I can sing a rainbow....

Mum's birthday cake. Made by me. Decorated by the kids.

"Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow too.

Citrus Tart - Girly Shoulder Bag

Listen with your eyes
Listen with your ears
And sing all there is to see

Miss Potts - Girly Shoulder Bag

You can sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow
Sing along with me"

Strawberry Freddo Frog - Girly Shoulder Bag

After all the rain and dark clouds I felt like I needed a burst of colour to feast my eyes upon. So here's some rainbow colours that have been bursting into our world lately.

My ric rac stash. Makes me smile every time I look at it.

Pipe cleaner and straws princess jewellery. For Grandma, by Lee and Kate.

And she had the good grace to wear them all at the restaurant where they were given to her. Even when she went out into the street to take a phone call. Good on ya mum :)

Lee has been singing the rainbow song lately. He sings it so beautifully it almost brings a tear to my eye. Kids, gotta love 'em. One day it's poo jokes, the next it is the warbling of angels.

Photo courtesy of Kipurnicus' photostream

And of course, I wouldn't change it for the world.

XXX
Bec

The exciting, and the not so exciting...

OK, first for the exciting. Discovered that one of our new bags have made it into the top 60 nominations for Eco Friendly Items on the Etsy website. Woo Hoo!!!!


Amongst some really great company there, including FIVE other BrisStyle gals (go REread, Ruby2GoGo, Pedrosprout, Art Decadence and Epheriell). And what's really great is that the bag in question is one of our new coffee sack bags (the "Macchiato").


Nice to see one of the new additions to the range going down well. This bag is made from a coffee sack, a reclaimed upholstery remnant, and recycled buttons.


If you would like to cast your vote for your favourite eco-friendly item you can do so HERE. But no pressure to vote for us - Jade and I are just super happy to have one of our bags nominated.

So yay!!! That was the exciting bit (well, exciting for us anyway).

In other not so exciting news, here is my Watcha Wearing Wednesday pic. Boring as all get-up I'm afraid. And a day late. Again. I was so uninspired by my own hastily thrown together outfit I didn't even bother getting off the phone to take the photo. So yeah, this is multi-tasking in action - something I am notoriously bad at (as this blurry photo reveals).


The top is a very lovely hand-me-down from a very lovely friend in Melbourne. The jeans are my comfy old faithfuls, and the shoes are my new favourites. I'm sure that one day I might actually be wearing something interesting for WWW. Even though Wednesdays are often 'around the house' days, I might just have to frock up just so I am not boring myself stupid while taking my own photo!!!

Ok, and if you're even still reading after that mind-numbing waffle, here's a reward. Head on over to the BrisStyle blog, for your chance to win this.


Or these.


The apron is by the irrepressible Louise from Made by Miffy, and the gorgeous brooches are by the equally gorgeous Chris from Little Chrissy. I highly recommend reading their interviews - bright, interesting, inspiring, and very entertaining. And leave a little comment on the blog post for a chance to win (winner is drawn on 25th April).

And that my friends, is that. Thanks for hanging in there :P

XX
Bec

Coffee bags are GO!!!!

As promised, Jade and I have been making bags from coffee sacks, courtesy of the lovely folk at Brisbane's boutique coffee chain, Merlo. Lots of fun actually, apart from getting little bits of hessian hair everywhere (once the bags are made we seal them with a water-based non toxic sealant to prevent the 'shedding').

Short Black Handbag (...better get moving...)

This little prototype bag had it's first run out at the Artists, Bloggers, Crafters and Designers meet up at the Brisbane Powerhouse last night (thank-you Steph from Bondville and Kim from Udessi for organising - it was a great night!!!).

These two have already gone off to new homes:

Long Black Tote (It's only words...)

Flat White Shoulder Bag (...another early morning flight...)

And there are another three in the shop. We have decided to name the bags according to snippits of conversation heard in coffee shops. So of course going out for coffee is now a work expense :P

Latte Shoulder Tote (...loving this rain...)

Long Black Tote (...and the winner is...)

Macchiato Shoulder Bag (...such a cherry picker...)

Now after all this talk of coffee, guess what I feel like?

mmmmmm.......coffee.......

Handmade Help Bushfires Appeal

I have found it so hard to start this post - there are just no words to adequately describe the horror with which I have learned about the events which have taken place so close to where I grew up as a child. 'Bushfires' just doesn't seem like a strong enough word, although really I guess they were 'firestorms' which is a word that comes much closer to the mark. So many lives lost, so many homes destroyed. Whole towns razed - the sadness just weighs so heavily.

Apart from giving what money we can, Jade and I have also listed two bags in our shop that will have the full proceeds going to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal as part of the Handmade Help initiative being run by Cindy of Bug and Pop.

Visit the dedicated Handmade Help blog to find out what you can do to help, whether it be donating items for sale or auction, donating goods or services, or simply buying products from people who are donating their proceeds to the bushfire survivors.

