July 2011

Archive for July, 2011

Interview with Madeleine Designs – Beautiful Handmade Hair Accessories

Posted in Gifts for girls, Handmade, Interview with Moo Woo Artists on July 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

1. Tell us briefly about the person behind the scenes at Madeleine Designs? E.g. who are you? Where are you based? How did you arrive where you are now? What is most important to you in your life?

My name is Kylie and I am a mother to 2 wonderful children, 6 & 4 and married to a beautiful, supportive husband. We live in the Central West of NSW in the country town of Orange, renowned for its fabulous wineries, orchards and produce.

I am a Hairdresser by trade who owned and operated a salon for 18 years (known as the “MADELEINE”). After the birth of my daughter, I found it very hard to find accessories to stay in her very fine hair. I had always been crafty but never stayed at one project for terribly long, but used these skills to start creating my own clippies and bows. I spent hours and hours researching on the internet and had many a failed product. However I never gave up and it did not take long for this hobby to grow into a passion. As time passed my ideas soared and “MADELEINE DESIGNS” was born. I have not looked backed and my little “hobby” is now 4 years old and a supportive business to my family. Family is my everything and I feel so blessed to be home with my children yet still be able to feed my creative side and earn an income.

2. Madeleine Designs is….?
Beautiful handmade hair accessories, “Fit for every Princess”. I love
to provide unique and gorgeous products which are sure to be an eye catcher,
yet remain practical and wearable.

3. Do you have a personal mantra that you love…that gets you through the day?
I have many a mantra but I keep it simple with “Belief, Strength & Drive”

4. What is one of the most challenging aspects facing you as a working mum? How do you try to overcome this?
Definitely balance! Its hard to focus in the workshop when there are 10 baskets of washing, school activities and shopping to be done. The best way I try is to work to a timetable. Allocate time for everything.

5. I’m at my creative best when…
…when I am peaceful and I am happy!

6. Time out and relaxation is rare for working mums. If you can steal time to have break what are your ultimate forms of relaxation?
We love heading away for short breaks and quality family time together with no interruptions and stress of normal everyday life. We love the NSW coast or anywhere you can enjoy peace and quiet.

7. If you could deck out a famous family in your hair accessories – who would it be, what would they be wearing and why?
I would have to say the tribe of Brad and Angelina. For one the exposure would be fabulous! Madeleine Designs in Hollywood.

8. What are your dreams…where would you LOVE to see Madeleine Designs in 5 years time?
Operating fully by its own website and in selected boutique’s and online handmade sites. Perhaps with an assistant!

9. OK – your work travels to Kununurra, in the remote Kimberley region of WA…where it is loved!! WITHOUT Google or any other assistance give us 5 things you know about Kununurra or the East Kimberley?
Ooooh tricky. I know of the Lake Argyle and magnificent diamonds. A friend told me of fabulous Barramundi and I do know its an area of beautiful national parks…..I can only do 4 without google!!

the kimberley, WA, remote wa, bungle bungles

The Bungles - kindly borrowed from travelblog.viator.com

10. If you were able to hand deliver a delightful parcel of your products to Kununurra – what 3 places would you like to visit (OK now you can Google)?
I’d need a day trip to the diamond mines….Durack museum…….and I’d have to see the Bungle Bungles…

Editor: A beautiful interview and a delighful and practical product! Thank you 🙂 Moo Woo

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a gift from the Kimberley…with love

Posted in Gifts General, Handmade, The Kimberley, WA on July 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

In celebration of our unique setting and our creative Kimberley artists here is a beautiful selection of handmade gifts born here in Kununurra, WA, and exclusive online at Moo Woo.

1. Paper Bag Album Our Beautiful Baby Boy $42.95
2. ‘Mokey-Moo’ the Baby Sock Monkey $19.95
3. Natural Insect Repellent Bug Off Cream 50g $14.50
4. Pink and Lime Daisy Skirt size 1-2 $25.00
5. Kimberley Soap Pack – Totally Scentual $24.00
6. ‘Rosey’ the Extra Large Sock Monkey $32.95
7. Baby Quilt – Handmade Pink Panda Design $75.00
8. Dichroic Glass Pendant $42.95
9.*Baby Boy* Teddy Bear $5.00

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Letter Writing a Forgotten Art

Posted in Gifts for girls, Moo Woo, Parenting on July 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We’ve come a long way since the old commodore 64 PC and the mobile phone that resembled something like a brick. We now have amazing tools to help us communicate more efficiently and we have adapted our actual communication style accordingly, too. In a world of instant messaging, emails and texts has the act of letter writing become a forgotten art? Should we still be teaching our kids how to write letters when our means of communication seems to revolve around everything else?

