What made you smile today?

A really nice blog I read on a daily basis is fat mum slim. She writes about her daily life like most bloggers but what I like most about her blog is the way she writes about her love for her daughter and husband and her cheeky polariod-esque photos.  Also, weekly she does a posting about what made her smile today or asks what made us smile today so I thought I would join her.

On weds little mimoo goes to kindy and I called out to her that we had to get going and for her to put her shoes on and grab her kindy bag. This is what she came in to our bedroom ready to go with...... I didn't quite think I needed to start talking to her about accessorising just yet!

Another cute treat for mimoo

Today I received in super quick time this adorable cardigan in dusty pink with a purple flower pin! It is just too cute for words as we have a few weekends away during winter which I thought it would come in handy for. I so, so wish that our fellow mothers for this upcoming winter would support other mothers who make such gorgeous clothing and turn away from the crap that is being dished up to us from all the big chain stores... boo... This cute item is from Brusselsprouts from madeit.com.au.

Working too hard at mimoo HQ

My apologise for the lack of posting as I have been working very hard to fill some belated orders and also working on some new products in time for winter. 

However little mimoo must get her daily outing and every Tuesday we head over to a local playgroup called 'Gumnuts'.  Brisbane weather has turned a little 'chilly' in recent days so I was very excited to be able to give her new Ivy Designs cord trousers their debut into toddler society.  The lovely Wynona even popped in an extra cute brooch into her gorgeous packaging and the trousers are so beautifully made I wish she made adult sizes....

(ps excuse the scuzzy silver faux crocs this 'cold' weather has caught us on the hop! Need to get online and order some new enclosed shoes for little mimoo)

Blogging catch up!

Now a bit of a catch on last weeks happenings... Last Saturday I attended the craft market at St Williams primary school where a few fellow BrisStylers LittleJellygnite and Embellsh were taking part and I picked up the following goodies.

Lest we forget

Today little mimoo and I baked some Anzac biscuits whilst mr mimoo went to the races and punt on the horses and play two up for a good friends bucks day!

One bad part of our day was witnessing our sweet next door neighbour, Noel who is 88 and served in the Navy for 2 wars. He was slowly (everything is slow at his age!!) reversing out of his driveway and some idiot came tearing around the corner road and had to slam on his brakes and stop to let Noel put the car in drive gear and turn onto the road and what did the idiot do?? He sat on his horn and yelled abuse at him!! How sad that on a day like today of all days some young scum cannot show a bit of respect to an kind and decent man who fought for this country to enable him the freedom that he enjoys on a daily basis...(ok rant over!)

Yesterday was an especially sad day for mimoo HQ. It was the funeral of our dear friend as he was laid to rest as many many balloons were let go (this is not a direct photo obviously) into the sky....cancer is such a awful, awful disease.  This lovely man was a happy 'healthy' family man 6 short months ago and now he is gone. 

An even sadder thought is that I am sure this will not be the last time mimoo HQ will be faced with someone's life affected by cancer, so I have decided to join forces with loads of others women and their families and compete in the Mothers Day Classic fun run (the run part I hope means walk)!  If you feel in a generous mood you can go over to Stepforddreams sponsor page as it all goes towards the same cause and she super organised and has a page already set up!

Thanks to everyone for your sweet messages as it did cheer me to read them :-))

Taking a blog break for rest of this week....

It has been a sad weekend at mimoo HQ as on Saturday afternoon an old friend sadly passed away after a very short battle with cancer. He was only 38 years old and leaves behind a lovely wife and 2 little boys who are only 5 and 3 years old. I am not feeling very crafty this week, so I will pick up again next week..

“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”

A bit of vintage inspired love

I recently came across this gorgeous blog Oliver + S and instantly feel in love with their super cute outfits especially her recent easter frock inspired by a Prada dress no less!!! 

My favourite fav part is her window display in one of my favourite stores ever, Purl Soho.  This is a great little store in downtown New York which has the most beautiful imported fabrics and hand spun yarns.plus they were known for their gorgeous window displays.

A bit if eco love

Etsy is running a great competition at the moment where you can vote for your favourite Eco-friendly items. Get cracking and cast your vote. I voted for the below bag as it is just fab! It is made out of recycled coffee bean bags!

A Macchiato bag by Beckybean

mimoo graces the pages of Handmade Kids

I was thrilled to find out whilst I was away that mimoo was featured in one of my favourite blogs Handmade Kids.  This is a great blog about all thing handmade for kids and mums (as lets face it most of the stuff we buy is for us!!!)

Osaka trip finale

On my last day, Sunday, my sister in law and myself met up with the lovely Jacqui from BloominginNihon.

She was an absolute treasure and took us to ABC Craft which is the equivalent of our Spotlight but only 100 times bigger and better and the sales people are actually NICE!!

Sorry I was going to take some photos of it inside but I was just too busy grabbing everything is sight!!!  See some of the goodies below.

New mimoo fabric additions

7 - yes 7 floors of fabric and craft!!

Thanks Jacqui! Until my next trip.....

Osaka trip part 2

Yet another busy shopping district!!

Infamous cherry blossoms

Stopped for some afternoon tea

I had a brillant time in Osaka, I can see why my brother loves living there so much. The city is great fun with lots of great restaurants and shops. The Japanese people are so lovely, sweet and so helpful, plus considering the amount of people who live there, is was spotless! 

