either!) gathered to celebrate winter.

We met in the carpark of our local Hardware superstore, sorted out some car-pooling and then headed off in convoy (or conga! as I mistakenly called it. Car conga- how groovy!) to the dark hills of  Numinbah Valley, and our destination of Natural Arch National Park.

Natural Arch is a beautiful spot in the hinterland of our golden (yet, at times gaudy) city,

a true treasure of the wilderness, with bush tracks and a grand swimming hole.

But it truly is magnificent and best seen at night, when you can visit the glowworms in the cave.

This year, our plan was to walk in the darkness, led by the light of the Moondew children holding their glowing lanterns, all the way down the windy track to visit with these magical creatures.

I was sure some of us might meet a fairy or spot a pixie running about, or at the very least, hear the trees whispering their secrets to us.  

(Doesn't a lantern walk in the forest just remind you of long-ago imaginary adventures in childhood, 

most likely inspired by Enid Blyton's "The Enchanted Forest".  

How I wished to be Bessie or Fanny,

 and sneak out at night up the tree to visit all those funky lands. Did you??) 

We rugged up, but luckily it wasn't too cold a night and the walk proved to be invigorating and sweat-inducing, especially for those mama's and papa's who carried their kin. 

Grandparents, aunties (even ones from as far away as Brazil) and uncles, 

big brothers and sisters, and friends, joined us. 

My entire family came too!

And yet, this is the only picture I managed to take of a glowing lantern!

Yes, Ned, in his car seat, about to return home.

Our wintery walk finished with a sweet supper, with litres and litres and litres of hot chocolate brewing, and warming chai, and plenty of freshly baked goodies- cocoa hedgehog slice, apple raspberry muffins, lemon coconut slice, lemon tarts and a somewhat floppy chocolate zucchini cake too.  

(You don't want to miss these recipes.

They will appear later this week, 

scheduled to appear whilst I trip off to Melbourne 

for our bi-annual early childhood conference!)

How lovely to share a Winter evening with my Moondew tribe.

I'm so proud to call all of these people my friends. 

Do you have a secret spot nearby?

A hidden forest or a magical maze?

Why not share an evening, just because you can, 

with your own tribe to celebrate good friends and good times?

Why not begin planning one now??

Peg doll characters

This is my Milly Molly Mandy inspiration.

Oops, she needed a white belt, not a red one!

Billy Blunt, Milly Molly Mandy, Little friend Susan.

And I'm inspired to make story sets with these dolls.

Simple, and easy to carry.

This is Little Red Riding Hood (or Red Cap, her traditional name).

I first painted her hair, and fringe. 

Then, added her cape.

The fine brush let me outline the shape of her coat.

Here she is, a work in progress.

Now, off to order more peg doll forms so I can finish the trio.

How to make a sunflower wee peg doll

The first step in making a sunflower doll is to paint a hairstyle.

I like flicks and cute curls, and swirls that tickle the doll's cheeks. 

I use Montemarte acrylic paints.  

These cost about $12 for a set of small pots in 12 rainbow colours, 

but any fair to good quality, acrylic paints will do. 

The wee doll forms are from Casey's Wood , located in Maine, America.  

They are cheap, and quick to arrive in Australia.

This shape is the 'boy peg'. 

This shape (painted green for a wattle doll) is the girl peg. 

Here they are, with happy faces. 

The most important thing is to use really good quality, fine brushes.

These allow you to paint the finer details, such as a neat line around the neck, or eyes, or mouths, without smudging.  Be really careful how you handle them as I have found it really difficult to remove any stray marks without leaving a mark.  

The Sunflower friends need a frilly coat.

Cut this shape from a 10cm length of wool felt in bright yellow.

The petals should be 2 - 2.5cm in width at the widest point.

Run a gather stitch along the straight edge, being sure to leave about one inch of cotton at the start to use when pulling in the gather. Start and finish your stitch right on the edge of the felt for a neat finish. 

Pull in the gather as shown, then tie it around the neck of your sunflower friends.

When I make a knot, I always loop the thread around twice instead of once. 

This helps the knot to hold to pinch in place whilst I finish tying off the knot, without it slipping. 

Then, plait a 7 cm thin strip of yellow wool sliver. 

Measure this plait around the peg doll head and tie to fit. 

Then cut a second length of petal, this time with a petal width of only 1.5cm. 

This needs to be as long as the circumference of the wool plait circle.

Use a whip stitch to attach the crown sunflower petals to the wool plait.

Spread a little glue onto the wool plait and stick it to the head.

(The completed crown attached to the wool makes it easy for this 

to stay put on the head when it is glued)

You might like to paint some sunflower seeds too.

This little man also has a mate. 

She is no longer camera shy!

A sweet sunflower, just waiting to be picked!