How To: Sensory Play Coloured Rice Tray

Sensory play is a valuable part of early childhood development, not only is it fun, but it helps develop fine motor skills and creativity. Emma has been a little unfocused and disruptive at school lately, so her teacher suggested we try some more sensory play activities at home to help her calm her behavior and help her focus. A tray of sand was suggested, but I though coloured rice would be more fun. (We are building her a sandpit this weekend). A rice tray is easy to put together with items you may already have in your kitchen...

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Optus Me TV - A Review

Sponsored by Nuffnang 

It’s not often that Mr Man gets enthusiastic about my blogging, until I was asked to review the new Internet TV service called MeTV by Optus. He is a bit of a TV junkie and had been asking for something like this for ages, so you can imagine how happy he was that I accepted the challenge. He even helped me take these photos, crazy times!!

The courier delivered everything we needed to get started. There was the Fetch Tv box which lets you record, pause and rewind Live TV with a whopping 1TB of storage and a modem router thing which connects everything to your internet so you can use the Optus internet TV service. Oh and of course all the wires and instructions too.

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Sponsored Post - IKEA 'Get Organised'

This post is RocketFuel sponsored 
It's pretty safe to say that we are big fans of IKEA here at casa de My Poppet. And I'm probably not alone in saying that there is possibly at least one piece of IKEA in every room.

So when I was asked to share these videos on how a team of IKEA organisers helped De-clutter one families home, I said yes, and secretly wished they'd come to my place. 

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We Wish you a Merry Christmas...

Wow, it's been a crazy year! Two overseas trips, 244 blog posts, 34 tutorials, a sassy 2 year old...and I'm spent.
I've pushed myself really hard this year, blog wise, mainly to challenge myself and see what can happen if I really put my back into something. I've tried lots of new approaches and have learnt so much, hopefully you have enjoyed the journey as well. Now I need a rest.

I'd like to thank you all for reading, liking, following, commenting, especially those of you that have been with us from the start, I hope I'm still relevant. Those of you that have joined us this year, welcome. It's great to be part of your day.

A really special thanks to all my sponsors and shop customers this year, nothing says 'I believe in you' more than handing over your hard earned cash. I don't really do any of this for the money (or I'd starve), but it's funny how validating just a little financial reward can be. I hope your My Poppet experiences this year have been amazing, I know you've all been really great.

Next year is going to be an interesting one. There are changes afoot! Lots of upheaval here at home (no, I'm not pregnant), so I'm taking all of January off to recharge and re-inspire. I'm excited to see how it all pans out.

So now it's time for me to sign off.

Have a Safe and Happy Christmas and holiday period. Laugh, eat and enjoy your loved ones.
See you in the new year
xx Cinti

It's officially time to get festive...

It's been 12 years since I've had a Christmas tree. Yes I'm the original Christmas grinch. I'm a December baby so I've always found it a little irritating that my birthday celebrations get lost amongst all the hoopla. I find it hard to put up any decorations till after my birthday. Before Emma was born Christmas used to come an go with just the faintest acknowledgement decor wise. Maybe some branches with an odd bauble or two, sometimes lights. But it seems Emma is now old enough to start to 'get it' so I thought it was time to get crazy and go super festive.

I was originally just going to make some pom poms and do the branch thing again this year, but I was stopped in my tracks by this sparkly tree. Then I found these cute flocked baubles and I was sold!
I used my Pom Pom Wreath as a tree skirt, looks great doesn't it?

No tree topper? No worries. I've got a festive pineapple, picked it up in Tokyo.
Oh and did I mention it's my birthday today? Emma will be super excited when she finds out. The one thing she likes more than Christmas trees is a nice big Birthday cake.

Related Posts - How To: Pom Pom Wreath

Eva's Christening Day

I wanted to share some of the pretty photos from baby Eva's Christening last month. My sister hosted the Afternoon Tea Garden Party in her back yard after the church ceremony, and did such a great job of making everything so pretty.
The sweet treats were delish. Emma helped herself to SO many cakes, she was bouncing off the walls!
A great time was had all round.
You can see a close up of the christening dress I made her here.

Thanks to From Genevieve Photography for the lovely photos, there are more photos of the day on her blog here.

Two weeks in pictures...

