g l a m o r o u s

That Vintage Glamorous Bling.
I am super excited about my new range of button earring bling!

These darlings come in Gold, Pearl, Silver and Ruby - glitzo-yummo!



These will be available at Cadootje (27 David Street, Newstead) and also on the CUBE Art & Design stall at THE MARKET in Hobart, Sunday 7th June.

Wrap Me Up In Yarn

Today, more than ever - I am feeling the cold.
I'm not sure whether it is because I am sick and snotty, or whether it is actually true that my bedroom/studio is the coldest room in the house...?

Check out these sweet finds I stumbled across on Etsy.com

Red Fingerless Mittens with Bow by CoquelicotSalon


Large Warmer in Barley by ozetta


Ecru Warmer by Yokoo


Leg Warmers by ShugarBush



Merino Cashmere Arm Warmers by tortillagirl

Working in fashion retail means I get some pretty super duper discounts from work. Although, I would love to buy better quality stuff, the impulse discount is always a winner... I am currently wearing acrylic arm warmers in stone colour from work which cost me a measly $8.00AU and my ugg boots which set me back $15.00AU - I am toasty!

When I head to Melbourne in the next few days, I'll be on the hunt for some lovely winter accessories... oooh I am drooling at the thought of the beautiful things I may find!

A Little Ray of Sunshine

"Rain Cloud" by Cara Weston

I have been feeling under the weather this week - my father has had Man Flu and in turn infected the whole house with his germs so all the ladies of the house now have a common cold (known as Man Flu to the male species.)

The thing I don't like about the snotty nose is that I am suppose to be heading to Melbourne on Friday for a few days of relaxation. Ugh. This snotty nose and general lack of energy has already spoiled the excitement of some time away. So to spark my happy vibe again, I have been wandering around various websites - including that of St Kilda based Vintage store "Dorothy & Evelyn" - to whom I stock to now as well!

I have tucked away a few dollars from my Kevin Rudd stimulus package and hope to purchase a cute frock ...something along the lines of the following...

little potty red shoes 'pixie' dress

sumakhi zig zag print frill hem dress

Also be sure to check out Dorothy & Evelyn's website!

Doona Day

Today, I have given up on doing anything remotely creative or work orientated. I haven't had one of these days in months... gosh, I use to have these days all the time when I wasn't motivated one little bit - now this just feels weird!

So, I grabbed the biggest cushion in the house, Micramb (microwavable toy lamb which doubles as a heatpack) put on my fave pj bottoms and uggs, stole the mink blanket from underneath my cat and ventured to the couch - a day of cups of tea, biscuits and Austar.

Of course, I took my laptop with me.
HA!

Coffee anyone?
Doilie 6 Piece Coffee Set by EstherCoombs

Anyway, with Austar, we have around 800 different channels and to be honest with you, I hate that! It makes it harder to pick what to watch, let alone how long it takes to sift through all the cruddy channels... so I settled for a bit of "health" television - "Pregnancy For Dummies."

Little did I know that I would be rather disturbed by such a documentary. I'd like to think that I am a tad bit more savvy with such things (even without having been down that path yet) but I felt like I learn alot from this "Dummy" session... I won't go into anymore detail.

A few cuties off Etsy.com...

Baby Loafers by ivoryandmoss



Lamb to School Baby Boots by woolybaby



Baby Moccasin Boots by kaboogie

Sweet Tweet Army

As you may or may not know, I am pretty lucky (at least I think so!) because my little creations are now homed at COCOON in George Street, Launceston. I think that I have executed my "landing" into COCOON in perfect time; the final "brush ups" of items and nailing all of the finer details to suit within a place as beautiful as COCOON, are complete and now it is just a matter of the creative evolution (of my brain) - oh the things to come?!

I currently stock at COCOON a bit of everything from my label - including the Tasmanian Myrtle Oval Pendants in Rabbit Love, Fat Wren and Bird Cage; Tasmanian Myrtle Brooches in Feather, Pair of Birds and Single Bird; Button Pendants in red, white and black mixed prints; Button Brooches in red, white and black mixed prints; and finally a selection of Button Earrings (small size) in red, white and black mixed prints.

