Before reading this, you may like to read the first post I wrote on this topic here.

It has taken me a really long time to write Part Two, but it has been forming itself in the back of my mind for a really long time…

Raising a Creative Child is one of my main goals as a parent.  By creative, I don’t necessarily mean that I expect my child to become a full-time artist (although I feel like jumping up and down at the thought of that!).  I mean, growing up a child who is able to think creatively, problem solve in all aspects of her life, keep herself meaningfully occupied and share her talents with the world.

Here are some more tips on how to do it…

• Refuse to buy a Nintendo Wii.  Buying this or other computer games will just give your child a reason not to be creative and to make their own fun.  If you refuse to buy one, you will not be fighting a losing battle trying to get your children off the Wii!  And don’t worry, they will be able to play at their friend’s house.
• Keep a huge box full of supplies that the children are allowed to ‘raid’ whenever they like to make whatever they like.  I found this overwhelming when Milly was about five.  The amount of things she made meant that my house was overloaded with creations like egg carton dinosaurs etc.  To combat the clutter, I had a one week rule.   The creations were allowed to stay for a week and then they would be put in the recycling bin.   A supply box can have paper scraps, fabric scraps, paints, glue, sequins, buttons, crayons, sticks, string, lace, anything you like..
• When you see a painting, a sculpture, any piece of art, make a point of showing it to your child.  Try and get up close and if you are allowed to touch it, let them.  Then ask questions like, “..and how do you think they made this?”, “how would you make something like this?, “how do you think they made it lumpy like that?”, and “shall we try to make something like this at home?”.  These questions will encourage your child to think that she CAN make something like it.  She will also start to try to problem solve the construction of the piece.
• Find out about the art and creative classes in your neighbourhood or city in the school holidays and enrol your children.  Perth is the most amazing city.   There are loads of art classes for children.  Places to check out if you live here are the Fremantle Arts Centre and Canning Arts Group.  Both have amazing classes.  I love the felted animals class at Fremantle Arts Centre.
• Organise your own arty school holiday programme.  A few years ago, a girlfriend of mine got together with some other friends and organised a school holiday programme for a group of six of us.  On each weekday in the holidays, we either went out to a gallery or some other creative place with the children, or went to someone’s house where they shared their particular expertise and taught the children how to paint or sew or screenprint.  This is particularly amazing if you have lots of artist friends!!
• Model, model, model.  Let your house be a place where you include your children in your creativity whenever possible.  Be an ideas person!!  Have ideas about everything.  This will teach your children good life skills also.  If your child comes to you and says, “What shall I do, I am bored?”, get out a big sheet of paper and a marker and with their help write down twenty or more things they could spend their day doing.  Then tell them to get a coin and throw it onto the paper.  Where it lands they can do this.  (They will rarely do the activity that the coin lands on but will choose something else and feel very pleased with themselves for having chosen!!)
• Always let your children look over your shoulder and explain to them what you are doing.  Stop what you are doing and make it a teachable moment.  Get them to help if it is appropriate.   When I am sewing Milly loves watching me.  I try to stop and tell her what I am doing and why.

I hope these articles have been helpful…

Enjoy your child!

Mia

Have cooled down a little (from the last post) but don’t get me started again….

Anyway, the weather is great and I am beginning to defrost from a cold winter, so onto more sunny things….

• Absolutely gorgeous Paper Birdy Download from my friend, Rachael Barkess of Bird Plus One. These totally rock!
• Jessica’s wall art.  Jessica from How About Orange was a guest blogger at decor8 this week.  Wall art, easy as pie to make, geometric.
• Ikea stool revamp using paint at Handmade Life via Craftzine.
• Cute-as Matrioshka Labels and To-Do Lists (free downloads) at A Print A Day.
• Free Envelope, also from the wonderful Rachael.
• How to hack an Ikea Light to make a moveable pendant light at Ikea Hacker.
• Bear and Bunny Doll free patterns at Wee Wonderfuls.

That’s all til next week.

Have a great weekend

Mia

I am horrified to see that recently some blogs have taken whole tutorials of mine, along with the photos and posted them on their sites, with little or NO mention of the fact that they have just taken this material from me.

This is completely unacceptable and illegal.  If you want to use any of my photos or text you can bloody well write to me and ask! I spend so much time putting this blog together and I am not happy to have my hard work stolen by anyone.  This is a site which receives a lot of traffic because I have put three years of really hard work into it.  Anyone wanting a site like this should be prepared to put in about 1000 hours per year into it.  Those people who have chosen to use my tutorials, please remove them immediately from your blogs or I will name and shame.

