Lush n' Lark

We've had a damp, rainy few days away staying in a rustic cottage in Hepburn Springs, but everything was so lush and green with all the rain. You could almost hear the earth gulping down the heavy spring showers.

We visited the cutest, prettiest shop in all of Daylesford that was colourful and bright and as new as a freshly unwrapped birthday present. It's the Lark shop! The lovely Allison is the delightful proprietress, and the Lark "family" have done a beautiful job creating this cool destination to lure you up to Daylesford.
Here are some pics. of the shop.

We were lucky enough to score a Lark showbag with our purchase, full of these extra goodies. (showbag and Liz pic care of the Lark blog)

Up, Up and Away,ay.......

I'm off for a wee break. Have a great weekend(footy or no footy) and see you next week.
Oh, and have you noticed how cheap it is to buy Betty Jo from Etsy? The exchange rate is way better than I realized, so before I fiddle around with the prices, go and have a look!

When it's so Bad it's Good!

It was the Itchiball Prize opening night last night. Brought to us by the Museum of Particularly Bad Art. The night when the best of the worst art comes out of garages, op-shops and other hiding places to be displayed and admired in all it's tacky glory.
The standard was as bad as last year, with the prize going to "Why do we need a Porpoise in Life".My peoples choice selection was "Bad Hair Day".Talk about beauty (Pippa) and the beast!
I've never really thought about the story behind all this "Rejected Art" that has been discarded by the original owner and has made it's way to the local Op shop.
But last night I got to thinking, because a little Betty Jo something had been on a similar journey. My friend Jules turned up last night sporting a brooch. Yes it's the one on her lapel.
It was made by me at least four years ago and was sold in one of my Melbourne stockists.
But, the unfortunate brooch (is it a hippo?, is it a chimp?, no it's a hipchimp) was found by my friend while she was sorting donated goods for the Windsor Brotherhood Op-shop were she works.
Yes, it was in the skip, still on it's card (so no mistaking it's mine) and found by my friend.
A particularly Bad brooch at the particularly Bad art show.
CAN LIFE GET ANY MORE PRICELESS!

Blue Stuff

After a visit to the Melbourne Museum today I was inspired by the Bower Bird's collection of blue stuff around his bower. Oh, and my blue bells are flowering.

The Bower bird spent a while re arranging his blue bottle and biro lids, but I think this display will definitely attract the girls. I'd visit if I was a female Bower bird.

Orange Owl

I was never going to be able to choose the best name for orange owlie because they were all so GOOD.
So the Randomly picked winner of the Betty Jo owl giveaway is "third bird" with the name Fergus!
"He reminds me of a real life Fergus who I know that has orange hair and is the NICEST and most wise person ever!"
There's some amazing printed fabric being created over at "third bird". Gorgeous colour palettes and jelly mould inspired graphics. Go and have a look!
I'm gearing up for the school holidays today. Lots of things happening (and some serious mooching about will be also employed).
I'm sure the friendly gnome and squirrel from the ride at the Coburg fruit market would be happy to occupy your kids if you're stuck for ideas.................

Back to Colour!

Enough with the black and white already......give me some colour.
Made with Love by Hannah's studio......Sunglasses alert!The brightest and most amazing workspace in the Western World!( can you spot some Betty Jo goodies sitting amongst the business)
It's the place where skirts like this are born......I'm itchin' for one of these.
And there is a lovely feature about Georgie Love on The Shop Bug blog. With some of my favorite Georgie Love artisans. Look for Pearl and Elspeth skirts, softies by Missi Moo & Friends and brooches by Sophie Isobel Designs and Made By White.
And Betty Jo too.

White Stuff

Hurrah. I managed to keep the birdie Albino!(see last post) Also noticed the Jasmine's out!

Craft Victoria

If you live in Melbourne, or are just visiting, you must make a special trip into Craft Victoria.
Craft Victoria began in the 70's, and has been supporting crafts people and artisans for over 40 years. I'm sure the woven sculpture on the cover of this 1983 Craft Victoria newsletter(which I found in an opshop) was quite avant-garde for it's time.

I have been connected with Craft Victoria for four years stocking their stunning retail outlet Counter, exhibiting, and attending various events and seminars. Each year Counter holds its eagerly anticipated Coloured Christmas, providing a unique opportunity to purchase special 'one-off' pieces. This year, participants have been invited to respond to the colour White.
I'm looking forward to playing around with a neutral colour palette...but I'm wondering how I'm going to hold back on the brightness. Will it be humanly possible for me to have no colour in my work!?!

And don't forget,there is still time to enter the Orange Owl Giveaway here...

