Christmas Sign Off

Merry Christmas

and thank you for following me over the past year.

We have now moved into our temporary house and will stay here until our 'big' move mid January. I will be out of the office until this time...

However, you can catch me tonight at the Bris Style Markets in King George Square.

Wishing you all a fabulous festive season and see you in 2012.

Winner & More Giveaways

Thank you to everyone who entered my Christmas Giveaway. Thanks to Random.org we have a winner .....

Congratulations Anya from Anya Adores! Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Anya has a wonderfully written blog filled with many gorgeous images of her daily finds and treasures. Pop over for a visit, I know you will be inspired, and she would love to hear from you.

Now, I did promise another giveaway.....

The wonderful Romi from The Dreamy Tree is holding weekly giveaways until Christmas. This week you have a chance to win a little print from moi! It's easy to enter - just become a follower of hers and leave a comment!

Enjoy
Michelle

House Sales & Giveaway

Hi everyone, please excuse my absence but things have been a little frantic around here. We sold our house after the first open and it settles in a couple of weeks! EEEK!!! Hence I have been packing ..... panicking .... then packing some more. Luckily we have found somewhere to live until our tenants move out of our new home.

I am also preparing madly for the BrisStyle Twilight Market on the 16th December along with working at my new interior design job! Anyway, in order to celebrate the upcoming Christmas Twilight Market I thought I would have a little giveaway.

It's the time of year for Secret Santa at offices all around the world so I thought I would giveaway something that could be used in this realm ....


The winner will receive a set of Atlas Peg Magnets, a set of 10 Round Vintage Magnets, and some Christmas Gift Tags.

All you have to do to enter is ....
1. Become a follower
2. Leave a comment for one entry
3. Blog about it for another entry
4. Facebook/Tweet about if for another

Open to local and overseas followers.

A winner will be drawn on Monday, 5th December 2011
Good luck!
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

This weeks Designer, Rebecca from Edward & Lilly, creates beautiful hand made embroidery, homewares, soft toys and accessories.

Based in Brisbane, Rebecca works from her home studio creating designs with eco friendly materials. Her designs can be purchased through online stores at Etsy, Bluecaravan, and Madeit. She also sells via the BrisStyle Markets.

Edward & Lilly stocks a beautiful range of limited edition Christmas decorations with each design being made to order - I just adore the way they are filled with lavender!

Not only does Rebecca find time to hand make all of her gorgeous creations, but she helps run the Brisbane chapter of Brown Owls with Sam from Jetta's Nest, works tirelessly on the BrisStyle Etsy Street Team committee, and is a member of DUST, the Down Under Street Team and EtsyVeg, the perfect place to buy wares from vegan and vegetarian Etsy sellers. All this and she works during the day!!!

Some more of Edward and Lilly's gorgeous designs .....

hand embroidered tissue cosy

sausage dog brooch

puppy dog soft toy

I hope you enjoyed Edward & Lilly's beautiful designs.
Michelle

Finders Keepers

As Brisbane dwellers may know, Finders Keepers was on here over the weekend. I was lucky enough to be featured on the Etsy stand!

Instead of selling at the market, the fabulous team at Etsy Australia (Thanks K) had Apple Ipads on hand for anyone who wanted to look up a seller. What a fabulous idea - it saved us having to load heaps on stock onto the stand, and also meant customers were able to see all of our online products .... ahhh technology!!

Anyway, I'm very lucky as my little magnets do seem to get around, and I am thrilled at the response!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Michelle

Christmas Cards

In amongst the chaos of selling our house, I have found some time to start working on my Christmas Card line for this year.

I will be uploading some of the cards below into my store next week. They are so delightful - all the images have been hand cut from vintage Christmas books then adhered to recycled card.

I will also be putting some stamped cards and tags into the store over the coming weeks, along with preparing stock for the December BrisStyle Twilight Market.

Have you started your Christmas preparations yet?

Hope you all have a great weekend.
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

With Christmas looming ever so quickly, I thought you might like a peek at the Madeit Xmas Gift Guide.

This wonderful guide is full of beautiful gift giving ideas from some very talented Australian Designers ..... and all handmade - what could be better?!

Featuring everything from handbags to home decor, paper craft to jewelery it's a one stop shop for your Christmas gift giving. Here's a peek at some of the listings ...

Nellie Purses and Bags


ollieboll

Oscar & Matilda


Enjoy!
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

I received a beautiful card today from a client thanking me for helping with her bathroom design. Isn't it wonderful to receive a hand written note in the post?

