Holy Hiatus!

How many blog posts have I started with apologies for being a tardy blogger!? Way too many!
ANYWAY I meant to post this pic after the last Muddi Market in Wagga back in December 2010...OOPS! My sis-in-law and I scored these AWESOME vintage skirts made by Janine from Middlemost Clothing.
Seriously. How rockin' is THAT!? Janine has acquired the most succulent stash of vintage fabric and makes them into awesome skirts, dresses and accessories. I love crafty chicks making groovy stuff, especially in areas like the Riverina where all we can do under normal circumstances is drool about this stuff after seeing it online featured by designers doing markets in Melbourne and Byron Bay!

A while back I put together a very inexpensive but highly personalized gift for my crafty little friend Charlotte who turned 7. Hmmmm...more than a while really, because today is her 8th birthday! Anyway I bought a little packet of coloured beads and some clear butterfly beads for the whopping total of $4, removed the rather gaudy packaging and put them in a small cello bag, and then got out the trusty prismacolour pencils and the kraft paper, did a bit of scribbling...and stapled it to the bag to seal it up. Waa Lah! Insta-gift. She loved it.
Front:

And Back:

I'm big on packaging to personalize otherwise inexpensive gifts. I made these gifts for 2 little girls last Christmas. Super easy: The felt daisies came from Papoose Felt (their range has the most heavenly colours)...I stitched the button to the circular piece of felt. I then stitched the felt daisy to the hair clips. Then I hot-glue-gunned the button with circular felt to the felt daisy. Done! Soooo quick n easy. And while hot glue guns are not perfect for everything, they sure are perfect for glueing felt together. Works a treat.
I cut two slits in the craft paper to mount the goodies, enter prismacolour pencils and scribbles once again. Another $2 gift!

This one below is a brooch. I made it the same way as the hairclips, i.e. stitched the red felt daisy to a brooch back clip (you can get them at Spotlight) and then hot-glue-gunned (is that a verb?) the button to the daisy. Considering Matilda is not even 1, I thought I had better add some sort of "dont play with pins" disclaimer!

Muddi Boutique Markets

Wow time whips by when you are in a creative frenzy!
This weekend I'm off to Wagga for the Muddi Boutique Markets.
I'm excited to be part of this market which is very new, but has already gained a lot of momentum. They did a very fun write up about yours truly too, you can check that out here. Whenever I do a new market I love to bring in a new product. It keeps things interesting for me and hopefully keeps my range of products varied for the lovely peeps that come and visit me at craft shows.
So this week I finally managed to get a photo of me in my new peg apron for the cover of the pattern...I'm not sure if my neighbour saw me posing in front of the fence in the back yard with my camera on a tripod!


In addition to selling the kits to make your own brooches, I thought I'd sell a few of the ones that I have made already. I felt the brooches needed a little bit of extra care with packaging to make them a more appealing gift, so my trusty laser printer and huge stash of stationery collected over the years allowed me to whip this together:

Its a handy way to use the plastic bags that I used for my greeting cards in Canada....they had to change size to accommodate Aussie printing specs so I have a BIG stash of those bags. Now I have a good excuse to make about 2,000 brooches. Yikes!

Upcoming Markets and New Apron Designs

Usually this time of year I'm thinking about what markets to do before Christmas. I thought I'd shake things up a bit this year and do something local, which is not all that easy considering I live in Bathurst. Anyway lucky for me, this year the Bathurst Arts Council is putting on an event called Arts Alive 2795 to showcase community art in the region, and I've decided to be an exihibitor. Thats not until November 20/21, but I need to GET BUSY anyway.
In the meantime, I am lined up for the Muddi Boutique Market in Wagga Wagga (not really local but I do get to visit my folks which is a double bonus, and given my sweet mother Mazzy usually travels to help me where ever I do a market, I'm sure I can convince her to come along to one in her home town). I DIGRESS!
So in order to remain stimulated I decided to add a new product for the upcoming markets...Apron patterns! Not just any old apron pattern though, a PEG APRON pattern so you can look cool hanging your clothes on the line and your pegs will never get rusty or dirty ever again!

I've had a peg apron that I made a few years back and its been great, but I always felt it was a bit bulky. When my neighbour commissioned me to make one for her, I thought there might be a market for these. Anyway this new shape is awesome, I'm really happy with it.

And while I was at it I decided to make another apron, whenever I do a craft show I think to myself how handy a little apron would be to house cash notes (bum bags just arent cutting it for me any more!) and I was so excited about the shape of this little number that I thought what the heck, make a pattern and see how it goes? It could be even worn over jeans just for the fun of it. They are SO easy to make. And anyone who knows me knows of my blue daisy obession, how groovy is this fat quarter from BIG W! WIll wonders never cease.


And Bathurst is looking lovely this time of year, despite it SNOWING yesterday. Yes, you heard correctly. SNOW. In SPRING?