Time for a break....

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are having a fabulous week!!  I am popping in quickly to mention that today will be the last day for processing your orders as we are taking a break from tomorrow,

Wednesday 28th until Tuesday 4th October.  Any orders placed during this time will not be packed and sent until  next Wednesday 5th October.

The store however will still be open for your shopping convenience during this time.  You can always email or phone should you have any queries or requests.

Looking forward to a refreshing and fun break and coming back inspired, rejuvenated and motivated to finish off this busy year on a wonderful high.

My Studio - A work in progress - keeping it real



Okay time for airing some dirty laundry so to speak.  A few weeks back I promised before and after photos of my studio/creative space/computer room.  I was completely motivated one saturday as I often am and also completely fed up truth be told of looking at this space.  This is my view when I sit down to create or pack orders it is just an absolute mess.  Disorganised and unproductive to say the least.

Anyway back to a few weeks ago.  I began organising I spent a couple of hours work mainly to get that big pile of 12 x 12 patterned papers on the left hand corner of my desk loaded on site and filed in with all the other 12 x 12 papers in alphabetical order like the photo below

All great but that's where it began and ended.  Then life took over, orders come flooding in, kids need to be driven here there EVERYWHERE, school needs volunteers for this or that because apparently there are no other parents available, birthday parties looming,etc etc.  I am sure you all know the drill, this is nothing new in the world of the multi tasking work at home mum.

Let's fast forward to today.  Last night just after we finished dinner my husband made a comment that I am the messiest cook.  WELL need I say more.  In my defence if I am super organised whilst cooking and have the time, I clean as I go so there is no mess at the end, however, if I am not quite so organised, and rushing, yes I will be the first to admit that the kitchen ends up looking like a science experiment gone wrong.  So why am I talking kitchens and cooking??

I think creating in my studio is not all that different.  Often when I am in that creative state and in the flow I just grab and use and no, I don't put back as I go.  If I use a punch, a stamp, an ink pad, a ribbon.  The whole lot gets left on the desk.  Often after I have finished or at the end of the day I will do a quick tidy up and put things back, but should I get sidetracked by the above distractions I mentioned earlier it gets left.  That's life and that is the reality.

So what is the point of this blog post?????  I am not justifying that I am a messy creative person even though a part of me thinks that if you constantly stop and put things back in their place while you create, you are interupting the creative flow of your project.  However there is the tidy side of me that likes everything in order and neat and that every item has a home and it is put back there after each project no matter what!!! This is not just a physical clearing of the space to be prepared for the next creative project its a mental clearing also.  Lets face it, it does my head in seeing this view day in and day out.  It also doesn't help that kids often use this room and add their own mess.  Not to mention when a customer dropped in the other day to pick up her order and came right in to see the other colours of twine available I was completely embarassed and apologetic and she was most understanding.  However to me it is just not a productive business enviroment and it blocks the flow of success.

Soooo preparing the space, making the work area clean, clear and organised makes way for creative ideas to flow so your right brain (creative brain) is not bogged down with how cluttered the space is and how messy the desk is and how it can not possibly create untill the mess is cleared stated by left brain (logical brain).

In my defense this room gets no sunlight and this is a big deal for me as I think this can make or break how productive and creative you are in your work space.  Ideally it would be great to move this all to  a larger sunlit room, but given there is nowhere else in the house to do this I am stuck here and need to make the best of what I have.  So it is all a work in progress and I will keep you updated in stages as I find really great ideas for storing and organising this space.  Rather than doing some amazing after photos of a whole room makeover, because clearly that won't be happening anytime soon.

Having said all of this, if your creative space looks like mine and I bet it does, be kind to yourself and perhaps try and implement at least 10 mins at the end of the day to just put everything back in its place.  That is my challenge from here on in so lets do it together.  Besides you are more inclined to come back sooner to create if the space is clear and ready for the next time.

NEW Free Mini Kit - Packaging and Wrapping

If you read only my blog and don't follow facebook or don't receive my newsletters then you wouldn't know that I have a new free mini kit up.  This one is a little different to the others take a look.

Summer Gelati Packaging & Wrapping Free Mini Craft Kit

(Free with a $55 purchase)

I have also made up some samples of how you can use the supplies in this kit.  You are welcome to copy the ideas or make up your own.  Why not place an order for yourself and then give the kit to a friend or a child this would be an awesome holiday craft activity for the kids.  Perfect to have ready for the next birthday party. The kit and its supplies can be found here and its yours free with a $55 order.

