Easter at Shorties

So yes, now I'm doing the VM for Shorties! My dream job! Lots to post but will start off with the Easter window as it follows the last post of the Cheese Shop Easter window. 

For Shorties Easter window I liked a) the idea of babies as hatchlings in an egg and b) the fact that the logo is egg shaped and decided to play on that by making eggs for baby clothes to be pinned on to with the same painted frill of the Shorties logo with a few more spots for Easter decoration.

Easter at The Cheese Shop

A very belated post of The Cheese Shop Easter window, life's been crazy busy with me getting a very new exciting job at one of my favourite shops in the world - Shorties in Newtown! More to follow in the next few posts.

A little present I just finished making for one of the newest little people on the planet. I used 3 sheets of felt, some stuffing, wool and a wool needle and used the blanket stitch, which is really easy to do. Here's the tutorial I found from youtube -

Summer at The Cheese Shop

 The mice have traded their beanies for sombreros..

Christmas card cut outs

Holiday Project : Repurposed Jumper

 Can you spot the jumper?

hehe yes! and here's what I did..

* * * NEWSFLASH * * *

Hot off the press.. I've just been alerted to the fact that my window display for The Cheese Shop in Mosman has won the Mosman Council's Festive Window Decoration Contest! I wasn't aware that there was a competition but am very happy that there is :-)

Article in the Mosman Daily, Thursday 20th December 2012

 And the Mosman News...

Christmas concept for a special toy shop

Another Christmas window in the making...

 

All shall be revealed in the next post..

Inside Out magazine feature

 

Yay! Very flattered to have a full page write-up in the current Summer Entertaining Special of Inside Out magazine. Special thanks to Lee Tran Lam, Jessica Hanson, Craig Wall and of course, the wonderful Vanessa Colyer-Tay.

Australian Native Christmas Garlands

In preparation for the festive season I recently crafted some Chrissy buntings from found flora and pom poms (while strictly speaking, one garland isn't native). I then took them over to my mate Anna's place where she kindly photographed them on her beautiful mantlepiece amidst her pretty wares.

The 'how to':

1. Choose roughly 2-3m of thread, this could be anything! I chose some decorative trims from my local craft shop.

2. Decide on your colour and shape combination. (I've kept mine fairly simple and used repetition with these ones).

3. Collect leaves, cones & flowers (I focused on the Gum and Banksia variety) and paint them in your chosen colour combination or leave natural.

4. Or you can make your own leaves by tracing around a leaf for a stencil as I have here on some vintage fabric.

5. Have a stash of pom poms at the ready!

6. Map your garland out on a surface to work on. To create a 'Christmassy' look I made 'Australian mistletoe' by combining two Gum / Banskia leaves attached together with gum nuts / pom poms.

 
7. Depending on what you are attaching and how heavy it is either glue or hand sew decorations on to thread or attach by tying wool around heavier items. Leave to dry overnight if using craft glue.

Ta da! Your beautiful Christmas garland is ready to hang up! Hopefully on a mantlepiece as beautiful as Anna's! Or around your Christmas tree, window frame....