I've felt a little absent from the blog of late, I was getting a little overwhelmed and needed a break. I know I have been blogging, but I haven't felt like really talking. Sometimes its hard to keep sharing when your real life is sapping all the energy you have, and the truth is, a little time to 'just be' is good for all involved. Emma went/has been going through a super challenging defiant stage a the moment, which had me pulling out my hair. But I think I can see a glimpse of light at the end of the dark tunnel, which is giving me hope that she may not need to be sent to boarding school after all, phew! We have actually been having lots of fun in the last few days...
So here is a recap of what you may have missed:
-giant strawberry season, from the shop, not my garden
-new viking softies for Little Sparrow
-Emma and her love of markers, a tiger apparently
-New shoes from here
-Oh dear, broken nail!
-Quilting classes at Little Sparrow
-just having fun
-cute vintage spec frames from the op-shop
-Yay! new nails
-Street art outside Modern Times
-Architect's model of our upcoming build. Yes there will be demolition here soon, no walls, no kitchen...I'm in for a world of pain.

So add all that to shop orders and other boring stuff, and you can see why I needed to crawl under a virtual digital rock.

x Cinti

An Experiment in Screen Printing...

When I saw that my friend Leslie of Maze & Vale (formally Onegirl) was doing a handprinted fabric swap, I couldn't resist joining in. I have been wanting to experiment with the whole screen printing thing for quite a while now and this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. My last hands on experience with screen printing was in high school, so I'm hardly an expert. This is not a tutorial but just a little guide as to how I went about it all and what I could improve on.

Equipment & Materials: I was lucky enough to pick up some printing ink from my local art shop very cheaply as they were clearing out this range. The only colour choice was silver, so silver it was! Fabric I have plenty of, and my very lovely friend Pilgrim lent me her screen and squeegee.

Design: Rather than burning onto the screen with emulsion (which I have no idea how to do), I thought making a stencil with vinyl adhesive (Contact) would be a good alternative. Little silver clouds seemed appropriate so I had drew the design and cut it out with a craft scalpel, then stuck it to the underside of the frame.
Looking back I should have drawn the clouds horizontal to the frame which would have made repeat prints a lot easier with less negative space. The next part was all a bit clumsy as I was on my own. Trying to deal with ink, hold a frame down, squeegee and then relocate the fabric was not impossible but would have been a whole lot simpler with another set of hands. I think most screen printers use a hinged frame so things don't shift around. Probably used way too much ink and ended up with silver hands!All in all, I think I did ok. I found the quality of my prints erratic and consistency was a problem. I only had a couple of perfect prints and the rest had patchy areas (see bottom left, below), I'm sure this was down to my technique, or lack thereof.
I also suspect towards the end some of the ink may have started to dry in the screen silk because I wasn't working quickly enough? Would love to hear from anyone that can give me some pointers. So hung out the fabric to dry, then ironed to heat set.
My fat quarters are all cut up and ready to ship around the world to my swap partners, I'm excited to see what they'll send me.
I'm not sure if this whole screen printing thing is for me though, it was quite enjoyable but the clean up was a real pain. I really need an assistant to do all the dirty work.

Have you tried screen printing before?

Nice Nails!

I get a lot of comments on my nails, probably because they are always colourful and look reasonably well kept. Turns out, it's my 'thing'.
For some it may be all about their hair or lippy, I like to have nice nails.
It was never started as a conscious thing, I blame my sister for starting me on the nail vanity journey. You see, she made me get mine done for her wedding (I was in the bridal party), and then I was hooked.

Oh, and did I mention they are faux? Yes gels to be exact. My real nails are so thin and brittle, I could literately peel layers off them, ick! So you can understand why I was enamored almost immediately.

But how do you find the time to maintain them, I hear you ask. Well yes, I do have to get them refilled about every 3 weeks (an hour sans toddler, bliss!). It's my 'me' time. I don't wear make-up or hair product, so I figure I can lash out on the nails every once in a while. My favorite thing is choosing a new colour every time, although I have been quite partial to blue of late. I've just started a Pinterest Board for nail inspiration, it's pretty.

It's amazing how well manicured nails can give you that extra bit of confidence when you just don't feel that great. One can't always guarantee a good hair day, or even managing to pull a good looking outfit together when you are rushing out the door, but my nails I can control, it's worth the investment for me.

