Thank you :)

Thankyou for the lovely welcoming comments on my latest post :) Its lovely to have people here and I promise to do some catch up reading on your blogs as soon as I can. I had a lovely day at work in the fabric shop. Week 2 and I was on my own for nearly the whole day :) But it was nice and quiet with a steady trickle of customers to keep me busy. I managed to find time to do some cleaning  around the store and some re-organising of quilting magazines, journals for sale, ribbons, lace, amazing beaded embellishing items and of course fabrics. Honestly this does not even feel like going to work, it just feels like heaven :) When I think back to my waitressing days!! *shudder* Heehee :)
Yesterday was my birthday, the big 35! I had a lovely day being spoilt by my boys, starting with a beautiful hot cooked breakfast, a handmade card (aren't they just the best!!) earrings, lunch with my boys, friends and my brother; a huge cake in the afternoon and a lovely quiet evening watching DVDs with hubby. A perfect day.
I really enjoyed organising and cleaning in the shop today. Sorting the cotton homespun into a rainbow and organising all the ribbon reels back in to their colour groups, soooo blissful indeed :) My boys then picked me up and Alex had a little play with the toys in the back corner of the store (its avery family-friendly shop!).
I will have to post some pics of the store one day, all the fabrics lined up along the wall, its just divine. I don't know what I have done to deserve such a lovely job but it must have been something very good! Heehee!
I hope you had a lovely Monday as well. Do you have a job that you love? Xxxx

Back to the blogging

Hi! Here is a little call out, a testing-1-2-3, anyone there? :) Its been a long, long time since I blogged. Basically when we had Alex I felt so over whelmed as a first time Mum and when I started sewing again, I had to make big sacrifices in order to cope. So the blogging had to be put on hold.
I am still super busy, but lately have been feeling the urge to write again! SO here I am, and I hope I am not alone here. Lol!
So please, give me a little *wave* if you're there. :)
For anyone new stumbling across this here my blog, it used to be about organising. Then I had my son, and lost almost all of my organising abilities Hehehe ;-) I'm sure some of you can relate.
So in a nut shell, since I last blogged in 2012, I have been keeping super busy with my small business bluebell alexander, which I run predominantly from facebook. Lately I have been trying to break away from facebook though. Its so great for keeping in touch with friends, and networking, and meeting really awesome new people who share my interests. But I can spend so much time on there, and surely a lot of that time could be better spent!! Also facebook is making things more and more difficult for small business owners. I'm sure some of you have fb business pages, and know what I am talking about here. Posts not getting seen, especially photos, and then the there's the constant threat of having to spend money to get noticed.
I have recently opened up a MadeIt store, we'll see how it goes. I am also working towards real life markets, in our local area, which I am planning with a crafty Mum friend of mine. We will share a stall. I'm so looking forward to selling my clothes in a different environment, where I actually get to meet my customers, have a chat, and even possibly meet the little ones who may be wearing my creations. (By the way, I make clothes for babies and kids, from vintage and new fabrics).
So, I've broken the ice, I've done my first post in over a year. Wow, I'm proud of myself! I'm juggling running a household, an extremely energetic toddler who my whole heart just bursts with love for, I have recently started working part time, and I run my small business designing, sewing and selling childrens clothing. Oh and did I mention I'm also planning to go back to uni next yer ;-) Lol!
Xx Sarndra

Better Edges and Clearing the Clutter

Just wanted to thank those who gave me such great ideas to improve my sewing! I have been sewing like crazy again, all week but now I zig zag along the raw edges and if it doesn't affect the look of the garment, I do a little French seam as well. (This is basically folding the edge and sewing it so there's no way it can fray!). Things have really improved and I can happily say I'm pleased with how everything is turning out. I decided not to try to sell the things I had made without zig-zagging/ French seaming the edges. Quality is so important as Kirsty kindly reminded me, and I really need to make sure everything lasts. Rhonda has kindly offered to lend me Bernadette's over locker so I'm looking forward to trying it out. Kirsty, I think you are right that some people will exaggerate about how hard they are to use. I'm pretty good at following instructions so as I long as I can find them on the internet I'll be fine.

Anyone interested in what my sewing machine is like?? Well, here is my little dinosaur beauty!

Heehee it's an oldie but a goodie :) My mum passed it down to me, I believe it is from the late 50's or early 60's. I have kept it oiled and looked after it and it usually treats me well in return. (We have had the odd argument over the years...)

