Blue Sunday.

 

We are feeling kind of blue in our part of the world right now. Sad events in the Gleaners Inc. neighbourhood of Brunswick have blanketed everyone in a  dark cloud of sorrow.

 

Making these blue floral lino ducks for a lovely customer added some brightness to my week. This stunning lino was a donation and was found in the hard rubbish in Preston. HOW DID I NOT SEE IT!!!

Luckily my desire for beautiful vintage lino is well known and like minded locals will rescue it for me!

 

A few days ago my Lily turned 18. Here she is snubbing her nose at tradition and totally rockin' her school formal outfit. Channelling a Krishna goddess maybe?

It  has been a very challenging year for this young lady. Glandular fever and chronic fatigue, Year 12 stresses, loss of her friend to suicide and much sadness. I am wishing her a much happier year ahead and I will no doubt continue to bask in her strength, ballsy attitude and inner beauty xxxx

Día de los Muertos

  

Hola Crafty/Arty/Designery people out there! You are invited to create a Mexican Day of the Dead themed artwork to be included in our Día de los Muertos celebrations at my shop/gallery Gleaners Inc. for the month of November.

If you want to be a part of our celebratory alter we would love to have your Mexicali inspired creations for our show! Think sugar skulls, floral tributes, Frida and more. Contact us for more details at gleanersinc.blogspot.com

Revisiting Rubbish Rainbows

After a visit to Darebin Creek on the weekend, I decided to restart my plastic rubbish documentation.
There seemed to be just as much rubbish as the last time  I captured this collection below in 2008.
I

It seems that plastic refuse never goes away.

A little snapshot of my Seaford Beach Plastic pic. appears in the latest issue of Mollie Makes magazine. Well spotted by Bec! 

Heart of Tin

This is the "Tin Pan Alley" Heart necklace, just added to the online store!
For one week we are having an introductory SALE on all tin jewellery necklaces. These babies are almost half price!

Tin Pan Alley

 Last week I put the vintage Lino to one side and started playing around with recycled tin from old biscuit and lolly tins. Talk about FUN. It's a nice change working with another material after seven years of using only lino and laminex in my creations.

 

My friend Kerry got me started, we just began with simple bunting and petal necklaces, but I'm sure these will evolve into more intricate designs. We are selling the necklaces in my shop Gleaners Inc. and in the Gleaners Inc. online store.


We also sell vintage tins at Gleaners Inc. BUT you'd better grab one quickly before I slice them up!

Kitty Cat Love!

It's all about Kitties at Betty Jo headquaters right now.
We brought home a cheeky little unwanted kitty called Chi-cha last weekend (bottom right). She is a little rascal but so pretty.
I found an old pic. of me and our  sweet Frida. I am wearing my fake fur "Frida" coat which I loved...alas we no longer have Frida, and the coat has gone too.
Lily bought home this awesome kitty hand knit with cats climbing up the sleeves and paw prints all over the back. We have voted to keep it ( and not sell it in the shop as was first planned) as it's just too good.
I also found this pic of a kitty shrine I made a while ago. I reckon if a girl makes a shrine to cats she automatically fits into the crazy cat lady category.

If you look closely at this pic of my kitchen you can see my drawings of our favorite old cats Frida and Rastas.
You might have realised I love CATS!

Spring has Sprung

Hasn't it been Springlike these past few days. Thank God.
I went all floral today with my new vintage dress from Camby market. Our family's traditional Father's day outing is hitting the good old Camberwell Market. It's still going strong after at least 2 decades.
I had my first stall there as a high school student setting up all our crap on my friends tabletennis table. Back then the whole market was full of awesome bargains....not that many bargains anymore though *insert sad face*

So, because it's Spring  I'm going to have a super sale in my Etsy shop. EVERYTHING is 40% off if you write the code SPRINGHASSPRUNG at the checkout! It's a great chance to pick up a piece of Betty Jo at wholesale. Like my new "Hearts a Flutter" Necklace!!

Making Time.

Although the running of a shop takes up a lot of my day, I still make time for custom orders and making Betty Jo goodies for my lovely stockists.

 

Bettina from Pussycat Black has been requesting a Sugar Skull clock for her awesome shop for a while...and now it's done!

 

Last week I was contacted by an Etsy customer who was very upset that her Betty Jo Cuckoo Clock brooch had been stolen along with a bunch of other stuff. I had actually discontinued this design, but I'm all for doing a favour, so another brooch is now ready. 

One of my  favorite stockists, Nici from Blackbird Corner spied the new Hearts a Flutter necklaces on Facebook and promptly shot through an order. Several just made necklaces are now happily living in Newcastle.

Thank you everyone who orders Betty Jo Designs and gives this girl a reason to be crafty. 

I know there is a lot to say in favour of making just for the love of it, but when craft is your livelihood and it's your full time job, you need to keep the making FUN and profitable.

I design things I hope other people love. I don't make them ridiculously expensive as I'm more interested in my work being affordable and accessible. I guess I'll never be rolling in money, but I do love what I'm doing. You can't really ask for more than that.