Do you have a beauty or fashion 'thing'?

Instagram Sew Along...

I have a new social media obsession, it's a humble little iPhone app called Instagram. You may have heard of it? It took me a little while to warm up to the idea of sharing my photos, but I have found the little Instagram community to be friendly and supportive.
Of late, my favourite thing has been to share the various stages of my sewing projects, just like a virtual sew along. I like the idea of documenting parts of the process for myself, and because I am a social person, I love that people leave comments for me along the way. It's like blogging but super immediate. Here are the photos I've shared...above, a quilt for a very special pop up shop (more about that soon).
Below, the dress I made a few weeks ago, it was the first sew along I shared......and of course Eva's Christening gown.
So if you are on Instagram and would like to follow my image stream, you can find me under @mypoppetshop (same as my twitter handle). It's not always sewing, sometimes it's photos of my feet or new manicure, lol.

Brainwave! Ok from now on I will tag all sew along photos with #sewalong, go ahead and join in too. The search function on Instagram will bring up everyone's photos tagged with #sewalong, this is going to be fun!

Eva's Christening Gown

This weekend I made a christening gown for my adorable niece, baby Eva. My sister didn't want anything too over the top so she picked an embroidered vintage sheet to use for the fabric.
I've never made anything this complicated or important before, but after making the dress for myself a few weeks ago, I was feeling confident that my attempt wouldn't end in disaster.
I just used a basic dress pattern with a few modifications. The original pattern was a romper dress so I left out the romper pants, lengthened the skirt and fully lined the bodice and skirt. The zip was a little tricky but its in and looks ok from the outside (don't look inside!).
My sister also picked a scalloped edged bonnet from a vintage pattern I had but it was way too small so I enlarged it. The bonnet is unfinished and still needs to have to ribbon ties added.
Eva is coming around today for the fitting, fingers crossed it fits. I think it came out really beautiful, I can't wait to see how adorable she looks in it.
Will share photos of the Christening soon...

Breaking news: The dress fits perfectly, I'm so relieved.

I don't know how she does it?

You know, I get asked all the time..."I don't know how you do it? You have a toddler and yet you are always so productive and creative, where do you find the time?"

Haha, I respond, you haven't seen the state of my house, kitchen, ironing pile...Something's got to give. The truth is I can't have it all, and I can't do it all. Some days I barely manage to cross a teeny tiny task off the to do list, other days things get done a little more efficiently. Often I prioritize the things I enjoy doing over the things that need doing because it makes me happy. And a happy mummy makes for a happy family.

I will always choose to go to the park with Emma over mopping the floor, writing a blog post over doing the ironing, and I hardly ever make a cake from scratch. Mr Man isn't always cool with that, but hey, a wrinkled t-shirt never hurt anyone.

So that's my secret. I try not to be so hard on myself. I've always got a million creative ideas floating around in my head like a never ending 'to do' list, but I just tackle one little task at a time whenever the opportunity arises and things just seem to happen.

As a mother now, I don't wonder 'How do I do it?', I wonder 'How did I not manage to do it when I was child free and really had all the time in the world?'

This time last year...October

Well time really does fly when you are having fun. It felt like only yesterday that Emma started going through her 'tantrum stage'. She is at the 'bossy stage' now, but that's a whole separate post.

So in October last year:
-I showed you how to dye your own wool
-how to make some tossing bean bags, (a great Christmas gift idea)
and
-shared my frustration with Emma's little temper turns, and had some really lovely reader comments that helped me get through the challenge of it all (Thank you!)

I made a dress...for me!

I'm seriously excited (as mentioned in the vlog post yesterday) to show off the new dress I made for myself. It's the first time I have tried anything so complex, and I'm so pleased that I took the time to treat myself.
I love how it turned out. I used a vintage pattern Butterick 4835 which just happened to be my size, win!I was motivated, partly because I had some time up my sleeve whist Emma was on holidays at the farm, and partly through the frustration of not being able to find anything in stores that I liked and suited me. So when I came home from a visit to some pretty boutiques last week, I dove into my pattern stash with the intention of creating something great!

