summer activities...

It has been so hot the last couple of days that all we do is hangout indoors with the air conditioning on, either watching tv, dvd's, crafting or spending time on the computer.

I've been playing around with a few more pattern designs that could potentially become fabric.




I feel that I also have to let you know that the last pattern I showed is not (yet) available on fabric. I've had a great response to it and I am seriously considering printing it on fabric now...well, when the printer is back from his holiday.

Here's another project I finished this weekend.



I wish everyone a fantastic & crafty 2008! Hopefully yours is not 42 degrees like ours ;)

poor postman...

The poor man has to drive around with his scooter gear and helmet in this heat (ranging from 33 to 41 degrees)

I am a happy & grateful person though...I received this beautiful alphabet stamp set from the goodness shop.



I loved how it was packaged in a Japanese cereal box, thanks Leslie for this pretty package and lovely ribbon.

On Monday they're predicting 41 degrees and I think we might have to alter our NYE plans. We planned to go see the fireworks near the Yarra river, but the thing is, if you want to be able to see something of it you need to basically camp out there all day and I'm not sure if I can do that in such heat. It'll definitely be my hottest NYE ever!? We might have to move our camp to some remote beach and have a private NYE with nice food and friends...time to discuss this with them...

an autumn print...

in summer...



because I still can't get used to Christmas in summer...

and do you remember this little baby?

look how big it its now...and it's turning red...how exciting!



Our plant managed to pop out another 11 tomatoes...how amazing, 12 tomatoes on one plant. Yum!

after Christmas madness...

Our Christmas is over. It was a quiet one, but a good & relaxing one. Did you get anything exciting from Santa? I certainly did...I'm a lucky girl...



Santa brought me a Canon G9 camera, so I finally have something that fits in my bag. Now I have to start remembering to take it with me and actually take pictures.



I also received this pretty journal in which I will be able to write and draw my ideas.

My third present was a dvd of comedian Danny Bhoy, which we watched already and it was hilarious. Thanks Santa!

Today we went to the city, to face the boxing day sales madness. If I ever propose this again, please remind me that I should NEVER do this again. What on earth are so many people doing in the shops, don't they have families to be with? I mean, I have family but they're a gazillion miles away and I wish I could be with them rather than in an overfull bee hive. Despite the madness I did manage to get home with some new bathers, two tops and 4 years warranty for my new camera (which was the main reason we went there).

And then we went to watch the Golden Compass, which is a great boxing day movie...I was entranced throughout the whole movie. We saw it at the Sun Theatre...and I absolutely love this old - renovated theatre and their amazing bookshop.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, a great dinner, great presents and most of all a fantastic time with family. Lets get ready for a crafty 2008!

pretty things...

by evie lala




by Jo Mullan

Today I met up with Lara & Leah. We had a lovely lunch on Brunswick street and then went to the Rose street artist market.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support and lovely comments, all the friends I have made...you are amazing! I look forward to keeping in touch in 2008. Have a very merry Christmas everyone and a crafty New Year!

bag number 2...

off to bed now...I'm exhausted...our office is moving to another building and it's just so much work, and just before Christmas.

I do like the new office, it all looks fancy because most of it is new, and it is really big (I probably need a floor plan the first week, to find my way around). I'm getting my own new pod, which has a view...finally I can look outside :) the new year is going to look a whole lot better.

Can't wait till Friday, till the Christmas holidays. I first have to do a health check though, in order to get my permanent residency. It's a chest x-ray, medical examination and a blood check...remember what happened last time when I had an injection? yikes!

a new bag...

The title says it all... I made a new bag. The first one of many and for this one I used my chocolate swirl fabric and a sturdy rib cotton. This bag is up in the shop now just like this necklace.



and I received mail today...yay for frankie...just in time for Christmas and there's a cool story about belle and boo



and here's a picture of our Christmas tree...in pink & orange

something different...

I finished my last Christmas present today... a necklace for someone special.

