Kanga In...

Hi to everyone, so it's been a while since I've done a blog post, I'm sorry but, life gets in the way sometimes.

Firstly I'd like to say hello and welcome to all my new fans. I hope you enjoy looking around and I'm going to have some new things in the next couple of months. I will also be creating an album with some of the stock left from the Poppyseed Markets stall I did last month.

I also hope to be creating a madeit.com.au store in the next week or so. This will help Kanga Crafts in the long run and also allow all your friends who don't have facebook and are interested in my items to find them easily.

I have recently picked up a large range of material which I need to photograph and upload so you can see what is available and I also have 2 new patterns, plus another I've had for a while which I haven't tried yet and I'm dying too.

So to my exciting news...

A couple of months ago, one of my fabric suppliers "The Oz Material Girls" put the call out to their clientele who use their fabric and patterns to send in some photos and a bit of a blurb about themselves as they were going to be featured in a craft magazine and they would love some of their clients to be included in that too. Today I found out I was 1 of 3 people picked to have their picture featured in the article.

Yay Yay Yay Yay!

The magazine is Handmade Yearly and it comes out in January so be sure to grab a copy or 10... I know I will be. :)

So that was my exciting news. I hope you got as excited reading about it as I was.

...Kanga out

The Winner Is...

Kanga In...

Well it was a close race at times, but in the end we had a stand out winner. I must say, I am glad that it wasn't me choosing as it would've been very difficult and I don't think I would have been able to choose.

There were so many great entries, there are a lot of talented peeps out there including those of you who are SAHM.

The winner on this occasion was Penny Lisa Designs with a gorgeous entry that includes a little Kanga.

For creating the winning entry, Penny Lisa Designs will receive a custom 45 x 45 memory board.

Also I thought it might be nice for those of you who voted to have been in with a chance to win something too... So the number of voters on the winning entry were entered into Random.org and the winner of the voting prize is Elene Riley. Congrats Elene, you have won a Kanga Crafts frog.

I would like to say a BIIIIIIGGGGGG thank you to all that voted and all that especially entered.

I will now be getting busy organising my business now that I have a new logo. I am so excited and looking forward to what the future brings. For those Gold Coasters, I will be showcasing my wares at the Poppyseed Markets in October, more details to come via blog and on my page.

Thank you again everyone, have a good night and a great weekend.

...Kanga Out

P.S. Sorry it took me a while to get this sorted. :o)

Competition Time Voting

Kaaaaaanga IN...

Wow! 18 Fantastic entries in the Logo design competition. To begin with I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has spent time in creating an entry and submitting it. I know how busy I am these days so can appreciate sometimes it's hard to find the time to do creative things like this.

Ok, so just a reminder as to what the prize is:

A custom 45 x 45 Memory Board (centimeters that is), that's right, you get to pick the fabric, the ribbon and if you wish, you can have buttons at the crossover points. Don't let the limited choice of fabric on my facebook page stop you from creating as I have lots more fabric on the way, it will be due in the next couple of weeks.

So how can you now win, voting will commence as of the publishing of this blog and continue through until 8pm EST next Wednesday the 4th of August. You can vote for as many entries as you like, but may only vote once per entry. To vote, you just need to comment under the picture you like with the word VOTE.

So what does this mean???

It means get voting!

Designers, let all your fans know to vote for you and I'm sure the Kanga Crafts fans will be quite active too.

Remember this is going to be the Kanga Crafts brand, vote for what you like and what you think will best suit the business.

Thank you all for participating and there might be some give away's for the voters too...

Have a good night.

...Kanga Out

Competition Time - Kanga Crafts Logo

Kanga In...

Well it's been a little while since I've blogged, I really don't know where people I know who blog find the time. With my 19 month old running around being a BOY! trying to be a mum, a wife, a cleaner, do some paid bookkeeping and trying to get sewing done... there are certainly not enough hours in the day. As it is, it was 11:11pm last night when I started this blog and I wanted to introduce you all to the newest member of the Kanga Crafts family too, but that had to wait a little longer whilst I got my blog on.

So what's been happening with you? Wow, that's great. Hope you're well. We have all had a cold, and I still have a niggling cough but that's it.

So I enticed you here with a competition... So what is it you ask? Well after the success Sweet Cheek Crafts and Delicious Allsorts have had, I am going to run a "design the Kanga Crafts logo competition". My current logo is just something I created without putting a huge amount of thought into. This new logo will be subsequently used on EVERYTHING! I consider myself a pretty creative person, however I just don't know what I want or where to start, so I am putting it back out there to you, the very talented and creative fans that Kanga Crafts has.

