Pinspirations

    Do we call these sparkle pins? Or simply 'spins'?

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Fab Finds 12

And now for my 4 Fab "Fin" Finds. Check them out...


1. In this Marie Forleo episode she has a chat with writer, Liz Gilbert. Liz has come out with a new book titled Big Magic [big on my library check out list], and it is all about creativity, a topic close to my heart.

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2. Photography Concentrate is a friendly, encouraging resource centre for photographers of all levels. It is run by Lauren and Rob, photographers who super love their field and want to share that love with you. - http://photographyconcentrate.com/blog/ Lauren and Rob.

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3. So maybe I should have called this Fab Fin Finds. In a world of wonderful coincidences I have been making dress up mermaid tails for my girls this week. Then in online news I read a story about two Perth Mermaids. These ladies are awesome, and you can learn all about them here.

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4. And if you ever wanted to be a mermaid yourself, a twin sister team in Hawaii can make it happen. Abby and Bryn run Finfolk Productions, making… You guessed it - Mermaid fish tails! Now who wouldn't want to be a mermaid. I know I do.

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The Kitty Cat Dance

    I haven't seen this in years. Always was good for a laugh...

Craft for the Soul

    I have been in something to a tail spin the last 24 hours so I was grateful when something nice fell into my lap to take my mind off things.

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    Pip Lincolne, of Meet Me At Mikes, recently hosted a blog giveaway to celebrate the publication of her latest book Craft for the Soul. I was one of three winners chosen by Penguin [the publishers of this cute book].

    For this competition Pip asked, "What’s your favourite creative memory?" Here was my response:

I was going to write about the time that I made Herbie the love bug out of paper and an entire roll of sticky tape when I was seven. But then I thought of something special that happened this week.

My youngest sometimes copies me, and I guess because I drag the sewing machine out every month she now has an invisible sewing machine. She pulls the two step stool from the kitchen, sits on the lower step and announces that it’s her sewing machine. She will then pull out tea towels and blankets, and pretend sews. She then shows me what she has made and says things like ‘isn’t that lovely’, ‘feel how soft it is’.

That memory is going to stay with me for a long while.

I have already read a couple of pages of Craft for the Soul and I can honestly say this book has arrived at just the right time in my life. The book is about harnessing your inner good time through creativity. I'll leave it at that, because I don't want to spoil it for you, also I want to sign off here as quickly as possible, so I can get back to reading my brand spanking new Pip book. Thank you Pip! Thank you Alexis!

À tout à l’heure.

Pearl Shoe

Pearls on a shoe! Who would have thought?

© Melissa Gaggiano
Buy "Pearl Shoe"

Pink Surf

© Melissa Gaggiano
Buy "Pink Surf"

    Talk about being on a roll. I have a new art piece for sale. Go on and check it out!

     It's quite unconscious, but I must really like pink, and I swear it has nothing to do with Barbie. 

Painting, Painting, Painting

    There has been quite a bit of painting going on in my house. My daughters are at it, and so am I. It must have something to do with the warm weather.

© Melissa Gaggiano
Buy "Leg Up"

© Melissa Gaggiano
My youngest asked me to do a drawing of Cat Woman.

DIY Cat or Bat Mask

    My youngest loves Batman, and now that she has been watching the Batman animated series she has now discovered Cat Woman. So now interchangeably  she will call herself Batman or Cat Woman. 

    I made her a paper mask which can either be a Batman or Cat Woman mask. Hey! It looks like both. And now I am sharing the mask design with you as a DIY.

Materials

• Black paper or card
• Thin elastic

Steps

1. Print the below provided pattern. It will fit on an A4 page.
2. Cut out the pattern along the unbroken lines.
3. Place pattern over black paper and trace an outline of the mask.
4. Cut out the outline of the mask.
5. Fold along the dotted line location [as seen on the pattern].
6. Using a stiletto [or needle or pen head] punch a thin hole into the sides of the mask where the dots are [as seen on the pattern].
7. Measure the elastic to fit around back of child's head.
8. Feed the elastic through the holes in mask and tie two knots. And you're done, just in time for Halloween.