One day I popped into COCOON before dropping off some earrings for a friend, they were the little Sweet Tweet earrings in purple, pink, orange and yellow - I think they caught Suze's eye and I haven't forgotten that - but I only just remembered to mention it to her yesterday when I was in dropping off some more goodies - so now... I am proud to announce that COCOON will be the home of the:

Sweet Tweet Army


Purple - Pink - Orange - Yellow

Blue - White - Navy



Sweet Tweet Army

After Josh Pyke

Ah.
Well Josh Pyke was amazing..!

He is quite the short fella, I didn't expect that - but he was so hypnotising on stage - maybe it was the side to side swaying he did whilst playing his songs...



I couldn't get very many good photo's as I am still trying to master my camera - it did some pretty trippy stuff with colours and effects from the lights though...


He had this amazing backdrop for the stage - it was a Light house scene painted in black and white, and the lighting guys (one whom is a friend of mine - Hi Bob!) made it look even more amazing with the colours - I snapped Red and Blue.



I don't know what he did here, I think he was giving one of the ladies in front of him, cheek haha... true muso style.

Before Josh Pyke

For those of you with awesome music tastes and true lovers of Australian music (att: Annie Burns!) - I am going to make you jealous, envious and totally "wish you were me."

Tonight I am heading out with some girlfriends to the Casino to see Josh Pyke play and I swear that I will throw myself at his gorgeous feet and swoon over his musicality and melt to a sweet (and probably sweaty) Sophie-Reduction.

What a spunk.
I'd let him serenade me any day.

(Stay tuned for the follow up.)

Word Search - "Leaf Necklace" - Etsy.com

When I normally should be doing other things such as - a) cleaning my room, b) cleaning the bathroom, c) picking up cat fluff... etc - I tend to find myself "elsewhere" and generally speaking, that means on the computer/laptop searching the pages on Etsy.com

Today I typed in: "Leaf Necklace"
And these are my picks:

Brushed Silver Branch Necklace by roundabout

Fresh Beauty of the Valley Artful Hardware Pendant by COGnitivecreations

Hydrangea Cluster Necklace by PatrickIrlaJewelry

Leaf Wreath Choker Necklace by prettypennydesigns

I am hanging out for next week as I have most of the week off and I swear that I won't be leaving the house (only to pick up my poor sick Laptop!)

So many new designs are running around in my head at the moment, but I just don't have to the time (nor the clear desk space) to put pen to paper and draw them out. If you want a hint, this entry about leaves may have something to do with my new designs...

Pear-ific

There is something rather comforting about warm poached pears during the thick of winter...

This morning I woke up with the coldest of noses and figured it was a "porridge" morning (also due to the fact that someone in our household forgot to get a loaf of bread last night after work!)


I cooked my porridge the special way (1/2 milk, 1/2 cream) and boiled some water, plopped two pears (cut into wedges - with their skins still on) into the saucepan with a table spoon of sugar, for about 5 - 8 minutes.

Ohhh I love the smell of warm pears, maybe it's because my mother use to feed me it "mushy" style when I was a younger bird... good memories.

Once the pears had gone slightly gluey looking, I drained them, left them to cool (to touch) and peeled off the skins, popped them into the porridge bowl, zapped them for 30 seconds in the microwave and sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar.

YUM.

Sitting Here in a Dress and Heels...

...I have hijacked my father's office computer as my laptop is officially "sick" and getting some much needed TLC (and hopefully it won't cost me an arm and a leg) from the friendly guys at PCZ4U. I am about to head out for dinner with some close friends but felt the urge to do a quick blog before heading out - obsessed or??

I popped into Cocoon today (in my glorious daggy attire - I call it a disguise, casual-slack style ha!) and bumped into the delightful "Black Eyed Susie" and it reminded me of the cute hair ties that I bought off her at Niche...



Once I got home, I was rummaging around trying to find them... and could only find the two fawn ones... My mother had pinched my other one!

Suse's online store at madeit.com.au is pretty awesome... I adore her little model! (And the beautiful dress!)

Blossom Is My Baby

Blossom is old, yet she is my baby.
I have had her since 1995... and she is still quite capable of the meow, the purr, the clawing, the hissing... in actual fact, all of the kitty tendencies.

