Contemporary Cloth

Contemporary Cloth

 is one fabulous store, selling amazing fabrics, papers, stencils, patterns, notions and fusibles.

Take a look at some of their fabrics:

Domesticats Natural Putty by Alexander Henry:

Or this Garden Tools orange by Felicity Miller:

And this Everything But the Kitchen Sink #13

Just now, Contemporary Cloth has some AMAZING bargains in their clearance section:

Like this Mod Green Pod Organic Fabric - Butterfly Jubilee Licorice:

Reduced from $39.76 per yard to just $15!!!

Or this Alexander Henry Witches in Stitches - Smoky Gray:

Reduced from $10.00 per yard to just $3.96!!!

There is SO much more to see at Contemporary Cloth - I highly recommend a visit! Go and take a look right now! :)

Happy Shopping!

My Creative Space

Recently a good friend of mine in the UK had a gorgeous baby girl.  Of course I had to send her a handmade gift to say congratulations!

I sent her a baby play mat, with lots of different

fabrics and textures on it.

And also a very small soft bucket hat, since it's summer in the UK just now, and I'm sure she'll be taking her adorable baby out and about to show her off!

I hemmed the edges of a large piece of cute muslin that I had, and wrapped the gifts up in that, so the wrapping is also a gift too!

Tied it up with a pretty ribbon and sent it off on it's way to the other side of the world!

Congratulations to my dear friend Reina!!

To see what others have been up to in their creative spaces this week, head on over here.

Creating Success around the World - Gabrielle from Little Bird Bindery

Welcome to Creating Success around the World

Introducing you to creative people from all corners of the globe.

  <center><a href=http://jembellish.blogspot.com/search/label/Creating%20to%20Success><img border="0" src=" http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac152/creatingtosuccess/blog%20buttons%20-%20Creating%20my%20way%20to%20Success/creatingsuccess_orange.jpg"/></a></center>

Every Wednesday our hosts will introduce some inspiring creativity from their corner of the world.  Here's this week's hosts:

Jill in Australasia

Daffy in Asia

----------------------- Today's guest is Gabrielle from Little Bird Bindery    in Melbourne, Australia

What do you create?

Well, basically I create books. Books with lots and lots of empty pages, screaming out to be Illustrated or written upon.  Journals, sketchbooks and notepads all built for a little prose, a lot of doodling or whatever takes the book lovers fancy.

The Little Bird Bindery books come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  Hardcover and soft leather journals. I’m even happy to make custom orders.

Why do you create? I create because I must!

I’m one of those people that’s always making something.  From a kid that knitted, a teen who designed and sewed her own clothes, a Mum that made kids hats, to middle aged lady who makes books.  Knitting, sewing, cross stitch, illustrations, painting, letterpress……..and the list goes on.  As for book binding, well, I first learnt how to make books about 3 years ago and love every single itty bitty moment of it.

That desire to CRAFT has always been in me. It’s an intrinsic part of me and I can’t remember a day where I haven’t created something, whether it’s a quick sketch of an idea or actually sitting down at my desk and making and creating.

Do you sell your creations? If so, how? Where? And is it profitable?

I do sell my books.    You can find all my current books for sale at www.madeit.com.au/littlebirdbindery.

Initially I was very reluctant to put them out on the market. Not because I didn’t think they were good but simply because I thought nobody would want to pay for them.  It’s very easy to be highly critical of your own work so it took me long time before I recognised that other people loved my books as much as I did. So there I was with a room full of books that needed to go to good homes and rapidly running out of places to store them.   What to do?   Well, I started giving them away.  Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, gifts for any occasion really.   And then something fantastic happened.  I realised that there were people out there who loved my books as much as I did and after receiving some amazing feedback I decided ‘selling them” might be worth a go.    My books are now available to everyone on Madeit.com.au.  My little store is called “Little Bird Bindery”. You can find it right HERE.

It’s been a great learning curve and although I haven’t sold an insane number of books, I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved so far.  It’s great to see them go to good homes and treasured by someone other that myself. 

At this stage my Madeit store finances my binding habit.  One day soon (real soon) I’m hoping it will lead to bigger and better things (like stay at home and madly binding all day long. Sigh!)

What mistakes have you made or lessons you have learned?

Mistakes?   Me??  Never! Seriously though.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.  (Albert Einstein)

When you’re a creative even a mistake is something good.  One mistake and what you began with can result in something pretty spectacular in the end.

But, yes, if I think real hard I guess I have made a few mistakes but by far the biggest would have to be not having faith in my skills and talents and knowing that what I produced was brilliant and admired. 

So for any fledgling creatives out there,   just do it!  Give it a go!  Nothing ventured.  Nothing gained!

What, to you is success? Have you achieved it yet, or are you on your way towards success?

Success for me is being able to be creative ALL of the time.  I don’t necessarily measure it in financial terms (although some extra cash wouldn’t go astray), but in my ability to spend time creating and learning.

Currently I’m spending more time designing covers than actual binding so I don’t have a lot for sale at the moment (must fix that) but it means what I have created, is very unique, not the same old stuff you’ve seen before.  And I’m truly, wonderfully enjoying myself.  That to me is success.

So what's next?

Next?   Gee.  I guess it’s to learn more skills and techniques to enhance my binding skills.  Take some chances and design something a little crazy perhaps.  Hit my blog a little more consistently, populate my shop and show some strength in promoting myself.

