Thursday, August 21, 2008

Nice stuff (or - the longest post in the history of long posts....)

I figured after the last rather serious post it was time for some frivolous niceness :) I'm also due for a big bloggy catch-up after my break, so I've decided to roll everything together into one big sweet doughy lump of deliciousness.

Lets start with some eye candy!


I've been having a little bit of a spend-up lately. Firstly, I saw some gorgeous vintage button hair clips on Stacey's blog - Sheep's Clothing, and I had to high-tail it to her shop lest I miss out on these beauties. But don't worry folks, I see she has added more clippy deliciousness in other yummy colours to her shop, in case you are as tempted as I was when I first saw them!


Now clearly I have a hair clip addiction, which needs to be fed, so these delightful little items came in the mail early this week. Em and Bel (of EmBelISH) are members of the BrisStyle Street Team I belong to, and as you may have heard, we had a little sale recently. So how could I not buy these beautiful clips.


Especially as they came with the free little owly brooch, and beautifully gift-wrapped. These girls also have a new blog, so check it out to get the latest on their creative endeavors.

And please excuse the crummy hair model, but I thought Stacey, Em and Bel would all like to see how their clips look when being worn - pretty damn cute if you ask me (if you look past the messy hair).


I really should brush my hair before I tie it up next time I decide to do photos....sorry about that...

And getting away from my feral noggin, here's some pics of some much nicer heads :)


These original art ACEOs from Tracey (of Hey Harriet) are just stunning, and are another BrisStyle Sale buy. I've had my eye on the 'All My Little Words' art card for ages now, but then I just couldn't resist the 'Yellow Wall Boy' card either, and the Giraffe was given as a freebie. How lucky is that! Oh, and Tracy is the founder of 'Shadow Shot Sunday' which she hosts on her gorgeous blog, so if you want to check out some cool shadow photography, click on over and enjoy :)

OK, so clearly lots of buying going on. But I've also been kinda productive as well. I've been having a go at doing some boy's wallets, because after looking for handmade things for my son when it was his birthday, I realised there is a real lack of nice things for boys in the handmade world. So to try and balance the scales just a little in my shop, I've created these two little rascals:


The Phizz-z-z-z Boys 'Cash and Cards' wallet - made with reclaimed vintage seersucker fabric and new fabric scraps, with a big recycled button on the velcro flap closure. Pockets for cards and a long pocket for cash, but no spots for coins. My husband assures me that no male ever carries change in his wallet - makes it too bulky to put in the back pocket apparently :P


Can anyone else verify this?


I must admit, I have known many boys who keeps big jars full of coins in their room. I guess this is what happens when there is no place to put coins? (By the way, this wallet is called 'Tootle' and is for the train enthusiast - note the train tracks - and this one has a button closure rather than velcro...thought I'd try a a couple of different closure types and see what was most popular. Going to do an elastic one too as soon as I can get out and get some in black).


Anyway, back to the jar of coins in the bedroom. Forced savings? Maybe these boys are onto a winner. Especially as my husband just bought a heap of parts for his mountain bike after counting up all his gold coins and discovering he had over $400 there!!!!!!

OK, now I did warn you that this was to be a big post didn't I? Well good, because I'm not finished yet. Gee, maybe this post should have sub-headings....if so, I think this one will be called "Awards that were given to me by very nice people to whom I have been very slack about posting here"

Firstly, the lovely Ali from Charlie and Grace gave me the Arty Pico award - quite some time ago I'm ashamed to say, and the very talented Rachel from Cornflower Blue Studio awarded me the Brilliante Award as well - again some time ago. I'm so sorry ladies that I was so slack in getting onto these - they just happened to come at a particularly hectic time and I did mean to get to them and pass them onto others....but it's been such a while now that I'd feel a bit of a fool passing them on. So I might just say that anyone who gets to the bottom of this massive post deserves their very own award, which I will hereby name the "Either very polite or very high tolerance for waffle" Award.

