Stockwell Zoo

Lots of friends have been eagerly asking if I’ve been on a busy creative spree in preparation for the imminent arrival of Mini Kissell.  Somewhat guiltily I have to confess that in the main I haven’t.  ‘The shoe-maker’s child is never shod’ springs to mind and all that.  Once I know whether I should be creating minute dresses, or whether mini Hawaiian shirts would be more appropriate I’m sure I’ll spring into action, and I’ve already scared Bruce with threats of Von-Trapp style matching family outfits! (watch this space…)

Here’s a little peak at what I have done.  After receiving a whole car load of baby hand-me-downs (why do babies need so much stuff?), I thought a trip to Ikea was in order to create somewhere to put it all.  I’ve customised this 16-hole cubby unit, raiding my fabric stores and buying a few bits of patchwork quilt fabric.

Finally this retro children’s print I bought on Ebay years ago has a home.  I love the un-pc farmer out with his gun! (best not give the child any ideas!)

This block printed fabric I carted back from Nepal has been put to good use.

Aslan, a retro 70’s flower print lion has taken up residence.  He’s made by a brilliant Dutch company called Inke (www.inkeheiland.com).  Silhouette lions, monkeys, giraffes, birds, and practically the whole of Noah’s ark are available in a host of retro wallpapers.  He reminds me of our kitchen curtains when I was young, and the cast-off curtains we used to make camps with.

Bruce’s obsession with the solar system spills into the nursery.  His view is that no child should have to come into the world without a full constellation of glow-in-the-dark stars positioned above its cot to welcome it.  Much (too much?!) discussion and planning went into exactly which constellations should be used, and their precise positioning.  So the final line-up I’m told is:  Orion the hunter with his two dogs Canus Minor and Canus Major and Sirius the Dogstar, going after Taurus the bull, with Lepus the hare and Leo the lion constellations thrown in for good measure  (and here was I thinking it was just a jumble of stars….).  I hope all this does not go over the child’s head.

And finally, following the stellar theme, I made this high contrast black and white mobile for the little one which will hopefully keep it quiet and entertained for hours (whole days even?!) at a time.

Bootie Boutique relaunches

In an effort to make time fly past while I wait for the arrival of Mini Kissell, I’ve been busy remaking the website for Bootie Boutique.   The old one has served me well these past few years (built by trusty friend Sam  (www.sammi-richardson.com) and paid for in the lesser known currency of dresses!), but like all good things it had to come to an end to make way for a site that could do e-commerce, and bring Bootie Boutique to a wider audience.

The new site has a lot of the old favourites, like these personalised ‘Pimlico’ booties in Pink Smoothie colour, knitted in organic cotton and wool blend.

And these cosy ‘Marylebone’ booties, made for a little Amber Rose.

And then there’s these new flag booties which are proving a big hit, and show that you’re never too young to be patriotic!

And new to the site is this Vintage Name Bunting, personalised with a name of choice and crafted in mix and match fabrics- certain to brighten any nursery or kid’s bedroom.

Have a look for yourself and let me know what you think.  www.bootieboutique.com

Keep It Brief this Christmas

As shown in Cosmopolitan and Easy Living Magazines, Keep It Brief has teemed up with Coco de Mer for Christmas to offer customers the chance to personalise the Coco de Mer silk tie side briefs.

Keep me busy in the run up to Christmas-put your message to a loved one on a pair of silk knickers (price from £55).

Make it personal- a gift they’ll never forget, but keep it brief (15 characters or under please- space is limited!)

 

 

Ding Dong

With my time at Coco de Mer drawing to a close (this side of parenthood at least), I’ve been reflecting on my time there, and all that I’ve learnt.

In the main this can be boiled down to the newfound ability to freestyle cut out various body parts.  I’m not sure how relevant this skill is for wider life, but it came in pretty handy when installing the Christmas window with these erotic snowflakes (note to self: must get this out of the system before joining any local children’s playgroups).

My embroidery skills have also come on no end- give me a Christmas stocking, a cushion cover, or a  pair of knickers, leave me alone with some needle and thread and I’m away!

Merry Christmas everyone! Ding Dong!

SW8 Craft Zoo

Having recently been given two books – ‘The 12 Knits of Christmas’ and ‘Knit your own Cat’, I was inspired to knit my first calling bird.

Having finished him, I couldn’t stop. A curtain of horrendously bad taste, showing motifs of cats in various poses had been hanging around since my Fashion Faux Pas Party (this curtain definitely wouldn’t cut it alongside the likes of Designers Guild, and would be slung out of the John Lewis Fabric Department quicker than you could say ‘whiskers’). So it seemed the perfect material to make a cat shaped cushion.

