It’s been crazy busy at work. Coming home has become my favourite part of the day where I receive big bear hugs from the girls and this week, find a few happy packages waiting for me!

I won a sweet little mixtape CD giveaway from Pilgim Lee a few weeks ago. I had no idea what music would be on the CD. The cover says “Tweet Music“, and I was giddy to find inside 18 songs that were related to ‘birds’! Also, check out that awesome postcard. Thank you Pilgrim!

I also received the postcard set I ordered from The Black Apple. I’ve been a fan of her work for a few years now and really couldn’t resist the postcards from her most recent collection: Lost on the Midway. Worth a look at this collection if you haven’t already over here.

And finally, I also received this fabulous print by Judy Kaufman: Identical Twins

This print has found a happy home in my bedroom :-) I’ve got my eye on the “Houses & Birds” print too!

So, now I have a confession to make ……. it’s been TWO WEEKS since the last time I stepped in to my craft room!! Isn’t that terrible?! Here I have a whole room just for making stuff and I haven’t been making use of it. But I’m ready to rectify the situation – see, I’ve made a pile of fabric!

Okay … baby steps :-) Tonight I’m going to transform that pile of fabric and start on a few bunnies. Yup, that’s the plan :-)

I’ve been walking past “Typo” in Melbourne Central a few times in the last few weeks and have never stepped inside – only because I can tell just by walking past it that it is the kind of shop I could easily go CRAZY in. Cute stationery, mugs, frames, clocks, laptop sleeves, etc. I guess you could say it’s akin to Kikki K but with a slightly wider range of product offerings.

Anyway, I decided to finally go inside and have a look today out of intense curiousity.

The thing is I’ve recently started teaching my eldest (6 years old) a very basic understanding of the value of money and saving in order to buy things that she would like. This means she helps me with little chores around the house (wiping the table after a meal; putting away her clothes after I wash & dry them; tidying up toys before bed-time, etc) and in exchange she gets some coins at the end of the day. She has something in mind that she’d like to buy, so she’s currently saving the coins in a very tiny piggy bank that is close to overflowing.

I’ve been on the lookout for a cute piggy bank for her and when I stepped into Typo, this is the first thing I found:

Pink, flocked, Owl bank!

Super duper cute, right? It’s a good size and pretty good value at less than $10.

But between you and me, as if I really needed an excuse to buy a pink, flocked, Owl bank . . . . .

I escaped to Sydney last weekend – sans kiddos. It was the first time I’d gone interstate without them. They had a great time while I was away and I admit, I had a great time in Sydney doing things that I normally could not do with kids tagging along, so I guess it was a little success all ’round. But oh how I missed them! I was so happy to be able to pick them up from school on the day I got back :-)

I won’t bore you with ‘holiday’ snaps though you will see some random photos I took with my phone on my twitter (mostly of food, because – let’s be honest – it was an eat-fest half of the time). I got to explore some new areas near the city with my BFF that I had never visited before.

After 10 years of trying to have breakfast at Bills in Darlinghurst (established by celebrity chef Bill Granger) – every time I have visited Sydney – and never quite making it inside the doors (due to the long lines), we actually made it this time and wow, was it worth the wait!!! Sooooo delicious!!! (We had the ricotta hotcakes with that amazing honey-infused butter, and crunchy corn-fritters with bacon):

Also, a tip for op-shoppers: go to the Vinnies in Paddington (on Oxford St.) if you are keen to get very good quality clothes and shoes (oh my, the SHOES!) at low prices BUT don’t go there if you are looking for vintage manchester/fabric because basically everything is quite new-ish. It was fun as always to catch up with wonderful friends (and their hubbies and kids) and I didn’t even mind being attacked by one of the cutest babies I have ever met:

Thought I’d show you what I picked up from the Ariel bookshop in Paddington:

>> “For Just One Day” by Laura Leuck and illustrated by Marc Boutovant. I remember seeing this book on a design blog a year or so ago and I was thrilled to find it on the shelves at Ariel. Gorgeous, gorgeous illustrations and my youngest has asked me to read this to her numerous times already:

>> “Moomin and the Birthday Button” by Tove Jansson. I picked this one up for my eldest as a way of introducing her to the delightful world of Moomin. She adores it too! I may have to pick up another Moomin book soon :-)

>> And I picked this up for me. I remember Angela blogging about this previously. I carry Terada’s illustrated notebook with me everywhere. I really adore his illustrations. I could not leave the bookshop without this postcard set:

I’ve just realised that it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything ‘crafty’ – this is meant to be a crafty blog after all! Hoping the mojo returns in some form this weekend :-)

Despite the best of intentions, I didn’t touch the sewing machine at all this past weekend. It was a tiny bit due to the fact that I’ve made a mess of the softie I was working on and now have to do mucho unpicking (which I am putting off as much as possible), but mostly due to inspiration hitting in other areas of my life and enjoying the weekend with my girls.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a good finds post, so here’s a round up of a few lovely things I’ve come across lately (I think I’ve tweeted most of these things so apologies if you’ve seen this all from me before!):

>> The work of Pilgirm Lee. I’m sure you’ve heard of her already. But if you haven’t then you must head on over to her website right now. You will love it. I promise. I think she has one of the coolest names EVER, plus she is such a lovely person too :-) AND she’s running a month of free downloads to celebrate her birthday!

