Handmade Kids Australia

Posted on 6 July 2011

Introducing Giggles Cupcake Toppers

GIGGLES CUPCAKE TOPPERS- make your cupcakes amazing.

Mel makes handmade toppers to suit any occasion. Whether you are celebrating a birthday, christening, wedding, engagement or “just because’, Giggles can create a topper to suit your theme or colour scheme. Co-ordinated labels and thank-you tags also available.

My first dealing with Mel at Giggles Cupcake toppers was for my daughters Rainbow party, which you can read about here, and I have to say I have been blown away with the awesome quality and customer service I received from Mel.

After Australia Post lost my first order (which is still a no show), with only 2 days till the weekend, Mel hurriedly made a new set and express posted that same day so that I would receive them in time for Sunday. How awesome was that, no questions asked! I got the toppers as you could see from the party pictures, they looked awesome and got lots of comments.

Thank you Mel my daughter was so happy to see them on her cupcakes, and thanks for the great service.

Prices start at $10 for 12 toppers. For more details check out her page here.

Introducing Giggles Cupcake Toppers

Posted on 5 July 2011

The Rainbow Party

Just saying

My daughter had her 3rd Birthday on Sunday and all she wanted was a rainbow party. Pretty easy I thought, I already had a few ideas that I had seen in the blogosphere, but putting them into action was a little more time consuming then I had thought.

You see, I’m the worlds no.1 procrastinator. I like to make lists, collect pictures, even talk about what I want to do, but then, BANG! time is up, its party time and I have done…….not much in the way of decorations and preparations.

So the party ended up being a slap together of things that I had around the house to make it look rainbow-ish. Rainbow ball lights, bunting and tissue pom poms I already had on hand. The balloons for out the front of the house and near the table were from a friend, who was fantastic at the last minute.

We ended up with finger food (canapés) lunch, which was yummy. The cake and cupcakes made by me. Cupcake toppers by Giggles.

I guess being only my 3rd kids party, it didn’t turn out too bad, right? Alessia had a great time and that was all that was important.

Posted on 4 July 2011

5 minutes with Maryanne

5 minutes with/ Just saying

Hello everyone and thank you all for the warm welcome.

So I guess all those that don’t know me or Little Bird Decor are asking yourselves, well who is she? This is me:

My name is Maryanne (in case you missed that part) and I am a wife, mummy to 2, lover, daughter, sister, best friend, cook, house cleaner, shopper, accounts person, lover of all things handmade and I guess I can add blogger and business helper to that list.

I am so excited to be taking on Handmade Kids, I hope that I can do the blog justice and justice to Jemma and Caz, and all their hard work they have put into it over the past few years. I also hope that Handmade Kids will become a valuable resource for shoppers and also to all those hardworking handmade businesses.

This is going to be a big learning curve for me, the queen of procrastination. I need to be disciplined. I have started making lists, jotting down ideas (oh…all the ideas) and reading lots to gather inspiration and bring you some of the most gorgeous Handmade finds available in Australia right to your computer screen.

I developed a passion for handmade once I became a mamma, browsing all the gorgeous products made by super talented women. I can only dream of being creative, I have not one single creative bone in this body. I would really love to try and learn to sew and crochet. I did try a few times and failed miserably, one day.

So thats little old me.

As Jemma mentioned, I can be contacted through maryanne@handmadekids.com.au. I look forward to bringing you all lots of great handmade talent and working with you all.

Ciao M x

5 minutes with Maryanne: Post by Maryanne

Posted on 15 June 2011

Victoria Wrap Up

Shopping

Handmade for Girls – by Miss Melly

Greeting Card – by Missy Minzy

Handmade skirt – by The Poppet Parlour

Journals – by Leaf Journals

Handmade in Victoria

Posted on 14 June 2011

Review: Home of Olivia

Guest Post/ Handmade business/ Review/ Upcycled

These days we live in quite a wasteful society. We see it every verge side collection, or maybe that is just me that drives around and thinks why are they throwing that out, someone could use that. This is probably why I started our local Freeycle group.

Our grandparents probably made use of everything, every bit of clothing that we would throw out, they would fix or re-use. This is why businesses such as the Home of Olivia are so great.

The Home of Olivia repurpose childrens clothing and more from old patterns and fabrics that can be used or remade. Passionate about helping our environment and make use of unwanted clothing that would otherwise fill our landfill, you can guarantee every item is unique and wonderfully varied.

Heather sent us two of her outfits, the crawler dress and the yoke dress. The little crawler dress reminded me so much of dresses from my childhood and I am sure some of that fabric was in my wardrobe when I was little. The yoke dress also reminding of days gone by with the paisley print.

The dresses are very well made with meticulous stitching and look adorable on, unfortunately I neglected my camera to take some shots on our testers and the weather has been terrible the last couple of days to try again. I really love the concept of making new items from old, there is something special about it, and you can feel that and the love and vintage vibe that goes into these outfits.

The beautiful thing about repurposed/recycled clothing is it evokes memories. For me this dress instantly brought me back to my Grandmothers house and her linen closet. The mountains and mountains of tableclothes that were in there and I am sure fabric similar to this. I can visualise going through them all and them being on the kitchen table covered in peanut shells at Christmas time whilst everyone sat on those orange vinyl chairs with the nutcracker cracking and munching away.

The Home of Olivia have some great fabrics and styles lurking in their store and many I am sure that will take you back to your childhood and Grandmas house.