i can sing a rainbow, um, i can make a rainbow

Greetings all,

Well i can't sing a rainbow, i have an awful singing voice (tone deaf & fortunately i know it) but i can see all the colours of the rainbow around me right now . . . which is handy as it's ONE stressful week with major production for Handmade Market on Saturday.  An impressive list of bloggers are coming as new stall holders or visitors, including Maxabella Loves - thanks for your support!! 

Last night i picked up my girls from a sleep over at a friend's farm in Murrumbateman (thanks for all the lovely comments about the last post on twins, yes, i embrace my good fortune!!) & look what they have been busy picking . . .

crabapples in varying degrees of ripeness & . . .  

 quinces, my nightime photography not doing their greeness justice.

 Then home to finish off a rainbow of products for the market, like children's necklaces.

 Just in time, a shipment of amazing craft-enabling Tasmanian Oak knitting needles.

 Lounge craft = hand stitching penny wheels & buttons onto headbands.

 A splash of pastel, i'm thinking of doing up lucky dip jars with pom poms, bias, ric, rac, ribbon & other trim, plus buttons for a basket of fun on my stall.  Brilliant way to share the love & offer up cost price haberdashery i can finally part with.

 Today was spent making . . . 300 Liberty of London badges.  I cut the fabric sitting in the car park outside school each afternoon last week & now i've sorted them into sets, plus some singles.  I have this fabulous 1950s travel case to display all my Liberty printed goodies in, including hair clips, hair slides & buttons too.  Kind of hoping it will be a show stopper. 

 I've made 16 tulle ruffled bottom bloomers, they took ALL Saturday & i'll thread the elastic in the carpark outside school this week (you safety pin the ends together, then do a mega elastic sewing session in one hit when you're next at a machine).  Pricing these is difficult, they use expensive materials & take at least an hour a pair to create (as i restitch the tulle ruffles to the actual fabric).  I've done 3 sizes but want to try to do another dozen, especially in the larger sizes.

 Last market i didn't take headbands, new hair clips, coin purses or cosmetic purses - um, 4 of my biggest sellers, so this time i've come prepared with a tonne of each.  The Hello Kitty fabrics sell well at Shop Handmade & the new hair clips will all be in Liberty prints!!

Another no brainer product i've managed to neglect for a while are simple gift tags, i normally have them with fabric but this time i'm doing stamps - vintage, Euro & quirky - in an 8 for $5 pack, mixed up colours & styles.
Phew, yes, exhausting & a very busy week ahead, but making the most of my rainbowy outlook, or i'd crack under the pressure i put myself under.  I need to cut about 100m of fabric to feel like i have filled up my baskets from the last market.  Have a beautiful & colourful week too, love Posie
PS the winner of the Handmade Business Summit All Inclusive Pass for this Friday in Canberra is Fiona, who is just starting up a small business now, Congratulations, you were randomly selected by Julie, Queen of Handmade, thank you to everyone for entering!!

EDIT: just found this drawing on my sewing machine from my rainbow boy!!  The children were drawing & painting up a storm today.  Bliss. 

my creative space . . . 'collaborations'

Greetings all,
Well after missing the last half dozen My Creative Spaces, i'm back in (& my trip to Europe is now a lovely memory).  Just loving the collaborations i do for my business & others . . . like these Australian Screen Printers (Sami & Thea, Yardage Design, PippiJoe & Kristen Doran) on my new awesome 57mm badge making machine.  Instant inexpensive brooches, well i do use iron on adhesive to ensure no unruly edges & fabric unraveling, so once all the hard hand cut preparation work is done, the actual badge making part is speedy.

This basket of 150 brooch lovelies are at Shop Handmade, only $7.50 each.

Fabric covered buttons have been restocked at Shop too, 55 new cards, $4.50 each card (2-3 buttons).

What's that up the tree, call the firemen (does a gal ever need a good reason to have a fireman rescue her or her pets) & save the kitty!!  Posie tough toy pussy cat ($17.50) & cool Cosmic Collars, all in Shop.

