E T S Y a g a i n . . . .

What kind of doofus tells everyone about their etsy shop but doesn't give a link?! Um, me. So let's try that again....

I've just set up my etsy shop, and you can check it out here....

Anonymous postcard....

Here's the second of my fortnightly anonymous postcard drops. I stuffed it in the shop formerly known as MIA's door at about 7.30am this morning on my way to work, so fingers crossed it made it safely inside. Again, this is just a photo of the postcard I fabricated from their freebie postcards, and unfortunately it's not the greatest photo (and nor is this photo of the photo for that matter). Basically, I cut 2 postcards (a grey and a lilac) into strips and wove them back together. it turned out well and feels really lovely.

I haven't been into the shop since I dropped the first postcard off 2 weeks ago, so have no idea if it's on display or if I'll ever be privy to the owner's reaction. But I guess that's part of the fun, isn't it?....

**I've had to stop referring to the shop by name so am using it's former name. I was turning up in a google search of the actual shop name and we can't have that now, can we?

E T S Y . . . .

Golly, how exciting. This week's project was setting up my etsy shop. At this stage, it features a collection of 'Best in Show' brooches, but I'll be adding more creations as time goes on. My real passion is homewares, so i'll probably be moving in that direction with some really beautiful cushions in the not too distant future.

So for any fellow etsians out there, feel free to drop by and take a look. These's even a shot of me modelling one! (For anyone who's interested in what I look like. Hang on, as my mum is probably my most avid reader, that might not be of too much interest - unless you want a glimpse of my new hair cut, mum!).

Tune in tomorrow for the second anonymous postcard drop....

The friday letter....A....

Check me out! - I'm posting my Friday letter at a reasonable time for a change! I have a nerd to thank for that. I finally got one to come and fix my laptop. Yay for geeknerds!!

I used to drive past this A on my way to wine appreciation class every week and always told myself that 'next week' I'd bring my camera and get a photo. Well my classes finished so took a drive last night to get this shot. I found the carpark gates closed so I had to trespass to get it. I was hoping to be stopped by the cops or at least security so I had a story to tell, (and to see their reaction when I told them it was in the name of 'art') but alas nothing. It's turned out much blurrier than I realised at the time, but I kind of like that. Maybe my hands were trembling in anticipation of getting sprung. I think it must be about 2m tall, so perhaps I was zooming AND shaking which can't help.

I've got my letter up before Jen this week (as should be the case considering I have Friday a day before she does!!), so I'll add a link to hers later.

Ohh! Jen got in early! Here's her T. An orange capital T. On a black background. I'm getting shivers.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Post note....

Haha, what a title....

Anyhoo, I'm sure many of you are wondering whatever happened to the missing postcards (ok, the ones I sent to the wrong address). Well, I sent a handmade postcard to the accidental address explaining my mistake and letting them know that if they still had the postcards, it would be much appreciated if they could pop across the road and give them to Elly. I added my email address too. Their response? NOTHING. Unlucky for them I know where they live. When I'm back in Perth and visit Elly, I'm going to give them the nastiest look ever!!

Grrr.

the post age returneth (no. 4+5+6)....

Ah, here we are again.... I really do enjoy the Monday postcard antics. This week is postcard swap Monday (as opposed to anonymous postcard drop Monday), which is a little project I've got going on with my friend Elly in Perth. Basically, we send each other handmade postcards every second Monday. I’ve been patiently waiting for the time to come when I could report on the last few postcards Elly and I have sent each other and now that day has arrived!!

Unfortunately, I’ve come to the conclusion that Elly has a fear of postboxes. How she’s managed to keep this from me for the past 18 years, I just don’t know. Due to this infliction, I only have 2 postcards from her to show off. (Hopefully she’s posting 3 today so she’ll be up to date).

Unfortunately this postcard was de-beaded in transit. Elly posted it in an envelope so I was able to reattach the beads that had fallen off, but I don’t know how she did such a good job of attaching them in the first place! You can see the bits I repaired – they’re evident by the visible glue blobs. Oh, and Elly stuck the black beads on in perfect lines while I struggled to glue them on even remotely attractively!

The colour difference between the two papers in this one is beautifully subtle. I really love this one for that reason. Ooh! I think I just figured out where Elly got the papers from!! Very clever, young El. Strangely, I’ve done something similar for an upcoming anonymous postcard drop! What serendipity.