This inspired today's designer looseleaf-paper. Looseleaf is a collection of artisan, made by hand designs in Brisbane. Through their beautiful stationery, they believe in encouraging the good old fashioned art of writing. With a focus on eco design their range also includes jewellery pieces & giftware.

They sell through their website and also through etsy.
Some of the gorgeous products available ...

writer's quote letter set

writer's quote journal - to love and be loved

fleurs hair buds

dew drops necklace

I hope their designs have inspired you to drop someone a line today.

Michelle

Yay Published!!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be published in the Home supplement of Sydney's The Daily Telegraph ..... "ahem" ...... well my Pink Heart Garland was anyway!
Yay!!!

Apparently my Atlas Peg Magnet's were in Melbourne's paper on Saturday too - will update you on this when I can.

Thanks Bluecaravan for all the wonderful avenues you provide for handmade products to gain momentum in the marketplace.

Hope you're having a great Monday.
Michelle

Salvation Jane

Salvation Jane pillow cases and sheets

I just adore this new range of homewares from Jane Hall.

Jane, who we all know most recently from her starring role in Neighbours, has just launched her online site Salvation Jane where she is not only providing a home decoration service, but also designing and selling gorgeous items for the home.

Jane's decorating philosophy is all about designing around what people already have, rather than starting from new. She believes that a person's home should reflect their individuality and personality. Something close to my heart too.

Her first homeware range includes bedlinen, scatter cushions, floor cushions and wall decals. They can all be purchased through her online store, and all at a reasonable price!

Salvation Jane pillow cases, sheets, and scatter cushions

Jane also has a blog where you can follow her on her journey.

I'm loving this range, and I'm sure you will love it too. You know how I feel about Australian made!

I hope you enjoy looking through Salvation Jane's site.
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

This week I am so very excited to share the gorgeous designs of Red Revival.

With designs made from wood and acrylic, Red Revival produce products with a hint of retro and a big nod to yesteryear. Their products include beautiful jewelry pendants, necklaces, earrings and brooches, along with home wares such as clocks, and wall art.

All of their products can be purchased through their online website or their etsy store.

Some of my favourite designs are ....

Doily Clock

Set of Three Wall Swallows

Earrings - Cross (stitch) My Heart Red and White

Cloud Brooch

Red Revival believe in using ethical and sustainable products in their design, they also support locally made supplies. Their studio is based in Brisbane, and they are also a part of the Bris-Style etsy street team.

You can also learn a little more about their designs by visiting their blog via their online store.

With Christmas just around the corner, be sure to add them to your favourites!! I know the Wall Swallows will be on my 'wish' list this year!

Happy Wednesday everyone.
Michelle

It's Time to Think Pink

As you may know October is breast cancer awareness month!

You may not know that some of the BrisStyle girls are donating a percentage of their profits to 'chicks in pink'.

So 'think pink' and join in the fight against this horrible disease. Just pop on over to BrisStyle and check out the crafty goods on offer. Simply click on the store you are interested in viewing.

Hope you all have a great weekend.
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

Hi everyone, today I wanted to share the wonderful designs of Alphabub with you.

Alphabub create beautiful handmade original designs for children including cards, canvases, prints, and bibs.

I just adore these educational and fun canvas prints ....

The alphabet print comes in a girls or boys version. Each canvas is beautifully packaged and would make a wonderful gift. These prints are available from their etsy store.

Thanks once again for supporting great Australian designers.

Michelle

Holidays , Craft and more

Hi everyone, with the holidays drawing to a close here in Queensland I can finally get back to some craft. Although we have had a wonderful break I must admit my business has suffered a little. Luckily I was able to keep up with my orders ..... just!!

Hope to put some work onto my website early next week. If you have the kids home on holidays, I hope you have had a safe and happy holiday. Can you believe we only have a term until the end of another school year??

Michelle

p.s. Have also been doing some interior design work for a company and have really really been enjoying it .... hopefully it will lead to some permanent work, and I can let you know some more details soon!

Huge Giveaway

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that there is a huge giveaway on Bespoke Zine's site. As part of the re-design of the website and the launch of issue four of Bespoke magazine Jess is doing a large giveaway with over 25 prizes to be won!!! Yippee!!!

I am lucky enough to be involved in this wonderful giveaway too. There are many gorgeous prizes to be won from many talented Australian designers, and it's really easy to enter.

Head on over to Bespoke now to enter!!