Anyway, wanted to give you a sneak peak of what I've been working on! I'm really excited as I've had a fair bit of interest in these. I'm thinking of calling them 'Bibdana's' short for bandana bibs. While not exactly an original idea (just google bandana bibs and you'll see), I haven't seen anything EXACTLY like what I do so I guess that's a good thing.

Boy's range so far

I've used snap buttons instead of velcro, I think it looks alot nicer and there won't be any scratched necks. It's so much quieter too when I need to remove Alex's bib when he goes to sleep.

Just started on some for the girls. Cute lacey edge and as with the boys', the back is super soft flannel.

Do you spread out all over the place when you're being crafty?? This kind of drives me nuts but I am the messiest crafter. I don't have the luxury of a spare room for crafts in this unit, so I am using the kitchen bench for cutting etc, (thank goodness for the big bench here). The clutter is frustrating, but I need everything within arms's reach. I found a good way to clear the clutter when visitors are coming over, by using containers. Once again, I really, really love containers!!

I had these boxes from Ikea in the cupboard knowing I would find a great use for them. And I have, when I need to tidy I throw eveything into a couple of the boxes, quickly sorted of course into 'like' objects. One for ribbons lace etc, one for tools, buttons etc.

Here's a cute outfit I made our nephew Jamie for his 1st birthday. I can't believe he is turning 1 already!! The bibdana looks so cute with this outfit :)

Another couple of orders I have completed this week

I have so many more ideas and just not enough hours in the day for all the sewing I want to do, but that's how it goes isn't it :) I just get done what I can, in the evenings.

How do you deal with your clutter when you're being crafty?

So...the sewing's so-so

Wow that month FLEW by!! I really can't believe I haven't been here for a whole month. I've been really busy sewing like frantic, in my few precious hours after Alex has gone to bed in the evenings. Sadly in order to get my sewing done, I have had to miss out on my favourite tv, but it's true- with time management you have to prioritise, prioritise, prioritise (wow thats really hard to type, and say, 3 times!). I've made a few pairs of pants for Alex and some of my friends in my Mother's Group really liked them, so I made up some for their bub's too. Then I thought, why not try to sell some over Facebook? I have considered markets, and we have some lovely local ones near us, but there's the stall fee ($35 for our local markets-) which means I'd need to sell quite a lot to make a profit. And of course it would mean missing out on precious family time with my boys. Alex would be happy hanging out at a market stall for, um, 10 minutes.


With Facebook there's a fairly wide audience already set up, and the good thing is if I sell clothes cheaply to my friends, they won't mind so much if the clothing isn't exactly Perfectly Made. The thing is, I don't have an overlocker yet, and even if I did have one I wouldn't have the foggiest how to thread it. While I do use the trusty old crimping scissors, the insides of the clothes do still tend to fray after a few washes. I've been trying to learn the French Seam technique but with tiny little baby's clothing it's a bit tricky sometimes. Any suggestions here?? I am looking at second hand overlockers on Gumtree and I will save up any money I earn from selling the clothes, to put towards a machine.

If you have a moment please pop over to my page on Facebook and have a look and if you like it, please don't forget to "like" it :-) Bluebell Baby Clothing

Front

Back

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! And I hope we get some sunshine!!
Xxo

Rhonda's Book

Most of you will already be aware of my mother-in-law Rhonda's blog and up-coming book, but for those of you who don't know, I wanted to share it with you. Her blog down to earth is once again nominated for Best Aus or NZ Weblog. It won the title last year. If you haven't already done so, please go to this site and vote for it, voting closes this Sunday. And her beautiful book, of the same name, is due for release next week. It will be out in stores this Wed, the 22nd Feb. How exciting! You can have a tour of it, here through Penguin.

Obviously this plug is partly because lovely Rhonda is my MIL, but also because this is truly a beautiful and wonderful book. We've had our copy for a little while now, and I am enjoying reading it. It's very much the kind of book that I love- beautifully designed with useful tips including saving money, growing your own food, cleaning and making things for the home. It's a delight to read; a very practical and useful reference book; a "how to" guide to living the kind of life that Shane and I are striving for. We are very proud of you Rhonda, and will be looking forward to hearing and reading all about your book tour starting tomorrow in NSW & Vic!

