I was very excited to receive my Once-A-Year Book order from Kasia at Laikonik yesterday. Kasia is a Polish born artist who draws her inspiration from the folk art traditions of her homeland. Kasia is passionate about recording things about her life and her children's lives, which led her to create the Once-A-Year Book.
It's a wonderful idea for those of us who are time-poor (isn't that all of us these days?), the concertina book has room for one photo and one page of notes for each year of your child's life until the age of 18. Surely I can manage that?! It even comes with a little inspiration/instruction booklet with ideas to get you started.
The book itself is beautifully handmade and comes in a hand-stitched felt bag. Kasia has a range of colours and cover designs to choose from, so check them out on the Laikonik website.
I love Roxy's book and intend to give it to her on her 21st birthday, until then I'll keep it a secret so it's a surprise for her. I wish I had one of my childhood - what a wonderful treasure to have!
I *heart* Fridays: I *heart* the Once-A-Year Book
Living Creatively
The Stitches and Craft Show is on at Rosehill Racecourse from today, so I went to check it out this morning. With the rise of cool crafting I imagined that there would be plenty of beautiful creations to drool over, new materials and techniques to discover, and a fun day to be had.
... I was pretty much surrounded by nannas having a lovely day out - not that there's anything wrong with that! Disappointingly, but not surprisingly I guess, the products for sale and on display reflected the taste of that demographic. That is until I ventured up to the 3rd floor to be greeted by this:
Image source: livingcreatively.com.auLiving Creatively has set up the sweetest display featuring beautiful contemporary crafted pieces complete with real grass and bunnies. Yummy looking felted and knitted cupcakes, strawberries and carrots sat alongside sweet fabric flowers and birds. There were clotheslines scattered throughout the area from which more creations were hanging, and some crafty young women were selling their wares.
Living Creatively is, according to their website, "an online community dedicated to creativity". I have to admit I am yet to explore the website, but from what I saw today they are doing a good job of nurturing young crafters/designers.
Craft is very much in vogue and there is a rapidly growing groundswell of indie crafters using and reinterpreting traditional techniques and materials. How great is that? I really hope that the momentum continues.
Read more...
Give Away WINNERS
Thanks to everyone who entered my give away and recommended retailers in their area. I am grateful for your efforts and level of detail you all supplied.
As you can see from the photo Roxy drew the winners out of a bowl from my beautiful Shelley dinner set which I blogged about a few days ago. Congratulations to Brenna from Newcastle who was the first name out. Brenna has won a small personalised Heart Box. The runners up and recipients of a small framed personalised art each are: Nicola R from Melbourne, Karen D from Brisbane and Marrianne from Sydney.
Brenna, Nicola, Karen and Marrianne I'll contact you all via email.
I *heart* Fridays: I *heart* Washi Paper Tape
Aren't these colours to die for! This is the most divine tape made from Japanese washi paper. Not only are the colours just so gorgeous, but the tape has the texture of washi paper and it's semi-transparent so it creates a wonderful effect when the colours are layered over each other. It's now in my collection of art materials that I might someday use... or maybe not. The dilemma is that it's too beautiful to use, but on the other hand it's too beautiful not to. Sigh.
Happy Friday!
Sneak Peek: SushiBird Tiles
I'm excited to show you a couple of my SushiBird Tiles. There are 3 designs initially and each SushiBird Tile will be a signed limited edition of 75. Of course due to their hand crafted nature each piece will be a one-off. I've had a great response from retailers and the media, so I can't wait to get them out there.
