I live with a sculptor...

Have I mentioned that I live with an artist? I might have somewhere along the way, but anyway, I do. Joe was a graphic designer but he hated it, and starting painting instead, and this year he decided to do some classes at TAFE so that he could do some figure drawing, and just out of timetable-convenience, he decided to take a sculpture class, and low and behold, he discovered that he's rather talented in that department. It's only been a couple of months, and already he's doing things that I think are amazing! And, like me, he's all about being obsessed with things... we see each other in the mornings and we usually watch The Bold and Beautiful together in the afternoons, but other than that, it's all heads down, bottoms up around here. He sculpts, I sew! And it's a pretty happy, contented sort of place!

B.

A Farewell to Bugs!

Don't be sad little ones. It's not you, it's me. I know that we've taught one another a lot, but I think that's just it... I'm not sure we have anymore to teach each other... our time together was lovely, I drew pretty pictures of you, I drooled over adorable fabric to make you from, and spent hours and hours (and I mean HOURS) bringing your pretty faces to life, not to mention all those haircuts... remember the felt covered floors? We watched every episode of Mad Men (more than once) together while I stuffed your bodies with polyfill, and watched you become real. And I did all this lovingly and carefully, but I'm at a stage where my mind is wondering... I'm thinking of pandas again, of little sheepy-lambs and dolls, oh so many dolls... I don't think it's fair to string you along, you deserve better than that.

So goodbye my little bugs! I will keep your sewing pattern, and make it into a PDF so that others can learn from you the way I did, and make their very own little piece of bug happiness, I promise!

B, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

The Markets!

Ok, well, I've been meaning to post about how the markets went since I got home, but I have been seriously exhausted! I got up at 5:30am on Sunday to be at Bondi at 8:30, and didn't get home until about 7:30pm. Joe came with me, we drank so much coffee, we ate the only food available there, which was all bbq-ed meat on buns, and got pretty darn sun burnt! We also arrived while it was raining, then sprinkling, then raining, and sat nervously looking at all the toys, wondering what would happen if it didn't clear up... but, it did clear up, hence the sun burn!

So, it wasn't the most lucrative adventure I've ever been on, but it was certainly a learning experience... according to the other stall holders, it was a pretty terrible day in terms of the number of people, and we were also way up the back, out of the way, overshadowed by 2 enormous tents on either side, and not in a very good line of traffic! People loved what I had, and as always, asked about stocking them in their shops... something which I'm not quite ready for yet, I can't possibly sell them any cheaper when I take into account the time and cost of materials, but I'm sure I'll get faster as I go along and figure out a better way of setting the whole system up.

I have Glebe coming up this Saturday, and I'm feeling about a hundred times more prepared than I was this time last week! For starters, I've actually been to Glebe markets, I had never been to Bondi markets... when I lived in Sydney, I was an inner-west girl, the Eastern suburbs were always a strange far off place only accessible by a series of buses, and they never had the allure of Newtown or Glebe. And I know what to do in terms of setting up the table and stuff... so much more prepared!

Next week, when I've recovered a little, I'm going to make some posts about what/how to go about this whole market caper... I had soooooooooo many questions that could only be answered by doing it, and lots of people have been asking me stuff along the same lines, so I'm going to put all my notes together, and hopefully be of use to some people out there!

Well, stuff to sew, coffee to drink, and unfortunately some books to keep (last day of financial year... eeek!).

Oh, and a massive thank you to Joe, Jacqui and Eleni, who came and sat and walked and encouraged, and generally made the day more enjoyable! You guys are the raddest! And Sian will be coming and spending the day with me at Glebe, so this is proving to be a good social/catching up move for me!

Happy Tuesday!

B.

The website exists!

Remember the website designs I showed you all last week? Well, after some mucking about, some phone calls with the host company, I have it all sorted and uploaded... please don't tell me about any problems with it because it'll make me cry, and you don't want to do that do you?

It's simple, it's functional and if you ever need help using Postcard Viewer or Simple Viewer, just drop me a line, cause I'm your girl!

This is the link:

www.blinkingflights.com

Oh, and you should definitely tell me any probs you see, because I will want to fix them asap, crying or no crying...

Also, a quick question if anyone uses Explorer... I used it last night for the first time in yonks, and noticed that this blog is a little strange in it. There should be a left hand column, the main, middle part, where these posts appear and a right hand column, symmetrical to the left hand one... do you see that? Cause I saw my right hand column way down the bottom of the page whilst everything else was normal...

