A creative journey by a Monkey over the Moon (aged 4.5)

Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas (Wikepedia)

Miss Monkey styled by herself to go to Spotlight for some supplies
 ...Mummy I look Stashing!  

Mummy can I make my koala into a tshirt?

Fabrics chosen from a delicious bag from Oopsidaisi
by Matilda and laid out to her specific instructions ;) 

One very proud Monkey and her creation

GUARANTEED TO MAKE A MONKEY
OVER THE MOON! 

A tradesman, flowers and finally our winter range of tees!

So today I bit the bullet and headed to the high street baby in tow...I have become a bit of a hermit since I discovered handmade and internet shopping finally arrived here in WA...simply because 3 monkeys and a mall are a disaster waiting to happen and because the less I have to deal with queues and unhelpful floor staff the better in my opinion.

 I had to go at 2 which gave me oooo 45 minutes to get back to school to do the school run...reason being I had to wait for a tradesman called Stan to come and give me a quote on electric fittings...
Stan it turned out (whom I had to be at home for between 10 &2 as he couldnt pin down a time) to be a whopping bunch of flowers from my husband for my birthday :)

 I have to admit I had suspected something was up but being me I overthought it and thought it was the Ant Man coming as Stan is an anagram for Ants...yes I know I think totally bizzarely!

Anyway...the point is...I have realised that I need more long sleeved tees in colours other than brown and navy for girls ;) as much as I want to pull back from the high street tops and use wholly Aussie Grown...the supply in different colours just isn't available at the moment and so hi ho hi ho its off to Target I go ;)

So now for WINTER at Monkeys Over The Moon

FOR THE GIRLS  we will  have Aussie Grown navy and brown girls cotton/elastane long sleeved tops 00-6 ( available always)

We will have also have  subject to availability light grey, white, cornflower blue, black, hot pink and avacado green in the cotton elastane style and white, pink, and hot pink in the cotton trimmed neck style. 

I have stocked up on sizes 1,2 & 3 mainly (going on demand) but can  get the 4,5 and 6 on request. 

FOR THE BOYS will be Aussie Grown grey marle, white, red or petrol blue sizes 0,2,4,6 (available always) but I will on request get navy or light grey for the boys from Target in sizes 1 -6 as is available (there was very little range today)

The beautiful range of plain short sleeve tshirts from Aussie Grown is available 24/7 365 days a year in sizes 0,2,4,6,8,10,12 no sweatshops, made here in WA :) My preferred choice for quality and the way they are made :)

ooooooo and...for all you young at heart Monkeys Over The Moon Mummies ;) and big sisters we have a range of ladies tees :) available in black, grey, khaki, pink and other colours from Aussie Grown :) Beautifully soft and a nice stretchy fit ;) Sizes 8-18

Needless to say I am never going to the high street ever again...
hot and humid and queues like snakes into the store...and unhelpful till ladies...give me my computer any day! :)

Pleased with Cheese

Cheese People by Susi Illingworth

Yesterday my baby sister (25 years old) posted her creative masterpiece for the day on FB...
Cheese People standing in a Row out of her Edam that she had for lunch...truly inspirational...tho a little bit crazy almost bonkers too...but hey as you know we love crazy and off beat here at Monkeys Over The Moon.

Tonight as I was flitting between chores, sewing and FB I thought why not post on our page as a failed entry to the great Fridge Art Hunt...and within minutes...the concept had sold :)

Cheese ...Inspirational and yummy! More Please!

The great Fridge Art hunt...calling all mini monkeys over the moon!

Nuts and Bolts...

Email a copy of your monkeys picture/drawing with 25 words or less saying what it is :) and who by etc :)
We will upload to our gallery...where everyone can oooooo and aaaaaaaah! over the talented little Monkeys Over The Moon designers we have out there :)
We will have a likers choice and a Monkeys Over The Moon choice winner to be fair :)
and these will be tallied and chosen after March 15th 2011...

My favourite fabric in my stash at the mo! :) someone had a similar idea and made the most scrumptious fabric <3

So...get have a chat to your monkey...ask them what they would like to wear :) get them to draw, paint, smudge, colour and create a picture and send to monkeysoverthemoon@gmail.com :)

All entrants must be between 2-10 and no Mummy art work please ;) (if you have a future Klee in the making and they are younger than 2 and the picture is able to be translated into applique please send too ;) )

Please not that there will be no royalties paid for the designs (eeeeeek does that contravene child labour laws ;))  and this design will only be used for the winners as a OOAK ;)

Out of the mouth of babes...

Okay...so here it is...my eldest monkey came home from PrePrimary yesterday hugging a picture and took great joy showing it to me...she then lowered her head looked up at me and very coyly said..."Mummy do you think we could make a tshirt of a koala with a kite like my drawing?"...

"Sure thing" I said...
Then today at swimming almost busting with pride she told her swimming teacher as we walked into the pools that she and I were going to make a tshirt together from her drawing...which got me thinking ;)

Its not the first time she has asked to help me with designs...my far east dolly was inspired by her, she drew a cat for her cousin in England which we transformed into an applique (shamefully not sewn yet by Mummy!)

and in fact she is quite often looking through the glass at fabrics saying can I use this for that and that for this ;)
On the weekend my 13 year old stepdaughter proudly showed me some sketches she had done from photos/images she had found and her imagination and she too got very excited when I said next time lets make these into applique...and you can sew (groom, groom) them onto a tshirt if you like...another face lit up!

So as I drove in possibly the most humid Perth day ever the creative juices went into full speed...

And this is what I thought...How's about I invite your monkeys to draw some pictures/designs and ask you to share them with us in some sort of gallery...from this a lucky design and monkey would be chosen to have their creation translated into applique...and popped onto a shirt for them as a prize :)

So...what do you think...genius? or totally heat induced bonkers?