Cat Woman/Batman mask pattern

Epic Quote of the Week

    Anne Hathaway always had my movie heart, and now she has become completely quotable in her own right. It's an epic quote. But it is a meaningful quote. So yeah!

Ragamuffin Mousie

    Several years ago I contributed a cloth mouse pattern to Mixtape zine. The pattern appeared in issue 10.  I've been combing through my library as part of a spring clean, and I found a copy of this sweet lil' magazine.

    I now share this mouse pattern [aka Ragamuffin Mousie] with you as a free DIY craft project. All the information you would need is provided below, for print out.

Ragamuffin Mousie instructions
© Melissa Gaggiano

Ragamuffin Mousie pattern
© Melissa Gaggiano

Taylor Swift = ♥

    There's a lot of love for Taylor Swift from the people in this household. And the cat probably doesn't mind her music. And now for one of my favourite TS music videos…


(FYI, this is what it looks like inside my head)

Fab Finds 11

    My fab finds are back on again. So what have we got today?


1. The first noteworthy mention is this Back to the Future countdown. For anyone who lived through the 80s you'll know a little something about this cool trilogy of films. For anyone born after the 80s, seriously organise a film marathon for next month. In the meantime there is this fun counter that looks just like the one inside The Delorean. Why is the destination time 21st October 2015? That was the furtherest into the future that Marty travelled in the film trilogy.

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2. Babes About Town - Love. Play. Eat. is a blog that provides family orientated updates of events, activities in and around London. Such a lovely site, makes me wish I was living in London right now.

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3. A Montessori Musing Place is another blog which documents many wonderful, fun ways for kids to play and learn. That is right - I used play and learn in the same sentence. If you're looking for inspiration and ideas, and want your kids to take a break from TV, then give this blog a glance.

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Splatter that Shoe

Buy "Splatter that Shoe"

    Newsflash: I have new work for sale at my Red Bubble store. Yay for the shoe lovers! Check it out now!

Pinspirations

    And now for this week's pinspirations round up - a small selection of pins on Pinterest that caught my eye…

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The Wolf Is Done

© Melissa Gaggiano

    I just finished making this paper crafted wolf mask. It took a bit of paper, glue, paint and elastic to bring this girl to life. The mask will be a prop for a fairy tale photo shoot. I can hardly wait to see how it looks in the photos post production.

Quickly Now

    This will be short and sweet. I promised my youngest to read a couple of library books to her, so very quickly I will share with you my current progress on art projects…

I am in the middle of cutting up the pieces for a 'final' wolf mask.

I also framed a paper cut Street Fighter image that I made a few weeks ago.
A telling sign that I just may be dyslexic - the first time I framed the image
I put it in reversed and didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the 'sv'
for a good 20 minutes.

Under the House

Newspaper clipping:
Claire Robertson - Loobylu

    Yesterday I was under the house storing stuff. While I was down there I opened a box of archived sketchbooks and journals. Flipping through them I found this saved newspaper clipping. 

    What was so special about this clipping that I had to save it? This article, which is about illustrator Claire Robertson, inspired me to do what I'm doing right now - blogging and crafting. Before reading this article I had absolutely no idea there was a craft renaissance happening. I also knew nothing of blogging back then. So much can happen in ten years.

    To see what Claire Robertson is up to these days, you can check out her blog - Loobylu.

DIY Tooth Pouch

    I have put together an easy little tutorial for you, for making a tooth pouch. You don't need much to make this sweet little fellow. Simply save the below file to your desktop, print to the correct scale on an A4 page, and follow the instructions.

    Let me know if you make this tooth. I would love to see your efforts.

Pinspirations

Here are a sample few pins that have inspired me this week…

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