Just leave a message or email me if you have feedback on this! It seems fine in Safari and Firefox...

Now, I get to do some sewing, finally!

B.

Need some inspiration?

1. Plush Roller Skate, 2. Siamese Dream Mystery Bear, 3. Little treasure, 4. excuse us, 5. Sail Away Boats - series 2 three inline, 6. tomcat_miro_02, 7. malik_01, 8. caera hat, 9. Summer little Queen, 10. uh-oh, fluffy something..., 11. Acorn Boy, 12. Acorn Boy 02, 13. Sleepy tiger, 14. happy tulips on a farm, 15. Anastasia the Mushroom {side}, 16. sitting flower, 17. Coming Soon...Custom NeedleCases, 18. 138, 19. Look into your heart, 20. Numbers, 21. Samantha Jane, 22. Ruby, 23. Ruby, 24. goldfinches & sunflowers, 25. schneeballschlacht, 26. Poppybag, 27. triangles, 28. Dolls for Ivy, 29. "Careful With That Axe, Eugene", 30. Frank, 31. felted bird, 32. P050809PS-0297, 33. stofjes, 34. bird picture, 35. swatches, 36. doesn't he look peeved?

Well, I'll share some of my inspiration with you then!

Happy Thursday!

B, x.

Close... but not quite!

I call her Millicent-no-mouth. Poor Millicent, she almost made it into life today... but not quite!

Don't read those Sydney rental prices... they're more depressing than failed emulsion screens.

But... I have figured out what to with all my printing scraps and failures... Lotta Jansdotter has so many simple patterns for obvious things that my kitchen lacks... such as pot-holders... I know I used to own some things like this, but they seem to have evaporated somewhere in between moves!

Inspired by this!

B, x.

boys, boys, boys...

It's hard making crafty-boyish things... I have lots of trouble with it, for some reason, most of my toys are girls, most of my fabric is girly in some way and most of my designs are super girly. I've tried to move away from this, but it just seems to keep happening. I finally forced myself into making up some boy bodies and boy faces, and I was having quite a lot of fun with it, especially with the names, until I came up against the haircuts! Girl haircuts are easy, I make so many of them each day that I feel like I could do them in my sleep, but the boy ones are tricky!

I searched the net for pictures of boys, I went through my photos and looked at male friends and family members, I flipped through my prized collection of Golden Books in search of funky retro boy-dos... I sketched, I cut, I starred at Don Draper and Pete Campbell (Mad Men has been playing on repeat for the last week, its my new background crafting DVD... Pride and Prejudice had run its course!) and still don't know if I managed to pull it off...

Can you tell that 2 hairstyles that made the biggest impression on me were Don Draper as a little boy (aka Dick Whitman...), and the kid from The Munsters?

Hhhmmmm... 

B.

Market Update

Hello there folks. This is just to let people know that I will doing the Glebe Markets as planned on Saturday, July 4, but that I will also be setting up shop at Bondi Markets on Sunday, June 28. So I will be seriously, amazingly busy until then!

So, in summary/short glance format:

Bondi Markets: 28 June 2009- a Sunday

Glebe Markets: 4 July 2009- a Saturday

Any tips for a first timer would be more than welcome! I'm excited, but also a little freaked out, plus I'm going to have to get up pretty early and last the whole day... not my forte by any means, but it'll be good to get some feedback from people out there in the real world.

I've got it all sorted as an event through my facebook page if anyone would like to join, it has lots of other interesting things, and it gets updated throughout the day.

Happy Saturday!

B.

P.S. That's Sweet Pea up there, she is half bug, half alpaca! I guess the test tube got a little mixed up at the lab!

Just sharing some flickr finds!

Have a look at these sweet things!

'Sleepy Tiger' by Zimina.

Find the blog here.

And I love these dolls by Sarah at Threaded Basil. I love their faces, their scarves, their little dresses, but most of all... I love the hair! If you are not as in love with these dolls as I am, then I am afraid to tell you that you may have something wrong with your cuteness gland.

I love her winteryness... that's where I'm at right now down here in the southern hemisphere.

And I would give anything to have hair like this!

Hope you enjoy!

x, B.

My Creative Space..

My creative space today has been a mix of disappointing photo emulsion attempts... not enough sun or patience... I'm trying to make some screens up but I'm not having much luck today.

Hopefully Millicent will appear on fabric some time soon, and hopefully the rain and greyness will leave me alone!

