Mother's Day Giveaway...

First and foremost, Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mothers, grandmothers and mothers to be, who touch the lives of so many everyday. In celebration of all the love and joy you bring to the world I thought it only appropriate to have a Mother's Day Giveaway. I have four lovely brooches to giveaway created especially for this giveaway, inspired by spring blooms, laughter and love.

The major prize is one of my signature, one of a kind scrap brooches. 'The Artisan' is inspired by all the amazing blogging mothers who design, craft and create.

I also have three 'Love' Petite Brooches to giveaway, so three lovely winners will be able to help share the beautiful Mother's Day love all year round.

To go into the draw to win one of special prizes just leave a comment on this post and tell me a little something special about a beautiful mother you know.

Two bonus entries if you blog about my little giveaway! (please comment and let me know so I can come visit your blog and say hi.)

Thee bonus entries for each item you purchase from my Etsy shop between now Friday the 15th.

The giveaway will be drawn Friday the 15th of May at 8am Australian time and is open to everyone world wide.

Good luck and I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.
xxx

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Shopping List Saturday..

When I was little, I used to sit in the big rocking chair at my grandparents house, close my eyes and dream that it sprouted wings and and would fly me to adventurous places just like Enid Blyton's Adventures of the Wishing-Chair.

"Mollie and Peter, searching for a birthday present for their mother, find a mysterious antiques shop which appears to be run by fairy folk. There, they find a magic wishing chair with the power to grow wings and fly."

What a perfect way to travel, by 'Wishing Chair'. So come with me, deep into the dusty corners of the mysterious world of Etsy in search a few perfectly unusual, beautiful and magical chairs.

1. The Library- Print by NestaHome
2. Creature Creations by A Fanciful Twist
3. Lulu Leloup -embroidered drawing by Lapommestories
4. Fly Away - Moleskine Cahier by Shoofly
5. Whimsical Rocking Chair by JessicaLemme
6. Original Painting by SweetMess

Enid Blyton has always filled my day dreams with wonderful worlds and creatures. Her inspiring tales are a constant reminder to see the world through the eyes of a child and to always remember that things are never quite as they seem. I would love to have all of these gorgeous chairs at my house just in time for an afternoon of flying 'high tea'.

Take a moment to brew a fresh pot of tea and pop over to the fabulous Fancy Picnic to check out the other gorgeous Shopping Lists. The perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.

With a beautiful crisp and overcast Autumn day looming outside, I think I might just pop the kettle on and settle into my studio for a lovely day of creativity. Petite brooches and a few newsurprises on their way. Also stay tuned for a lovely Mother's Day giveaway tomorrow.

Much Love and Wishing Chairs
xxx

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My Creative Space..

This week my creative space is full of journals, letters and magazine clippings. I have finally found a few minutes in what seems to be busy week after busy week, to cut, glue write, dream, explore and create.

My desk full of journals and magazine clippings. In the background my pin cushion house and favourite little French house tinnie. My love of correspondence means I always have someone to write to. Courtney and I have been sending our travelling journals around the world for years. The collage moleskine (above) is now complete and we have begun on a larger moleskine, filling it with ramblings, scribbles and collages.

When a lovely letter arrives in my mail box I can not help but be joyous. I was so delighted to receive a beautiful letter from my lovely new writing friend Gemmipop and just love searching for the perfect stationary to write my reply.

I've also taken a moment to catch up on the stack of magazines I have been saving for months and have finally, with great satifcation pulled out all the beautiful pieces and distributed them around my many journals. My most recent addition is my A3 interior design journal, full of beautiful and inspring decorating ideas.

After deciding I really wanted to focus my energy on finding the perfect little cottage to buy, I felt I needed a place to put all the images that inspired my dreams and searching. It is so wonderful to have everything in the same place as it allows personal style and ideas to blossom.

Head over to Kristy at Kootoyoo to join in the fun and show off your Creative Space.

I feel it is high time a granny square was crocheted and an episode of Antiques Roadshow was viewed. I think I might just curl up by the fire and do just that..

Much love and letter writing
xxx

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Journal love and destruction...

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." Oscar Wilde

For the last ten years, my handbag has always contained at least one product in which to write in. If I leave the house without my journal, I feel I am missing a little part of myself. I have tested many a diary, notebook and journal and I am currently hooked on the daily moleskine, which is perfect as it gives me a friendly little reminder of how many days I haven't written for. My journal has a little set of rules, all pictures must be securely stuck down with 'good' glue, only artline pens are allowed and there must be an image, photograph or collage every two pages. I'm not sure why this is, but it is the strange little agreement my journal and I have come to.

2009 moleskine...

Reading Three Buttons fabulous blog recently I noticed she also had a journal, but this wasn't any ordinary journal, she was spilling things on it, sticking stationary in it and even collecting fruit stickers for it. I was hooked! What was she thinking, how could she ruin a beautiful journal. It was of course 'Wreck this Journal' by Keri Smith, an amazing opportunity to lose oneself in the art of journal deconstruction.