Osaka trip part 1

The main shopping district called Namba

Some of my brothers walking along with new father in law!!

Namba Parks

Some photos of my recent trip to Osaka,Japan.

Mimoo is back!

Some of the goodies I picked up in Japan!

mimoo mantra monday

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

Franklin P. Jones

I am off with the family to Japan to smell the cherry blossoms this week, so have great week and Easter break everyone!

Off again for weekend!

Have yet another wedding this weekend up at Noosa Beach which is very exciting as this is where I married Mr mimoo over 5 years ago.  Little mimoo is coming with us and will be enjoying the beach with grandma and her dora bucket and spade combo,whilst I will be enjoying a flute (or 5) of Champagne.... will be back on monday

Is craft really the new cool?

I recently purchased this months Real Living Magazine 

The above picture was in a 3 page feature about the new Stitches and Craft national shows and just generally talking about craft and all things handmade making a big comeback! 

How great would it be if people seriously started getting interested in making things for each other rather than buying cheap crap imports or started doing crafty projects with their kids rather than playing Wii Fit as a family. (I dont care what anybody says it is NOT the same as the real activity!) Hey I am not adverse to a bit of cartoon watching I love Dora and her crazy sick kick mate Boots and I secretly have crush on the 'blue' Wiggle but I think it would be great to bring back a bit of craft time for kids...

Flirty Friday Feature

The lovely Robyn from Hot Fudge pointed out to me recently that I am on the verge of becoming a media tart, I replied to her that I have been called worst things in my 21 years (21 +13 -shssh!)

I am so excited as I have been the very first feature over at Flirty Bird's Flirty Friday , how fun is that??? She said such nice things about all things mimoo and mentioned my blog.  I am new to all things bloggy but I am slowly becoming an addict as it is just so fun to write out things that are on my mind and 'talk' all things craft and handmade with my ever growing list of blog friends.   I am sure I am not the only one out there but I come from a finance background and worked in investment banking overseas for almost a decade, so although I have always liked to sew, craft and paint, it is one part of me that not many of friends had seen, so when I 'came out' recently and started telling people that I had started mimoo, some of my closest friends were shocked that I knew even how to use a sewing machine! ha Of course the upside of all of this is that my friends now think I am extremely clever and tell me so at every opportunity.

ps Flirty bird does the cutest clips I have ever seen and it is such a shame little mimoo is so unruly when it comes to hair clips as I am sure she would have an extensive collection by now!

Sick of chocolate? - yeah right!

Perhaps I should re-phrase that? Will you be sick of easter egg chocolate crazed kids next week?? After my post this morning I checked out again The Habygoddess blog and also her sister blog/shop Poss Bloss as she has some cute gift ideas as I saw her recent post on alternative easter gifts for your kids as Jodie shares my view on encouraging the extended family of instead of giving chocolate eggs from the Easter Bunny perhaps giving little mimoo something from the Craft/Book Reading bunny who is the Easter Bunnys' (probably slimmer) cousin!! not sure if they are going to buy it but at least I can try. check the alternatives Jodie has suggested.

Are you over Oz appalling lack of cute haberdashery?

I stumbled upon this blog/store a little while ago called The Habygoddess - what a great name! It is not your typical online store as it is set up as a blog with an online store attached where she basically lists all things as they arrive at her store and make little kits to sell, she also has weekly specials and introduction sales of really cute fabric. The Habygoddess sells the cutest things which are not really available to us in shops anymore due to a certain 'cheap fabric invasion and run everyone else out of business' nameless store (cough, spot.light cough)!!

I have ordered quite a few things from Jodie at The Habygoddess and the service is always great and you get things really quickly as she obviously realises that when you order something with a project in mind you have to have, like now!

Good to see I am not the only without a life!

I was catching up on some of my blog reading today due to the dismal Brissie weather and I think I was still in shock at the rejection of 'Macca' in last nights finale of 'Farmer wants a wife', 

I was reading one of my favourite blogs littlebubble and tree and she too feels she is in shock today over last nights finale. well it seems we are not the only (sad lifeless) ones as tonight whilst I was giving little mimoo her bath I forgot to change the channel after the news and A Current Affair (I have not sunk so low as to watch this dire show nightly you must understand) anywhoo it had a story on the nations, yes the nations shock upon learning of the split of FWAW hot love couple Macca and Nerena and they interviewed them both seperately to see what happened. well to cut a long blog short Nerena walked out and went back to her ex husband and left poor macca standing on his porch alone but for his trusty dog. I think nasty Nerena just went on the show to make her ex husband jealous, seems it worked....

New book for plane reading!

I received this book today in the post after a few weeks of waiting so I am very excited!  It is called Craft Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco and as you can see from the cover of this book, it seems to be a self help book for craft business freaks like myself.  Hey maybe I will start my own 1 woman book club and give you a review at the end as I have been hearing great things about this book so I hope it lives up to expectations.

BrisStyle giveaway by our April featured members!

I am part of great group BrisStyle which a group of us all selling on Etsy who live in the Brisbane area. We have lost of new members and are now starting a feature member each month plus with a giveaway from the featured member how great is that idea?

So get along to check our 2 featured members for this month, Made by Miffy, sells the cutest dresses, aprons,flower clips and lots more so check out her shop!

The 2nd featured member is Little Chrissy  who makes all sorts of gorgeous accessories, I love the felt booties -too cute!