Word's out...

As you may have read over at Ink & Spindle, I have decided to pursue my career in marketing and left the business.

Ever since I was 18 I have had the dream to have a successful career in marketing (and events) and chose to study International Business to get me started on my dreams. In my 4th year of studies I was fortunate to be offered a work experience place with a company in Melbourne and made the trip Down Under. What was meant to only be a 5 month internship turned into another 5 months to complete my thesis and after I graduated I returned to Australia to begin my career.

A lot has happened since then, I have worked in several jobs, marketing and non-marketing and started playing around with pattern design about 3 years ago... the rest of the story is pretty well-known.

At the end of last year I started to feel restless and uncomfortable and couldn't quite figure out what it was that 'bugged' me until I took a break to think about what I actually wanted to do with my life. Ink & Spindle was fun and a great experience but it wasn't quite taking me where I wanted to be in life. Leaving the business wasn't an easy decision and it took me a very long time and the help and support of my wonderful personal coach to finally tell the girls in December. They were really supportive and could see that it was for the best, and now we're all happy :) Thanks girls!

Fear not, Ink & Spindle will still be printing and selling my designs so all you lovelies can still sew gorgeous things with it.

I'm not sure how often I'll blog as my craft life is somewhat non-existent at the moment... I still craft but it's more in the form of baking and cooking :)

I'm really proud and happy about the journey that I have made, with Hollabee and Ink & Spindle and it wouldn't have happened without your support, so thank you all so much for your support, kindness and love for fabric. I really enjoyed setting up the business with the girls, going to markets, meeting lovely bloggers and non-bloggers, doing shows, travelling interstate and generally just having a great time! Thank you! But...Sometimes it's just time to move on to other things, and that's what I'll be doing...

Thank you and I'm sure we'll meet again :)

Hot, hot, hot

We're experiencing some extremely hot temperatures here in Melbourne. Yesterday we hit 45, and that's not all that surprising, but we also had the hottest night since 100 years... and guess who doesn't have aircon at home? Yup, moi!

I've kept everything shut and dark over the past few days and it has been reasonably bearable inside, with the fan on, whilst drinking lots of water and eating frozen yoghurt.

Today is the second day I got sent home from work because it's simply too hot to function. Some ^*#@*^ decided that it was a good idea to replace the office aircon system in the middle of summer, which leaves us without nice cool air. The manager decided to get some portable aircons in, but they used too much electricity which made the power turn off, including our computers and lights, so the only other option was to go home.



I've been hanging out on the couch, in front of the fan...

2010

I'm not very good with new years resolutions so I'm not going to give it a try... instead I have written a list of things I'd like to do and some of what's on it is pretty straight forward, some might ask for more dedication and some might eventually be taken off the list because life changes right?

Things I'd like to do/achieve in 2010:

1. Spend time with friends
2. Listen to my heart
3. Learn kite surfing
4. Save money
5. Go skiing in either New Zealand or Canada
6. Talk to my family more
7. Go on day trips/weekends away more
8. Eat healthy
9. Take up some form of exercise
10. Cook & bake new things
11. Read more
12. Learn Italian
13. Be creative
14. Set personal goals
15. Continue life coaching
16. BE HAPPY!

Hello 2010!

Wow, another year has passed... and what a year it was.
So much has happened in 2009, happy things, sad things, eventful things, difficult things, scary things. I can't say that '09 has been an easy year with a break up, a move and one of the most diffucult decisions right at the end. I might write about this one day, when I'm ready.

I'm definitely looking forward to 2010 and started the year in an amazing way. Through my job I got in touch with a fellow Dutchy, who's daughter works for ID&T, the company who has been organising 'Sensation' for years.


Image credit: Sensation

It's a Dutch organisation which puts on some massive events, such as Sensation. I have been to Sensation before, in 2002 in the Amsterdam Arena. I absolutely loved it back then, but didn't think that I'd ever go again because the tickets are quite expensive. Anyway, I'm drifting off... the girl who works for ID&T lives in Holland whilst her parents have been here for 28 years. During my work Christmas dinner we got talking about this and he thought it wouldn't be a problem to get us free tickets... he text his daughter et voila... free DELUXE tickets to Sensation! It was amazing, the show was spectacular and like last time I was excited to see everyone dressed in white, it's really something special. At midnight they had a sensational show with fireworks and the famous Sensation megamix, I had the best NYE ever!

The only negative was that I got a throat infection the day before NYE. I'm still fighting it and it's probably a good thing that I have a few days to myself (i.e. nobody to talk to) before going back to work. I've been keeping myself busy with...


reading magazines


decorating my apartment


looking after a friend's vegies in my kitchen


baking a pear upside-down cake

I'd like to say thanks to everyone for visiting my blog and the ink & spindle blog, for supporting our little business, for sharing their handmade creations, for visiting us at shows and for being our dedicated fans.

Happy New Year everyone, cheers to a great 2010!

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.