Simply Lilac

It's all about purple at our place this week. Purple, (or should I say lilac) hair!
And no, it's nothing to do with my Anna Laura lady brooch or a new "Simply Lilac"Blythe doll.

Miss Lily has been channeling her Great grandmother Lily and now has a bright purple rinse!So to keep the purpley vibe going here are some pretty puce images from around my place.If you like purple there is a newish flickr group called Puce-ness.
A little while ago I looked up the meaning of the word "Puce", so for a quick refresh...........
"Apparently the word is based on the Old French puce - pulce - meaning 'flea'. It is speculated that it refers to the colour of a squashed flea or the colour of a flea full of blood. Another theory is that the colour name comes from the flea's droppings of digested blood, which spread out in deep red stain when water contacts them. Brownish-purple to dark brown." CHARMING!

Second Hand Delights

Sophie over at Her Library Adventures has invited readers to post pictures of their best flea market finds in a weekly meme.
Well the dilemma for me was what to show. I can't post a picture of my whole house contents!
But as I was leaving a message, the word verification was weding, so that gave me the idea to post some pictures of the dress I wore when I got hitched. I found it in a now closed vintage clothing shop in Chapel St. It was a perfect fit, floaty, and sparkly. It was actually the first dress I tried on. I like making up my mind on the spot, and I liked the fact that it had had another life...maybe at a swanky cocktail party in Hollywood, or at a debutant ball in Beverly Hills. I didn't know it at the time but the designer Miss Elliette of California was the Coco Chanel of American fashion couture. Her dresses have been described as "masterpieces of heirloom chiffon".Would you believe I have never worn it since......luckily the moths have pretty much left it alone except for the label. Maybe I'll pop it on one evening and gatecrash the AFI's!
Note the stack of opshoped suitcases and the slightly wonky dressmakers dummy.
We found her on the side of Punt Rd. and for those of you who know Punt Rd, you can imagine how popular I was stopping in peak hour traffic to grab it. She's been a handy prop for necklaces.

The price of LOVE!

Who makes and sells hand crafted items? Lots and lots of you.
And who hasn't been tormented to some degree by finding a fair price for said hand crafted items?.........not many of you I'll bet.
When Megan Auman's Cozy/cuff bracelets (pictured below)were featured on the Etsy Facebook page, little did she know it would spark such a HUGE debate around the issue of under/over pricing your work, and the devaluing of the hand made due to the cheap Walmart( Kmart here ) culture.If your a little bit interested in all the twists and turns this debate took, and the clear justification the designer had to make regarding her (fair in my opinion) prices, go and have a read.
At least there are good lessons to be learned from this debate, but as I've always said, most of us will grow old and grey waiting for etsy to make us a decent living.
I think honest hard working crafts people with good ideas and clever design who also juggle every thing else involved in running their business should not be burdened with the torment of getting the price right so it is both competitive and profitable.
Generally, sellers will ask what they think is a fair price with Everything factored in........ including their blood(ouch) sweat (phew) and yes, a few shed tears........ and did I mention minimum wage?

Koala Stuff.

Koala Stuff . Cause it's Australia day.
Cute knitted brooch via Sarah McNeil
Teacosy pattern book via Poppalina

Yarra River Rainbow

Refuse found near Dights Falls (where the Merri Creek meets the Yarra River).
While Charlie was scrambling over the rocks two people fell in the river. A little boy showing off and a big boy jumping from rock to rock on his BMX!

Mimosa.

I'm very influenced by colour. Obsessed actually. Every thing I do relates back to colour in some way.
Pantone, the world-renowned authority on colour and the design industries major source for color inspiration, selected "Mimosa" as the colour for 2009. The wattle belongs to the mimosa family and I love it's vivid yellow pompoms (even though last year my wattle gave me terrible hayfever).

Angela over at Three Buttons, just posted some yellow cuteness, and it inspired me to flick through flickr and find some of my "mimosa" coloured stuff, as well as some favorites from flickr friends.

1. Lucky Ducky, 2. Cockatiel, 3. Yellow stuff, 4. forest pal collection, 5. noticeboard_1, 6. mustard anyone?, 7. Yellow Necklace, 8. Beach Plastic 4, 9. newyellowshoes

Ooo look, there's Angela's Spanish Senorita post card, and Elsie's ( from the cool blog"A Beautiful Mess") forest pal collection. Right now my "Yellow Stuff "Colour collage is featured on A Beautiful Mess. Go and look at her lovely "Style Crush Collections".

Fffffoxy.

1. fox buttons, 2. fox softie, 3. Hello Weekend!, 4. foxes, 5. Fox Cloth Doll, 6. Fox Print, 7. Monty the Fox, 8. Fox Escape, 9. Lox the Fox
From the Crafty Fox flickr group.
If you would like to adopt Lox the Fox cub or one of his siblings they can be purchased from Betty Jo Designs. Pop over to the Corner Shop for details.
Each fox will be slightly different, making him utterly unique.

Crafty Fox!

Thanks for the lovely feedback on the fox cub brooch. Due to several offers to adopt Lox, he now has some siblings skulking around the studio. More to come!
When I see a gap I like to create something to fill it. So I have started another Flickr group,"Crafty Fox" for all your foxy crafts. Pop over and have a looksie!I knew I had seen the sweet little animals on these cushions posted on Lark the other day.
They appear in this cute book "Happy Kitty Bunny Pony"- A Saccharine Mouthful of Super Cute.