How sweet, a photographer bought one of my soft headbands ($14.50 at Shop) earlier this week & brought in this gorgeous photo for me to display today.  How LOVELY, thanks Jane!!

Plus a tonne of new coin purses ($14 each) using lots of Retro Mummy fabrics, & my many collaborations are complete. 
There is a new batch of PVC purses in Shop this week, i've been busy!!  So i'll spend the rest of my week watching protective film go on my studio windows then grills worthy of a prison, that should keep the burglars out.  Have great Creative Spaces everyone, love Posie

My Creative Space 'what makes my craft world go round' . . .

Greetings all & happy Creating Spacing this week!! 
I've been playing around with different fabrics, ribbons & felt lately, all part of my master plan - to have new & exciting products at the next Handmade Market.  While you can use expensive fabrics, ribbons & felt . . . you don't have to spend a cent on templates & shapes.  The hero of this image is the melamine bowl from the Disneyland Hotel which accidentally came home with us (um, i said you don't have to spend a cent) . . . it's the perfect circle shape for the curve on my coin purses, the backround of my hair clip holders & for my penny wheel yo yos!!

Having one of those great weeks where my sewing is coming together on new projects, fabric arriving & fabric covered button MANIA.  I see a weekend of hand sewing, my favourite of all crafts, genuine hand stitched detail, ahhhh, nothing better.
Have a Creative Spacey kind of day, thanks for hosting Kirsty, love Posie

My Creative Space 'the little details'

Greetings all,
I've been working with gorgeous ribbons this week.  I just ordered, um, 60m more of them . . . "my name is Posie & i'm addicted to pretty patterned ribbons" . . . anyway, they have come up a treat on these Japanese thick fabric coin purses.  I try to make my products have a point of difference, be it the fabric, ribbon, a patchwork spin.  It's amazing what a strip of ribbon & change of shape/ design can do for a product you've been making again & again for over 10 years!! 
To make them sit nicely on display & look more inviting, i've filled little organza bags with marbles to pop inside bulk them out, as if they are filled with coins.  Plus i've changed the shape to be an elongated semi circle so they sit nicely in the palm of your hand.  See, it's the little details which keep things fresh & fun to make.  No need for ribbon on the back, let the Retro Mummy fabrics do the talking. 

To continue my passion for a quirky edge on how i display & package my handmade wares, i am attaching the product tags to my bibs with these colourful nappy pins.  I used cloth nappies for my children so it seems a neat thing to tie into a baby product.  Check out the fruits including apples, strawberries, cherries and the trio of colourful pineapples.  It's the kind of little detail which would seal the deal for my purchase.

It's true, ribbons do grow on trees!!  This is my 3rd white wooden tree . . . "hello, my name is Posie & i'm addicted to . . . " you get the drill, i like what i like.  Plus these are tax deductible collections feeding my various crafty habits!!

So today was the day i came to replace our 'wedding gift' microwave.  The Sharp Carousel wasn't going to make it to 13 years, sigh.  I had it on my 'unexciting but potentially expensive' shopping list for a month & considering we only use it to heat peas & hot chocolate . . . a new microwave just wasn't a priority.  Then for a reasonable $79 this lovely silver 34L microwave was spotted at Aldi today & was begging to warm up a hot chocolate for me tonight.  Handy seeing i had just bought Curious Chocolatier powder yesterday from Shop Handmade & i only drink out of these Moyou cups (part style/ part diet) as they are neat & small.  Again the little details.  Premium hot chocolate in a beautiful cup which sits so cosy in your hands.

Happy Creative Spacing ladies, love Posie

I Dream A Highway - new store opening

Greetings all, a little note to share the love, a new store named I Dream A Highway is opening in

High Street Nortcote VIC this Friday/ weekend, & here are a few of the sweet goodies from Edna&Alice May

that are on their way. Also in the mix are cards, tags, tote bags & bibs, plus 2 of each of the cushions.

Enjoy & do pop by to see Rhiannon & her team. Love Posie