The two bags Jade and I are donating the proceeds from are:


The Eco Market Tote in Jaffa, made by Jade (which you might remember was recently featured on the front page of Etsy).
EDITED: This has now SOLD


And the Clip-Clap Reversible Handbag, made by myself (which was recently featured on the Cuteable website).

EDITED: This has now SOLD also - Thank-you so much!!!

So please, visit the Handmade Help blog to find out more about how you can help out. There are so many crafty and non-crafty ways to help out. And they all make a difference.

XXX
Bec

Can you tell....

...that my sister used to work in marketing? Jade and I re-opened the Beckybean shop last Monday, and since then I've done nothing. No blog post, no forum postings.... NUDDA! I hadn't even told Matt.

Thank goodness Jade is on the job! Not only that, but she also got one of the bags she made onto the front page of Etsy.


What the?!!!! SUCH a little sister thing to do.....humphhhh.....(can you tell I'm the 'hard-done-by' older sister who struggled as a teenager to be allowed to go out at night with my friends just once a month, then when my little sister gets to the same age she goes out every weekend? Yep, I've got oldest child syndrome. I own it.) Although technically that is me in the photo, so I will tell myself that my super professional modeling skills contributed to the achievement...right?

Ok, so I'm surly AND I'm slack. I've got a meme to do (Lin I will do it this week I promise!!!), I've got things to show and tell (haven't even posted about my wonderful birthday - although, actually Jade did post about that too, so maybe I can skip that one in my desperate attempt to catch up). Oh, and all my Pay-It-Forwards went out last week (only 4 months before the deadline....sorry everyone, I'm sure you all thought I'd forgotten about it my now!) and they should be received any day now, so I'll have some of that to show you soon too!!

Until then, I'll leave you with a picture of what I HAVE been remembering to do. And that is take some time to smell the roses.


Or the 'rosy tea' as Dorothy the Dinosaur would say.

Cheers Bigears,
XX

...and LO it was awesome!!!

I must admit, I'm a teensy bit worried. The market was so good, I fear I am spoiled for all future events. The bar has been set terribly high. Firstly they were just so much fun. The vibe going on was amazing - I guess because although many of us had not actually met in real life before, we all felt like we knew each other anyway, after weeks or months of chatting online. It really was a case of 'we are all in this together' and everyone was so supportive of each other and super friendly.


Add to this some great crowds, which flowed steadily throughout the day, and everyone making a fantastic number of sales (I sold almost two thirds of my stock, so I was stoked!!) and you really can't ask for much better than that can you?


We had some lovely jazz tunes pumping from Betty Kingston's corder of the hall inside, and then at 11am we had some fantastic live music in the courtyard. It really did make a fantastic atmosphere. Even the food was awesome (my homemade iced-billy-tea and roast vegetable wrap went down a treat!!). We also had Olivia from Scampsville doing a live radio cross with 4ZZZ (she hosts the fantastic program 'At the Local') and she actually interviewed Helen from Ruby Red Studios & Ruby2GoGo who coordinated this whole shebang, Hayley from REread, and myself - you can listen to it here if you're interested. She also interviews Karen from Knitting for Brisbane's Needy, which is the charity we raised money for on the day as well.


Best of all though was sharing the day with my sister, which meant I had someone to chat with all day, someone to share my excitement (and remind me to eat) and someone to take turns with manning the stall so that a little (ok a lot) of shopping could be done. I could so easily have bought something from every stall. The quality and variety of goods was so fantastic. Alas, I didn't buy something from everyone....I did give it a good ol' aussie go though. Wanna check out my loot? Here it is:


Notecards from Twinkle Star Art - these are completely handmade, and are perfect for writing thank-yous to people when sending out orders.


Reindeer brooch from Pedrosprout - now I can be festive and funky on Christmas day. Yay!!!


Uber-pink ruffle bottoms from Bettsy Kingston - Kate is going to LOVE these. And so am I. They are just so so gorgeous. And the super-generous Benita also threw in a gorgeous red polka-dotted nappy cover.


I couldn't wait for Christmas to give these to Kate. She's wearing them already. This is her fluffing up her skirt so I could take a photo :P


Zip purse from Little Mary Moo - boy were these gorgeous. I think my friends and family alone must have depleted at least a quarter of Therese's stock (Jade couldn't decide which fabric she liked best so she ended up buying three purses - one in each of her favourite fabrics, and my mum also couldn't resist. Oh, and I know a couple of ladies from my book club came back holding up their purses saying "how cute are these". They really were the perfect little Christmas gifts!!)


Glass brooch from Hot Toffee - there was no way I was leaving Hamilton that day without some kind of Hot Toffee goody on my person. In fact I also bought a hairband with a gorgeous green glass square on it, but I was wearing it when taking the photos, and I've learnt my lesson about taking ugly close-up shots of my hair....ahem. Moving on...