And so I will leave you with one last piece of unspectacular info. Just as I was going on my bloggy break I was tagged by The Tiny Little Girl (if you haven't seen the work of this very talented crafter, your really should check it out - she has a very gorgeous Etsy Shop too!). The tag was for 6 unspectacular quirks about yourself. So in closing, here they are, and feel free to post your own 6 unspectacular quirks too - just leave a comment and I will have lots of fun checking them out. Ok, so here they are:

1. I never finish a hot drink - I always have to leave a little bit in the bottom of the cup. I don't know why.
2. I never eat all my crusts - I always leave a little bit that I just don't want to eat. Again, don't know why.
3. I can do all the actions to pretty much all of the Wiggles songs, and can sing all the words. And I really enjoy doing it.
4. I'm now working on learning all the High 5 moves (they're a little more complicated than the Wiggles ones :P)
5. I LOVE bad 80s dancing (yep, both doing it and watching it). The 'Angry Dancing' scene from Flight of the Conchords where they do the Footloose/Flashdance scene is just hilarious - you've GOT to watch this!!

6. I have decided to start replacing all my ugly wire coathangers with old-fashioned crochet-covered ones. For some reason this idea really appeals to me. Op Shops, here I come :)

Wow, that was really a mixed bag. But I think I'm all caught up now. Next post will be much shorter. I promise :)

22 comments:

Car said...

Welcome back to blogland Bec :)

I miss using the old fashioned crotchet coathangers ;) am starting to get some more back in my cupboard - so when you going to start crotcheting some yourself???

JustJess said...

Welcome back Bec! Great post, nice and newsy and full of luscious images! Those wallets are bloody marvellous - will they be in the shop? I will order 4 for Xmas! Make that 6! Um, how much?!!

JustJess said...

OK, just went to the shop and answered my own questions! Thanks!

thetinylittlegirl said...

welcome back! you've definitely been on a buyers run at the moment ;-)

i love your boys wallets, especially the tootle one!

and on the change subject, it's totally a guy thing. my boyfriend does it, my dad does it (and ends up with 100's of bucks in change too), my bro does it. but when i do it i end up spending all the change before i ever get past the $20 point!

and thanks for doing the little tag. i never finish hot drinks either ;-)

Ali said...

Phew Bec! that was some post!
I love those little boy wallets - so great!! Fantastic idea (Lach hasn't stopped asking me questions about "Bec's little boy who likes trains too"!!so cute hee-hee!)
You're clips from Sheeps Clothing are deliciously lovely and I love the aceos you got from HeyHarriet!

Ali said...

PS I 'wore' my new beckybean bag to work today and showed it off - everyone was SO jealous of me (even the guys!!)
xx

Cathy {tinniegirl} said...

It is great to have you back in blogland.

I love your wallets too. I do carpark duty at work when we have busy farmers market days and the guys always carry their change in the pocket of their pants.

CurlyPops said...

The change bit is true....if your wallet is too thick in your back pocket, then it can cause back problems from sitting unevenly.
Guys should keep their wallets as thin as possible.
Love all the hairclips....I;m still trying to grow mine long enough to need them....sadly I know all the wiggles songs and moves too and I don't even have kids...scary!

Hey Harriet said...

What a fun post! I really like those EmbelISH owls. Very sweet! Your wallets are adorable & a great idea! Congrats on your awards. You have a great blog, well deserving of all the awards it receives! I enjoyed your unspectacular quirks. Weirdo! Eat your crusts! ;)

Hey Harriet said...

Just me again. I had this feeling that I'd forgotten to thank you for your kind words about the ACEOs that you received from me. And I was right, I did forget to thank you. So thanks heaps Bec!!! xo

PS - I'm blaming your long post. That's the reason I forgot. Couldn't remember everything as it was a lot to take in ;D

Hot Fudge said...

