Button Transformations

I bought a great selection of buttons from my favorite op shop last week and they have quickly been transformed into owl eyes (among other things). The op shop ladies didn't really need to bother sorting them into bags and pricing them as I just bought the lot.
Some of these owls are off to reside at Husk. Way back here I wrote how I very much liked Tamsin Howell's pretty birdie jewellery at Husk and now a few years later my birdies and owls are having a turn.

Save the Pink Bathrooms

Most days I wish I had a bathroom fairy to wave her wand and voila, a sparkling bath, basin and tiles glisten back at me. No such luck today. Part of me kinda likes my pink sixties bathroom and lolly pink taps, but part of me wants an update! For more pink bathrooms check out the flickr pool "Save the Pink Bathrooms".I would happily live with Neryl's gorgeous bathroom...her whole abode is pretty above average actually. Have a look here for a special feature.

Some days are diamonds.......

I've just had one of those uplifting days today. Melbourne gave us some crisp Autumn sunshine while I trammed it into the city. First stop Craft Victoria to deliver some stock, (the"Lino Deco" range is now available at Counter) and to catch a great installation by Simon Lloyd called "Gleaning Potential". I highly recommend having a good sticky at the myriad of gleaned items Mr. Lloyd has assembled in a mocked up studio within the gallery space. It was uncannily like my studio, but neater.
Then a stroll down Flinders Lane, stopping in at eg.etal for a drool over the jools , then a browse at the gorgeous Alice Euphemia in Cathedral Arcade (more lovely jools) , and finally down to "The Cats Meow" to drop off a few new Betty Jo things.
Now comes the diamond bit. I am a champion gleaner and have, you could say, based my business around the very act of collecting items discarded by others.
Today I saw the dustiest, grubbiest old lot of unwanted stuff just near my place. On further inspection some treasures emerged from the rusty, dusty boxes and papers, and here are just some of them.
I think I had a dream once where I found some unwanted treasure. I felt a bit of deja vu today while unearthing these.........

Visit the Corner Shop

Lino Forest's Corner Shop now has Betty Jo's NEW range "Lino Deco"available to buy. You can order your unique, one of a kind brooch or pendant straight from me.They are in limited production at this stage and are only available from the Corner Shop or at Pussycat Black.
Here they are sitting happily in a gorgeous Deco display cabinet at Pussycat Black..........but really just wanting to adorn the necks and lapels of super stylish girls about town.

The tale of two Scotties.

Just remembered this coincidence...? Click on pics for source.

Saturday Eye Candy

1. Funky 50's lino donated by some very busy renovators. 2. Floral wall paper in my kitchen (note smiley petunias, a bit like "Little Weed") 3.Sweet Czech glass buttons .4. Super psychedelic velvet from my stash.
And check out Knick Knacks and Ric Rac for some scrumptious vintage fabric from Sears. Total eye candy!

A bit of Mabel Cute.

Just for something a bit cute here are some Aunty Mabel's handbags with a sweet little cupie doll.
This dolly reminded me of the little children in Mabel Lucie Attwell's illustrations. I'm a sucker for cute things tinged with nostalgia. I owned a few Mabel Lucie Attwell's annuals as a girl and spent many hours copying her gorgeous illustrations. I think there may be one still floating around at my Mum's, but here are some others from my place.My son has this print in his room. The sentiment is very apt when it comes to my boy and his dog.Here's a gorgeous collectible Mabel Lucie Attwell plate by Shelley. Something I'd like to stumble across at an op shop one day........in my dreams.

little sparrow....

I made this little sparrow for a lady. But it turned out she doesn't fancy the lino. Sparrow is feeling a bit forlorn, but I'm totally sure someone else will give her a home.
I have been feeling somewhat forlorn over the past 2 days....On Monday I had one of those ikky times in the dentists chair. Luckily the nurse let me squeeze her hand HARD! Although on the upside, it made this fluey thing I've got seem like a distant memory for a while.
But today things are looking promising. I'll be finishing an order for Blondies and making more clocks for "Store" in Perth.And having fun with my new designs. Thanks for the great feedback on the "Lino Deco" brooches and pendants. Blogging about your new work is a bit like online Market research with a positive spin.

Caravan of Love

I love vintage caravans. Cute, bubble like, mobile holiday homes in pretty 50's hues, usually sporting authentic linoleum flooring and laminex bench tops.
Last year I ran a competition for readers to suggest a New Betty Jo design. One of my favorite suggestions was from Michelle - A 50's caravan. I played around with the idea for a while but never got it off the drawing board. Later Dick and Dora added this cool caravan brooch to their ABC series.Just recently I saw this funky piece from a collection by Victoria Mathews at Studio Ingot. This pic. was in Frankie, and on closer inspection I saw the sparkly Laminex was the same as some I am using in my new range, Lino Deco.
Then over at Michelle's new blog "Loving the Vintage"she unveiled her new brooch designs. Cute eh!