Enjoy
Michelle

A Lovely Surprise

A friend of mine gave me this wonderful art print by Kerri Shipp of Driftwood Interiors as a little thank you for helping her out with something - what a wonderful surprise! I have always loved Kerri's work and am going to enjoy hanging one of her Feather Prints on my wall - she is so very talented.

To see all of Kerri's gorgeous work head over to her etsy store.

Isn't it lovely to receive an unexpected gift! Thanks again SD for your generosity - as you know I love being able to help out ..... it's enough to know I can!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

Today's designs are all about those wonderful designers on Madeit. Click on this link and you will be taken over to Seller and Staff Picks - keep refreshing the screen by clicking the 'picks' button to see more, then simply click on the seller you are interested in! As you may see - I was lucky enough to make the cut!

We have such wonderfully talented designers here in Australia and Madeit is one place that many of them showcase their wares. For those of you not familiar, madeit was started in 2007 and is an e-commerce store solely for handmade goods. It is an online buying and selling destination which showcases Australia's most creative, undiscovered art, design & craft talent.

With many wonderful categories such as fashion, art, homewares, accessories, stationery, toys, children and babies clothing, there is something for everyone.

Happy browsing and shopping!
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

Spring has finally sprung and it's a beautiful day here in Brisbane. To celebrate I have chosen to showcase the beautiful fruity spring designs of Whizzbangle.

Bronwen makes stackable sets of bangles out of resin in bold colours that can clash or co-ordinate as you would like! She also makes pendants, bowls and gift tags in an array of gorgeous colours.

There are so many wonderful designs to choose from, here are just a few of my favourites from Whizzbangle's etsy store.....


Along with resin Bronwen creates unique pieces using a combination of pigments, Pearl-ex powders and lately, spice powders. With future experimentation, Bronwen hopes to embed items such as papers, fabric, her much loved Birkenstocks, beads and coffee beans. Don't you just love how creative some of these designers are?

If you would like to add a little colour into your spring, and see Bronwen's designs, you can catch up with her at the BrisStyle Mother and Child Markets on the 8th of October in Racecourse Road, Hamilton. Like her on facebook to keep up to date with her latest creations.

Enjoy
Michelle

New Artwork

Loving that I am finally able to get back to doing some artwork. Just listed this framed 'Birds' artwork on my website's store.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Michelle

I'm Back & Wednesday Wicked Design

Hi everyone, finally I'm back working in my business and feel ready to start blogging again - look out I'll be visiting you all soon!

This weeks designer is a friend of mine who has finally taken her beautiful designs out of her studio and into her online stores. 4 Little Frogs produces gorgeous hand-stitched designs onto linen. Each design is meticulously cross stitched with beautiful thread and either mounted into frames or onto card.

I love that she not only caters for our little girls, but that she has something for the boys too. We all know how hard it is to find gorgeous art for the boys!

Some of gorgeous designs from her madeit and
etsy stores ....

Oh I do admire anyone that can sew in any shape
or form ........ the hours that must go into all these beautiful designs!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day.
Michelle

Short Break

time zone trekker

We are off for a short break to Noosa - just for the rest of the week. I'm looking forward to it as I need to have a rest from preparing our house for sale!

I will be glad when all this house buying and selling is over - it's exhausting. I feel like I have been doing nothing else. When all returns to 'normal' around here I will be back into blogging - I will have a lot to catch up on. Thanks for bearing with me!

Hope you are all having a great week. Catch you next week.
Michelle

Wednesday Wicked Design

Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments on my magazine debut. I am still very excited about it - so thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave your thoughts.

This weeks designer is Jennifer Gifford who is one of Brisbane's most well regarded Designer/Dressmakers. Jennifer has almost 10 years experience in the Bridal industry and has worked for some of very well regarded Bridal Companies - including some names that many of you (especially those from Brisbane) will recognise - Wendy Makin, Kym Scott Couture and BiBowden Bridal Designs.

Jennifer has an exquisite ready to wear collection available for purchase through her etsy store. Each design can be ordered as shown or made to measure. I have put together some of my favourites .....

Designing stunning Bridal and Formal Gowns, Jennifer offers a full range of services from basic alterations to a complete design and dressmaking package. She is currently clearing out her sample gowns to make room for her new collection coming toward the end of the year. So, it's a great time to check out her collection in her online store.

With an emphasis on affordability and quality of design, Jennifer will be able to design you the perfect gown for your upcoming event. She can be contacted on her website.

I Hope you enjoy looking at her collection!
Michelle