Happy Birthday Bunting

I just had to show you some pics of some fun 'Happy Birthday' bunting we were recently asked to make for the Green Bean Cafe, a play cafe in Fairy Meadow, Illawarra. They asked us to match the bunting up to their cafe colourscheme, and also wanted three of each letter of the alphabet to slide on and off a second string to display name of the birthday boy or girl.

This was a bunting unlike any other we have made, especially since the flags were square and not triangular, but it came out really well don't you think?! I hope it will make lots of birthday parties at the cafe just that little bit more special...

Winner time

Just a quickie to announce the winner of the Nudey!Rudey! Mothers Little Helper organic soothing balm - we only had four entries this time - so I got my hubby and three children to take a name each, throw them all up in the air and the one that landed first was the winner (novel approach, I know!) Well, despite not having the shortest body or arms, the piece of paper thrown up by my middle child William landed first.... and on it was written "Raegan"!

So well done Ms Foldesdy of A Little Bit of Cheek - this soothing balm will be making it's way to you very soon!

Handmade swap - Thula Thula

I have recently taken part in a handmade swap organised through Skout, and was lucky enough to swap some of my bunting for this GORGEOUS top from the lovely Naomi at Thula Thula.

It's so sweet, even more gorgeous in real life than it looked on the picture on the web, and Tom loves it (sorry it's such a grainy pic... it was taken on my iphone!) It's made from 100% cotton with a lovely ticking stripe pattern and will be so cool for the Summer, plus has a sweet little pocket perfect for Tom's little treasures (stones from our gravel driveway mostly...)

Thula Thula (t'ula) is a Zulu word meaning hush, and Thula Thula is a children's brand focussing on classic styles and cuts from the 30s/40s - all beautifully handmade using traditional techniques in pattern making and sewing by Naomi. I definitely recommend you check out her site for some goodies for your little ones, you will not be disappointed!

Blog Giveaway: Mother's Little Helper soothing balm

'Mother’s Little Helper' is the environmentally-friendly must-have for nappy bags, handbags and glove boxes, now available from Nudey!Rudey! 97% organic and containing no palm or nut oils, and packaged in a gorgeous and reusable tin, it's a sumptuous and soothing New Zealand-made balm, ideal for quenching dry skin, protecting nappied bottoms and soothing itchy skin on a swelling pregnant belly.

Not only that, but $1NZD from every tin of Mother’s Little Helper is being pledged directly to Catherine Bolt's charity Project18. If you haven't heard about this charity before, take a look at Catherine's blog - you can read all about her incredible mission which involved a move for her entire family, husband and 9 children to Indonesia to raise an orphanage for abandoned children and increasingly vulnerable orang-utans.

I have one of these beautiful, environmentally friendly and socially conscious tins of balm here to give away to one of my followers - just comment below on why you'd like me to send it to you, and we'll draw the winner one week today (Monday 9th November.)

Ooooooh I won!!!

OOOooooooh I am SO excited, I just had to come on here and gloat a little!!!!!! Remember the Oz Material Girls competition I told you about to win the lovely shabby chic fabric and sewing tin? Well, guess what!!? I just found out I am the winner!!!! I can't believe it.... happyville... I think this fabric will make some beautiful bunting! :-)

What a lovely start to the week...

Trifle - Layers of Lovely

We are BEYOND excited here at Festoon to have been invited to join the 'layers of lovely' at Trifle.

Trifle is an online shopping experience for the consumer like no other - customers can shop from over 50 hand picked designers from all sectors of the kids products industry – all in the one place. Better still, customers can buy from different designers, from different parts of the world, in different currencies with just one click. As the blurb says, it's a "collaboration of designers, niche companies, handmade artists and amazing start-up companies destined for greatness". So you can see why we are so thrilled to have been asked to join!

Head over to the Trifle blog to see the amazing women (yes, all women!) who make up the 'layers'. You can also join the mailing list on the Trifle website. Plus of course, there's always Twitter!

At the moment Trifle has teamed up with Design Mom for a huge Halloween giveaway - with a prize totalling over $1000 in goodies. This one is just too good to miss! To find out how to ENTER please visit DESIGN MOM BLOG. Here's just one of the prizes included in the huge loot - gorgeous giraffe wall decals from Sticky Tiki:

Fantastic Find: the Oz Material Girls

The Oz Material Girls are a 'fabriholic' mother/daughter team who started out selling personal items from their own fabric stash. Their hobby quickly turned into a full-blown company selling quilting materials from their online store and also on Ebay. They have heaps of wonderful fabrics and pride themselves on providing their customers with friendly advice, informative communication, super fast delivery of orders, and above all quality products.

The Oz Material Girls are currently celebrating their 5th birthday and have been running lots of giveaways on their blog to celebrate. The current giveaway runs until October 31st and if you enter, you have the chance to win a Shabby Rose Lecien Fabric Gift Pack - some gorgeous shabby rose fabrics and a lovely retro vintage collectable Singer Sewing Machine Tin to store them in. Check here to go to their blog for more details - don't try TOO hard to win though, as my name is already on that prize!