This was one of the first "reference books "I bought from Outre when I first started Betty Jo Designs.

Foxy Loxy

It's Foxy love today in Betty Jo's studio. I've made a little Fox cub brooch and I'm calling him Lox. Can you guess what movie I saw yesterday by any chance?
Way back here, in June last year, I was getting all excited about the impending movie release of my favorite Roald Dahl book Fantastic Mr. Fox.Charlie and I saw it at the gorgeous Westgarth Cinema. And we both absolutely LOVED it!Look over here and you'll see Allison at Lark is mad about foxes.
As much as I hate to admit it, Owls and birds have pretty much reached saturation point - bring on the foxes I say!

EDIT: To those who have requested, Lox the Fox cub is getting some brothers and sisters and they will be for SALE. Email me if you are interested.

Hearts for Haiti

Lovely Andria from Shagpile alerted me to this great initiative by the Etsy community.
We all know how unspeakably dire the situation is in Haiti, and the dollars from every sale in this etsy shop will help alleviate the needs in Haiti through donations to DoctorsWithoutBorders (MedicinesSansFrontiers ).
I will be donating a Betty Jo sparrow. If you sell or buy goodies on Etsy , this is a crafty way to show you care.

Bird Brain

It seems I've had birds on the brain these last few months. Owls, sparrows, ducks, chickens, pretty birdies of all persuasions.
I'm not sure if I am totally over Birds, they HAVE been a staple of my range for many years.
But, like all popular imagery, they do have their use by date.
I guess I owe a lot to our feathered friends....thanks for the inspiration!Bird Brain Plate by Trixie Delicious.

Apricot stuff.

One way to come up with ideas is to just make breakfast. While having some stone fruit I was admiring the colour of the peachy, apricoty tones, then "Bobs your Uncle" a new colour idea came to me.
Coincidentally Ms. Posie suggested I try the colour Salmon. Kind of in the same ball park!
More Colour Collages here

Colours of the Year!

If you want to give your eyes a visual treat have a look at the amazing 365 days in Colour set by Cassia.
"A project where I take one digital photograph a day for 365 days. Each month will have a colour theme. The aim is to see my world in a different way. I'm really excited to see the groups of coloured thumbnails as they grow! It will also be nice to look back in a year, a bit like reading an old diary."
And I agree, it's a beautiful collection.
I'm a big fan of Cassia's work and have two of her prints that we arranged as a swap last year.
I spotted my Turquoise Stuff over at the lovely Constant Cravings blog the other day. Cosying up with Cassia's beautiful dress and door images. I'm itchin to do more colour collages........If I could think of any more colours .
Ooo, just thought of one.....see you soon!

The Eyes Have It!

Thanks for the positive feedback on the little Lino geisha.
My kids (who are often my harshest critics) told me the little geisha's eyes look too "evil".
So now, with a quick button switcheroo, we have some more happily angelic girls.
Evil eyed geisha.........and their sweeter cousins.Tonight I'm off to the Northern Craft Bonanza. Are you coming?
I bags sitting next to "Little Joe".......... Dun dah dah, Dun dah dah ,Dun dah dah, Dun dah dah dah dah!

Japanese Inspiration.

Jay at Finki is running a monthly design challenge, and January's theme is "Turning Japanese".
I think it's a great idea! So it was kinda fortuitous that I found the floral oriental lino the other day. I think I'm going to have fun with these girls........................

I was planning to open a Betty Jo Designs shop on Big Cartel for a while now. So I have.
Thumbs up to these guys for making it so easy. In Aussie dollars too.

Finding Lino

As I go for my regular dog walk around the neighbourhood, I am always checking out the goings on re renovations. Because I'm a sticky beak AND there maybe stuff being thrown out that I can use.
Yesterday, on my evening dog walk, sure enough I spotted a big pile of this blue patterned lino all ready for the tip. But, as Chester is my Lino sniffer outer good luck charm, how could I miss it!It would have been a lovely Oriental Linoleum Rug . A bit like these....

My pocket of the world has predominately free standing late Edwardian bijou weatherboard houses (real estate speak) in varying stages of renovation. And when there's a renovation going on, there is generally a polishing of the floorboards! So what often comes up (but mostly ends up in the skip) ? Yep, layers of old Lino circa 1920- 1950.
Here's my neighbour's house BEFORE their reno. Originally owned by the charming Fred who sadly passed away a few years ago aged 100! The lovely new owners kept rooms of vintage lino for me when they polished the boards and pulled out the kitchen cupboards.
Here's my studio window at the front of my house(which once was a verandah and is the mirror image of Fred's house).This morning I did a photo shoot for this publication, and I had a piccie taken standing right here. Orange winged owl isn't always sitting there....he was just a prop. Because you need props in photos!

Super Chickens

My son loves chickens. Me, not so much. But I like free range eggs, chooky crafts and murals!(you'll find this psycho looking chicken near the old poultry shop in Collingwood)

This chook brooch was inspired by a pattern for a 70's style egg basket cosy.
The "Cockerel" teapot was a gift for my 21st from a friend who knew I'd much prefer something old than something shiny and new! It's moved house with me over a dozen times!
I found the matching sugar bowl last year in an oppie sans lid. It's taken many years to finally bring these two together.....how long will it be till I find the milk jug?