Below you will see the conditions as well as the prize.

THE PRIZE:

A custom 45 x 45 Memory Board (centimeters that is), that's right, you get to pick the fabric, the ribbon and if you wish, you can have buttons at the crossover points. Don't let the limited choice of fabric on my facebook page stop you from creating as I have lots more fabric on the way, it will be due in the next couple of weeks.

THE CHALLENGE:

(should you choose to accept it)

Create a logo that represents Kanga Crafts. The name came about as my son is nicknamed Roo and I'm a huge fan of "Winnie The Pooh" (pretty simple really). I sell memory boards, soft toy bunnies, butterflies & frogs (with elephants and turtles to come in a few months) and children's pants, I will be adding more to my repertoire so don't limit this to your design. I love fat quarters and fabric in general, blue is my favourite colour, but I like most things that are pretty; something simple and eye catching that will be memorable is what I am after.

HOW TO WIN:

Once you have created your design, post it on my wall on my Kanga Crafts Facebook page or email it to me at kangacrafts@gmail.com and I will add it to the logo competition folder. Fans will be able to vote for as many entries as they wish, but only one vote per entry. Voting time will be announced at a later date.

Remember that this isn't a chore, so HAVE FUN with it and you can create as many designs as you wish, also feel free to ask any questions and let everyone you know what you've done so they can come and vote for your entry once voting opens.

... Kanga Out

QUICK UPDATE:

I would like to add into the design "funky and fun for you or your little one" Oh and entries close tonight Wednesday 28th July at Midnight.

July 7 Day Creation Challenge

Kanga In...

Hellloooooo Peeps. How are we all??? Good I hope. So what's new with you? Great, oh Me? Well on Sunday I set myself a challenge to create somethingfrom woe to go each day for a week. It could be something that I already knew how to make, orsomething new. I was open to requests and got a great one from Sausage Mama (check out her site www.sausagemama.com for great stuff about, pregnancy, being a parent, eco stuff... the list goes on. Great site though) for an ironing board cover, which I ironically need a new one. I haven't made it yet but I still have 4 days to go so... it'll get done.

Monday came around and I hadn't done anything during the day and was going to that night, however a family situation arose late afternoon and the time I had allocated for sewing was now family time. I vowed to make two items on Tuesday and that I did. I made my little man a pair of pants, or "munchkin bums" as I affectionately like to call them.

"Munchkin Bums, for MY munchkin bum!"

I got to make them during the day as Hubby was home sick from work. (On that note, we are all sick actually. Just a pesky cold and I'm doing the best out of all of us so....) So that left me time to make my Tuesday creation during the night, which I did and had fun doing too. My little man needs a beanie and I don't knit, so I made a little hat for him out of fleece.

It turns out when I tried it on him this morning that the band could've been a bit wider and a little shorter in length. Mind you he won't keep it on his head so it doesn't really matter at this stage. I am going to put a small piece of elastic in the back so it makes it a bit smaller and he can wear it now anyway.

So that's Monday and Tuesday covered on Tuesday, now for WEDNESDAY!!!

I had heaps of fun today as it involved a trip to Spotlight, and then creating. What i've created today is a gift for a friend of my Hubby's... and mine I guess. It is a funky red, black and white tie. He's a pretty funky dresser and is trying to bring back the tie at work, so it is the perfect gift. I just hope he likes it. When Hubby got home, he asked if there was enough material left to make him one. We'll see... Tomorrow's creation will be a gift for him too and it's going to be a blast making it. Possibly a little fiddly, but oh well. Oh and another trip to Spotlight too... I should just get a bed there I think.

Anyway it's late, til next time, with more news about the July 7 Day Creation Challenge.

... Kanga Out

Op Shopping

Kanga In...

Recently I have seen a lot of people's blogs where they have been discussing their Op Shop trips and how they love Op Shopping and their marvelous finds. Well... I'm jumping on the band wagon!

Where I live there are 2 warehouses within lets say 8 minutes of my house. 1 I feel is actually closer than the other and its probably better priced for clothes, although I'm super picky when it comes to clothes so never really by any, because I don't find any that I like. The other warehouse is MASSIVE! There is clothes, toys, electrical, manchester, furniture and even a little bookshop. By that I mean a room full of books, just like a bookshop. Love it, so cute.

So I went to the massive one today knowing that they had a good amount of furniture as I was looking for a little cupboard or something that I could put either my overlocker or sewing machine in or both if they would fit, so as we can have our dining room table back. Hubby is extremely unimpressed at the fact that half of our dining table is taken up with sewing bits and pieces. I guess that I would like to get themoff there as well, but we live in quite a small 2 bed townhouse and there isn't much room for my sewing stuff anywhere except Roo's room and I can't be going in and out when he's asleep, which is when I do most of my sewing.

