Seen and Loved

I haven't had much time to hang out on blogs lately (my Google Reader has 1000+ unread posts showing!), but I thought I'd share some lovely things that caught my eye tonight during a quick race around the blogosphere.

Loving these quirky porcelain milk cartons by Hanne Rysgaard.

Seen at Cafe Cartolina.

Dreamy Polaroids by Mrs French.

Jamie Shelman Clementine Trio print.
Seen at Hey Susie.

Tiny Toadstool mittens... love those embroidered fingers.
Seen at Modish.

Gorgeous, gorgeous... Emma Lamb's crochet garland.
Seen at sfgirlbybay.

Fab retro swimwear by My Sister Pat.
Seen at The Lark.

Daintytime quilts that look like modern art.
Seen at dear ada.

Paper ornament at Essimar - just beautiful.

Breathtaking art by Kirra Jamison.
Seen at all the mountains.

The fabric business cards of Francesca Pasini - what an innovative idea!
Seen at oh hello friend.

I have lots of links to share to some lovely finds from Magnolia Square in both Sydney and Melbourne, but they'll have to wait until after Finders Keepers this week, as I'm still in full on making mode. I hope you had a lovely weekend... thanks for hanging around during the long breaks in transmission recently. Normal broadcasting will resume in the next week or so.

xx
Lisa
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Poor Neglected Blog

Hello friends... oh dear what a neglected blog... I can't even muster up the energy or time for a photo to accompany this post.

I had a great time at Magnolia Square last week and I'm off in the morning to Melbourne. I'll be at Magnolia Square in Malvern from Thursday to Saturday. I'm sure you don't want to hear me saying how busy I am again, so I'll just say hello for now and I'll catch you next week.
x
Lisa

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Magnolia Square

This week Magnolia Square will be stepping out in Sydney for only the second time. This pop up boutique retail event is famous in Melbourne and looks to be heading the same way here in Sydney.

Magnolia Square is being held in the beautiful Oaks Lawn Marquee at Royal Randwick Racecourse from Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st November. You can see the opening times here. For the serious shoppers there's a host of wonderful retailers (more than 80 if them including the red thread of course!) and on Saturday there'll be pony rides, cupcake decorating, and face painting for the little ones.

And... British Illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe of Belle & Boo fame will be at Magnolia Square on Saturday between 11 and 1 signing her gorgeous prints and talking about her wonderful work.

Image Source: Belle & Boo

Check out the Magnolia Square blog for some insights into the fabulous things you'll find at Randwick this week.

And please excuse this lazy blog post with minimal images... I'd love to have the time to showcase the work of some of the amazing creative types - designers, artists, crafters and foodies - who'll be participating the event, but I am so busy making things for my stall that I have zero time for anything else this week.

You can read my post about the first Magnolia Square in Sydney here. [You'll notice that I commented in that post about the 'pram jam' in the aisles... luckily this time the venue and aisles are bigger to avoid gridlock.]

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Monday BlogDay :: 52 Suburbs

Louise Hawson's wonderful blog 52 Suburbs follows her discovery, or rediscovery, of a Sydney suburb a week. Louise documents her weekend journeys with stunning photography.

Louise says:
I've lived in Sydney for over 30 years but I've never set foot in most of its 637 suburbs. Time to dust off the street directory, grab my camera and venture out into the great unknown. My plan? To nose around one new suburb every week for a year, in search of the beauty in the 'burb. Care to join me?

Yes please!




I love Louise's photography and I really enjoy seeing suburbs I know and love as well as the ones I've never been to. I know you'll enjoy 52 Suburbs whether you live here, have ever visited, or are a complete stranger to Sydney - go on over and have a look around.

Good news is that Louise has an Etsy shop in the making too.
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Beans?

A few weeks ago I showed you a little peek at some digital illustrations I was working on. This is what they were for...



They are sort of a cross between a pillow and a softie/doll and have patterned fabric on the back. And this time I've even done one for boys! I have been referring to them as Beans, or sometimes Sweetie Beans (to tie in with my Sweetie Petites), but I'm still up in the air about what to call them. What do you think? Any suggestions?

Edit: Oh I probably should add that there's a bit of lens distortion there... the pirate's face is perfectly centered, not falling off the side as it appears to be. Same with the others - their faces are in the middle!

The not-so-sharp photos of my prototypes were taken at last light yesterday (if you look closely you can see that I haven't even done the hand sewing to finish them off yet). If I can get some more made today I'll have them with me at Allie's Attic market tomorrow. Either way I'll definitely have them at Magnolia Square.

