moopy & me

Rewarding

Last weekend we had Nest Studio's Biannual Children's Art Exhibition. It is such a delight having a room filled with children's paintings... I only wish the kids didn't have to take them all home.. The children invite their family and friends along for the afternoon... share a cupcake (that they got to decorate with sweets, yum.. and it kept them occupied) and then at the end of the day they take them home ... unless I convinced them otherwise.. so that I could admire them for one extra week.

The photo above is of my poor Moopy, all sleepy eyed (11pm) admiring one of the walls Chris and her had just helped me hang (Lily helped by quietly watching a DVD on my laptop). Usually I do all the hanging myself, but since I am tired so early in the evening (growing a baby can do that!) they both volenteered to help, so the job took 4 hours instead of 10....

Here are a few more paintings (about half of the exhibition) :: Lily's is the "Five Little Ducks" at the centre bottom, inspired by Eric Carle's "10 Little Rubber Ducks" picture book, all of my students aged 3-4 did ducky paintings... sooo sweet. You may notice that Lily picked out the biggest canvas of the lot to paint on.... how embarrassing... teachers pet.

Metres & wrap

Thought I would share some fun photos Amy took of our fabric rolled along our big table, so exciting (for us anyway) to look at the design covering the entire table after working with little 10cm X 15cm pieces for months.

AND look at our lovely gift wrap!! at the moment we are offering complimentary gift wrapping instore.

Open sesame

How exciting! Our Umbrella Prints shop is open and we have some delicious things on offer... Beautiful handprinted designs on natural organic hemp (we solved that base cloth drama... the hemp is a little bit pricier but so much yummier!).

We have two designs available off the roll, "Elephants" & "Fan flowers", sold in fatter fat quarters 70cm X 70cm, if you would like longer pieces, simply order them and we will keep it in one piece for you. There are also some super fun Patch sets available that showcase all 12 of our current range in four fabulous colours :: Starfruit, Sumi black, Kimono red & Pink Moon.

We have tried to email my Moopy&Me mailing list at least 5 times... and none of them seem to have worked?? let me know if you got an email via Notify List PLEASE.... I hope we haven't inconvenienced anyone with 5 emails.. Amy and I will open up a new mailing list system very soon.

Let us know what you think!!

Can't get enough of this

The best part of teaching art is seeing this ... we are making collage art at Nest this term (one of my favourites!) These little collages were made by children aged 4-13 and most of the kids took them home for Mothers Day... hence I took photos because ordinarily I would steal them away for weeks, they are so inspirational. We use 'Eric Carle' style painted paper making the most of left over paints.

And this one (LOVE the colours chosen) is an Ed Emberley style collage. The children will be trying out many styles of collage over the first five weeks, then make there own that will be used for animation... The Thursday night mums are getting into it too with collaged softies... very exciting! all will be revealed soon.

The latest

The latest issue of Okido mag is an absolute winner! all about poo... My own moopy poo can't get enough, it is on high rotation at our place (even at bedtime!). You can get a copy at Nest if you like. I am a big fan off this magazine for 2-7 year olds... every issue is jam packed full of quality, wonderful illustrations, stories and activities. I have been stocking Okido since it began (there are even a few back issues available offline at Nest if you missed out) as I was so impressed with the vibrancy and integrity (no ads..just super fun and educational).

In other latest news ... it's a girl! (phew.. Lily would have already had me lined up for #3 otherwise) Of course she almost cried with excitement yelling out "I knew it would be a sister mummy, I told yooooou". Bring it on ... let the 'house flipping upside down and turned around' decorating begin! I will have loads of pics to share soon as the shop reno is almost complete too and Amy's show is in full swing.

And because I never seem to have time to reply to comments and emails (sorry) I need to answer the "how did you make the stickers" questions. They were made by drawing in pencil on recycled paper, cutting out the shapes and then using one of those inexpensive nifty Xyron machines.

AND last but not least, Umbrella Prints textiles, Flip Dolls and Zakka packs are so very close to being ready... frustrating I know but so very close! I am even confident enough to report the NEW SHOP UPDATE for May 20 (those on the mailing list via this blog or the comments over at the Flip Doll blog will hear from us ASAP) I can't wait to show you the colours we have carefully chosen... so many colours in the world, so little fabric to print!!! Let me just say that all that orange (as much as I lurve it) was just to throw you.

I can seeeee youuuu

Let the reno begin!

