BrisStyle Markets Prep

Only 4 weeks to go til the BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets - time to start getting ready! And I am rather excited too - it promises to be a super-great event: fantastic stalls, lovely location, yummy food, drink and music ... all on a glorious Brisbane winter day! (let's hope it is warmer than it has been the past couple of days brrrr!)

I went to the Young Designers Market last weekend for a 'market fix' and some inspiration. There were SO many gorgeous, excellent quality wares there, including a good contingent of BrisStylettes! Included in the BrisStylettes on show was the lovely Helen, from Ruby2GoGo (who is also our very special BrisStyle market co-ordinator). Her spot was celebrating vintage swish and sharing the Brisbane-retro love. How wonderful is her set-up?! All red and white .. and I love her little scooter girl! Brisbane really is a lovely, crafty little place!


Being a "list-lover", I've made myself a list (numerous actually!) of the things I need to do in the lead up to the market - making more stock, getting more business cards, signs, displays ... One thing at the top of my list was trying to resolve the problem of display; a range of heights, continuity in appearance and effectiveness were all criteria I was trying to fill.

I wasn't happy with my current market set-up that I have been using at the local church markets; my naughty Little Jellies and Little Loxies just don't like sitting up straight! and my other stock often looked quite jumbled.

I have come up with a combination of boxes to help with my market display as well as the cork board that I already had.

This box I made from an existing one by cutting and re-taping it so that it is now a 'step'. The tops of each level are shallow enough to display my items properly as well as having three (including the table) levels of display. I'll give it a nice coat of black paint, I think.

These boxes I picked up from Reverse Garbage and fold down flat (great for carting them around!). I like the way I can stack them differently to accommodate my little softies. (Chi Chi Chookie was being very obliging today and test-driving all the boxes for me - what a sweetie!!)

Finally, this one doesn't really fit with my black boxes, but I think I will put it on the end of my tables. While searching desperately in the garage for something - anything! - that I may be able to use, I found this little cutie that I have never been able to throw away. It is a little cabinet that my brother made at school (I'm glad I rescued it from the throw-out pile now!) and I think my Little Jellies will look especially cute peeking out from it! Again, Chi Chi checked it out, but she was getting a bit tired by this stage

So! First problem solved! :D Now back to my lists!

congratulations to....

May Giveaway Day was so much fun! I spent a great deal of time exploring new blogs, finding new things...

And so, to the winners of my giveaway! I chose the 2 winners via Random Number Generator ... and the winning comments were:

Stephanie whose favourite was Dashie

AND...

JJ who commented "I love the Dashie Dog pattern, although the other two are cute as well!"

Congratulations to these two lucky winners of my new Little Loxie pattern kits - I hope you find them fun!

I had so much fun discovering new blogs (and crossing fingers for being a lucky number too!!) and I am still quite overwhelmed by not only the amount of comments my little blog got, but also the happy and kind things people said!
... So, I'd like to continue the good feelings a little longer and offer all readers of my blog (that's you!) 20% off all of my new Little Loxies PDF patterns and kits in my LittleJellygnite Etsy Shop until the 30th June! wow! Just type 'Charlie and Grace' in notes to seller when you purchase and I'll refund you the difference via paypal :)

Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments, and thank you to Sew Mama Sew for hosting such a fun giveaway!!

I hope everyone has a happy week!

Sew much fun!

Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day is the best idea!

I have been having such fun exploring new blogs, over the past few days who are participants in the Giveaway Day! ... what a fantastic time-waster!! (although, time spend enjoying yourself is never time wasted - someone clever said that!)

Some particularly nice blogs I've found are these ones:
EarthGirl Fabrics
Liesl Made
Between the Lines
Julie-k

..... and I'm still only half way through the lists of participants!

You still have time to enter my May Giveaway - see the post below for your chance to win one of two of my new Little Loxie pattern kits (good luck!) The Giveaway ends today - 31st, which is tomorrow morning (US time).. does that make sense?!
As I work til late tomorrow, I'm keeping my giveaway open until tomorrow evening - about 8pm Brisbane time ... so there's still time! ;)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Giveaway Day!

