Oh the hours and hours of delight we had- being second eldest of nine there was always someone to play with you, and the younger ones would be so excited as us older ones would construct houses, palaces and shops (apart from the supermarket, we also had a milliners, where we made all the hats, and a haberdashery that sold tiny balls of yarn and miniature needles-all handmade by ourselves) I often tell my children these stories (I had to stop them from phrasing their asking for stories from “long, long, long ago”) and delight in the detail as much as they do!

A year or so ago, my younger sister gave me a box of different bits and pieces, but as they were predominantly Barbie-pink, our boys shunned them, and our small girl wasn’t old enough to be interested.

But that all changed this week when we  re-found the box…

With utter excitement our smallest emptied the box “Look! Bawbie kitchen!!!”, and at the bottom, lay my supermarket. I’m not quite sure who was more excited to be honest…

So under the cover of darkness, and staying up waaaay to late, Fergal and I made some fruit and vegetables to stock a little shop (oh, the memories of making playdough cabbages!!!) We made them from Stockmar wax sheets (so gorgeous to use) and set up shop to be discovered by our little ones in the morning.

(note that our dollies only drive convertibles and helicopters, we are a very opulent neighbourhood)… 

They spent all morning playing, buying their shopping and restocking the shop, with great plans for entire shopping centres!!! Ooh, I feel about nine again!!

we had our sale over the weekend and are just finishing the packing and labeling for deliveries. We had a really successful weekend (thank you!) and have cleared much of our toy stock. 

Two weeks ago we came to the very difficult decision that we were going to “wrap up” the toy end of things- I simply didn’t have the time, and I didn’t really want to have a “shop” (bricks and mortar) anymore (Our shop was housed in the little log cabin we had built as an art studio a couple of years ago) I wanted and needed a creative space back!! And I want to concentrate on the “handmade” side, the one-offs, the unique and different.

Maybe it’s Autumn, with all its contraction… or maybe I’m mentally winding down as we head into winter… or both…

But as soon as we had made the decision I felt a lovely sense of peace. It felt right.  We are so excited about all the possibilities, and having the space to organise our studio into a working studio again,

(note the shelves groaning with the weight of sketchbooks, paintings, art books…

…soon to be organised beautifully on all the empty shelves!!!)

work on our Sketchbook Project (Fergal and I are both taking part- he’s waaaaay ahead of me!!) and concentrate on printing,

 dollmaking,

crafting,

painting…

(I did tell you we are having a massive sale next weekend -25th and 26th September?? Didn’t I??)  

And in the middle of all that I’m trying to organise what direction we are going in after the sale… Here are some photos of some gorgeous handmade things that will soon be on the shelves…

Crochet baby blankets, Hanging hearts, wool duck, lavender sachets, handmade cushions (using vintage and unique screenprinted fabrics)…

And a few Irish handmade baskets are hopefully coming our way….

More cushions, lavender sachets and crochet blankets

Aren’t these blankets works of art? (check out Ginger for more extraordinary crochet)

The tags are wrapped with hearts on a string-(hanging at the top of the photo)

These lavender hearts are just so lovely- love the fabrics used here!

These hanging hearts are made from recycled heart shaped paper, and come in a hand painted jar

Fully adjustable aprons- the design of these are ingenious!

… and each come in a beautiful handstitched presentation bag.

New directions- exciting things are on the way!

These are elaborately layered personalized art pieces…..unique to each child.

These personalized paintings are one of a kind, painted using mixed media: paint, collage, stitching, buttons and photos.  They make great gifts and can be done in any theme/color scheme to match a nursery or child’s room!  Each painting is completely original and can be personalised with name, date of birth, birth weight & time etc.

I also have made these:

 This is a limited edition print of an original painting which can be inscribed with the name, date of birth, birth weight etc ….. making it unique to the child. Each print will be signed, dated and numbered, and only a limited number of 10 are printed of each painting.

The original painting was painted using watercolour inks and pens.

Available in our shop, and as soon as I can get my Etsy shop up and running too!

I have been reading (re-reading) You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L Hay, I just LOVE this book. I finally ordered my own copy after thinking about it for weeks then going “home” to my parents and seeing my beloved mother (re-)reading it ~ I love these synchronicities of life!

Watercolour inks and Pen (unframed), listed in my shop here

Based on a series of “Affirmation” paintings, inscribed with:

“In the Infinity of Life Where I am,

All is Perfect, Whole and Complete,

All is Well In my World”

(quote from “You Can Heal Your Life~ Louise L. Hay)