Random acts of craftiness - bits of DIY from around the webs.

There are so many creative and generous people on the interwebs and I am in awe of them and the stuff that they produce.

One of my favorite creative peeps has this ultra-sweet tutorial on her blog - grrl+dog.
I could see a whole swag of these being made for all the family.

by grrl+dog

How about some origami christmas trees?
Aren't they tres chic?
First seen posted by my friend Michelle on instagram, but I couldn't follow her link to the instructions, so instead I found this tutorial -

on mylifebox

While on the subject of paper....why not print your own christmas cards (if you haven't already sent them. I know I haven't!)
But, wait, you can use these already designed for you and you ca just doenload them and print them yourself.
How easy is that?
We can thank Delia Creates for them.

by Delia Creates

These are seriously cute -

from cake central

Upside-down gingerbread men become reindeer!
Oh deer!

You know I just love printables, and I marvel at the generosity of people who create FREE printables. They are awesome!

Look at this! Printable gift wrap!
Plus ideas on how to use it - really, there are some swell ideas!

from my poppet

How are all your Christmas preps going?
Er, um, better than mine I hope.

Amelia Herbertson - an Orange Friday Friend.

I'm in love.....with Amelia Herbertson's art!
Seriously how sweet is it?
And she is the sweetest person too.....read on.....

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Amelia Herbertson and I am an artist living in Orange in regional NSW, Australia.
I like to paint with watercolour and gouache, as well as use fine tipped ink pens to create intricately detailed patterns. 
I turn my artworks into art prints, greeting cards and gift tags. 
I am also a print maker, and have a range of bold colourful lino prints and lino printed greeting cards.


Who or what inspire you?
 I am inspires by old children's books and have a large collection of them. I scour book sales and op shops for them and my favorites are from the 1950's and 60's. I love the style and simplicity of the illustrations. I also have drawers and boxes full of paper ephemera - postage stamps, scraps of vintage gift wrap and wall paper which I also love to look through for inspiration. 

Your signature or favorite item.
My "Big Bird" lino print.
It's my largest print and has been my biggest sellers over the years. I really love that design and I think it is probably the most recognisable of my designs.

What do you most enjoy doing?

I most enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and a fresh sheet of paper and my paintbrush. 

I like to get lost in my thoughts and lose track of time. 
I don’t get to do this as often as I would like, as I have to take care of all the other aspects of running my tiny business.

How did you start along this road? 

I have always been creative and loved to make my own greeting cards when I was a kid.
I have never had a proper 9 - 5 job and this just seemed like a natural progression.
Years ago, when I was still at school and first discovered design blogs, I came across the work of artists who sold their work on a (then) little webite called Etsy, and I thought "I want to do that." Seeing them doing it made the possibility of being an artist seem more available to me.
I began drawing in a sketchbook every chance I could and learning as I went.
It took me a long time to gather the courage to show anyone my work.

5 things you would say to other new artists/crafters/home businesses.

  1. Work hard and keep practicing. Make new things as much as you can and keep at it. It can seem daunting at first but just do a little bit everyday and you will get there.

       2.Make mistakes. Don’t be afraid of failure. You will make mistakes (it won’t be the end of the world) and you will learn from them. Every single artist/maker/business owner you admire has made plenty of mistakes to get where they are.

3     3. Be true to yourself. Don’t listen to others who try to put you down for being brave enough to take a risk and try something that goes against the conventional way of making a living. Prove them wrong!

4     4. Don’t give up. You will want to give up many times but remember that you will have always have ups and downs and things will get better again.

            5. Have fun. The most important thing to remember is that you are doing this because you love it, so remember not to get bogged down in the little things and enjoy it! 

I regularly (well, twice a year) catch up with Amelia at the Millthorpe Markets and her stall always look so fabulously enticing.

You can find her here -
www.ameliaherbertson.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmeliaHerbertson

https://www.facebook.com/AmeliaHerbertsonArt

ps. I apologise for the font-strangeness and the uneven layout but I'm having all sorts of problems with my blog today. I feel like I'm shouting a bit and I'll try and fix it up later.

Making my own Christmas cards? And other stuff - My creative space

Every year I say the same thing "this year I will make my own christmas cards"!

And do I?
um, no!
Except for the year I was learning calligraphy and I wrote in beautiful green and red lettering on my cards.

But this year will be different!
Oh, yes it will - because I found these cute stamps at the Museum of Contemporary Art the other day.
I did "um" and "ah" a bit, because they were a bit spendy, but they have such a nice handmade look to them, nice and simple and I think I'll be inspired to actually use them.

Do you make your own Christmas cards?

I also got into a frenzy of necklace making because I have a market this weekend.

I'm joining in with My Creative Space on Kidspot.
If you don't join in already you should go and have a look because it's full of lovely inspiration, it's so nice to see what other crafty peeps have been up to.

Friday Finds - red and rich and ravishing!

This is the first of my Friday finds posts - I'm not quite sure what will appear here every week, could be things I have found on-line or things I have found in real life.

As a quickie this week I have visited my recent faves on etsy and couldnt go past this luscious vintage red coat.
It's getting to that time of year when it's possible to wear such items downunder - yes, all you non-aussies, it does get cold in parts of Australia.

I love the fabulousness of the hood, don't you?
I'd love to be little red riding hood in this!

And just a couple of clicks away I found this wonderful red window, looking very mysterious.
Why is it slightly ajar?
Is somebody opening or closing it?
Who is behind it.

And the fancy red frame sets it off really well.

And lastly - such sweet little lino prints of red-breasted robin.
I love that they are printed on pages from old books and they have colourful envelopes - just perfect!

Have you found anything surprising, lovely or just something you'd like to share?

What have I been up to this week?

 You know how it sometimes seems that a whole week has gone past and you feel like you have acheived nothing?

Then you look back and - why, yes! you have got stuff done, been places, talked to people!

So this week was a bit like that - and here is what I found when I looked back.

 We went for a walk at Katoomba, which involved descending some steps (as is the way with the Blue Mountains!).
Because of all the rain lately the waterfalls were in full flow - very impressive!

 Just along the bottom of the cliff was a sculpture exhibition - a bit like a mini version of the sculptures by the sea in sydney, but these were sculptures in the bush!

A couple of my favorites - wombats -

 and flowers -

 There were some very abstract ones and the best part is reading the artists statements form the guide book!

I also made stuff - some cards for The Nook @ Leura as I mentioned in my creative space post yesterday.
Here are some of the finished products.

And I was thrilled to have found a source of dominos for my domino brooches.
These are a little smaller than the previous ones, but they are that lovely ivory colour, and I think that perhaps they are a better size for a brooch.

How has your week been? Productive? or frustrating?

My creative space

I've been playing with paper and stamps and glue! - making some cards.

Of course I had to buy some new stamps : )

How about you?
Have you been creating? Buying new supplies?

If you'd like to join in with our creative spaces or have a peek at others pop on over here.

How to spend a rainy afternoon

stamping, cutting, punching and swapping brooches onto some new display cards -


What do you think?

How do you while away a wet afternoon?

and now for something completely different

As a change from beading and knitting, I drew some cards in the style of BoosTees tshirts.



What I'm wondering is - should I add a caption or something?
For example "penguin" or "oliver owl"?

What do you think?

Monday treasury

Many thanks to percivalroad for including my pale silver grey earrings in this pretty treasury full of Australian crafters.



Percivalroad's shop is full of beautiful handmade and collage cards and gift tags.
They are truly unique.

These are my favorites at the moment -

cafe noir - 4 beautiful gift tags

Please go and visit percivalroad!