{image credit: Pilgrim Lee}

>> Pilgim pointed me in the direction of Modern Kiddo. A blog by two mamas who love and feature retro-inspired design for kids. Definitely a site to bookmark.

>> I am a sucker for objects with words so I adore all the things that WhizzMe put together for her etsy treasury “Words to Live By” (it’s also got me thinking about buying handstamped jewelry as gifts for upcoming birthdays – let me know if you have a recommendation!)

>> Sweeeeeet printable bookplates by Helen Dardik

{image credit: Helen Dardik}

>> Zakka wooden envelope template via Sweet Tidings (with tutorial on making cute envelopes on the Parasol Blog). I’ve got so many cool pages from magazines that I’ve ripped out and can recycle into envelopes! (it’s the simple joys . . .)

{image credit: Sweet Tidings}

>> Talk about recycling, Go and Send Jewelry turns old cutlery (like spoons and forks) into rings and bracelets! I love this idea!

Here are two TED talks I really enjoyed – I was inspired by them and maybe you’ll find some inspiration in them too :-)

>> An excellent talk about nurturing creativity (and the concept of ‘creative genius’) by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. She seems so grounded and humble. I love the fact that she likes to put time and energy into researching the history of ideas and concepts to help in forming her own opinions – you notice this in her books also.

>> And for all you runners, an interview with American Para-Olympian Aimee Mullins. It’s definitely stopped me from finding excuses not to go out running!

Wishing you all a happy week ahead. Don’t forget to stop and enjoy all the good stuff in your life :-)

I think I’ve finally got my craft-room sorted out into an arrangement that’s workable (read as: “in a state that satisfies my OCD tendencies“):

Thankfully, the room has a built-in-wardrobe where I have stored all the stuff I use occassionally – and, let’s be honest, the junk I just couldn’t fit on my shelves. The wardrobe has mirrored sliding doors so it helps to make the room look bigger and brighter. It also provides an easy way to check whether my hair is covered in polyfill and thread before I rush out the door (surprisingly, wearing a crown of polyfill and thread unknowingly – in public – is a common occurrence).

My sewing nook has some of the fabric I’ve designed up on the walls, my favourite little Decoylab cuckoo clock, my inspiration board, and some of my favourite Frankie posters.

I’m toying with the idea of getting one of those long study tables from ikea to go against the back wall, to work as both my sewing and cutting table. At the moment I’m using my trusty card table as the place to cut up fabric, but the cushions I made are taking up most of the table so I just need to find a better place for them {sublimal message: please buy my cushions, and look! They are on sale!}.

Anyhoo, here are my fabric shelves (and more Frankie posters). Not sure if you can tell, but the green and blue piles were nicely folded and put onto the shelf. Then I got bored (and impatient) and just shoved everything else in!

I’m very grateful to have my own little room in which to get crafty. Now all I have to do is get in there and make the most of it! :-)

Have you heard of Craft Corps?

It’s the brainchild of Craft Extraordinaire Vickie Howell and celebrates the Craft Community by featuring and promoting the profiles and stories of crafters from all over the world, from different walks of life, and with different crafty passions. In fact, if you haven’t done so already, you can submit your profile to the Craft Corp website here and be part of the Craft Corp community!

Vickie published a book back in May as a means of documenting the growing global Craft Movement. The book includes interviews with 30 well-known crafty/creative peeps like Amy Butler, Natalie Zee Drieu (CRAFT), Denyse Schmidt (DS Quilts), Jessica Marshall Forbes (Ravelry), Faythe Levine (Handmade Nation), and Jay McCarroll (Project Runway). You can find the full list here.

Vickie also collected profiles of 60 everyday crafters and I’m thrilled to be included in the book! (This book has been 2 years in the making – which is why my age is listed as 32 :-)).

In fact, I was very humbled to find my mug shot opposite the feature on the super nice and amazing Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching :-)

I can attest to the fact that this book provides inspiration, ideas and meaningful insights through the interviews/stories of the profiled crafters & designers. After reading the book from cover to cover, I was also overcome with a sense of excitement and refreshing optimism about this huge Craft Community that exists globally – it is clearly making its mark and making the world a better place :-)

You can pick up your copy from Amazon, or for Aussie readers, from here.

Thank you Vickie and LarkBooks for providing the opportunity to make a small contribution to this wonderful project!