Friday night was the great Blogetogethertwo organised again by the lovely Nichola and Justine and held at Amite (thanks Jenny!). I had my packages wrapped and ready just in time. It was a fantastic evening with good company — 12 crafty blogging gals. Conversation flowed freely and it was quite a relaxed atmosphere (after the anxiety of sharing gifts subsided that is!). I can’t wait to do it again. It would be fantastic to meet up on a more regular basis. So nice to talk in ‘real life’ with people who understand the blogging community (or even know it exists!) and so inspiring to see what everyone is working on.

Below is a peek at the bounty! I will cheat again and add a link to Nichola’s Flickr set. Have a look to see more details of each gorgeous gift. Such an amazing array of talent and variety of gifts. It was so much fun!

Please check out their blogs: One Girl Designwrks (gorgeous soft cosy woolen mittens and one of her beautiful cards that I have been eyeing off on Etsy!); Melly and Me (stunning lino print cards and lovely cat softie who has mysteriously vanished from my studio already! Hmmm!); Assemblage (Beautiful Gocco printed cards. Very inspiring Kirsten…the first I had seen in ‘real life’ and I am yet to try mine!!); Jelly Baby Blog (Scrummy hand felted journal cover with gorgeous stitching on the inside covers.); Acoustich (super soft beautiful hot water bottle cover with matching yellow bottle! I love it!); One Red Robin (Stunning scarf and cute baby Chibi pattern!); Theoretic Gal (Lovely soft stitched journal cover. Armani offcuts so I am told!); Michelle Giacobello (Lovely pin cushion complete with beautiful little pins made from clever shrinky stuff!); Little Mysteries (sweet little owl made with beautiful vintage fabric); Nikki-Shell (Amazing keyring. Beautiful combination of textures and colours.); 62Cherry (Gorgeous needlebook and matching giftcard). PHEW! How lucky am I?

My gift was a ‘Winter Journal’ made using various paper stocks. I also added a few envelopes, filing cards and shipping tags to the mix, inspired by my lovely friends at Journaux (Anne and Coralee are you reading this?!). Every few pages included some winter inspired imagery. I am really enjoying my image collecting addiction at the moment and wanted some way of incorporating it into my gift. I get really passionate about collecting to a theme so I had fun gathering wintery images — vintage photos and illustrations, old postcards, ephemera and line art. I especially loved the front cover image of the 1920s ski girls. Somehow it seemed just perfect for our Blog meet.

I sourced most of the paper at Pedigree Paper, the K.W.Doggett retail showroom in Preston where I was seduced by rows of shimmery ‘winter wonderland’ appropriate papers. This place is amazing. I love it. In the same way a sewer loves fabric shops this is a paper hoarders dream. Shelf after shelf of delicious top quality paper and card stock. Great value pick-n-mix boxes, $5 offcut bags and piles of matching envelopes.

I also made a set of three pin back buttons with my new badge maker machine! I used shimmery paper stock in subtle pastel pink, blue and white. This is sooooo addictive and fun. I think it’s my childhood dream realised!!

Note: I am chasing a rather nasty deadline this week and I owe a few emails from the past few days…hang in there I will reply…I am procrastinating because I want to answer your emails properly!

Featured Gem 12
Real Photo Postcard
‘Minties’

Date: Unspecified (after 1922)
People pictured: Unidentified
Postcard Back: blank

Notes: Isn’t this fantastic? Six girls dressed up as Sweetacres Minties! When it comes to lollies, Minties (now called ‘Allens Minties’ and manufactured by Nestle) are a bit of an Australian classic. What with the party game ‘Mintie hunt’ (as opposed to peanut hunt) and the ‘who can make the longest Mintie wrapper’ challenge….Minties were well established as a part of our childhood.

Minties were invented in 1922 by James Stedman (his company also invented Jaffas and Fantales!)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MUM! I miss my Mum. We spend a lot of time on the phone and travel interstate regularly….but it’s hardly the same as being able to drop in for a cuppa is it?! 1000kms is just a little bit too far. Thanks to the wonders of technology we do at least have real time video chats at the click of a button. It can’t replace being in the same room but it goes a long way to fill the gap. Eloise has been ‘iChatting’ since she was born and it’s brilliant now that she is talking. It’s not unusual for her to ask if we can ‘talk to Nanny and Pa Pa on the puter’.

Excuse the dodgeroo pics, they’re screen dumps Mum sent me from a chat we had earlier this week! I like it though. Reminds me of old photo booth photos! Anyway, I hope all you Mums out there enjoy your day!!

Ok, so what are they doing in this photo? I recently purchased this image from a lovely lady in the UK. Neither of us have any real idea about what the photo shows and there are no details on the back to give us a clue! The little glass jars/lanterns are not only strung across the water but perched on the rocks too. So are they catching fairies?

Still snowed under by the maths books from hell BUT I am set to hand it over at the beginning of June (insert happy dance!)! Rohan and I did manage to step out on the town ‘Ellie free’ with my lovely sister and her partner in crime Tim, who were visiting from Sydney. We went to see Puppet Up! in the stunning Princess Theatre, (part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival). It was brilliant! My sister and I are both longtime Henson fans so it was really exciting to get a glimpse of what it must have been like on set. Incredibly clever and very funny.

Not much luck on the thrifting front aside from this trim (quite substantial lengths too!) and an signed Alison Lester book. I do however have a new toy which I am fumbling around trying to learn how to use….sneak peak bottom right. I am thinking of using it for part of my Blogetogethertwo gifts. Winter inspired designs in progress!

Oh and before I forget, I made a new banner! I didn’t realise those reading via Bloglines and the like may not see it. The dancing girls photo is one of my absolute favourite photo finds. I know adding wings is hardly original but it seemed appropriate and it is my little corner of the world after all! And on that note I’ll leave you with this…

‘I look sooooo pretty!’ was her response when I showed her in the mirror! Leave a two year old alone with textas at your own risk!

Featured Gem 11
Real Photo Postcard

‘Lily & her friends’

Date: Unspecified
People: ‘Lily’ far left. Others only identified as ‘friends’!
Studio: Unidentified
Postcard Back: Written in pencil ‘Lily & her friends’

Notes: I recently acquired this fabulous photo postcard from a seller in Canada but I have no idea if that is where the photo originates. The numbers at the bottom left read: 7893. I am not sure if these represent the image number? I have other cards where the number has obviously marked the date of the photo. Any ideas?

Aren’t the costumes fabulous? You’ve probably gathered that clown/ pierrot/harlequin costumes is another favourite of mine! The seaside backdrop is nice and subtle and doesn’t detract from the subjects. The backdrop makes me think it could perhaps be a photo taken at an amusement park or pier. I am gathering quite a collection of ‘amusement’ or ‘arcade’ photos and am enjoying doing a little research into their history. It seemed to be quite a popular thing to do for fun!