Brooch from old books by REread - are you getting the idea I may have a bit of a brooch thing going on? Yep, hair accessories and brooches. I can never resist. What I love love love about this brooch is that the illustration on it is by one of my favourite children's illustrator teams, Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone. So so cool!! Oh, and Hayley is actually giving away one of her gorgeous brooches on her blog right now - so go enter!

But wait, there's more!!!!!


I was lucky enough to do a little swap with Catherine from Made by Maisie, and Kate will be receiving this beautiful Missy Mermaid for Christmas. She is currently obsessed with all things mermaidy so will adore this gorgeous doll.

And I couldn't come away without some more gorgeous kids' clothing.


A stop by the Ogekko stall helped me get my fix, with a beautiful paneled skirt for Kate,


and some very cool pants for Lee.

Some gorgeous handmade Christmas decorations for our tree. If anyone read this post as soon as it went up you'll notice I have just added these in. I forgot them originally as they had been put on the tree as soon as we got home, and they looked so at home there I forgot to take them down and photograph them. So from left to right - star ornament that Kate chose from Raspberry Pink (Lee also chose a green tree one for himself but I can't find what he's done with it....). Peggy Rudolf from Sharlzndollz, a gorgeous gift from Bel from EmBelISH - Kate keeps pointing at her and saying "that's mum"...awwwww), thank-you SO much Bel, I love it!!! And a little Christmas Jelly from Jellygnite (and Kate points to that one as says "that's Kate"....once again...aawwwwww).

Whew, and I think that's it. I'll be doing up a post of the BrisStyle blog in the next day or so, which will include a lot more pics of market stalls. So check that out shortly if you're interested.

Oh, I almost forgot, kinda yesterday's news now, but a couple of weeks ago my bags were featured in the Courier Mail paper. Two days in a row!!! First in an art-lovers gift guide, and then in an Eco Gifts article. As my scanner is on the blink I can't scan the articles in, but here is a link to the blog post by the journalist who wrote the Eco Gifts article. It's the same article, just posted on his blog - The Green Blog.
(oh, and please note, I was a bit misquoted. When asked where I got my inspiration I answered vintage fabrics, Enid Blyton, and my Grandma's button tin. When asked where I found most of my fabrics I answered at local op shops. This transpired into me being quoted as saying I was inspired by op shops and a biscuit tin....he he he ...mmmmmm biscuits......)

And that's about it from me for a while. On Sunday I will be taking off for Christmas in Melbourne, and will be away for a couple of weeks. I have closed my Etsy shop until 26 January, and am making no promises about blogging until then either. I'm getting ready for some serious chill-out, play with the kids, sew some clothes, have some fun and bake some bikkies time.

Hope you all have a wonderful stress-free, healthy and relaxing Christmas and New Year. My very best wishes to you and your loved ones. See you in the new year. XXX Bec

It's not a wedgie dahrling, it's art!

I've had a long couple of days. Two kids down with fevers and a very work-stressed husband. I tried to grab a few minutes for myself when I attempted to do the photos of some new bags for my Etsy shop. I'd had the bags made for days, but just couldn't find time to photograph them.


I finally did it, and that night I got ready to upload them. And realised that all the photos of me holding the bags look like I'm trying to pull a wedgie out of my bum. Noice.


I looked at them. I sighed. And I thought "oh bugger it" and uploaded them anyway.


And then I found my sense of humour and decided to make the wedgie shots the main display photos. And I also made them my featured items. Because that's about where I am right now - what the hell, here look at me picking a wedgie. I just don't care anymore.


For the record, I actually have my hand in my back pocket.

For some reason, I thought it might look hip!


Apparently not...



Ok, so just to make sure you don't all go to bed tonight and have wedgie nightmares, here's a sweet chaser.


I made this last Sunday morning, just an hour before we had to go to a birthday party for a four year old. All reclaimed fabrics except for the giant ric rac - super quick and easy, and quite satisfying.


The brooch was a little something I'd prepared earlier (as in about 6 months ago) and seemed to add a little festivity to the number. Kate thought it was great - a twirly pink and purple polka-dotty party skirt. What more could a two year old want? Actually, what she did want - and insist upon - was pants to wear under the skirt. We finally agreed on some footless tights. Maybe she was worried about wedgies.......

Edited to add - I just realised I am wearing my "Isn't Life Great" t-shirt in all these photos. Somehow that seems fitting...

Vintage Man seeks Vintage Woman

I think my favourite ring has been putting out dating ads in the Classified section of the Craftosphere Monthly. And luckily for him, his call was answered at the last BrisStyle Meet-up, where he met this lovely lady.


It was love at first sight.


They were destined to be together.


And they lived happily ever after.....


Epilogue: Little did 'Vintage Woman' know it was all an arranged marriage, and although money did not actually change hands, there was, let us say, and 'exchange of goods' for her lovely hand...er...I mean...head...

Thank-you Helen (Ruby 2 Go Go) for this lovely gift, and I am glad you enjoyed your own little parcel of goodies :)