our creative space 'the new generation' & paper packaging giveaway winners

Greetings all,

So many of we crafty types learned from our mummies, such is the age old way of passing on skills to the next generation.  My grandmothers Edna & Alice were amazing seamstresses making ball gowns for the rich & famous, ditto for my mummy Barbie (only with an awkward Von Trapp family twist).  We'd have matchy matchy ensembles . . . end-of-bolt-sale-fabric for a family of 6 or my brothers in cloned knitted jumpers with Dad, my sister & i in matching dresses with Mum . . . classic 60s & 70s handmade horror, technically carried through into the 80s too, i was 5 ok??!!.   

My children have been surrounded by craft, stood on pins & slept to the hum of the sewing machine since i got into nesting while pregnant with my first baby in 1998.

 Now my eldest is in high school, she has proper sewing teachers who studied textiles & design (not pharmacology) & she gets graded on her work!!

 So excited, she chose all the fabrics, applique ideas, ribbon & did all the sewing at school (no professional mummy sewing allowed) & da dah, only two As were awarded . . . 

 proud mumma moment . . . she got an A!!  Her beautiful pillow slip now sits on her bed & as she finished so quickly, she's making boxer shorts. 

 This week is Creative Clubs at primary school.  My son chose drama, age 7 he's "directing plays".  I think he picked drama as the teacher is one of those gorgeous first-year-out-of-uni enthusiastic types who can sing, dance, act & teach.  I know, taking a class because of a pretty girl out of his reach is in it, he's such a boy!!   
Anyway, daughter 3 is learning French Knitting with the professional ice hockey teacher & loving it, it's clearly addictive.  Last night she called from her room to say "can you tell me when it's 10 so i can change wool colours??"  Um no, GO TO SLEEP!!  No idea where she'd get that bad habit of crafting into the wee hours from??

 She's French knitting a rastafarian wig - only way to describe the awful dreadies coming out of her handmade toilet roll/ paddle pop stick device!!

 I showed the middle girl how to crochet chain stitch (limit to my skills so far) in the car park at school, by bed time she'd crocheted like 3m of the stuff!! 

Totally loving passing on the skills & learning new ones with them!!  Have i mentioned that Kylie from Mealy&i blog is patiently teaching me how to crochet in the holidays??
NOW for the paper packaging, twine & stickers giveaway WINNERS . . . who knew over 100 individual bloggers would enter so enthusiastically to win paper bags??  Yay, thanks so much!!  Bugger - two of the winning numbers weren't followers??  DQ to you.  Come on guys, not such a hard thing to ask is it - follow for your chance to win, my blog's nice right??  So sucks to them & yay to these faithful followers & WINNERS!! 
Randomly selected number (big time winner) . . .
69 Thea from Thea & Sami blog, congratulations!!
Randomly selected supplementary numbers, as witnessed by the official Posie Lotto panel (itty bitty winners) . . .
2 Bron from Taylor Made blog,
23 KerryAnne from Shabby Art Boutique blog,
86 Rhi from Flour Child,

79 Trish from My Little Drummer Boys blog &

24 Felicity from Gifts Of Serendipity blog!! 
Congratulations everyone, please email me your postal addresses for your parcel of fun.  For more creativity, check out Thursday's Our Creative Spaces.  Love Posie

i'm grateful for 'thinking outside the square'

Greetings all,

I'm really grateful i can think 'outside the square'.  As a scientist, wife, mother, designer, really-bad-cook - all my different roles in my life so far, i've had to draw on creativity to get results, find answers, problem solving if you will.  I'm going to show off a simple example here . . . how oh how to display my new little paper bags??  Why not in a paper bag 'basket' which looks cool, stays on trend & shows off the durability of just how awesome my new paper bags are & other ways to use them. 

 I wouldn't use such a huge vintage dolly peg in real life but getting a smaller peg would have required walking to the next room.  Today has been very mellow - i took myself to see Water For Elephants.  Reese & Robert did not fail me??  It was beautifully shot, she was exquisite & he so handsome, i cried, it was magic, i loved this movie - not the theme or darkness, but the dream quality.   
Back to paper bags . . . why paper bags anyway??  Well i've been in this handmade craft game full time for over a decade.  Back then, to work from home with small children & an on line shop was almost unheard of, but i did it.  I get asked this question by journalists, customers & fellow small business owners all the time "what do you do when people copy or compete with you??"  As i have zero plans for world domination or keeping an eye on the opposition + those children are approaching teen-age, keeping me busier than ever . . . so how to stay ahead of the game??  Think outside the square, constantly like . . . adding fresh products & offering the best attitude, presentation & service.  Paper bags are something i just love + twine & stickers, it appears you love them too.

 Selling is so much more than just plonking your products on a table - it's visual merchandising with height & creative use of props.  At markets I hang hair clips on tree branches, offer knitting needles in spaghetti jars, fill tool boxes with buttons, display twine in crates, spread badges in vintage suitcases, pile fabric in huge French baskets, sell books from mini book cases & hang bloomers in picnic baskets.  It's makes a difference!!

 Inspiration is everywhere, from a pyjama catalogue to a glossy magazine.  Donna Hay always styles her food with gorgeous, simple accents & i'm a sucker for a timeless country look - baskets with a mix of metal, linen, wood & glass. 

