Happy Holidays...

Making...

Christmas is slowly (actually not that slowly) creeping up on us and since I've moved, I haven't really had the time to shop for a Christmas tree that fits my tiny apartment. I still wanted to create a somewhat festive atmosphere and when I was browsing blogs on Friday I found this.

The one in the link is made of old jumpers but I didn't have any of those... What we did have in the studio was scraps of 100% wool felt and they were perfect for this wreath!

Here's the result... it's not as fancy as the one I found, but it's pretty Christmas-sy!

Melbourne Design Market no.3

Done n dusted... already!
The market was good, although, we feel like it wasn't as busy as previous times... but still good :) Our lovely ex-intern Jane came to help us in the morning, and Lou and Theresa were there in the afternoon. We also got a visit from the lovely JacRan... who brought us yummie treats.

Pocket Carnival & Rabbit and the Duck were part of our stall and it was heaps of fun hanging out with them. Penny also made some yummie goodness. We were spoilt!

I'm retreating to my couch to drug myself with medicine to scare off this cold that I can feel coming...

Only one more event to go. Our Open Studio on the 19th of December and then we'll be closing our doors for a well deserved Chrissy break!

I'll leave you with some pictures...







For more pictures, go to my flickr page.

New beginnings...

I think it's time for me to tell you about the latest development in my life. Lara blogged about hers, and like her, I have moved house too.

About a month ago I found a cute little apartment in Kensington and it was just perfect. New house, new beginnings. It hasn't been an easy time, but it is really nice to have my own space where I can be by myself. The other thing that's so great is that I now live within walking distance from the studio, Lara & Teegs... it's fun to be a Kensi local!

lounge room

I was lucky to 'know' the girl who lived here before and to know that she was moving out. She had been in the apartment for 12 years! The apartment needed a bit of a make over and the landlord was really really great about this. He let me choose my own paint colour and have a feature wall. Once he was done with painting he thought the carpet looked 'shocking' (his words) so he sent me out to find floorboards and get some quotes. As you can see, the floorboards are in and I'm loving them! It's great when you get to pick your own paint colour and floor... it's very common in Holland to do whatever you want to a rental place, but here in Australia they're not that flexible... I consider myself very lucky!

the original kitchen... how cute

Things are slowly happening, pictures are put up and furniture bought or recycled. It's so much fun!

Pretty pretty...

Blog posts seem to happen less frequent... but I'm still here... after a somewhat challenging period in my personal life... but more on that when I feel like writing it down.

We tend to blog over at Ink & Spindle and I usually don't really feel like copying a blog post, even though they're fabulous (dare I say so myself).

Here's something new though.. and also fabulous! As I was reading through my blog feeds I was scrolling down looking at pictures on Kim's blog and at first I scrolled over it until I somehow scrolled back because something caught my eye...

Picture from Udessi's blog

I love the black delft in the background and am also completely in love with the jewelry...

... wondering if I should make something similar in the form of a pin board... that would be nice too!

A pretty bit of upholstery...

I didn't mean to disappear, but somehow it has almost been a month since I last blogged. Things have been a little bit hectic around here, with 4 birthdays to be celebrated (Lara, myself, Teegs & Ink & Spindle's). A big thanks to everyone who came to our birthday party on Saturday, we had a fab time! Check I&S's blog for party pics and stories.

As for the pretty bit...
One of my friends found this blog last week and sent it to me... Isn't it fabulous?


Picture taken by Vanessa Lockyer

Visit Vanessa's blog to see the full 'before' and 'after' shots.

Shop update...

We have some new and exciting colours in the shop...


Bloem in Burnt Orange on cream


Sumor in Olive on natural

... and some old favourites are back too...


Seeds in Charcoal on natural


Seeds in Olive on cream

Open studio tomorrow!

Ink & Spindle open studio is TOMORROW!!

Details below:



Awesome poster donated YET AGAIN by the very talented Sixto from Too Yeah Media.

For the first time ever we'll actually be doing a demo print run so if you would like to see how the magic happens this is your chance! We'll start at 11am sharp!

And then you can go on to your Grand Final BBQ's etc etc and get plastered. (these words were taken from Lara's blog... and yes, I'm having a Grand Final BBQ, but I'm not getting plastered)

Hope to see you there!

We have two winners...

I fed the random number generator and it pulled out two winners for me...

Penny & Rabbit and the Duck

Congratulations!
You have to promise me one thing though... DON'T STASH IT ;)

Nook

Just a quick post... to share this lovely new shop in Queensland's West End.



Nook
19 browning st
west end qld 4101


Ink & Spindle little basket kits - available at Nook

Give away...

Last week I was sorting through a pile of fabrics and came across some Sprout Design fabric I still had. I'm sure I put it apart for a project, but I really can't remember what it was... so instead I'm giving it away. It's all to do with the spring cleaning bug. For the last week I've just been tidying, cleaning, reorganising... it's great!



What am I giving away? I'm giving away one orange 'fabric pack' and one blue 'fabric pack'. The packs contain either bicycle fabric or toy car fabric and both have matching road fabric.