I'm signing off now for the weekend - mine will be full with markets and making - enjoy yours my friend!

x
Lisa

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Beautiful Black & Whites :: Natasha Milne

Image Source: Art2Muse

Natsha Milne's fine art photography is so simple yet just so beautiful. She is an Australian photographer who's spent 15 years in New York and has an impressive commercial portfolio to show for it. But it's these black & whites that make me gasp. See more in this series at Art2Muse.
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Inspiration :: Kevin Tran

Kevin Tran is the young Sydney artist and designer who created the current Finders Keepers poster. I was intrigued by his style and when I went to his website to find out more abut him I found these wonderful pieces.


At 23, Kevin has already had a solo exhibition, he is launching the first collection of his own fashion label this month, and hopes to record a solo CD next year... how much talent can one person have! He also has a blog, and you can read a great interview with him on the Finders Keepers blog.
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Christmas Tutorials

Christmas is sneaking up on us and I'm not sure that I'll have a chance to do any tutorials this year. I have a million ideas, as usual, but as you may have guessed not enough time. So, in case you weren't hanging out here last year I wanted to point you in the direction of my Paper Christmas Wreath, Advent Calendar, and Crafting With Kids Decorations.
Edit: they are now on my new blog, along with other great craft tutorials. Click here.
Have fun!

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My Little Bird :: An Update

Firstly let me say a big thanks to all of you who emailed me or commented on my post about my little bird which I was surprised to find on a card in kikki.K. I appreciate your concern and support, so thank you!

So... here's what happened... A couple of days after that post Kristina Karlsson, founder and owner of kikki.K, contacted me after a friend of hers alerted her to my blog post. A long story short, Kristina was very apologetic, open and willing to do the right thing by me as soon as she possibly could. She has been nothing short of wonderful and has compensated me for the use of my design.

I imagine (hope) that the designer responsible has learnt a valuable lesson.
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Monday Blogday :: Ric Rac

I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely, hilarious and kooky (in the best possible way) Jodie at The Stitches and Craft Show earlier this year. Jodie is a talented crafter of softies and her blog Ric Rac always makes me smile. Often I laugh out load.

Jodie creates stories which feature her softies in wonderful little sets.


A recent post titled Stayin' Alive is one of the funniest things I've seen online in a while. It started like this...

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk

I'm a woman's man

No time to talk.

Music loud and women warm,
I've been kicked around since I was born.

Go on over to see the rest... and try to tell me it's not laugh out loud funny.

Also don't miss Jodie's Etsy shop.
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Inspiration :: Amanda Vissel

Amanda Vissel inhabits a creative world of character toys that I know little about... but I know what I like. The Wood Labbit is a rare toy created by Amanda and below are some of the 10 that she recently customised as one-offs.



I'm also loving her paintings.

Image Source: Amanda Vissel
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Inspiration :: Moss

Using the '50s designs of Piero Fornasetti, and in collaboration with Fornasetti's son, Murray Moss has created a series of lovely retro looking silk scarves. I particularly love the unexpected use of the acrobats image.


The scarves are available from Moss (LA, NYC and online), along with other great examples of 20th Century design.


Aren't these Moss storefront shots great. I love the signage on the windows.

All images: Moss

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Market Hangover

I'm happy to say that Mathilda's Market on Sunday was a great success. There were hoards of shoppers waiting at the door at 9am and the frantic rush didn't slow for a couple of hours at least. Thanks to those of you who came by to say hello - some familiar faces and quite a few new ones.

Here's how my stall looked, including a shot of my little helper before she had her face painted by a nearby fairy and headed off to a birthday party. I did my best with the ugly concrete brick wall...


So now I have a market hangover. I worked like a maniac getting things done beforehand, including a 2am finish the night before, and only 4 hours sleep. Set up was from 7.30am, doors opened at 9. The day was hot and the stuffy heat in the hall was headache-inducing. Post market pack up is always a drag. I arrived home tired and starving to unload the car and be confronted by the huge mess I left when I fell into bed the night before. I slumped in a chair with a cup of tea and we all had an early night.

Today was spent tidying up, putting away and sorting out. I feel like I have a hangover. Does anyone else feel like that after having a market stall? Maybe I'm too old for this caper! I'd better get used to it or find a way to beat the hangover, because I have a busy schedule coming up in the next 6 weeks.

But... I'm really not complaining because I always enjoy markets - meeting people and chatting and getting feedback on my wares. And I was thrilled when I counted my inventory and realised just how successful the day had been.

I didn't get a chance to walk around and visit any of the other stalls, so I haven't got any photos to share, and I feel like I missed out somewhat. But on the upside I didn't spend any of my earnings, which is usually a danger when I find myself surrounded by beautiful handmade things.
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