Monday, November 30, 2015

New in the shop - $25 Rings


Can you believe it is the last day of November today? December always creeps up on me, no matter how organised I am! I am so looking forward to the season of celebrations! There are birthdays, holidays, beach escapes and Christmas day to look forward to.
I have a little something else to share with you today - two new rings designs! I've popped them in to the shop today, though I have been wearing them and loving them for the past two weeks, and I know you will love them too.
The 'Ava' ring is a sweet spotty daring and the 'Elsa' ring is equally winsome and wonderful. Both are now available in Sterling Silver for $25 each, with free shipping.

Not sure of your ring size? Add a ring size gauge to your cart for $2, and I will post it out first.

Monday, November 23, 2015

BIRTHDAY FLASH SALE!


It's my birthday today! I still get so excited about my birthday, especially as I share it with my best friend/ twin sister. Celebrate with me by using the code HOORAY at checkout for 20% off everything in my online shop for today only!

Hip, hip, hooray!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Eats & Beats Logan


Logan locals, you will find me at the fabulous Eats and Beats Christmas Festival this Friday night! I will have a super lovely stall full of Christmas gifts and market specials. 

Come and say hi!

Behind The Photo Scenes



'Doc McStuffins wants to be in a photo too, Mum.'

The realities of working with children. :)


My new About page photo, by Trudi Le Brese Photography

Friday, November 6, 2015

Refilling the Well


There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to keep everything up to date lately, and get some time to myself. There are so many dishes, so much laundry, children who need feeding, bathing, entertaining and help with homework. It's so easy to leave myself to last and end up with no time of my own each week. Rather than rush around multitasking and wearing myself out, I have taken the opposite approach lately, looking for little ways to build in me-moments each day. 

Besides scheduling in Yoga once a week and going regardless of how I feel (I always feel better afterwards!) I have been slowing down, reading Ellie's A Week Of Slow, and carving out time each day to spend as I please. I find it so easy to keep going and doing what I think I 'should' be doing, thinking I will stop once I am 'done'. Only, I am never done. I clean the dishes and more appear, I tidy the lounge room and toys creep straight back out again, I sweep the floor and the baby throws his dinner as far as his chubby fists will allow. 

But one must re-fill the well. So I treat myself to a Frankie Country Style mag. I reward myself with a cup of tea. I write my morning pages after school drop off. I sit with my Drawing Journal and draw, just because. And it helps. 

How do you refuel after giving so much of yourself?

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Meredith Woolnough


 'Meredith Woolnough's elegant embroidered traceries capture the delicate beauty of nature in knotted embroidery threads. Through a delicate system of tiny stitches she creates intricate and complex openwork compositions that are then carefully pinned in shadowboxes, just like preserved specimens. 
The work maps the frameworks of the various veining systems found in nature to create work that explores the balance, harmony and connectivity of life on Earth. Inspired by the patterns, structures and shapes found in plants, coral, cells and shells Meredith's embroideries represent both the robust beauty and elegant fragility of life.'
- From Meredith's About page



Meredith Woolnough's work appeared in my Facebook feed recently as I scrolled though the usual articles, photographs and updates. I followed the link and was first struck by awe at the stunning details and general beauty of her work, a feeling that was followed closely by a pang of jealousy. Not the green eyes monster variety of jealousy, but of the variety that enables you to recognise a successful maker and encourages and inspires you to keep going. Keep making. Keep expressing yourself. And who doesn't cherish such inspiration? Who doesn't wish to gaze at the tiny stitches that create such 'delicate beauty' and mirror those efforts in their own life.

So many more amazing stitches in Meredith's Gallery.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

The Bottom Of The To Do List


When I was a child my father painted our bedrooms. We were allowed to pick the paint colours. And Mum made us new curtains with fabrics of our choosing. I remember my sister picked a baby blue to adorn her walls, while I selected a pale jacaranda hue and floral fabric to match. Not only did he paint our rooms, he painted the rest of the house. My brother's room, the lounge room, kitchen, hall way and bathroom. Everything, except the doors. For years my Mother waited for my father to paint those doors. She had a list of renovations taped to the inside of a cupboard door, and would cross items off as they were completed. For all I know, those doors are still on that list, as he never got around to painting them. And hasn't painted them in the seventeen years since I left home. 

I couldn't understood that as a child. Why didn't he paint the doors? Especially when Mum was so keen to have them done. I didn't understand how easy it was to leave something at the bottom of one's list of priorities. That just because something was important to someone else, it may not be as important to you. Sometimes you run out of steam over something.

I understand better now. I have unpainted trims of my own to remind me how one's priorities change. When we brought our house and were renovating while pregnant with our second child, we did as much as we could before we moved in. We scheduled the removal of asbestos, the replacement of the ceiling and roof, the removal of the carpet, polishing of the floor boards, and of course, painting through out. The last job before we moved in was to have the floor boards sanded and polished. The day we'd booked in the floor sander came around and the trims were not finished. Never mind. We'll paint them when we move in! Then we had our second baby. Then our third. And still those trims wait for paint. 

But you know what? It doesn't bother me enough to over come the obstacles and tackle the task - moving the furniture, keeping the children away, cleaning and taping up the trims, finding the paint, brushes, drop cloths etc. actually painting and then cleaning up and putting it all away again. Time is too precious for such things right now. It makes me think of other items that are lurking at the bottom of the to do list, that I haven't the heart to get started on.

One day I imagine those doors will get painted and so will our trims. Perhaps when we paint the exterior of the house. But in the meantime, I'm leaving them off the to do list...

What's at the bottom of your list?

Monday, November 2, 2015

Handmade Christmas Gift Guide - Nephew

I'm creating a few handmade Christmas Gift Guides this year, to make shopping for our loved one a little easier this year. 

Every Christmas I endeavour to support as many local makers as possible, rather than shopping in the big box stores. As a small business owner it is so important to me to buy from the creatives themselves, to find out their stories and purchase beautiful, unique, well designed and crafted pieces. I know it is much simpler to walk in to a shop that carries everything and get all the gifts brought in one hit. But I find it is so much more enjoyable and satisfying to spend my money mindfully.

Perhaps you have similar ideas? Yes?!
Then read on!


Nephews can be tricky to buy for. Depending on their ages their shelves and baskets are no doubt full of Lego, books, and the remains of kinder surprise toys. Puzzle pieces get lost beneath the bed. Trucks get left in the sand pit. While older children are looking to technology for amusement.

Why not indulge their love of dinosaurs or space? Send them outside to play with a swing or bike bell? Decorate their walls, and get them learning at the same time, with a fabulous alphabet chart? Or perhaps invest in a handmade quilt that they can snuggle up with night after night, feeling warm and loved?

Add suspense with the wrapping by covering a box, within a box, within a box.

Left to right: RAAAA Dinosaur T-Shirt $30 - Freddy Alphabet
Quilt Number 18 $200 - diddi
Cosmos Circle Cushion Cover $60 - Such Great Heights

Stay tuned for more Handmade Christmas Gift Guides - everything from Fathers to Sister In Laws.
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