I feel as though I've just finished War and Peace. Thank you for such a long, newsy, wonderful post.

I LOVE the boys' wallets - particularly the train one. I know one little boy who will probably have one in his Christmas stocking this year. I have a tale about him that you just reminded me of and I'll tell it on my blog, so thanks for that.

As for the male coin thingie, my male carries all his cash in his pocket. That way, when (not if ... when!) his wallet is lost/stolen (again!), at least he only has to worry about cancelling the cards, getting a new driver's licence, etc, etc.

Good to have you back in Blog Land.

Anonymous said...

Welcome Back Bec!

You are so right about handmade things for boys - so hard to find. I bet your wallets will be a huge success - I love the train one!

80's "angry" dancing is hilarious! I love that episode of Flight of the Conchords.

Sherrin said...

lots of lovely stuff in this post! :o) hehe... have just lost half an hour after getting side tracked with Flight of the Conchords... youtube is dangerous!! lol

djbebe said...

So many great pins! Yes my hubby also keeps several jars of coins around the house - every now and then he brings out one I've never seen before, filled with 5c pieces. He's been saving them for years. I am slowly spending them - but it's hard work!

Joanne said...

Gorgeous little wallets Bec - I'm sure they will be very popular! I must admit, I'm with you on the coat hangers - for years, my Nan knitted them - now I'm after some for my little boys. There is just something about those hangers!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Wow, lots to comment on! Love the hair clips and love the wallets, but really feel like I need to comment on your tag.

1) I always have to leave a bit in the bottom of a hot drink too. I think it has something to do with the fact that when I was little, there always seemed to be a few tea leaves in the bottom. The problem is, the habit has now passed over to cold drinks too.

2) Hate crusts! Never eat them. Hubby is now used to finishing for them and laughed when he noticed the other day that I pull (not cut) the crusts off the bread before I put them in the toaster.

5) Love bad 80's dance music! Flashdance is on my ipod for when I go to the gym. Love it and LOVED the video!

Girl, I think we're going to get on really well :)

Mixed Species said...

Postastic!!
Love the clips and you're wallets are great, got a few Thomas the train cards in mine as I type.
Let us go out on a binary solo
00100111001001000111

Rachel said...

Yay! I love those hair clips!

Amalou said...

I love the Sheep's Clothing hair clips, so sweet. I just received a gorgeous clip for my little girl with my free owly brooch from EmBelISH (which I wore proudly today). Your boy's wallets are a fantastic idea and look even better in the flesh (I enjoyed looking at them today at our meet up).

6 unspectacular quirks, what fun :-)
these are 6 of my quirks -

1. I believe that there is a reasonable chance a parachuter may disembowel themselves on Barcelona's spiky monolith commemorating the Olympic Games.

2. When I tie my shoelaces, I make two bunny ears and tie them together, no bunny hops a loop around a tree when I do it. (My husband insists he will teach our children how to tie shoelaces.)

3. I don't like chopping my oranges through the navel. Don't ask me why. (My husband also insists he chops his own oranges.)

4. When I was about 10 years old, I would eat raw green vegetables for morning tea. When my classmates looked at me funny, I thought maybe this is not normal.

5. Nobody else can make me a vegemite sandwich except my father. (His method has the perfect balance of butter and vegemite).

6. I'm female and have very little interest in shopping. I would procrastinate in the computer art section of a book shop rather than look for clothing, handbags or shoes.

I thought a long post deserves a long comment.
Sorry :-)

Michelle said...

Lots of love stuff in this post! Your bys wallets are the greatest, though and I love the Thomas the Tank Engine cards inside!!

Kara said...

I love the wallets! My partner Steven always complains there is not enough good stuff for guys!

Stacey said...

The clips look great on you!
I totally agree that there isn't enough boy stuff in the handmade world. *Sigh*
The wallets are an excellent idea!
My boys have a change jar - is it wrong for me to raid it to buy coffee?