Meet Miss Greta

I haven't had a chance to write about Saturday's Crafternoon Tea Market yet, I've been too busy with Christmas trees and all. If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a brand-spanking new craft market in Kingsland. Only 2 months old, but it's got great potential: it's in a really awesome location and it has very talented vendors. One of these is Jenny from Softings Repurposed, who makes beautiful dolls with hand-painted faces and fantastic outfits. Since I've been too busy to make any dolls for ages now, I had to have Miss Greta, who flirted with me from across the room. Wouldn't you fall for this stylish lady too?

Early Christmas

Christmas arrived in the mailbox today, so I thought we might as well have it in the house too. I got my first Christmas ornament from the swap; it came from Emily from Christchurch. It's a lovely little hand-felted star, made from merino and silk, and looks great on our tree.

I put up our very realistic-looking (fake) Christmas tree, and left the boys to decorate it. They loved it, and kept singing things like 'It's not really Christmas yet, falalala-lalala'. Daniel took his job very seriously and wouldn't look up for any photos, and Joshua created an interesting little corner of decorations at the back of the tree. It's so easy to get stressed out with shopping and plans this time of the year, but these boys really put the perspective back for me today...

Pleased to meet you...

The Extra-Curricular launch last night was fun; I'm so glad I could go. I ate my fair share of cupcakes, caught up with a few of my crafty friends plus I managed to get numbers 2, 3 and 4 of 500; Kylie of Skipapple got number 1! I'm so honoured to be in the very first issue of what looks like the next big indie publication, and to be in such illustrious company as Melissa from Tiny Happy, the Kraftbomb ladies, Rachelle from Birdspoke, and so many more talented people. Well done Ellie; it's a gorgeous wee magazine and your hard work has really paid off. Just in case you can't get your own copy, I've got the PDF of my little article; you can read it here. But I strongly recommend getting one, there's a lot of very inspiring people in there...

ps: you can enlarge the page at the bottom if you want to read the article :)

Extracurricular magazine

Extra-curricular launch

I'm so excited to be going to the launch of a new independent magazine tomorrow night, put together by my friend Ellie Smith. It's a real labour of love, with Ellie doing most or all of the writing, photographing, designing, marketing and who knows what else is involved in such a big project. The magazine is called Extra-curricular, and is for and about creative people who do their projects in their spare time, like after work, when the kids are in bed, that sort of thing. Here's the gorgeous cover, featuring one of Ellie's woodland illustrations. And if you squint a bit and look in the second line, you might see the words 'ruby in the dust' too. Obviously I'm a bit biased, but I can't wait to get my hands on a copy tomorrow!

The launch is on at 7pm this Thurdsay at DOC, 352 K' Rd, Auckland; everybody's welcome!

I'm in Wellington and Australia!

Ok, I'm really in Auckland, you've got me. But my products have found their way into some lovely new places.

'Emma' is a gorgeous little shop in Berhampore, close to Island Bay in Wellington, where fashion designer Emma Wallace has her new workroom with a little shop selling some of her own pieces and some crafty treasures. Among these treasures you will find my brooches, mirrors, pouches and journals, yay! The address is 476 Adelaide Rd, Berhampore. I really like her clothes and I think my work will feel right at home there.

Muddkids is an Australian site selling organic baby wear and fair trade gifts, and now also my very sustainably-made journals. The ladies at Muddkids are very good at promoting their goods, and I've had a couple of write-ups so far, including this one today. Thanks Amy!

Collections: Buckles

If you've been here for a while, you might know that I'm quite partial to a bit of op shopping. Which is where I find most of my craft supplies and collect all sorts of odds and ends along the way. I thought I might do a few posts about my collections, just for fun.

Today's collection is buckles. I wish I knew more about these, all I can say for sure is that the tiny blue one is made of glass, the huge black one is painted wood and the others from some type of plastic, possibly cellulose acetate (like the top left green buckle and that blue one on the right; they have a flecked, iridescent effect). I'd say they're from the 40's, I can just imagine the women dressing up their simple war-time outfits with these snazzy accessories.

Ovals

It's been a very busy week for me, and I finally have something to show for it. I got some new journals bound, made a new batch of brooches and mirrors and sewed maaaany little zip pouches. Here are the brooches:

and, ta-da! Some ovals...

These are new for me, and dare I say it, the world? You saw them here first. When my camera batteries are charged, I'll list a couple on Toggle, the rest you'll have to come and get from me tomorrow at the last Devonport market for the year (for me at least).

I've also got a Felt shop now (hoping a NZ version of Etsy will be more successful for me...); you can buy the felt birds there. Gotta go, have a great weekend!