I went on a little trip...

So, I went to our nation's capital yesterday. I saw some pretty pictures that had travelled all the way from Paris... I saw lots of pretty pictures and beautiful sculptures by Australians too. Sometimes I feel the cultural cringe, but knowing that people like Bertram Mackennal and Rupert Bunny 'got it', makes it subside a little.

I saw some political stuff...

I'm always weirded out by the 'European-ness' of stuff in Canberra...

I got to have room service...

And I dropped some toys for the Toy Society, one by the lake in Canberra, and one in Goulburn on the way home...

And when I came home, I found that my cat's vet had put him on anti-anxiety tablets... I didn't know there was such a thing, but he does seem very relaxed!

B.

This warms my heart!

I dropped some toys for The Toy Society before Christmas, and was eagerly checking the blog this week to see if anyone collected my little fellas, and they did, I found this email from Fiona who found my little Corrine (below) in Bellingen. I love the vibe of Bellingen, and had a feeling that some Toy Society love would be sincerely appreciated here!

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This is the email:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fiona 
Date: Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Subject: Finding Corrine
To: thetoysociety@gmail.com

Hi!

My name is Fi and I found the beautiful Corrine last Wednesday 23rd during my lunchbreak. She was hanging from the sign ouside the library in Bellingen and caught my eye. As I got closer and saw her in all her beauty and the little card sayng that I could take her home, I felt a little shiver of excitement! She turned my day around entirely, I felt that it was now a very special day indeed...I showed everyone at work and Corrine had the same effect on all of them.

At first I had no doubt that I would wrap her up and give her to my little boy Louis for Christmas, which I was excited about. But the more I looked at her, the more I fell in love with her and she felt like a little message especially for me. After having my baby, my own creativity has suffered and I have been saddenned that art is no longer such a big part of my life. Corrine now sits in a prime position in our house as a little reminder to me of the importance of art and creativity in daily life, and how it can lift us out of the realm of the ordinary into somewhere really magical!

Thankyou! Thankyou thankyou thankyou, Rebecca, whoever you are.

Fi

xoxoxo

P.S I will be sure to feed her plenty of grapes, but never apples ,and make sure she gets lots of hugs from Louis too!

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The little P.S. note relates to Corrine's likes and dislikes!

If you want to join in on the fun, head over to The Toy Society blog and register-- they'll email you some tags which explain the project properly to toy finders, and there are so many fabulous free patterns out there, including my bug pattern, but other faves include these:

Wee Wonderfuls pointy kitty pattern

Melly & Me embroidered kokeshi softie

mmmcrafts molly monkey softie

Good Night! x

B.

Shucks...

I was feeling slightly overwhelmed on Sunday afternoon. I was completing my book-keeping for the last financial quarter, when I checked my emails... I didn't recognise the sender, and as the photos were loading I was wondering what on earth was going to open up... and to my great suprise, the finders of the little wee wonderful butterfly I dropped through The Toy Society had sent me a thank you email, with this gorgeous picture of the happy recipient! Isn't he beautiful?! Finder post is here.

It made my afternoon, and I fired through that book work with a smile on my face!

x, B.

I love The Toy Society!!

I've been cleaning out my crafting space since I got home from the markets on Saturday (which I'll tell you about soon... it was GREAT!), and I've discovered toys I'd completely forgotten about... I've given toys to all the children and adults I know, so I got some labels and tags made up and got ready for some more drops. I was feeling particularly inspired since Joe's brother told me on Sunday that his sweet little girl, Isabella is totally into the whole thing! She is 8 and has the website bookmarked, and checks it regularly, she's coming down on the school hols, and we're going to do some toy making together! Yay! Her 4 year old sis is busting to make a sausage dog from the Softies book--which kind of scares me, since she wants to use a sewing machine, but it also excites me... I picked up some pink cord at the op shop today for that very purpose!

1. A Wee Wonderfuls hand-sewn butterfly which I dropped at the Parra Meadows School in North Wollongong.

I hung it on a tree, because it's a butterfly!

2. Little Miss Kitty was left at a park in Erkinville in Sydney.

3. And this Mathilde prototype dolly is actually quite sweet, so I left her at the entrance of Sydney Uni village in Camperdown on my way to the art shop... where I got soooo many good things, but more on that tomorrow...

Join in on The Toy Society fun!

B. x.