And look at clever little me – I remembered to photograph my postcards to Elly before posting them! And here they are:

This one is made from a sample of vinyl and cut paper. The picture of the air filter is from an old catalogue I found at work (and so is the vinyl). I’m really happy with this one, partially because I just love the bright shiny red.

This one is made from a paper pie bag that I fleeced from the supermarket, and embellished with a bit of paper, stitching and what I assume are bindis. I found a packet of then in my local craft shop and had to have them. I knew they’d find a purpose.

Now this one I’m not so happy with. It’s made from another sample I found in the archives at work. I called it “things on my desk at work” and was horrified to watch the ink bleed into the parachute-type fabric. But there was no turning back.

I posted postcard number 7 today and look forward to reporting back on it and the subsequent two. And with any luck, Elly will have sought professional help to overcome her phobia. With the love and support of those around her, I know she’ll make it.

If you’re interested in the earlier postcards, you can take a look here.

And if anyone wants to get involved in a postcard swap, perhaps this will satisfy your cravings. (Thanks to painted fish studio for alerting me to this one!). It’s a really cool idea, but for the time being, I think I have enough postcarding going on!

The friday letter....P....

Golly, I'm pushing it with my timing again. I really must get my laptop fixed so I don't have to wait for a gap in my partner's study to get online. Anyhoo, leaving the excuses behind and getting back to matters at hand....

While I prefer not to divulge much about the complete sign, in this case I have to let you know that it's from Paxie's Cafe in Napier. It's actually a cafe on one side and a collectables shop on the other. From what I've heard, Paxie's is, or was, an institution. It was open when we first moved to Napier about two and a half years ago but closed not long after when the owner (who I guess is Paxie?) died. It opened again about a month ago, but only the junk shop side and only for a few days.

Now Jen over at painted fish studio is trying to trump me with an ampersand! Cheeky! Get your own letter Jen! Haha.

Until next time....

The other post age....

As you know (if you’re a regular in these parts), my best buddy Elly and I have a postcard project going on which involves sending each other a handmade postcard every second monday. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve devised another postcard project for the ‘other’ mondays. Now here’s the deal....

You remember I mentioned a local store a few posts back? The one formerly known as MIA which sells divine clothes, art and homewares which I can’t afford on my meager part time salary? Anyhoo, whenever I’m in there they give out their postcards so I had a little collection of them sitting around the house. I’m not sure what kicked it off, but I started playing around with them and have come up with some rather lovely results (if I do say so myself). I thought the shop might like a look-see, but I’m hardly going to wander on in with some craft. So here’s the thing: every ‘other’ monday I will deliver a photo of one of the postcards anonymously before they open for business. He, he. Sneaky, sneaky.

Here’s the one I delivered today:

The store has no mail slot so I just jammed it in the door. I hope it didn’t go astray before they opened. The flower stems are made from folding 2 thin strips of paper together (remember doing that as a kid? I think I do) and the flowers are cut from paper. As you can see, I stitched an envelope to deliver it in. I wonder what will become of it all. Perhaps nothing that I hear about, but I know that if I had a shop and started getting photos of my postcards, I’d enjoy the intrigue. (What am I talking about?! It’d drive me crazy!!).

Now, I know I’ve given you the name of the store, and you could email them and blow my cover, but I’m hoping you won’t go spoiling my fun (Oh good Lord, has my ‘fun’ become sending postcards anonymously?! Is that sad?! I’ve got to get out more!!)

Until next time....

Postnote! - I've deleted the shop name because it turned out my blog was turning up on google when a search of the shop was done! And we can't have that....

Let the catch up begin!

Ah, finally I find the time (and motivation) to give an update for anyone who’s interested (hello out there?) on what I’ve been up to behind the scenes. Take a look below for a bundle of posts on the goings on. Hopefully some of it’s interesting!

In other news, I have some exciting postcards to share from my postcard swap with my best buddy Elly. (And probably a rant about those missing postcards – see my last postcard post for the background story – if you’re bored). I’m going to hold out until next Monday to show them to you, but, as Elly and I swap postcards fortnightly, I’ve devised a sneaky little project for the ‘other’ mondays. More about that tomorrow (which is the ‘other’ monday). I bet you can’t wait!

Until then....

Best in show....

After getting over my snowboarding addiction (and bruising), I realised that being complimented on my Best in Show brooch was all good and fine (and flattering!), but I really needed to take the next step and make some to supply to the admirer to sell. It had been a couple of weeks (pre-snowboarding) since that aforementioned compliment so I popped down to Port o’ Call (I can’t believe there’s no website for me to direct you to!) to make sure she was still interested (and serious!). Thankfully she remembered me and was definitely keen. I spent the last couple of days whipping up a batch and delivered them today. How exciting! It was such a lovely day today that I stopped at the botanical gardens (conveniently at the end of our street) for a photoshoot. As fun as they are to photograph, none of the shots turned out particularly well. The sun was too bright (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). (But if you do want to see some more, take a look at the flickr group I’ve created).