I am so sick of this happening!!!  I have a message for the people who are doing this – USE YOUR OWN BRAINS, HANDS AND TIME AND COME UP WITH YOUR OWN MATERIAL!  THAT IS WHAT THE REST OF US ARE DOING.

I can honestly say that I spend up to ten hours each making tutorials for this site……

Annoyed

Mia

PS I am more than happy for you to link to this site!

The lovely Ismoyo, new New Yorker and crafter extraordinaire has opened her gorgeous shop Ismoyo’s Playground.

I love the felted cupcake cuties.

Crocheted Pillows are so pretty.

Her handcarved stamps are too cute.

And you can also buy a copy of her lovely new book, 100 Applique Motifs.

Check it out!

Mia

Hi ya, found some fun stuff for you today to look at and to make.  It seems that there have been many busy crafters in the craftosphere this week….

• Cute little tutorial to make felted drink coasters at Design Sponge.
• Quick and easy idea for making a book rack froma clothes hanger at ohdeedoh.  Great for a children’s bedroom.
• This tutorial to make a retro bottle caps clock at mylifetime.com is gorgeous gorgeous funky  – and I love it – can you tell?  And I think that I will be making one in the near future!
• This tutorial to make a child’s pool (or bath) robe at Sew Mama Sew has me squirming in my chair and looking forward to this weekend.
• How About Orange has some great tips on how to use Mod Podge (I love the stuff!) to cover a vase.  Simple, and quick idea.
• Tutorial to make quick cute ribbon hairclips at thelongthread.
• These felted crowns at mette are to-die-for and an absolute must for a little girl or boy lucky enough to have a talented, arty mum!

Have fun, keep makin’ stuff , stay happy!

Mia

I know I don’t often tell a lot about myself… but hey just felt like sharing a little…

Mia is

thinking about….

• everything that is fantastic in my life.
• spring and how lovely it is in Perth.
• spending the whole weekend editing One Hour Craft (the book) and wondering if there will be any time for rollerblading in this sunshine.
• how difficult it was to get our fat kitten down from the tall tree in the backyard last night.  Ten o’clock and the cat was distressed and stuck in a very tall tree.  So I climbed a tree, onto the shed roof and then crawled over to the taller tree, climbed that and brought the cat back down with me.  It took me well over an hour to get poor Calvin down.  Dressed in my dressing gown and bed socks – what an effort.  Am thinking that the cat needs to be outside more to work off a bit of his puppy fat (do you call it that when it is a kitten?).

Listening to..

• my Abba records.  Millie and I have been dancing around the house listening to “Dancing Queen”, while we got ready for her 70’s school disco today .  How cute!
• John Butler Trio (of course)
• Indigo Girls.  I have been singing Millie to sleep again, just for the fun of it.  I can’t tell you how much my heart was warmed to find her in the lounge room listening to the Girls the other day and writing out the lyrics to Galileo.  I am sure I will never recover from their music, been addicted for years.

Eating….

• Nigella’s Lawson’s Chocolate Cloud Cake.  Made by Mike’s brother Paul for his birthday last weekend.  Seriously the most exciting thing for someone who can’t eat gluten and who misses chocolate cake the most.  And the best cake I have ever tasted.
• comfort food – Spaghetti.
• Jaffas – no more, Mike.  I only eat them once a year!

Reading…..

I always have about twenty books by my bed that I read most nights (oh and afternoons, and on the weekends and in the morning!)

• Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende
• The Sum of Us by Isabel Allende
• Getting Things Done by David Allen – I am always reading this and trying to streamline my life.  Trying to make a ‘creative’ organised is a lifelong, painful process.

Working on…

• the book -editing!
• my new job as a lecturer.  Loving it!
• getting my house cleaned out so that I can start another big project.  I am not letting myself do that until I have the house sorted.   Chaos is no longer my friend.
• letting myself go on a spectacular holiday overseas without children – getting over the guilt of it!
• designing a soft toy pattern which will be available on Etsy and here soon…
• trying to get fit again.  Thinking of buying a treadmill.

Surfing..

I used to track hundreds of sights but it just becomes too time-consuming and a little numbing.  I think most of you will be surprised to know that the sights I actually read are not crafty.

