They look fabulous!!.......11 Sleeps to go!!!!

Busy, busy, busy!!! Now only 11 sleeps until our big fundraiser for my daughter and two other Autistic children. Every time we cross something off the 'To Do' list two or three more things seem to appear at the bottom of the list!!

The job I was able to cross off the list today was a fun one - Make the kids Hampers from the wonderful shop owners who donated hand made items. It has been a blast having the postman deliver all the packages of different shapes, sizes and weights for the past few months but it was even more fun today getting all the kids items out and putting them together as planned.



The boys hamper has:
2 Mini canvas wall arts from Bedknobs N Broomsticks
4 brightly colored plastic kids sized coat hangers
A Dine'n'Doodle chalk mat from Lil B Designs
2 packets of glitter glue pens
1 sun catcher activity pack
A set of trucks themed fabric flags from Giggleberry (me)
A Popsicle Iron On Applique Patch from Little Bird Creations
3 hand towel/burp clothes from The Sewing Chic



The girls hamper has:
2 Mini wall art canvas' from Bedknobs N Broomsticks
A Dine'n'Doodle crayon roll with crayons from Lil B Designs
A set of Girly Lady Beetles fabric flags from Giggleberry (me)
A Popsicle Iron On Applique Patch from Little Bird Creations
3 sets of hair clips from Vanilla Pixie
4 sets of hair clips from So Bella Creations
A hair clip and a key fob chain from Precious Angel Originals
A girls tie dyed shirt from The Tie Dye Girl

Weekly Featured Artist - Kori of Kori Clark Designs

I was stunned to discover that this weeks featured artist, Kori, has only been painting her beautiful wall letters and hairbow holders for 6 months - they are so exquisite I had assumed Kori had been doing them for years and years!!!
Pop into Kori Clark Designs today and take a look at the entire collection of unique, hand painted items.

Tell us all about yourself and your craft?
My name is Kori and my shop is KoriClarkDesigns. My shop is full of my hand painted Wall Letters and Hair Bow Holders. I try to paint things that are personal and original and can be treasured for many many years to come! When I am not painting, I am a wife to my loving hubby, Chris, and a mother to my wonderful daughter, Charlotte.

How long have you been creating your craft?
Although I have been painting since my mom trusted me with a paintbrush, I have only been doing the wall letters and hairbow holders for about 5 months, and in that time, I have painted about 65 - 70 items.


What is one of the biggest lesson you have learnt about your craft & selling it?
That practice really does make perfect! No, I know I am not perfect, but I feel like the more I paint, the better I get.

Which of your items did you have the most fun creating & why?
I have fun creating each one! I think the one I enjoyed most recently was my Apple Orchard Letters, I loved trying to sneak little critters into the picture throughout the letters.


Is there a basic household item you use when creating that seems to work just as good if not better than the actual "tool"?
LOL! Great Question! I actually do, sometimes I have paint globs or stickers on the wood that I have to peel off and it is a HUGE pain! I have now converted one of our old cheese knives into a "scraper". It is perfect with the short knobby handle and wide flat blade!

What is your favourite candy bar & why?
Peanut Butter M & M's! They are little, so I can munch on them for a while and they are the perfect mix of my two old favorites, M&Ms and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.


If money, responsibilities, and time were no issue where in the great wide world would you go & why?
All over! No, really, if money, time, and responsibilities weren't an issue, my husband and I would LOVE to spend at least a year (or many years) sailing the world! That would be our dream come true.

Theme Day - Autumn Art!

Oh how I LOVE autumn. I love the changing colors, the cool change in weather, the smell, the dropping of leaves - everything about it!!


In Australia at the moment it is Spring so this may seem like a strange theme to choose but since hubby and I have just got back from the States where Autumn, or Fall as it's called more often, is in full swing and I went crazy with the camera taking photos of every tree with changing colors (that one of my the pics above) I thought what a great way to share some gorgeous handmade items in celebration of a season I love so much.
Now if you go to etsy and type into the search bar Autumn or Fall you'll have thousands and thousands of items to sift through so I decided to narrow my search to Autumn inspired children's art work and just look at some of the wonderful ones I came across...

Firstly I came across this gorgeous print from The Blue Egg perfectly named "Autumn". How cute is the tiny little furry friend in her pocket??

Next find I came across was this cute print from Flutter Brush called "Umbrella". I want an umbrella just like this one!!



Another great one that captures the Autumn wind is called "Up in the Clouds" from Chantal Marie.



I realized that all my finds have had little girls in them so I went on the hunt for a boy print and found this stunning piece from Joseph Blake called "Starting Over" - It's so very sweet!!

Now the Jetlag has worn off.....

Now that the crazy switch of complete opposite time zones has faded away - like waking at 3am wanting dinner, feeling like you should be sound asleep tucked in bed in the middle of your day and at dinner time wanting to eat cereal instead of meat and veggies.... I finally feel like I'm functioning 'normally' enough to share our trip with you all.


It's been a week and one day since hubby and I landed back in Sydney, Australia from our trip to the States for further training at The Autism Treatment Centre of America in our daughter Felicity's full time Son-Rise Program.


Hubby and I have named this week away 'Happy Camp' as it gives us such a great boost of motivation, ideas, confidence and rest that we come home bouncing of the walls wanting to play with Felicity in her playroom at full throttle!! We are sure she must think we are crazy and would probably love us to be able to go over to the ATCoA more often so we stay this focused and pumped up all the time.
The week long course we completed is called Maximum Impact, and it's true to it's name. We had theories taught to us at the Start Up Program followed up with great detail such as volunteer training, and the importance of feedback but the biggest lesson we walked away with was all about attitude!!
Felicity is like the perfect lie detector and she knows in an instant if we are in the playroom with her not really wanting to be there - it's these half attempt times that both her and us will not get the amazing benefits possible through the Son-Rise Program if we are in the playroom with real Energy, Excitement and Enthusiasm!!

