Let me introduce……Clever Poppy

I discovered Clever Poppy on Instagram, I’m just a tad obsessed with Instagram. (I’m sure some of you can understand the obsession!?)

One day, I was just looking through the search option, (this is a great option to look through if you want more people to follow on Instagram, you can see what others are posting) and I stumbled across Clever Poppys DIY Kit- Easy Watercolour Art. I thought the finish of the work was really lovely and looked like it wouldn’t be too tricky. I love arty crafty things, as some of you may know (hence my blog name), I’m all about the craft. I have too many craft supplies, (so my husband says) but I dont think you can ever have too many?!

The main thing that caught my attention about the DIY art kit is it is something that can be done with kids. My Little Miss, just loves crafty things. And I really like to be able to do things that include both of us.

Julie is the lovely lady behind Clever Poppy, I sent her some questions, and here are her answers.

Can you tell my readers a little bit about Clever Poppy, how did you come up the name and a little about yourself:
I have always been passionate about DIY projects and have made many I love over the years. I recently noticed that DIY projects were becoming quite popular in mainstream media, but while most people love the idea, they don’t have the time spare to get sorted to make projects of their own. So I created Clever Poppy to make it easy for people to experience the fun of creating something beautiful for their home. I studied law and graphic design at uni -wish now I had chosen something in the arts field! After practicing commercial law for 4 years and pretty much hating every minute of it, I finally got the courage to completely change tack and moved into a brand experience / promotions agency. I did that for 3 years and learnt a hell of a lot about marketing and project management, and realised how much happier I was doing something creative. Then I went on maternity leave to have our little man Harvey. While I was on leave I gained a lot of perspective and realised I just had to follow my dreams and start my own business doing what I love. I still work part time in promotions but my main focus is Clever Poppy and this will hopefully become full time down the track. Very exciting and I’m loving every minute so far!!

Do you sell your kits anywhere or just on the Internet?

At the moment I only sell online, but I’m looking into getting them into stores next year. She did feature in some markets in Auckland leading up to Christmas, lucky Auckland!

How long have you been doing Clever Poppy?

I launched Clever Poppy on 7th August 2015, so it hasn’t been very long! I can’t believe that, it feels like I’ve been doing this for a lot longer, but I guess if you take into account all the planning and prep then it all kicked off in March last year.

Where do you hope to see the business in a few years time?

I would love to be New Zealand’s go-to brands for creative DIY projects! I’ve love to have a variety of kits for sale on my website and in stores nationwide. I also would love to do more freelance work developing DIY projects for third parties.

Do you have a favourite DIY kit?

My DIY Cooper Magazine Rack for sure.

What’s next for Clever Poppy? Are you able to share what you are planning on doing next?

At the moment my focus is on getting the Clever Poppy brand and concept into the marketplace, and testing various kits to see what gets people excited. Next year (now this year 2016) I’d like to focus on developing kits for wholesale, so you can find me in shops around the country. I’m also working on some freelance project where I am developing DIY projects for third parties, so I’m very excited about where that might lead.

I purchased the DIY- Easy Watercolour Kit for $30, I was really keen to give it a go after seeing what others had created. I loved the idea that everything you needed was in the kit and it would be something that Little Miss would enjoy too. It was money well spent in my opinion.

After the white-out liquid has been applied

Before the white-out liquid

The kit includes: 5x Designs- ‘Young and Brave’, ‘Love you to the Moon and Back’, ‘Welcome to the Chaos’, ‘It’s cool to be Kind’ and ‘but first Champagne’

Watercolour paper, paintbrushes, watercolour paint palette, ‘magic’ white-out liquid and DIY wooden poster hanger as well as really clear instructions, with photos to assist you step-by-step. I needed to trace the design and apply the white-out liquid but once that had dried I gave Little Miss free reign to paint away.

When we did the ‘Welcome to the Chaos’ design, Little Miss applied pink and red paint and it looked lovely, but then she discovered the black paint! I really wanted to stop her, but I knew I just had to leave her to do what she wanted and in the end the result looked FAB! I used the wooden hanging poster kit to hang it up, and now it hangs in own home.

Little Miss with the lovely red and pink

The finished result!

I have now bought three kits by Clever Poppy and through following her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest you can keep up-to date with new kits she is either developing or has released. Julie also shares some great DIY ideas you can do at home with the kids or without them.

Just the other day Julie shared that she was looking to add more deisgns to the DIY- Easy Watercolour Kit, I cannot wait to see what deisgns she comes up with.

