Tuesday, September 6, 2016

ETSY Make For Good 2016



This year, I'm participating in Etsy Australia's Make for Good Campaign, which supports Plan International Australia's "Because I am a Girl" initiative.

The theme this year is "Creating Brighter Futures" and my two products that I've included in the campaign - Colour Me Party Favour Bags and a Colour Me Art Folio Bag fit the theme nicely. Both products feature fabric that kids can colour in themselves with fabric markers. Part of the proceeds from these products will go towards empowering and educating girls around the world.








Saturday, September 3, 2016

Book Week Dress Up - WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP?

This year's book week theme was Australia: Story Country. I was excited at the thought of my daughter getting dressed up for her first book week parade at school as I have such fond memories of my own back in primary school.

We went through our bookshelves looking for ideas and stopped at "Where is the Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox. It's a strong favourite in our house and also one of the first books that my daughter read by herself. So we picked up a bright green sweater at an op shop.


I cut the arms off and we found a green winter hat in the cupboard, as well as some leggings and a green long-sleeved shirt. Then we set to work on a sheep mask. I loved that she could help to make it herself. Thank you Danya Banya for the mask idea :)

Masks complete! The test run.
Off to school as a green sheep!
Simple, no frills and a proper book character! <3 <3 <3

Friday, September 2, 2016

Toddler Chalk Number Quiet Book

If you've been following my recent posts, you would know that my Etsy store has been undergoing a transformation. I'm selling out some products I've had for a while, added a few new ones and updated several others with new fabrics and some new features. I've also joined the Etsy Make For Good Campaign this year with two great creative products for kids. I am so happy with how the store is looking at the moment, and just in time for the pre-Christmas shoppers - bring it on!

This Quiet Book has been in the works for a while, but life has been busy these last few months with changing jobs and reassessing a few other projects I've been involved in, but here it is finally finished.


There are ten number pages with chalk vinyl numbers appliqued on that little ones can trace around with chalk. Each page also has a matching bead counter so that kids can practice counting to each number and associate each figure with its amount.

 



I've also added in four new cover designs - bright, colourful and very fun! 


Check out the books here: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/476407589/toddler-chalk-number-quiet-book?ref=shop_home_active_1

Thursday, September 1, 2016

September Etsy Update

It's been a super busy month or so behind the scenes at Riches and Roses. First up, I've been preparing for Etsy Australia's #makeforgood campaign. I've got two products listed in the campaign this year and will be donating 20% of sales of these to Plan Australia's "Because I Am a Girl" program. You can find out more about this in another post here on my blog.

I have also been sorting through my products in preparation for the pre-Christmas rush and updating fabrics for some products.

I'm currently busy cutting out and putting together a new batch of these little beauties, which will come out with three new cover designs in the coming weeks, stay tuned!


I've just finished some new cases for the Hungry Caterpillar sets in a new design - see the photos in the listing for details. The new case pictures the food on this page of the book.



I've also been updating the fabrics for all of my doll accessories. There are some really sweet prints on offer at the moment.


My two new car mats have been added to the shop and they are really cute. My son especially loves his version of the racing car mat and filling up his racing cars with petrol as they do their rounds of the track. You can see more on the racing car play mat here.


Another product that I've updated is the baby doll carrier. This new one matches in with the other baby doll products in my etsy store.


My newest product, just in time for warmer weather here in Australia is this cute little reversible kids sun hat available in four sizes to fit baby up to pre-school age.


Over the past few months, my best seller has been my cute little balloon covers which are available in two different designs. I've also updated these designs recently to include the bright owl prints and whale prints pictured below.


Busy busy busy, but never finished - stay tuned for a couple more new products that I'm working on!

Monday, August 29, 2016

The School Father's Day Stall


Last week my daughter took these little gems off to school to contribute to tomorrow's Father's Day Stall - tissue holders and earbud pouches from fabrics chosen by my kids. I sent them off wishing I'd made an extra few for me and my husband.



After being caught out by the Mother's Day stall earlier this year with not enough time to make anything, I'd been saving a few pins to my Pinterest Boards for ideas.

A few useful links:

55 Projects to Make and Sell
50 Awesome Gifts You Can Sell

Super easy and very practical!

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Portable Racing Car Play Mat

The three year old boy of the house has recently gone through a sudden change. Up until now he has happily played his big sister's games while wearing an old dress that belonged to me as a child. But now a fascination of all things with wheels has arrived and a collection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars has materialised out of what seems like nowhere.

