My Crafternoons Workshops Hamilton

I'm delighted to recap my first Crafternoon Workshop held in Hamilton, Victoria, which was a wooly wonderful success!

You may have read my previous post on my new hobby/business venture: My Crafternoons.

My Crafternoons will hopefully grow into a neat little website filled with creative inspiration and pics from my real-life workshops, which will beheld monthly in my local town; Hamilton.

The town is notorious for it's loveable geriatric population, but in a bid to find younger cohorts I've decided to entice young creative ladies to find me, instead of me trying to find them- hence My Crafternoons, and also the aerobics class I teach!

I've been enjoying buying supplies and taking photos of inspiration whilst on my travels (some of which can be found HERE on mycrafternoonsvic Pinterest boards and HERE on the Facebook page), but haven't actually done much making recently- I've been too busy!

Heart-shaped pom poms- must try!

I wanted to make a heart-shaped pom pom garland like the one above to decorate the room but ended up making a regular spherical pom pom garland at the workshop instead, which you can see alongside my pom pom bouquet below!

I was very happy with how the workshop went; there was chatter, chai lattes, tunes, biscuits, strawberries, grapes, polkadot tablecloths and every colour imaginable, and everyone left with huge smiles and beautiful pom pom bouquets. There were no burns from the hot glue gun either- win!

You can read more about the workshop HERE at www.mycrafternoons.com, and the next one is set for Sunday September 28th.

This time it will be held in the newly opened HIRL Gallery and we will be making painted paper collages- email mycrafternoons@gmail.com to book!

Introducing: My Crafternoons! Craft Workshops in Hamilton, Victoria

I'm excited to announce the reason for my relative silence recently: I've been busy setting up a new website and small business/hobby: My Crafternoons!

Since moving out to rural Victoria to be with my sheep farmer beau, I've had to have a bit of a life re-organisation, not to mention learn some new skills (who knew the ability to light fires and muster sheep would become so essential!)

To make more friends, make some money and also do something fun and positive in the local community, I've come up with the idea of running monthly craft workshops in my local town: Hamilton.

In order to shout about this... picture me yelling from the mountains; "HOLLA! IT'S CRAFT TIME!"... in a less weird, more efficient way, I built a website using Wix.com.

I'd recommend using the templates on sites like this but add your own flair through fonts, images, backgrounds and layouts. In order to change the website address from wix.com/blahblah to www.mycrafternoons.com, you have to upgrade the site, the most basic domain-hosting only package starting at around $5 a month. If you're going to be selling something through the website, you need an eCommerce package, which is around $17/month.

I'll be using my site more like a blog and info portal for anyone keen to come to the workshops, which will be held one Sunday arvo per month (for the time being).

As for venue, there are a few places in Hamilton I've been considering. Do I choose the cool Roxburgh cafe with upstairs function hire rooms, the new HIRL art shop opening in a few weeks time, or the practical but non-trendy Community House? Perhaps I could rotate it until I find the cosy crafty home of future workshops, or until one day I can afford my own crafty tea house, complete with all my favourite British confectionary from back home- ah to dream!

Tunnock's Teacakes would feature heavily in my dream British Tea Shop!

My Crafternoons will be keeping me busy over the coming months; finishing the website, planning workshops, ordering supplies, costing materials, building Facebook and Pinterest followings- oh and actually practicing making the things I'd like to make!

This is all alongside my two other jobs- teaching dance classes and soon doing some freelance work for an online language learning tool (more on that later).

Wish me luck!

Markets and More in Melbourne

There are TOO MANY treasure-filled markets and events on in Melbourne this weekend and over the Christmas period to keep track of without writing them down, so I may as well share the love!

This list includes the Christmas, craft, second hand and random markets, pop-up shops, fairs and vintage garage sales that I've heard of recently, but if anyone knows any others please let me know in a comment! 

---VINTAGE SALES IN BRUNSWICK 7th and 8th Dec---

RetroStar Vintage $10 or less Sale- 7th and 8th Dec - 8am- 5.30pm - 33-37 Stewart St, Brunswick. Right by where I used to live and FULL of treasures! 

Harry Wragg Vintage Sale- Also 7th and 8th Dec until 6pm 18-20 Moreland Road, Brunswick East 3057. Buy 3 items get 1 free!

---MARKETS and FUN STUFF---

The Big Design Market - 7th-9th Dec, Fri 10-9pm, Sat to Sun 10-5pm - Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens. Clever minds and their covetable creations.

Anatolian Cultures and Arts Festival - 8th Dec - 11am-10pm - Fed Square. A taste of Turkey!

North Melbourne Market- 15th Dec - 10-3pm  Lithuanian Club, 44 Errol St, North Melbourne. 

