Christchurch!

So, all the talk around here is about Christchurch. And with good reason. Those poor poor souls are doing it hard after another devasting earthquake where the death toll is rising by the hour. I'm feeling a little helpless up here in Auckland, but I have seen some great fundraising ideas around and I'm planning to be involved in a few of them if I can.

The first is Walk 4 CHCH, which is being organised by my friend Gail, who I've mentioned on here before. Blogger extraordinaire. I'm not actually going to be able to walk it as I'll be 21 weeks pregnant by then, but I'll definately be sponsoring and I'm trying to help get the word out so that more people can join in.

The second is Handmade for Christchurch. They don't know this yet, but I plan to donate something from Harpsters to this auction - just gotta figure out what. Perhaps some baby shoes? Any suggestions? And again I'm spreading the word.

And the third is one I've seen on a couple of blogs recently - Softies for the Children of Christchurch. As Harpsters are not exactly softies, I'm going to have a go at making something new for this ... and you never know - if people love it, I may start making more to sell sometime.

I'll come and add an update and some pics once I have my things made, so keep watching this space.

Update

I've been blogged! I have a few lessons to learn in the art of blogging, and I think Gail is a good one to learn from. Funny, inspiring and thought provoking. What more do you need in a blog? And she's told her people to come check me out, so I thought I'd better add something quick! :)

I've been working on some new things. You can check them out here on my LKN store, but here's a little sneaky look. There are still a few little things in production and I hope to get them out soon. Kindy's back this week, so that might work better for me.

Consolidating

I've been thinking about my websites recently. The Harpsters have made their way into a few shops since I last blogged, so there are little Harpster monsters and bunnies in random homes around New Zealand, and I have no idea who's bought them. That's quite exciting! But it's also made me think about the fact that I have a little tag on the side of each wee Harpster that says "harpsters.co.nz" on it, and that website has been a bit lacking in the up-to-date stakes. Until now.

I've been playing around with a Wix design to incorporate the bunnies into the site and to get away from the single page I had before. I've spent hours trying to figure out what goes where on the Wix page and tonight, as I was spending yet more time working on it I thought of the header logo at the top if this blog and tried to incorporate that. Then I looked again at the blog and decided to quit wasting time on Wix and start making this work for me instead.

So, I've redirected the "harpsters.co.nz" site to here, so now when you type "harpsters.co.nz" in, you'll be sent here, to my blog. Maybe that'll encourage me to keep this up-to-date! Maybe.

I've also been "blogged" myself recently - I did an interview for Little Kiwi's Nest (read it here).

The best way to keep in touch with what's going on in Harpsters' world is to check out our Facebook page. That's updated more often than anything else at this stage.

It's been too long, really

Well, it's been a long while since I've wandered in here. Too long, really. I've been a busy little bee, creating a new character to compliment the Harpster family ... and this one makes my blog name a little obsolete. We'll deal with that another time. Do you want to meet my new character? I think you'll love her as much as I do. Here she is ...















Her name's Betty Bunny and she's a wheatbag too - just like the rest of the Harpster family. She's named after my much-missed Grandma. I have boy versions too, and they're called Bertie - just in case your wee boy has issues with owning a toy with a girl's name, which, let's face it, boys tend to have those kinds of issues ... and they don't often grow out of them. :)








I've got a variety of Betties and Berties listed on Felt and on Little Kiwi's Nest. I've managed to find some organic wheat and organic lavender to fill them, so I'll be using that from now on.

Creativity

So, I've been feeling a bit down lately. PMS mostly I think. And holidays. I love my kids dearly, but Kindy is a welcome break for me sometimes (did I really just admit that to the internet world?!).

I was rummaging through the kitchen junk drawer this morning (does everyone have those or is it just me?). I was looking for an allen key to adjust the seat on one of the kids' bikes when I came across a 4B pencil that I didn't know was in there. It looks like a nice one (I think it belongs to my husband), and I haven't used a decent pencil for years, so I thought I might do a little sketching. I raced up to the office to find the watercolour paper that I knew was there, then found a couple of pics of my boys and set to. I'm quite pleased with the results actually (although not quite ready to share them with the world). It's got me thinking about spending more time being creative. Especially when I'm feeling down ... I'm feeling a bit more centred now.

Who needs a therapist?!

Another new i-Spy guy

I've just listed a new i-Spy Harpster on the Nest. He's my favourite so far. I saw the fabric in a shop when I was out with Suzan, and I just HAD to have it! So perfect. I have a thing for stars. I wanted to do an orange polarfleece back, but I'm having trouble finding the fabric as yet. When I find some (and I WILL!) I'll make him up too, but for now the pink is the next best thing. And it's pretty damn good if you ask me! :)

I've got all kinds of ideas running through my head for new things that I'd like to make. Let's see if any of them come to fruition. I do have some cute dinosaur sock puppets that I made months ago. I suppose I should get them listed somewhere soon. Who wants to see them? I even bought some new socks to make more puppets today. Better get onto it!

Right - enough of this computer stuff ... where's my needle and thread?

New character

Well, he's finally here!!

Meet Hynack. He's an i-Spy Harpster - a cuddly toy and a game all rolled into one. He's fantastic for keeping pre-schoolers entertained during quiet time, while waiting for the doctor or on long car trips. Each Hynack's contents are unique. His wee face is embroidered on and he has pink polarfleece on his back for a soft snuggly feel.

I am working on more, with different fabrics and different items inside. This particular one is available here at Little Kiwi's Nest.

And to celebrate Hynack's launch, I've dropped the price of the rest of the Harpsters (the wheatie ones) to $25ea, both on my Little Kiwi's Nest store and on my Felt one. Winter's coming, so those wheatbags will be coming in handy soon.