I haven't made necklaces since primary school I think but I certainly had fun making this one. It's very simple but I really like how the colours compliment each other. I'm thinking of making some more soon...



Have a great weekend everyone!

and the winner is...

First of all I'd like to thank all of you for your lovely comments and soon you will be able to see what this 'thing' will be so keep an eye out on the blog.

and the winner is...

SQUID37 who said "Oooh, these are great! I agree that all of the colors are fantastic, and all three go together perfectly! My favorite is the green!"

Thank you so much! Please send me your address and a mystery package will come your way :)

visual diary...

today this blog is a bit of a visual blog...as I don't have much to say.

Here are some pot holders I made yesterday, they're up in the shop now.



and some mail that I received



A japanese magazine and some goodies from Leslie's shop, a cameo pin from the black apple, a card from Phaedra, Jess, Tanny, Alison and Leslie. Thanks everyone for their lovely Christmas cards from the postcard swap.

Don't forget to post a comment on my previous post...that's...if you'd like your name to go in the hat for some goodies.

there & back again...

I'm back from Sydney...and in need of a proper break...like Lara. I shouldn't complain really, Sydney was quite good (apart from the weather) I learned a lot at the conference, had tons of fun getting to know colleagues from other states, frocking up for the big conference dinner & dance and we did heaps of shopping over the weekend. We didn't do our Christmas shopping yet, mainly because it's probably just going to be the two of us and we both know what we want and what we're getting. We also had some great dinners, like the one on Saturday when Marcel's dad cooked us a fantastic Chinese feast. They invited some family friends and they brought Daniel along, who is German. The reason I'm mentioning this, is because Daniel cycled all the way from Paris to Beijing...now that's an achievement! He's in Sydney now and will cycle to the Gold Coast soon and then into the outback, so if you see a person cycling in the outback, it might be him.

Anyways, I'm back home again, but I haven't got the camera yet as Marcel will be back late tonight. I've been experimenting with some stationery designs and I really like this one because of its simplicity but I can't decide on a colour. I'd love to hear your opinion on both the design and colours (my design might be totally rubbish). On Friday I'll draw a name from the hat and you'll receive a little surprise for your comments. :)





I meant to share something a while ago, but I haven't had time for it yet. I'd like to show you the wonderful pouches Jason from Art Box Diary made with my chocolate swirl fabric. Go have a look at his etsy shop, he also has great pouches made from beautiful Japanese fabrics and cute kokeshi dolls.


(photo from Art Box Diary)

back... and off again...

Yes, that's right. We got back from Beechworth Sunday evening and are off to Sydney tomorrow.

Beechworth is lovely, I have been there before but now I am totally in love with it (again). It's such a cute little place with an amazing (famous) bakery, great little cafe/restaurants and fantastic shops. They've got some good shops with handmade and designer stuff, very nice.

We arrived Friday afternoon, after a 3 hour drive (without car radio) and went to visit Jess, who is Marcel's uni friend. She lives on a farm just outside Beechworth. Jess was at the Boorhaman pub already for a drink and a pub meal so Jess' mum got a lift with us to give us directions. We definitely needed those. For all of you who have never been to an Aussie country pub...it's in the middle of nowhere and you wonder who will ever go there. The pub was fun and the locals very friendly. I'm always a little scared to walk into a country pub because I'm sure they can see that we're from the city...makes me feel a little uncomfortable...strange isn't it...we're all people after all. On Saturday we visited Yackandandah, Stanley and some other local places. In the evening we went back to Jess' farm to celebrate her 21st...gosh...wish I could go back in time, I'm starting to feel old now. It was great fun and we left at about 1.30am to go back to our cabin for a good night sleep. I had to drive back the next day and because I'm getting old I can't do all-nighters anymore ;) Sunday was just a 'hang out at Jess' place' day before driving home. Of course we had to make a stop at the Milawa Cheese Factory to stock up on some fresh and yummie cheeses. I really loved our trip to the country and I have been hassling Marcel all weekend saying that I'd love to move to the country...it didn't work.