The hardest part was finding the right fabric in my vintage stash. It's ironic, I probably have hundreds of meters but it was hard to find something suitable, for the following reasons:
-width + length, vintage fabrics are narrow so you need quite a lot for a dress length (about 3m) which is not always possible when you buy thrifted pieces.
-stains, I had my heart set on a couple of beautiful prints but they had stains from age/rust/water damage that I just couldn't cut around.
-fear, the fact is a couple of super special fabrics were too good to cut into for a first attempt, if I stuffed up I couldn't just nick down to the shop for some more.

So I rummaged and found a ton of this chambray (which I'd forgotten I had) in a suitcase. I thought the red contrast would make it extra special, which I think it has.
See how neat the collar and top stitching is? And did I mention it has pockets? I love a dress with pockets.
I took extra special care, and even basted where the pattern told me to. I never baste or hardly even use pins, so this was like sewing 101.
The only part I did modify were the sleeves. If you follow me on instagram (@mypoppetshop) you would have seen a stage by stage update including the original sleeves. But they looked a bit star trekkie on, so I decided to give them the flick and just drafted some simple facing pieces for the sleeves.
No other adjustments were necessary. I look forward to making this pattern in another fabric really soon.

So what do you think? Do you love it? Say you love it. I love it!

Oh and because I'm avoiding doing my bookkeeping, I made a matching dress for Perty too. Tune in tomorrow to see how cute it turned out.

How To: Make a Toddler size Duvet from a single bed Duvet

I have never enjoyed sleeping with sheets and blankets, I'm a doona/duvet girl all the way. So now that Emma has graduated to a toddler bed I thought it was time she had a duvet of her own. I have quite bad dust mite allergies which improved once I started using a wool filled duvet, but I really struggled finding a toddler duvet for Emma that wasn't feather or cheap polyfill. What to do?

Then I had a brain wave...make my own.
I purchased a single bed Aussie wool filled duvet (on sale, yay!) and here's what I did:
(please excuse the quality of the photos - night time sewing)

Note - This project although looking quite straight forward was a bit challenging to finish to my very high standard. I would recommend it only to confident sewers as the sheer bulk of the quilt made it difficult to handle.

Step 1: Decide on the size you need the finished duvet to be and mark these out on your large duvet with a tailors marker or pencil. The size to fit Emma's bed is 100cm x 140cmStep 2: Rather than cutting the duvet, which would let some of the filling out making a big mess, I decided to use my overlocker (serger) to cut and finish the edges at the same time. Sew along the marked lines. Also cut/serge away the current binding to reduce the bulk on the existing edges.

My overlocker managed to (just) get through ok but I had to pull it through as it was a little bulky, this caused me to break a needle, so take it slow.

You can stop at this stage if you don't mind an overlocked/serged edge as a finish. I chose to bind the edges to make it neater.
Step 3: Mark a small curve on the corners and cut.

Step 4: Bind edges with bias binding. I used the technique explained in yesterdays tutorial, although the finish was not to my usual high standard (I'm really anal with my binding). The bulk of the duvet made it difficult but I think it looks pretty neat considering.
Now I'm off to make a couple of custom sized duvet covers...

How To: Enlarge Arm Holes & Add Bias Binding - Two Tutes in One

Emma has been growing out of all her really nice clothes lately. I really love this dress by Little Tree Kids, but the arm holes were getting too tight so it was time to get the scissors out and make some adjustments.

Here, I'll share with you how to enlarge arm holes and add (or replace) a bias binding trim. For a great tutorial on how to make your own bias binding check out the Made blog, but if you can't be bothered with all the fuss, you can by some from my shop.
How to:
1. The before shot.
2. Cut off the bias trim, this will enlarge the arm holes by at least 1cm all around. I removed the neck trim so I could replace it to match the sleeves.
3. Neck trim...Measure the length of bias required to replace the binding removed and position in place for ties if required. Open up the binding and on the wrong side of fabric line up the edge of binding print down and sew along the press line (of the binding).
4. To finish, fold the binding over the raw edge and sew in place. No need to worry about catching the back.
(The style of this dress was a cross over wrap around and the bias extended and tied off as a belt, I finished the ends of the bias tape with a small knot)5. To bind the armholes...Using the same technique as before but to start fold over the bias tape about 1.5cm near the under arm seam.
6. Sew around. When you arrive at the beginning overlap the binding about 1cm
7 & 8. Fold over and stitch to finish, taking extra care to tuck the end of the binding in and securely finish.