Just incase you don't hear from me ever again... lost in a hole somewhere at Nest ... covered in plasterdust and paint... here is what I (and some very wonderful helpers!!) will be cleaning up this week. It will be so refreshing to have a new space to move in and brighter walls (currently paint splattered due to much fun had in the old artroom).

I can also now see you and you can see me when you pop into the shop!

 

I am sure those of you who have experienced home renos know that feeling of being so close yet so far away...

see you soon with after photos (I hope).... and that fabric hanging in the window (above) was so much fun to make ... simply done with a silk screen.. I will show you how soon, it's a great one to do with the kids!

Paper Cuts

*UPDATED* Opening night is Saturday May 3

Look what the fabulously talented Amy has been up to, all while setting up print runs with me for Umbrella Prints! Her new exhibition starts in a couple of weeks (Saturday May 3 at A Room of Her Own :: which is a gallery just across the road from Nest Studio) I have been getting special previews of the works and know exactly which piece I am going to try and nab first.

Some very sneaky photos ... just a tiny hint of whats on show

I have been helping out as much I can, such as putting this little postcard/invite together for her...(typos corrected!!) her work is stunning and evocative ..yeah? I will get Amy to put a few words together later on, closer to the  night to go along with the photos I will take .. I don't wan't to try and put the words together now in fear of not giving her work the justice it deserves. I will say this however, watching Amy work and seeing how her imagination, creativity and intelligence all come together to create such beautiful unique art, is a true inspiration.

Delightfulness

I was going to post another printing tutorial today but alas, Lily and I got side tracked making stickers. I love hers so much I have made her promise not to use them until I have been down to officeworks to colourcopy them. I absolutely hoard every tiny little mark that Lily makes, I can't help myself...we have files and files of the stuff... I have recently been collecting her attempts at writing... she has no idea what she has written... she comes to me with a scrap of paper asking me what it says... yesterday a piece had the carefully written words "Autograph Book".

I was most impressed and slightly stunned at Lily's own "Moopy Bunny" illustration...

Speaking of Moopy's... I will have this relatively simple toy pattern available soon.. and just incase you are not tired of seeing Umbrella Prints textiles .. there they are again on Moopy's ears and skirt. This is a WIP by the way... I still need to stuff and stitch on the face. I think of this bunny as MiniMoopy's older sister... there has been alot of that kind of talk around here lately..

I have an Umbrella Prints update to announce :: due to the overwhelming amount of support we have had ... the textiles will no longer be printed inhouse! yes, that means more fabric, quicker deliveries and possibly a more consistent quality. Originally Amy and I had been printing from our big screen in Nest Studio but this has proven to be far too slow and sometimes a bit frustrating... so we are almost to tears with excitement to be able to offer a much larger range than we had first hoped. The only draw back to this is waiting a bit longer in the beginning, for suppliers to deliver the goods. We have had a minor hicup with our favourite linen being discontinued... so are also searching crazily for another supplier.. All good news really, except we just have to be patient...

We have been keeping track of emails that come through from the comments list & via our inboxes... so when we are ready those who have left a comment over here will get notified first as well as those on my MoopyMe mailing list.

A little ray of sunshine

We have welcomed our recent rainy days with gumboots and jumping in puddles... for those here in Adelaide you will be forgiven for thinking I have resorted to talking about the weather...because our draught has broken... the grass has already bounced back! but for those who were a little confused about why my most recent posts vanished yesturday... let me direct you here ...It is so nice to be a part of this creative community, thanks for your support, I know Hillary appreciates it very much....and that's is it for now, we'll talk about it later.....

Now, onto more sunshine

I like to call this baby's play quilt, my "Peek 'a' Boo" quilt.... little Moopy bunny is hiding under those flaps for baby to find (inspired by our new Flip Dolls) ... and the draw string up top, hidden inside my rather oversized and lumpy looking bias tape, is for vanishing baby toys away at the pull of a cord.

I have never made/designed a quilt before so there were a few bunchy issues (hiding at the back thank goodness) but overall I am quite stoked to have something already whipped up for Moopy-poo #2. You will also be able to make this quilt if you so desire (along with a bunch of other sweet baby quilts) from a new pattern book coming out at the end of the year (published in the US)....  I will let you know all the details when they become available. All fabric except the spots and solids are from our new Umbrella Prints range... I love it!! I am so excited to see them sewn up into a cute quilt.