Sew Mama Sew is hosting the May Giveaway Day. Head on over to their blog for a bit of fun and some (heaps!!) more great giveaways!!

So, what am I giving away?!
As my Little Loxies patterns have debuted in my LittleJellygnite shop, I thought it fun to offer two of my Loxie Kits up for grabs.

These kits include pattern pieces, easy-to-follow instructions and pieces of vintage fabrics to make your very own Little Loxie! Fun.

The two winners will receive a Little Loxie pattern of their choice - Bronty, Chirpy or Dashie - in a pretty blue fabric combo.

To be in the running, all you need to do is leave a comment to this post, letting me know which one is your favourite Little Loxie pattern. You can see them here in my Etsy shop.
... and I'm happy to post overseas too!


I will choose two winners using a random number generator. The giveaway is open until 31st May - plenty of time to check out my Etsy shop and leave a comment, as well as checking out all the other blogs participating in the May Giveaway Day!

- Good luck :D

Little Loxies Patterns are Done!

I've been working hard drafting up some patterns for my Little Loxies. And now they are finished! yay :D

I have 3 Little Loxies patterns up in my LittleJellygnite Etsy shop. They are in pdf format - easy to send - and I'm planning on adding some pattern kits as well which will include fabrics and felt.


I just love my Little Loxies - mostly because my son's drawings were the inspiration, but also because I love finding / rescuing fabrics that would be suitable, then finding other ones to coordinate them with.

I hope my new patterns sell alright on Etsy - hopefully people will find them cute enough to want to make them themselves!


Giveaway Day is coming soon and I'm going to be giving away 2 of my Little Loxies pattern kits - exciting, can't wait!

Little Loxies Update

The gorgeous Pia (see this post) has found her way to a new home! Yay! My first Dashie Dog is off and away for more cuddles! A friend bought her for her new little nephew.


As well as that, these two lovelies have found new homes this week too! (thank you Kirsten!)



Oh! how wonderful! Lucky I am on holidays (and enjoying a completely kid-free day) - I'm off to make some more!

Loxie decisions + inspiration

Hello everyone, meet Pia.

She is the newest little sweetie in my Little Loxies range. She was made using red dress-making offcuts and (another!) old Japanese cotton skirt of mine.

Thank you for all your comments on my last post, helping me come to a decision on my 'Dashie' designs - it was really good hearing your thoughts :)

As you can see, I went with the 4-legged Dashie as I think it is more true to my original inspiration, but also reflects how little people see the world. (Unfortunately this kiddie quirkiness is so easily lost). I tweaked the design yet again to separate the legs into two lots of two.

Well, I'm quite pleased with this little cutie, and my new 'Dashie' pattern. I am hoping to put it into pdf format so that I can share it on my blog ... stay tuned!

Little Pia and her pink friend (from the previous post) are making their way over to my LittleJellygnite etsy shop to hang out with all the other LittleLoxies.

And while we're on the topic of my LittleLoxies, here's another drawing done yesterday by my boy - I just love the giraffe's face (and yes, our 'magna doodle' is looking a little worse for wear with those grey splodges on it!) ... I'm thinking this one could be a new LittleLoxie design too!


Finally, head over to ReRead's blog. Hayley is giving away another of her gorgeous brooches - check it out!! I know these brooches are wonderful as I own my very own - a cute little deer (that my students love!) - that I bought at our Christmas BrisStyle markets last year.
Head on over to Hayley's blog for a chance to win!


Have a happy weekend :)

New Little Loxie

Meet 'Dashie', he is the newest addition to my Little Loxies. He's a little sausage dog based on one of my son's drawings.


Here is 'Dashie markI'. This one is made using an old skirt of mine and some of my grandma's ricrac. He has found his way under my little girl's arm most of the time, or tangled in her bed!



And here is 'Dashie mark II'. This one is made using a vintage sheet and stripey scraps. I felt I needed to make a few little adjustments to make it look more like a dog and less like a rat/marsupial mouse/possum (?). I took the two middle legs out (which makes it heaps easier to stuff!), made the tail 'flappy' - not stuffed as part of the main body, and 'streamlined' some of the lumps and bumps.