Thankful

I occurred to me yesterday I've got a lot to be thankful for!
After badly spraining my thumb, I've got most of the use of my left hand again. That was an eye opener.
It was near impossible to make things, drive, type, and getting dressed..blimey.
When I first started blogging I was asked to list seven things about me.
This was from thing no.3 "I have to be able to feel and touch things (even if it is messy ink or dirt). Although my nails would make a manicurist shudder, my hands are my tools and I'm glad they work well." amen!
I'm sheepishly thankful my cold is better too, but not crowing about it too loudly as I gave it to Mr BJ. (this is where you see the difference between a girl cold and a boy cold..mmm).
There was good(ish) news from my Mums surgeon. He's sure he's removed all the baddies, and Mum has bounced back remarkably! She has voted no to further treatment, which displays amazing belief in the power of positive thinking.
I have heaps of other things to be thankful about too. My family for example.But I'll talk about that another day.

So a big thank you to every ones kind wishes, and I'm absolutely loving the names for orange Owlie . There would be quite a few people who may already own a Betty Jo owl, but don't let that stop you from entering the GIVEAWAY. I'm sure you know someone who would like one as a GIFT!
Still on the topic of orange, Galleries is a new feature on Flickr that enables the curation of other members public photos.

My orange ceramics were added to this collection. It's "dripping with juicy orange wonderfulness."

one handed giveaway....

today i'm writing in lower case because i've hurt my left- shift key- hand. so i am a one handed wonder.
it's majorly annoying to say the least.
but to add some sunday cheer, i'm offering up orange owl from my last post as a giveaway.
just leave a comment suggesting a name for owlie brooch, and i'll pick a winner next sunday.there's owlie, sitting under a mandarin segment and a vitamin c. tablet. my two best friends these last few days.

Orange Stuff.

Yesterday I was dosing up on mandarins and mega C's (croak, croak) and had a bit of fun with orange. Since posting this pic. of my orange kitchen, I've discovered there are many other orange fanciers about. SewHum has recently started a blog 30 degrees of Orange just about orange.
Cassia has scoured etsy to find the prettiest orange niceness around.( I bags the Deco choker!)
So no apologies necessary. Orange is cool as well as HOT!

The Local Shop

There's some lovely goodies on the blackboard menu at "The Local Shop" 262 High St Northcote.
Good for a spot of window shopping (and the proper handing over the pennies type shopping).

Shoes and Buttons

I know there more to life than shoes and buttons, but when a great shoe company uses buttons in their advertising it's a win, win for me!
I also like their coloured collage style ads. They remind me a bit of my Beach plastic pics.

Be still my beating heart

My heart missed a beat when i saw these..... a girls gotta have a weakness.

Floating..........

Up.
Then coming down.

Dad's Day!

Happy Dad's Day. Big hugs to my Dad (pictured with little me). He'll be looking after my Mum (who just got out of hospital) this Fathers Day....so keep your chin up Donald and just think, in 3 months you'll be celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary!There was brekky in bed and presents at our place this morning. The highlight was a new tent, which could also be seen as a present to me.. ...if and when the father and son camping weekends get happening!!??
I'll be going to see Mr BJ (dad and guitarist of some renown) play this arvo with the "psychedelic country" Clear Spacemen. Gotta love these matinee gigs... yay to early nights.

New Arrivals

This "May I take your Coat" Brooch arrived here yesterday. It had been on a long journey. It was posted off for a Georgie Love customer a few months ago, so we can only guess where it's been ...hey Mr. Australia Post???? ( don't worry, I made another as soon as we realized it had gone AWOL.)
But Mr. Australia Post did do the right thing and delivered my Swapapalooza parcel from Canada.
Thank you Carolyn (no Blog?) for this very sweet and poignant painting. I'm calling her Madam Wind Swept. And for your sweet and charming mixtape, that I very much like.Yesterday I was in my studio listening to it with the window open enjoying the spring weather, when whoosh the storm blew in and whipped the song list up out of the cd case and blew it out the window where it got drenched. So if you read this Carolyn, could you maybe email me the list if poss. Thanks .
Yesterday I managed to acquire some lovely coloured Laminex which will come in handy for some exclusive designs for BODY. Have a look at their new collection and have a guess what I'm going to come up with.I love the colour palette...Pear, Geranium and Billberry. I think these samples reference them nicely.

Crazy Cat Ladies

I loved looking at Tess's cat figurine collection in Frankie. She is officially a member of "Crazy Cat Lady Incorporated". We are the type of girls who love our fluffy feline friends, almost a bit too obsessively....although there's nothing wrong with that!Here's a few cat items from my place.
My lovely neighbour gave me some lino off cuts and wall paper from her shed the other day. The lino is original 50's and is still on her kitchen floor. The wall paper was put on her bedroom wall when she was young. As she fits the Crazy Cat Lady definition, I made her a "Tiger" brooch from the wall paper and lino. Her Tiger and my Pedro hang out together.Here is Pedro visiting (note the lino!).