Starry starry night

Well I hope it is a nice starry and balmy Brisbane night tomorrow night, as BrisStyle will be holding its first Twilight market in King George Square in the city!!

I've decided to play it low key and just have a little spot in the Co-op tent, so hopefully I'll get to have a bit of a meander around and soak up all the twinkly atmosphere as I do a wee spot of shopping myself.

The media seems to have really got behind this event, and we've managed to get mentions in some awesome online sites such as Frankie, Yen and Four Thousand. And yours truly also managed to get her mug into the City News with the fabulous Helen (market organiser extraordinaire) as we posed with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane to promote the event.





I think our grins were those of delirium as I was sweating like the preverbial pig and feeling almost light-headed after spending forever setting up a 'pretend' market stall in the middle of King George Square in the middle of the day - sun beating down and surrounded by concrete. "I'm melting! I'm melting!"

So if you're in Brisbane and looking for something to do tomorrow night pop down and say hi - there'll be live jazz, outdoor restaurant eating, and of course all the usual BrisStyle handmade goodness. With added twinkly ambiance :)

BrisStyle Market - oh so good!

Well it has taken me almost a full week to recover, but the BrisStyle market was not just a full-on on day. It was seriously fun too!!!


Nice steady day without getting too manic at any one time (due to Helen's amazing reorganisation of the set-up we had no crushing crowds or bottlenecks - just a steady stream of happy relaxed people wandering through, buying up, and enjoying the ambiance!).


As for Jade and I, we had a great day. Much of our stock was depleted by the end of the day, and our own shopping bags were bulging with purchases from many other BrisStylettes (I haven't taken photos yet but I came home with wonderful goods from EmBelish, Jellygnite, Shazzabeth, Jetta's Nest, Edward and Lilly, Little Mary Moo, Flight Industries Hot Fudge, Chi Cuff, Kitty Boo Boo Little Chrisy, Twinkle Star Art and Made by Miffy). Oh, and that doesn't count the stalls that my husband took the kids to so they could buy me my Christmas presents... Yippee!!


Of course there were many many other beautiful things I could have spent my profits on....but I guess I'll just have to stalk Etsy for those!!

So I'll leave you with a couple of crowd pics from the day, but if you'd like to have a squiz at all the other stalls (and they're worth checking out, trust me - some very inspiring set-ups and product displays), visit Chi Cuff's Flickr Photostream. Her wonderful husband Darren from Kish Photography and Design took photos of every stall, so grab a cuppa and sit down for a fun tour of all the BrisStyle goodies on display at the market. Now back to the post-market cleaning up....whhheeeee!

Photo by Kish Photography & Design

Photo by Kish Photography & Design

Are you ready for this?

Why yes, for once in my life I actually am. Fancy that! I have everything packed by the door ready to load up at 6.30am tomorrow. I have painted my toenails (because that's totally essential for a successful market day right?) and I'm actually sitting here playing on the interwebs. I know!!!

So if you're in Brissy tomorrow and feel like a bit of shopping, live music, tasty cupcakes and fresh coffee, then get thee to the BrisStyle Christmas Market. Jade and I will be in the hall, next to the divine Robyn from Hot Fudge - if you do come please stop and say hi. It'll be a hoot!!!

See you on the other side folks!

XXX

Forget the dishes...

It's no real secret around here that housework has been taking a backseat to mad preparations for the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market coming up this weekend. But Jade and I have taken it a step further by using the humble tea-towel for something a little less mundane than polishing watermarks off cutlery (hey, who am I kidding - have I EVER cleaned watermarks off cutlery? Well no - but hey, I have seen it done in restaurants).


I'd like to call these something fancy like 'the tea-towel transformation range' but let's be honest - we are pilfering old tea-towels and sewing them up into bags and clutches. Bags and clutches with a talking point though, because surely a bag that says 'fairy penguins' on the front is not something you see being toted around the city every day :)


Anyway, I think they're turning out kinda ok - dad's handmade wooden buttons lend themselves well to the lovely linen tea-towels. Combined with either recycled fabrics, or organic hemp canvases, these bags are most definitely one-offs, and will not be available in our Etsy shop (unless of course they don't all sell at the BrisStyle market, in which case they may appear in the Etsy shop sometime after that...).


