November Giveaway winner is......

Tattgiff!!!!!

Congratulations to you and your lovely Alice canvas will be in the mail as soon as I get your address.  Please send your details to me at design_rondelle@vtown.com.au

My Softie for Mirabel

Here it is, my contribution to the Softies For Mirabel Toy Drive this year. I made her a few weeks ago, just hadn't got around to photographing her.  I'm a bit hooked on making things from felt now so will have just a few of my newest Feltie creations at this Friday night's BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market in King George Square (5pm-9pm). 

Night xo

November Giveaway - Alice In Wonderland Canvas

I've got a really cute new range of Vintage Picture Canvases this month, most of which feature that super cute Blonde in the blue dress!  To celebrate my latest creations I'm giving away the Alice In Wonderland title page canvas valued at $15.  This one is pretty rare from me because as you know I only pull apart books that have some damage to them and believe me it's hard enough to come by an Alice Little Golden Book let alone a damaged one!  So to be in the draw to win this sweet canvas just leave a comment in this post.  AND for an extra chance to win, become a follower on my blog and I'll put your name in twice ;)

If you'd like to see my vintage picture canvases you can check out my etsy shop or if you're in Queensland come on down to King George Square this coming Friday night for the BrisStyle Twilight market.  I'll be there with lots and lots of lovely goodies between 5 and 9pm!

Caravan Love

I just HAD to share this picture I stumbled across tonight.  It's from enjoy cupcakes
Don't you just love old caravans!! I actually lived in one very similar to this for three and a half years when I was a kid.  My Mum, brother and I were camped out in my Nana and Pa's backyard in a Yellow and white version of the one above...well might not be the exact style but soo close.  I loved living in a caravan.  My mum hated it...I mean H-A-T-E-D it.  Can't imagine why, two children sharing a room about 1.5mtrs x 1.5mtrs constantly fighting, Mum having absolutely no personal space, having a curtain as a bedroom door approx 3 mtrs from her children's room.  Did I mention my brother and I fought a lot? 

Unlike my seven year old brain she didn't quite get the whole 'exciting adventure' side of things.   I would so live in a caravan again....well maybe not LIVE since I think I'd go slightly insane with my three chickies in such a confined space, maybe just for a holiday every now and then.  Or maybe I should just take a photo of a cute caravan like this one and hang it on the wall and get my fix that way :))

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One week till the BrisStyle Eco market everyone!!!  Hope you're coming

BrisStyle Eco Market Preps

In a few short weeks it's time for this again ...YAYAYAY!!!  I love the BIECO Market.  I love seeing all the clever things that people create from things that already existed as something else.  I also love all the funky retro bits and pieces that can be found at some of the stalls, and I love being able to also sell some of my vintage finds along side my handmade pieces.  It's just a great market.

So tonight when I was going through some of the bits I'm taking along to market I suprised myself with the lovely colour combination I've got going.  Totally accidental but oh so pretty.  I was thinking maybe I'd actually have this as a bit of a colour theme for my stall on the pre-loved side, what do you think?

And speaking of pretty eco friendly things I thought I'd share with you my favourite corner of my house.  It's in my bedroom and it has my sweet, sweet Moose & Bird Pear Cushion as well as a cute little frame which I picked up from the op shop and made into a little Love Birds collage with some scraps of paper.  And the corner wouldn't be complete without this lovely vintage table cloth my friend picked up for me one day and left it on my doorstep. What a happy suprise that was.  I love it!  

Ok I'm off to bed to read some more chapters of Eat, Pray, Love....yes, still going I'm afraid.  I don't know why but I can't seem to just 'sit' with this one.  Maybe it's because I'm in a bit of a creative space at the moment so am too busy making things to sit and read.  Or maybe this book just hasn't hooked me in as much as I thought it would....but I really, really love it so it's strange that it hasn't got me all addicted like I normally get with books I love...anyway, whatever the reason I am off to enjoy a few more chapters :)

Dim Sims, Ikea Catalogue and some Eat Pray Love

That's the excitement that's hapening in my house tonight and I honestly couldn't think of another way I'd rather be spending tonight.  I've got my car all packed up with my crap I no longer want that I'm hoping people at the flea market tomorrow morning will love to take off my hands (and I'm sure I'll be taking some of their crap off their hands to ..especially if it's plastic and from the 70's)

So that's all done, now it's relax time.  My girls are with Daddy this weekend so it's nice and peaceful here (thankfully I no longer feel guilty about my quiet, child free time and infact really, REALLY appreciate it) so I've just struck gold in the freezer and come across a bag of frozen Dim Sims which I completely forgot about and I've got the new Ikea catalogue so am about to plonk myself on the couch and drool over all that sweedish furniture whilst watching Jamie Oliver.  Then I'm off to bed to try and get through a few more chapters of Eat, Pray Love.  I can't wait to see it at the movies next week but really want to finish the book first. It's a really great book btw!!!