Our little dolly from the Far East ;)

I know I know...everyone is doing dolls at the moment...but my 4 year old monkey begged me to work with her on this one :)  She so often wants the designs I am making for customs and takes such an interest in what I am doing...it only seemed fair! :)

Inspired by some stickers that she got sent from her auntie in France last year this is what Tillie came up with...

Matilda's choice of bright pink felt hair

My choice of black hair on a white tee

On a Deep Rose/Honeysuckle  longsleeve tshirt

So really the only thing to ask today...is...what do you all think of these designs? what would be your choice of hair? Would your little girl wear this? go on...go get them and ask them ;) I look forward to seeing just what your Monkeys think :)

Cheeky Monkey

You may have guessed I love Cheeky Monkeys :)
Monkeys make me  laugh and you gotta love that :)
in fact I was named after a Monkey :)
or maybe he was named after me ;)
 so curiously Georgie is asking...


 What fabrics ie denim,cotton, corduroury, etc would you like to see this cheeky monkey design made in ?


And there is something in it for you too!


Comment below (once only :) )
and someone will be randomly picked and
will receive a CHEEKY MONKEY design
on a short or long sleeved shirt  for the end of Feb :)


I will pick the lucky monkey tomorrow at 5pm West Australian Time :)

A little miss Cheeky Monkey! 

And one of the little Boy cheeky Monkeys :) 

Fancy a Snail?

Well who wouldn't? :)
If...you are one of my lovely customers who has enquired about custom orders for February  firstly I am sorry if I haven't replied ;) I have been juggling 3 monkeys and a few nasty bugs in the house as well as trying to design new designs,sew existing orders and keep up to date :)

Here's how it will go this month <3

On Sat Feb 5th at 5.30pm West Australian Time I will offer 4 custom spots for February...these can be using any fabrics and any designs from our galleries on Facebook :) It will be first come first served...and all orders will be completed by the end of Feb.

I will also offer 3 precut design spots...these will be designs which are already cut out ready to be sewn (making a gallery on FB)...your choice of top (see our price list in Notes on FB). These will also be completed by the end of Feb.

I know I will sadly not be able to please all of you lovely folks but I need to keep this manageable :) and to ensure the love and fun that goes into these designs keeps flowing and that I keep making Monkeys Over The Moon :)

eeek!

so...its the middle of the night...I have had to hang up my needle for the night and should be resting my sleepy head...but instead...have decided that...perhaps...it is time to jump on the band wagon and...to...BLOG...eek!

Hmmmm...so what to write...well...for anyone who knows Georgie (that's me)  I have always sketched, doodled,drawn and been fairly 'artistic'...one of my all time favourite photos which inspired one of my favourite drawings I ever did at school  is here...got to love that kind of crazy  and colourful happy :)

I love colour, I love texture and I love fabric...and I love 3 little monkeys who to be honest...*note Mother Love comment approaching*  are so full of character they would inspire anyone! :)

My Monkeys and I 

They are my muses...my biggest fans and my best critics too! :)

Sorry...*I am English...I say Sorry alot ;) * about the waffle that is about to follow... (another thing I excel in...partly genetic, partly due to a FIFO husband and lots of home alone nights...but mainly due to being Georgie) but I feel to start I need to start at the beginning...or at least the beginning of Monkeys Over The Moon :)

So in the depths of 2010...which to be honest was a bit of an 'annus horriblus'...I decided to get a grip of a lost 'Georgie' and look to how I could happily fill my spare hours in the evening that had been a bit mispent on what I shall politely call the ' trials of baby olympics' and 'the dramas of bored housewives'. I had somehow along the way in between babies, learning to live apart from my husband 80% of the time and trying to fit in to a new and somewhat foreign culture...lost the plot...so to speak :)

Here I steal some poignant words from Tina Turner who sums it up perfectly...“Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

 I took a long hard look at myself what & who made me and the monkeys smile, what we enjoyed and took the plunge and whilst doing this  I made a few little applique designs for my monkeys and for friends monkeys too. Whilst playing and giving :)  I was inspired by a dear girlfriend Julie from Isla's Cottage and the wonderful Tina from Georgie Girl...whom made me think that perhaps my  little designs and my love for fabric matching would be something others would enjoy too :)

One of my first designs for Fin

So... after a few months of testing the waters with my friends and on my profile page...in October 2010 I nervously put a few pictures up publicly on FB  and asked for a few people to test some tshirts/singlets Nervously I waited for feedback, self doubt was at an all time high at this point...would what my monkeys and I thought was fun or even funky be well received and even marketable? Apparently so...and there so to speak "Monkeys Over The Moon" was born :)

4 months later and I hardly have a chance to put the needle down (inbetween monkey wrangling and domestic goddess duties) and am loving it more and more each day :) Who knows what 2011 will bring me or Monkeys Over The Moon...but then isn't that half the adventure?

My biggest thanks right now though goes to all of my family,lovely friends and fans and wonderful customers who have supported, encouraged and...inspired me...to keep drawing and sewing...it is seeing their enthusiasm, likes and their Monkeys Over The Moon (as well as my own) that makes me wake up each morning and think oooooooooooo and grab some fabric or a pencil and start to create :)


So hello...and welcome...to Monkeys Over The Moon...by me...Georgie...the girl in the little red shoes...who doesn't often stop talking...and who still believes that if you can at least make one person smile a day whether it be with a hug, a kiss, a funny word or 400! or simply just a tshirt ;) that the world (or at least mine ;) )  is a little bit closer to being a happier place :)

Aleisha age 17 months in her Flower Fairy Butterfly Design