Wednesday 8.19pm in Perth Western Australia.  I am sitting in my study writing on my big clunky computer, surrounded by boxes (more about that later).  The sun is setting bright pink in the sky and the evening is very pleasant (not too hot) due to a cool breeze.  The cat is by my feet licking his paws and the dog has stopped barking after being fed.  All is well in my world.

And here’s what others are doing…

• Pam is making (well, a little while ago anyway)  a coffee filter garland.  Easy Peasy and so shabby chic.
• Hop Skip Jump is designing a very interesting looking mustard-coloured stripey quilt.
• Alicia is cooking coconut custard.  Yummy recipe at her site.
• Gisella at Ox Hill is constructing these gorgeous bracelets.  So tempting to try to make something like it.  What do you think she has wrapped the thread around?  Rubber?  Looks so good!
• Tania has been making the cutest bird clock.
• Shim at Shim and Sons is making gorgeous Lunar New Year cards.
• And.  My very favourite.  These are so pretty and I just dream of being in weather this cold so that ice doesn’t melt outside.  Ice would melt in approximately five seconds where I live.  Think long hot dry summers and mild winters.  Benita is so clever.  She is making Ice Lanterns.  I want one!
• I am making a very cool scarf with a tutorial to follow in the next few days. And apart from that I am organising my craft supplies.  After writing a book for well over a year and making enough things to sink a ship, my house is still over-run by crafty loveliness.  Everywhere you look.  Basically my house is one big craft studio from the front door to the back door.  And it just dawned on me that the others who live here may well appreciate some culling, placing boundaries and some organisation.  And I think I may need it too.  Photos to follow.

I imagine a lot of you (in the North) are just stumbling out of bed to begin another day….  Let me know, where are you from and what are you makin’ this Wednesday?

Mia

xx

Long hot days of summer give us plenty of time to become fairies playing in the garden or princesses wearing long white dresses and beautiful blue flower crowns….

This crown was very quick to assemble. It took no more than half an hour and now I have a little girl who is completely in love with it. She has gone to bed and put it in the ‘most special place’ in her room, on the top shelf far from her kitten’s paws.

Materials
Small fabric flowers bought at a craft store
Silver-coated wire (22 guage)
Wire cutters
Flat-nosed pliers

Firstly, wrap the wire around the top of your head so that it is a loose fit. Hold the wire and cut three times this length. Wrap the last length of wire around the other two to keep it in place.

Take a fabric flower and wrap the stem around the wire base. If the stem is too long, cut it in half with the wire cutters.

Place the flowers close to each other and wrap the stems around the wire base. Alternate the flowers you use or use all the same flowers.

Continue to wrap the flowers until you are finished. You could also embellish your crown with rafia, ribbon, beads, diamontes, whatever you like. I prefer to keep mine simple and lovely enough for a big or little princess.

Enjoy!
Mia

Hi ya everyone,

Things seem to change really quickly in life don’t they? Well as luck would have it my circumstances have changed quite a bit and it seems that this year I will be full-time blogging at onehourcraft.com and working part-time. I have wanted this freedom for a very long time and it appears that my time has come to do this!

If you remember back to the olden days (not quite) when I started this site and I was posting about two or three times a day – well that is where we are headed again. But. The first thing this blog (*still hate the word) needs is a bit of structure. So I have been brainstorming some regular posts for certain days – and I came up with ‘What ya makin’ Wednesday?’.

On Wednesday each week I will be linking to really interesting things people have been making in the past week. I also want you all to leave comments with links to what you have been making. That way everyone can see what you have been up to also. I can’t wait to see what you all have been up to each week.

Today….

• Artsycraftsy babe is sewing the loveliest linen bags with a patchwork inset.
• Bella Dia is decorating rocks with transfers for presents. Clever way to use scrapbooking materials. Scroll down and see my favourite rock with the floral transfer.
• How About Orange is making paint chip bookmarks. Free and so cute. I am definitely going to make some.
• Kitty Genius is making miniature porcelain artwork. Simply divine.
• Ismoyo is embroidering cherries. So pretty and delicious.
• Love forever is making mosaic mirrors using cut-up old credit cards. You gotta love recycling!
• The Small Object has is mixing and bottling Grapefruit Sugar Scrub. And I think I will make some too.