Here's a couple of my fairly recent bigger canvases that are currently for sale upstairs at the incube.8r Gallery in Fortitude Valley Brisbane

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Oh crap I just put Worshtershire Sauce on my dim sims instead of soy.  Oh well that will teach me for doing three things at once!.. Night :)

Softies for Mirabel

I came across this fantastic cause too late last year to join in but thankfully paid a little visit to Melinda from Moose & Bird's Blog yesterday where I read that it's on again.  So, if you love to make cute soft toys (or like me, love the IDEA of making cute soft toys but has never actually finished a soft toy project that may have been started) then this is the perfect opportunity to get your creative juices flowing.  The toys will be given to children who are involved with the Mirabel foundation which is a truly beautiful group who help kids who have been orphaned or abandoned by parents with drug addictions.  The softies for Mirabel was started by Pip from Meet Me at Mikes. 

Click here for more details on this fabulous cause and find out how to help

Click here to read some heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of the kids helped by Mirabel

Coming out of hybernation

That's where I'm at right now.  I don't know why but I just don't cope well with winter.  Even up here in Sunny Queensland where the winter days are usually beautiful and sunny, the nights are freezing where I live and it's at night when I do most of my computer stuff..when the kiddies are fast asleep.  And I just generally feel like crap during Winter.  I've often though how cool it would be to be able to hybernate and just miss the whole thing!

So anyway this is just a super quick post to get me back into the swing of things.  Here's a couple of my latest creations

Ok, promise I'll be back before Christmas haha xox

Going Green

Yes that's right.  I've been reading a fabulous book that popped out at my when I was at the library the other week called 'Confessions of an Eco-shopper' by Kate Lock (her blog here) and her website for updates since the book was published www.ecosmartshopper.co.uk

So anyway, I always thought I was doing a pretty good job in doing my part for the environment.  I don't buy new clothes (except bras and undies), I rarely buy new shoes for myself and I always try and find any other item that i'm after from an op shop, flea market or the lovely handmade markets and online stores (etsy, madeit) before I venture into the 'new product' shops.  I use Earth Choice dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent (when I'm not making my own fro Soak flakes and Washing soda), I also recycle everything I can and try and buy items with minimal packaging.  With this in mind I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but after reading this book I realise I'm barely scratching the surface!  Am I down in the dumps about this realisation?  NO WAY, I'm totally, TOTALLY excited about all the changes I plan on making to REALLY make a big fat effort to reduce my environmental footprint.  And the beauty of reducing your environmental footprint is it not only helps the planet but it will also help my hip pocket...eventually.  Granted, there will be a few cost increases like my new Organics Fruit and Veg box I'm having delivered, and the Bokashi bin I plan on purchasing, but in the long run, I'll be reducing the amount of products I need to buy so it'll all work out.
And it's going to be a heap of fun (and at some stages really hard I'm sure) figuring out how to do everything and find all the good stuff out there that is actually contributing in a positive way to the state of the earth instead of a negative way.

So if you're up for it, I'd love to have you come along for the ride...or just watch me and have a laugh and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way.

STEP 1 to greener living:


Find good food to buy and grow my own
GROWING:
I'm so NOT a green thumb but after Lilly (my 4yr old) came home from kindy a few weeks ago with a tomato plant seedling in celebration of earth day, I rolled my eyes and promised her teacher I'd do my best to keep it alive...but warned her it would be unlikely since I can't even keep parsley or basil alive for craps sake! 
BUT 3 weeks on and it's still flourishing (so is my most recently purchased basil seedling shock horror).  So there is hope, and being inspired by the continued life of the plants we went out and got ourselves some seeds last week.  So far only the broccoli has germinated (is that the right word? maybe it's sprouted??) so I'd love to know any tips on getting the beetroot, spinach and lettuce to sprout/germinate/whatever.  We are talking nice to them everyday because I told my girls that will help them grow...fingers crossed.

