{ alice is coming }

I can't wait until Wednesday - I'm going to see Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland after work!

In honour, I've spent the best part of this weekend working on my most detailed papercut to date. Here're some progress shots:


And the final table centrepiece:





The design is from a book I picked up on Saturday - Paper Cuts: 35 Inventive Projects by Taylor Hagerty. The 35 designs are by a number of talented artists and this Alice one is by Cynthia Ferguson. Cynthia has a wonderful blog that I follow and encourage you to also if you like the art of papercuts, her work is incredible.

There are a lot of other projects I'll be trying out from this book, but not until I get the feeling back in the fingers of my right hand!

{ something new }

I wanted to spend a large part of my recent holiday making new things. Some time back I bought a kit to make pocket memo holders from Paperama on Etsy. They looked like so much fun to make, and they were.

Here's what I made from the kit:


And that got me all inspired:




And then on to some with a fold over cover:



There are a couple of other new ideas I tried out during my holidays and I'll continue sharing those with you. The purpose wasn't to necessarily come up with new products to sell (although some will progress down this path), it was to really enjoy the chance of having completely free time to do as I pleased.

I know how rare it is to have time like this in our busy lives and I was very grateful for it - especially since my first week back at work has been 'hectic' to say the least!

Do you get/make time to relax and go with the flow creatively?

{ the 80's are back }

Went to a great exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum on the weekend - The 80's Are Back. Looking at the kids on the streets today, you might think they never left!

What memories it bought back! So much to see, but even better so much to do as well. Had a great time playing Donkey Kong, Pacman and Galaga on proper old arcade machines like they used to have in the fish and chip shops!

The biggest 'oh my' moment for me was when I rounded a corner to see a fully decorated bedroom circa the 80's - it looked just like my bedroom, even had the exact doona set. The only differences were my tape player was pink and instead of Dirty Dancing and Star Wars posters, my walls were full of Michael Jackson posters! [Little known fact - I used to be able to spell his name backwards as quickly as forward. No, I don't know why that was necessary either]


The exhibition runs for some time yet but don't put off a visit and miss out. If you're a kid of the 80's you'll have so much fun reliving your childhood/teenage years. If you're younger, go and check it out for a proper reference of 80's fashion!

Seems there's a bit of an understandable hiatus going on over at the Sunday Stash blog but I didn't realise that until after I took my photos etc so thought I would post anyway.

Took a trip to the sale at Quiltsmith sale last week and picked up the following:


The intention is for making more bookcloth for albums and possibly notebooks but I needed a project with a quick resolution for the bee fabric and couldn't wait out the full process so I decided on a little drawstring bag to placate myself:


I really love that fabric! Can't wait to see it on an album cover but as I'm back at work tomorrow that might be a ways off.

{ fabric bookcloth }

One of the techniques I've wanted to give some time to is making my own fabric bookcloth. It doesn't work to just glue fabric straight onto boards, the glue will seep through and ruin the fabric. To fix this you paste the fabric on to thin, Japanese paper, creating your own bookcloth.

I did a day course last year at the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders but this week has been my first solo trial. Besides the course, I also referred to instructions in Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman.

Here's a snap mid-process, just about to paste the paper and fabric together:



After drying, it's time to start making the book. I had a couple of text blocks I made ages ago so I thought I would put them to good use and make some case-bound books:


It's been so wonderful to have the time just to go with the flow and try new techniques. I now have to work out a way to continue doing that as I head back to work on Monday - boo! Anyone have some advice?

{ robot album }

A new photo album made and delivered to be filled with photos from the first six months of a new arrival. Looking forward to seeing it filled with photos.

I used a different technique for this one than I normally use on albums. A couple of tweaks to make, but I like it!

{ shop update }

As I mentioned, I spent the last couple of weeks making books to re-stock ready for markets this year and also my Etsy store. My first market on Sunday was a lovely day. I had no idea how it was going to go but I was pleasantly surprised! The organisers have done a great job over the last year or so building up the Eveleigh Artisans' Market and there's a solid base of visitors that's growing each month (first Sunday of each month, remember?!).

I've taken some time today to list some new books in my Etsy store, here's a sample:


So that was my last couple of weeks. Fun times, but I'm looking forward even more to the coming weeks as I'm working on some new projects which is very exciting. I've got quite a list and I've already started to work my way through it. I'll post some of my new work over the coming days and weeks for your comments etc and I'm thinking of a bit of a giveaway so stick around!

{ sunday activity }

Looking for something to do in Sydney on Sunday? Why not drop by the Eveleigh Artisan Market? It's on the first Sunday of each month (that would be tomorrow) and it's undercover so no need to worry that it's likely to be rainy tomorrow!

I'm grateful to be able to say that I had a good couple of markets in the lead up to Christmas so the last couple of weeks have been a joy of making new books to re-stock.

A small selection of new coptic bound books coming along with me:


And I've also been working on some new little 'scribblers':


I've had fun covering these little notebooks with everything from washi tape to health instructions for entering South Korea!

{ making stamps }

I spent a lovely couple of hours yesterday afternoon in a nook of the Hondrake Japanese book store on Kent St. It was a fabulous location for my introduction to the craft of stamp making.

I'm holidays at the moment so when I saw this workshop on the very talented Riyo's blog, I thought why not? So wonderful to be able to do something like this during the week.

Riyo moved from Japan 2 years ago, in part to be inspired creatively by a different country. I was amazed - all I want to do is move to Japan as it's such a mecca for much of the craft I like (not to mention this, this, this, this, and so much more but I'm probably boring you now with all these links), and here's someone moving from Japan to Australia!!

I started really basic with my first stamp making a tree. It was in two parts but as you can see below, two really basic parts! The camera was a little trickier and the button was just at the end to use up a small piece.



We finished the afternoon with some homemade deserts. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me so go to this post of Riyo's to see the amazing green tea cheesecake! Apparently all workshops of this style in Japan finish with some sweet goodies like this.

Apart from me, all the participants were Japanese and reflecting later in the afternoon I realised how much I loved being part of something where I was totally included and part of something but also like I was a fly on the wall observing at the times they conversed between themselves in Japanese - I loved it! I often feel like that when I visit non-English speaking countries and it was so wonderful to experience similar right in my own backyard.

Just to round out my Japanese afternoon, I stopped by Kinokuniya as they have 20% off all craft books in February. This includes Japanese craft books as well. On 27 February they're holding the Kino Craft Fair from 12-4pm. I'll definitely be going along, hope to see you there!