Now, you people who make and sell stuff for a living, tell me this: does it always feel strange to handover your handmades? Or do you get over it after a while? I just can’t believe they’re gone for good! Having said that, maybe they won’t sell and I’ll get them all back! No surprises on Christmas presents then! On the other hand, if they do sell like hotcakes, I might just open a little etsy shop and then you can all have one.

Hey, we can all dream....

Last week’s sunday project....

....didn’t get written up. Oops! I blame the fact that I still haven’t got my laptop fixed and don’t want to go and sit in the study on the annoying computer. In other words, I was feeling a tad lazy.

‘An address book?’ you say. Well no. It’s actually a wine journal. I just bought an indexed note book and covered it. I jot down (very basic) tasting notes (recorded by winery name) so I have a record of wines I enjoy (and one’s I don’t) which makes shopping for bottles easier. Ingenious! Ok, so this might seem a little OTT to some people, but as I’ve just done an introductory wine appreciation course (pfft! As if I don’t appreciate wine already!) and my partner is on his way to becoming a winemaker (assuming he passes all his exams in a couple of months!) I figure it’s time to get serious (ie. drunk). Anyway, back to the sunday project....
Do you recognise the fabric? I received it from Janine at four walls design in Jesse’s fabric swap. I lurve it so I’m glad it’s been put to use. I think it works well with the pinstripes I used on the inside cover. Truth be told, I don’t really have any experience with book covering, so it could’ve been done better, but I’ve learnt some things for next time. I've labelled this post 'bookbinding' as I hope to do some of that at some point.

Hmm, I’m feeling a little parched. Drink anyone?

;)

Postcard painting....

Well I mentioned a while back that I loved one of the postcards I’d made for Elly for our monday postcard swap. Loved it so much in fact that I recreated it as a painting. And here it is!

(What a terrible photo! Moving on….) Truth be told, it works much better as a postcard, but it was fun to do. Did I say fun? Hmm, I did get sick of dealing with all those little squares (8x8mm!) which are stuck on. So sick of them in fact, that you may notice that the painting isn’t quite finished. It’s on the list of things to do….

The friday letter....@....

Hmm, the sunday project seems to be morphing into the friday letter. I assure you - there's plenty going on here in the crafty background. So much in fact that I haven't found the time to share any of it with you. I shall endeavour to make amends.

Back to matters at hand.... I had decided I'd like to include an ampersand (that's the '@' sign, people) in the friday letter and have spent the past few weeks looking out for a suitably worthy one. In that time I've spotted ONE. And it was void of any design merit. I was about to give up when on Thursday I met a friend for coffee. I was mid sentence when I spotted this one right behind her! Such timing....

Meanwhile, over at painted fish studio, Jen has found this fantastic 'x' on a sandwich board. Before I read where she found it, I assumes it was from a sex shop - that hot pink certainly gives that impression! Now I'm thinking maybe it's just the letter 'x' that screams sex. Anyone follow?

Enjoy!

The friday letter....N....

Ah, it's nice to be home after my time in the snow. It gives me a chance to nurse my extremely bruised arse.

This week's letter comes thanks to Napier Port. I was lounging about having a coffee at a cafe on the water (as you do) when this ship headed in with it's load of containers. How could I resist such a bold N?! Check out Jen's friday letter here. It is super cool! I'm loving the shaddows.

In other news, I've returned home with plenty of ideas to put into action. I must get onto those Best in Show brooches, plus postcard monday is only a few days away, then there's a couple of other things on the go which I'll hopefully show off on Suday. Busy, busy!

Until Sunday....

The (late) friday letter....E....

Sorry for the late posting this week - it's not going to be a habit by any means. It's just that I'm away from home so am not quite as connected to the world wide web as usual. I'm at the snow and have become addicted to snowboarding - turns out I'm a bit of a natural! But enough about me....

Firstly, here's Jen's letter for this week. Fantastic composition! I really love it, though it does remind me that I live in a country with NO IKEA. Yep, you heard me.

