Shop op til you drop!

I hit the local Op-shops in Sydney last Saturday. I am very happy to report that I discovered Newtown as my new Op-shopping mecca. I was out hunting for lace to use in my new felt and lace jewellery(ideas) and boy, I was lucky. Check out my finds

I found this beautiful pink and blue lace

which are actually two sets of pyjamas!

I'm not sure who would want to wear lacy pyjamas, they must scratch terribly! But the lace is gorgeoues. I also found this little piece of lace which is soo pretty! The photos don't really do it justice, it shimmers really nicely in the sun!

This is my backyard in the afternoon sun, with blue and pink lace on the washing line. I know, the grass needs mowing. Any volunteers? ;-)

I also found this cosy jumper, it will keep me toasty on these cold winter evenings.

A very succesful Op-shopping trip. What were your best op shop/thrifty/any other finds lately?

I want a new outfit!

I love browsing Etsy, can never get enough of it! I just looove this dress, I'm obsessed with it! Shannon from Rabbitandtheduck featured it on her blog a little while ago, that's how I discovered it. So nice!

Dress by Janebonbon

What necklace would you put with it? They are all so gorgeous!

By Itspamdemonium

By StarOfTheEast

By Calexandra

Get a happy!!

Something to make you laugh today.. I'm still laughing! Check out this website: engrish.com. It is a huge collection of photos taken around the world of very unique use of the English language. Have fun!

feel the felt!

I have been looking at a lot of different felt designs on Etsy lately to see what is already out there. I have come across some beautiful, crazy and amazing pieces. I thought I'd share some of them with you

Isn't that Tangerine tree fabulous? Like a little piece of the mediterranean life.. *sigh*

by Intres

I love this little felt statue, she has such a nice feel about her, how she is floating along, together with the three bluebirds. I wonder where they are off to..

by Feltathome

This necklace is so gorgeous, don't you love how it goes perfectly well with the black dress?

by ElenaMakesThings


Last but not least these adorable baby boots from Pedrosprout. They are just soo cute!

A step back, and two steps forward..a new Etsy shop!

Lately I have been thinking about where I want to move to with my business. I do love making the tea cup candles and I'm not planning to give that up. But they are a product that I can't really promote outside of Australia as they are expensive to ship overseas, they usually are one of a kind, and it is a bit of a game of luck to find new tea-cup supplies when I need them. I have also been wanting to do something else which is more creative for a while.

Now I have been playing around with felt for the last few months and I love working with it! I have been focusing on making mobiles, and I have been trying a lot of different techniques, designs etc. Even though I still like the idea of mobiles, I didnt really seem to get anywhere with that either. The last bits just weren't falling into place, no matter what I tried, if ya know what I mean.

image by: http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/

Now I have decided to take a step back, leave the mobiles for now and try something different. I came across the idea of combining felt and lace, and suddenly there was a whole new world, what an epiphany! Hehe:-)

I made some nice little butterflies, still with the idea of turning them into mobiles. Once the first one was done I just knew they had to be brooches. I have never planned to go into accessories or jewellery but it looks like that's where I'm heading to at the moment. I think I'll see where the working with felt takes me to. It seems to have a bit of a mind on it's own.. I have all these ideas for brooches, hairclips, chokers, oh Dear! Here are some of my first attempts of the felt and lace mix.

And while I have really started to design new pieces this time I have also decided to open another Etsy shop for my felt design.

After lots of brainstorming with Luke I have decided on a name. Aaahh, the most difficult thing! How would I ever decide on a name for a child, it takes me ages to decide on a brand name!

I wanted something a bit playful, and very beautiful. Something that goes with TwilightSpells, as that will still be my main business name. Something that sounds like the ocean and the beach, like a big garden full of tropical flowers, like a place full of magic, a bit mysterious and exciting.

Gee, I don't think the easy way, do I!!?? For a while "Twilight Sailing" was my favourite. But can you imagine how many companies out there offer sailing trips in twilight?!? Far too many, and I am not having my business name confused with a bunch of middle aged upper-class people in stripey clothes!

But, I did decide in the end *drum roll please* my new Etsy shop will be called FarAwayTales

There is nothing in the shop yet, I might get round to writing the Shop Announcement tonight.

How do you like my new name? I hope you aren't disappointed after all my huffing and puffing over what the name shall incorporate:-)

Here another brooch with a red butterfly that I made this afternoon. You have to excuse the bad quality of the photo. By the time this one was finished daylight had almost disappeared

Thanks for bearing with me through this long post, I hope I haven't bored you;-)

Erotisch Victorian Beauty

I made this treasury on Etsy last week. It has expired by now, but I'm very proud of it :-) I've been wanting to make a treasury about some of the beautiful and sexy, victorian items on Etsy for a while. Something different.

Everyone I put in seemed to really like it which is great. It IS a bit daring , after all. ;-)

Manly market

Yesterday I did my first market, at the Manly Arts and Crafts market. I got the a stall offered spontaneously at the start of the week and spent all week frantically making candles, trying to organise paper bags, making price tags etc.

The market wasn't the biggest success in terms of selling but lots of people passed through, admired my candles and picked up business cards. I did cause an unexpected reaction in two elderly Ladies who were shrieking in shock when they spotted my candles "Oh, this is terrible! You have ruined these nice cups! I would NEVER do that to my Royal Doultons!"

Not that I am selling anything from Royal Doulton anyway, certainly a very strange and very passionate response to my products ;-)

I am looking for a market that features purely handmade products, or at least with the focus on handmade. A lot of markets in Sydney seem to be more general and allow handmade and pre-manufactured products alike. I have heard about the Kirribilli market and am going to check it out next weekend. It sounds pretty good.

two cheeky stars are sparkling in the sky...

I have been busy working on designs for my felt mobiles that I'm planning to put into my Etsy store soon. Well, as soon as I am finally happy with the design that is! And that might take about 500 years. I'm very demanding when it comes to my own work!

I do like these two cheeky little stars up there. They kinda made themselves, decided if they wanted to be boy or girl, what hair they liked, etc. The one with the long blond plaits is the girl, obviously (I hope) although she currently bears a definite resemblance to a certain french cartoon caracter with stripey pants. Do you know who I mean? Check it out here. But don't tell her, she might be offended...

I am planning to put the two stars together with a moon, once I have finally decided on their designs. That will be my first mobile. I have tons of ideas for more mobile designs: flowers, cars, dinosaurs, kittens, leaves.. you get the idea!

Here are some more pics of the stars, front and back, when they were playing hide-and-seek around my laptop. Like the little star-boys hair? ;-)