Blossom & I - Christmas 2008

Mother and I found her a rather suitable collar at our local pet store - red faux leather with big diamantes plastered all around it. Perfect for our little diva! It suits her so much, no bell - she hates bells, and to be honest we all do in our house - we remember when she was a little kitten, and she'd dart around the hallway chasing "nothing" and making such a noise, that we banished the bell. No more bell. Phew!

I have been wandering around Etsy again (oh the things I do on week day evenings when my friends are busy playing "housewives" and my new lover is off being a Kung Fu panda!) ...and these are the things I have found:

The Cats Meow Collar Charm by RachelsPETdesigns

Blue Paw Print Crystal Collar Charm by RachelsPETdesigns


Botanical Black Collar by PretaPawte

Fence Sitting Patriotism

Patriotism. Funny word really. It is even more amusing when you are made up of two halves...

In my case it is like this:
(Quote: "How many dudes you know flow like this, not many, if any" - /End Quote SCRIBE NZ rapper.)

Mother - Australian.
Father - New Zealander.

Some of my friends would say: "oh fush en chups ey?"
Some of my other friends would say: "Gee'day and Bru don't go togetha."
I would like to say: "Go eat some fush en chups and smash back a coupla tinnies maaate! She'll be apples ey!"

Did I nail it? Huh? Huh?! HA! Anyway... getting on to the real matter of this entry.

A few of my "Land of The Long White Cloud" New Zealand favourites off Etsy.com:

Little Bird Key Ring by inmybackyard


Hello Top by Toast



Black Fantail Brooch by blackswandesigns


Grey Scarf by victorianbird

The Lucky Bestfriend

I am absolutely loving my newest Etsy purchase from a local designer/crafty-brain MARLEY & LOCKYER.

Late one night I was strolling the wonderland that is Etsy, trying to find a delightful gift for my bestfriend's birthday... and wella... This is what I chose:

Hummingbird - Oxford Edge Cushion Cover

Wish Clay Tag

I know my bestfriend will love them... even if the gift is over a week late (haha oops!) ...it's the thought that counts, right?

I also bought my bestfriend some scrumptious soaps from a lady in Sydney - InnerEarthSoaps. I have a feeling they will arrive tomorrow - so therefore I can't quote their yumminess at this point in time, but if the photo's are anything to judge them by... far out... YUM OR WHAT!

Blackberry Sage

Cranberry Fig

Almond Biscotti

The Niche-est Experience Ever! (warning - long entry!!)

Excuse the rather quirky title for this entry - but I am still buzzing from The Niche Market and all the delightful people that I got to meet and all the fantastic customers that came to the event - such a great experience, so much so that I became rather sad whilst packing up my stall yesterday!



Firstly, let me begin from ..well, the beginning.

I had the majority of last week off work (thank goodness!) and spent each day super busy with creativeness and slight spurts of stressing out... true artist fashion of course! (Hence why I didn't post much - or at all - last week.)

Thursday was "Messy Bird Wrap" day.
I knew that I needed to dedicate an entire day to creating these wraps... as I am not exactly the most speediest sewing machine user - I am still a beginner (December is when I got my lovely Brother NS10) but since unpacking it from the box, procrastinating about setting it up and trying to jolt my memory back to the days of "home economics & sewing classes" - I finally got the thread through the eye of the needle and wella!

Crushed Poly-Cotton in Magenta - hmm yummo! The other colours in the Poly-Cotton for my "winter" range of Messy Bird Wraps include chocolate, plum and a colour that I like to call gum leaf blue... a really deep blue/green - oohh yeah!

Each wrap takes me approximately 50 minutes... that includes cutting the crushed poly-cotton as neatly as possible (so hard to cut something straight and even that is designed to be crinkled and crushed!) - figuring out what feature fabric to use on the base colour, cutting out the birds and the circles, sewing up the rough edges and sewing on the birds and circles - the birds are so tricky but well worth it, as they "make" the Messy Bird Wraps birdy. HA!

Beginning the long task of sewing the bird shape on the poly-cotton, which has a mind of it's own and tends to want to wander around the sewing machine... in other words, hard to control! I find that a slower speed setting of the sewing machine is great, taking it in baby steps and not rushing - otherwise the bird would probably end up looking like roadkill? Ouch!!!

