My Creative Space - Bunting Swap

My bunting for the bunting swap hosted by Squiggly Rainbow is finally on its way here and overseas! With all my focus on market preparation I am sorry to say this project got away from me, but I managed to finally finish it earlier this week. So if you are still waiting to get one it could be from me - mea culpa:)

For some reason this project was way harder than it should have been. No, not sewing the bunting, but coming up with the actual bunting design. I knew I wanted to share a little Australiana, but what?

And then the wattle tree across the street inspired me. I have some lovely wattle cotton fabric that has just been waiting to be used. I initially toyed with the idea of embellishing each bunting with wattle embroidery, but it became clear that would require a little more time than I had at my disposal. Instead, I went with pairing the fabric with two of my all time favs gingham and ric rack.

So here they all are before I sent them out. Simple, but I like them. I even made one for myself, as I am planning to make a bunting from all the ones I get in the swap. Not very original I know, but fun to have all that handmade love from so many people in one place:)

Here's hoping you are not as far behind in your creative space as I am in mine! For more lovely spaces you can visit here. Cyndy Pin It

My Creative Space...

It's the second week of the school holidays and the demands have definitely caught up with me! Unfortunately, I haven't been as productive as I would like, especially in light of the fact that I have my first market coming up in less than a month!

I have, however, managed to work on a few note cards. In August I made some Sydney Favourite Places note cards for my partner in the Seaweed and Raine Sunshine in the Mail Swap (to see some of the other fabulous swap items made by the various participants you can visit here). I made them using a 1970's book written for children on New South Wales (NSW). I love the colours, the kitschy illustrations, and the facts about places in the book.

The book on NSW was one of a set, and yes, I managed to score one on each state:) How cool is that? This week I decided to make similar note cards to the NSW ones from the book on Victoria. It was actually quite hard; there are illustrations and facts on the front and back of each page so I could only pick one from each page. In some cases I went for colour (like the Moomba one), in other case I went for famous places (like the MCG one). Not surprisingly most of the places featured in the book were in Melbourne. There was one poor little page about Geelong, but the illustration was all gray and it talked about the industrial/port side of Geelong. Not terribly interesting card making material:(

Like the Sydney note card set, I love the way these have turned out so far. I still have a few more to make, but I have encountered the classic "running out of materials while in the middle of a project" problem and need to get some more card stock so that I can finish them off. As a result, this project will probably be in the "in progress" pile for a little while.

I hope you are getting more done in your creative space than I am this week! For more lovely spaces you can visit here. Cyndy

PS For all you footy fans I thought I would share some gratuitous pics from the parade yesterday in Geelong to celebrate our third Premiership in 5 years:)

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My First Crafty Swap - My Sunshine in the Mail

It's a little bit late, but I am finally sharing what I received in my first crafty swap, the Snail Mail Swap organized by Sheree at Seaweed and Raine earlier this month (you can see some of what I sent to my swap partner here and here).

Per Sheree's hope, it really was a little bit of sunshine in the mail! I received my swap from Christie at Describe Happy. Christie lives in the US, so it was not just mail, but INTERNATIONAL mail - loved that!

The day the package arrived was a cloudy day and as soon as my children saw a package in the mailbox they tried to claim it as their own. As soon as I saw it I disabused them of this notion, and claimed it for my own. I did let them help me open it:)

Christie had done a little tease post, but I resisted the temptation of looking. I wanted it to truly be a surprise, and what a I lovely surprise it was! Christie had definitely been sussing me out. The package included all sorts of little goodies: fabric, origami paper, cheeky birdie labels, a beautiful jade bracelet and some origami corner book marks. The piece de resistance however, was this fab zipper pouch:

How cute is that?! And how perfect for me - wombats on one side and that gorgeous koala fabric on the other. There are several handy little compartments inside as well:)

I have already been enjoying some of my goodies, although I have had to fend off my oldest daughter (age 7) who really wants the jade bracelet and the origami paper:)

A BIG, BIG thank you to Sheree for organizing it all and to Christie for her package of goodies! It really was a little package of sunshine in the mail:) Cyndy

PS if you haven't done a crafty swap you should - I had so much fun giving and receiving:) Pin It

My First Crafty Swap - Favorite Sydney Places Notecards

In August I participated in my first crafty swap, the Snail Mail Swap hosted by the lovely Sheree at Seaweed and Raine. The premise of the swap was pretty simple: to send someone "Sunshine in the Mail" because everyone likes getting real mail (not those yucky bills or junk mail) by September 1.

Now that my package has been received by Terese from Designed To a T I thought I would share one of the items in her package I had fun making. If you saw my teaser post earlier you probably noted and were confused by the picture of the book Know Australia: New South Wales.

One thing I learned about Terese is that she lives in the Sydney area - when I first came to Australia 20 years ago I lived in Sydney and I loved it! It really is one of my favorite cities in the world (although I have definitely developed an appreciation for Melbourne after living nearby for the last 4 years, is that diplomatic or what:)

The book was from the 1970's and contained some lovely drawings and fun facts about places of interest in New South Wales, including many in Sydney. I loved the drawings, but thought the facts were fun too, so I tried to create something that would use both. The result were these note cards featuring some of my favorite places in Sydney including the Opera House....

the Sydney Harbour Bridge...



the Rocks...

the beaches (Manly is probably my fav)...



and the Taronga Zoo (best view of Sydney in my opinion)...



I do love how they turned out and was a little sad to give them away, but I did make them for Terese:)The good news is that I have similar books on all the other states, so I think there may be some more cards coming! Cyndy

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My Creative Space

This has been a hectic week. Lots of extra things happening amongst the regular schedule and lots of unneeded drama from the children. Oldest daughter decided she didn't like how her book character costume was going so after much moaning and groaning (can also read tantrum) finally got her to agree on a new costume last night - Nancy Drew. We already have everything we need except knee socks:) Will need to get those tonight - not even sure if you can get them anymore! My son waited until the last minute to complete his model for the junior school dinosaur exhibit and admist it all the youngest decided late yesterday was the time to get gastro.

The control freak in me isn't doing well with it all:)

I did manage to finally send out my items for the Snail Mail Swap hosted by Seaweed and Raine. Above is a little peek at one of the items I made to send (it's a pin cushion) - will do a full post this weekend on everything I sent:)

Hope you are getting lots done in your creative space this week! For more spaces you can visit here. Cyndy


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My First Crafty Swap

I am participating in my first crafty swap, the Snail Mail Swap hosted by Seaweed and Raine. The idea is to send someone "Sunshine in the Mail" because everyone likes getting real mail (not those yucky bills or junk mail). There are five options of what you can include in your package:

• stationary OR  note cards with envelopes
• a handmade postcard
• something you have made
• something that makes you think of Spring
• a surprise for your partner

You need to choose at least three. I have been studying my swap partner's (it's a blind swap so while I will be sending to one person, I will be receiving from another person) blogs for ideas of what to send.

I don't want to reveal too much yet, but above is some of what went into the items she is receiving. Will do a full reveal after I send my package later this week. They are supposed to receive their package before September 1. Yes, I am waiting until the last minute to send:) Cyndy Pin It