I’ve been making some very funky little bags, a tote bag, and some more things I will be posting here in the next few days.

And finally, what are you making?

Mia

I don’t know if your family is like mine – my family likes to procreate. This is great because we have lots of beautiful children running around. But Christmas can be a little difficult finding presents for all the nephews and nieces.

This past Christmas I really wanted to simplify the present giving. I usually come up with very fancy gift ideas and get quite carried away. This year I wanted the present to be simple, inexpensive and useful.

The only thing I could think of that fit into all those categories was to make each child their own tote bag. I made the girls very girly tote bags in floral prints with their initials sewn on in rick-rack. For the boys I made more boyish bags in blue with beach prints and blue and white gingham linings.

The great thing about these bags is how useful they are. They can be used to pack for an overnight stay. They can be filled with beach toys for a day at the beach. They can be stuffed with bathing suits, towels and sunscreen or they can be used for bottles, extra changes of clothes etc. for little children.

And my lovely little niece, Tara, aged one and a bit, decided that hers was good enough to wear and tried her best to hop inside it!

Overall, this simplicity decision of mine, started at Christmastime is going very well I think.

Have a good one.

Mia

PS Any more ideas for simple presents to make and give during the year? I am going to whip up a whole heap of presents and give them out over the year.

Here.

You can order your copy already.  Yay!  Another reason that 2009 is going to be such a great year for me.

Lovin’ it.

Mia

Kangaroo Paw, Denmark, Western Australia Photo by Mia Binns

I was going to talk about my goals for this site in this post. But since they are linked very closely to my personal goals, I will talk a little about these too.

I have spent the last few months thinking a lot about what is really important to me and how this fits with my goals. That is the reason I have made a big decision for this year. To make less goals and make them smaller. To simplify my life. I just can’t keep working at the pace I have been working at. My health has been really bad for the last three years. And I need to take more time out for me and my little family.

My Goals for 2009 are:

• To get my first children’s picture book published
• To work less hours at my day job (last year I was working 1.20FTE)
• To take care of myself by exercising more, eating breakfast and drinking more water
• To make sure I have at least one 3 hour meal with friends each week. (I love eating with people and catching up with them.)
• To travel more – especially to a tropical island with no agenda (despite having done a LOT of travelling I have never been on a holiday to do nothing but sit around!)
• To post once or twice a week on onehourcraft.com
• To learn to take really good photos
• To plan more relaxation time with my family each week
• To get outdoors more than once a week – to the beach, hiking, walking, sailing etc
• To make yoga a daily practice

If anyone out there is like me and is questioning whether your goals are too big and overwhelming – I dare you to reassess and to scale them right down! Now. I dare you to start to see yourself as more than the sum of everything you do and all you acheive. I dare you to look at your worth as something deeper than that. If you feel that you have been working like a robot for the previous year, a new year is a great time to reassess that. And to make brave changes.

I encourage you to see yourself as being lovable, worthy and fine even without having to have huge goals or take over the world. You are wonderful the way you are. You add to world just by being you. Your relationships with others make you who you are.

I no longer want to take on fifty new things, I am giving up happily on a lot of my dreams, maybe momentarily or maybe forever. I just want to be effective in the few things I have chosen to do.

This year I aim to say NO a lot more often, and especially to myself! But I must say I am also inviting a lot more fun and adventure back into my life.

Love

Mia

xxx

Hi everyone,

Sorry no Happy Christmas or Happy New Year! Been having a fantastic time. Relaxing. Spending time with love ones. Holidaying. We spent a week in the southwest of Western Australia. We went swimming at the beach, went for walks in forrests, climbed Bluff Knoll – and I didn’t talk about this website or my plans once. I was extremely proud of myself!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I look forward to sharing more with you this year. It is my fourth year of running a website – scarey!

Millie and Calvin Playing

Flowers in Denmark, Western Australia

Grass Tree on a Four-Wheel Drive Track, Denmark, Western Australia

Trees near Ocean Beach, Denmark, Western Australia

Bluff Knoll with Cloud Pouring out, Western Australia

Me and My love on the top of Bluff Knoll

See what I mean by fantastic?

Mia
xxx