Have a great Tuesday

Party Time

Gosh I just realised it has been a whole week since my last post.  The week just flew by and here we are its Sunday again.  Yesterday we had my sons 9th birthday which consisted of a double party.  One for his friends during the day and then family at night.  I am completely worn out and glad I have lived to see another day.  I spent the last two days running around preparing, shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, organising and of course hosting.  Here are a few photos.  I should have taken some photos of all the food platters I did but I just didn't think to.

Because we had two parties I had to make two cakes.  The blue cake was for family in the evening and the ice-cream cake at the bottom was for friends.  Ice cream cake is the easiest to make and always a hit.  I just buy a few different tubs of ice-cream, whatever flavours my son requested.  I then line a cake tin with glad wrap and melt the icecream till it is spreadable and then layer it and freeze and then do the same with the next flavour.  Then I turn it out onto a plate and drizzled some choc top which goes hard as soon as you pour it onto the icecream.  So easy looked and tasted amazing.

Cute little buntings and flags as well as all the decorations for the lolly bags can all be found on site.  I am of to recharge and relax.

Happy Sunday!! 



Inspiration Sunday

This print is for sale at Fresh Market Words on Etsy

Whilst doing my usual round of blog reading, I came across these beautiful 5 words featured on the Zen Habits Blog.

Smile, Breathe and go Slowly  by Thich Nhat Hanh

Really is there much more to it than that??  Sometimes simplifying the process can give us much needed relief when the same lesson in life keeps recurring over and over and you can't work out why.  Or perhaps you kind of know why but making the change is harder than staying stuck in the safety of familiar.  Surrending it all to the universe and just saying you know what " I am so over this, you work it out, oh and thanks for listening!!"  To be honest I have been doing a lot of this lately and slowly but surely changes are happening.  Don't get me wrong you still need to show up in life, if you are given an opportunity then its' up to you to take it.  You can't just sit there.  The universe will conspire for you and with you but you have to do your part as well.  All I am saying is you may as well do it with a huge smile and lots of laughter,  plenty of deep belly breathing not shallow breathing and no more rushing and multitasking unless of course you get a buzz out of being dizzy and anxious.

I was also inspired today by this amazing post on Cheryl Richardson's Blog absolutely worth a read.  The title of this blog post is 5 Ways Your Creative Flow Can Kick Butt.  Don't we all need more creative ways to kick butt...... Points Number 2, 4, 5 really resonate with me in this post.

Finally another statement I heard the other day which I have heard a million times before by the wonderful Louise Hay.  Every thought you think and every word you speak is an affirmation.  Just for one day notice how negative your comments are, you will be surprised!!  Sometimes it is disguised as sarcasm, being judgemental, trying to be funny or just plain being rude, pessimistic and negative or fear based and put downs.  Watch and listen to how your self talk plays the saboteur and then in turns trys to sabotage everyone else around you with fear.  BE MINDFUL of how you speak and what you say it makes a big difference.  Also remember the thoughts that are behind those words in the first place.  Just to give you an example on Friday I was helping out with a round robin game with my kids school.  As I was scoring I often had kids sitting on the bench beside me commenting on the state of the game.  It never ceases to amaze me how kids pick up negativity at such a young age.  If the kids team sitting on the bench waiting to play were begining to lose then they would all be saying "Were gonna lose this oh we've lost etc etc." Of course it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.  So I would say to these kids "If you say you are going to lose you will lose.  You haven't lost yet so be positive and focus on playing the game, having fun and not on the outcome of winning or losing."  Now fast forward this to today as Adults.  How often do we do this claim defeat before its over with our words.

Try to reframe anything you say in a positive way.  Even if you are having a really ordinary day, take a deep breath, make peace with it, laugh at yourself or someone else and reframe it into a positive statement.   Always try to remember if someone says something to bring you down it is their issues that they are dealing with and not yours.  Don't let someone else's negative words spoil YOUR day!

Have a happy and slow Sunday.

Boys 9th Birthday Invitations

Happy Thursday Everyone!!

It's that time again in our household.  A busy month with a birthday party or two looming in the next couple of weeks.  Actually my son has picked an easy party that requires minimal effort on my behalf except to prepare and organise food, cake and party favours.  The kids will be going to dark zone and then back here for food and cake too finish off.  Too easy....  Then of course there will be a family get together.  As the kids are getting older it is now harder to combine friends and family and its just easier to do two seperate parties albeit double the work.

Anyway here is the invite I designed and created last night. My idea behind these invites was to make them cool, fun and casual.  I am loving the Glassine Bags.  Envelopes are things of the past around here.  The best thing about popping the invitations in a bag rather than an envelope means you have more options for different sizes.  I didn't have to stick to a standard size envelope to make the invite fit into the envelope.  I wanted to decorate the bags a little more, but these were the quickest whip up at 11pm last night so I refrained.

