Monday Ring!

Just a quick update today,

The weekend has been so short and hectic that it seems like I have only gotten half  of what I wanted to get done!

Nevertheless – take a quick peep at my new button ring!

Isn’t he the cutest! (and yes, I do understand the juxtaposition of calling something that is cutsie and girly a ‘he’ – but saying ‘she’ just doesn’t have the same effect!)

(‘Scuse the dodgy photo – I took it with my phone around 5 mins ago at work!)

Have a great day all!

Piccies!

Wow,

Okay - so no posts for almost 6 months and i do two in two days!? What on earth is wrong with me! :)

Just a quick one today. I just wanted to show off a few pieces that i photographed yesterday for my Etsy / Madeit shop (whichever i get around to making - still deliberating on fees and whatnot)

A few Necklaces first up - I spoke before about my obsession with buttons - 'nuff said.

A Cute little 'bib' style necklace made from felt and, you guessed it, More buttons!

I adore the large green focal bead in this next one - and the crystals just make it pretty! 

And an assortment of Post-it note pads - each with different embelishments - some quilling, some not... all look so cute together i loathe to separate them!

More pics to come, i am sure... i have lots to do!

- Laura

Time Flies

To all of my wonderful followers (all fabulous 4 of you!) I am so unbelievably sorry for the lack of posts over the last – what has it been? 3 months? Let me Check, Nope – ‘last published – May 2, 2011’ so it has been more like 6 months! Yikes. Where has the time gone?

I have been so busy crafting that anything else takes a bit of a second seat. I am being absolutely hammered by the ‘Spring fair’ Season which seems to be September/October so much that I tend to have a fair every weekend (and not enough stock to be worth it!) Just an FYI for my international readers – No I did not mistype that ‘Spring’ – All of the blogs I have been following have mentioned how happy they are that the weather is cooling down and getting ready for beautiful White Christmases – where It is just the opposite for me – Days are getting longer and the weather is already reaching scorching points – even though Summer is nowhere near here yet! When people talk about ‘down under’ they usually forget to mention the back to front part as well! But as much as I complain, I love my Australian Summer and am going to miss it next year when I go to Canada (if I ever get there, that is)

Any ways, I digress – what was I yapping on talking about?

Oh Yes, Markets...

Just this week I had 2 separate market events to go to. One in a beautiful nature reserve that is local to my area – another in a showcase of local handmade items in the middle of a shopping centre! I have been so busy making items for both markets (all all the others I have had over the last 6 months +) that I have made a resolution to spend the first six months of next year crafting and not worrying about attending markets and such, just so I don’t get slammed in the lead up to Christmas as I have been this year.

Turns out I didn’t need to go so crazy as I didn’t end up selling much - disappointed – but it’s all an experience!

Anyways -  here are some pics from both markets – sorry about the quality – My point and shoot crapped out on me and I have to make do with my iPhone. It’s not a bad camera – just not the best.

Some photos of my table and products on sale:

Some of my quilled magnets

Some post-it note holders (photo is up-side-down because it was taken from behind the table)

Pic of my Table from the side with some Jewellery pieces

And a pic of the lovely girls, Jenny and Alissa at Moo Maa candles who i shared a stall with. (Jenny: Left, Alissa: Right) Alissa and I started Kindergarten together when we were four years old and are still good friends now  - that is almost 20 years of friendship, right there!

And a few of my dad’s plants – He originally started coming to markets with me so he could be my assistant (read: pachyderm) and the dutiful daughter in me allows him to share a table of his wares.

It also helps that I have someone who shares my market obsession and doesn’t roll their eyes every time I talk about the next big thing coming up or the next thing I am working on to sell!  

It helps that people seem drawn to the greenery and colour of the plants and come over to our stall to buy stuff - just sayin!

anywho... until next time (which could be goodness knows when!)

- L

Mini Notes

Pegs are just about the most versatile craft base. you can stick-em together and make little amimals (reindeer at Chrissy time are my favorite) flip them upside down and make note or photo holders. string them along some craft string or wire and they will hold your Chrissy cards! the best part about them is that they are cheap! Cheap as chips! Cheaper THAN chips actually. I got this whopping pack of 100 wooden pegs from the local cheap variety store (GoLo - how i love thee!) with the intention of making something from them. Here is my first attempt. Magnetic note holders in colourful floral designs! perfect for the fridge or magnetic note board! I just stuck a piece of designer paper along one side of the peg, a flat sticky magnet on the other and quilled a little design for the front! Selling them at craft market for 2 bucks a set - Total bargain craft!

Love it!!

Quilled Magnets

I Made these magnets with some old plastic covered magnets that are designed for use on whiteboards. I honestly didnt think they would hold much, but cute for decoration, but was surprised when the bigger ones held around 5 or 6 sheets of paper before falling off the fridge. To make, I simply created a large tight coil (much like one used for making 3D items) and molded them over the plastic of the magnets and shaped them until I was happy. Glued them down with my regular PVA glue and then when they were dry brushed them with a coat of glossy Mod Podge.