Halfway through I seriously started questioning what I was doing, and a friend pointed out I didn’t have to continue. However, I’m not one to leave a project in the lurch and abandon my cat (and risk being chased down by the NSPCA) so I added a bell and a bow for magic jingle effect/authentic cat likeness:

Amazingly, when I’d turned it over to the back it looked uncannily like a Diplodocus. I accentuated the features by embroidering a mouth and eyes:

Friends we were with at the time pointed out that it could also double up as a genie’s lamp and a flying bird. This is truly a magical cushion, and has been a catalyst for thoughts of other animal-object-hybrid cushions that could be created in the future. Bring on story time.

Carrying on the SW8 Craft Zoo theme, I recently made this owl apron for 2 year old Lux’s birthday. We like owls, but I’m not sure she does? Hope so…

Kids Craft Party Catch Up

2011 has been a very crafty year, so I thought it was time for a look back at some of the most recent kids craft parties. In the chaos of hosting a kids craft party I generally forget to take any pictures, but the ones that I do remind me of the fun had. Sadly there’s no evidence of the bonfire night craft, where various kids got covered in black ink (but made lovely vibrant firework pictures). And no evidence of the recent christmas tree craft which I left covered in glitter and sequins, as did most of the kids, oops. Here’s some pictures of what we’ve been up to:

Mask making with a twist:

Rainbow fish:

Monster finger puppets:

Spinnning tops:

Here’s to more craftiness in 2012

A tenuous link

I have just made these flag booties for a little Ethan who is half Belgian, and half Scottish.This is the most tenuous of links.  My great acrobat friends Vicki and Wibbe have just got married, and they live in Belgium.  I know it’s not really enough to hang a blog post on, but I will try anyway!

Vicki tells me that the Belgian word for tent is the same as the Belgian word for exhibition, so they decided to have a tent-exhibition of Love at the wedding reception.  A line up of mini tents, each decorated in its own unique way by a different person.

For my tent, I created some Keep it Brief wedding pants for them- in celebration of the new Mr & Mrs Pompe.

The garden was filled with a whole host of creative things to entertain.  I liked the Poetree.

 

Spotted Dick

This is not a  blog post about warming traditional great British puddings.  So best to stop reading now if that’s what you were expecting.

Cathy, one of my oldest and dearest friends is soon to be getting married.  We’ve just been celebrating the occasion, and preparing her for married life on her hen party weekend.  Hen parties are generally rife with innuendo, and command all sorts of ridiculous games and decorations (best avoided if you have an aversion to the sight male appendages).  Fitting in with all of that, yet sitting smugly under the guise of domestic goddess weekend, I ran a willy-cookie decorating workshop.  The hens quickly got to work layering up their icing to create beautiful and tasty works of art.

 

 

 

The Elephant and the Owl SW8 Writer’s Guild

On wednesday the 11th May we had the inaugural meeting of the the Elephant and the Owl SW8 Writer’s Guild. Every other person we meet seems to be working on some literary creation, so we thought we needed to get these people together and share in the journey as these creations come to life. Taking inspiration from literary legends – C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien – who would meet together in the ‘Eagle and Child’ pub in Oxford, where they would read and discuss their unfinished manuscripts. Following their tradition, we decided to start up a group of our own, where ‘all stories are welcome’.

As you can see from the photos below, the wolf hat was worn by each writer in turn, as we each shared our literary musings. To begin, we had Luke who read the 1st chapter of his adventure filled children’s book, which ended with a dramatic cliff hanger! We’re all excitedly wandering what’s going to happen next, including Luke himself.

Next up was Henry who shared some black comedy poetry, revealing his marvellous ability to capture the moment with words (we noticed that there was a common theme of alcoholics that ran through them!).

Bruce followed suite with his galactic children’s story that has been a work in progress for several years (part of the aim of this writer’s guild is to get beyond this state!).

I then finished with the story of Lady Vi and the Giant Hound of Rothcairn – a story that has been written in different installments by 10 different writers, from the Doll Project (in the style of the game – ‘Consequences’). The end of the story is still waiting to be written…

The night was  reminiscent of art college days, and sharing ideas at a group crit (but with less stress and more grappa, cake and wine!).

Royal Wedding Fever

Last night was my first SW8 Craft Lover event and it proceeded with pomp and circumstance. We had a right royal time making rosettes for the royal wedding.

Things we learnt on the night:

1. The correct spelling of Catherine (unfortunately too late to amend our spelling)
2. The precision of German Stitching
3. Not to put too much cream in a Victoria Sponge cake!

With the soundtrack of Rule Britannia and other suitably royal themed wedding songs (including White Wedding by Billy Idol) the SW8 craft lovers set to work.

To compliment the crafts we indulged in some brilliantly British tea time cakes.

We’ll keep you posted for the next SW8 Craft Lover event coming soon.

Congratulations to the soon to be happily married couple!