Quietly Chugging Along

Sometimes life is so crazy that you barely have time to taste your food before you're off and running again. The last few weeks have been like that in our household. We're all very tired so we're taking the next few weeks very very slowly (almost to the point of boredom if I have to) so that we're in the right frame of mind for Christmas. Lets put it this way, yesterday my Handsome Husband was so bored that he drew a HUGE Australian Flag on Hilarious Son's bare chest in pen...as you do.

So I'm resting and so far it's going very well. I'm letting the shops run themselves for a bit and I'm spending FAR too much time on Farmville than a grown woman should. I'm re-reading books and having little Rachel-only 30 Rock marathons with bikkies. It's the best.
So to catch you up...

• I've been madly working on my Grandmother's 80th Birthday present. I can't say anything yet, on the off chance she visits my blog and finds out. In case you're reading Cushie, it's gonna be awesome! xx
• Handsome Husband and I just celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary and it seems I will never EVER get used to the looks you get when you're 26 and have been married for 9 years. 
• After pretending for the last few weeks that Christmas IS NOT coming after all I've given up hiding and started madly getting myself in order for the big day. Although, I'm not quite sure where that big day will be held...hmmmm.
• missIsa is doing splendidly as you can see here in various beautifully curated treasuries, one Gift Guide and one Etsy Front Page (which is a HUGE honour)

I'll be blogging my Grandmother's birthday present in a few days! I'm super excited and I'd love feedback on it because it's the first time I've made anything of it's kind and I'm nervous.
Take care,

missIsa

Well now, I think it's fairly well established that I am insane, further proven by my opening of a second Etsy shop missIsa.

I saw the idea on website ages and ages ago; the idea was just sitting in my favourites folder waiting to be made. Until about a month ago when I finally had time to make a set for my children. As the set was drying my husband leaned over my shoulder and said that I should sell them. After I'd finished laughing at him the idea got all into my head and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I usually take that as a first sign that I should do something...or buy something.
Each pencil is hand wrapped from papers sourced from all over the world and then varnished for easy grip and sharpening.

I'm making sets as fast as I can but they keep selling!

1. Sun Spots, 2. Handwrapped Graphite Pencils from missIsa, 3. I'm a Math Geek, 4. Handwrapped Graphite Pencils from missIsa

I'm working on cute little names for each set but I've sold two of the sets already in the above photo and I never got a chance to name them!

Honestly, I'm most proud of the way I'm packaging the pencil sets! I'm using some gorgeous striped french ticking and cotton twine. I have been told it looks beautiful.

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart"

William Wordsworth

It's a Secret!

On Wednesday last week my beautiful Grandmother and Aunt arrived from Sydney for a few days of melting in Brisbane's high humidity and tropical rain. It was so wonderful to see them and my whole family spent crazy amounts of time together talking, laughing and eating. I loved it.

I think the best part for me was going fabric shopping with my Grandmother to her secret fabric shop.
I can't tell you where it is. All I can say is that my Grandmother walks in like she owns the place. She yells 'hello' to the owners and all the lovely people who work there. She is completely at home in this secret fabric shop. It's heaven. I can see why she loves it so much. There are walls piled high with bolts of delicious coloured fabrics. There are dozens and dozens of fat quarters all neatly folded in baskets and boxes just waiting to be sorted through and discovered.
My Grandmother takes centre stage as the people working there all gather around her to offer colour and shade support. They spread out through the shop to find her exactly what she wants while she stands yelling instructions. Hehe. She argues quietly with her favourite as he brings her fabric he wants her to use rather than fabric she actually wants to use. It's all done in a quiet passive aggressive fashion; very amusing.

She is utterly thrilled with my purchases. I think she feels that they reflect well on her.

Til next time,

Early Summer Mornings - Eye Masks

Ok, so it's not actually Summer in Australia yet (horrifying thought) but in Brisbane it is getting up to 33C degrees, that's 91F with very high humidity. The sun is rising awfully early. Just before 5am today and it brings with it a huge amount of heat. It awakens you like a slap in the face sometimes. It really does.

Anyway, my sister asked me this morning if I knew anywhere to get eye masks that she could wear during the night to stop her waking at 5am every morning as the sun comes up. Her new bedroom doesn't have heavy curtains and she can't replace them so eye masks were a brilliant idea. Then I realised that I'm actually capable of making eye masks, and would she like me to make eye masks and she said "yes!"... so I made them.

Is it just me or is there something unbelievably quaint about eye masks? They're adorable!

I got the eye mask pattern out of the most adorable little homewares book, Sew Pretty Homestyle. Actually, I totally forgot I owned that book until today which is maddening because last week I bought a pattern for women's slippers and this book has one! If only I'd known!

Now, may I never have to type eye masks again. Because it's tricky for my fingers to type "masks" and because it's a weird sounding phrase. It truely is. Say it a few times and it ceases to make any sense. Hehehe. It could also be that I over think things.

Yours,

Pre Christmas Sale!

You heard right! I'm having a Pre Christmas Sale!

¸.•`¤~For 10 Days ONLY you can add an extra set of Button Clips to your order FREE!¸.•*¨

★ Simply add 1 set of your choice of Button Clips to your order and I'll refund you for them OR if you purchase your oder, just ask for a revised invoice in the Messages to Seller ★

Sale ends the 10th of November

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm actually quite nervous. I've done a couple of sales in my time on Etsy but I haven't found them hugely successful. I really hope this one is. Not only because it will make me feel like I've accomplished something, but also because it will move stock and I'll be able to get to work on rearranging some of my products. I've got all these awesome plans in my head but until I sell some more stock I can't get into them just yet.


Anyway, fingers Crossed!

I Was Bored - Tote

Yesterday I was sitting around after my Son had finished his school work and I decided I was too tired to do anything much but I was very very bored and fidgety. So, I decided to make myself a very simple handbag using stretch twill in my all time favourite colour, dusty purple!
I used a big white vintage button and some grosgrain ribbon the make the closure for the bag. Easy peasy!
I love being able to make my own bags because I have a thing about the strap length. If the strap is too short I find it difficult to get over my arm and shoulder and if it's too long then it hurts my back. I got to make this bag with the perfect strap length. YAY!

I lined the bag in a pink and white stripe and I put two pockets in for my phone and lipsticks (I think I usually have about 4 glosses and lipsticks in a bag at any moment). Actually, photographing inside the bag was much harder than I was expecting. It's quite dark in there and the resulting photo is also, obviously, quite dark. Hmmmm...

Oh, my favourite bit! The love heart brooch. I saw a tutorial for this brooch a few weeks ago on the Living Creatively website and I've been so desperate to make one ever since. I found sewing on all the buttons really therapeutic actually. I just sat quietly once the children were in bed and hand sewed quietly for about half and hour. I love the effect of all those layers of gorgeous buttons.

close up...because I couldn't resist and close up photos are the best thing ever