Cup Cake to go!

While I was doing some photocopying at Office Works a little while ago I was asked by the very helpful Ali if I could make her a Cup Cake Brooch. She showed me her tattoo, so I used it for inspiration.

Your brooches get around!

That was the subject of an email I got today from Gillian from Silly Gilly. If you look here you can see her in person wearing a Betty Jo Sunny Cloud brooch, (she's the sultry blond holding the monkey). I was just mentioning today how I rarely see a full length pic. of someone sporting one of my pieces.Speaking of brooches getting around I saw this squirrel pop up on a Japanese blog the other day. Due to the very average google translator, this is all I could make out of the post.......
"Speaking of reuse, when I traveled to Australia before, the brooch of writer Betty Jo of jewelry was bought. It is a writer for whom the scrap is arranged and the brooch and the pendant are made. It is recycled, and it becomes wonderful unlike the situation to date. This is loved."
Well I got the gist. Nice huh?And look at all these gorgeous brooches owned by Evie@Handmade Romance. The BettyJo owlie is made from a gorgeous bluey green lino I used up ages ago, so it was nice to see it again.

*Remember, there's four more days to enter Betty Jo's Mum's Day GIVE AWAY! Look here for details..go on, you could win a brooch made by me for you or your Mum.

On Tuesday.....

I finished an order for a new Betty Jo stockist Sedonia in you guessed it, Seddon. Owlie brooch will be included.
I wore my new crocheted choker from The Royal Sisters. These little beauties have been described as the cutest way to spend four dollars on the Internet! Although taking a picture of your own neck is kinda tricky. Curly Pops had a similar dilemma with her sweet headband.
The little sparrow brooch peeking out the corner went through the wash last year. Luckily she came through unscathed, but I thought I would adopt her permanently.
And finally, I decided I should write some notes for a free lunchtime lecture I'm giving tomorrow at R.M.I.T. Initially I was going for the unstructured approach but then thought "off the cuff " may not cut it. I've also made a shmick slide show. I'm a big fan of the old school slide night!

"Pearl Oyster"

I finally got to my NEW local cafe. It's lovely.Thanks to last Thursday's Michi Girl I couldn't get a table on Friday....but was luckier on a more chilled out Monday morning ....
Great coffee, top brekky, and cake love. 114 Miller St Thornbury.

Time to tidy......

With all the frenzy of the last few months, one (or two) things have been put on the back burner.
The major thing is the TIDYING of my studio.
So I'm going to shame myself into doing something about it by showing you the state of it.
It has been tidyish here and here. But not now.....tomorrow!


*There's one more week to enter Betty Jo's Mum's Day GIVE AWAY! Look here for details..go on, you could win a brooch made by me for you or your Mum.

Cool Stockists (2nd of a Series)

Georgie Love is the brain child of local gal Sally Morrigan and her pooch George. It's a virtual candy store of handcrafted goodies by independent Australian designers. Georgie Love is filled with a mix of edgy, eclectic, funky and beautiful pieces that are either one-off originals or a part of a very small run. All the items are made by hand and not in factories, usually from a range of recycled and vintage fabrics.
Did you know Georgie Love turned three this month? I have been lucky enough to be with Georgie Love for nearly all of those three years and even now we are still shipping out lots of Betty Jo Designs to people around the globe. I'm guessing some may be 2nd or 3rd time customers.
So THREE cheers for Georgie Love..Hip Hip Hooray !

Can I live here please.....?

Blow the Dusting!

It's all about Bags.

Firstly a big thanks to Cam from Curly Pops for featuring "Aunty Mabel's Handbag " while guest editing on Cuteable. It was a lovely surprise.
I've been thinking about bags lately. In fact I was reminded about a dream I'd had a while ago whilst browsing at the Sisters Market last Saturday. In amongst a lot of jumbled dreamy nonsense, I was buying a bag. It was a minor part of a larger story , but that's the bit I remember (I've been known to have slightly prophetic dreams).
So after seeing Tracy of Fat Mumma's array of bags and then honing in on the one with the most special panel of vintage fabric (from the junk shop around the corner from me ) I knew I needed to fulfill that prophecy.It's almost like wearing a piece of vintage lino!

Kitsch Koalas

I love Koalas. It's hard not to view them in a kitsch Australiana souvenir kinda way though.
But I guess it makes me love them all the more........

1.Painted Velvet Koala Brooch by Betty Jo designs. 2.Blue lustre Koalas vase

3. Fuzzy (kangaroo fur??) stuffed guys. 4. Bo Lino Koala Brooch at Moose.

Teeth Lost

I came across Sniffle Co's work on Etsy, or was it MySpace . I get confused as to which comes first in the chain of online linking. Any hoo, I like the wry humour in his work and the cuteness factor has something to do with it too. Oh and the fact we love cereal at our place, and I have the very bowl in the photo. Or did. It may have been broken and secretly binned by child.
The buttons above are called "Teeth Lost" and you get 5 x Cracked + 5 x Cavity Free Wooden Buttons. The Sniffle Co. designer just so happens to be John from the "Grates". The girls in the house are big fans of the Grates and own their last years release "Teeth Lost, Hearts Won". All this loosing of teeth, cute wearables and band members making the cute wearables seem strangely connected in a way only the internet can demonstrate.
And then yesterday we had our own "Teeth Lost" episode. On the way to school the first wobbly tooth decided to almost remove it's self from the gum. So a total extraction was performed and tooth put in a safe place. Later said tooth was misplaced, so a note to the fairy was composed. She got it OK and $ was discovered under pillow this morning. *Don't forget to leave a comment here if you want to be in the running to win a Betty Jo Cuckoo clock brooch. I'll draw the winner a week before Mums Day (Sunday May 3rd)

