The Art of Letter Writing

Ever since I was a small girl I have loved receiving mail. I love the postage stamps, the canceling
post office stamps, the dog-eared envelopes, the anticipation of what's inside...


I have a 'pen-friend' in Italy; we have been writing to each other for just shy of 20 years (oh my!). We are dear friends and although we mostly email each other now, it is most exciting when a parcel comes in the mail all the way from Italy!

I love sending mail too! I love making and decorating envelopes and putting little, funny and sometimes trivial notes inside or long big essays of thoughts and happenings. It truly is a beautiful art, this letter writing!


I have just finished some new products for my jellygnite Etsy shop. A year or so ago I made my mum an 'Art Deco Ladies' note paper set, she commissioned me for a couple more for her friends and now I've finally nutted out a whole range.

It features gorgeous ladies from the 20th century in their varied, but always so stylish and glamourous fashions. There's 'Deco Retro', 'Wartime Retro', 'Rock n Roll Retro', 'Mod Retro' and 'Woodstock Retro'. I had considered including the 80s decade of fashion too .... but those fluro rah-rah skirts, leg warmers and big hair have left a permanant scar on my memory!

I'm looking forward to the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market (in TWO weeks!) where I can bring my 'Retro Ladies' note paper sets out and encourage others back into the love of letter writing!

These are fun!

I've got into making a few things lately. As well as some more cute Little Loxies I've got on the go, I thought it was time for something new too (I get bored so easily - such a short attention span!).

We keep cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes at our place. When the pile gets too big, the boxes make their way to school with my boy and go into the big tubs full of exciting 'making things' materials. However, recently I have been keeping some of these boxes for my own 'making things'.


I have made four little moleskine-style notebooks using the cardboard from cereal boxes. They are fun to make because I then go through my stash of wonderful ephemera (and it is quite a sizable stash so it's nice to make use of it!) to find a suitable image to glue onto the card. So, the boring, printed side of the cereal box gets covered up with retro loveliness and you can still see the cardboard on the inside.


Two of these cover pictures are from illustrations in 1960s women's magazines - I love the daggy style of these so much !


The other two are from pages of a glossy (and large) Tasmania 1960s tourist book - flipping through the book is like a step back in time!


I've uploaded these for sale on my jellygnite etsy shop and today I found some 'Mills & Boon' books with wonderful old covers on them so I'm looking forward to using these to make some more!

'BiDM' books and lovely friends

BiDM = BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets (cool eh?!) and they are just around the corner!!! oh my, I think I'm starting to get a little stressed ... and super excited!! Oh, and I'm also on holidays for the next 2 and a half weeks ;)

Here are some lovely ladies ready for their big day at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets.

I really love making books and journals, and get so inspired by the fabulous things the BEST members make too. These journals have a stab-bound pad inside as well as a little pocket for goodies.


I think these little note-pads (below) are my favourites; they're nice and small, simple and have lovely images from old story-books on the cover. I'd like to make more of these!

My problem is I flit from thing to thing; while I was making some new brooches for the market today, I felt the sudden need to abandon them and go and make some more books! Oh dear, my attention span is on the small side, methinks!


In the past couple of years, I have gained many 'bloggy' friends and lovely, crafty BrisStyle friends too. I was so chuffed to receive the 'Love Ya' award recently from both Helen from Ruby2GoGo and Amanda from TwinkleStarArt - two very lovely BrisStylettes - thank you :)

This award is bestowed on the blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award. Then let everyone know seven things about you.

me:

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I don't get anywhere near enough sleep - too many things I want to squish into my days!
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I am currently in the 'twilight' zone - lost in the world of Edward and Bella (and I wish I was a vampire to solve my problem above!) After having countless students (10 -13 years of age) recommending the book for me, I was finally convinced when Helen raved about it ... I figured I was going to hold a lot more weight to a grown-up's view of the series, rather than a young girl's!!
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(I think I may have mentioned this one already...) I am on holidays at the moment!! :D
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I wish that there was one thing that I was really good at, instead of being ok at lots of little things
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This month, I taught myself to crochet and am making granny squares to make into a throw for our (electrifyingly) blue lounge; I calculated how many I'm going to need - I'm hoping to finish before next winter!
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Not a secret, but I really love making things - really love it. I guess I am lucky to be an Art teacher to small kids.
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I used to be a waitress for 7 years while at uni - I never want to do that ever again (this desire, therefore, prevents me from doing any further study!!), but I do still enjoy carrying dinner plates up my arm!

I am passing this on to the following friendly, funny, self-effacing, inspirational and fun blogs ... I know that this is a double-up of the award for some of them, but I think they deserve it! ;)

1. Hey Harriet: Tracy inspires so many people to chase shadows every week as well as sharing her own beautiful images and adventures. (and I always have a little chuckle at the random surreal generator too ... hee hee!)

2. HotFudge: I love hearing Robyn's adventures, listening to her sage advice, and of course, cracking up at her little jokes!

3. edward and lilly: Rebecca has so much style and grace in the beautiful things she makes. I enjoy her 'shopping lists'.

4. Lisa's RetroStyle: I love reading Lisa's blog and discovering (and getting mighty envious!) of her new vintage and retro finds!

5. littlechrissy: Chris is very good at reminding me to appreciate the little things in her 'grateful Monday' posts.