BUYING:
I've bitten the bullet and ordered my very first organic fruit and veg box.  They also do meat so I got some drumsticks and kababs (about all my children will eat apart from sausages and chicken nuggets when it comes to meat).  The cost is obviously higher than green grocers or supermarket but how wonderful it will be to not need to block out of my brain the whole pesticide concern, which let's face it, we all do block it out of our brains don't we?  It's not something you really want to be thinking about when you're dishing up dinner..just one more thing to add to the list of maternal guilt. The other bonus is that it's delivered.  Delivered groceries = not having to take children out to supermarket where they turn into horrible little monsters and make all those 'too old to remember that their kids were naughty too' shoppers and the 'I don't have children but I will NEVER let my kids behave like yours' shoppers give me all their loving, understanding, 'we know how hard it is', community spirited death glares!  Ahhh, I'll sleep well tonight :)

Sunday Flea Market Finds

Well I actually held a stall at the local flea market today and although I was very well behaved and didn't spend all my profits I did pick up this little cutie

It's a lovely old ceramic butter dish from Norway.  I stumbled across this at just the right time because I've recently decided not to have margarine in my house any more after watching a story on the destruction of natural forests in Borneo to make way for Palm Oil plantations (palm oil is widely used in margarine and many other food and household products) and is greatly threatening the Orangutan population.  Check out the story here   So I'll need to have a fresh supply of butter softened in the mornings for breaky...don't you just hate rock hard butter!


My other two magnificent finds for the weekend were from a little garage sale just around the corner from my place.  I could not believe my luck when I stumbled upon these two glorious finds!

Gorgeous full length mirror $5!!!

 

Equally gorgeous buffet (to match my other two hehe) $10!!!

I can't believe how lucky I was to pick these up and in fabbo condition as well.  Gotta love a good garage sale.

For more great flea market finds visit Her Library Adventures

Sunday Flea Market Finds

Last month I found this cool blog that has a 'Sunday Flea market finds' post each week and bloggers from all over the place can post a link to their own Flea Market Finds.  As you probably know I'm some what in love with obsessed with op shops and flea markets and although I am on a very tight budget at the moment I had $15 pocket money to play with this morning so I took myself down to the Ipswich Sunday Markets at the Ipswich Showgrounds.


This is what I left with...and I had to restrain myself because there was one stall I could have spend about $100 at!  Total cost of the below items was $12.  Don't you just love flea markets!!!

I really should take some extra special photos of that Jug.  Oh my god I'm in love with it!!!

Another new addition to my house is this GORGEOUS buffet that my lovely friend gave me this week.  How cool is it?  It makes me happy everytime I walk in the door and it matches perfectly with my large buffet.  Thanks Krissy!  (oh and pssst, she got it from a cool new second hand shop in Mining Street Bundamba for $15)

Mathilda's Market Wrap Up

So yesterday I did my first Mathilda's Market at Eagle Farm Racecourse.  It was a good day overall.  I didn't sell anywhere near as much as I needed to to cover the cost of the stall which is rather high compared to other Handmade markets, and frankly it is very disappointing that they promote the market as 'Handmade or Small Production Line' when you see mass produced COMMERCIAL products for sale.  $220 for a stall to someone who just purchases their products from a wholesaler is an awesome deal for a market, but when you're sitting there making everything you sell it's a lot of money. 

I did sell out of my little Butterfly canvases and sold quite a few crafty packs so if I had of had heaps more of those I probably would have done better sales wise.  At the end of the day though I still chalk it up as a good experience, I've done it now so I won't need to wonder how my stall would do there.  I'm thinking I'll just stick with the trusty BrisStyle Markets in future as I did really well at the first one of those.  And there's quite a few exciting markets coming up in the BrisStyle line up! 

Here are a few piccies from yesterday's market...sorry for the blur, I was in a rush to get my photos taken before the crowds came in.

Screen Printing anyone?

That's exactly what I got to see on Sunday.  I took the girls to the Thea & Sami Open Studio Day where we were lucky enough to not only have a good chat with Thea and her partner Voyt, but also to see them screen printing a brand new fabric design.  It was such a great experience and my little ladies where thoroughly impressed.  Emma even took a notebook so she could write down the proceedures of screen printing.  We bought a little screen so will have a bit of a play ourselves when I buy some ink.