Ma's Day Give Away

Way back here I said I would have another giveaway to celebrate the New Year and Lino Forests 400th post. Well it's now almost the end of April, and in the last four months many things have popped up since I wrote that post. The Bushfire Clock appeal, the Stitches and Craft Show, a number of lovely swaps and on top of all that Betty Jo was flooded with new orders from Sydney Life in Style.
And although it's now post 463, and I've decided it's time for a Lino Forest GIVE AWAY.It's only three weeks till Mothers Day , so to be in the running to win a Betty Jo Cuckoo Clock brooch like this, just leave a comment using four words to sum up what Motherhood means to you. You can describe your perspective as either a mother, a child, a grand child or a friend.
I like these words from an article on parenting in Saturday's Age by 84 yo Nora "As a great-granny, I have a longer perspective than most. Four things matter-Love, listening, trust and justice"......What are your four?
NOTE.. The Winner Has Been Announced!!!!

Polka Dots

I'm partial to a bit of Polka Dot action. Today seemed particularly dot laden.
A mother and daughter who both wore spotty dresses (totally unintentional).

We both have these cute little spotty coin purses on our keyrings (coincidence too)Close up of some spotty lino I've fashioned into a clock. This lino was courtesy of Dick and Dora.

My son is wearing polka dots too. In the form of Chicken pox! He asked if he caught it from the chickens at Ceres.....Lily is itchin' to play join the dots on him.The boy is just ITCHIN'!

Happy Chain of Events

It's great when one chance meeting leads to a nice chain of events.
I met the lovely Eleanor (From the Comment Box!) at the bloggers dinner last month. She went back to Sydney and decided to order three Betty Jo brooches: one for her, one for a friend and one for her Mum. They were promptly shipped out and a few weeks later I got a call from a retailer in Waverley NSW interested in ordering some brooches. Apparently a customer had come in wearing a Betty Jo Sparrow and it had caught the managers eye. Yes it was Eleanor. She nicely went straight home and got my card to give to the woman.So these are some of the brooches ready to ship up to Shasta Bray.Thanks Eleanor!
Another thank you goes to Chrisy from Sophism Press who just so happened to be my Swapapalooza parcel recipient. She has nicely created a Guest Spotlight slide show of Betty Jo Designs goodies on her blog. I nicked it to put here. Another happy result of spreading the Betty Jo love.

Swap Mission Complete

I was lucky enough to get involved in Georgie Love's Swapapalooza. My homemade mixed tape and crafty item was shipped off last week, and yesterday my parcel arrived from Sarah (a Georgie Love crafty member!) This was the amazing cover of the CD. All hand cut card! And a mixed CD containing twenty one excellent tracks including a fave by Blitzen Trapper: Furr. Take a look at the delicious animated film clip.

And a cute and cuddly teacosy came as well, with buttons!Which makes me wonder if this was a spooky coincidence or had a little birdie been reading about my love of Rob Ryan paper cuts and hand knitted teacosies.
If Sally organizes this Mega Swap again I believe she will be swamped with takers...it's brilliant! And a BIG thanks to Sarah.

Back to the Grind Stone.

I'm back from my five day break which was refreshingly free of blogging, tweeting, flickring and facebooking. In fact no cyber brain overload to distract me from walks on the beach, reading a novel, op shopping, and assuming Easter bunny duties (including sampling all the wares, just in case they had all gone when I turned my head!) Speaking of op shopping, as well as stocking up on doilies and buttons, I bought myself this lovely item. It works beautifully and has it's own special case. It also has that musty smell like grandmas attic. Hands up if you love that smell. I do!And on another perplexing note.The issue of owls has got me confused. Are they still popular?
I know I am still making dozens a month and, according to the current post on Splendicity.com ,they are still kicking fashion goals. I'm not complaining.
"Is it just me, or are owls having a fashion moment? Suddenly, the little rascals are everywhere – dangling from necks and ears, looking wiser than thou........" Thanks Lisa Fogarty. Betty Jo Owl brooch from Moose

Moose is Good

Moose Art for Living online store has some new Betty Jo Designs.
Other nice Moose Jewellery I very much like as follows....
Anything by Kearnsie. Especially these,Fun is Cool Birdies are pretty cool,And Tiny Little Girls tiny little skulls,
So much lovely stuff I like at Moose.

* Betty Jo will be taking a wee break over Easter. ( but hasn't decided if she is taking the crafty materials away in case of major withdrawal setting in.)
Have a great time with your family and friends buttering fruity buns and picking up discarded bits of coloured foil!

Crafty Mecca !?!

I love receiving random emails from "friendly" strangers. Last week a girl from Brisbane sent me a link to this guy for sale on eBay. She wrote: "Why email a stranger with this, I have no idea! It's a kooky day! Haha"The weird thing was she hadn't even seen my guys. Then even weirder still , the little window gallery around the corner from me in Thornbury "The Dolls House" had just installed this piece called Cosy Cottage.If you can't see clearly from the photos, the artist has totally covered a dolls house with knitted tea cosies. It took my breath away.I have now dubbed Thornbury the Crafty Mecca of the North. It now hosts the Made'n'ThornburyMarket, is home (or in the vicinity of) lots of creative, artistic and musical people (have you been to the majestic Thornbury Theatre to see a gig yet?), and there will be a very lovely "vintagy, bric-a-brac adorned" cafe opening any day now next to The Dolls House gallery. I knew if I waited long enough "Fitzroy" would come to once daggy Thornbury.

P.S. For all the readers of the last post who think their old swap card albums might be still be at their Mum's...run and rescue them now before they get thrown out in an op-shop run, or soggy from a leaky garage roof, or eaten by creepy crawlies (all of which has happened to me)