That was our trip to Beechworth...and when I got home there was mail waiting for me in the mailbox...yay



I received the beautiful prints that I ordered from Catherine Campbell's etsy shop and she included a very welcome surprise...thanks so much Catherine! I also received a book voucher that I won on Kootoyoo's blog...very lovely Kirsty, thank you, thank you, thank you. She included something handmade as well, I'll post piccies of that later because Marcel took the camera to Sydney. I also received some very lovely postcards from the postcard swap that I participated in...again pics of this will follow. Thank you everyone, you made my day!

Now I'm off to pack my bags for Sydney as I'll be flying out tomorrow morning. We're staying in Parramatta for a work conference, which is great because I'll get to meet everyone from different states. Aaaaand I'm staying longer to spend the weekend with Marcel & his parents. Marcel flew to Sydney today to spend some time with his family and I'll join them later this week.

Have a great week(end) everyone...and keep an eye on the blog next week because there's a give away coming up.

we're off...

Well, not right now...tomorrow.

One of Marcel's friends is celebrating her 21st on Saturday and since she lives about 3 hours from Melbourne we are making it a weekend trip. We'll be staying in Beechworth which is a lovely historic town in Victoria's High Country. We have been there before and it's an adorable little place full of great antique shops and op-shops. The region is also known for it's great wines, cheeses and olives...yum!

We're not leaving until we've stopped at the post office though... to send this loot to Tasmania. I've been busy sewing the last couple of days and here's the end result: 8 pretty swirl cushions. If you ever happen to be in Launceston...you will find these together with some bags at Homebody.



Oh, and we might peek into Mikes window on the way too...

Have a lovely weekend!

mail day...

Look what we received in the mail yesterday...



They're from Marcel's Red Bubble shop and we never bought anything from Red Bubble before so we wanted to check out what the prints would be like and... they look great. They're real photographic prints (in greeting card format) with envelopes. I love them!

And this is my latest Etsy purchase...a present for a very special friend...and she doesn't know it yet.



Bought from Lynne's etsy shop (photo from Lynne's shop)

mix packs...

Sorry for the long wait. I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days and I'm still not all that but I've managed to update the shop...with a little help from Marcel (thanks love).



Not much news from Hollabee land due to the sickness, but I would like to mention that I am extremely pleased with the election result. It means that we (for those who don't know it...I work for a union) did a fantastic job :) I was up at 6am on Saturday to hand out 'Your Rights At Work how to vote' cards at one of the marginal seats in Victoria...seems that all the campaigning we did worked. Go Rudd!!!

I'm planning on doing a give-away soon. Not sure when because the coming weekend we'll be going to Beechworth and from the 5th till the 9th of December I'll be in Sydney...but keep an eye out because it's definitely going to happen in December.

Back to bed now...am exhausted.

very late...

some very late Christmas card designs...





I might print myself some and send them to friends & family...

The shop has been updated with placemats and notebooks. I will be doing another update after the weekend. I'm also offering free Christmas wrapping until December 9th for International orders and until December 16th for Australian orders. Please leave a comment in the checkout section!

etsy finds & purchases...

I've got a thing for prints at the moment...and here are some of my favourites...


from Catherine Campbell on etsy


from the black apple on etsy


from Ashley G on etsy

and other great finds:
Paperiaarre, Auntie Cookie, Anne Julie, howlindoggie, tsk tsk, ink+wit, Marcel Lee and many many more...have a look for yourself

tagged...

I have been tagged.....by Sophik and will follow the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

* When I was young I could always be found at the stables...horse riding. I have owned 4 ponies over the course of my primary school years and still love horses and horse riding, even though I barely go horse riding. One day I would love to live in country Australia and own a horse … and some chicken, a goat and a veggie patch (!?)

