Little Shop Of...

If you live in Melbourne and haven't been to Little Shop Of...what are you waiting for? It's a treasure trove of local handmade goodness by amazing Victorian craftisans.
Bec, manages to fill every little nook and cranny of the tiny space with all manner of desirable objects (including some of mine, yay!), and I challenge you to walk out of there empty handed. Nothing is over $50 which makes it a great place to find the perfect gift on a budget.

8 Woorayl St Carnegie
Melbourne, Australia, 3163
Opposite Carnegie train station

Check their facebook page for opening hours which are soon to be extended

100% handmade in Melbourne goodies.
Shop Local
Shop Indie
Shop Australian

How time Flutters by...

Thought I'd share these Emma Stylin' shots with you today. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up, quite the little lady. She'll be 2 in a couple of months and has got her daddy and I wrapped around her little finger.

Looking super retro vintagesque in this butterfly pinni dress mum and I made as a (reject) sample well before Emma was born.

Animation Friday - How to: Make an Animated HTML button

Ok I've been promising this one for a while, so thanks for being patient.
I must preface this with saying, I'm no computer geek or code writing expert, this is just knowledge I've gathered by researching on the web. If you have any questions I probably can't answer them so don't even bother asking - Just google it.

I've recently made some ad buttons for various lovely blogs, here is one of my favourites.


The beauty of having a HTML coded image or animation is that clicking on it will take you through to the website you choose, in this case my shop.

So here is the code you need

<a border="0" href="http://your web address here" target="_blank"><img
src="http://your image url here" /></a>

Your web address is the website you want the button to click through to, like your shop or blog

Your image url is the url(web) address of your hosted image or animation. You can either host it on your own website (blogger doesn't allow this but I think Wordpress is able to), on photobucket or when you create a gif file via picason, they are hosting for you when you copy the url address.

Note:
Your image must be your final desired size when you grab the url, this code does not allow for resizing later. Most side bars on blogs are 150-200px wide so don't make your image wider than this.(Mine was bigger to fit a specific ad spot)

The button will default to the left, so is ideal to use in a sidebar.

If you want to share your button like this

<a border="0" href="http://mypoppet.bigcartel.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.picasion.com/pic39/76017e6284a0a449ec58da2c49b9935b.gif" /></a>

You can get the code and instructions from Shabby Blogs, there are other great tutorials and buttons you can grab too.

To make your animated image, my tutorial is here. Remember to choose the size of your animation as this will be your finished button size.

Now have a go. I hope my instructions were clear. Ok I'll let you ask questions but i can't guarantee I'll know the answer.

No linky today, but I'd love you to leave a comment if you use my tutorial, leave your web address so I can see your finished product.
Yay!

Lots and lots of bunting...

Look what I've spent my last 3 weekends making, 25m of it. I even roped Mr Man into helping me turn the 125 flags inside out, he was not impressed! But you should be. If you want some of this vintage flaggy goodness, you will have to go get it from Bec at Little shop of. I'll be dropping it off tomorrow and you can buy it by the metre ($15/m).

Don't go asking me to make any more for you for a little while, I can't be flagged!

A clean kitchen...

Emma is away, so I thought I'd take the opportunity, whilst my floor is clean, to take some snaps for the home tour page. Not styled, except for the awesome Jonathan Adler Tea Towel that was a lovely gift from Miss Pilgrim as a souvenir from her US trip. A lovely unexpected surprise that matched perfectly with my kitchen.
I thought I should document the before photos as it's likely that we will be knocking out a few walls this year.
Have a look at the rest of the photos here.

Vintage Sesame Street...in Spanish!

I'm surrounded by vintage Sesame Street at the moment, I've just acquired a heap of fantastic vintage fabric (you can grab some here) and Emma is enjoying this book that was mine as a child.
It's in Spanish and is from the 70's, called Abrete Sesamo, which literally translates to Open Sesame :)
The illustrations are super fun and Emma really loves Cookie Monster, she always puts on a deep voice and says 'aghw aghw aghw' its so cute. Cookie monster is my fave too!

The other illustrations I particularly enjoy is the professions. You to can grow up to be Santa, or a Bullfighter.
It's refreshing to see that Bert and Ernie have not aged a bit in nearly 30 years and have kept their groovy 70's turtle necks. I hope they don't get 'updated', those stripes are so comforting, every time Emma and I watch Sesame Street together, I feel 30 years younger.

How To: Make a Big Felt Button

Here is an easy tutorial on making needle felted buttons that I created for the Haby Goddess newsletter, which went out today. Jodie has a fantastic online Haby store and also writes daily sewing and craft hints on her facebook page. A must read, really worth a visit.