Sewing the circles seemed a bit of a brain teaser for me and my little sewing-knowledge, as I just stated, the Poly-Cotton has a mind of it's own, and because of that, I find that sewing at a low-speed helps with control it's movements, but in turn that makes it harder to spin the course of the sewing in a circular motion haha.. oh my... many tantrums occured with the first few Messy Bird Wraps that I created!

And there you have it. They made my stall look complete and mighty colourful.
In total I ended up making nine wraps which I thought was going to be pleanty, but little did I know that on the Saturday of The Niche Market that I would actually sell SEVEN! And I sold the last two on Sunday, one to my Godmother (yay!) and the other to the lovely Annie Burns (beeeeautiful soaps and candles and a delightful lady!)

The response was awesome! All the hard work and long hours put into making the wraps had paid off - I was overwhelmed with the comments from the admirers. Jodie Campbell (who I think is a rather fab lady!) bought a Chocolate brown one with an autumn coloured Bird Scene - I will be watching Parliament Question Time on the ABC from now on, with hopes to spot her wearing it ...haha!

Here are my little darling tweeters in brooch form, chillin' out on their blocks waiting for people to snap them up and give them some loving - I sold out of the Pair Of Birds brooch by the end of Sunday, I was so happy with that!

The small fabric covered button earrings... Trademark of my stall perhaps?

I personally love being swamped with colour and even more so in a regimental fashion like how I place my earrings out - the only downfall of being so nit-picky with lining up earrings is that when each customer picks up a pair, they some how manage to destroy the neat-line-up. I found myself forever straightening them up throughout the weekend... haha will I ever learn?

More colour! I knew I didn't make enough of the popular prints
...but there are only so many hours in the day!

I truly felt rather honoured to be apart of The Niche Market... For starters, the designers. Oh my. Everyone was so lovely, so very creative and it was pretty inspirational to see other peoples talents displayed and of course, pick their brains..!

Vanilla, Pomegrante and Black Currant Goats Milk Soap
by Annie Burns Red Bamboo

I was lucky enough to be positioned right next to the lovely Annie Burns "Red Bamboo" (of Examiner fame from Friday's paper!) and her scrumptious soaps and candles (yay for sellling out on Saturday Annie!) ...I was hoping to dart around the other stalls more frequently but due to the fact that The Niche Market was SOOOOOO busy, I barely had time to look up from my own stall - and that was awesome! It was only on Sunday that I got to really give Annie's soaps a once-over with my nose! She was kind enough to give me a bar of her scrumptious (and popular) Vanilla, Pomegrante and Black Currant Goats Milk soap. YUM! This impressed me so much that I bought another two bars haha... everyone in my house will be squeaky clean and smelling divine! Check out Annie's blog - redbamboohandmadethings.blogspot.com

So, I treated myself... I bought this beautiful "Free As A Bird" pendant from Dick & Dora - I had earned it (pfft who really needs to justify a gorgeous piece like this!) and I absolutely love it to bits! I have a strong feeling that my mother may pinch it off me at some point... better lock it away!

My highlight of The Niche Market would have to be the that I was quite literally (well almost!) rubbing shoulders with Dick & Dora. On Friday I was a little "star struck" whilst setting up my stall - I knew they had arrived yet I was almost... slightly scared of coming across as a crazed fan!! So I had my head down-bottom up finalising my stall and figured that we would find time to chat over the weekend.

Here I am modelling my newest love... Ohh how I adore Dick & Dora!

I am not sure of the right words exactly - but I guess this statement is true: "I have idolised Dick & Dora since I was 18..." - for my 20th birthday I actually bought myself a present from CONTENT ... a red "Dizzy Bird" brooch - and haven't looked back since! So once I heard that Dick & Dora would be at Niche, I became even more excited about even being in the same vacinity as their creative brains!

A little bit of Dick & Dora goes a long way... look at how my white "Bunny" brooch just MAKES my coat look complete! I had suggested in a "round-about-way" to Dora on her blog, that perhaps a "trade" was in order... yay! And so we did the "deed" and I scored this beautiful white "Bunny" brooch and Dora became a proud and loving owner of two of my acrylic Bird Rings.

I'd like to thank Selena Palmer from St Giles, for inviting me to be apart of such a delightful event - thankyou!