Here's what you have to do... just leave a comment on this post and I will draw two winners on Sunday 20.09.09 11:00AM AEST. One winner will receive a blue pack, the other an orange pack.

Good luck!

Not enough blogging...

It has been a while since my last blog post, and overall I feel like I don't blog enough... well, I know I don't blog enough.

It seems like I have less time to blog now than I did when I had a full-time job. Working part-time in an office job and working part-time at Ink & Spindle doesn't seem to give me any time to blog. I would love to blog a lot more, but somehow my days are filled with business related things and printing, which leaves little time for crafty activities and picture taking.

Luckily, this week I have something to blog about...

Last week I received this magazine in the mail. Holland Focus is a magazine for Dutch people in Australia and the editor approached me to write an article about myself and my business. Most of you will not be able to read it, but it mostly describes how I got to where I am now. You can read it in my bio on the Ink & Spindle website.

The other exciting news is that we printed Bloem in a new colour! This is a limited edition and I only have 3m of it...

Bloem in Inky Blue

We're back!

After a very long flight, due to Melbourne's bad weather on Tuesday, we finally landed back in Melbourne. The Stitches & Craft Show in Sydney was heaps of fun, the highlight being meeting all the other crafty incubator peeps.

This time the incubator section was much larger than previously and I had so much fun meeting everyone. We were very lucky to have Julie from Juicy Roo and Cathy and Louise as our neighbours, hi girls ;)

Lara has done a great post on the show, so I'm going to send you to her blog for the full story and more pictures ;)



I'd like to end this post with a big thank you to Angela & Ross and the team at Living Creatively for making this show such a success! We'll see you next year in Melbourne!

last week in a nutshell...

Handmade Melbourne book launch


Printing for Stitches & Craft Sydney

... and being published in Living Creatively's latest issue.

It was such a busy week last week that I've lost all my energy to write a long blog post. Thankfully Teegs is back... she's the star blogger of Ink & Spindle, which gives me a break ;)

We're all on track for Sydney and are all very excited to be at the show. We're counting down now...

ps. a little bit of my delft fabric is up in the shop... the rest will be put up when we get back...

18 sleeps...

until the Stitches & Craft show Sydney

We've been printing madly over the last few weeks to get all of our (and hopefully your) favourites printed to bring to the show. We've also been printing our new patterns in some yummie colours, so far my favourite is the new 'Delft' pattern in white on natural.


'Delft' in white on natural


'Delft' in charcoal on cream

Come and visit us at the Stitches & Craft show in Sydney :)

Open Studio 25 July 2009

It's that time again... we're opening up our studio for you to come and have a look :) Of course we'll also have our lovely fabrics on display and you can see, touch, smell and buy them.

We'll even have some of our new fabrics out... how exciting!

You can find us here:

Suite 206, 10 Elizabeth Street
Kensington

We'll be open from 10am until 1pm!


'Delft' in Honeysuckle, Inky Blue & Deep Red

Most of the new fabric will be launched at the Stitches & Craft Show in Sydney, this is just a sneak peak... we're still busy printing heaps of yummie colours for the show.

Another week went by...

I've been back for more than a week and I still haven't managed to put a decent blog post up, shame on me. It almost seems like it was months ago now that I was in Holland...


Leerdam, the little village where my parents live

The trip was fantastic. It started off in the Netherlands, where I got to see my family again. On the 22nd of June, mum and I got on the train for a 4 day city trip to Paris. I couldn't believe it was just a 3 hour train ride and I'd never been before?! Living in Australia definitely changes your perception of distance.

In Paris we visited the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (amazing!), Basilique Sacre Coeur, Mont Martre, Arc de Triomphe etc etc. We basically got to see all the touristy bits of Paris and we were so lucky that the weather was beautiful, so sunny.


Mont Martre


Centre Pompidou

After 4 days the fun in Paris was over and we went back to Holland, for the highlight of my trip (the whole reason I booked a ticket in the first place)... my best friend's wedding! Charlotte and Danny have been together for 7 years and last year he asked her to marry him, in the most romantic way mind you. He took her on a boat ride on a local river and suggested a walk in the local castle gardens. She was a bit nervous at first because it is private property. After convincing her that it should be alright, she agreed. He had everything planned out and at the back of the castle garden was a little table with lots of roses and a picnic basket, and it was there that he went down on one knee and asked her to marry him. How romantic!
On the 27th of June was their big day and it was absolutely beautiful, she was glowing the whole day, the weather was perfect, the groom had the biggest smile ever, there were white turtle doves, pink roses, a touching church ceremony and a fantastic party... it was just perfect, exactly like she wanted it. I felt so happy for her, she's my best friend ever!


Charlotte & I

There's one sad bit in their story though. Two days after the wedding they were meant to fly out to Bali for their honeymoon, however, two days before the wedding the groom got sick. He had an infection in his intestines and almost had to cancel the wedding. Luckily this didn't happen, but the doctor advised them not to travel to Bali until he was feeling better. On the upside, this gave us more time together and we spent two lovely days in Zeeland, one of Holland's coastal provinces. We enjoyed the fantastic summer weather, went to the beach, cycled through the dunes and had fabulous outdoor dinners and breakfasts. It was so good to spend so much time with her again!


