… Do you design and hand craft quality products? Do you live in Melbourne and looking for a warm, friendly and exciting place to exhibit & sell your wares?

The Handmade Show could be just for you. This is where we showcase the talents of local artisans and crafters.  Perhaps you would like to join us!

Our focus is on quality handmade products, and we love to exhibit a large range of crafts. We are on the lookout for unique, well made products that are locally made in Melbourne.

As you would know, most markets charge you a fee for holding a stall. The Handmade Show operates a little differently because we (the artists & crafters) run the market ourselves. We are a non-profit group that all share the responsibilities of running The Show, and therefore a donation from each of our stallholders is requested to go back into the general costs of running The Show. A portion of this also goes back into the RSL.

Interested in becoming a stallholder or would like to know more? Please visit The Handmade Show blog to register your interest, and you will be sent an application kit!

After visiting a market recently and seeing lots of gorgeous hand crafted teddy bears, I was prompted to write about my ‘recreated’ bears. Making or recreating Teddy bears is not my usual craft but a few years back I was inspired to dress up a few cute little bears. I’d given them each a name & a little story attached. Here is one of the bears I called Daisy.

DAISY BEAR – A HAPPY  HEART.
Daisy Bear adores her garden. It is her favourite pastime. It’s her passion and she reaps many rewards from her labours. But Daisy is not a selfish bear. She loves to share the fruits of her labour; and many neighbours & friends often find Daisy on their doorstep with an armful of blooms, a pretty bouquet, a basket of fragrant roses, handfuls of spring flowers or a special arrangement of her favourite picks.

Daisy is a special little bear who’s found a home with a special little girl.

Crafters on the South East side of Melbourne have long awaited for a show of their very own. This is not a market but a showing or exhibition by a collective group of creative people who beautifully & lovingly create their own wares to the highest quality and of original designs. Many of their works are One-Of-A-Kind and all have their own unique style.

The Handmade Show  is here to showcase the talents that are blooming around Melbourne, especially on the South Eastern side of Melbourne. It’s a petite show of grand proportions by a friendly group who are passionate about their creative work.

Here is part of the creative ensemble -

Celeste from Little Waltz
Kerri from Vintage Sew and So
Celeste fromBowerbird inc
Jade from Holi Goddess
Elena from EP Designs

There will be a limited number of contributors at each show because that is how Celeste of Little Waltz, and creator of this new show, has intended it to be.  A maximum of ten contributors will participate at each show.

We have enjoyed each others company and are enthusiastic in supporting & encouraging one another in our endeavours.

Our next showing is being organised for March. Stay tuned for all the details.

Welcome to Pink Saturday! 

 It’s those little things, handmade or recreated with love, that can say so much and become little treaured keepsakes. So I’ve dug out some photos from my archives, of a few small creations to share for today’s Pink . The first photo shows a simple little notebook. I had a stack of handmade paper which I made into these small books. A painted rose on the cover with some trims turn a plain book into a sweet little keepsake notebook. 

A few years back my mum came home with a box full of these small stainless steel gravy boats. They were thrown out at her place of work so she rescued them and brought them to me. They were still in good condition - but what do you do with a box full of gravy boats?

…. Recreate them into candle holders of course! After receiving the ‘recreation’ treatment some were filled with candle wax or wax beads and others would hold a tealight or short candle.

The next photo shows a recreated trinket box. This was a well-used silver heart box in need of some loving care. It belonged to a friend of mine who didn’t want to throw it out and so asked me to give it some new life…….

…. and so, it went back home renewed.

One thing I remember when creating the above treasures, is how much I enjoyed working on them. 

There are many wonderful entries for Pink Saturday which is hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound. Take time to visit participants’ blogs and see how Pink  everyone’s Saturdays can be.

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Beverly has issued us all a challenge for Pink Saturday – to visit someone new amongst the particpants and then introduce them to your readers. So my blog for the week is –  

La Chambre Rose - by Nancy – celebrating artists and crafters and offering tips and freebies.