6. The Small Stuff: Bec's blog was one of the first ones I found in bloggy land - I love her writing style and enjoy her stories about her kids ;)

7. Ruby2GoGo: Helen is such a wonderful, thoughtful gem with an eye for glorious Brisbane retro! :D oh! and she's pretty good at organising the best markets too!;)

8. TwinkleStarArt: An amazing illustrator - I love peeking into Amanda's sketchbook on her blog and amazing that her stories about her 2 year-old sweetie are exactly the same as my stories about my 2 year old!! hee hee!

Back to my brooches for BiDM now!

Thrift Delights and a Kitchen Tea

I visited my local Vinnies today - they have just refurbished the shop (it still smells like new carpet and fresh paint!). Lucky for me, they discovered that they have an over abundance of books and so are selling them off - fill a bag for $1!

I filled my bag with all sorts of novels - some for using with my students, some because they were good stories, and some because they had interesting covers! My son also picked up 3 lovely fairy tale books from the 70s with lovely illustrations (he's got a good eye!). You can see one of his books at the bottom left of the pic, my 'tower' of books keeps going out of the picture!

Not satisfied with my book stash, I also bought a sweet set of yellow daisy glasses (perfect for little hands, I think!) and a lovely heavy glass vase. Thrifty happiness!

Another thing that's made me happy lately was my sister-in-law-to-be's Kitchen Tea. It was a proper, old-fashioned ladies Kitchen Tea, complete with a vast assortment of delicate sweeties served on beautiful plates and stands and lovely china cups and saucers with flowers on them. So delightfully civilised!

As it was a 'traditional' Kitchen Tea, I gave a traditional gift. My s-i-l-to-be loves cooking so I made up a recipe box with blank recipe cards as well as some already filled in. I had so much fun putting all of this together (which is good because it took way longer than I thought it would!!). I enjoyed choosing some of my favourite sweet recipes for her as well as making all the cards and finding suitable vintage ladies for decoration!
Now we wait for the wedding! I'm very excited as I love a wedding! It's just over a week away and I still have my outfit to finish (I'm so good at procrastinating!) ... maybe I should go and do a bit now ..?

Retro Ladies

I've had fun creating some 'Retro Ladies' aceos / art cards the past couple of nights.
I uploaded them all to my etsy shop tonight (and unfortunately due to the square cropping - they all look decapitated - hee hee!! ah well!)
I love the great expressions these wonderful ladies have - as well as their great clothes!

There were polyester and pantsuits everywhere in the 70s!

Part of the reason why I was motivated to make these beauties was our BrisStyle 'Etsy Ekka Extravaganza' Sale which starts Saturday. The deal I am offering is 15% off storewide as well as a free aceo with orders over $15 ... so, I thought some fresh new faces were in order for the 'aceo' section in my shop!

Enjoy these retro lovelies and make sure to swing by the BrisStyle blog to get the lowdown on our sale and all the particpating shops.

Book Love

On the weekend I went to the 'Freestyle Books' symposium at the State Library of Qld. There is an exhibition on at the moment of their collection of artist's books also. It was lovely being surrounded by gorgeous books, book lovers and book artists. My faves from the exhibition were these ones:
Tom Blue Children's Britannica
So perfectly cut by hand, I think, into an old encyclopedia.

Jonathan Tse Portrait of an Australian
This guy taught me at uni in the printmaking studios and he was making this book at the time - lovely images.

Tracey Bush British butterflies
This one feels so delicate and fleeting with the ephemera butterflies.

And I was also told about Brian Dettmer's books - so intricately cut and precise and lovely! He cuts around the illustrations in old textbooks and encyclopedias to make new, layered images with the book covers. As found on this blog.


I am all inspired to make some more books now, including one for the upcoming BEST book swap. Here's my latest collaged 'Vintage Ladies' book; it's orange 'sister' was posted for a birthday gift.


(Somehow that Lego policeman muscled in on my shots!!)


I'm really enjoying this format using the stab binding and including a little envelope in the cover; I can't wait to make some more! I may even get 'round to popping some up on my etsy shop too!

Gifts

A friend of mine gave me a little 'thank you' gift today - it certainly made going back to work today after holidays much nicer!. She knows me well, look what I got!

This is a fantastic book! It's full of great 60s fashion advertisements with fabulous images and great blurbs. Amazing retro charm!

And this lovely green button. The red/pink ones are for me to make a pair of earrings for her, the green one's for me. The buttons are amazing too - they're made from resin with nuts and sticks in them, then polished smooth. They were purchased on her recent trip to South Australia. I'm looking forward to wearing the green one as a brooch ... or maybe a pendant as it's really smooth and nice to touch.

New Things

Welcome to my blog :)
As well as my new blog 'Charlie and Grace', here are some other new things I’ve been making this week.

As part of my ‘Retro Ladies’, I’ve made these little brooches and rings. I love flipping through vintage women’s magazines and going back in time, having a laugh and finding little treasures! I found some particularly tiny treasures and decided to put them on rings ... while these are essentially paper rings, and not very practical, the images are fun!

This brooch is a pretty 60s lady. I used a page from an old novel and highlighted the words "I was thinking" - I think it suits her picture, don't you?!

As I'm hoping to sell these brooches and rings, either in my etsy shop or at local markets, I decided to make myself a brooch too. I used this gorgeous scrap of fabric - she's such a 1950s sweetie, reminds me of my mum as a little girl with curls :)

The magazines I use for my collage work are usually damaged with ripped covers or water-stained so I don’t feel so bad cutting them up. I do have a small stash of magazines in better condition that I keep away from the scissors (some even have the original sewing patterns still included … and one of these days I’d love to give one a go!).