Etsy Meet-Up ~ paint-a-plate-fun!!

Last week I went to an Sydney Etsy Team meet-up at a really cool studio called Eagle Soup!

There were about 30 crafty types there and thanks to Kirsteene Phelan we were armed with ceramic drawing pens, all we had to do was bring a plate (or other ceramic receptacle of our choosing!!)

Kit the team leader and Katy had made lots of treats for us, including delicious heart-shaped vegie quiches, a gingerbread house and gingerbread folk. Yum!

Katy (left) and Kit

my plate part way through (I'll post a finished pic later - put my plates in a "safe" place & can't find them admidst the Crimbo chaos!!)

me - doing what I love best ~ being a crafty pixie!!

There were some great designs from talented folk looksee:

It was lots of fun :)

There were even goodie bags when we left!

love,
Sally xox

Monday Marvellous - Remember Remember...

... the 5th November!

image by LD Photography

In my homeland of England we celebrate Bonfire Night with the historical tradition of throwing a Guy Fawkes effigy (scare-crow-type figure) on the bonfire, eating warming food such as sausages, Chili-Con-Carne and baked potatoes and sipping soup or hot chocolate, whilst "ooo-ing" and "aaah-ing" at fireworks!

I am therefore taking a look at fireworks inspired finds for my Monday Marvellous Etsy picks this week!

vintage beaded belt

fireworks necklace

hand dyed ribbon

vintage granny square throw

vintage music skirt

vintage rainbow studded shoes

flower hair-clip

Givenchy fireworks blouse

vintage bead necklace

vintage painted sandals

fireworks {image} by LD Photography

Have a great week!

    
Love,
Sally x0x

It's that time again... the ABCD (Winter) meet-up is coming soon...VERY soon!

This Thursday the SYDNEY ABCD meet-up will take place...........

ABCD (Artists + Bloggers + Crafters + Designers) which was co-founded by Steph Bond  from Bondville and Kim Wallace from Udessi, hold quarterly meetups as a chance for art, design and craft bloggers to get out from behind their computers and meet face-to-face at a casual get-together. 
Steph says "The meet-ups have no set structure, and are designed to be an informal gathering at a bar or cafe on a Thursday evening. ABCD Meetups have resulted in new friendships and some great design collaborations!"

If you want to come along to any meet-ups, you simply need to RSVP before the event date, and are given a name badge at the meet-up. Attendees are also given the opportunity to share something with the other participants in an ABCD goodie bag. This a more effective, and more funway to help others remember you! 


Last time I made some paper embellishments, and put them in a bag, with a postcard, my card and a sweetie! :)

As I said above, the next ABCD Meetup will be in Sydney, THIS Thursday { 30th June }, hosted by Steph Bond Hutkin from Bondville and Lisa Tilse from the red thread. 

I'm looking forward to having a catch-up with creative people, some I met last time, and some new faces - it doesn't happen for me very often these days. I miss it. (In fact with two small kids, and my family 12,000 miles or so away, I don't even get out that much at all!!!)


I'll let you know how it goes, and give you a peek in the goodie bag!!


In the meantime, I'd better decide what I shall be contributing to the goodie bags! hmmm......??!


Sally xox

2010 a Retrospective - Etsy, Family, friends... and Sculptures By The Sea!...

I was thinking about last year and all the things I did (and didn't do).
The year began with my Etsy shop only being a few months old, I built it up a bit, and learned a lot along the way. Still heaps more to learn of course (like better time management for one, and better book-keeping for another!!). I did however reach (and surpass) my target of 1000 sales by my first ETSY-VERSARY in July.

In August we went on our annual UK trip, to see our family & old friends.

One of the highlights of that was celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday, (that's her on the right, isn't she lovely?!).

...another was having some special time on a sunny afternoon in Nottingham, with my girlfriends from Uni (whom I studied Textiles with).

My best friend Cindy and I got to hang out a couple more times too and we even made a button bouquet each, whilst sipping herbal tea and eating chocolate! Fabbo!

Then towards the end of the year , I got to do one of my favourite 'Sydney things'...
 I visited Sculptures by the Sea, the annual exhibition that is precisely what it says "sculptures by (and sometimes even IN) the sea"!!

The exhibition is well established, it's now in it's 14th year and it gets terribly busy at the weekend, so the boys and I went late one afternoon. It was a beautiful day, so we were lucky! We finished off with pizza and ice cream by the beach - we had ourselves a marvellous time indeed!! :)

If you missed it - enjoy some of the sculptures here, via my own snapshots!

Do you have a favourite? Mine is the the tube of paint.

The setting is incredible too isn't it?
The scenery, the coulours, the textures, the flowers, even the smell of the sea air, it's just all wonderful,
I love it all.

 Love,
Sally xox