I was so intrigued and determined to change my controlling journal habits, I just had to buy a copy and thanks to the lovely people at Readings, my 'Wreck this Journal' arrived in the mail this afternoon.

Flicking through the pages I was both delighted a terrified. How can I do some of these things to a journal! I sorted carefully through each page to determine what would be a nice easy task to begin with....

This was never going to work, I don't drink coffee and I didn't want to give up a nice hot cup of tea to saturate my new journal! (You can see I was having control issues already).

So I came to another page, that I thought might work a little better.. I mustered up the courage to pull the tea bag out of my cup and...

Tea art was created!

One page down and I'm only a tiny bit concerned that half the journal smells like tea and is totally warped but I am quickly realising this is the point of this wild ride. I'm really looking forward to documenting my 'Wreck this Journal' adventure and now just have to find the courage to wreck another page!

Hope you are having a delightful Wednesday. I'm off to crochet, read, journal and catch up on some silly reality TV.

Much love and journal wrecking!

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My dear little Rose.. a love letter

A piece of history, a tiny moment from a life unknown, has found its way into my world and I will now embark on my most exciting adventure yet.

During my antiques hunt, as I bought my handfuls of beauty to the counter I was amazed and delighted to find out that the fabulous girls at Rose Harvest read my blog and had kept something for me that they thought I might like. Out from behind the beautifully decorated counter appeared an incredible two page, hand written love letter from 1919. As a thumbed the beautiful worn pages I couldn't help but think that fate works in wonderful ways.

'To my dear little Rose'

This beautiful letter from Rose's 'ever true' Stan tells the tragic tale of his time away from her as he sailed Cowell to Adelaide. The letter that time forgot.. I now feel a part of Rose and Stan's lives and am determined to find out more about their beautiful story and create a piece of artwork to celebrate their love.

I worry that beautiful love letters like this no longer exist in a world of emails, text messages and twitter, so I invite you all to share with me in taking a few moments out of your day, to write a love letter to that special someone in your life. Write from your soul, let the words pour out onto the page and embrace that old world beauty, a love affair to remember... stained in ink.

Much love and letter writing
xxx

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Vintage Delights..

As promised I'm back with the lovely treasures I picked up on my gorgeous outing to Rose Harvest Antiques. Prepared with my Dorothy shoes, a little bag (I'm always worried I will bump one of their beautiful displays) and my very best bowerbird instincts I found some beautiful little bits and pieces to add to my vintage collections.

A sweet little Aynsley saucer, embroidered napkin and lovely old key.

And an amazing jar of buttons! How could I resist! Although I did feel a little strange walking out with the whole jar. I couldn't believe the amazing treasures I found when I explored the contents.

These are my favourite pieces from the jar which include, a toy horse and old dress maker's chalk.

I also bought a gorgeous pair of brown vintage gloves which will be perfect for the frosty mornings we are having. Overall a fabulous afternoon, I will definitely be back next weekend to pick up a second jar of buttons and take some photos of the incredible rooms. On the way back from Rose Harvest I took a quick detour to Spotlight to check out their big sale and grabbed some very sweet and girly fabric.

A feel a very cute girly collection of brooches emerging from these lovelies

Inspired by the beautiful lavender gardens at Rose Harvest I just couldn't wait to dye the napkins and doilies given to me by the lovely library fairies. I'm so delighted with the results, now to create some beautiful pieces with all my freshly dyed pieces.

Inspired by nature - hand dyed vintage linen

And how could I forget my dear little granny squares which keep me company each night by the fire. As the yarn becomes a tangled weave of beauty and the hook my new faithful friend, my granny square adventures continue.

Crochet and scrabble, two of my favourite things.

I'm off to get cozy by the fire and finish the little square above. With my lovely hubby taking care of dinner tonight (it smells so lovely) I'm looking forward to completing a few more squares and perhaps even a game of Scrabble a little later.

Hope your weekend has been filled with delights. Make sure you pop into my little Etsy shop and check out my new Nostalgia collection of 'I heart' brooches.

Much love and vintage delights
xxx

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Sunday Shop Update!

With a new pair of scissors and many pots of tea, I spent a delightful Saturday making a new collection of brooches titled 'Pieces of Nostalgia'.

This series of twelve brooches was created from childhood memories, visiting the museum on weekends, reading books about fairies, collecting stickers and playing board games. Each little brooch is hand made with love and full of delightful stories and memories.

A few of my favourites, I heart garage sales and I heart scrabble.

Available in my little Etsy Shop now.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday, I'm delighting in the Autumn sunshine and am about to go back to my studio to make a few more little pieces. I also feel an giveaway coming on, so stay tuned.

I will be back later with my weekend adventures including my fabulous finds from my outing to Rose Harvest yesterday afternoon.

Much love and memories
xxx

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