moopy & me

Project #2 revealed

A little baby in the belly is obviously my number one project at the moment but following very closely behind is Umbrella Prints (lets face it, the baby practically makes itself)

How exciting! MORE FABRIC and two new dollies for you to make. Amy and I have been working super hard on this project for almost a year now and are very proud to finally reveal all the creativity. Half of the textiles in our 12 modern Australian range are Amy's and the other half are mine... can you guess?

Both Amy and I have had team leaders, Lily (aged 4) & Grace (aged almost 3) bossing us from the side lines... most creative sessions have been reduced to washing up mud pies from clothes and explaining the rules of sharing for the millionth time (while we were busy ignoring them, they were busy making for sure we took more notice!)

We have 3 producty things for you to look at to start:: Flip Doll kits, Patchwork sets & meterage of the textiles used in both (meterage coming very soon, but dolly & patch sets available almost now...as soon as we get the Etsy store up and running... next week)

I will be putting aside my love hate relationship with Etsy in order to make things easier for you guys... I have a few gripes with the way they handle orders but hopefully the glitches have been ironed out since the last time I was there.... 

Thank you for all the wishes of joy in the last post .. I suck terribly at getting back to people but believe me when I say I love to hear from you and if time permits I try to read up on what you are up to aswell.

One of the FlipDolls is based on Lily and the other is Grace by the way...

Moopy-poo number two

Yes this blurry blobby photo is a sweet little moopy who will be ready to join our family some time in September.

My goodness havn't I been hanging out to tell the world such exciting news, I am so proud of myself for not blabbing our secret any sooner (to too many people anyhow).... it was no easy task keeping my big mouth shut I can tell you!

Moopy number one is absolutely over the moon... she has been begging for a baby sister for over two years now ... she is so sure of the baby being a sister??  but has come up with a very cunning plan if she happens to be blessed with a brother..... she has simply stated that I will have another baby!! well, I know what I am praying for.

I am quite suprised at the fact I am pregnant again... I swore black and blue that I would only have one baby... I found the baby 'thing' far more trying than I had ever thought it would be (but of course endlessly joyous at the same time). But come mid 2007, I had this sudden urgency to have another baby... I became obsessed.. wall paint was chosen .. a quilt was half made (in gender neutral orange and green) ... my GP only laughed and looked surprised that I had never heard of the four year itch. Why didn't any one tell me! I had been warned that getting pregnant again (due to some minor health issues) would not be so simple... so Chris and I thought the beginning of 2008 would be a good time to start and hope that Lily wouldn't become a teenager before we got the good news... well not even a week had gone by and presto! pregnant. I am not so sure I am going to listen to the doc in future... once is a fluke but twice... I think it's safe to say there are no fertility issues to worry about.

So you can expect a darn site more craftyness going on around here in the near future... I have some sewing to do!.. bibs.. booties... a quilt to finish.. my mind is a buzz with little pint sized projects, especially now that, that nasty bout of 'all day' sickness has cleared up. That is except for a few bigger issues like ... literally picking the house up and turning it around to fit a new baby in.. (how could something so small need so much space!) finding an art teacher to help out at the studio and a consultant who needs a beautiful studio to work in while I am not using it so much..... Let me know if you are keen!

Catching up

I have a student who's mother is very clever and knows me too well..... she found this (and the one below) adorable 50's vinyl night light for me whilst on one of her op shopping adventures... I'd love to say I found them but I just don't seem to have the time these days to go op shopping.... I really need to book myself in for a session! How satisfying it must be to find such treasures.

Thursday Nights at Nest have been a blast these last few weeks.... The 'gals' and I have spent a couple of weeks crocheting Camilla Creatures (pattern found in this book, to purchase if you are super quick here) and now we are screen printing up a storm with the Gocco. In a few weeks time we are going to practice some of the simple printing techniques (such as monoprinting & faux lino cutting) that I usually do with the children... the mums are getting jealous of their kids having all the fun, so we will get out the inks and get messy too!

These are a couple of the silk screen prints the kids did towards the end of last term... done with stencils not chemicals... so much fun and the results are stunning as you can see.

Here are a some pics of the new artroom (some what finished...) I still have a while to go before it and the shop are how I had planned...

Moopy Bunny has taken over my shop! There are four or so stretched prints still available (for those of you who live near enough, sorry no online sales)

A little crafting

for a little fellow, Master H...

