TIME FLIES....

Eeeeek! Where does the time go?!!! I have finally finished writing my reports, they've been given the nod by the powers that be and it feels like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders.... only to be replaced with the organisation of the Christmas market! Which I actually love doing, so it's not so bad! The November Crafternoon-Tea has been and gone and even though it was quieter than the first one, I still think it was a great a success! We had loads of new vendors and it was great to meet so many new and talented people.
Preparations for the Christmas market are well under way, we're advertising in World Sweet World, doing a massive flyer drop in local areas (help out by dropping flyers in your area!), advertising in all local newspapers and school newsletters, the Grey Lynn festival is on this weekend and I'll be there handing out flyers, plus a massive email flyer going out to as many people as possible. If you can think of any other way to get the word out, let me know!!!
I'm hoping to get a lot more things made before the next market, but time seems to escape from me! This weekend is the Grey Lynn festival, then on Sunday my cousin and his girlfriend are arriving from London and I'm picking them up from the airport. Next Wednesday I'm off to see Anika Moa at the Monte Cristo Rooms which should be awesome, then my brother arrives from London, Trent and I will do a mock lay-up of the school hall for the market, applications close, flyer drops need to be made, it's CRAZY! You can see why they call it the silly season!
Luisa :-)

Where the wild things are...

Things have been super, crazy busy at the moment what with organising the next two Crafternoon-Tea's, making stock to sell at the next two Crafternoon-Tea's, writing school reports, updating blogs and so on! But I love it! I popped around to the Devonport Craft Market on the weekend, which was fantastic, seemed really busy and I loved the massive new sign outside, can't miss that! As usual, I wore out a few of my new creations to see what kind of response they would get and whether or not I should make more. Well Olivia from lilysmakebelieve loved my Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, brooch so much, that I just had to give it to her. Olivia then proceeded to take Max on his own little Wild Adventure, check it out on her blog! Here's a sampling of some of the other items I made, I've already taken an order for 3 of the Facebook badges! Yay!

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO!

Wow! I've been crazy busy lately, trying to make new and different pieces while at the same time trying to make simple stuff to build up my stock before the market. Which brings me to the market! Organising both the November and December markets is frantic, but I love it! I've got so many new ideas for marketing and promoting Crafternoon-Tea, that it's distracting me from the other important things I'm supposed to be doing!
On top of all of that, I've just been sent my list for the Christmas ornament swap organised by twentycentmixture. I have 6 people in my group, including me and the wonderful Kylie from Skipapple. Now I just have to decide what to make! I'm always worried that people won't like what they get! Here's some of what I've been working on recently:

A tree decoration for a tree!

A leaf necklace! This took so much longer than I anticipated, it's completely hand-sewn and looks quite funky on. If I did another one, I might make the end leaves come in a bit more so it sits slightly differently.



A snowflake christmas tree decoration. I quite like this one, I might try making them in different colours, background and thread.

My interesting attempt at a Pohutukawa flower! Not quite sure about this one yet!
Holly! I love this, it's a brooch and slightly oversized to make a statement. I might wear it to work tomorrow.
This tree will probably end up being a brooch too. There's something quite appealing about this guy, I'm going to try and make a smaller one to be a necklace maybe?
Back to the kiwfruit! I made several little kiwis and thought I'd use one as part of a hairclip. Kinda cute! I'm definitely going to make more of these, not just kiwifruit!

Kiwi-fruit earrings!

That's it so far!
Luisa :-)

MORE CRAFTINESS!

Over the weekend I popped into the Devonport Craft Market to say hi and have a look around. I met some of the new vendors for Crafternoon-Tea such as Kylie from Skipapple and of course I couldn't resist purchasing one of wonderful necklaces, she had such an amazing range that it took me 10 minutes to choose! Here's what I bought:



Wandering around I met Mel from Black Swan Designs, her creations are truly amazing and I'm gutted that she doesn't live here in Auckland, having made the trip up from Christchurch. However, you can buy her stuff online and I've already convinced two of the ladies from work to buy some of her necklaces! The one I bought is pictured below. Mel has promised to try to come back and visit Crafternoon-tea next year, YAY! Next to her was Lucy from Felt, another wonderful lady with such a clever idea, she'll also be back next year and is a valued supporter of Crafternoon-Tea, you can find a whole host of New Zealand's crafty people selling their goods on her website, check it out!

All this craftiness has motivated me, so here's a sampling of what I've been up to lately: felt and hand embroidered hair clips, super cute and really easy to make, I'll be creating a whole lot more of these for the next market!
MONSTERS! I drew one and it just took off into a little family, I think I'll make a few more. I love this little guy the best because he just looks so worried!
This guy just looks like he's having a good time! The monsters are all brooches by the way!
Looking a bit crazy here, could be why the other guy looks so worried!
This guy is the first one that I made, so I have a bit of a soft spot for him.
Here's the whole gang just hanging out!
KIWIFRUIT! The large kiwi is a brooch and the little kiwi is a ring. I had such a positive response to these when I wore them out on the weekend, that I've made a whole fruit salad's worth for the next market. I'm also attempting to make some earrings too.
Here's the brooch.
So I'm currently crafting like mad trying to build up stock before the next market, but I keep getting distracted with school reports and organising the coming Crafternoon-tea and Christmas Crafternoon-Tea. All very exciting! I'm thinking about making some christmas ornaments, but might leave those til after the November market. There's just not enough hours in the day!

