While at Sew It Together a few weeks ago I had the lovely experience of meeting delightful Wendy. She is the co-ordinator of a fantastic community project called Full Circle. Her Church, Ashburton Baptist Church in Melbourne runs a market twice a year called The Playful Market to raise funds for important charities. The next market is on July 28th and 29th and this time there is also going to be an accompanying exhibition. Everyone can participate! Wendy is hoping to get entries from all over Australia and all of the world.

The brief is a simple one: take an embroidery hoop and using any medium you like create something wonderful interpreting the theme Full Circle. The entry fee is a tiny $5 and will be used to support Lawamena Inc - an Indonesian Schools project supporting individual students and supporting education.

As it is school holidays, Pippa, Madeleine and I have all decided to submit a piece. And quite by coincidence, we will be in Melbourne for the weekend of the Exhibition!! The girls are highly inspired (and motivated) by the thought of their work being in a "real, proper" exhibition!!

So holidays are looking like this:

Sitting in a deck chair stitching on the verandah at Mackerel Beach - you can't get much better than that!!

I am a literal sort of person, so when I heard "Full" Circle I decided I must stitch all the space in my hoop. I may live to regret this interpretation! The design is inspired by  my mother's collection of beautiful glass paperweights.

The beginning:

If your or your children would like to participate in Full Circle you can get an Entry Form and all the information you need here. Wendy needs your project in Melbourne by Thursday 19th July, so start soon and share some stitching with your children these holidays!!

Madeleine turns 7 on Thursday and preparations are  in full swing - dinner on Thursday with our family and a party with 5 of her friends on Saturday. It is all going to be lovely, but I have to admit this year I am feeling a little confused when it comes to presents...

A take along art satchel made by me, filled with beautiful art supplies and a watercolour nature journal or some Littlest Pet Shop?

All my instincts about parenting would instantly tell me the Art satchel is perfect. It is a gift that I have made for her and making for me is a way to show my family that I love them. It is full of quality art materials that I hope will nurture her creativity, her interest in the environment and  an appreciation for the beauty in the world around her.

And well Littlest Pet Shop is... Littlest  Pet Shop - a huge collection of plastic stuff sitting on toyshop shelves waiting to be purchased and collected. Stuff that I would usually dismiss as rubbish, stuff that would annoy me if anyone else gave it to my children. But this stuff has another role that I am only just learning about. It is something that helps Madeleine connect with her peers. The two littlest Pet Shop characters Madeleine already has are highly treasured possessions. Madeleine would say that it's because they are cute, but I think it's got a lot more to do with her feeling like she belongs - she has something that her friends have and that makes her feel good. This  is probably the first lesson they teach in Marketing 101, but I haven't really thought about it like this before!!!

So what do you think...

Should birthday gifts be virtuous or should you put your parenting philosophies aside and let your children have what they would truly love but you don't really approve of?

I'm going to sit on the fence this year...
On Thursday morning Madeleine will be unwrapping the Art satchel and a Littlest Pet Shop character to add to her collection.

If you're feeling virtuous or you're a fence sitter like me, I'll have a tutorial for the Art satchel later this week. It's quite nifty!! I'll show you how to measure up your art supplies and make a take anywhere satchel in any size you want.

On Saturday evening I experienced a major dose of mother guilt as I wrapped Will's birthday presents ready for his birthday on Sunday. You see, the only wrapping I could find in the house was of the Christmas variety and so, that is how they were wrapped. I find it so easy to get caught up in "perfect" - perfect hand made gifts wrapped perfectly, and a perfect birthday party completed by a perfectly decorated cake. I know I can never achieve perfect, I just pretend to aspire!!

In all the fun and rush of Project Run and Play, Will's 2nd birthday crept up on me. Rob and my Dad were very organised and made Will a fantastic gadget board full of locks and clips and black boards and mirrors. It justifies its own blog post - so watch this space!

My birthday crafting started on Saturday afternoon. Will has a new Teddy in a Tin which he loves. "Teddy sleeping" is heard often around here now! The squares in the quilt are 3/4 inches - a perfect contrast to the big picture of Project Run and Play.

I was inspired by this.

Our party was very much last minute as well - our family, grandparents, the cousins who were in town and our most wonderful friend and nanny, Romy. Although last minute, the party really felt perfect.

There was a cake decorated by big sisters:

For those wondering, it's a dog!!!

And most importantly lots of family with lots of love:

Who needs mother guilt when all your little 2 year old needs for a perfect birthday is a cake and lots of love?

I guess most crafters associate the term scrappy with fabric, but today I'm thinking a little laterally.  
By the end of the year our crayon box is looking pretty tired - lots of stubby ends and broken pieces - quite a lot like this, actually!

We thought we'd give them a bit of seasonally themed make-over with the help of a couple of gingerbread shaped ice-cube trays.

There - don't they look happier? 

 There is a tonne of information out there on how to do it.  Here's  an example.  I don't think you're supposed to heat them, but I used ice cube moulds for mine and melted the crayons  on a very low heat and they turned out just fine.

Packaged up for friends - they make a lovely scrappy gift!