Feel free to pop into my store for a looky see. www.madeit.com.au/littlebirdbindery

Or Visit my blog for my latest ventures into the creative world of bookbinding. http://littlebirdbindery.blogspot.com.au/

Better yet.....email me:  littlebirdbindery@gmail.com

--------------------------------Thanks  for your lovely answers Gabrielle - and for sharing your beautiful work with us!Do go and visit Gabrielle's blog and check out more of her wonderful creations!

Special note:This feature - Creating Success around the World has been running for around a year now. In that time we've had lots of hosts all over the world introducing us to so many fabulous creative souls.I've loved meeting each and every one of them, and am proud to have been able to feature many of them right here on my blog.Thank you to all those who have participated in this project - either as a host, a featured crafter or a reader.This is the last week this feature will run, but you can always browse back over the past 6 months of Australasian features here, and gain some inspiration and insight into Creating to Success!
Thanks to everyone for your support of this feature.Don't go away - there's lots more great stuff yet to come here at Creating my way to Success!

Notebook covers - tutorial coming..

Usually I have a tutorial ready to post on Tuesday morning.

However, this week I have my girls on school holidays which slows things down a bit - plus I'm feeling a bit sick at the moment with blocked sinuses and a sore throat! So, I'm not very organised!

Here's a couple more pics of what I've made - I will post the tutorial very soon!

A Round Tuit 107

Tuits are very hard to come by, especially the round ones. For years people have been saying, "I'll do it as soon as I get a round tuit". Well now you can have one of your very own, and all those jobs that have needed doing will finally get done!

<a <br /><br /><center><a href="http://jembellish.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20Round%20Tuit"><img border="”0”" src="http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac329/jembellish/Blog%20buttons/ARoundTuit.jpg" /></a><center><br /><br /></center></center>   Here's my favourites from last week's party: First of all, this fabulous recycled medal art by Ruby Murray's Musings:

Brilliant!

To see more wonderful ideas - including more crafts with those medal ribbons head on over here:

http://www.rubymurraysmusings.blogspot.ca/

Next, this ruffle flag pillow from the Sewing Loft:

For lots and lots more fabulous sewing tutorials, head on over here:

http://thesewingloftblog.com/

Finally, this beautiful crochet jewellery from Elisabeth Andree:

Elisabeth has some amazing crocheting on her blog, so do go and take a look:

http://elisabethandree.posterous.com/

For those featured, feel free to grab a 'featured on' button from my buttons page.

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Now it's your turn:

Link up your own projects - old or new - no rules - just share your creativity and inspiration!

I'd love if you grabbed the button - then you can have your very own Round Tuit!

And of course we all love visitors and comments so do visit some of the other links!

By linking up here you're giving me permission to use photos from your post in features here on my blog.

I will feature my favourites on facebook during the week, and also on this post next week.

Madwestdesigns

Take a look at this gorgeous Crochet Girls Beanie with Glamour!

And these beautiful Crochet Maryjane Skimmers for Toddlers:

Or this adorable Children's Crochet Spiral Scarf:

So many beautiful hand made items!

Whether you're looking for yourself or for a gift for someone special, it's always worth a visit to 

Madwestdesigns

Marie also welcomes custom orders, so if there's something you're looking for and can't see it in her shop - do contact her to see if she can help!

Happy Shopping!

Me, a mad scientist?

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you a picture of a new drinks belt for running that I had made.

Well I tried it out on an 18km run and found it still bounced around a bit too much - not so comfortable! So it was back to the drawing board! ( I refuse to pay $45 for something that I'm convinced I can make myself!)

So I've gone as simple as possible - with just a thick elastic belt with little loops on to hold the bottles and velcro to fasten it!

I tested it out last weekend on a short run with my daughter, and found the weight of the full bottles pulled it down a bit much, but otherwise it seemed ok.

So I've now added a couple more belt loops on my shorts to stop the belt sagging!

(This is when my husband called me a mad scientist - testing, retesting and adding bits here and there!!)

So - I think I've finally cracked it.

Today I'm off up this mountain (The Pyramid) for a training run and another test of my belt!

Hopefully it will finally be perfect!

Wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Fat Quarter Shop

Today I took another trip to The Fat Quarter Shop to see what fabulous fabric I could find.

Straight away I found that they have a 

SALE

 on just now to celebrate their 9th Anniversary! 

(ends June 24th at midnight)

So what special offers are there?

Well there's this Geared for Guys Downloadable e-book,  by Emily Herrick of Crazy old Ladies and featuring John Adams of Quilt Dad:

Reduced to just $16!!

And how about this 

Always and Forever Passion Pink Valentine's Quilt Panel  

- 50% off! Now just $3.88 per panel!!

Or this amazing 

Pink Sleepover Sleeping Bag kit 

- also 50% off, now just $47.50

Or how about this Impressions Blue Dahlia Yardage by Ty Pennington for Free Spirit Fabrics:

Also 50% off at $5.38 per yard.

There is sooo much to see, and so many great bargains to be had,

so do head on over to 

Fat Quarter Shop

and grab a bargain today!

Dress to skirt and top - this week's upcycle

As I've mentioned before, my daughters are growing up but not out at the moment, and although their clothes still generally fit, they are getting too short.

This was the case with a pretty dress belonging to my youngest daughter:

So I upcycled it into a skirt and top:

I just cut under the main shirred body part:

Which left me with a wide skirt:

Then using another skirt for size, cut some elastic for the waist, and stitched that on - the fabric was already folded in gathers from the dress so it was easy to fit around the elastic evenly.

Then the top I had left, I matched up with another discarded top that had stretched and become rather shapeless.

I cut a section from the bottom of the blue shirt, and simply stitched down the side, then attached to the top.

Hopefully now she'll get a little longer wear out of it!

And of course here's some cool poses to show off her new outfit!