And I've finally forced myself back into opening Fireworks, and I will soon open Dreamweaver and HTML up my website, which I've been really, really, really (really) lazy about... I've changed the design about a gazillion times, but I'm happy with this one:

Nothing too exciting going on, other than embroidery and bingeing on hours and hours of Mad Men. I love it. I love Peggy and I love Don. And I hate Pete!

Check out more creative spaces @ and via Kootoyoo. I love the little doll that Nan @ rummage has made, it's very sweet!

B.

New Stuff!

Big Cartel & Etsy ---------------------------------------------------------->

And more coming soon!

Gosh. I am so tired!

Goodnight!

B, x.

Recipe Monday

Carbonnade of Beef, aka Beer Stew

I've been eating this recipe my whole life because it comes from one of my Mum's favourite cookbooks, she gave me the recipe a couple of years ago and its become a staple winter fave around here... 

Serves: 6

Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 kg of steak: chuck, round or blade (I think blade is best!)

2 tbs butter

2 large onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbs plain flour

1 cup of beer*

1/4 cup hot water

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

pinch of nutmeg

3 tbs brown sugar

finely chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions:

Wipe and trim beef. Cut into cubes and brown in butter; remove to a plate. Reduce heat and saute onion until soft, add garlic and cook a little longer. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Return beef to the pan and pour in beer and water; stir constantly until mixture thickens and just begins to bubble. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for one and a half hours, until beef is tender. Remove bay leaves, season and sprinkle with parsley.

- I add some parboiled baby potatoes to the pan about hour before eating, and I also throw in frozen peas just before it's ready.

* The beer you use matters! I always use VB (Victorian Bitter), which is generally a horribly bitter tasting beer that I don't like, but when mixed with the ingredients, such as brown sugar, it works perfectly. I've tried a lot of different kinds, it seems the fancier you get, the more you have to add later to correct the taste!

Try it!

More recipes at and via amityville boronia.

B.

New bugs and the printing continues...

Just a glimpse of what I've been absorbed in the last little while. I have about 30 new bugs finished, and the house was covered with screen printed fabric panels drying on newspaper on Friday night when I had the place to myself... I got inspired and churned out several pieces of fabric. I feel like I'm starting to understand the process a little better. Thanks for the advice people gave me last week. I've been using permaset, but I think I was using too much, and I think I'll try and thin it out a bit. Lena Corwin refers to printing inks as opposed to paints, in her book and on her blog, but I think I'll have to wait until I go to Sydney next before acquiring it... but things are getting better... I think!

B.

Feeling super dooper inspired...

I've been feeling REALLY inspired the last couple of days. I've found some new blogs to drool over, and to push me forward with what I'm doing. I was starting to feel like I must be the most boring person ever, that I make bugs and talk about bugs, and write about bugs, and am always thinking about my silly bugs... and people must be like "what's with her, what's with the freaking bugs all the time?". But so what, that's what I do. I have a bunch of other half finished projects which are awaiting my attention, and which are not bugs, but for now, bugs are what are occupying me, and I'll go where the creative process takes me.

Anyway, I'll share these awesome finds with you incase you haven't yet stumbled upon them yourself. They are:

Jane Foster, which I found through her Etsy Shop. This is her blog, but she also has a really fantastic website, with the sweetest graphics. Oh, and this is her Big Cartel Shop!

This is what she does, screen prints and fabric things, I love these cats.

They are adorable.

A Little Hut is another blog which I'm loving. It's full of simple and beautiful paper products. She has just written a book and I'm busting to have a look at her projects.

This is some wrapping paper she made with her children using markers and crayons on butcher's paper.

I've also been reading the new Lotta Jansdotter book Simple Sewing for Baby, which might sound strange since I have no baby, but the designs are really inspiring and seriously simple, and the printing and fabric are amazing. I'm loving the way that she has used attractive, simple patterns that aren't too gender specific, and I'm rethinking me designs based on this. I'm thinking about the way most of my toys are girls, and how that goes against what I believe in in many ways, I think it's wrong to be getting into serious gender stereotypes with little kids and their objects, and although I love my little creations, I'm going to try and be a little less girly with them if I can.

And Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand has become like my bible. I'm reading it before bed and making little doodles in my notebook in the middle of the night when I wake up with an idea in my head. I'm learning about screen printing, and it's working well with my addiction to Illustrator... I'm not if I'm mentioned it, but I have the capacity to sit and draw new designs and illustrations for hours on end if left unchecked, and now that Joe and I figuring out how to use photo emulsion, well it's all coming along quite well.