Daily

• crazy sexy cancer.  I love Kris.  NO!  I don’t have cancer but this is the most inspiring blog and she is just a shining beacon of positivity.  Definitely not just for cancer patients.
• timothy ferriss.  Another shining beacon and wild child.  I love his zest for life, his lack of fear and he is really not bad to look at either.
• andrea scher.  I have been following her blog for years.  It is my new goal to learn to take photos of people as well as her.  She is a rock star.
• zenhabits.  I know how to build a big site with a major readership, I just don’t know how people keep up the momentum once they get there.  Leo does.  Some great reading.
• galadarling.  Love love love.  She is OUT there doing her thing, boldly, brightly.
• karencheng.  I don’t have any idea why I read this blog.  There is nothing extraordinary about it.  Maybe that is why I like it.

Weekly

• how about orange
• crazy aunt purl
• not martha
• anna maria horner
• heather bailey

Happy because…

• I have nothing scheduled for this weekend.   Pure luxury in a life that is way too busy!
• Mike had a great birthday.  And I finally met Gerard who is simply awesome!
• Emma is the sweetest twin sister anyone could have.  And she makes great couscous with corn!
• Kate is coming over tomorrow and I am making a cake.
• my house is nearly clean!  And the seven loads of washing are done.
• Life is what we make it.  I choose for mine to be spectacularly brilliant with loads of fantastic people, bright, happy children and love in it!

That’s it.  Have a great weekend and send me the love while I spend it indoors…

Mia

Taking professional-looking photos which are well-presented is key to making money from Etsy.  Here are a few places to go to improve your photo taking skills.   It has taken me a long time to figure out how to take good close-up photos.  I used these techniques when taking the photos for my book also.

• Etsywiki is a great forum to find out more about creating photographic masterpieces for Etsy.
• Photojojo has great tips and photographs for taking close-up photos for Etsy.
• Some good tips on Ehow.
• Photoshop beginner tutorials on YouTube.  I learnt to use Photoshop from having a friend show me.  I have also read a lot of books on Photoshop (I own five books on it) but find them really difficult to understand.  If you are a visual learner like me, try to get a friend to help teach you the basics like re-sizing the image, auto adjustments, making a border around the outside, or the next best thing – watch a tutorial.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because Photoshop is a huge application, it is difficult.  It is as easy as pie.
• GIMP is free photo software you can download if you are shocked by the price of Photoshop (personally I think it is worth it).  I have not used it myself but have been told that it is user-friendly.

Practice makes perfect and good photos take some time to produce but are well worth the effort if it means the difference between selling or not!

Mia

Some crafts for Friday to help you play, feed your inner child a yummy meal, switch off your inner critic and have some girly fun…..

• I love this mermaid’s blog.  Why not paint some rocks and leave them for people to find?  What a lovely idea.
• More from this mermaid… I love these bracelets.  Why not make some for yourself or with your little girl?
• These fabric flowers are gorgeous from Netmeg Design.  Love the headband!
• Why not make a Blueberry Crumble Pie at Instructables, via Craftzine.
• Learn how to make a Bento Box.   Celebrate food and make it much more than just fuel.   Try making these scrambled egg purses , sausage rabbits or apple rabbits.  Pure delight!
• I want to make me some string wrapped gift bags, just like these. 

Well, this weekend looks very fun for us.  Big party!  Yay!

Enjoy!

Mia

Hello Craft Lovers,

We are back – with a plan for this site- and we are going to get that plan into action in the next few weeks.  I was very surprised that the day after I wrote the last post I was offered another book deal!  Unfortunately I decided it was not THE right one, so turned it down.  We are, of course,  open to other book deals still!

For now here is some random crafty loveliness for you to make:

• We love Megan’s Surprise Balls.  What a great idea for a party or wedding! 
• These Firefly Baby Booties at Craftzine are the cutest things we have seen in a long, long time.  Quick, someone have a new baby so we can make these!  Hmmmm maybe our next monthly craft challenge (yes, they are starting again due to popular demand) should be baby booties?
• And… for those of us who just can’t get enough of Marimekko fabrics, these Marimekko-Inspired cupcakes are so lovely!
• Mini Canvas Magnets from Heather at How About Orange.
• Covered Tape Measures from A Spoonful of Sugar.
• Fabric and Crochet Mushrooms at Resurrection Fern.
• Yummy Vanilla Lemonade at Inside a Black Apple.

Enjoy!

Mia

PS I have been trying to sort out all the bugs I have on my site.  Or I have been hacked, I don’t know but there are loads of problems to sort out.  I do so want your comments – and thanks for the emails, I am trying.