Here's my letter for this week:

I took it in the town of Oamaru which is in the South Island of New Zealand. It's a town I've driven through before and classified as a shithole. Turns out there are hidden gems off the main road! The historic district is full of fantastic old stone buildings and on the night I was there I ran into a penguin! My first wild penguin encounter - very exciting.

There won't be a sunday project post this week (due to earlier mentioned snowboarding addiction) but I'll be back on track when I return home next week.

Until then....

Best in show....

So yesterday was the Christening and obviously, being the godmother, I had to look spectacular. I seem to have a lot of dark coloured clothes, which I thought might be a bit dreary, so I whipped up this brooch to lighten the mood. It was really quick to make and I just used fabric I already had. It does look a bit like a Best in Show ribbon, so I was referred to as the prize heifer a few times yesterday. Hey - at least it was a talking point!

Anyhoo, on the way to the Christening, we stopped at a shop & café called Port O’Call (alas, no website to link to) which is full of cutesy things. It’s possibly a bit too cute for my tastes, but perfect for a Christening present.

As a side note, I went in there a few weeks ago to find about 10 old ladies having cups of tea and slices of cake in the café. They were all dolled up in their finery - hats and gloves even, and looked gorgeous. The café serves tea in cute old teacups. Moving on….

While we were in there, the owner admired my new brooch and asked where I got it from. I told her I made it and she’s asked me to bring some in for her to sell! I have no idea how much for, or how much they’ll actually cost to make, but nonetheless, it was very flattering and it’ll be nice to have something out there in the public.

Until next Sunday (if not before)….

(Any Kiwi's out there, did you see the cover story in today's Sunday Star Times magazine? It's all about the crafty stuff happening in NZ. There was mention of Trixie Delicious and her fantastic ceramics. I've admired her stuff for a while and it's good to know she's doing well. A feature in Oprah's next issue of O magazine probably means she's going to be very busy indeed!)

The friday letter....J....

Hey, y'all. Well I'm recovering slowly (thanks for asking) though I've put my back out from coughing. In the words of Charlie Brown, good grief....

Anyhoo, welcome to a new project which I guess can be called the friday project. Or maybe it should be called the friday letter. Yeah, I like that.

So here's how it works: Jen from painted fish studio and I met via Jesse's swatch swap and are now embarking on a project together. I spotted the cool photos of signs on Jen's blog and after a bit of brainstorming we came up with the idea of posting a photo each Friday of a letter from a sign.

It should be interesting to see what we come up with. We live about 13000km's apart (that's about 8000 miles to you, Jen) - painted fish studio is in St Paul, Minnesota and the sunday project is in Napier, New Zealand. According to trusty Wikipedia, the city of St Paul has a population of about 300,000, while Napier has only 57,000. This concludes your geography lesson. Oh, and we're in different seasons which may add interest.

This week I've gone with a 'J' from one of my favourite signs near home. Truth be told, I'd like to sneak over to the abandoned hospital in the dead of night with a screwdriver and steal it, but my fear or authority stops me. Due to a time difference of 17 hours (or there abouts) we probably won't be the greatest at posting at the same time. I'll be first and once Jen's goes up, I'll add a link to it. And here it is! Ooh, i love it.

We hope you enjoy seeing what we find!

Until next post....

Please excuse the sunday project....

I seem to have the black lung, or something similar. I have been bed ridden for days, which has given me the opportunity to watch way too much of the Olympics, and in my fragile state I find that every trimph over adversity by an athlete renders me close to tears. Actually, every gold medal makes me well up, which I hope gives an indication of how much I'm suffering.

I have however, made a start on that whacky skirt idea I had after playing with the kiwifruit fabric. It's going to be quite a mammoth task, so don't hold your breath for the finished piece.

I still have some catch-up posts to do, and will endeavour to get back on track (with health and blogging) in the coming week.

Bear with me, trusty readers.
Until recovery....

Welcome to the post age (no. 1+2+3)....

A while back I mentioned that my friend Elly and I were starting a project which I'll refer to as the every second monday project.… Basically, we send each other a postcard every second Monday (who'd have thought?!) which we make ourselves. So far I've sent 4 postcards. I've received 2 of Elly's, with the third (and hopefully fourth) somewhere in transit between Australia and New Zealand. Let's take a look a her beautiful handiwork now!

This one reminds me of the fungi you find growing on trees in rainforests. Of course, she had to post it in an envelope to avoid damage, but now I've folded all the fungi out. From one side they're mainly red and from the other side, mainly orange. This is just my thing so I'm really impressed.