I have been making so many other lovely things lately but sadly I can not share... they are all for other peoples top secret projects..... it is so frustrating ... because I don't get much time to do anything extra and therefore the blog is a little bare of craft... I can say that I have been screen printing up a storm with my dear good friend Amy.... (you can buy her adorable funky brooches here, at the Hive Gallery in Canberra and Wasabi in Norwood SA) ... and we will share very very soon!! I am super excited about this new textile/toy/products project.... I would have to be one of the worst people at keeping secrets, so I won't be able to keep quiet for much longer...

Nest Studio art class #1

Monoprinting

I often get requests for online art classes for those of you who don't live here in Adelaide... so I am going to do my best at posting a few of my favourite little projects for young children over the next couple of months. They will be short and hopefully something you will feel comfortable doing at home... Of course, in Nest classes we go into much more depth and don't only focus on the method as done here... you could go for a walk or read a favourite book etc .. to get imaginations flowing.

Step 1 you will need :: block ink (it is sticky not runny), ink roller, paper, plastic sheet (or plastic placemat you can ruin), pencil & butter knife

Step 2 Using your butter knife, spread a large grape sized dollop of ink onto the plastic sheet

Step 3 Roll the ink gently in an up/down rolling motion, until the ink has spread the width of your roller

Step 4 Now roll the ink in a left to right motion until you start to smooth it out over the length of the plastic sheet

Step 5 Aternate this with the up/down motion until the whole sheet is covered nice and smoothly and thin

Step 6 Gently place the paper over the ink covered plastic sheet, DO NOT TOUCH the paper as it will leave big fat finger marks.... you may like to hold the paper down in the corner where there is no ink for your little artist when they begin drawing. Now this is the fun part.... START DRAWING (but remember not to touch the paper, show your child how to hold the pencil upright so that their little hands don't rest on the paper... although sometimes this can make for a nice texture)

Gently pull the paper away and presto! a really stunning monoprint appears, this photo does no justice to the delicate texture that the ink creates under the pressure of the pencil.

Try using different things to draw with (fingers, sticks..) and you can let this dry and get out other ink colours for a layered ..two/three/four coloured monoprint. Lily went ahead and used watercolour pencils to add some colour to her prints :: Above print is a cat with lovely long whiskers :: Top is another cat but this one has many wings for flying.... next to Lily on her first day of "proper" Kindy this week.

I have so much fun with my Moopy's art ... here is the "flying cat" with digital colour added and printed up on my trusty bubble jet.

Rolling along

I have been playing with patterns all week.... I wish I had a pair of these skates so that I could zoom along a little faster. The new artroom is taking longer to organise than expected ... but my 'back to school' deadline still gives me a good two weeks to work on it.

Note to parents :: there are a couple of placements still available in some of Nest Studio's art classes, click here to get all the info. We are focusing on all things paint this term, I can not wait.... we haven't had the paints out on the canvases for a whole year (except for our mid year exhibition).

Well I still can't show you pics of the new artroom and shop extension because it all looks so hideous... so much packing away... throwing away... painting... oh the painting that needs doing.... holes to bash into walls... (we have one done... and one to go)

I made the birdy up there in cotton + felt on linen... a mix of solid fabric and stitching

My new favourite

Could the Japanese possibly bring out any more brilliant magazines.... when will the addiction end?

Moe is my new absolute fave mag... all about children's literature, in particular, illustration. I can't get enough of it and wish I could get back issues. Every issue comes with a paper pull out of something very cool and has a 8+ page article on one illustrator.... plus so much more. This is one magazine where I really do wish I could read Japanese.

This is the adorable calendar in issue 1 for 2008.

An article on the wonderful Mitsumasa Anno and his book Anno's Journey

A N D this awesome article on Bruno Munari

Looking through this magazine actually gets a little overwhelming after a while... so much to look at, so much inspiration, so little time.....

I really should open up my fresh crisp new sketch book that Chris gave me for Christmas (covered in delicious japanese paper) .... problem being it looks too good to use.. silly I know... I like Keri Smith's solution to this popular conundrum... go right ahead and just ruin the first page... scribble all over it..totally go nuts... ahhhh now you can start sketching without fear!

Hey Decole

How exciting! the stock I ordered well in time for Christmas has finally arrived today?? oh well... I hope you saved some of your pennies because my shop is chockablock full of Decole right now.... (sorry, offline sales only, please don't email me and ask if I can sell online, cheers) I only wish I had ordered a little extra for myself... I have only ordered one or two of some items, so if you are a Decole fan I would pop into Nest Studio (Elizabeth Street, Croydon, South Australia!) soonish.

