Weekly round-up - blogtoberfest day 7

It's been a wet old week, so no excursions, expeditions or the like, no bushwalks or bikerides : (
Instead I visited a lovely new market in my neck of the woods, all handmade delights.
The Bluebird Market  is held at Leura the first Saturday in the month.

It looks sunny here, but it rained and then hailed a bit.
Still all the stallholders and customers seemed to be happy and there was lovely music too.

market photos by butterflyzee face painting and photography

For myself I did a spot of recycling, reusing and renovating!

This 

 and this -

became this plus more!
(I'll save that for another blog!)

Then I had stuff to get ready for the Leura Village Fair.
The craft co-operative I belong to (The Nook) has a promotion during the festival - customers spend $30 and get a bag with our handmadde goodies in.

We spent a day stamping the calico bags, and collecting all the items and stuffing the bags.

Cups of tea and lunch was also involved.
Here are the stuffed bags waiting to find a new home!

And I'm getting ready to have a stall at the 2 day festival this weekend....so I'd better get on with it!

You can find blogtoberfest participants here.

Blogtoberfest giveaways are here.

And my giveaway is here!

My Creative Space - blogtoberfest day 6

Hi and how are all the crafty creators today?

I've been busy making lots of new stock for the start of the spring fair season.

I wanted to have a bit of a floral/nature/birdie theme so I made some pendants with some images that I bought ages ago.

One of them I made into a necklace with a silver branch component but the others....well that's a surprise!

I also made some owly branch necklaces with brass findings.

You can find more creative spaces here.

You can find blogtoberfest participants here.

Blogtoberfest giveaways are here.

And my giveaway is here!

Wordless Wednesday - blogtoberfest day 5

Remember to leave a comment on any post to take part in the giveaway .

Blogtoberfest participant list can be found here.

Blogtoberfest giveaways can be found here.

A giveaway! blogtoberfest day 4

Today is giveaway day! yay!

I'll put together a little package consisting of -

1. One of Boos Tees fabric brooches chosen at random.

2. A little fabric business card holder that I made from some fabric printed by the wonderful Ruby Victoria.
I'm a little bit of a fan of Ruby Victoria! Can you tell? I also featured her tea cup print yesterday!

I have a tutorial almost ready about how to make these little fabric pouches - look out, I'll publish it sometime this month.

3. A pair of earrings again chosen at random from my planettreasures shop.

What do you need to do?
Just leave a comment here or on any post this week and include how I can contact you should you win.

This giveaway will finish next Tuesday 11th October when I will post a new giveaway.

Want to check out more blogtoberfest blogs or join in?
Pop over to {tinniegirl}'s blog.

Interested in more giveaways?
Then check out CurlyPops blog.

Mad about teacups - blogtoberfest day 3

I like tea and all things tea-ish!
I especially like tea cups even though I never really use them at home.

When I was thinking about blogging about tea cups today the lovely Samara of maddabling posted a blog that included this awesome tea cup shop on etsy, DadsTeacups.

I found many faves there but am particulary fond of this fruity little one -

Aynsley tea cup from DadsTeacups

I also love tea cup art -

turquoise teacup stack by rubyvictor

Here are some fine works by Aussie artists and designers.

time for tea card by RedLetterStudio

I dont drink tea print by aussiepatches

teacup print by dspdavey

Now if I did have a tea cup collection I'd want to display them, maybe like this -

tea cup display by penelope waits

or this -

found on pinterest

I also love the many things you can create using teacups -

Cake stands -

cake stands by highteaforalice

jewellery storage -

jewellery storage

lights -

tea cup lights by bonasera

clock -

found on pinterest from sweet paul

You can use them as planters -

succulent garden from epherielldesigns

Of course you could make your own paper mache cups.

How amazing are they? Check out the tutorial!

paper mache tea cups by ann wood

And finally I scourd my cupboards for some teacups.
You see I'm really a mug of tea girl and have a mighty collection of mugs from my travels, but realise I am sadly lacking in the pretty cup department.
However I found these in my mum's china cabinet, which my daughter has inherited.

They are family heirlooms, but I'm ashamed to say I know nothing of their history.

This on has "Japan" stamped on the bottom.

This set is Royal Worcester and quite old by the look of the design.
Look how fine and fragile the handle is.

Do you have family heirlooms?
What about teacups? Are you a tea cup fan too?

Things to blog about - 7 things Sunday

Often I hear people say "I'd love to have a blog but I don't know what to write about" or "I did have a blog but I couldn't keep it up."

Blogging does require some thought and commmitment and, sure, it isnt an activity for everyone.
And I guess the hardest thing is getting inspiration, keeping you mojo going, being interesting and consistent.
I must admit I'm not the most consistent blogger, a bit of a sporradic poster, but I do enjoy it and wish I was a faster typist!

Anyway if you are stuck for ideas here are a few hints.


1. If you make stuff, talk about what you make and how.
You can talk about your latest creations.
Or design inspiration.
Or "how to" / tutorial.

2. Feature other artists or designers.
Either as an interview style article or an overview of what they do.
For example I have a Wednesday wishlist, it's a quick, simple way to showcase othher designers.

create joy by sarahjanestudios

3. Write about your hobbies.
Love reading or walking or cooking or collecting stamps.

4. Have a giveaway. Everybody loves a freebie and the chance to win something.
You could also host giveaways for other people, lots of opportunities for networking there.

5. Have a wordless day - just post a photo - easy-peasy!

6. Join in on a special posting day. Lots of bloggers host a day of the week postig eg My creative space on Thusdays or What you working on Wednesday.
Or you could join in with a meme. A what?
You can find out more here. But basically it's a question or list of questions that you answer and that you then post on your blog.

7. Blog about your life.
Films you have seen, books you have read, restaurants you have been to, places you have travelled.

There are many more ideas, some take more effort and time than others, but once you start you will never be short of ideas.

What are your favorite things to blog about?
What do you love reading about on other people's blogs?

Blogtoberfest

Hi! and welcome to October and you know what that means don't you?

Blogtoberfest!




"What?!" you ask!

Well - blogtoberfest is a month long festival of blogging hosted by tinniegirl.

We'll try very hard to blog every day and visit other people's blogs and revitalise and refresh our blogging mojos!

Sounds like fun doesn't it?

So far there are 90 bloggers signed up to join in, so if you'd like to join in too pop on over here.

Some bloggers are having giveaways which you can find at CurlyPop's blog.

What have I got planned?

I'll be showing you some of my creations and some places I visit.
I'll share some tutorials with you and continue my occassional series of selling ideas.
I'll be having some Wednesday wishlists and taking part in Our creative spaces on Thursdays.

Is there anything else you'd like to see?

How about a lacey installation hanging about above a Sydney street?
I think it gets lit up at night and is probably pretty nice then. During the day it just looked like a fishing net!

Here is the sandwich I had whilst inspecting said fishing net!
Yum! Veggie sandwich on a fresh wholemeal roll from the sandwich shop behind Sydney Town Hall.