Supplies Used - The patterned paper used to punch the stars out is Glitz Designs Basic Stripes and the twine to wrap around the invite is Blueberry By Divine Twine.  The rest is just printed from my computer onto white cardstock and then backed with red cardstock.  The stars are double punched and added with dimensional tape between them to give some lift.  These invites look really cool are simple to make and perfect for a 9 yr olds party and my son loved them.

Enough chatting for now I am off to my Zumba Class and then home to work through that never ending to do list for the day.  Have a fabulously creative Thursday Everyone!!! xxxx



Creating a Mixed Media Canvas

I finally finished my Mixed Media Canvas yay!!.  Mixed Media means using different mediums like paints, glues, fabrics, papers, buttons etc etc etc.  Layering your work with all these different mediums is what makes it a unique piece of art.

Many artist create mixed media canvasses for different reasons and in different ways.  Some only uses paints, chalks, pastels and inks.  I love to combine whatever I have around here and love to mix it up with different mediums.  Here I have used, paints, spray paint, rub ons, doilies, chipboard birdcage, tuile fabric, vintage music paper, rose ribbon trim, sculputured flowers, satin ribbon, cardstock, pearls, grid paper.

Who would have known my kids old unfilled school books would come in handy.  I printed the saying on the grid paper.  These can be found at newsagents or office works or any other place that stocks school supplies.  I have a font that looks like handwriting as I wanted it to look casual and artsy not formal.  I had read these words on some Oracle Healing cards I was reading the other day and decided I wanted to incorporate them with the bird cage, the bird and being free.  The words read "Everything you do in life is by choice, and you are free to choose again."

The message being that even when we think we can't change our circumstances, in our minds we are free to change how we think and percieve things to be.  No one can ever take that from us.  I love that the canvas can have a profound message whilst being a piece of artwork as well.  It combines my two favourite things being creative and delivering a positive message.

I must add that whilst I was finishing this canvas the other night my 13 year old daughter saw it for the first time.  I have to mention she is the one hardest to convince that she is creative she always says she is  no good at art and therefore has conditioned her mind to think that she can't do it and doesn't even try and if she does its always a half hearted attempt.  However when she saw this canvas straight away she said it was amazing and she wanted to make one as well.  It's interesting how different ways of creating art can appeal to different people.  I guess this canvas may appeal to teens as there are no rules and you can make it as grungy as you like and even add graffiti and do anything really.  There are no limits, no boundries just have fun and express yourself.

To finish up, I am thinking I would love to do something similar to this that I can create into a kit with step by step instructions and all the supplies needed to create it.  Some of the supplies found on this canvas are available on site if you would like to have a go at recreate this canvas.  Items on the canvas available on site are Kaisercraft birdcage, Making Memories Rose Ribbon trim, The Cabachons,  Cherry Arte Rub Ons.  The rest are all bits and pieces I have from around here.  The canvas is from our local $2 shop. I have used the wide canvas not the thinner ones

Any questions about how things were done feel free to leave a comment and I am happy to give instructions.

Being Inspired - an online magazine

Hey Everyone

Happy Sunday Morning to all and a Happy Fathers Day to the dads out there. 

This morning I awoke bright and early like 6am and the house is so quiet.  Outside there is a spring breeze and you can smell the spring blossoms in the air such a beautiful time of year.  So peaceful and you can tell Summer is not far away.

So whilst the house was quiet and I knew I wouldn't have any interuptions for at least an hour before anyone else wakes up (we are early risers around here) I thought I would take the time to flick through my latest purchase of an online magazine.  I have to say I am thoroughly inspired.

The magazine to which I refer to is Etzcetera Magazine.  The first issue was free and now the second issue is a super low price or you can get a yearly subsciption.  Although its lovely to have an actual paper magazine to touch and hold I am loving that you can link straight to the pages that inspire you.  So an advertisement with something of interest if you hover over the photo it will provide a link direct to that persons site or blog.  Now you can't do that with a paper magazine, so cool.

Kim Archer the amazing and inspiring lady behind this magazine has done such a great job.  I have followed her work for years and she just keeps reinventing herself and coming up with new ideas.  This magazine has some great step by step tutorials and great articles.  It's not just papercrafts, its also general craft and other interests as well.  A perfect balance of everything you would want in a magazine if you are creative.  Why not take a look.

Well my hour of peace has come and gone.  Kids are up (except for the teen in the house)  and hubby is up and I promised I would do a cooked Sunday Breakfast.

Have a happy Sunday everyone

PS I was cleaning my studio yesterday before and after photos coming soon as promised on my facebook page.  I am determined to get my space working efficiently as possible this spring.  I have been getting better at it but I want to perfect it.  Mainly my desk area that seems to fall into ruins as soon as I start a new project.  More with that tomorrow.