Hope these sites/books inspire you too!

B.

Something new!

I call her Crystabelle and I love her, and her fabric which I bought yesterday... but I've run out of polyfil this afternoon, so she will have to wait for until tomorrow to gain some shape... I couldn't resist sharing her right now though!

Hope you like her too!

B. x.

Winter blues...

Oh my goodness. Winter is here. It has been soooooooo cold the past 3 days that I've had the heater on during the day, I've had all the doors in the flat closed up to retain any small amount of heat and I've been eating soup, and drinking loads of coffee and tea to try and keep warm, its truly miserable... but somehow sunny, that biting, chilly, windy kind of sunny. Times like these prove yet again that its awesome to have a sweet little cat to cuddle up to, he sleeps on my feet at night and nestles up to me during the day. I think we're soulmates!

B.

My Creative Space

I'm back! I forgot about this fun post last week... which is a shame, cause it's one of my favourites... I like snooping around and looking at everyone's pictures, and everyone had hearts hidden in their theirs last week... I would have liked to join in on that!

Ok, so this is what's happening around here this week, or today at least! This is my ironing board, and it's the centre of the bug production process right now... I make the bodies, the heads, the faces, the hands then the antennae, and then I piece them all together and give them a back piece. I'm up to the most exciting and tantalising part of the game, which is piecing them, then sewing them, then pulling them out the right way, and seeing a new little bug come to life... I get all ahead of myself here, and go from controlled adherer to a simple production line, to a giddy person who throws order out the window, and has some bugs stuffed and tagged, whilst others wait patiently for their peripheral organs or limbs...

I've also just finished sewing and stuffing a batch of small toys all made from the pattern I used to make Gordon. This little mouse is amongst my favourites from this June batch, as they've become known.

And the chronicle of the printing continues... we're fumbling around with photo emulsion, and whilst things still aren't perfect, they seem to be getting better with every attempt. We're looking for some better fabric paint, our local art store only stocks one brand, and we think it's a little gluggy... any suggestions from printing enthusiasts would be seriously listened to and appreciated... so please pretty please... ANY ADVICE? or even links to good sites/tutorials and I'll love you forever and forever!

And, yes, all my creations are very much into the Eels (the band), they are bliss!

All this plus the entire first season of Mad Men on DVD are going to be making for a seriously intense creative space over the next couple of days!

More spaces at Kootoyoo.

Cheers,

B.

Oh yer, I did a blog interview...

Did I mention that I did a little blog interview over at babalisme? This is the link, it's a really cute blog from Indonesia, and I really like that the post is called 'Cuteness Invasion'. 

This is Ginger, (above), and Wendy, (below), which I mention in the interview!

Goodnight!

B.

Thank you Miss Aine!

Look what arrived today, all the way from County Kildare in Ireland! I won him in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day from Miss Aine. How delightful to have a pressie turn up in the post when you've had a million other things on your mind and had forgotten you won something. I've called him Albie, I really like that name.

The postie people must have thought us innocent gals were passing around more than just soft toys, but the pamphlet inside advised that whilst they had opened the package, they deemed it suitable and had not needed to tamper with anything... never had that happen before, so it was all rather exciting!

I'll also take this opportunity to remind Ammie that I need your address so as to post Sam the bunny your way, haven't heard from you since you claimed the prize... :)

B, x.

Souvenirs

Ok, so I am running late with EVERYTHING this week, seriously. I even have a book at the library waiting for me to pick it up... that never happens, I'm usually there 5 minutes after receiving my email that it's arrived... (sad, but true!). This is my Words and Pictures for the week, or maybe I should say last week...

I don't really collect proper souvenirs, but when I was cleaning up my room last week (there's a first time for everything), I was looking in my jewelry boxes, I was fixing them up and putting things back in place when I noticed the way that organise my bits and pieces. It's always been a subconscious thing that I do, I have three boxes, one for important stuff, meaning things that have been given to me or which have sentimental value, another box which is full of things with no sentimental value at all, which I generally acquired whilst working at the op shop, and another which is just random stuff that I bought for myself, which kind of fits in the middle somewhere, it's not important, but I do attach meaning to it.

