Blog Feature

My latest brooch has been featured on Autonomous Artisans. Thank you to Lynne from Pirate Pixie Crew for the article.

Look what arrived in the mail

I finally got round to ordering some Ruby-Jo sew in labels.

I will be using them on some new clutches that have been in the works for a while.

Hopefully I will be able to show you soon. I have people staying for 10 days so I am not sure how much sewing I can get done while they are here.

A Brooch Sale - But Not Exactly

Well, technically it isn't a sale, but allow me to explain.

Ruby Jo brooches are going to be sold by an exciting new retailer. I won't say who just yet. Without going into the number crunching, to bring my brooch prices in line with the retailer I am increasing their price to $33. Currently the brooches are selling for $22AUD in my etsy and made it stores (although no brooches in made it at the moment)

About the sale part. The price rise will be happening on Monday 11th May so this gives you about a week to buy them at the current price which is quite a bit cheaper. Hence the sale analogy. So if you have been thinking of buying any of my brooches now is the time.

Oh and there are a few of the first brooches I ever listed on etsy marked down in the SALE section so there is some sort of real sale going on too.

Meet Someone Clever

The lovely Rachel from Pink Lizzy Sews has interviewed me on her blog as part of her Meet Someone Clever Series. I am the first person she has interviewed for this and I feel extremely flattered. If you want to find out a little more about me then you can read the article here. If you don't then maybe you could have a look at her etsy store instead, she makes adorable children's clothing.

Sunday Stash #15

A little late, but better late than never I guess.

I got this fabric from Patchwork on Central Park. The gold printed parts have a finish like gold leaf. I am going to make it into brooches but I think it would be great made into a shirt.

Vote for Me! Please!

I found my Cross Stitch Rose brooch on etsy's latest Voter page for where you can vote for your favourite Eco Friendly item. The brooch is one of 60 items you can vote for. If you look in the photo above it is bottom row, second from the right. The top choices from the vote will be featured in etsy's Gift Guides so if you want to help my brooch get into the Gift Guides please send a vote my way.

You do have to be a registered etsy user to vote and you can only vote once per user name. The voting ends in 7 days so you have plenty of time to vote if you wish to.

P.S. In case you were wondering etsy have classed the brooch as eco friendly because I made it from a vintage napkin.

Sunday Stash #15

This fabric is from a mint condition vintage pillow slip that I found opp shopping. I have already made some of it into a brooch which I will be listing in my etsy store.

Happy Easter!

It's hard to resist chocolate at Easter time as it seems to be every where you look. And not just any chocolate but Easter egg chocolate which we all know tastes better than your normal run of the mill chocolate that you can find any time of the year.

The only chocolate I ever request at Easter time these days is a Red Tulip Elegant Bunny. Mum used to buy one for us when we were kids and then stopped doing so when we got a little too old for bunnies. Maybe having one at Easter makes me feel like a kid again but I love the outfits they wear and of course I LOVE the Easter egg chocolate taste. If you could buy Easter eggs all year round that is probably the only chocolate I would buy.

I have a have a milk chocolate and white chocolate Elegant Bunny to share this Easter. Of course there were no white chocolate bunnies when I was a kid but I am prepared to overlook that fact.

Happy Easter!

Sunday Stash #14

I have been a little slack with my Sunday Stash's recently so I thought I would make an effort today. This fabric combo I picked up at the Amitie stall at the Stitches and Craft Show a few weeks ago when it came to Melbourne.

Camberwell Rotary Sunday Markets

I went to the Camberwell markets on Sunday. The photo shows my haul from the excursion. I can’t believe I have been in Melbourne for over 2 years and it has taken me this long to get there. It felt like I was in vintage heaven.

For those of you not in Melbourne, it’s a trash and treasure market and that’s exactly what you will find plus everything in between. If you are after vintage and collectibles it’s the place to go apparently. All the goodies I bought were vintage - fabric, buttons, a beautiful tin and an embroidered tablecloth still in it’s packaging.

I went on my own which means I could browse to my hearts content and I didn’t need to worry about anyone else getting bored. There are around 350 stalls so it takes a while to get through them all especially if you want to go back and have a second look.

If Camberwell was close to home I would probably be there every Sunday but because it is a bit of a trek from my house I think I will have to be content with once a month. I can't wait until my next visit.

Dreamy

Penny from Pocket Carnival on etsy has featured my Come Fly With Me brooch in her latest treasury called Dreamy. Thanks Penny!

EDIT: the treasury made it to the front page of etsy! Thanks again Penny

New Old Buttons

I have a few new vintage buttons to add to my stash this week. I just love the designs you get with vintage buttons. A lot of modern buttons seem very plain in comparison.

Finished Bird Cushion

I finally have a finished bird cushion in my etsy shop.

I just got the hang of photographing my brooches and now I have to learn how to take good cushion photos. This one's not so great but I really wanted to get it listed. Taking good photos is one of the hardest things about selling online.

I have fabric to do about 4 more cushions so this week will be getting the screen out to have another go screen printing on the linen. I have bought a smaller squeegee which seems to have helped when I did some practice on calico.

New Bag Pattern

I have been working on a new bag/pouch pattern and after a few tests this is the finished product.

It's a really simple design and folds over to close with a magnetic catch.

The chrysanthemum design on the linen has been screen printed by me in a slightly too bright green. It wasn't quite the green colour I was after but I was trying to keep the screen printing process simple so I used an off the shelf colour from Permaset.

I am going to have to get myself a colour mixing chart and have a go at mixing up some colours.

Little Titmouse

My first purchase on the new look Made-It was Little Titmouse by Matou en Peluche. I was very excited when the little print arrived in the mail. I just love the touches of colour made with pastel.

Sam behind the label does retro/art deco drawings, prints and cards in charcoal and pastels. You can take a peek at the rest of her Made-It shop here, and also her etsy shop here.

I am off to find a little white wooden frame to put the print in.

Made It Relaunch

For those of you who love to buy local handmade (ie made in Australia), Made It have relaunched their website with new a new fresh look. Along with the makeover are brand new features such as feedback and the ability to mark favourites.

It’s still a work in progress. The hardworking team behind Made It are still adding features and ironing out kinks but the good news is you can still buy while they are doing that.

One of the great things about Made-It is the currency is in Australian dollars, which means no converting to US dollars like you have to do on etsy.

I have set up my shop on Made-it with brooches and very soon will be adding cushions and purses so stay tuned.

Sunday Stash #13

This is another Kokka fabric that is destined for cushions I think.

I Won.....again!

Well I guess I can't say I don't win anything anymore as this is the second blog giveaway that I have won this year. This time it was the Valentines Giveaway on Modish and the goodies arrived in my mail box on Friday which was pretty exciting.

The items are from Lexy Art and Flower Press who are both Australians, so I guess it was fitting for the competition to be won by an Australian.

The items are all lovely. I have a thing for birds, puppies and red shoes so there is three ticks. I also love the tea towel from Flower Press and I am feeling the urge to cut it up and make it into something as it's a little too nice to use as a tea towel.

My Come Fly with Me brooch seems to be popular at the moment. The brooch made it to the front page of etsy on Sunday and I was lucky enough to see it for myself.

This brooch has been on the front page before. It is interesting finding out other peoples likes and dislikes when it comes to my stuff because they don't always correspond with mine. I have sold more of the bird brooch than anything else. And while I like it, for me it isn’t close to being my favourite at all.

Sunday Stash #12

This one is curtain material I think. It has a slight sheen to it.