I hope the pictures were helpful. This is the technique I use to sew on all my bias binding. It takes a little longer as you have to sew twice but it guarantees that you have caught both sides and gives a super neat finish.
Once I finished Emma's dress I remembered I had the same small armhole problem on a pretty dress that was bound for the Op-shop because it was too uncomfortable to wear.
I used the same technique of cutting away the seam and adding bias tape. This time it was a narrow black commercial bias tape that I picked up at the Op-shop for only a few cents.

So now, thanks to a little bit of bias tape and a nap time sewing session, both Emma and I have pretty dresses to wear this summer.

How To: Look after your Swedish Clogs

The sun was shining yesterday so I was excited to wear my favorite sandals, these cute pair of handmade wooden soled Swedish clogs. But after a winter of wear (with socks), they needed a little bit of TLC.
So I got to work...

You will need:
Some medium/fine grade sandpaper
Olive oil
Cotton rag
How to:
Sand any marks off the wooden sole, then wipe away any dust. Dab your cloth in olive oil and gently rub into the wood and the leather. The olive oil will nourish and darken the wood and leather and help protect from damp.All done!

Now my sandals look brand new, and with regular care, will last for many years to come. Bring on summer!

Making something from nothing...

I can finally reveal the fruits of my labor during Emma's nap times last week, (the little quilt above was gifted yesterday).
I've been sewing a lot...because...Emma's behavior has been a little challenging of late and I have lost my cool on numerous occasions. To calm my frayed nerves I have let my 'domestic duties' and online commitments take a back seat and retreated to my sewing room. Yes, I've been sewing my little heart out.

It's been a little while since I've felt so satisfied with something I've made, I used only materials from my stash and just scraps for the tops. The blue quilt was made primarily from the business shirts that Mr Man 'explodes' Incredible Hulk style.I like the idea that quilts should be made from unwanted pieces of clothing and scraps that would have gone into landfill. I mean isn't that the original idea behind patchwork and quilting, to make something out of nothing? Both the Jungle quilt and floral quilt are in the shop now.

iPad Apps we love...

I took my iPad on our recent trip to Argentina primarily to keep Emma entertained on the long flights and transit waits, and boy did I make the right decision. I must admit the iPad saved the day!
It was a challenge to find some kid sized headphones with volume restriction on them, but I persisted and managed to get them at the Apple store.
I had a friend load quite a few films on it, and between those and a few free apps we managed to get through.

Emma's favorite apps were:
Toca Doctor, a fun puzzle game with awesome graphics
Mee Genius, which is like a e-reader for kids books that will read illustrated stories
&
Miss Spider, which had a story, puzzles a colouring page function.

My other personal favorite which Emma is a little bit scared of is this one below:

Toca Hair Salon. It's a blast!
Emma is scared of the lion and the hairdryer noise so I don't get to play it often :(
She even managed to delete the app off my phone (that girl is too clever!)



Because I didn't have WiFi access where we were, most of my favorite apps were useless, but I did get a lot of use from my Kobo eReader app. Luckily I had filled my library with lots of free classic books before I left so I read Anne Of Green Gables and Gulliver's Travels when Emma was napping.
I also love to listen to podcasts so my iPod app was full of episodes from How Stuff Works.

No TV in the apartment meant the iPad got a real work out. Emma is now a super wizz at getting to her apps and replaying her fave scenes of her movies over and over.
I think I must have seen Captain Hook and Peter Pan fighting about 100 times over!

Now we are home the iPad has 'gone to sleep' for a while. I was worried she would get too attached to it, but as soon as we got home and she had all her toys and books, she seems to have forgotten about it and not asked for it once.

Do you or your little one have any favorite apps or podcasts to recommended?

I Can Fly...

What was meant to be a 'this is what I wore today' post has turned in to a 'Look, I can fly' post. It's obvious that I have a small crush on animated GIFs, especially when they let me levitate.

We had a very small window of spring sunshine here in Melbourne that was too good to waste on a boring 'look at me, I'm so stylish' pose, so here is a little bit of silliness.

Oh, so did you really want to know what I'm wearing?

Cardigan - Lowrys Farm (bought in Tokyo)
Skirt - Vintage Fletcher Jones from Hunter Gatherer
Sandals - Swedish Hasbeens