Looking through the important box evokes every kind of emotion imaginable, from sheer happiness, thinking about my Mum and how she gave me a crown charm and told me I was her princess one day when I was about 6 years old, to the bangles Mike gave me successively over the years of our relationship... how I love them, how I love him, and how I clung tight to the first one he gave me while I was at his funeral. There's a bunch of cheap and tacky stuff in there too, like the beaded ring I made with a girl in my street when we were about 12, the senior badge for Narromine High School, and the funny rings that Joe gave me when he was working in a toy shop a few years ago. All these things are kind of souvenirs to me. They all have so much meaning and importance (hence their placement in the importance box!), and they all mark different times or events in my life. I love them!

More Words and Pictures over at Meet me at Mikes, although, they're probably up to a new topic by now!

B, x!

Recipe Monday, appears to be on Wednesday this week!

I need to share with the world the best ever brownie recipe. It's really quite divine, and simple as... I was far too lazy to cook the mocha chiffon cake I had in mind on the weekend, so instead whipped up a batch of these on Saturday (and another on Sunday, because they make it through the night...)

Ingredients:
115g unsalted butter
240g castor sugar (confectioner's)
3 medium sized eggs
80g plain flour
70g cocoa powder (I prefer Nestle... it really seems to make a difference in this recipe)
1 tsp baking powder

+ a hand full of nuts or choc chips or whatever you have, chopped roughly... I think macadamia nuts make this dish just that little bit more divine!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 165 degrees Celsius; Line a 600g loaf tin with baking paper.

Cream the sugar and butter until smooth and pale, gradually add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder, and fold through the butter mixture along with nuts or chocolate bits.

Pour the mix into the loaf tin and bake for 30-50 minutes... broad spectrum I know, but I bake for about 35 minutes, which leaves you with a fudgy, yummy, moist centre, but cooked enough to stay together.

Leave the brownies to cool for a little before serving... Yum yum!

Enjoy!

B.

Glebe Markets here I come...

Well I have a stall booked at Glebe Markets for the 4th of July! We drove up to Sydney early yesterday morning to book and prepay a stall, and that was the only date that wasn't sold out, so in almost a month, I'll be selling my wares in Glebe... which is kind of funny, because when I moved to Sydney from the country as an 18 year old, Glebe Markets was like such a big deal... I remember the first time my friend Monica took me there, and it was so, so cool. All the colours, the people, the clothes, the food... I felt like I finally understood where I wanted to be, and I used to go there every Saturday on my own on the way up to Mike's house. I soon ended up with an oversupply of very cheap second hand clothes with funny names and logos, and unique, handmade jewelry... and a taste for the potato salad from the salad stall... that was 10 years ago!

I also managed to get some nice Japanese paper that doesn't involve flowers, pink or other extreme girly-ness... I need some for the boy bug labels, and it's taken quite a great deal of hunting. I'm really happy with it!

Plus, Joe's brother has been staying with us this weekend and I have managed to recruit him for The Toy Society, he really likes it and he's going to involve his kids in the whole process, which I think is so exciting, I would have loved it when I was little!

Check out my raspberry flavoured biscuits... they kind of look funny, but they are delicious, and they're just a standard biscuit mix with a few mashed frozen raspberries... easy!

Whole new batch of cats and bunnies coming along!

And my bug hairstyling techniques are getting better!

Excited about the markets!!!

Plus, I reduced the price of some of the older stock bugs in the Big Cartel Shop, so check it out if you're interested!

Goodnight!

B.

Stuff... and giveaway update!

Well, I have been really busy and a little sick, so I've been a little absent from my blog for a few days... so this is what has been happening around here...

NEW TOYS! Shock horror, I know!

Meet Petal, Sam & Ainsley!

Gordon, ready for his trip to California, to live with Casey.

Gordon's likes and dislikes... he says 'no' to lion taming!

Queenie, ready to go to live with Toni!

A new design... I found myself photoshopping my carpet clean in this photo... virtual vacuuming!

Drinking copious amounts of coffee... invented a ham, cheese and mustard scroll... yum yum!

Got this awesome book from the library... I think I need to buy it. I LOVE IT!

Looking out the window at all the rain...

So much rain!

Now, I said I was going to do a giveaway for people following the blog, so the giveaway is Sam, the spotty bunny up there... so it'll work this way...

The first follower to make a comment on this post wins him!

And a little bunny will be going out to Messy Mama because I was so amazed with all the entries I received!

Oh, and I made up a Blinking Flights Facebook page, separate from the Giveaway Group page, because it's easier to contact people this way, I'm going to post any sales, giveaways etc. through that page! Sorry, to be a little confusing, I'll still keep the Group however. Hope this makes sense to people!

Ok, well Goodnight, and I'll be sending out that bunny tomorrow if I get a comment tonight!

B, x.