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

Hello New Year. Nice to meet you!

The start of a new year is such a lovely time. Full of promise. A clean slate. All that. And yet I still haven't said a bloggy goodbye to 2008 yet. I guess there's really no such thing as a completely clean slate - there will always be something on the 'to do' list to be carried over to the next day. Or the next year, as the case may be.

Christmas present from Matt - phone brooch by Betty Jo. Can't tell you how much I LOVE this.

So goodbye 2008. You were great. You were the year I decided to stop thinking and start doing. I have a great habit of thinking myself out of doing things. And last year I just stopped. And great things happened. I met some truly wonderful people, I had fun making stuff. I did my first market and my first exhibition, and got my first bit of media attention. In addition, I had lots of fun with my family, made some great birthday cakes and yummy treats, and had lots of big extended family get-togethers.

And the ending of the year was no disappointment either. During our Melbourne holiday I was lucky to finally meet Sherrin from Starashan in person, and she was every bit as nice, interesting and lovely to talk to in person as she is online. Thank-you Sherrin, I had such a fabulous time wondering around Fitzroy with you. Very cool that I recognised you by the brooch you were wearing, and that you recognised this gorgeous piece of fabric you sent me so long ago.


I totally love the purse I bought from Meet Me at Mikes (by Haruka)


and really, it was so nice to see Mikes in person, when I have been reading about it for so long.


Our Christmas was a fantastic affair with the Melbourne contingent of the extended family, and we even managed a ride on Puffing Billy on New Year's Day.


The weather could have been a little kinder (it was FREEZING) but it was a lovely day out.


And I was SO glad that it was me who was the designated driver at the New Year's Eve BBQ we attended the night before (even though at the time I was not so happy about it). Somehow I think riding on a stinky steam train in the freezing cold with a hangover might have been a less than smashing experience!

Lastly, I'm leave you my favourite pic of the holidays. Taken on Christmas day. Kate in one of the many dress-up costumes she received, and desperately trying to ride her older cousin's bike.....of course she had to ride it...it had streamers, and it was PINK!!!


Looking forward now to settling into the new year. It will be a whole new world with Lee starting Kindy, BrisStyle really starting to happen, and (hopefully) my sister joining me in my bag making adventures. Whheeeee what fun. Bring it on!

...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

Makin' merry at the market!!!

Only two sleeps until my first ever market. Eeeeekkkk!!!! I think I'm pretty organised, but I guess I won't really know until I get there and get into it.


Hopefully it will be a fun day. In fact, who am I kidding, of course it will be fun. It will be a market where I actually know all the stall holders, so of course it will be fun.


And there will also be live music (which will be nice), and yummy food, and strong coffee (which will be essential), and I will also have my lovely sister helping me, so hopefully lots of opportunities to shop shop shop as well!!!


If you're in Brisbane I'd love it if you stopped by and said hi!! Here's the details:

BrisStyle Christmas Markets
Saturday 13th December
9am - 4 pm
Hamilton Hall, cnr Racecourse Rd and Rossiter Pde, Hamilton
More info: http://brisstyle.blogspot.com



Oh, and if anyone has any last minute market advice for a complete market novice then I would LOVE to hear it!!!! OK, now I'd better get off this computer and back to making up swing tags....wwwhhheeeeee!!!!!!!

Secret Santa Elf Business

Yes, I've been giggling madly and working furiously and basically doing an all round impersonation of what I imagine one of Santa's elves to be like. Which is why I've been absent from blogland lately. But now it has all come together, I'd like to bring your attention to:

THE BIGGEST BLOG GIVEAWAY EVER!!!!!

Yes, there's been good reason for being away folks!

The giveaway is being run by BrisStyle, a Brisbane based Etsy Street team that I belong to. And I have been madly collecting goodies, making lists (don't worry, I've been checking them twice) and doing lots of other associated elfy things :P

Basically, as part of a big pre-Christmas promotional exercise, we at BrisStyle have put together 3 huge gift packs of handmade goodies from 17 of our members. Each pack is valued at over US $100, and is chockers full of great gifts including jewellery, softies, accessories, bags and artworks.

So what are you doing here? Get thee to the BrisStyle blog - you may win something very cool, and you'll make me feel like I've been a good little elf :P

Looking forward to taking off my pointy hat off now, and catching up with everyone around the bloggy traps again!

Cheers,
Bec

Christmas day snapshots

Things have been crazy busy - in a good way. So here's a few snapshots of our Christmas day. Unfortunately I was a little too distracted to remember to take many photos (well, that's not so true; I took lots of family photos, just not many bloggy photos).


