Find Lino, Keep Lino

Finders Keepers inaugural Melbourne Market is just 10 sleeps away!

I think I will be putting in the hard yards to get as ready as I would like to be as the 2 weeks of school holidays have put a spanner in the productive works somewhat. I have had to relocate my work space back into my little verandah, and sneak in when I get the opportunity. Here is peek at some of the Betty Jo goodies that will coming to Finders Keepers.

Temporarily moving back into the verandah has given me a chance to get back to doing one of the things I loved...peeping out the window at the goings on in my street.

Yesterday a skip landed infront of my neighbours recently sold house. The new owner has hired builders to totally rip the guts out of the lovely (albeit run down) place and what was once this: ..........is now a pile of rubble.

I was lucky enough to score the kitchen table from here and of course it was imperative that I scampered over in the rain and salvage the kitchen lino before the skip left for the tip.

You can see my boy Pedro relaxing on the lino on one of his daily visits to his once "second home". I know people like to modernise old houses , but it was still sad to see my friends kitchen knocked down in a few hours.

Anyway, I must go and clean up the lino and see if it is suitable for some Clocks.

Souvenirs

My big girl went to Italy and all I got was this........

Awesometown!

Well ,thats not quite true. I got some Rosary beads from the Vatican, some Venetian glass, some goodies for the pantry AND a T-shirt.

dreaming of italia.....

For the collection....

I regularly get requests to make various birds and beasts. I know a lot of people like to collect certain critters such as owls, bunnies, deers or cats(to name a few).
Here are some special limited edition pieces especially made for the snail/elephant/turtle/ cockatiel and chook fanciers among us.

I am happy to take requests and will be more than happy to recreate the pieces here .

I will of course have to politely refuse requests for spiders, scorpions or those moley animals with the star shaped probiscus coming out of their noses (makes me shudder!).

Do you Like Colour?

There's no prizes for guessing I LOVE colour. All those art lessons at school learning about the colour wheel and primary, secondary , tertiary and comlimentary colours actually made an impact.

There's another colour crazy creative who has made these Wow Factor explosions of colour and they will be on display at this Fringe Festival exhibition "Home is were the Craft Is".The show opens this evening...I'm looking forward to checking out some lovely locally grown craft.
And it just so happens this colour crazy creative has won the $50.00 Betty Jo voucher for entering her portrait in the " A picture paints a thousand words" giveaway.

Congratulations Super Pops!

Birds in Boxes

Today I finally got organised and picked up my pizza style cardboard boxes to house and deliver my clocks (no garlic bread with these babies though).
So sitting in my studio at the moment I have 175 unfolded cardboard boxes to fill with all those dozens of NEW clock orders that will come flooding in......now I have the packaging sorted!!!

Speaking of packages, today I got a special delivery of the *Funkiest* lino I could ever hope to come across. Quite a few bits too!It was sent to me by the lovely Alisa from Mon Alisa Designs who, apart from making dreamy jewellery, also has a love affair with cute birdies and crafts these sweet "Tweets" from various fabrics, ribbons and vintage bits and bobs.Thanks for thinking of me Alisa.

I made a couple of Betty Jo birdies from the new *Funky* lino to add to my growing collection for Finders Keepers. They are sitting in an old hat box I found in a skip back here filled with ephemera. I think it will go well with my other old hatbox as a display for the market.
On closer inspection I reckon the lino works much better as a big chunk rather than in little bits. The 3D effect is lost if it's chopped up, so I think I'll be saving most of it for clocks.

"Rescue Me"

I rescued a very bruised and battered Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone the other day, just like this guy on etsy.
I can imagine there are thousands of these old gems lying fogotten at the bottom of toyboxes all around the globe.
I would very much like to "rescue" some more vintage wooden pull-along/push-along Fisher-Price toys so they could keep my Ducky Flip Flap company.

1. froggy went a courtin'..., 2. fisher-price bucky burro ,
3. fisher-price dr. doodle 4. Ducky Flip Flap
Have you ever found a toy from your childhood at a garage sale or opshop? I wasn't lucky enough to have a Mother who kept my old toys (but I know some people's mums were hoarders, not clear-outers! ), so I have rescued a few memories from my childhood over the years.........

Crissy Doll, Knitting Nancy, Mr, Potatohead and Cookie Cucumber.