French Xmas Market- 7th/8th Dec- 10-6pm - 51 Grey St, St Kilda. Tres bien!

Scandinavian Xmas Market- 7th Dec- 10-5, 8th Dec 11.30-4pm - 21 St George's Road, Toorak.

NB: German Xmas Markets- There was one on 22nd Nov on Barkly St and another on 5th Dec in Melbourne Town Hall. No more lebkucken in store I'm afraid!

The Sisters Xmas Market- Weekends until 22nd Dec- 12-5pm but until 7pm on Fridays, Dream Tent at QV square.

Christmas on Victoria Green- 6th and 13th Dec- 4pm-8pm - 807 Bourke St, Docklands.

Kris Kringle Night Markets- Thurs 12th and 19th Dec- 5.30-10pm - 189 High St, Northcote. 

Christmas Twilight Markets- Friday evenings until Dec 21st- 4-9pm, Harbour Esplanade by Etihad Stadium, Docklands.

St Kilda Twilight Market- Thursday evenings 5-10pm until Feb 20th - O'Donnell Gardens. The regular Sunday market is 10-5 along the Esplanade with beautiful views of the sea and lots of treasures.

Supper Market- Fridays until March 7th - 6-10pm - Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford.

Coburg Night Markets- Fridays until Dec 20th- 5.30-10pm - Bridges Reserve, Coburg. Follow with the drive-in cinema perhaps?

Chinatown Market Day- Friday 20th Dec - 4-10pm - Heffernan Lane off Lt Bourke between Russell and Swanston.

Festive Foodie Market- 14th and 15th Dec- 11-4pm - Fed Square. Tasty Treats and Xmas Tree Mazes? Yes please!

Young Creatives Market- Sun 15th Dec- 10-3pm - Raglan St Gallery, 14 Raglan St, North Melbourne.

Kensington Arts and Crafts Market- Sun 15th Dec and monthly until March- 10-3pm - Kensington Primary School, 62 McCracken St, Kensington.

Blender Lane Artists' Market- Weds until 26th Feb, 5-10pm - 110 Franklin St.

Colour Box pop-up shop and creative workshops- Until Sat 21st Dec- 236 Nicholson St, Footscray

Mr Nice Guy Pop Up Burger Bar- Sat 7th Dec- 10.30 to 4.30pm, 535 Lt Lonsdale St

And of course, not forgetting the old favourites...

Camberwell Rotary Club Market- Sundays- 7am-12.30pm- This will always be my favourite, especially for the last half hour of frantic bargain hunting when sellers call out things like 'everything a dollar!' Closed 15th and 22nd Dec.

Queen Vic Market- Daily except Mon and Wed for cheap groceries and bits and bobs.

Night Market on Wednesday evenings until Feb 26th- Lemonade and sangria in summer, mulled wine in winter, and paella! Lots of it!

South Melbourne Market- Wed, Fri, Sat Sun for posher groceries and bits and bobs.

Night Market on Thursday evenings until 19th Dec.

Arts Centre Sunday Markets- 10-4pm - Arts Centre Lawn, St Kilda Road. Pop in and check out the Arts Centre 'All That Glitters' Exhibition too, it's dazzling!

Fed Square Book Market- Saturdays 11-5pm, The Atrium, Fed Square.

Rose St Artists Market- Sat and Sun 11am-5pm, 60 Rose St, Fitzroy. 

Coburg Trash and Treasure Market- Sundays 8am-2pm - 115 Newlands Road, Coburg.

Good Old Queen Vic

Feeling Crafty- Handmade Cards, Gifts and Jewellery

As a gift for my friend's adorable baby I made this little name plaque, to go with the awesome NY Yankees romper I got her in the states. There's loads of cool handcrafted gift ideas on sites like Etsy so why not give it a go, it might even be good enough to actually give as a present (unlike last year's decorated xmas candles that now gather dust on my loft!)

For the M- I punctured holes through thick textured card, threaded through pink ribbon and added a sequin.
A- I did a similar thing with pink beads threaded onto sparkly thread to form an 'A'.
C- I cut the motif from my Christening ribbon (sentimental!) into a 'C' shape.
I- Sparkly sequins threaded together to form a line were finished off with a heart sequin.
E- I cut pink tissue paper into the right shape and stuck on a duck shaped button.
Et Voila!

Also check out these cute handmade cards I made for friends and family this winter in moments of pure and unadulterated crafting bliss...

Mother Bear's card, pamper voucher and handmade leaf earrings (well, I bought the components and put them together!) 

Granda loves living in the Lake District almost as much as he loved my card :)

Metallics, sheer ribbon and buttons add texture to my fancy floral creations

Snazzy card I made for my last day at work.

