Done!

We conquered the BrisStyle indie Twilight Market last night! Of course we were almost asleep on our feet after five hours of standing, something neither my husband or I are used to (or being out at night for that matter!). The markets were packed and the atmosphere was magical. We were set up near the huge Christmas tree and band area which added to the festive feel. And we did pretty well, actually making some money! All-in-all, a great experience.

Here's my little stall:

I did stand most of the time honest!

I never had a chance to show the new Chrissie card designs that were on offer so here they are:

New Christmas card designs available at BiTM

A couple of last minute designs - the stripey one was the most popular card on the night.

And a few gift tags...also very popular.

Thank you to all those people who popped in to say hello (and buy up big!) and also to my very committed husband whose help was invaluable in getting to market at all.

I'm going on holidays now, so a wonderfully merry Christmas to all and here's to an even bigger and better 2012!

Enjoy!

I'm the newest member of BrisStyle!

I'm now a proud member of the BrisStyle Etsy Street Team - a group of crafters, artists and designers who all live in the Brisbane region. We all share a love of handmade and promoting handmade, and all sell online through our Etsy shops.

There's also a variety of BrisStyle markets throughout the year - and I'm going to be sharing a stall with another BrisStyler on Friday 16 December at the BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market in King George Square. Very exciting but also quite a little scary...I've no idea what level of stock I'll need, what lighting I'll need, displays etc etc. It'll be fun learning though.

So if you're a Brisbanite and looking for some awesome handmade wares, head into King George Square on Friday 16 December from 5 'til 9 pm. It'll be jam packed with gorgeous gifts and beautiful Chrissie cards. Now, I just have to go make some...

Until next time...enjoy!

66 cards and counting...

Well the weekend just gone was VERY productive for me. I managed to produce 66 cards for four custom orders. Only one more order to go and then I can start on my own Chrissie cards! Here's what I've been working on...

Individually hand-cut Chrimstas trees, using Orla Kiely paper, mounted on chipboard trees and glued on cream cardstock (phew!)

Joy, Peace and Love hand-stamped on kraft card (with a cute hand-stamped snowflake for accent)

I call this design 'My Citrus Christmas'

I'm also really keen to start working on other crafty stuff...I found the following sketch I did a few months ago and would love any comment on how I should bring it to life... I'm thinking paper collage (maybe with brightly coloured papers for each leaf segment) but I could get excited and use the sketch as the basis for a screenprint or lino block print, once I familiarise myself with the techniques again. Any suggestions?

My leafy sketch - I love flora designs and want to use more of them in my craft

Oh, I almost forgot, I finished this order for 48 'Super Star' cards a week or so ago too...

Individually hand-cut stars mounted on black cardstock and finished with 'SUPER' hand-stamped and a little rhinestone star!

So if you've got any suggestions on how best to bring my leafy sketch to life...I'd love to hear them. Until next time, enjoy!

Having a play with air dry clay

I love trying new crafty things so I bought some air dry clay off Ebay awhile ago. I finally found some time recently to have a play with it and I loved it!

I bought Staedtler Fimo Air Basic clay but you can get other (cheaper) versions in most art stores in a variety of colours. I bought white. I'm glad I read the instructions on how to use it as one tip was invaluable - roll out the clay between two sheets of aluminium foil to stop the clay sticking to the roller. Good advice. If you give it a go, just be careful of any creases in the foil as this will transfer to your clay project. Of course these are easily smoothed away with wet fingers or you can keep the creases to create a more 'rustic' look (my approach).

I rolled out the clay to a thickness of around 4mm and used cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the clay. Then I used a variety of rubber stamps to imprint some different designs on each shape. Some of the smaller heart and star shapes I imprinted names of pressie recipients and will use them as gift tags at Christmas.

The clay takes 1 to 2 days to dry and I laid the pieces on styrofoam to allow air circulation and turned the pieces over a few times to ensure both sides dried evenly.

Time to dry...

You can sand the clay items once they have dried to smooth away rough edges but I chose to keep them as they are. I'm quite pleased with the result...

They'll make great Christmas decorations too.

Maybe you could have a go too! Until next time, happy crafting!



My work room & other things...

I thought it might be time to reveal where I create and what I've been working on since I last posted. My work room (also known as Clare's room or the front room) is actually supposed to be the entry to our house. It's such a big room simply to welcome guests or to accept all those parcels from my online shopping sprees that we (well, probably me) decided to make it a functional space and turn it into my work room (and use the back door instead).



My messy work room

 And I've certainly made it my own! It still isn't fully functional but knowing me it probably never will be. But I'm very happy with my messy little world and it makes sense to me. I know where (mostly) everything is. But it's also fun when I do do a bit of a clean up to discover bits and pieces I'd forgotten about.

My favourite piece of furniture is my plan drawers. I had always dreamt of plan or map drawers to keep my growing stash of beautiful papers in. As luck would have it, my husband and I found these plan drawers at an awesome little store called Revive in a little town called Milton, on the NSW Central Coast. If you're ever visiting, you must check it out.

I love my daughter's painting as well! (The man head? Not so much. But I just can't throw him away.)

My second favourite bit of furniture is my drawing desk. I think it probably originated in a drafting or architectural office, made its way to the local Salvos where I picked it up (well, with some help as it's very heavy) for a song. I love it. And it's very functional. And all the money I saved on the desk, I got to buy myself the Eames office chair (ok, it's a replica). Which I also love but actually isn't very ergonomical. Nice to look at though and I'm all about beautiful things!



There is a desk under all that stuff...I promise!


This month I've been working on quite a few greeting card orders from friends (thank you!) but still trying to find some time for new things. And working with fabric and thread which seem to be the missing bits from 'paper fabric thread'! I'm not sure how I'm going to use them yet (probably sewn onto a greeting card)  but here's three little embroideries I've done:



I also finished this applique piece as a birthday pressie for a special little friend who's birthday we celebrated last weekend. The Babushka doll fabric is Japanese double gauze, so there's two layers allowing the top layer to fray just a bit to give it a worn look. 

Cute huh?


So that's a bit about my work space and some bits and pieces I've been working on. I'm off now to keep working...until next time, enjoy!

Visit me on Facebook!

I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I've created a Facebook page for paper fabric thread. Check out the photo albums - they feature my current range of greeting cards and other bits and pieces. Like me, like my page (thank you!)

paper fabric thread is officially in business!

It's official, paper fabric thread is in business. I celebrated the official launch yesterday with close friends and family and am now keen to go big! So spread the word!

Here are some photos from the occasion:

Setting the scene...

My little 'shop'.



Matching wrapping paper.



Some more bits and pieces.

Celebrating with a little champagne.

My gorgeous girlfriends supporting me and my launch.

Even the kids had fun! (Not sure about the dads though...)

Available for sale were greeting cards (Christmas samples for pre-order), gift tags, matching wrapping paper and one-off artwork pieces. All of these will be available on Etsy over the next few days. Here's a sneak preview:

I'm going to be kept busy over the next few weeks filling orders but am also looking forward to creating new, exciting and fresh designs. I've got so many ideas! So until next time, happy shopping :)