#nofiltermum TheHood

Did you know that Postnatal Depression week has already been and gone for the year in New Zealand? It wasn’t that long ago, 31st October-8th November. I remember briefly seeing something about this, but am I right in thinking there wasn’t much awareness? Today is the last day of PND awareness week in Australia, 15th-21st November. As a big follower of Instagram and following other bloggers who write about their PND journey I have been made aware of TheHood. TheHood is an Australian website and they have designed some fab T shirts and sweaters, in conjunction with COPE- Centre Of Perinatal Excellence . From each sale of a T shirt and sweater a gold coin goes to COPE. The slogans on the clothing says #nofiltermum and #nofilter, check them out here.

TheHood

A little bit of information about TheHood has been put together by twin sisters, Rachel and Natasha Wells in July 2015. They are both mother, Rachel has a son and Natasha has three daughters. Since becoming Mothers they have realised that often its the little things, a text, a smile from a stranger that can really make a difference to a sleep deprived Mummy who is really struggling. Putting their skills and knowledge together, they have created some great tongue-in-cheek messages onto T shirts and sweaters. Rachel and Natasha feel that the motherhood journey should be shared, the good, the bad times and ugly bits.

I made contact with Rachel and shared with her my blog and my journey thought PND and how I found sharing has been helpful to me and hopefully others who read my posts. In her reply, Rachel gave me permission to share some information about TheHood in a blog post. Even though it has been PND awareness week in Australia, she like myself is passionate about sharing raising awareness of this illness.

Blog Post

Raising awareness around PND is very important to me, I AM one of the statistics. I’m not afraid to say I am a #nofiltermum, No one should ever have to suffer and be on their own with this illness, it is an illness. I did not choose to have it and I would not wish it on anybody. To feel so alone, have thoughts that go round and round in your head all day long, like the song you heard on the radio that you just can’t get out of your head. With no break from these thoughts is exhausting and debilitating.

To question why I wanted to be a Mother has been one of my biggest struggles, to wake up and want to have nothing to do with your children is devastating. They are MY children, part of me, I nurtured them and brought them into the world. “I didn’t sign up for this”, would often be the question I would ask myself the most and “why me?, haven’t I been through enough during my motherhood journey”. I must be the only woman and mother who feels this way.

But I’m not alone, mothers are speaking up and sharing their stories, thank you ladies for making me feel a little less on my own as I fight this illness.

The thoughts are constant, even when I close my eyes at the end of the day, they are still there, round and round they go and you know when you wake in the morning you have to get up and start another day. The dread in my stomach, would forever be present, meaning I didn’t want to eat. You tell yourself that you should eat, but it takes to much energy to prepare anything, you find yourself reaching for anything that is ‘quick and easy’ or skip the meal altogether. And the lack of motivation to enjoy anything in your life has completely vanished, you no longer feel yourself. You are barely existing.

Just the other week my three year old daughter, reminded me of a time earlier this year I thought she would of had no idea about…….

My three year old daughter, walked out to the lounge at bedtime, I presumed it was for a goodnight cuddle and a kiss. We had our cuddle and a kiss and then she asked me if I was still sad? This completely threw me, I wondered where this had come from “Are you sad Mummy? One day you were sad and crying, when you were talking to Daddy?” I quickly wrecked my brain trying to recall the time she was talking about and then she said “remember Mummy you broke the glass and it went ‘smash’ all over the floor”, I then remembered the time she was talking about…..

It had been earlier this year in January, it was when I realised things were not right, I wasn’t ok, I had reached breaking point. I quickly assured my beautiful, caring daughter I was feeling much better and that Mummy was feeling happy, I took her back to her bedroom and tucked her in bed for the night. This brief conversation I had with her, has stayed with me. I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget it. I felt heartbroken that she remembered something that had happened over nine months ago, when she was still two. Have I messed this girl up, because she witnessed her Mummy having a breakdown. Thinking about it has made me realise my daughter and my son could remember things about their childhood. I would hate from them to remember their Mum being sad and crying all the time. But this is our reality as a family at the moment, but hopefully not forever.

Mr Happy

Family picnic pf fish and chips

Little Miss

I have been writing this post you have just read over several days this week and I have I been struggling. I have felt low and can not figure out why, a bump in the PND road I guess. Last night (Friday) was particularly bad. We were child free and decided on a movie night at home. Thoughts and feelings have been building up over gradually over the past week, but as usual I put on my happy face and face the world. But last night, I exploded at my husband. I told him I was leaving, I needed to get away and it seemed the logical situation in my irrational brain. I was desperate, I had to get away quickly. I rang my Mum, I knew she would be wake in England, no reply, next my Dad. He answered the phone, I probably wasn’t making sense but he told me to skype him. I spent roughly about an hour talking to my Dad, he got it, he was there even though he was on the other side if the world. See my Dad has been married to my Mum for 36 years and he has lived through depression with her. Of course whilst I was growing up I was not aware of this, my parents did a damn good job at hiding Mum’s depression and Dad’s bankruptcy.