I'm also partial to a bit of jewellery-making as you may have gathered in previous posts, but here are some of the friendship bracelets I made at camp, and a few necklaces made by my own two manicure-starved hands:

L-R: This tiny bottle and dried flower were a gift from a very creative CouchSurfing host I had the pleasure of meeting in West Philadelphia, which I added to a shoelace. Resourceful!

The swirly black pendant is a Fimo creation made at Camp in New York, as were the galaxy-inspired beads beside it, all threaded onto leather.
The hamsa hand (symbolising protection) and the monochrome amulet were made using copper enameling which I'll go into a little more detail on below, and the wooden cross was a rainy day project in Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia.

The back of the hamsa hand above shows the 'before' finish to these pieces of copper, but they look far more interesting with a little coloured enamel, especially in the ombre style I carefully created above. At camp we sprinkled the sanded copper shaped with coloured powdered enamel (more on that HERE- thanks again eHow!), VERY CAREFULLY carried to the oven and baked. I prefer the one on the suede cord but the beaded one has an ethnic charm I also quite like!

These heart earrings were also made using the copper enameling technique, I just stuck some earring posts to the back to make them functional!

Next I think I'd like to make these cool framed heart-shaped maps of places I love, or this Robert Indiana style 'Love' button creation (ha- love button) from Not On The High Street as I DO love buttons!

Treasured Jewellery; Old and Made-New

I am so full of love for my favourite vintage almost-shiny things that I MUST share their stories with you. 

I emphasise 'stories' because that's what I love about old things; they have their own past, present and future often NOT akin to "manufactured in Asia, distributed to UK, sold in Workington Topshop last week"- though yesterday I did buy this adorable ring-bracelet (ringlet? racelet?! Sounds like an Ann Summers product) in Toppers after watching Great Expectations at the cinema with Pops. It made me happier than the film at least!

Below is a charm bracelet I've been working on and I love it so much I don't actually want to wear it in case I lose it! The chain itself was my Mum's from her 18th Birthday and I added to it some charms from my Great Aunty Margaret's charm bracelet, which mostly consisted of Canadian maple leaves due to her family in Ontario.

I have bought charms in New Zealand, Australia, Tokyo, England and both coasts of the US so far, and am always on the lookout for new ones to add!

Personal favourites so far include the acorn that opens to reveal a squirrel, the mini bible containing tiny printed pages and the statue of liberty- though the gramophone handle actually turns which is just DARLING too!

While in San Fran I dragged my friend to Treasure Island Flea Market to hunt for some treasure of our own and boy did I find some!

The pendant on the left is actually a clip-on earring that I've clipped to the central pearl on an old necklace, and the stone at the top is just threaded onto a gold chain so I have to make sure it doesn't flip over while I'm wearing it. Must fix that... Actually while I was in the Town Hall Antiques shop in Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes last week I got this matching brooch too (oh and if you're in the area, The Black Horse is delicious!).

The tiny cuckoo clock and the key I got in a 'thrift store' in upstate NY where I worked at camp. The woman who owned it was such a darling she gave me a discount on all the things I was buying including this sparkle-tastic embellished cape-top...

The feather earrings I made by just attaching the feathers I got at the flea market to earring hooks using little metal hoops like you find on the ends of necklaces, and I intend to give a pair to my Mum as a gift this Xmas.

I also made these cute-as-a-button earrings by super gluing some of my Gran's beloved button collection to flat-fronted earring backs I had in my old craft box (who am I kidding- one of the many craft boxes that litter my loft!) and gave two pairs of them to my lovely friends for their Birthdays last week. 

I have made loads of button earrings in the past, including the three heart-shaped pairs below I made at camp. The closest ones are actually copper shapes that I sanded and dusted with enamel then baked to set- gotta love Camp's Arts and Crafts department! The middle Cath Kidston buttons and the floral ones were sent to me in Birthday parcels from adoring friends whilst I was in the US- thanks guys! 

If you don't have any earring backs like I've used above you can use old earrings as long as they are flat-ish, I've used flowers and smileys before but the ones below were stuck to old heart studs. 

Back to Aunty Margaret's hand-me-down heirlooms now, just to show you my new favourite old rings...

...And some of my favourite vintage necklaces. This tiny locket was my Mum's from when she was a Bridesmaid and contains photos of her parents (my grandparents), and the larger one contains photos of my Grandad and his Mum <3

These final three tarnished treasures were my Grandma's- the bottom one being a gift my Grandad bought her for their wedding anniversary- they were married 56 years and had the kind of love that just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Watch this space for the love story of their lives that I must get round to writing one of these days... I am sure it would be better than the stories behind the items in my jewellery box!