20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Flotsam Earrings $18

Inky Fingers Original Art Print (unframed) $5

Verdigris Octopus Necklace $16

Moby Dick Necklace $18

Antiqued Octopus Necklace $30

Silver Tone Octopus Necklace $30

Golden Brass Octopus Necklace $30

Inky Finger Original Postcard $3

Just a little of might might been seen when traveling 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Inspired by Winter

I must admit i'm not very fond of winter. I don't like being cold (neither do my poor arthritic knees) and my house has no real heating expert for a small ceramic fan which makes working in my studio quite difficult most days. However i do find the appearence of nature in the winter months most inspiring. Whether it be snow covered mountains, a think foggy morning or the spooky appearance of the leafless trees that line my street. I would often sit with a hot cup of coffee and think of how i can incorporate this imagery into my work.
Drawing from this wintery wonderland i have created two new necklaces. The first is titled "The Winter Tree" and features a large bronze twisted branch style pendant with hand coloured verdigris owl attached.


The second is titled "The Lonely Tree" and features a large silver plated wintery leafless tree pendant. Both super sweet pieces are now in stock and ready to warn your heart this winter.

A Party In The Park

Toady was my little nephew Oscar's 2nd Birthday Party. We were so blessed, usually the weather is South Gippsland in winter is most unpleasant however today was just glorious, still chilly but lots of beautiful sunshine, just perfect for an afternoon in the garden. The party was held at the Memorial park behind my house and adjacent to a wonderful childern's playground.

Mum made giant teddy bear cookies :


I made my famous scones:

Jodie made a "diggy" truck birthday cake:

(which Oscar was quite distraught over when we cut it up)

And a mess:

And Oscar made a girlfriend:

(well perhaps not)

Vintage Dictionary Pendants

I love old books, the smell and the feel of the pages and that lovely golden patina around the boarder of each page. Recently a came upon a collection of vintage dictionaries from around the 1960's. Most were little quarter sized books with tiny fine print, a pocket reference once used in schools. They were so cute i had too find a way of using them in my jewellery, these sweet little pieces are the end result.

Each little necklace features a clipping from my collection of vintage dictionaries set under a magnifying glass bubble cab and mounted onto a hand antiqued frame. The pendants measures 33x22 mm and comes presented on a 46cm hand antiqued alloy chain. Only $18 each.

Sitting under the Apple Tree

I've been adding a lot of new designs to my catalog recently, but this sweet little necklace is one of my favorites. It features with cute little apple tree charm with vibrant green foliage. A few weeks a ago i went to a trade fair in Melbourne and learnt how to do air-dry enameling, i've used this same technique to create the lovely shimmery green colour on the pendant.

Because it's the middle of winter here, my little apple tree in the back yard sadly does not look so lush.

The necklace is now available for purchase on my website or if you're in Melbourne you can pick one up from Incube.8r Gallery in Fitzroy for only $18.

Oscar's Felt Storyboard

Today is my sweet little nephew Oscar's 2nd birthday. I really wanted to make him something and unique as a gift. Being the only nephew to a hoard of siblings and the only grandchild on both sides, there is no doubt tones of nice shiny store bought presents, which i must add is awesome but i really wanted to give him something made just for him and his tastes.
Few weeks ago i stared thinking what to make him. He's a very active child, loves story times and often seeks out his own adventure. So after a while i decided i wanted to make him a kind of interactive storyboard that could also double as a wall decoration for his room. In the end this is what i came up with.
Oscar loves my parent dairy farm, he loves being outside, all the animals and especially the tractors and bikes. The design is made using a large wooden frame with MDF base, this one one i picked up at one of my many local op shops.
Then take two 25cm section of felt from the bolt to form the background, i used a royal blue for the sky and lime green for grass, these are hand stitched together to for a sheet. I then added a tan road made from a square of felt and stitched it to the hills. Finally using a staple gun i attached sheet to the MDF base to complete the background for this piece.

I then hand cut and stitched all the different little characters using more felt squares. Each little character has a small section of adhesive Velcro (the hook part) attached to the back, allowing the little characters to be removed and played with separately or repositioned on the storyboard. Once complete i refitted the backing board into the frame and added a new string to the back of the frame ready for hanging.

The whole thing took about 6 hours to complete over a couple of days but i'm really happy with the way it's come out. I can't wait to give it to him to see what he thinks.
All the felt, floss, thread and Velcro can be purchased from any good craft shop or store like Lincraft or Spotlight. If you love this piece but you're not that crafty i would be more than happy to make one (i can do almost any scene it doesn't have to be a farm) on commission, they would take a few days to complete depending on my work load and market commitments. If anyone is interested just send me an email.

200 Yo-Yo's

As you might know if you've been following my blog or tweets i been sick for the last few weeks. It's kept me out of the studio for a while and confined me to my bed or the couch. But sadly i'm the type of person that becomes bored easily (even when i sick). I always need to be doing or making something, however lately due to my illness i simply don't have the energy for my usual design work.
So i recently sat down with my mountain of vintage and salvage fabrics and made 200 of these cute little 1 inch yo-yo rosettes. They're so simple and easy to make. All you need is one of these nifty little yo-yo templates from Clover, which can be found at most good craft store or online. Then simply cut and stitch your fabric as instructed and in flash.....you're done. If i get enough requests I'll be happy to put up a photo tutorial here on my blog.


The only problem was now that i made all of these cuties i just didn't really know what i wanted to do with them. So after a little procrastination, here's a few idea i came up with. Some are samples while others i've made multiples, depending on the amount of fabric i had left. I'll have them for sale on my website soon, you can also purchase these for my market stalls this coming spring/summer if interested.

Lolly Pop Yo-yo Bobby Pins

Floral Fields Yo-yo Hair Clips

Gingham Yo-yo Earrings

Ribbon Candy Yo-yo Necklace

Sundays Down on the Farm

Most Sunday's are spent down on the farm. Unofficially it's a gathering my family does on most weekends. It began a few years ago when my sister started taking her two dogs down to my parents dairy farm in Koonwarra for a run about and a spot of cat casing. Now this has become an informal family luncheon. Although all my family reside in the same district, and on most weeks have occasion to see each other at least once, i still find it nice to gather and catch-up (or argue about) the current affairs of our lives over chicken burgers or mum's yummy homemade sausage rolls. This is espically delightful in the winter months as my parents have the most wonderful log fire in the loungeroom to sit by. Last week i took my new Cannon EOS with me to capture some of the more interesting sights of winter time down on the farm.The great pumpkin harvest

The remains of the old plumb tree

Moss on the old well

Tarwin River under flood

Old Oak Tree

Rusty machinery

Spooky - Friday The 13th

Black Cats and Witches Hats

And things that shouldn’t be seen

Stay inside, where it’s safe and warn

Because today is Friday August Thirteen

Lady of the Afterlife Necklace $24

Night Owl Hand drawn print $5

Ouija Board Necklace $16

Symbols Charm Bracelet $39

An Ocean Voyage

So longing am i for the day when i can set sail across the seas, free from work and bills and taxes, with sun shining down and warm breezes gently blowing past, how divine. But sadly i find myself wrapped up in bed, chicken soup in hand, listing to the stormy weather outside whilst trying to get over the flu from hell.

Well until that day comes, here is a selection of ocean voyager jewels from my current collection to tempt and inspire you.

Nautical Vintage Fabric Rosette Statement Necklace $55

Hello Sailor Nautical necklace $18

Ahoy Statement Necklace $18

Seafarer Locket Necklace $22