Out and About: Stitches and Craft Show Sydney

On my day off, I planned a little day trip, by myself, out to Rosehill Racecourse for The Stitches and Craft Show. My plans were slightly foiled, with little Miss being off school sick with a virus, but I really enjoyed her company for the day trip.

We started with a "little" lunch!

Then headed straight to say hi to the gorgeous Clare

from Craft Schmaft - you may recognise her gorgeous sock

softies, as we have been stocking the patterns for a while.

We will soon have a great variety of her designs in kit form!

We continued around the venue and came across Skye Rogers.

Now, this was a little different to what normally catches my eye,

but it was a little love at first sight!

We just happened by in time for Skye's free workshop.

a sweet paper necklace from her new book, Paper Bliss.

The table was full and there were lots of on-lookers!!

I purchased a "Happy Scrappy Pack" but was also in love with

these little paper houses and there were so many other gorgeous

packs and creations!

You can check out all of Skye's products and books here!

Definately think we will be seeing some more 

of her gorgeous products and kits!!

Amalia received lots of compliments 

during the day for her necklace too

Now, I had actually left the venue, and was about to head home,

when I remembered that I wanted to look at the book stand

with all the gorgeous books from www.candobooks.com.au

Thanking the lord that I went back, as first time round,

I had somehow missed the drool worthy stand of 

"Knot Just Knitting"

Freeform: serendipitous design techniques for 

knitting and crochet.

Prudence Mapstone is one VERY TALENTED lady, 

and I was so blessed to meet her 

and to purchase some of the most gorgeous 100% silk yarn!!

So this was my little stash at the end of the day!

What else is in there?

Sew Liberated School House Tunic Patter 

and fabrics from my favourite fabric shop!

My Patch Fabrics, Milton NSW

and some funky creative fibre threads from

Room For Threads

Might have to plan a business trip to 

Palm Beach on the Gold Coast,

so I can join one of their workshops!!

Tutorial: Yarn Pom Poms

Today we decided to have a bit of fun craft at home.

Amalia has been writing Christmas cards for her friends at school, and rather than give a chocolate santa or a candy cane, I suggested she make up some gifts herself.

Having my crochet yarn handy, we got to making some fun little yarn pom pom critters! Here is our simple tutorial for you.

For these mini pom poms, we used a metal fork. 

Wrapping the yarn around the outside of the fork.

 Little brothers can help by holding the yarn ball

Keep winding until you have quite a thick amount of yarn around the fork, then snip the yarn off.

Snip off a strand of yarn, and feed it through the centre of the fork, in the middle gap between the four prongs,on one side of the wrapped yarn. Take the other end of the strand, and tie a very tight knot around the wrapped yarn.

It might help to tie the first part of the knot, whilst the wrapped yarn is still on the fork, then slide the wrapped yarn off the fork, pull the length of yarn tight around the centre, and then finish the knot.

Now take your scissors and cut the curved ends of the yarn,

make sure to check none have been missed.

When all the curves have been cut, plump out your pom pom and snip off any longer strands to tidy it up.

Decorate your critter. As this was an impromptu activity, we used some spare square stickers at home,  for eyes. If you plan ahead, grab some "googly" eyes from the craft shop.

We cut a small length of yarn in a contrasting colour 

and glued it on for a mouth.

We made these critters so they can be hung on the tree.

We also made a larger pom pom, by wrapping the yarn around our four fingers on our hand, 

and plaited long strands to make into a book mark.

There are a lot more fun things that can be made with pom poms - check out our Pinterest board Here

Happy Birthday Give Away!

Wow! 

This week 12 months ago, we opened the doors to our Free Range Living emporium at Kurnell, Sydney!

A BIG THANK YOU to all who have supported us and continue to support our emporium of gorgeous Australian made gifts, fashion, home wares and fine foods, or joined in to one of our CreativiTea programs.

To celebrate, we are giving you the chance to win either (a) a Gift Voucher to spend in our emporium (to the value of $25) or (b) a School Holiday Half Day Workshop of your choice (January School Holidays).

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post, telling us in 25 words or less, which Gift you would like to win and why!

Give Away closes Sunday 2nd December. All entries will be allocated a number for a random.org draw to be announced on the blog and in our newsletter Tuesday 4th December.

You can check out all the upcomming School Holiday Workshops at our website www.freerangeliving.co (under the workshops, play sessions and classes category in side bar).

Pretty in Pink! Week in Pics

We had lots of fun at Free Range Living this last week - shades of pink were a plenty as we celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness month and raised funds for Cancer Council NSW - the final tally will be calculated on Wednesday!

Here are some pics from the week!

Theme of the Week: Pretty in Pink!

We are excited to be introducing a new feature to FRL - weekly inspiration themes!

Each week we will have a different theme to inspire us in our styling and CreativiTea sessions, so that ahead of time, you will be able to look forward to different themes that take your fancy, and be sure to schedule in your diary, the CreativiTea events you don't want to miss out on!

As October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we thought we would kick off the themes with "Pretty in Pink!" a week of very girlie styling and pretty creative projects.

We are also going to be raising funds through the week, with $1 for every item sold (includes all retail items and workshop bookings) donated to Cancer Council.

So to get you in the mood, here is a collection of images to inspire the Pretty Pink in you :)

http://weheartit.com/entry/20838478#

http://piccsy.com/2011/07/pink-ladies/

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7011/7612105isdey0h4953954.jpg

http://kozmozbyhesionka.wordpress.com/category/hot-hot-pink/#jp-carousel-265

http://1-derful-pink.tumblr.com/

http://capecodcollegiate.tumblr.com/post/19058158332

http://poniesandpinklemonade.tumblr.com/post/10981388218

all images above from http://1-derful-pink.tumblr.com/

Out and About: Sydney Park

So, our last Out and About we took you to The Grounds of Alexandria - this last Tuesday we headed back there again for another school holiday workshop - where Amalia learnt about growing your own plants and made a bonsai. During the workshop, I enjoyed the morning to myself, reading our newest addition to our magazine collection in store, great coffee and brunch, and some specials at the Bendon Factory Outlet next door :)

After we finished up at The Grounds, we headed west towards St. Peters, a couple of minutes drive, and pulled up at Sydney Park - perfect place to take your bikes or scooters.

The playground is fantastic! There are four slides, heaps of swings, a big fenced in raised sand pit area, large climbing rope towers, rocking horses and plenty of areas for discovery!

There also heaps of large grassed areas - perfect for kite flying

A fantastic kiosk/cafe, where we purchased an ice block and cold drink, and enjoyed listening to the wheeliebinsoundsystem!!

There is a great wetlands area, perfect for feeding the ducks, and we also got to check out the new baby cygnets :) with their beautiful black mumma swan :)

The park is also very dog friendly, with lots of dog water bowls and taps spread about the parkland, as well as doggie doo garbage bags located at every garbage bin.

Sydney Park is located on the corner of 2 Princes Hwy (as it goes on to King Street at Newtown), Alexandria, on the corner of Sydney Park Road. Here is the link to the Google Map