new goodies...

available in my shop now...


white floating reversible bag


icy blue swirl reversible bag


chocolate autumn leaves pencil case


orange clay bricks pencil case

bags, books and props...

the bag - custom made by mattt




the book - $15 from the second had bookshop on Flinders Street


the prop - a new 'old' soda sign from bed bath n table

japanese inspiration...

some bag making going on here... I got the inspiration from a japanese craft book...

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

choc swirl bag...

up in the shop
more pics on flickr

I'll be away for a bit (have been banned from the computer) as Marcel needs to finish his research and all other assessment stuff for uni (thank god only one more week to go). Make sure you visit First Site Gallery, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne between 26 October and 3 November to see his work.

busy bee...

This week I finished sewing up a bag that I will give away to someone special. (this will be revealed in the next two weeks)



and here's something I'm reading plus a new project...sewing skirts...will have to get into that but I will keep you updated (me struggling). I'm really enjoying Bill Bryson's book 'down under', it teaches me a lot about Australian history and the different places he visits, and besides that it's also very funny.

drawstring purse...

Here's a drawstring purse I made today from Amy Butler's pattern. Looks cute, doesn't it.



The rest of the day wasn't very productive though as I was still tired from yesterday. It was great fun helping out with the awards night (especially if you get a 3 course dinner for free) and the best thing of the night was the warm apple crumble with vanilla custard....delicious!

I went to the supermarket today (we never buy our groceries at the supermarket) because our local fruit & veg store isn't open on Sundays. Gosh, everything is so expensive. I had two green bags full and it cost me $70. Normally we come home with 4 bags for that price (including yummie Italian Gelato). No more shopping at Woollies for us...the local shops are way better and way cheaper.

mushroom city...

Now in the shop



'Yellow Birdy' taken by my talented boyfriend Marcel, check out his brand new gallery for more work & to order prints.

where did my time go...

Am a bit off the planet this week...even though I am only working 4 days this week (yay, got tomorrow off) time went really slow during the day and too fast at night. I haven't really be able to finish anything on my 'to do' list. I started a few things but I can't seem to finish things because of the lack of time.
Everyone else has really interesting projects going on and cool stories to tell...and I just have one of those 'useless' weeks. Hopefully the weekend will be better, going op-shopping, fabric shopping, visit artist markets & going to a b-day dinner (for which really have to finish one of the bags that I started weeks ago).

Well, here's some of what I did tonight, besides researching business stuff.

Pinki I miss you...

Pinki I miss you card


Blue Mushroom bag up in the shop

those cold winter days...

Today I started on another bag... I simply couldn't sit still, so I decided to use my 'mustard' coloured floral fabric and the cutest little elephant fabric for another experiment. I had this idea to make a bag with 'rough' edges. The bag needed to be big and it needed an inside pocket and the rough edges...here's a pic of my work in progress...

I'm not quite sure what the end result is going to be like, but I have the feeling that this might be my kind of bag...
time to cuddle up with the hot water bottle...night night

it keeps me busy...

well..here's another one..simply because it is sooo cold here that 1 is not enough because we ... well ... both need the water bottle. Apparently it hasn't been this cold in Australia for 20 years. People keep saying I should be used to it, coming from Europe. I can tell you this...I'm not! I feel cold too :( BUT with the water bottle covers we can cuddle up in bed, be warm and not worry about what's happening outside...at least not until the next morning. Gotta love scrap fabric...



a WIP

wallpaper book ...

It's my second post today..and that will not happen that often. I just wanted to show you the book I bought, which is called Wallpaper by Alejandro Asensio. If it was up to me I would post every page of the book on my blog, but then I would still be here in a week. I posted some random themes that are covered in the book...it's a great inspiration.






I also finished a bag for a friend. I hope she'll like it, but I think it's totally 'her'.

some days...

Some days are just totally frustrating...like my last 3 days where I went to work bright and early to find out that our computer system didn't work..well the two days after it was to find out that it hadn't been fixed yet...So my last 3 days were absolutely wasted. I spent my time drawing and reading magazines as I could do nothing else. The only good thing about it is that you can actually leave early and nobody would really blame you. So that's what I did.

Today I bought a new sewing machine, because I really needed an upgrade.

And I wanted to show you some new fabrics we bought. Yes...it's we as I dragged Marcel along to the patchwork shop and guess what... he loved it. He chose his own fabric which I will have to turn into a bag for him. He also got this idea of making a special pouch in which he can put his camera and then put it in his backpack, so it wouldn't get scratched. I know they sell camera pouches, but Marcel has one of those big ones that you don't just take in your pocket, so he's thinking of ways to protect his camera and lenses.

Well, here they are...some are for friends as they requested some bags.




I also got inspired by the grey and yellow floral pattern and decided to use these colours for my own design. (I still find it weird to call it 'my design' as I don't see myself as a designer...probably my insecurity)


I just found out that Marcel's fabric won't load...so I will post an update soon.

Coffee table & things...

Gotta love the weekend...Today we went to Smith street in Fitzroy/Collingwood just to have a look at different shops and I wanted to buy some buttons at the Lost & Found Market. This shop is awesome, they have a lot of vintage things and we found our new coffee table. Fell in love with it straight away. We had been looking for a new coffee table since we moved in to our new place in March...but it's either too expensive, too difficult to get home because it doesn't fit in the car, it doesn't match our other furniture etc etc..but this one is just perfect. It's one of those old danish ones. The beautiful plate was a present from Marcel when we moved in to our old place, and the table and plate match perfectly.

our new coffee table

Marcel also brought me another present this week. An awesome book called 'hip hotels atlas' and it's amazing. It has hotel decors from all over the world and it has beautiful pictures and colours, truly inspirational. Guess that's the good thing about being with a photographer.



hip hotels atlas by Herbert Ypma

I also worked on another bag, but I feel it's not finished yet...maybe someone can give me an idea on what to do with it. I feel that the little pocket needs something...a button or ...

work in progress

The next pattern is something I did a while ago when I was thinking about designing something that really goes with 'hollabee' and they sort of look like speech bubbles. The thing I really like about it is that it could basically be printed in any colour. This next one is red, but I am using an ice blue one in my picture/tag.

red bubble ... I think it's sort of obvious now that I love dots...

Bag #2

My second bag...

proud of my first 'project'

Yeey, today I finished my first project..after breaking 2 needles and going back & forth to craft stores, I finally finished my first bag. I am very proud, even though I still have a long way to go before I can make a 'perfect bag'.

After reading some tips on other crafters blogs I went to Patchwork on Central Park and I have to admit...I didn't know where to start. They have a fantastic and amazing range of fabrics and it makes it really hard to make a choice. It took me quite a while to make a choice on some fabrics (can't buy all of it even though I would love to).

I took these lovely fabrics home:


And here's what I've done with the fabric:

seeking creativity

Today, I decided to create a blog, after being 'creatively frustrated' for so long. From now on I am going to keep myself busy with creative projects...anything that interests me really. For starters I worked on some illustrator designs and one of my favourites is 'the red forest' I created. It gives me a sense of peace and simplicity, something that brings relaxation...I also added some clouds, which is one of the first 'designs' in my beginners project. I am no designer, I am just someone who loves to play in illustrator and try different things...I wish that I could go back to uni and complete a design course, but I guess I'll just have to learn 'by doing' and attend some short courses to be able to create better designs. Please feel free to comment on anything I post on this blog, I would love to hear from you all.


red forest


rain clouds