I ♥ these sundresses!

I love this style of sundress, it's so simple and also a great canvas for showing off a super cute fabric! I found these lovelies on Etsy, of course, but if anyone knows where I can get the pattern please let me know, I'd love to make some!

Madelyn Peasant Dress by Dogwood Lane Clothes

Tillbrook Fairies and Toadstools Peasant Dress by JMB Three Designs

Siena Flower DIY Dress Kit by Baby Seedlings

Color Collection Play Dress by Kidacollective

Have a wonderful weekend! May it be one filled with fun and cute sundresses!

things I ♥ today -

I got new books today!

And, new issues of lovely magazines!

And, I made blueberry muffins!

As Martha would say, it's a good day! Enjoy!

wordless wednesday -

tuesday's kawaii treasury!

I love all things kawaii and I love buttons, so here are the two together -

Cute Friends On Grey, buttons by Buttered Parsnips

Large Mushrooms, buttons by Buttered Parsnips



Kawaii Japanese Wooden Buttons by Rainbow Catz

Decole Fabric Covered Boutique Buttons by Aimoobaroo

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you're having a lovely Memorial day, isn't it wonderful to have an extra day with everyone at home and no particular place to go! The only thing we have planned for today is my daughter's appearance in the town's parade, which will be a lovely thing, her and her girl scout friends will have such fun, I can't wait!
Here's a really sweet song from Renee and Jeremy called It's a Big World, it's really a baby song, or lullaby, but enjoyable for all ages, and the video is super cute, enjoy!





It's a Big World by Renee and Jeremy

CREATEaTHOUGHT!

This fantastic art journal kit is from the lovely shop of May's featured Etsyblogger, CREATEaTHOUGHT! Her shop is full of lovely journals and pretty, sometimes quirky, rings! Go check out the shop now, also you can keep up to date with her art and new creations on her blog, here! I'll leave you with a quote from her Etsy profile -
There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~William Makepeace Thackeray.
Congrats CreateaThought!

I'm daydreaming....

.....again about vacationing in Maine!
So while browsing Etsy, of course, I had to just type in Maine map and see what it came up with! What lovelies popped up, a super cute notecard that I'll have to buy at some point, and a couple of great journals. I love the sand dollar, I wish we had one of those, I've never actually seen one, we have a couple of starfish, mmmm I feel a collection coming on - maybe for a shadow box!!!!


Summer in Maine notecard from Stories Divinations

Nautical Map Book with Sand Dollar from Olive Art

Maine Gazetteer Map Journal from Useful Books

Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Schmooks!

Today I stumbled upon a new-to-me super-cute Etsy seller, Schmooks from Canberra. Claire is an uber-talented artist and illustrator, and I for one have fallen in love with her work. Here's a few examples to tempt you -



Walk the Plank

Floating

Carried Away

wordless wednesday!

happy tuesday

Brotherhood of Man by The Innocence Mission

snail mail sure is lovely!

Since I started making ATC's and swapping them, I've been getting some really lovely snail mail from fellow artists, often with some goodies included and always a friendly note to go with the beautiful artwork. This ATC, and it's fellow inchies, is from a swap called Beautiful Birds and is from the lovely Crystal, check out her flickr pics here.
Swapping is a lovely thing come and join us!

have a great weekend!

Lucky Kitty Tote Bag by Cathy Peng

a quilted treasury -

by All the Numbers

by Providence Handmade

by Jewel Weeds

by The Two Windmills

More quilted lovelies for inspiration, courtesy of Etsy artists - just click on a picture for a link to the talented artisan! Happy Friday!

quilting inspiration from KnitKnat -

I haven't made any quilts now for a while, and it's a skill I miss using. Quilts are lovely, comforting, practical things, and a great way of showcasing some of the fantastic fabrics that are out there.

My friend over at Three Dancing Magpies has recently become obsessed with everything quilted, a very lovely crafty lady who taught me how to knit, and is already a really good quilter! In one of her recent blog posts, here, she mentioned making coin quilts, a term I wasn't familiar with. A coin quilt is an extremely pretty patchwork quilt top, that is wonderful for showing off great fabrics, even those with large prints, so you can use all those fabrics that you weren't sure what you could do with, but loved enough to buy a half yard of!