 Some ladies/ sisters at the last Handmade Market who had a gorgeous stall display were Mookah - they rocked.  All the way from country Victoria, they didn't use travel as an excuse to not make their stall look amazing.  Thinking outside the square too - with ladders & planks, shelves, hanging racks & tables.  By the end of the market they had so little stock left, i noticed they kept spreading products to fill the gaps until some shelves were completely empty (like when every single ottoman/ floor cushion had sold out!!)

 I wasn't fast enough to grab an ottoman on the day, so went home to order one on line (my level of thinking outside the square when exhausted).  Better yet, my favourite fabric design was on sale & when it arrived today, they popped in some screen printed Moose samples, yes please!!  Thanks Leisa & Nicole.  Now to think outside the square on how to use these Moose prints, a cushion for my son is a no brainer starter?? 

 So if you love to think outside the square & fancy some of these paper bags in your hot little creative hands too, enter my giveaway at this post.

 The GIVEAWAY is gaining such momentum, i'm throwing in 5 runner up prizes, so hoping the random selector picks you for one of them!!

For more Grateful posts, check out Maxabella Loves - to think i met her only a week ago at Handmade Market - what a big week i've had indeedy.  Love Posie

hands up who loves packaging . . .

Greetings all,

Oh goodie goodie, what do you do when your favourite twine supplier does wholesale paper bags too . . . order THE LOT!! 

Stripey bold colours on large paper bags.

 A cute pink bag with white 'frosting' yes please!!

 Tiny paper bags in zig zags, frosting, grid & note paper, gorgeous!!

 Anyone for polka dots??

 Of course, stickers to seal-the-deal.

 My original collection of colourful Divine Twine.

 Now they have new friends . . . in red, oyster, navy, lavender & airmail - red, white & blue stripes!!

 Something about twine en masse that makes my heart sing.

 The air mail collection - stickers, twine & red bags, love it!!

 A combination in black . . .

 or my favourite blues . . .

 pretty pinks for a princess party . . .

 cherry red, say no more.

 Or perhaps something earthy & orange with chick stickers??

 I'm playing around with some ideas & combinations for bags, stickers & twine for sale.

 Really simple & creative gift wrap ideas.

 Oh look at all these beautiful twines mixed up together.

Ah, so this is one way of being productive while having a break from the sewing machine.  I want to do up a bunch of these packs for Shop & my market stall, it's so much fun.  Oh i think i'll have to put together a giveaway of these packaging goodies to share the love of colour & fun . . . perfect for your next party, gift giving & craft supplies.  Love Posie

my creative space 'paper craft'

Greetings all,
Well i've been a bit paper crafty with my replacement printer (burglars trod & broke my printer) & having lots of fun with it.  First stop more stickers for the paper craft packs i keep promising myself i'll actually compile & sell one day . . . how much fun is the excess sticker curly mess??  Of course it has since been stuck to an egg carton to make a crazy headed crocodile . . .

& how much fun is Wordle on bunting??  I made this for Shop Handmade.

So there you have it, a short & sweet blog post.  I have 3 patchwork quilt orders due in the next 3 days.  Today was spent at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) watching my girls zoom around the track, throw & jump - it was freezing, wet, windy, then sun in my eyes = migraine!!  So back to resting my head & oh that's right, i'm running an Election BBQ & Cake Stall at our school this Saturday as a P&C fundraiser.  Tomorrow will be lugging cartons of cold drinks into the car, ice & sausages, fun + tonnes of baking as you never can rely on donations!!
Where does it end??  So you won't be hearing too much from me for a few days, have great weekends & happy voting.  Love Posie

My Creative Space 'market preparation for the family'

Greetings all,

Phew, another Thursday & round of the Creative Space game as sponsored by kootoyoo . . . & nice prompt for my quiet blogging since my husband's surprise return (after 7 weeks in the wilderness).  He couldn't have come home early, at a busier time for me!!  Inbetween looking longingly into his eyes i have been in the studio preparing for Mathilda's Market this Sunday here in Canberra.  With lots of interstate stalls coming, it's really made me up my game & get super productive & creative. 
It has been a big week for the family too.  Our eldest met the Elisabeth Blackburn, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine; the Prime Minister (he has soft lady hands) & became House Captain at school - just in time for the swimming carnival where i'll rehash my pom pom making skills.  Also, keep everything in the household a float has been a test of my organisation skills . . . read on . . .

a few more quilts for the market

to be quilted tomorrow

some folk stickers; & penny wheels which need buttons for headbands

magnets for the Elleni May shop

some hair clips for ChildPlay

remembering to take knitting needles to the market

turning all this research, images, snow flakes & flags into . . .

O Canada O Canada &

Whistler Mountain (Olympic assignments for year 3 twins)

in my spare time, i'll make homemade pasta

my husband made the sauces for lasagne

it tasted as good as it looked & half for the freezer

look at those layers . . . & the salad cancels out the calories

also made a double batch of pasta dough, now who rolls the better tagliatelle??
(top left corner, was NOT my effort!!) 

all so i can be here on Sunday!!

Have great weeks everyone, love Posie