We can't wait to see what amazing changes we see in us, the program and most importantly Felicity from this week course and so it's heads down bums up into the program - Woo Hoo!!!

If you have just 13 mins to spare take a look at this video which will help explain the revolutionary breakthrough in Autism treatment - The Son-Rise Program - that has and is still recovering children world wide from Autism!!

Giveaways, giveaways, giveaways....

It's Wednesday again which means I share with you guys any fabulous giveaways I may have come across recently.....

Check out this fun giveaway from a fellow FAM team member - Marissa of Elegant Snobbery. This giveaway isn't your regular 'go to my shop and pick your favorite item' giveaway - oh no, It's so much more yummy and fun than that - Marissa would like our help on her next cupcake drawings - think flavors, icing, sprinkles, cherries, cream - anything!!


How do you enter? Simple. Just think about a lovely little cupcake, the cupcake of your dreams and be sure to let Marissa know all about it in the comments of her blog post HERE.
On Saturday, November 8th, two winners will be chosen and the talented Marissa will illustrate their lovely little cupcakes.
What do the two winners get? An 8 x 8 print of their cupcake design, as well as a set of 8 matching gift tags.

Another fun one I have come across is from Chelsea of Paper Cakes - a brand new shop just opened on Etsy.


To celebrate the grand opening of Paper Cakes any purchase made before November 7 will have FREE SHIPPING! that's right no matter what you buy or where you live, shipping will be FREE!
Chelsea is also running a giveaway from her blog HERE with the chance to win a prize worth approximately $50! And all you have to do is share the great news about Paper Cakes opening on your blog, twitter, facebook, website or any social networking site really - too easy!!

Weekly Featured Artist - Katie of Boy Girl Boy Girl Design

I 'met' and have gotten to know Katie through one of my Etsy Street teams - FAM (Fabulous Artistic Moms). Katie along with her mom create gorgeous hand painted and dyed items like onesies, shoes, dresses, tote bags and more! Katie says "We see each piece of clothing as a blank canvas ready to be turned into wearable art. Since we each have a different style of painting there is something to suit just about anyone's taste". Thank you to Katie for being this weeks Featured Artist.

Tell us all about yourself and your craft?
My name is Katie and I have two wonderful children. Brandon is ten and Lauren is three.I have a degree in Early Childhood Education and that has sure come in handy. I am a self-taught artist and have had my businees painting children's clothing for about two years.

How long have you been creating your craft?
It all started when I painted an Easter outfit for my little girl. My Mom loved it so much and thought I could easily sell outfits. She has been a professional artist for quite awhile and had been looking to change directions. So together we started a business and it has been a partnership that has worked out well. She dyes all the clothing and we both design and paint it. Etsy has made a huge difference in our business and the experience has been so rewarding.


What is one of the biggest lesson you have learnt about your craft & selling it?
The biggest lesson I have learned..there are so many...is that promotion is key to our business. It takes a great deal of our time but is absolutely necessary. The internet provides so many ways to do this..blogging, MySpace,YouTube...and I have learned to do them all. The other thing I realize is that not everybody will love your stuff but the people who do, really do and that makes all the difference when it comes to motivation.

Which of your items did you have the most fun creating & why?
It is hard to pick one item that I love to do over any but every time I do a pair of Boo Shoes I get a smile on my face. The little ghosties are so appealing.


Is there a basic ‘household’ item you use when creating that seems to work just as good if not better than the actual ‘tool’?
I love to use toothpicks to do detail work on the designs and freezer paper is amazing. We iron it on the backside and it keeps the fabric smooth for painting.

What is your favourite candy bar & why?
Godiva is my favorite candy but really anything that uses chocolate as a carrier would not be turned down by me.


If money, responsibilities, and time were no issues where in the great wide world would you go & why?
I had always wanted to go to Italy but now that I have children I think it would be wonderful to travel the United States. There would be so many interesting and fun things to show the kids.We live in a great and wonderfully diverse country and I cannot help but think they should see it all.

Pop into Katie's Etsy shop boygirlboygirldesign and take a look through her many items including some fun bits for the coming Christmas season.

Happy Halloween

I'm sure this day was made just for people like me - with an excuse to dress up and eat all kinds of chocolate and candy, there aren't too many better days of the year!
But sadly in Australia we don't really celebrate Halloween. There might be a few bits of dress up outfits and themed candy in the shops but no one decorates there homes and it's rare that you'll have any little dressed up child knock on your door hoping for a sweet of some kind.
My hubby and I have just returned home after a short trip to the US and being so close to Halloween we were lucky enough to see the holiday lead up.... we saw pumpkins galore, dress up outfits, decorated shop windows and homes from a few pumpkins on the front porch to full blown pretend grave yards built in the front yard!
We must have looked like crazy tourists every time we pulled over to jump out and take photos of peoples homes but I was just amazed at the effort some people put in!!
This one was our favorite... amazing!




We even saw someone's boat that was docked all decorated too. It's not a great photo but if you look closely you can see all the things they have put up including a skeleton in the dingy!!


We had a ball looking at it all and getting caught up in the hype along the way.... I was inspired to go with the spooky halloween thing when we came across this graveyard that had one dying creepy looking tree hanging over some really old head stones and with the old abandoned house in the background I just had to snap a shot in the spirit of Halloween.
Happy Halloween Everyone!! Enjoy!