I made these hors d'oeuvres call Ma Hor, which means 'galloping horses' in Thai. The recipe is from David Thompson's recipe book, "thai food" and is actually very easy, as long as you have access to an Asian supermarket (we are lucky enough to be close to many). It is basically a minced pork, chicken and prawn paste served on pineapple and mandarin (although I only did pineapple as mandarins are not in season here at the moment). The aim of these is to stimulate and tease the palate, in readiness for the meal to follow (can you tell I took that straight from the book? he he). If anyone would like the recipe just let me know and I will post it.


My brother-in-law (the fantastic chef I have previously talked about) did, among many things, an organic turkey baked in a salt crust. It was fantastic!


It took a while to crack into though...


And there it is - I know it looks a little strange sitting there in the bottom of its crust, but boy was it yum (sorry to any vegetarians out there - hope I haven't grossed anyone out!)


By the time I took this picture of my plate I'd had a few glasses of wine.....hence the lack of presentation....but here we have turkey, ham, wagyu beef (courtesy of Kym, again), bbq'd prawns, roast veggies, and three types of salad!!! This was followed by a Christmas pudding made by mum, and an eggnog creme brulee tart, made by my sister.


After lying about for a bit, trying to digest such a huge meal, we then went out for some exercise and had some fun kite flying.


This kite looked very impressive...


...but really didn't fly so well.

All in all a wonderful Christmas, and I feel a little overwhelmed at just how much fun, food and good cheer was had. We had sixteen people (all extended family) here for the whole day, and it was just so enjoyable.

Looking forward now to the new year. Here's to good health, good food, good company, and of course, gratefulness.

Two in one day!!!!!!

My poor computer is going into hospital tomorrow, so in preparation for Internet withdrawals, I am posting twice today. Hopefully it will come back the same day, all fixed, with a new battery.....but I fear it won't...

The pic above is actually the detail on a bag I made some time ago. It is a gift I haven't given yet, but I'm pretty sure I can show it now and won't give it away. Anyway, here is the whole bag:


This bag is made entirely out of Op-Shop finds. The red cord and green knit fabric were just some remnants I found, and the green circle fabric was a pillowcase.

And here is some more of what I have been doing lately, and what I am about to start working on:

Another new bag - a gift for someone else.




Outside of bag is Amy Butler fabric from the Lotus range. Trim and inside is grey remnant fabric found in an Op Shop, and as always, buttons from my collection. The red pocket came from an old pillowcase (sounds romantic eh?).

Also been at the kiddie craft again. Lee made this Christmas decoration for his Grandma. I found the wooden shape at Bunnings, of all places. They had lots of cool stuff like this, letters, flowers etc. Good for keeping a three year old (and a thirty-four year old) occupied.


And lastly, I found this sweet little dress in an Op Shop on the weekend.


How great is this fabric! I was actually glad to find the top of it stained, as I would have found it really hard to justify cutting it up for a bag (and Kate probably won't fit into it until she is twelve - and will so not want to be wearing a dress like this...:P)

Well, in case it's a long time between posts (I've got everything crossed...my poor computer, I miss you already...) take care everyone, and may your own computers live long and fruitful lives!

Christmas is coming...

...and so is the craft. Lee and I made this wreath while Kate was sleeping today. I let him loose with my pile of fabric scraps and some glue, and he pasted them all onto a paper plate that I'd cut a hole out of (the bow and tassels were my addition - I couldn't help myself ;P). We are both really happy with it, and it's hanging in our entrance now. Very festive! I got the idea from the blog V's World, which has fantastic ideas for fun activities to do with children. Oh, and can you spot the one incongruous addition to the wreath? Lee insisted it be there - look closely ;P

And of course a post wouldn't be complete without some more bags to show off. So here's the latest. One for my Aunty Leanne.


The outside of the bag is made from Heather Bailey fabric from her Freshcut range, as well as some lovely japanese quilting fabric from Spotlight. The inner is black fabric remnant found in an Op Shop. I think my sewing is actually getting better. I was quite happy with this stitching. And I LOVE this button. It was very satisfying to sew it on.


Also, another bag for mum. This one was designed so that she can sling it across her shoulders and have two hands free when she is out with the kids.


And I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me bang on about buttons. But again, I REALLY love this button.


It is one of only two of this kind from my Grandma's button tin, has a beautiful heavy weight to it, and is glass (makes a lovely noise when chinked against other glass buttons). It went so well with the black and white fabric (Faye Burgos design for Marcus Brothers Textiles). The peacock coloured fabric was just a remnant found in an Op Shop. It's a lovely fine cord - very tactile. Anyway, I know it's silly, but I'm very very glad this button went on a bag for my mum. To me, it is a special button, and I'm glad it went on a bag for a special person. There's a nice synchronicity to that...