I was browsing through the pages of Etsy today and stumbled upon the lovely shop of KnitKnat, and her quilts are wonderful, one of which is a coin quilt, I have to make one of these for myself! For those of you who don't quilt, or don't want to wait, her quilts are lovely and very affordable. The top one also incorporates a favorite of mine, natural linen, isn't it lovely? I normally do a treasury of a few different Etsians, but Knit Knat was definitely worthy of one all by herself! Happy Thursday!

happy wordless wednesday!

things are blooming all over -

- whether they are things that you planted, or not! Some people may call these weeds, but for us they are an unexpected treat from Mother Nature, beautiful little flowers waiting to be found. Don't you just love Spring?

beachdreaming!

oh, how I want to be beside the seaside! I'm daydreaming about beaches, sunshine, and lazy days exploring the beaches rock pools for any goodies. Since the summer is the busiest time of year at my husbands work, we have to wait until early fall to go to our favorite places. Maine, southern coastal Maine to be precise. We love it, the kid's especially love it, a good time is had by all. Last year we semi-camped, meaning we stayed in a cute little log cabin on a campsite, it was so perfect, the kid's still got to make smores and have a camp fire, but we didn't have to sleep on a bag of rocks! Oh well, my mind may be there for quite a while before my body catches up, but there's fun in daydreaming too!

have a great weekend!

Little Red Riding Hood fabric from Crafty Japan .

happy furry friday!

Who have you got your beady eye on Suki?

It's Kez, not chasing the kitties I hope! lol!

books, books, books!

I buy, borrow and covet too many books, well maybe, can you read too many books? I don't think so! Right now I'm reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and so far I'm hooked. It's written like a book of letters and is very addictive, you have to read the next letter, then just one more! Excellent!

Also, every time I find a new hobby, or there's something I want to find out more about, my first instinct is to find a book about it. I try to be good and try the library first, but they don't have everything, then I'll try Bookins - a place to swap books, oh yes, I swap them too! - then I give in to my desire and just go and buy it. I just started making, and swapping, ATC's, so naturally a book was needed and I found just the thing - Artist Trading Card Workshop, can't wait to get, maybe it'll be today - okay, off to the post office! Happy Thursday!

my first ATC!

This was not only my first go at making an ATC (artist trading card), but also my first ATC swap, via Swap-Bot! The swap theme was for a favorite movie, of which one of mine is Amelie - if you haven't seen it yet, then you're missing out big time, Netflix it now! I actually made a series of three, you can see the others on Flickr, here, and they really are great fun to make. They are small, have to be 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, so they don't take too long. I like the whole mixed media and collage look, and it makes it such fun to play around with.
These were my first attempt and I like the way they came out, I hope others do too, particularly my swap partner!
I am making the next ones to a bird theme, with some inchies as well, and I can't wait to start playing with that. I love finding new creative outlets, especially ones that allow me to use my stash, like this one! Goodness knows I have a lot of stuff to keep me going for a while!

- here it is all ready to be sent out, along with some extra goodies!

our spring nature table -

spring nature table
Originally uploaded by miesmama

At our house there is a special place called the nature table, it's actually the top of a bookcase, but no matter. It changes with the seasons, as well as the days.
Artwork, courtesy of artist Ruth Elsaesser, and the season fairies mark the season, and then we embellish. Things we find outside are brought in and given pride of place. The wee birds nest was discovered after a windy rainstorm, although the eggs are cotton spun replicas, don't worry!
There are lots of pine, and fir, cones to be found, as well as rocks, a lovely piece of lichen, and pretty birch bark. It really is a lovely way to bring nature inside, and remind us all of its importance.
Happy Tuesday!

Spring lovelies for your lovely -

Here are some cute spring ponytails and headbands for the sweet little girls in your life, you can find them in my shop, here. I love to make these cute fabric buttons, they make great accents to anything, be it your hair, or a spring cardigan, or an edge accent on a pillow.And, with all the cute fabrics out there the possibilites are endless. Happy Monday!

Happy Weekend!

Tulip Tree
Originally uploaded by kattcatt10

fancy a swap?

I just found this cool website, Swap-Bot,(isn't he cute?)It's devoted to swaps of all kinds, to all places. I had so much fun doing my first two swaps, the garland swap from A Year of Color class, and the rolled hem hankie swap, that I've decided to keep going! It's really a win-win situation; you get a reason to be creative, and no artist's block because you're given a theme, and you get something lovely in return via snail mail, which is something I love and that always brightens my day. Sometimes I think that's half the reason to buying something online, from Etsy for example, so you can receive something pretty in the mail that you can coo over!

I've decided to start easy on myself, so some of my first swaps are just of store bought postcards, I've always loved collected postcards ever since I was little, so it'll be fun to see what I get from my swap partners. And then, I also signed up for a fabric postcard swap, that'll be great fun, you have to make a postcard out of fabric - how cool is that? I can't wait to start on that, and I'll keep you posted, haha!

So, go and check it out, and maybe I'll get to swap something with you too! Enjoy!