Right - better get back to it I suppose. I will definitely be popping back into this blog sooner rather than later as I am currently wearing some gorgeous jewellery that I am dying to blog about. But I want to take a bit more time on that post as I just know I'm gonna go all 'fan-girl' on that one. For now, it's sew sew sew for the next five days.

Giddy-up!!!!

BrisStyle's Ekka Sale!!

Oops, can't believe I almost forgot to post about this - a testament to how busy things are around these parts at the moment I guess!!

Anyway, the lovely BrisStyle crew are having a sale to celebrate Brisbane's annual Ekka (The ‘Ekka’ being the annual agricultural show held in Brisbane, Australia - a fun-packed 10 days of bright lights and rides, local produce, entertainment and cute animals!)

There are loads of bargains up for grabs, free postage and in some cases gifts with purchases! Check out this post for links to BrisStyle Etsy shops taking part.


As for Jade and I, we are offering 10% off everything in our Beckybean shop, plus free postage within Australia. Simply select the 'Other' payment option when going through the checkout, and we will send you a revised PayPal invoice with the 10% off. Or if forget and pay the full price, we will refund you the 10% into your PayPal account. Easy peasy!

Happy Monday everyone (and don't forget about our Eco Market Tote double giveaway - still HEAPS of time to enter) :)

BrisStyle Bonanza!!!

I've been meaning to blog about so many BrisStyle things lately, so I'm now going to roll them all in to one big sweet doughy lump and and spread them out here. First BrisStyle cookie onto the tray:


BrisStyle Stitches & Craft 10% Discount Promo - OK, I know I'm MEGA late for posting about this one seeing as though today is the last day of the show. But in fairness I DID 'tweet' it and 'facebook' it...so wasn't 100% slack. Basically, the deal is that if you are at the Stitches and Craft show in Brisbane, and see someone wearing a BrisStyle badge (like the one above), go say hi and they will give you a 10% discount voucher for a bunch of participating BrisStyle shops (including Beckybean). So assuming you have ANY money left after being at the show (yeah - right!!) then you can make those crafty dollars go just a little further by spending them on some discounted BrisStyle items. Yay!

Second cookie browning nicely, is also Stitches and Craft related....Did you know that six BrisStyle members have stalls at the show, and many of us are also there volunteering and helping out fellow melbourne crafters? The lovely Helen has been interviewed about BrisStyle twice on the main stage so far, and also...


Jade and I have some bags in the Upcycled Fashion show (run by Wardrobe Refashion) held at the Stitches and Craft event.


Which of course we are mega excited about.


So keep a look out for any of these bags coming down the catwalk!!!!





OK, last cookie coming out of the oven - cooked to perfection of course! The May round of giveaways is now up on the BrisStyle blog. This month we are featuring the super sweet Katie of Kitty Boo Boo, and the bubbling loveliness of Benita from Bettsy Kingston. Their interviews are both fascinating peeks into their crafty worlds, and there are booties,


clips,

a badge


and some gorgeous bloomers/ruffle pants to be won.



Entries close on 25th May, so plenty of time to head on over, leave a comment, and try your luck!!

OK, time to hang up the apron, don a nice t-shirt and some sensible walking shoes. Because I'm off to the show today. Whheeeee!!!!!

XX
Bec

More Ladybird love!!!

Boy I'm a lucky ducky lately! Remember how last post I showed you the beautiful 'Lola Ladybird' that I won from Lin at Paper Doll?

Well only a week later I had a lovely email from Katie from Kitty Boo Boo that I had also won her Lady Beetle Clippies!!!! I think the universe is trying to tell me something....just not quite sure what yet. Be nice to Ladybirds?