Despite the impact that technology has had on the ways of communicating to each other it’s fair to say that the formal letter still has its place firmly held in society. After all, email itself is quite simply the ‘electronic mail’ version of a letter. It still holds a salutation, a body of copy and a sign off for purposes of getting a particular message across.

Regardless of how we communicate, when you consider the impact of not being able to effectively get a message across in writing, it must be in our best interests to teach our kids the skill of letter writing. As one friend joked, we need them to have this ability if just to communicate with their stone age parents when they are i-teens.

To tempt them away from screen based communication you have to offer something pretty impressive. That’s where the Klutz Chicken Socks – Little Letters pack comes in. It’s bright and appealing and it comes with a book that introduces the art.

Soon you’ll have a letter writer in the family who is developing a love of stationery. Wouldn’t that be a great thing?

Other Moo Woo stationary products you might like:

This sweet stationery set includes sticky notes, loose leaf paper (100 sheets) and a cute ink pen all perfectly housed in a clear plastic box.

We know that our boys need help getting organised so this Bobble Art Knights Stationary Tower makes the perfect ‘cool’ gift!

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Interview with Winnie&Clem – Unique Handmade Hats

Posted in Handmade, Interview with Moo Woo Artists on July 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

1. Tell us briefly about the person behind the scenes at Winnie&Clem? E.g. who are you? Where are you based? How did you arrive where you are now? What is most important to you in your life?
My name is Anita. I am a mum to two gorgeous kids and live on a farm in rural NSW with farmer hubby. Before moving to the farm I lived and worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Sydney. After the move to the farm, and the kids were born we decided it was time for me to start my lifelong dream of a handmade business. Initially I had wanted to make bags, but as beautiful, well made hats became hard to find for the kids I thought there may have been an unmet need. After introducing bucket hats and customers asking about other styles, I just worked on more and more designs and as I introduced these it became apparent that Mums wanted some for themselves, so I developed patterns for the mums too. I continue to look for new inspiration and am always working on new patterns and designs for new hats.

Family is the most important thing in my life, but second to that is time to create. If a few days passes and I haven’t had a chance to make something I start to get a little flat.

2. Winnie&Clem is….?
The home of hats!

3. Do you have a personal mantra that you love…that gets you through the day?
“Never give up”

4. What is one of the most challenging aspects facing you as a working mum? How do you try to over come this?
Balance between work and family time is certainly a challenge, particularly when you are running a business from home. It can be very hard to close the door and switch off from work. I am still working on this, but I have developed a weekly timetable to try to manage all aspects of business and family life. I am also looking at taking on some help so that Winnie&Clem can grow to its full potential without impacting on my family time.

5. If you could deck out a famous family in Winnie&Clem hats – who would it be and why?
Princess Mary, Prince Frederick and the kids, and why? Well who wouldn’t want royalty to wear their products!!!

6. What are your dreams…where would you LOVE to see Winnie&Clem in 5 years time?
My dream since starting Winnie&Clem has to been to become the “name” of hats. I hope to continue to grow, establish my own website and employ some staff with the intention of supporting other mothers who want to work from home. I also hope to develop a local network/ group to support other mothers in rural remote areas in setting up an online, work at home business.

7. OK – your work travels to Kununurra, in the remote Kimberley region of WA…where it is loved!! WITHOUT Google or any other assistance give us 5 things you know about Kununurra or the East Kimberley!!
It’s a mining area
It’s the home of the Argyle Diamond Mines (oooh nice!!!)
It’s in Western Australia
Lots of crocodiles
It’s a lot warmer than where I live!!!

8. If you were able to hand deliver a delightful parcel of Winnie and Clem hats to Kununurra – what 3 places would you like to visit (OK now you can Google)?
1) Definitely a visit to the Argyle Diamond Mine.
2) Absailing at Black Rock Falls
3) And having a farming back ground if I was travelling with hubby we would need to have a look at the developments at Lake Argyle and Ord Valley