Checking out a castle in Zeeland

After this, our holiday was almost over... I spent the last few days with my family, helping my younger brother move into his first house... which is obviously going to be decorated with Ink & Spindle goodies :)


Visiting Utrecht

On the 7th of July it was time to fly back to Melbourne :( when we arrived at the airport we heard that the flight was overbooked and we had been upgraded to business class. Awesome! We flew business class from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and it was fabulous. There is so much leg room and the seats fold (almost) flat so I could have a good sleep. They also have menus and come to take your order... it was definitely a good experience.

Two days after my arrival I went straight back to the studio... gosh I had missed it so much. It's great to be printing again.
Teegs and I have swapped, she's off now to enjoy herself whilst Lara & I have turned into printing machines. The next couple of weeks are going to be quite hectic, especially because I still work 3 days per week and can only be in the studio 2 days per week :( Luckily we have good planning skills and managed to keep up with our printing schedule the last two days. We even managed to visit to Design Made Trade, which is still on! Go check it out, there's so much good stuff to see and so many lovely people to talk to.

We found out that we've been published in a couple of books & magazines, but more about that later... I've been talking long enough now ;)

I'm back...

I'm back from my holiday in Europe... but I haven't quite got my head around things yet, so a longer post will follow later.

Today I'm in the studio. It feels so good to be printing again... especially when it's a fresh new screen :)

We printed 'Delft', my new pattern. We'll be taking this print to the Stitches & Craft Show in Sydney.

wedding...

My best friend's wedding. She was so beautiful. They were ecstatic. I was so happy and proud to be there. Just amazing!


Charlotte & Danny 27 June 2009






Me & my best friend

still holidaying...

Paris was amazing... and I'm still holidaying :)


Musee du Louvre


Basilique de Sacre Coeur

... we'll talk later ;)

Another great Melbourne Design Market...

Hooray for another successful Melbourne Design Market. The carpark was packed!

Teegs did a long post with lots of pics... have a look here :)



Thanks for visiting!

I'll be back soon... reporting from my home town (in the Netherlands) undoubtedly...

Meet us at the market...

I have some studio goodness to show you... well, only a little bit of it...


... to be made into badges


... super strong magnets (really super strong, no kidding)

We're busy getting ready for the Melbourne Design Market with fresh fabrics, new designs, and other delicious fabric goodies.

We'll see you there!

weekend goodness...

This weekend is all about relaxation... and a bit of work.

Yesterday we visited the Substation markets in Newport. What an amazing building! Absolutely stunning!



After a quick stop to stock up on yummie pasta, we headed to Yarraville for another market. The mission was to drop off new moon and have a chat to the lovely Sandra & Sharon... but of course I couldn't resist buying her awesome passport covers. With Europe only 10 days away, I simply had to have them. Thanks for the beautiful wrapping Sharon, enjoy new moon!




Going to Europe in style

We finished the day with a visit to our friends and the cinema, where we saw Samson & Delilah.

Today has been spent on the couch and at the supermarket (pretty boring, I know). Tomorrow I'll be in the studio, cutting and packing away for the Melbourne Design Market (which is awkwardly close now).

Lucky me gets to relax after that though... in 10 days I'll be on a plane to Europe to see my family, attend my best friend's wedding, spend some time in Paris and go on an indoor skiing trip to Germany... what a life!

Market weekend...

I'll be visiting some markets this weekend, which will be a nice change because next week we'll be at the other end.

Firstly, there's the artist market at the Substation in Newport... which is great because it's at the end of our street so I can walk there and get myself some goodies from the fruit & veg shop on the way home.

After that I'll be visiting Miss Pepperberry at the Yarraville markets. Please come and visit the markets too, there are great goodies to be bought and of course everyone loves to support the local handmade community, right?

Talking about markets... we are busy getting ready for the Melbourne Design Market and the studio looks like this at the moment:


Studio explosion

It definitely shows that we're working ;)

Feel free to come and say hi at the Melbourne Design Market, we'd love to meet you!


Delicious handmade soaps wrapped in handprinted fabrics, yum! (no, not handmade by us)

A bit of this...

I can't believe I haven't blogged for over a week and it's not like I've had a break... I wish! The last week has been so hectic. I swapped days at work as I was asked to supervise the expo I've been organising over the last couple of months. It all went well and it was great to be at the other end and get to know what goes on behind the scenes at an expo. Swapping days means that I now get to spend a full week in the studio... heaven!

Today my day mostly consists of finishing this:





... my lace homework for tonight... and it's not looking very hopefull as I keep doing things wrong... my teacher is not going to be impressed :(

The rest of the week we'll be busy printing and getting ourselves organised for the Melbourne Design Market, which is on the 14th of June. Please come and visit us :)

We're also having another open studio, which is on the 30th of May from 10am til 1pm.