Rhonda, Hanno and Alex on  Boxing Day

XXo

Alex's Room Is Finished! :)

After my lovely Mother's Group meeting today I somehow managed to finish the cupboard in Alex's room, and I'm so pleased with it! One more time, here is the "Before" photo

And here is the "After" :-) Ok, so its not exactly Chez Larsson but it's functional :-D

Top shelf, where I have some Ikea boxes for storing Alex's keepsakes ( I haven't filled them yet but will label as I go), the Medela breast pump, and bulk Aldi baby wipes

Second shelf, I have a cute box that was a gift from Alex's Aunty Cinnamon, which I keep all his "grooming" things in, like creams, lotions and hair brush etc. Another box is for ornaments not being used at the moment (I have a few out around the house, and when I feel like a change I will pack them away and bring out some new ones). The other box stores the legs to an activity table and the Jolly Jumper when it's not in use. There's also room here in the front for smaller boxes or containers if I need to store other things later on.

Second bottom shelf, which is weak. I have put all the baby blankets and the lambskin in here, as they are light in weight so there isn't much weight on the shelf. I have put this container on a little wooden step, so that I can store smaller boxes underneath it. I love this step, and I always find a different use for it at every place I've lived. In the last home I had one of our stereos on top of it with CD's underneath. We now listen to our music from the computer so we don't need the stereos anymore.

Incidently, at the time I was taking these photos Alex worked out how to go from holding onto the shelf to holding on to the little chair nearby!! Clever boy :-) It still amazes me how every day he learns something new!

Here are a few more pics of this room, which I'm really happy with now. Some "Before's"

Dull, dull, dull. The dresser stores some of my clothes and we moved it into our bedroom. The ugly bookshelf went to the hallway.

This side pretty much stayed the same as I love looking out the window from my beautiful red breast-feeding chair. We can see the beach from this window.
And now, the "Afters"

I put all of the soft toys with hard eyes up on the shelf until he is old enough to play with them. The large teddy in the corner was a very special First Christmas present, handmade, by his Aunty Cinnamon.

We bought the little Lego table and chair off Gumtree and Alex loves it! Shane is still a Lego fan so he loves it too :-) Of course there'll be no Lego for a few years yet but its such a cute table, and the top turns around so it can also be used for drawing etc. so I couldn't resist.

Oh and also the other side of the cupboard, where I keep my drawing, sewing and craft things. Bottom is empty as its my Princess's hiding hole. I have the paper shredder poking out a little on the middle shelf there so that the door can't be shut completely, so the poor cat isn't shut in (which has happened a few times much to her disgust). Don't really love her sleeping in Alex's room, but not much I can do about that *sigh*

Middle of the cupboard, where my dresses hang, Alex's clothes and up top are nappy boxes storing baby clothing that are either too small or too big at the moment. I also have to store the vac and steam mop in here which I dislike as they don't fit well but there's simply no where else in our unit to store them

And finally, a beautiful paper boat garland given to me by my best friend Lissy. Its made with vintage French newspaper, and other bits of string, ribbons and buttons etc hang from it. I just adore it.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour of Alex's room.
"See" you all soon!
Xxo

Tackling the Chaotic Cupboard (and Some Teeth)

Hi everyone,

WOW I've had SUCH lovely comments from my last post, THANK YOU!! I havent yet replied to all but I will get there. :) It means so much to me to read your beautiful comments and to feel like I'm not the only one who has gone through a rough start as a first-time parent. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your heart-felt words.

Wanted to do a quick post with some pics of the first stages of organising the cupboard in Alex's room.

Firstly I took (almost) everything out of the cupboard

and sorted them into piles of likeness. (You wouldn't guess by looking at this, but there are little piles of organisation here :))

I had some of these small storage boxes bought from Ikea. As I was assembling I forgot that you need to put the little metal label thing into the cardboard first before assembling the box. So a couple of goes later, I got them done.

I brought up a couple of these large clear storage containers with wheels, from downstairs. I'll use this one to store photos and frames not being used; and also my laminator and laminating sheets as I like to laminate photos sometimes.

That's as far as I got today, and then little Cutie Pie woke up :-)

He now has 7 TEETH!! At 7 months old. And the 8th is on its way. And yes, he HAS bitten me :-( But only twice, so far. Touch wood.

He's crawling like crazy, eating absolutely everything we put in front of him, pulling himself up and can stand holding onto furniture. I swear he'll be walking soon but it's too early!! Before I know it he'll be running which means so will we.

Bye for now, hope you have a good week :)
Xxo