* I love skiing, snowboarding and ice skating… basically I love winter and Australia doesn’t have much of this. We were lucky this year because the skiing season was fantastic, but there’s no outdoor ice skating here. Back home in Holland we used to do tours on the frozen rivers and we would come home to hot pea-soup and hot chocolate. I do miss those days.

* Marcel calls me Dory, from the Disney Pixar movie ‘Finding Nemo’, because I am forgetful and goofy (sometimes).

* Once I will have my permanent residency here in Australia I will start a part-time course in graphic design & screen printing. Hopefully I’ll have my PR before January.

* I love reading and once I start, I can’t stop. I won’t hear anything that happens around me and you could basically say anything to me because I won’t hear it. I’m off the planet, in my own little world.

Who to tag next; Melissa, Elizabeth, Penny, Anna Laura and Martine.



I'm also about to update the shop, with stuff I planned to take to the Docklands markets but the dates got changed and I will be in Sydney on those dates...so no market for me this year.

choc swirl cushion...

Last week went by so fast, I have no idea where my time goes and I still have so much to do before the festive season. On Thursday night we went to the airport to pick up one of Marcel's friends who arrived from Sydney, so I didn't do any sewing that day. On Friday we had a bbq to go to after work so again..no sewing. Yesterday we did our grocery shopping, went to the Flemington craft markets, then to Altona beach to cool down and in the evening we had a dinner with friends. Today I finally managed to squeeze in some sewing...a cushion cover with my choc swirl fabric. Marcel's friend is flying back to Sydney tonight and that's when I really have to get sewing if I want to have everything done that I want to do before the festive season. It's fun to have people over, but the three weekends in a row might have been a bit too much...especially when you have lots to sew :)

Melburnians - enjoy the hot weather...



Remember our herbs & veggies..well I'm super excited because our tomato plant is producing our first home grown tomatoes. They're still tiny and green so anything can happen...but I'm really excited by the thought of eating our first home grown tomatoes. I have never grown anything successfully and this is a major achievement for me. Our herbs are growing like weeds so that's going well and they taste yum in whatever dish we cook.

Red Bubble...

Red Bubble, the etsy for photographers, has some new banners now...here's one for Marcel (which I've also posted in my sidebar) so you can have a look at his and many others' work.

Rusty red floating bag...

Bag #2 - for the markets
Still have a gazillion bags to finish for the market that I have planned for the 2nd of December...yikes...thankfully it's just the finishing touches. The handles that is...and they take most of my time.

Icy blue swirls...

The bag is finished...and I'm keeping it for myself :)

first bbq of the year...

Today we went to our first bbq of the year. One of Marcel's work friends invited us and they cooked sooo much food, lots of meat, yummie salads, lasagne, potato bake, bread and about 6 different desserts. That's what you call a good barbie (a Greek style one). The weather was lovely too, about 25 degrees which feels much hotter when you're in-between buildings.

Last night I spent lots of time sewing up bags and fighting with my sewing machine. It was playing up all the time, asking me to take all the thread off and putting it back on etc...very annoying and stressful. Here's what I did (they still need handles)



And this is what we found at the Salvation Army yesterday, for $2.50.

swirl bag...

I feel like I've been a good blogger lately...updating this blog everyday. Even though I don't have much to tell you (my days mainly consist of going to work by train, staring at a screen all day, getting frustrated with a slow computer network and going home on the train) I do have things to show you.

Here's one of them:



It's a work in progress Icy Blue Swirl bag with a cute leafy lining. I'll have to get some rings and then attach the handles (that I still have to sew). This is the first bag that I actually really like. I might keep it for myself...might...

I'm also experimenting with Marcel's camera and product photography table, but I'm still no professional photographer and I'd rather want him to do it but he felt like doing some DIY after watching Better Homes & Gardens. The good thing is...our range hood is fixed now...thanks mister handyman.

missed out...