The racing car mat began on a Sunday afternoon as a few ideas that looked something like this below.



Some felt and cotton fabric (how cute is that racing car fabric?!?!!) and a little refining and it became this -



Three cars can be parked in the pockets at the top. They can line up at the starting line and drive around in laps, stopping off at the pit stop to refuel along the way.


Pack it away by folding over the car pockets (this stops the cars from falling out in transit) and then folding the whole mat over twice and tucking away in a bag to carry out with you.





















Check it out in my etsy store.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Pinterest - Most Recent Pins - Sewing for Boys

I love sewing clothes for my little boy. I love making toys and play accessories for him the most, but comfy shorts and pants for play and childcare days are my favourite clothes to make for him.

Here are five of my most recent pins to my Pinterest board "Sewing for Boys".

1. Jaden T-Shorts

This idea is great - turn a favourite adult T-shirt into a pair of shorts! I love ideas that encourage re-using and upcycling.

2. Baby Yoga Pants

Along the same lines as the T-Shorts. Recycle an old T-shirt to make some comfy pants. So simple!

3. Toddler Tour Pants

Cute pants with a patchwork insert down the sides of the legs and a really easy to follow tutorial.

4. Men's Shirt Baby Romper

Along the themes of upcycling - turn a cotton button-through shirt into a summery romper for a little boy.

5. Free Boy Patterns

A great collection of exactly what it claims to be - free patterns for boys. Heaps of easy to follow and easy to sew clothing for little ones.


Please share any great finds that you have below in the comments - I would love to find more!



Monday, July 4, 2016

Monday Minute

It's an almost sewing-free Monday Minute this week. It's school holidays here in Queensland and so we left our kids with their grandparents for a few days and flew to Sydney for a grown up vacation.





I had an afternoon to myself at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to visit the Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera exhibition, which was excellent!


And we were very lucky to get so much sunshine and blue sky, despite the cool weather - check out that view! Superb!


And the coffee was excellent!


Not completely sewing free, as I arrived home to three little packages of fabric goodness - yay! How cute are those prints for kids?!!? I think my favourite is the yellow with bright dinosaurs :)


And a sweet little gift from a friend at work today - this little kit to make an Autumn Maiden doll. Bring on the weekend so I can get started on this little project. 


Little miss 5 is also eager to help with this one! Hope to show you the finished product soon xx


Monday, June 27, 2016

Monday Minute

It was a cutting out sort of weekend round here ~

I cut into my new Hungry Caterpillar fabric to make a new version of the case for the Hungry Caterpillar felt set in my etsy store.



I cut out some colourful page backgrounds and chalkboard vinyl numbers to put together a new counting quiet book.



Watching my three year old son's obsession with cars keep growing, I finally cut out some car play mats. First, this racing mat.



And then this little town mat. Stay tuned for some of the detail I plan to add to this one!



And finally.... a whole pile of fabric pages to start putting together a new batch of quiet books! Yay!

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Fabric Favourites

Sometimes it seems kids get to have all the fun. My son has shorts covered in little monsters, and another pair in sharks. He has pants with dinosaurs on the trim and a reversible hat with bugs on one side and vehicles on the other. 


My daughter has a skirt covered in rainbow spots and multiple items made out of different owl designs.


I shouldn't complain too much though as it can be a lot of fun shopping for kids fabric and as you can see, I'm building up quite the stash <3 <3 <3

Which one do you like the best?

Friday, June 24, 2016

Pyramid zipper coin purse

Earlier in the year, I went to a craft fair here in Brisbane, where I bought  a little kit to make this tetrahedron zipper pouch. When I saw it, my geeky side (I used to be a high school maths teacher) loved the idea - only a long zipper and a strip of fabric to make a little purse. The fabric strip is sewn along the zipper and as you close the zipper, a purse is formed!


And then of course, my 3-year old and 5-year old spotted it, and being zipper-obsessed as most kids are, begged me to make them both one.

The fabric strip was great, but it was fiddly to deal with the lining, so I perused the internet and came up with the perfect solution for a kids version - ribbon! Follow the link to Craft Passion where you'll find some great pictures and very useful instructions.

So I bought some ribbons... how cute are they?!?!


And some very long zippers, and got to work with the colours chosen by my children.



My kids are not really into coins, but the purses are the perfect size for storing tiny little treasures, like that one favourite car, dinosaur, or hairclip, or for just zipping and unzipping for fun.