Needles ready?

Needle felting is a technique where you felt together wool fibres using a special barbed needle. By sculpting the wool as you poke it, the possibilities of what can be made are endless.

Here I’ve made a large wool button that could be used on a knitted garment or as a brooch.
Pay close attention to the pictures as the images form part of these instructions.Finished size is 3.5cm diam and 1.5cm thick
You will need some wool roving, a felting needle and a foam pad & wool yarn to match garment
Take some wool roving and shape it into a round flat disk about 5cm diam and 2cm thick,
When you poke the wool it will firm up and reduce by a third of the original size.
Poke the wool with the needle and sculpt it into shape until it is firm and to the desired size.
Poke the disk a little more in the centre to make the classic button shape.
Needle 4 little holes in the centre of the button as a guide to sew the yarn through.

I recommend hand washing if used on a garment as machine or hot washes will further felt the wool.

I hope you enjoyed that tutorial, please feel free to leave a comment with your questions.

x cinti

Animation Friday by {KID} independent

You know that feeling in the back of your mind that keeps niggling at you that you've forgotten something? Well I had that today: "It's Friday, don't I normally have something that needs doing on Fridays?"
So thanks to Indie from {KID}independent for the reminder. It's Animation Friday silly Cinti!

Indie has created this awesome Rainbow song animation that I'm sharing here. Thanks for joining in!

Would you like to have a go?
It's really easy. Here are some simple instructions on how to make moving pictures...have a go, you've got all week. Post it to your blog and link here so we can all see. Remember to link back to this post so your other readers can join in to. Feel free to grab a little button for your sidebar

Product Inspiration - Molecule Brooch

Have you seen my new range of Molecule Brooches in the shop? They are 'for the ladies!'
Inspired one January evening after practising taking Bokeh style shots of my Christmas lights. The fuzzy pastel colours reminded me of the fuzzy textured wool I'd just acquired and dyed.

The name 'Molecule' came about because they reminded me of the little atomic models I mucked about with during chemistry labs at college. I wonder what ever happened to my little grey box of plastic molecules?

I'll get back to you Barry*

Like every other toddler I know, Emma is obsessed with telephones. Any and every kind, but mainly the most expensive ones. She has very long conversations to her 'friends', but mainly pretends to talk to daddy and 'abuela', my mum. I have a little chuckle at her pretend Spanish 'gibberish' and makes me wonder if she understands anything my mother says to her.
Daddy dressed her on this day, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of her because 1. she was clean, and 2. she's looking super cool!
T-shirt- GAP
Jeans- Oishi-M
Clog Sandals- Seed

*Ok, that's a pretty old ad reference that most of you may not get, but we still have it as our little 'phone' in joke at home. It makes me chuckle, don't judge me!

I ♥ Shop 4 Kids

What a lovely Valentine's Day present you've given me Shop 4 Kids magazine by featuring so many of my handmade goodies in your 'made with love' section. Can you spot which bits are mine?

Answers:
Fabric House Soft Toy $12 each
Felt Egg & Bacon play food $12
Felt Macarons each $9.90
Make Your Own Vintage Bunting kit $25

Happy Valentine's Day
xx Cinti

Meet Eva...

Meet my niece Eva, she was born yesterday, a week early on her mummy's birthday. Welcome to the world little one, be prepared to share a birthday party for the rest of your days. Although my sister insists that there will always be two cakes.
You can see Eva's pretty nursery here.
I've had two surprise nieces born this week, my sister in law also delivered (early) a beautiful baby girl named Bianca Joy on Wednesday (didn't have my camera with me sadly).

So new babies all round, but don't worry I'm not getting clucky, I have enough on my plate.

How To: Cheat's Pesto

I rarely write food related posts, probably because I don't really consider myself a great cook, and so many others do such a great job at it, I don't think I have much more to offer.

But today I thought I'd share my Cheat's Pesto with you because not only is it colourful and easy to make, it's delicious!

I have an abundance of basil growing in my herb garden and what better way to use it up than Pesto. This is the second time I've made it and because I don't use exact measurements, it tastes slightly different every time. But hey, that's what home-made is about right?

So the cheat bit is using Macadamia nuts instead of Pine nuts, because pine nut are super expensive.

Here is the rough recipe:
1/4 cup macadamias ( you can also use cashews)
1/4 - 1/2 cup parmesan cheese ( the best quality you can afford)
a big bunch of basil leaves
1 small clove of garlic (if that's your thing)
nice olive oil, enough to moisten and extra for jar

Wizz it all up in a food processor, spoon it into a clean jar and cover with extra oil for storage.