I went to bed last night feeling, a calmer, and so, so appreciative of my Dad, my Mum and my husband. I don’t want to leave my husband at all, and its awful when I feel that it is my only option. I also did something I have never been before. I took a selfie of me lying in bed, with puffy eyes from crying and I shared it on Instagram and this is what I said:

“This is me 5 mins ago about to go to sleep. I see on social media how brave people are about sharing their bad days, well this is me doing the same. It actually takes a lot of guts to do this. Sure I share on my blog about my pregnancy loss and PND journey but I don’t think I ever really show you the reality of it. This is me, blotchy eyes from crying for the past two hours, I told my husband I wanted to leave him. I thought I’d had enough of him but I’ve actually had enough of myself and my mind. I felt desperate and who did I call, my Dad. I spent a good while crying and chatting to him tonight. I now go to bed, feeling a lot of love for my Dad, my Mum and my husband who I do love and don’t want to leave. Thank you for letting me share, I hope to wake in the morning ready to face the day ahead”

November 20th 2015- Photo shared on Instagram

Introducing Luluncat

If you haven’t heard of Luluncat before, you have been missing out! Hopefully after reading this blog post/review you will love the stuff that Emma creates.

I found Emma of Luluncat on my Instagram feed one day. The items that she creates really caught my eye, so I began a spot of Instagram stalking. I decided I would get in touch and offer to do a review for her. I discovered she based in New Plymouth where I live, how cool! We began messaging each other and I asked her questions for the blog post, plus I have had the opportunity to meet her, in her home.

A little bit of info on Emma

Emma is married to a builder and they are currently renovating their home in New Plymouth. She is Mum to Chelsea aged 2.5 and Millen who recently turned one. They are delightful kiddies and I was made to feel very welcome when I went to Emma’s home to look at her work.

The photos of Emma’s work are fab, and it was a really greatopportunity to actually go and see everything. Plus its nice to put a face to a name and ask a little about how she creates her jars. As soon as I saw the cupcake ones, I knew I had to have one (or two!). Plus those that know me personally know I really like pigs, so I think the pig jar may have found a new home!

Horse jar $28
Pig jar $16
Lego jar $20

Horse $28
Pig $16

Love this horse,
$28

I’m really keen to showcase small New Zealand businesses, I think it is AMAZING what people can create and it’s great that they want to share their creations with the public. Plus, I do like original pieces of art/craft as well as mainstream items.

Emma has her Lego jars currently in Kina which is on Devon Street in central New Plymouth. So those of you reading this who live in New Plymouth, go and check them out!

Lego $20
Pig $16
Sonny Angels- my own

Find more of these in Kina (other colours available)
$20

Questions I asked Emma and her replies (Writing in Italics are Emma’s own words)

How did you choose the name LulunCat?
I call my Husband ‘Lulu’ and one day when I was brainstorming with a friend, I loved the sound of luluncat – of course we are cat people too, so that helps!

Why and when did you start LulunCat?
Luluncat has been running for about a year now.

What is your biggest inspiration behind your work?
My biggest inspiration would have to be how home decor has suddenly boomed, it’s so much fun seeing all the trends and working from them.

What do you see in the future for LulunCat?
Hopefully we will have more stock in shops and will be able to get to the markets more often. I hope to continue to launch new ranges. I am hoping to build on our range of op shop finds (Chelsea and I love to shop) I find cool things and upcycle them, so they are truly unique pieces!

Do you have any favourites? If so what are they?
Favourites in my stock? Sure do! The cupcake jars, are just the sweetest things, my photography of them don’t do them justice! It’s a bit of a process to make them, but I love the finished product!

Cupcakes (other colours available)

Cupcakes start from $13

I buying these two jars!!!

Like what you see? Follow the links, to purchase or contact Emma. If you decide to make a purchase mention you read the review on my blog and you will receive a 10% discount for the month of November. See, I told you Emma was lovely!

Luluncat Facebook page

Luluncat website

For Instagrammers follow Luluncat

When I visited Emma she showed me the things she is getting ready to sell at a market in Auckland, I wish her loads of luck with it.

She is currently working on planters, here are some photos of the a couple of them. I really like the different shades of blue.