I made a few with quilled designs on them, but have yet to take a photo.

- Laura

Trinkets!

Cute Little critters! I Don’t know where I got the idea for these little guys, I think I saw something g similar on eBay or online and decided – I can do that! So if you know, I am happy to give credit where credit is due!Of course, I have tweeked them a little and added a few bits of my own!

My other pic today is of these cute little trinket boxes  that I made for market this Saturday.

Quilling on Canvas

I have a few crafty markets coming up, so in the days that follow I thought I would share what I have been working on for the past month or so.   One of the things I LOVE about quilling is that it is so versatile. One minute I’m making flowers for a birthday card and the next I’m making a gift basket for a mini Easter present! I could be fringing flowers for a trinket box, then suddenly get hit with inspiration for a piece of quilled jewellery... AND it has to be just about the cheapest craft I have ever come across. All you need is a tool (in the early days I actually just used a toothpick that I slit with a craft knife and some paper and glue.) EASY!! Now, I don’t pretend to know everything – My quilling is still in the amateur stage on a good day - but this item is one of the more elaborate pieces I put together. Good news is, that my hard work definitely paid off because it sold to a lovely young girl I met at a craft fair and she  hung it in her little boys room!

Materials:

Quilling Paper

Scrapbooking paper

Acrylic paint

Canvas board

Beading wire (rear side for hanging)

I Just LOVE the puppy - Isn't he the cutest! LOL

Busy, Busy, Busy

No excuse for neglecting this... thing... I have decided to do here (I’m not yet calling it a blog as that would imply that someone out there is ACTUALLY reading this) But seriously... how does one get a following on these things?. Anyways - as the title suggests I have been super busy for the last few weeks. Namely trying to sort out my university hours and study times and getting ready for the festival I had booked (which has been and gone last Sunday, Thank goodness)

So beyond Neglecting my 'thing-that-shall-not-be-names' I have been frantically making and pricing things for my Festival and trying to fit study, work and the gym as well as have a social life... and I’m pretty chock-a-block.

So less about me and my horrendously busy life, and more about the pretty things I have been making! As I said, there have been many things lately... but these are my favourites.

Rainbow Button Necklace - I LOVE LOVE LOVE buttons! And around 6 months ago I went berserk (bonkers, nutty, absolute bat-crap crazy) at my local Go-Lo and bought thousands of the little buggers to use in Jewellery projects. Admittedly, the majority have just sat around doing nothing, but I managed to grab a few out and make this the night before my market.

So pretty!

And I am a sucker for anything that sparkles like this and you do not want me to get started on my love of the purple/orange colour combo so I will just show:

It's very regal looking, I think, and the photo doesn’t nearly do the piece justice... If only I had something to wear it with... Sigh!

long day

It's the day after our national holiday and I am officially exhausted! To say that yesterday was a long day is an understatement of understatements and being back at work today sure doesn’t help! The reason I am so tired was not because I was up late celebrating our Nation like everyone else in the workplace seemed to be doing, no. I was  out in the sweltering heat of our Australian Summer trying to encourage people to buy my stuff. (Not very enthusiastically i might add due to the fact that a) it was abysmally slow due to the heat and i always get an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever somebody buys something that i am especially proud of, or something that took hours of patience and creativity and i wonder if it will be appreciated thusly. Call it weird, or sentimental, but i like my things to go to good homes!

Anyways, the point of this post being - I was feeling down yesterday afternoon so i went home and (after a few Vodka & sodas ) Made this this.

I feel better now.

First Post - Introducing...

 First of all - I am a 22 year old Australian girl . I am a university student and work full time in a government office. I am single with no children and living at home with my Mum, Dad and younger sister.  I love to write and even more I love to craft. These are the things I will be sharing with you through my blog.

I plan to share with you  new works, inspiration and previous crafty things I have completed. I know that Christmas is over and here in Oz summer is in full swing, but I would like to share some things I made for the holiday season.

Some chrissy jewels! These are always a big hit at fairs and markets closing in on Christmas time and I LOVE making them!

Some beaded baubles

And some cute quilled gift tags! Quilling is something that I have been doing only recently, even though I started as a child. I was looking at some other crafty ideas and found a beautiful quilled item (I think it was a gift box) and it inspired me to dig out my old tool and start cutting my paper strips!

For those who don’t know, Quilling is the art of taking paper strips in al different colours and using a tool to ‘twirl’ them into coils. Once the coils are twirled, loosened and glued, they can be shaped with your fingers to form just about any shape desired. It is easily the cheapest craft around and can be done for two minutes or hours on end, depending on what you want to make. And it isn’t just limited to cards and scrap books, oh no. 3D quilling is the art of making free standing ‘miniatures’ that are free standing and can be used as many different things. Centre pieces, Shelf sitters, trinket boxes, cake toppers, finger puppets... the list goes on an on!

Ok. Thats enough on that for today. You all now have had a quilling rant that could have been summed up in the single sentence:

I LOVE QUILLING!

;-)

Keep on Smilin’

xx Laura