Was anyone else lucky at Spotlight today? I missed out on their $500 gift voucher. We went to the store because they had a VIP night on and you could enter the draw for a $500 gift voucher to spend at Spotlight. We got there at 7pm and the draw wasn't on until 8.45pm so we went out for dinner and then went back to Spotlight...and I didn't even win...

Ah well, maybe next time :)
I bought some cute Japanese fabrics and two patterns to make dresses (not sure when they'll be used but I'd like to give it a try).



I received the two gorgeous hairpins in the mail yesterday. The lovely Jodie sent them to me, which she totally didn't have to as I was very pleased to pass on the information I found on doing a market. Thanks Jodie, you rock!

new swirls...

New yummie swirl colours are now available in the shop.

cup weekend...

It has been a while...I've been very busy over the last few days. I had an extra long weekend off since I took Friday and Monday off and today is a holiday for Melbourne because of the Melbourne Cup horse races. I haven't been sitting still though.

On Wednesday night I picked up Marcel's parents & family friend from the airport, who were staying with us until Monday. On Thursday night Marcel had an awards night at the gallery where their exhibition was held so we went to see that. Then on Friday I picked up my new fabric, which will be online tomorrow and I had tea with Shannon & Lara. At night we had dinner at Claypots in St. Kilda, no offence but I'm not a huge fan of seafood and this was basically all they had so I had some bread and prawns and that was my dinner. In the evening we watched comedian Russell Peters on dvd, which was absolutely hilarious. He's sooooo funny.

On Saturday I did the grocery shopping and then had the afternoon to myself, so I got busy sewing for an upcoming market & the festive season. In the evening we met up with family friends of Marcel's family and Marcel's friends from Sydney. We went to the station hotel in Footscray, which is owned by spanish people and has amazing paella (I know..seafood, but I just 'fish' out the good bits and leave the rest for Marcel).

On Sunday it was raining, raining, storming...it was pretty bad but it hadn't happened for the last two years so the heavy rain was welcome. I did some more sewing and we had pizza at home, watching Idols.

Yesterday we slept in, then went for lunch at a family friends' place (the one from Saturday) and then we dropped off Marcel's parents & family friend at the airport.
The house was very messy after having been there with five people for a long weekend, so I had a lot to wash & clean but it's all done now.

I spent the rest of my time, sewing, designing, making packaging, taking photos, cutting & counting fabric and relaxing (whenever there is time for that). Oh, I almost forgot...today we went to the TAB to place our Melbourne Cup bets. I put some money on Purple Moon, and for a split second she was winning...until 100 metres before the finish this other horse took over...Boo!

How was your weekend?

placemat project...

work in progress placemat

she can see...

She's not very fancy, especially when you compare her to some other softies...but she's definitely cuddly.



Pip, she'll be coming your way soon.

softies for mirabel...

I don't really have any experience sewing up softies but I do want to contribute to the softies for mirabel appeal, so I decided to keep it simple. I'm making a cushion girl.

Here's my work in progress



I'm stuck on the 'face'. Can anyone help me with the eyes...

Marcel also asked me to post something for him (get your own blog) since he's so proud of it. It's his portfolio which he shot at the Melbourne Museum. The one that's currently showing at First Site Gallery on Swanston street.

stitching night...

Last night I went to my first stitching night at Meet me at Mikes on Bridge Road. It was absolutely awesome, I loved it. I finally got to meet Lara & Shannon, aka the other members of the Melbourne Fabric Mafia and lots of other lovely, crafty bloggers. We had yummie cupcakes, funny stories, champagne (not for me though), coffee, tea, lollies and of course heaps of stitching fun.

Here's a pic of my finished project plus some goodies from Mikes.



Lara & Pip have some more pictures of the night.

I'll soon be shooting piccies with this big baby...once I figure out how it works or once I can get Marcel to do it (he'll do it, but I want it straight away..not next week). Can you see the difference between the two pictures in this post...my little camera is soooo hopeless at taking night time pics.



almost forgot...something exciting arrived in the mail today.