I celebrated the New year with friends in the empty new studio and we pretended it was my birthday ..(it is actually next week but most of my friends are away so I got in early). We felt a little sorry for ourselves the next morning so we chilled out in the airconditioning until we dared to brave the outdoors to frolic in the surf and share some good old fish and chips at Grange beach at dusk (can you believe the 41.5 degree days and 35 degree nights we have been having ..yuck)

For those waiting to start art + zakka workshops & classes... I will keep you posted over the next week or so... I do the big move tomorrow ... then I can assess what we need and we can get back into it. You are welcome to join up as members in the mean time... the form is here.

Yes, they would have to be the cutest skipping ropes out.

I ordered myself a birthday present or two at Amazon.jp last night....apparently it will be arriving on my birthday..yah.. so I will share all the fun with you then. Hopefully my posty wakes me nice and early (as he usually does) with a little parcel ..and I get a coffee in bed to go with the excellent reading [(coffee from Chris not the posty..)..well not that I read Japanese] .. rather excellent viewing material.... mmm one can hope!

paper bunnies

Well hello hello

Long time no see huh.... it's nothing personal ... I have just been keeping extremely busy with the shop and studio... infact I must say I feel a little disconnected from you all at the moment... I will have to do that whole post every day thing for a month, to get back into it maybe.

I feel quite dreadful actually.... I haven't even posted about Moopy's 4th birthday... Chris has finished uni ..whooop whooop! I got the keys to the new (extension) of my studio/shop yesterday..WOW .. so much light and space... umm I have some little itty bitty illustrations (printed on fabric and stretched onto canvas frames) up at Uncle Alberts Cafe in Norwood at the moment (little boy Moopy above is one of them). I thoroughly enjoyed the process of these new works and intend to explore it alot more in the new year....

Hey did you see Mandy in this months issue of Frankie... isn't her work just the sweetest. I am not sure if I have mentioned it here or not but you can buy her prints, cards, stickers, buttons... umm what have I missed.... at Nest Studio (offline in Adelaide... check her out on Etsy for online sales) I must say I have been extremely slack in the information department here at Moopy&Me... but I fully intend to rectify this very soon... I think the problem all started a couple of months ago when I lost my camera....

And the thought of posting without fresh pics was just very uninspiring...hence large pause... I have found my camera though.. but you know when that pause is so big you just don't know when to jump back in... like trying to jump into the big skipping rope... especially when you tried doing it with two ropes for the first time ...and your head is bobbing in and out ..waiting for the ropes to be in just the right place...

Well merry Christmas to you all and heres to us catching up more often!!

Sharing the love

I have almost put a self imposed ban on me looking here ... every time I check the ever so talented Christina's luscious blog, I end up obsessed with a new doll or pattern or fabric..... She recently showed a lovely girl sporting an ever so cute sun hat .... that I just had to make... now I don't know if there is a secret club of sunhat wearers, but I couldn't google a pattern for the life of me... and believe me, I spent a number of hours. So.. incase you are part of my club (the club for people who can't find sunhat patterns) I went ahead and designed one for us.... to share and spread the love with. Go on.. click in the side panel there and give it a try, I would love to hear from someone who manages to make my pattern work.. the brim can be made wider and has lots of room in it to make it floppy (or trim it to make it more bonnet style). cheers.

 

And you can make it double sided too... fun!

Hello all Shinzi Katoh fans... Nest Studio (offline) now has an adorable selection of Shinzi's wears.... bags, postcards, lunchboxes, posters, mugs, ummm.. placemats.. it has made going to work such a pleasure!

Speaking of work, I have the most wonderful news... especially for those who live in Adelaide or already come to Nest Studio : art classes for children.......Nest Studio will be expanding into shop 2!!! (currently Leanne's Queen Street Pilates Studio, she has just bought and started renovating a fantastic much larger space just down the road... which she will have a community garden in! can't wait). So all of my students will now have a bright large airy space to be creative in, I can't tell you how excited I am... we move in late December/early January. This also means I can invite more people into the studio during my non-teaching hours ... to be creative/have mothers groups/teach other workshops... the options are endless.... I will post about the application process very soon.

I will leave you with another little Moopy&Me that we drove past today (public holiday) whilst getting inspired by our South Australian countryside.. somewhere near the Myponga Reservoir.