Pig $16
Animal planters $18
Other animals and colours available

Animal planters $18

Thanks for reading and happy shopping to some of you! If anyone ever has any spare jars, I’m sure Emma will be happy to take them off your hands, especially baby food jars. Just contact myself or Emma.

NB: Photos are all my own, I was lucky enough to borrow some Emma’s creations to take home and photograph.

Craftygirls: August Daily Photo Challenge

Geez, can you believe it is almost August? No? I can’t either, wasn’t Christmas last week?!

Yes, ok slight exaggeration, I know we are closer to Christmas 2015 than we are to Christmas 2014, but this year is flying by!

Anyways the lovely Bec at twodaysgirl and I have joined forces again to do another Craftygirls Photo Challenge (check this link out to see what we got up too last month).

I LOVE taking photos and love seeing others interpretation of the theme. Plus there are no rules. If you are not inspired to take a photo or you simply don’t want to, that’s cool. I find it’s lots of fun, a daily challenge for myself and something that is just for me.

We each thought of half of the prompts and both agreed each month it would fun to take a #selfie and #today I…. We all lead different lives and we thought it would be enjoyable to share each month how we are feeling or what we are doing on a certain day.

Bec twodaysgirl designed our lovely layout for the month, isn’t she clever? I took the photo, just something I snapped whilst walking along the AWESOME Coastal Walkway in New Plymouth

I think it looks really good and looking forward to seeing what photos August brings.

Here it is!

Craftygirls Photo a Day Challenge

My lovely blogger friend Bec at twodaysgirl asked me if I wanted to collaborate and do a photo a day challenge. As some of you may know, I rather enjoy a daily photo challenge so I thought this was a great idea. We each thought of half the prompts and then twodaysgirl made the design up using a photo I took.

When I was looking through my camera roll for a photo I realised how I don’t actually have many or any of landscapes or something pretty, it mainly the kids. I do love taking photos of the kids and it’s so handy having a phone that takes good photos. I’m definitely going to make a conscious effort when I’m out and about to try and capture some more photos of landscape, nature and generally anything I consider to be cool.

We also needed a name. I was thinking a combination of both our names would be good, Craftygirls came to my mind straight away. I quickly checked with Bec at twodaysgirl and she was happy with it. I thought it was funny how quickly I thought of the name considering it took me ages to think of craftyorganisedme. We’re planning to do the photo challenge each month. It would be great to see some of my family and friends trying it out. I know taking photos isn’t for everyone and people are generally busy with work and family but don’t worry if you miss a day, you can always play catch up or just skip the day altogether! If you have an Instagram account, use #craftygirlschallenge.

I can’t wait to see how people interpret each prompt, let the imagination run wild and roll on tomorrow 1st July! And didn’t Bec do a great job with the design on the prompts?! Bec is one cool lady! Check out her blog (if you haven’t already!) twodaysgirl

FMS Photo a Day Challenge

I discovered the Fat Mum Slim Blog and her daily photo challenge app Little Moments at the end of February this year. I mentioned to one of my craft friends that I had always wanted to do a photo challenge and she suggested Fat Mum Slim. I had to purchase the Little Moments app, it cost $3 but I think it was totally worth it. I have looked at it everyday. Since I went back to work at the end of April I have got a bit slack with my daily photos, I’m often too busy and lacking inspiration. There is a FMS photo a day Facebook page that I joined. I don’t post my photos to the page but I love looking at what others around the world have interpreted the theme to be. I have found the challenge really fun, let’s me be creative. I use my iPhone, I don’t have have a fancy camera but that’s the beauty of the app. Fat Mum Slim says it’s alright if you don’t take a photo everyday, you can always play catch up or if you miss days that’s ok. Just have fun, no pressure which I like!

Fat Mum Slim is a woman called Chantelle, a Mum of two and her blog includes, recipes as well as the photo challenges. There is also a Facebook page.

I am going to make a conscience effort to post one everyday this week since I love the theme for his week, check out http://fatmumslim.com.au/photo-a-day-week-24/

Fat Mum Slim has done her first collaboration with Disney for the release of their new Pixar movie Inside Out. I love Disney movies and this one sounds great, plus Amy Poehler does one of the voices, love her! So the movie is about a young girl named Riley who moves cities and focuses on the emotions in her mind, Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. With the Little Moments app ideas are suggested along with the prompt to help you achieve your photo. It also has different filters you can use, also you can add text and embellishments to your photos. For today 8th June, Sadness I was at the park with Little Miss and Mr Happy this morning and saw a sad looking tree, not many leaves left and it looked sad and lonely, perfect for today’s prompt. I always share my photos on Instagram and Facebook (I’m sure some people most get sick of it!). But I enjoy it so that’s all that matters.