Luisa :-)

A CRAFTY WEEKEND!

It's been a long weekend, literally, with today being Labour day and all the hopes of creating lots of new pieces went out the window! Instead I celebrated some friend's good news, (they bought a house), got my haircut by my friends fiance (free!!!) and went to Kraftbomb.
Kraftbomb was great, quite busy, I spent lots of money, saw lots of stallholders from Crafternoon-Tea and met a lot of new stall holders for the next Crafternoon-Tea.

I also bought some wonderful old cases off Trademe, which I intend to use as part of my stall display.






Here's what I bought at Kraftbomb on Sunday.
A Huia brooch from Birdspoke, a gorgeous little owl necklace from Lily's Make Believe, a ring and two brooches from Cheek Pinchy.








The squirrel is a cute little ring and the owl is a brooch. Cheek Pinchy had so many wonderful things on display, that I had a hard time choosing! Good job she'll be at the next Crafternoon-Tea so I buy even more wonderful things!













Super-macro! I love this little guy! I'm going to have to think of an appropriate name for him!
















I'll definitely be wearing him to work tomorrow! I don't know how Olivia from Lily's Make Believe does it! These guys are tiny and it must take her ages to make them. She also makes amazing framed Where I Belong framed maps, which I am so buying at the next Crafternoon-Tea! Check out her blog, www.lilysmakebelieve.blogspot.com





For those that don't know me, I have a thing for NZ birds and I have a large tattoo on my arm of Huia birds, so when I saw this brooch I couldn't resist! Very cool from Birdspoke, who also make framed prints, bunting and plushies.













Here are my weekend purchases off Trademe! The two littleish ones on top cost $10 together, and suitcase on the bottom was only $5.50! I love Trademe! The idea, if it works, is to somehow incorporate these into my market display, meanwhile they're great storage for my bits and pieces and look great in the house!










THE THREE NINJAS!












I whipped these little guys up on the weekend and I love them! They're little brooches and will be for sale at the next Crafternoon-tea.













Here's a label that my ever clever partner and graphic designer extraordinaire created for me!











This is a cuff that I attempted to make, it's all completely handsewn, although I probably could have saved myself a lot of time by using the brand new sewing machine I recently bought (which I really don't have any idea how to use!!!).
It's slightly too big for a child's wrist and could probably even be a bit smaller for an adult, it fits a mans wrist quite well however, I can't really see any guy wanting to wear this though!!!

BROOCHES!

With the next Crafternoon-Tea fast approaching I really need to get a move on and start making more things! My problem is that I keep getting distracted with all the wonderful, crafty blogs out there, that I never end up making anything! On top of that, it's school report time! Eeek, that will undoubtedly be another nightmare! This year I'm going to try and keep things separated and not bring home any school work to do (yeah right!), and keep my evenings free for all things crafty.
My new obsession is felt and all the pretty fat quarters at Spotlight! So, I'm trying to incorporate them together and I've been making brooches and necklaces, I'd like to attempt something in the way of bracelets and earrings, but haven't quite figured those out yet. Anyway, here's a sample of what I've been working on:

I'd like this one to eventually be a necklace, but I haven't quite worked out how to finish it yet, I'm thinking blue ribbon? Which would mean another trip to Spotlight. What a shame!

You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos, my camera ran out of batteries, the charger is at a friends house, so I'm using my phone! Terrible I know!

Button, fabric and felt brooches. I'm keeping them as is, I kinda like the rough and ready look.

These skull brooches have proven quite popular, especially with my students!

My seagulls! At least, that's what they're supposed to be! I don't know why, but these little guys have really taken my fancy, I might have to do a whole range of them!

ABOUT TIME!

Well I thought it was about time that I got my own blog up and running! I've managed to keep the Crafternoon-Tea blog up to date, so no reason I can't do the same here.
The first ever Crafternoon-Tea market happened on the weekend and it went off without a hitch, although I have learnt what not to do and what to bring! Somebody should create a checklist for organisers of craft markets, perhaps that's something the clever ladies behind the Auckland Craft Collective could do?
After seeing all the wonderful crafts over the weekend, I'm now even more inspired to create more items. This was my first real craft fair, so it was surprising to see what crafts of mine people chose to buy, it also taught me to have a bit more faith in myself and my pieces, as I opted not to bring a lot of my stock, and then promptly sold out of what I had brought!
I loved wandering around the market and seeing what other people had done, so many visitors commented to me on how nice it was to come to a market that had such a variety, no two stalls were the same.
I don't think people have quite grasped yet just how much 'craft' and handmade items have changed in recent times, I guess that's partly one of the reasons I started up Crafternoon-tea, hopefully with all these wonderful markets now around in Auckland, people will start to realise just how talented and creative people are.
Luisa x