Here are some piccies from the day

Emma - deep in thought about the process of screen printing and eagerly awaiting the live demo

Meg - LOVING the orange fizzy drink Thea kindly supplied, and making herself right at home -shoes off

Lilly insisted I add this photo of me that she took....oh lord do I really look like that???

 

Mmmmm pretty fabric

let the printing begin....look at this muscley lady will you?  Go Thea!!

the screen has to be in PERFECT position or else... then they put the white ink down one end of the screen

 gotta love teamwork

 voula! Beautiful fabric

some of gorgeous products made with their gorgeous fabrics.  You can buy the fabric itself or the finished products over at www.thea-sami.com.au

note to self - orange fizzy drink makes small people a little crazy, especially when out in public

It's ok, they didn't go toooo crazy, and I managed to keep them from spilling anything on all that beautiful fabric so it's all good :)

A Fabulous Easter weekend!

Did we go anywhere? No

Did we have a great time? YES

Firstly, here's just a little sneak peak at some of the canvases I made over the weekend in preperation for the mamoth marketeering I'll be doing in the next few weeks.  Firstly I've got Mathilda's Market in Ascot on the 17th of this month, then we've got the first every BrisStyle Twilight Market at King George Square in the city Friday 30th April 5-9pm, and if that wasn't enough, the following week we've got the first BrisStyle Mother and Child Market on Saturday 8th May at Hamilton.

 Still lots more making to be done but at least i've started!

I picked the girls up Sunday morning from Kevin's because they spent the weekend with him.  And from then until last night we were busy with lots of crafty projects and other things.  It was so nice to spend quality time with my girls.  Not having to be anywhere or do anything, just sit and play.
Here are some piccies from our lovely Easter weekend.

 Meggie was more interested in eating everyone's chocolate than making stuff.  Although she did take a fancy to the small butterfly punch.  We had tiny butterflies all over the place!

Here's Lilly's before photo (we didn't get to an after photo...sorry)

Emma's masterpiece here is a Birthday card for her little friend India (who's birthday was about two months ago..better late than never hey)  The picture is suposed to be her face...can you tell?

what our lounge room floor looked like for two days!!!  It's nice and clean again now thank god!

This is how we finished our Easter weekend last night

YUM

see ya

Ahh a very crafty day

I've been busy creating some Layouts for the ScrapLounge March Cybercrop today.  I'm feeling so good about it because it's been months and months and MONTHS since I've taken part in a cybercrop on my own website!!!  

~ Challenge 1 ~ 

create a page using 

4 Photos

4 Alphas

4 Embellishments

4 patterned papers

~ Challenge 2 ~

Monocromatic Green Page using an altered photo

I sneaked in some yellow there by accident and actually created a canvas instead of a Layout. 

~ Challenge 3 ~

Create a page with green on it somewhere

4 patterned papers

1 Journal spot

create your own stamp

I used the stamp pad itself to make my hearts.

On another crafty note, I made a canvas for a friend's daughter's birthday the other day.  It's supposed to look like a Fairy Garden, what do you think?

New Fish, a shaved head and burning wood

That's the topic for tonight's post. Firstly, we have two new additions to our family. Meet Teeny and Tiny (named by Emma). My girls have never had a pet before so they are chuffed with their two little gold swimming friends.

I was a bit worried about the fish in the first week because they really didn't seem to be settling into their new home at all. They were pooing SOOO much (I thought it was normal) and they weren't really moving around the bowl that much. In fact, every morning I woke up worried I'd find them floating at the top of the water, but alas, they made it through! After some fresh water and a bowl clean out, they've settled right down and are very cute in fact - especially at feeding time, they remind me of excited puppies, coming up to the edge waiting for their tucker.

My friend Theresa was VERY brave and did the shave for a cure this year. The official 'shave off her hair' party was Saturday night and it was heaps of fun. She has a very nice shaped head so i think she looks fine. She's not so sure...lol




It was a great night with her friends and family there for moral support and although she's still collecting money from people she thinks she raised almost $2000. What a fantastic effort!!!!

The other highlight of the night (for me anyway) was the lovely bonfire. Just a small one but big enough to keep us nice and toasty in the cool night and oh my god is burning wood not one of the nicest smells in the world?? Providing it's in a contained fire of course!



So that's it for now, I haven't done much creating since the BrisStyle and Young Designers markets the other week (which were absolutely fantastic I might add) but am feeling the urge coming on very strong. If this pesky cold that I've picked up decides to ease off a bit tomorrow I might actually get my pretty papers out and have a little play :)