You might remember that FOREVER ago, I helped out at the Dear Fii incubator stall at the Brisbane Stitches and Craft show. Which was a fantastic experience. It was so wonderful to finally meet the warm and friendly Fi in person, and I was also lucky enough to be right next door to the wonderful Justine from MixTape Zine, who was also just as lovely in real life as she is on her blog :)
Well shortly after this, I received a lovely package in the mail from Fi, who gave me this incredibly gorgeous zip purse to say thanks for the help!
I tell you, Fi's workmanship is really second to none, and her attention to detail is just amazing. I love the embroidery on this pouch, which blends so seamlessly into the design that at first it seems like part of the fabric until you look closely.
No small wonder then that Fi's designs have been featured in the current issue of Better Homes and Gardens. So if you missed out on her fabulous button bracelet tutorial at the Stitches and Craft show, you can now get all the instructions from the mag!!! Congrats Fi, you really do deserve it :)
Second lovely item in the mail, is the pink love brooch shown in this pic below. It is a stunning Sophie Isabel Designs creation, and the reason I am only posting this now, is that I actually won this brooch shortly after Mother's Day, so I gave the brooch to Mum, and I was so excited about giving it to her that I forgot to take a photo.
So I keep meaning to remember to take my camera round to mum's place each time I go there. And of course I keep forgetting.....then the light bulb finally went on and I tracked down this photo of Sophie's blog. I'm sure you are probably already aware of the most gorgeous brooches Sophie makes (and she happily does custom orders too!!) but I can tell you now that they are even more gorgeous in real life. And most importantly, my mum loves it. Thank-you so much Sophie :)
Lastly, this little bundle of happiness arrived on my doorstep only last week, and was completely unexpected and out of the blue. When I saw the address on the back belonging to Cathy from Tinnie Girl, I was quite perplexed....had I been sleep-shopping on Etsy? (good god can you imagine???:O).
Then I opened the card, and this is what it said:
"Dear Bec, I was lucky enough to come across these vintage button samples and thought you would enjoy them also. Just sharing the love, Cathy XXX"
Talk about brightening up my day. Not only because the buttons (and the piece of fabric she also included were absolutely gorgeous, but just the generosity and thoughtfulness behind the action was so incredibly touching. Thank-you so much! XXX
So what to do after being the recipient of all this lovely blogger generosity? Why, to start planning a giveaway of my own, of course! At the moment, Jade and I are flat-knacker preparing for the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market that is on next Saturday (plug plug!!), but if you check back after that we just may be planning a little double Beckybean giveaway....will say no more for now. And hopefully that will bring my karma up to 'even steven', because receiving is wonderful, but only when it's balanced by the giving :)
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
XX
Bec
PS. I think I will be on TV tonight. Was debating about whether to mention it or not, as I'm getting really scared I'm going to look or sound like a bit of a dork...but ah well. What's a bit of dorkiness between friends eh? If you're in QLD, it's The Great South East at 5.30pm, and there will be other BrisStylers featured too. I don't think it screens in other states though.