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One More Thing …

Have you noticed the Blog Award I have been nominated for? To be selected as a finalist I need to have as many nominations as possible before voting begins. If you like my blog please nominate it – the button is in the sidebar, Many Thanks!

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Happy Pink Saturday!

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What do you do with a heavy glass bead necklace? If it’s too heavy to wear you may want to throw it away or give it away. But what if the necklace belonged to your mother and the glass beads happen to be venetian glass beads? They’re not something to just ‘get rid of’, especially if they were bought on a trip to Venice. Well, you ask a creative friend to do something with it……. and I think eight things were well done.

Recreating items is something I love to do myself and Mezz from Creative Outlet has done a fantastic job recreating this necklace into eight totally different new creations. They’re gorgeous pieces. I quite like Purple Velvet and Light Amethyst…. although Lavender, Burgundy and Amethyst are so nice too …. well all eight are great. You must pop over and have a look at what Mezz has done.

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Charcoal drawing – Pouring a glass of water ……

A quick baby portrait …….

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.

Welcome to another Pink Saturday! 

Today’s little collection includes a few fluffy and cute keepsake boxes - One of my creative experiments from my ‘hobby business’ days. The base structure is a round cardboard box with lid. The photos don’t show their actual size but the first two designs are the smaller of the set I used (diam. approx 18 cm, or 7″) and the third design is the largest (approx 25cm, or 10″).

Very Pink on the outside and royal blue inside.

Very elegant and regal looking on the outside with purple to match that royal feel.

Just fluffy fun outside and sunny on the inside.

There were other designs using stronger, deeper colours of vintage red and gold. Of course, most of them have either been given away as gifts or sold, except the purple lidded one above and a gold lidded one (not pictured).

I wish I had a before photo to show you the plain brown cardboard boxes. It’s amazing what a combination of a little paint, crushed panne, feathers and assorted braids can do.

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There are many wonderful entries for Pink Saturday which is hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound. Take time to visit participants’ blogs and see how Pink  everyone’s Saturdays can be.

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Happy Pink Saturday!

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After exploring Margarets blog Konstant Kaos and discovering her passion for fabrics, I’ve come across more crafters’ blogs with passion for their craft.

 Your Cheeky Monkey is an Australian on-line store featuring baby products made by Monique. Her blog is a delightful collection of crafty ideas, giveaways, product reviews and more. Monique is a proud supporter of work-at-home-mum industry.

While visiting her blog I also discovered The Aussie Handmade Giveaway - an Aussie giveaway site set up by Aussie Artisan Jessica Van Den.  Aussie crafters donate lots of lovely prizes to be won weekly. The idea is to provide an avenue to help get Aussie crafts out there – Crafters or Artisans can donate a giveaway item and be featured on the site for one week . Monique has donated a prize here previously and has also won one.

Three branch candle holder trimmed with Victorian beaded fringing

The creative room has been silent and still for a long time. I know I’m not far off from picking up a paint brush …. for creative purposes instead of painting walls.  In fact, I am eager to get going again. I remember when the paint, brushes fabrics and embellishments were used in full swing and how all I had to do was pick up one of them and the inspiration would flow. Will this happen the again, the same as before? I hope so ….. I believe it will.

Shabby rose jug-vase

I haven’t posted my creative work for a long time, mainly because there haven’t been new pieces to show. For now, I’m reminiscing, and thought I’d post some pics of favourite pieces I’ve recreated in the past …… This is probably for my benefit more than anything else but I hope new visitors will enjoy what I have to show.

Heart trinket box with matching roses tray

Pot-planter for precious blooms

Organza shawl trimmed with hand dyed lace

Am I inspired? …… Yes.

Take some time-out, relax and be an artist for a day…..Create your own masterpiece and have fun.  Just drag your cursor over the screen – each time you click a new colour comes up for your to work with. Experiment and enjoy being creative….. it’s also a great therapy session if you’re stressed out.