I like mine cheesy but you can adjust your quantities to suit your taste.

The best thing about having a fresh jar of pesto in the fridge is that it adds instant lift to any boring old meal.

Toss it through warm spaghetti - a yummy classic
Stir through scrambled eggs - a green breakfast treat
Use as a spread in a sandwich
A yummy dip with veggie sticks
Mix with mayo as a delicious salad dressing
Serve with chicken
Toss through warm steamed spuds or mash in with mashed potatoes
I could go on forever, I like it on toast.

So if your basil is out of control, or you pick up a nice bunch at the market, give this a try, and you'll always have dinner a dinner option in the fridge...

Animation Friday - Hoot!

Mr Man loves making this 'Dad Joke' about my owls every time I make a new batch...I must admit I still have a giggle every time he says it. hehe! If you fancy the look of my Hooters, you can get some here. If you are a a pimply teenager that has accidentally stumbled across this blog post, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Ok, so I really want you all to have a little bit of fun and make an animation this week. It's really easy. Here are some simple instructions on how to make moving pictures...have a go, you've got all week. Post it to your blog and link here so we can all see. Remember to link back to this post so your other readers can join in to. Feel free to grab a little button for your sidebar.

Priority Magazine...

My little business and I were recently profiled in Australia Post's Priority Magazine. It was quite and interesting exercise as it gave me the privileged opportunity to speak to Andrew Griffiths, an excellent small business consultant, about ways in which I could improve my online business, especially in regards to transitioning from a bricks and mortar store.
I've tried to really take his advice and implement as may suggestion as I could, and I think the experience has been invaluable.
You can have a read of the full article here, and if you have an online store you may find some of the suggestions helpful too...

Getting to Know You : Cherry Rockette

Welcome to my new semi-regular feature called 'Getting to Know You...' (yes, as in the King and I).
Here I'll be sharing the stories about you, my readers, and hopefully getting to know you a little bit better. I feel so privileged to have met and built relationships with the most awesome and interesting people through my blog and shop, and I thought you might like to meet some of them too.

So today we'll be getting to know: Cherry Rockette
I discovered Cherry's blog and Clothing Label Furious Kingston after she left a comment on my blog a little while ago. I was fascinated by her distinctive style and methodical (yet still creative) design process. The way Cherry goes about producing the Furious Kingston clothing range is in total contrast to my haphazard style, and I always feel like her blog has something to teach me.
Cherry kindly shares sewing tutorials and behind the scenes insight into what's involved producing a range of clothing. I was lucky enough to meet Cherry in a flesh at a market event we were both stall holders at, and let me tell you, she is a Super Stylish gal!
If Furious Kingston isn't enough to keep Cherry busy, she also has an adorable little boy named Kingston, and just for fun skates in a Roller Derby league!

How did you stumble across My Poppet?

I think I saw a snippet in Frankie magazine a while ago and checked out the old B&M store, but then lost the link somewhere along the way. When kid independent found Furious Kingston through etsy mid last year I rediscovered poppet and bookmarked and added it to my rss reader straight away!

Tell us about yourself?

Just a girl in this world with a love of sewing and creating, a passion for thoughtful design and vintage loveliness. Oh and a total addiction to op shopping!

Tell us about your business Furious Kingston?

"Handsome boys clothing in dapper fabrics with a vintage hoodlum influence. Inspired by everything from thirties gangsters to Psychobilly, acid country and bare knuckle boxing. " Overall I try to design hip and funky clothing that boys from one to six want to wear, without resorting to cliché styles of robots and dinosaurs and skulls. Boys care about what they wear too, and they should be encouraged to dress well, as well as be allowed to climb and play in the clothes. Which is why I try to use fabrics with a bit of stretch and lots of knee patches!
Were you formally trained in the fashion industry?

Short answer: kinda. Ha ha. I studied an advance diploma of fashion design at Douglas mawson TAFE in Adelaide back in 1999-2001, but I left before finishing. I was eager to get some real world experience under my belt, so I have spent the last ten years in every role from retail sales through to buying and quality assurance. School of life!

What was your previous professional role?

I left the workforce on maternity leave from a role in quality assurance and offshore production management.

How are you using what you learnt there in your business now?

Management and business skills never go astray, and the care and respect of handmade, quality clothing gives my label an edge over so many cheaply, factory made others.

You have a pretty distinctive personal style, how did that come about?

