Reviews

Some fab reviews for the book. Thank you to all of the amazing crafters who wrote them. I am particularly impressed by the beautiful craft projects by the kids. Simply adorable!

http://melissagoodsell.typepad.com/day_to_day/2011/08/little-things-for-busy-hands-book-review.html

http://craftblog.com.au/2011/08/17/little-things-for-busy-hands-review-and-giveaway/

http://www.kootoyoo.com/2011/08/book-review-little-things-for-busy-hands.html

Katie x

How do you display your child's art?

My kids often come home with pages and pages of artwork - butcher's paper covered in fingerpainting or texta scribbles, abstract pottery and brightly coloured plastic thingies that hang (or do they?). It's a struggle to try to display everything - impossible, in fact. And, let's face it, sometimes you'd rather not. I'm pretty outspoken, however, when my kids produce something that I think is exceptional. And I make sure I display those pieces that I really love. It's a win/win situation - you get to choose which artworks to hang and the kids feel proud of their creation and get a kick out of seeing it on the wall. It's a sign that you are truly impressed by what they have done (flattery will get you everywhere). I'll even put the painting/hanging beside a well-known artist's just to show that their painting is just as special to me.

Sometimes that craft or other project is truly special to your child; and in this case I'll always defer to their wish to put it up somewhere (and try to find a clever way to make that work). If anybody has any great ideas about how they tackle this, please send them through!

I love this butterfly that Lucie painted when she was about 5. She made a comment recently that the butterfly isn't perfectly symmetrical. It made me feel a bit sad that she thought this way because it's one of the things I truly love about this artwork. That, and the colours, the composition and the carefree feeling of it all. I hung it beside an original Chris Dyson oil on canvas, which is another artwork from the eighties that I adore. The Dyson is such an image of its time. I'm always drawn to Lucie's butterfly, however.

I also love this amazing mask that Lucie created a few months ago out of feathers that she found somewhere (I don't really need to know where!!). It's really well constructed - must have taken her ages - and simply striking.

There are many more little nooks and crannies, where we have displayed the littlie's things (some of them behind other stuff ; )). But the truly divine creations take pride of place and give us all much joy. It's a matter of getting creative with what you have been given and genuinely acknowledging when something really is extra special!  

The Book Launch

Invite attached. All welcome - just rsvp me so I can arrange enough nibblies for everyone. Kids most welcome of course - there will be some craft activities to keep them entertained.

Katie x

No headlines, just headboards

Katrina and Aimee from The Block made a headboard for the upstairs bedroom the other week for $60, so I decided that I would revamp our bedroom and try one out for myself. My cousin at Flaunt Furnishing makes some excellent furniture, and I had originally asked her to help me out, but I just couldn't wait!

Anyway, $170 later ($60 my foot!) and here it is. I must admit, we had to do a few extra things like nailing three pieces of chipboard together and attaching to the existing bedhead. Could have cut costs there, I guess. And I think I drove Dan crazy running around with me buying foam and fabric. Not all guys get into that sort of thing . . .

Yep, that's me working my magic with the circular saw. I also used the mitre saw - oh la la!

Below is the frankenstein staple work at the back. Who sees the back anyway???

And the finished thing!

Starting my blog!!

Hi fellow bloggers,
This is new territory for me this blogging thingy. But recently it was suggested that I am one of those people who like to look but not contribute. Hmmm. Creepy. There are just so many talented people out there, though, with so many gorgeous things that they have made, I can't help but browse!
But no more browsing without comments - I shall contribute and share my observations, funny moments, not so funny moments; and most importantly my crafty pursuits with you. It may not be full of pretty pictures - as the title of my blog suggests, our lives are busy and I don't always get my camera out in time to capture everything I'd like to. And I don't have one of those gorgeous studios and houses from the magazines with every wall a design masterpiece. What I do have is an eclectic mish-mash of interesting things, styles, kids' crazy artworks and generally a lot of mess, mess, mess. Yep, I'll even share that mess with you. Is anyone actually interested? We shall see . . .

To begin with, I'd like to share my book with you, which is out on August 31. It is called Little Things for Busy Hands and is a craft book with 16 projects for kids to make without a sewing machine. The idea came to me as a proposal for my publishing company, Penguin Books (I work full time as an editor in Books for Children and Young adults) and turned (quite organically) into my very own thing. I didn't mean it, and I apologised to my boss for being seemingly opportunistic; but I have to admit I worked all weekend on just the proposal and had even whipped up some spreads and covers for her. So I guess it was prety much the full package! Having said that, my designer, Elissa Webb, simply rocks and took it to a whole new level!!

The idea of the book is to get kids to be resourceful - to try new things on their own with minimal supervision and come up with something they are proud of and want to display. I think the adults will love the projects, too. They are pretty stylish (I hope you all think so!). And there are lots of things for boys!

Here's a spread of one of the projects - I hope you enjoy the book as much as I just loved making it!

Katie x