So I walked in and was looking around and voila, I found the perfect cabinet AND it was a sewing cabinet... Even better it was the exact thing that I was looking for... Oh and it had been marked down. Now it's not in the best condition, it looks as though it has had water damage, but it will most definitely serve it's purpose. I was very pleased with my find. I promptly went over to the furniture counter and announced the item I was after, the lady looked at me a little perplexed as though I had changed the price or read it wrong. I waltzed back to the cabinet and said "this one" she looked and was like "oh" I thought HUH, you thought I was wrong and I wasn't.

I promptly went and paid for it as I needed to get to Spotlight and home again as Roo was getting snottier and snottier (he's either getting his 2 year molars, or a cold, either way and unhappy Roo) and tired. I also picked up some awesome fabric as well for $5. I got a metre piece of flannel, some pretty groovy green and white large-ish circle material also a metre, 1/2 a metre of some very funky fabric... it's on my facebook page, I think I called it Black Flowers or something to that effect and lastly and I wasn't 100% sure what this was before I got it home, but it's the cutest jungle animal cot panel... I might just have to get my "quilting" hat out and make a quilt.

All in all a fantastic trip Op Shopping today, and if you haven't done it before you can find some great bargains just as I did and others before me.

...Kanga Out

Projects

Well I promised a blog last night and it didn't happen... I'm sorry.

I have a good excuse though I promise... Hubby had been away for a week and returned Thursday night but was absolutely wrecked, so we spent some quality time together last night catching up on what had happened in the past week and, falling asleep on the couch as usual.

You can't blame us though... when we have the worlds most comfy couch.

I went to a linen party today and although it was linen and what I'm creating isn't, it still inspired me and has helped to continue to motivate me with my new endeavors. If you check out myKanga Crafts page on facebook I have uploaded some of my creations and, as my list grows so will the albums. One thing a couple of my friends said is that they like my Butterfly's, and think I should make and sell them as I made one as a gift and it is very muchly loved.

So this afternoon after the linen party I came home and was finishing off some cloth wipes I was making and then decided I would try and tweak my butterfly pattern and create another one... I struggled a bit in trying to simplify the construction of it and subsequently didn't finish the first one and just started on a second. I will finish both of them though and then stuff and upload pictures of them.

I have also made a couple of pairs of pants for my son creating a pattern from an existing pair... It didn't work out all that well as the material I used although beautiful on, was hard to sew. Second time around I adjusted the pattern and was using fleece (note to self, much easier to sew) however this pair have ended up too long unless in shoes and then really they are still a little bit too long. (I could shorten them... I realise this, I just haven't. However I have recently purchased an overlocker so could overlock the bottoms and then turn up and sew for that professional look.)

I gave in and bought a pattern, but it didn't twig in my brain until I got it out the other day to make more, that the smallest size I think from memory was a 4. So I'm back to adjusting my pattern again... I'll get there.

So things I'll be working on for the rest of the weekend... Butterflies, possibly some Bunnies and what I'm going to affectionately call the pants my son wears and perhaps I may begin to stock and sell Munchkin Bums.

Well I'm going to hop off now....

Kanga Out...

P.S. I had trouble getting this to upload to Facebook last night, but all is sorted now. So it is even later (so so sorry)... Just imagine while reading this that it is Saturday night and it'll become a little clearer.

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the first of what will be a few blogs from Kanga Crafts. A while ago I was going to start a blog from my personal account, recalling the adventures my little Roo has as he grows older, however that didn't come about. I hope to keep this up, more than my hopes for his blog.

So back near the beginning of the year in fact late last year I started doing a lot more crafty things, creating and "modelling" things I saw that I liked that I thought others may like and want to purchase too. I put it out there on facebook that I was going to start something and wanted my friends to keep me accountable... Well we are all busy and time unfortunately these days I don't believe is a friend of mine... It's moving too quickly and my baby boy is growing more and more into a little boy every day.

Whoops I got off track there a little bit...

...Back on track. Recently I've been following a friend of mine Sweet Cheek Crafts and she has really inspired me to pull my finger out and get creating and be more pro-active with my craft and the little business I want to start. Having said all that I'm putting in place the steps to re-launch my Kanga Crafts Facebook Page... It's a little lacking in content of pictures at present as my hubby has our memory card reader and it has all my latest creations on it.

So this is the beginning I hope, of what will be a hobby with benefits.

I would love for you to come on this journey with me and if there is something you find that you would love me to try and make for you, let me know and I'll give it a go.