I think I was just born this way! I have always had a sense of wanting to stand out from the crowd and be noticed. I am not a wallflower! I Tried a hundred different personalities on whilst I was young, and kept the elements that work for me. Raspberry hair suits my skin tone much better than my natural mousy strawberry blonde, and what girl doesn't look good in a cute swing dress and wedges?

Roller derby?

Roller derby was just a great outlet for me to be me. The adrenaline junkie, harder faster addict who revels in the spotlight and wearing ruffle butt panties with pigtails. There's not many places you an do that!

Why did you decide to start a blog?

I found Lara Cameron's blog Kirin notebook over the Christmas of 2005(I think?) and adored it. I remember thinking what a great idea to do when starting up, to just get your work out there and create and hopefully if I was good enough the design would speak for itself.

What do you most enjoy creating?

I hate getting stuck and forcing a design. If I have to force it, it clearly isn't working. But I adore something that resonates as I put it together. From the original spark of an idea through to a photo on Facebook, if I still feel the wow from it throughout, that's what I love.

Do you ever get a chance to make anything for yourself?

Rarely. Usually at the last minute. Hell I was sewing the last stitches on my wedding dress 30mins before walking down the aisle!

He He! Seems none of us sewing gals ever get to make anything for ourselves.
Thank You Cherry for letting all of us get to now you a little bit better...

For Your Inspiration...

So you you've been eyeing off the vintage fabrics in the shop and wondering how to incorporate them into a project or two? Whilst combining these pretty fabrics for a special customer request, I imagined they'd make the perfect little baby quilt. So whilst Emma was napping one day, I made it! I know! Well it actually took a couple of days worth of naps, but it progressed fairly quickly. This project wasn't for me, or the shop, but for you. It's a little piece of inspiration to show you what can be done with a few scraps of fabric and a couple of quiet afternoons.
The quilt top used one of these Floral fabric 'charming' packs from the shop and some white fabric from my stash. Some batting and a piece of fabric for the back and you're set.

I'm particularly fond of one of the fabrics in this pack, the really big pink flowers with green foliage. It was the first ever fabric that started me on my textile collecting journey...now you can have a little piece of my collection too.

I was thinking of writing the pattern, would anyone be interested?

Nursery tour - My Niece's Nursery

I ventured northside today to visit my sister who is due to have a baby girl in only a couple of weeks. She is super organised and has already finished decorating the nursery, has her bags packed and has even organised all the baby's clothes into different sizes and styles. I on the other hand, was throwing things in a bag whilst having contractions and am still 'working on' Emma's room. She was quite happy for me to take some snaps and share these images with you. I think she has done a brilliant job in the small space she had available. The coral walls really brighten up the sometimes dark room and cast a rosy happy glow.
Now it's just a waiting game...enjoy your last two weeks of freedom, hehe!

Animation Friday - Guest Animation

I'd like to thank Anna from Shiny Happy Art for letting me use one of her animations this week, you could say she is my 'guest animator' today. Anna is very clever and uses Photoshop to create her animations, this allows her to use more images and have a larger (pixel) width. I don't have Photoshop, or even know how to use it, so I'll stick to making my animations the way I know how. (explained in the link below)
Feel free to make your animation any way you know how.

I found this animation particularily relevant as Emma is an eating machine at the moment, turn your back and she's already up on the dining table hoeing into the fruit bowl...I can't imagine that a piece of cake on the floor would last very long!

You my have also noticed I've tagged all the animation friday posts so now you can look back on all the animations just by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

Here are some simple instructions on how to make moving pictures...have a go, you've got al week. Post it to your blog and link here so we can all see. Remember to link back to this post so your other readers can join in to. Feel free to grab a little button for your sidebar.

Super Specs...

Who knew Hettie was such a style queen? She is absolutely rocking this floral retro jumpsuit (made by Narelle), and the glasses, WOW! Even though it was so warm today, she was kind enough to model this cute felt bolero I designed and made for her. She can mix and match it with several items in her wardrobe, which is always practical I think...
Hettie has been wearing her specs to encourage Emma to wear hers. I don't know if it's working, but it's nice of her to try. She has also been helping Emma with her numbers and letters, not just a pretty face our Hettie!

Old but New...

Welcome to February! How time flies when you're having fun. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and I've got lots of fresh ideas for the blog and the shop this year. I'll be slowly adding tags to my previous posts and all my new posts to make finding things on the blog that interest you a lot easier, and I'll be having some new regular features this year a well as some old favourites like Animation Friday. (back this week BTW)

So what's new today? Some old but new flea market finds, that's what! isn't that bird puppet just adorable?