"Lino Deco"

The six new "Lino Deco"designs come as a brooch or a pendant.
They are from top right 1. Clarice 2. Greta 3. Bessie 4. Josephine 5. Coco and 6.Zelda
Can you guess which 1920's and 30's women I have named them after?
And in answer to Eleanor's question, yes they are for sale , but only from Pussycat Black or from me at this stage.
They'll come branded with my fresh new stamp. The font is called "Betty Noir", which I think is kinda apt.

Betty Jo Designs

Handmade

in Melbourne with love

OOAK Cuckoo Clock

While cruising around the never ending Galaxy that is Etsy, I occasionally see products with OOAK in the title. What is oo-ak I thought? Then eventually the light bulb moment arrived. It was something I'd been doing all along and never realised there was an official acronym for it.
So here is my new OOAK Cuckoo Clock. ...and yeh it's "one of a kind"!

New Deco Designs.

New Designs -for something a bit different. Inspired by, you guessed it, Art Deco
Computer is sort of acting dyslexic so lleweraf........
Edit..phew, I thought all my words were going to be automatically typed backwards from now on, but after a good nights sleep, Mr.Keyboard has righted it's self . Everything is rosier after a restful night!!!!

Bike and Skirt Love

I have been getting a lot of wear out of my Made with Love by Hannah skirt. I get withdrawals when it's in the wash. It goes a treat with my lovely thrifted red shoes and an Ollie Owl pendant.
Lily found this old Raleigh bike dumped on the nature strip last year and I often jump on for a cruise around the neighbourhood. The gears are pretty rudimentary so I steer clear of steep hills if I can.Today I really wanted to write some answers in response to Ness Donnelly's tag, but over the last week I seem to have been typing answers to dozens of questions about me and my alter ego Betty Jo. I now have mild brain freeze and can't even think of any decent responses. So I promise very soon Ness.

Good all Round!

Well, that's Mothers day over for another year. We had a lovely laid back day. Brekky at Pearl Oyster, then a bit of fossiking at Coburg Market. Cute homemade card and special Burt's Bees goodies from one of my favorite places Klein's Perfumery.
And some peace.....the 6 yo went out for the afternoon with Dad. Good all round. And the market fossiking turned up a one or two special treats I'll show later.Courtesy of Living Creatively, there's a peek into the world of Betty Jo and her Lino adventures here. And a good round up of Aussie craft Markets here. I am itching to check out The Finders Keepers Market in Sydney. It's on next weekend, but unfortunately my life these days doesn't allow me to just jump on a plane on a whim...sigh.
I'll leave you with some very cool linoleum designs found via 1950's Atomic Ranch House.

Seven Things......

The busy and talented Thea from Thea and Sami has passed on a Kreativ Blogger Award to Lino Forest. As part of the award I have to list 7 things that I love. As I'm totally absorbed in creating new designs at the moment, I will list seven things that are inspiring me and I'm lovin too!

1. Books. Specifically gorgeous design books that never fail to inspire.2. Colour. I love the tones of this recently op-shopped print by Rene Margotton.3. Art Deco. Specifically the jewellery and graphics

4. Lino. Yep, I'm loving this newly acquired lino.5. Shops. At the moment the New look PussyCat Black in Brunswick.6. My Stuff. Things around the house that are inspiring. Leadlight doors on my kitchen dresser and these gorgeous Clarice Cliff sugar sifters to name a few.

7. Blogs. Here are seven I pass the award onto...
Dudley Redhead, Made by White, Cassia, Dick and Dora, Mixtape Zine, The Doily ,and Betty Jo's newest stockist, Bob Boutique.
If you read this before I get a chance to leave a message , I've passed you the baton and you can run with it if you wish............

Score!

These will very much help with my new mission.....design a New range by July for Life in Style.
In Betty Jo land new materials= INSPIRATION.

Another Lovely Swap

You know the times when you see another artists work on Flickr or Etsy that really appeals. And they turn out to be lovely people that just so happen to like your work too. Well it happens a bit to me and luckily this time it was the talented Cassia Beck who is a photographer from Brighton U.K. I love her vintage inspired photography. The dust, scratches and blur from her vintage camera gives a lovely aged effect to her pictures.
We arranged a swap and yesterday my two wonderful prints arrived. "Deer can dance" above, and "Helter Skelter". (framed below in my bathroom)Now I wish we lived closer as I'd love Cassia to take a range of photos of my work.

Look at her fabulous Flickr pages and Etsy shop. She has a fine blog too.