Now, I have a problem ... I'm not sure which one I like better or which one looks better ... Can you help me? I love the basic shape of him (perfect, as I said for underarm-cuddles), but just not sure on the finer details.


I'd love to hear what you think!

Market Community

Today was the first St William's market for the year and it was lovely. I love the community - it really is like a little social outing as well as a market. It was nice to see the ladies on the cafe again (my table just happens to be right next to the food :) - my little market helper loves this fact!) as well as regular and new sellers. I was also pleased to discover that a woman had visited the markets becasue she had read about them on the BrisStyle blog! (yay!)


My Little Loxies had their first market outing today; they were extremely well-behaved and procured smiles from passers-by. These little cuties, Susie and Beau blew kisses goodbye and went along happily having found their new homes.

Back to the fabric stash to make some more me-thinks! :)

Super Blog Giveaway!

As a way of celebrating my recent birthday and the recent opening of my LittleJellygnite etsy shop and also to say ‘thank you’ to all the lovely people who visit my blog, I’m having a little giveaway! Yay!

I am giving away one of my LittleJellygnite softies (from my Little Loxie or Little Jellies ranges) of your choice. That’s right! You get to choose which one you’d like!

Here’s what you have to do: Go and visit my LittleJellygnite shop and decide what item is your favourite. Then, come back and leave a comment letting me know which one you like the best! Easy Peasy!

The giveaway will run until midnight (Brisbane time) on Valentine’s Day (I thought this would be a nice day to end on!). The winner will be decided by a random number generator and announced on my blog on the 15^th Feb.

The giveaway is open to everyone, so spread the word … and good luck!

There is also another fabulous giveaway happening over at the BrisStyle blog. Rebecca from edward and lilly is giving away one of her gorgeous little birdies, They are so lovely - go check it out and good luck!

More Softies

Obviously I have a little addiction to making soft toys ... I love it ... and my children's bedrooms will soon be overflowing with them ... as will my workroom.

Anyway, not much of a surprise that I bought the new 'More Sofites' book not that long ago. So many beautiful, clever and cute things to make and such a refreshing change to use someone else's (tried and tested) pattern instead of my own!


We had a lovely time looking through all the softies, deciding what to make, the kids putting their orders in (and their orders for cousins and next-door neighbours as well!)

These are the Christmas presents I made for some lovely little people in my life:
Rudi and Roddy the roosters - these guys are as thick as thieves, but so very polite and well-behaved (well, most of the time!) ... very much like the two little boys I made them for! They were made from MariekUniek's 'Mister Rooster' pattern.


This is Tabbie who was very fun to make ... but lots of work! I really love her. I'm afraid the hair won't stand up to a two-year old's affections, but we'll see! She was made from the pattern 'Topsy-turvy Tabitha' by Hatch - isn't she a sweetie?!



This Sweet Pea was so easy to make and with such lovely results - you can't really see, but she's on lots of matresses as she is the 'Princess and the Pea' pattern by Sarah Bowe. I loved choosing the fabrics and button (the little girl she belongs is a real 'red' girl) and I love snuggling her into bed too! I'm going to make more of these cuties!


And, as well as these cuties, I also finished off some more Little Loxies for my new LittleJellygnite shop! Phew! - holidays are hard work ;)

New Etsy Shop!

I've been a busy little bee this past week, sewing furiously (and very happily too!) to get stock ready for my *new* Etsy shop: introducing LittleJellygnite.


LittleJellygnite is going to stock all my baby and children items (softies and bibs at the moment) and my jellygnite shop will now concentrate on 'grown-up' things - my handmade books and jewellery.



I have been developing new softies for LittleJellygnite that have been based on my son's drawings. My son draws all the time and his drawings have such an honesty and joy to them that I can't help but be inspired by them. I have made my 'Little Loxies' softies range so far using 4 of his animal drawings - it's very fun! Check them out at the new shop!


Of course my Little Jellies will be at my new shop too - I've got some new 'babies' waiting to make their appearances!


So, hopefully this LittleJellygnite will be the start of happy things to come!