I must admit though, I've always had a special affection for these gorgeous little creatures. As a kid I would build ladybird amusement parks under a tree in our backyard (ok, so maybe they were just piles of vine leaves and sticks, but in my juvenile imagination those leaves and sticks made for a pretty exciting place with slides and tunnels...those ladybirds were whoopin' it up in there I assure you). And when we first moved to Brisbane I built a big veggie garden that was my pride and joy, and I loved seeing ladybirds crawling all over my produce - eating all those nasty aphids!! If I ever found a stray ladybird I would promptly move it to one of my cucumber plants. I figured it would be doing me a favour, and I was introducing it to an all-you-can-eat buffet!


And of course, I can't possibly mention my ladybird love without referring to the love/hate relationship I have with my most extravagant Alannah Hill ladybird shoes (scroll to the bottom of this post to find out why).

So thank-you thank-you thank-you Katie, I love these little clippies, and the extra ones you threw in for Kate are very well loved too (what little girly-girl doesn't love love-hearts!!!).

If you're thinking it might be time to generate a little ladybird luck of your own, you might like to head over to some of these blogs for some more excellent giveaways. Isn't there always some fun and generous happenings going on in blogland - in fact, Katie herself is doing regular giveaways of sewing patterns at the moment, in a bid to destash a bit. So keep checking her blog for her pattern giveaways!!

Also, the March giveaways are now up on the BrisStyle blog, with two lovely members giving away some goods. Miriam from Bubba Chenille is giving away a pink and brown chenille zip bag,


and Christine from Little Diva Crafts is giving away a little girl's utility apron,


as well as a card/coin purse in gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.


And the girls Bel and Em from EmBelISH have just written their 100th post, so are now having a huge giveaway of a number of their gorgeous accessories.


Lastly, Hayley from REread is giving away a flying duck on her blog - and also offers a very entertaining read as well. She quacks me up (boom boom!!).


May the luck of the ladybird be with you all!

XXX

Nice things

So many nice things have happened in the last week or so.

Very chuffed to find a new Beckybean bag featured on Cuteable this week. Yay!

Also posted off my Pay-It-Forward gifts to Ingrid, Cam and Jess.


Some of these little suckers were included in the packs.


To see what else was sent off you can see the lovely post by Cam (CurlyPops), showing off her package of stuff here, and an equally lovely post by Jess (Button Beauty) about her parcel of stuff here.

Jade and I also completed another shop update of reversible handbags.


Rather than just making stuff randomly and uploading things as we make them, we have decided to do 'runs' of items and then do a heap of uploads at once. Much easier!


First run was market totes, and the latest was reversible handbags. Coming up will be clutches and coin purses like the 'pay-it-forward' ones above. SOOOO much fun doing this with someone, rather than on my own :)

Lastly, in other lovely last-week-news, I met up with the fabulous girls from the BrisStyle committee at the Pandemonium Cafe (actually it was the weekend before last, but I'm a bit behind :P), where fellow BrisStylette Tracy from Hey Harriet is exhibiting her work. Tracy couldn't make it, so instead left little magnetic artworks for everyone to take home.


Isn't is beautiful! The background paper is vintage pianola paper - cool huh! Tracy will be exhibiting her work there until 28 March although I do believe all her works have sold already, so you'll just have to content yourself with looking :) If you're a Brisbanite then check out the Pandemonium website for details on the cafe and how to get there. Fab food and coffee too!

Lastly, in case you hadn't noticed, I have added a button to the sidebar that shows the current giveaway happening on the BrisStyle blog. There will be giveaways by featured members each month on the blog so I figured that a permanent space featuring the current prize would be a good idea.


Currently the giveaway is a gorgeous lavender scented birdy from the very talented Rebecca of Edward and Lilly, so make sure you pop over and leave a comment to enter.

In other giveaway news, Ali from Charlie and Grace is also giving away a softie from her Etsy shop.


Her new softies are based on her four year old's drawings and are SOOOO gorgeous!

Oh, and Hayley from REread design has two gorgeous birdy brooches (made from old children's books) to give away on her blog too.


She is also having a 2 for 1 sale in her Etsy shop until Valentines day - woo hoo!

OK, that's it form me! Hope you all had a wonderful week also. Here's to another one :)

Cheers,
Bec
X

...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