This one is beautiful. I'm not sure if you can tell, but Elly has cut watercolour paintings into thin strips and stuck them down. What I think is cute is that the postal service has added those fluoro orange lines to the postcard and they fit nicely in one of the strips of paper (Hmm, a bit tricky to see in this photo). Cute!

I'm patiently waiting on the third (and forth?) postcard to arrive. Elly and I both love getting real mail (who doesn't?!) so this has been heaps of fun. Unfortunately, we're both a bit tragic at posting on the correct day which I think we probably have to work on.

So, what are the 4 postcards that I sent? Well it would've been helpful for me to photograph them before I sent them. The first one was made using a swatch of mine from my screen printing project. I used one of the gold globs on grey and stitched it onto some card.

I did take a photo of the second one! And here it is:

I really love this one. It took me ages to do, as I had to cut out all the white squares and superglue them onto the card. I think there are about 150 of them. Plus I did the black borders twice (once before cutting them up and once after) because they weren't black enough after one coat. I really am a perfectionist sometimes. Unfortunately, it's not yet in Elly's posession. I had really convinced myself that I was under surveilance by border security who had (incorrectly) assumed that the numbers were some sort of a code. It wouldn't have helped that the message on the back looks something like:
41111 1114, 41111 11411 31135 1411 3121. 111 1411 111 1 3121. 111 8111 111 31111 41111 11 111 1111113111112 13113311 1111. 11 11 11 8111 1 311114 3131111? 4114 1141, 1118.
After spending 2 weeks blaming border security and getting REALLY worked up, I realised that I sent it to the wrong house number. Oops!

I've alerted Elly who is going to question her neighbour. I'm yet to hear if she's managed to get hold of this postcard or whether the neighbour threw it out. Either way, I was so impressed with it that it inspired me to do a painting (more on that later in the week).

My third postcard is probably also at the neighbours. I used a postcard from a boutique in town (a beautiful shop called Aroha Lamour which I can't afford to buy anything in) and did some stitching and painting. I'm not sure about the results, but I figured I should still send it. I'm keen to hear what Elly thinks of it.

The fourth postcard was sent 2 days ago (on schedule!). I'd love to give you a sneak peek, but that would ruin the surprise if Elly reads my blog and we can't have that. I loved the second postcard I did, but this one takes the cake. She's a beauty. Hopefully Elly thinks it's hideous and gives it back to me. Unlikely.

Perhaps I'll report on the postcards every 6 weeks or so – assuming we manage to get into a regular posting routine! I'll even try to remember to take photos before I post them!!

Until the next catch-up….

Ah, the sunday project....

So here I am - it's Sunday and I'm reporting on this week's project. Just as things should be....

Having said that, this week I managed to balls up two projects so yesterday afternoon I was ready to throw the whole sunday project thing in. Sewing can be so frustrating!! The first project I stuffed up was the one using Jesse's swatch in the post below. I'm really hoping I can rectify the situation. I think maybe we just need some time apart.

I caught up with my goddaughter-to-be on Thursday. Ok, that's not entirely true. I caught up with her parents. My goddaughter(-to-be) is only a couple of months old so she had some sleeping to do. She's very generous for such a little one. And she already knows me so well! She gave me a patchwork book for my birthday and some pieces of fabric. She's a little Irish lass (and I'm a dirty dingo) and we both find ourselves living here in this foreign land of Aotearoa. Fittingly, she bought me some fantastic Kiwiana fabrics as a tribute to our home away from homes, one of which I used in this week's project....

How cute are those kiwi fruit! The purple stripes have been in my box of fabric for years, along with the black seersucker and cream. Not a bad combo. I cut the fabrics into 5cm wide strips and machine stitched them together. It looked great! Then I thought I'd cut the resulting fabric into strips and sew them back together, ending up with a chequerboard effect. Anyone following? Unfortunately, it turns out my cutting and sewing skills aren't quite as accurate as I thought, and the squares weren't lining up. What to do, what to do? First I moped about a bit, then I decided that perhaps a more random approach would look ok. Here's what I ended up with:

I'm halfway through sewing all the strips together and am happy with how it's looking. When I'm done, I'll have about 60cm x 80cm I think. I'm not sure what I'll use it for. I'm having ideas of a really mental skirt with lace or netting underneath, and just using this as one panel. Ok, when I say that out loud (I take it blogging counts as 'out loud') it sounds pretty wack. Hmm, we'll see what happens. Incidentally, it's only in an embroidery hoop for the photo. I was feeling 'artistic'.

I still have some more catch up blogging to do and will try to get it done before next Sunday.

Until then....