When I was young , I didn't have an over abundance of toys like kids do today, so my toys were played with over and over again. And the out grown ones were gathered up periodically by my Mum and sent to the op-shop, so nothing remains (except my sisters Cabbage Patch doll in all it's ugly glory!).
Trouble is, I'm doing the same thing. I guess I should be more of a hoarder and keep some valuable memories for my kids in years to come.

Rainbow Orbs

After a request for some simple pieces using similar colour palettes, I am making a small range of these Rainbow Orb brooches.

A bit different to my usual mish-mash of colours, but a fun excuse pull out my sorted jars of buttons.

Update- Rainbow Orb brooches are available to buy from my Facebook Shop. Use Paypal in Aussie dollars and just nominate the colour you want. Coolio!
Or for you Etsy lovers, available here.

Etsy. Love or Not so Much?

Here are some recent etsy goodies that have caught my eye and have given me the urge to *add to cart*.
I haven't had much time for browsing of late, but my cyber shopping trolley has been pretty empty lately, so I felt it needed a work out.

My swappy stash was getting very low so I've just topped it up with with a couple of lovely decks.
After seeing Sandra Eterovic's artwork on the Design Files, I would have loved to buy the original- "20 tiny acrylic paintings of curious and endearing objects from chickens to cars and oranges to road maps that have been put together like a patchwork ", but for now the greeting card print will have to do.
I was alerted to the cute porcelain work of Kitty Genius by Maddi Stamer on her blog Little Birdsville. Now "Rudy" hangs in my studio where I can admire him every day.What have been your experiences of etsy? Have you struck gold, or made enough for your business to be self sufficient? I've had some good scores over the years, but some duds too.
Things not arriving, goods not actually being what they said they were.
My etsy shop just struggles along like a tired chook, and I've got very close to shutting it down many times. But hey, I guess it's just another way to circulate your work in the swirling vortex of online shopping!

Tick-Tocks

I popped into the brand new "Big" by Fiona Scanlon shop in Faraday St. Carlton on Friday and was happy to see some Betty Jo clocks hanging on the wall behind the counter tick- tocking away happily. The shop has a gorgeous crafty feel and worth a look even if you don't have a wee girl child to outfit.
Speaking of clocks, I bought some Tic-Tocs the other day because I thought it would be fun to make these.....but alas, they will be put on the things you never get around to list. Tea cup bikkie instructions here and pic from here.
Personally, I have bad memories of Tic-Tocs. As kids we used to lick off the rather abrasive icing which resulted in very sore tongues. And most likely the resultant hyper activity caused by sugar and artificial colouring!

Over at Find, Make, Do, I have found a selection of cool clocks fashioned from upcycled materials. I love Kim from the Sassy Crafter's fantastic repurposing of egg beaters to make her version of the Atomic Clock.

Upcycling=saving stuff from landfill = warm fuzzy feelings!

Dreaming of Roma

In approx 24 hours my big girl will be dangling her feet in the Trevi Fountain, just like her Mum did on her first trip to Roma. But unlike me she will be putting her 11 years of Italiano to practical use.
Ciao bella figlia, molto amore. And enjoy the best gelato in the eternal city!

Dreaming of Spring

I was mucking around on Polyvore last May just when the Winter nasties were hitting. I was obviously daydreaming of Spring, teaparties and wearing sandals with NO socks. Unfortunately, although it's now Spring, I'm still dreamin'.But I just know by the time Finders Keepers market comes around , we'll be skipping around in cotton dresses and buying lots of brooches for our cardis, and even thinking about Chrissy gifts!
Ok, so maybe not skipping, but spending for sure.
In the words of Sally from Georgie Love it will be a "A 2 day CRAFTANZA!" So see you there!
Finders Keepers Market -October 9th and 10th at Shed4, Victoria Harbour, North Wharf Road, down at the Docklands( I'm sure it's won't be hard to find). Details here.

Lino Rescue

I was invited to rescue some very vintage lino over in Caulfield North yesterday. I ripped it right up from it's 60 (or so) year resting place. The old lino is dark grey with a green and white art nouveau swirly floral design. It is now the body of the starling clock and the wings of the owl. There's also a bit of pink lino on the owl from the same house.
Mr BJ has named the owl "Cock-eye". I know he's a bit wonky and sitting slightly crooked on the wall, but cock-eye is a bit harsh I think.