31 January 2010

January 2010 Blog Post Wordle

As promised here are my January Blog Posts as a Wordle - just love it!  See if you can find yourself in the midst of all the words - the bigger you are the more you have been mentioned!

If you want to appear 'BIG' on my wordle, let me know and I'll do a MooBeeView with you - it's always great fun to share what we do with others.

Thanks to Wordle for allowing me to have some fun with my words!  For your own fun access Wordle via: http://www.wordle.net/.

My Intended Doodle/Design for Janil...

I say intended, because I'm lousy at drawing and whilst I can see the design in my head it is not until I start working with the fabric that it really takes shape.  Which means of course it's bound to change!! 

That being said, drawing/doodling something helps me remember what I want to do! So here are my doodles leading up to the 'intended' design...

Doodle 1: Could I use flowers to create a village?
 

Doodle 2: Need to do better than the previous doodle, perhaps include woodland type flora...
 
Final Doodle: Now this is more like it.  I wonder how close the finished tee will  be to this doodle?
So that is a little walk through my thought process for this special one off tee! I can't wait to send it to it's new home (Spain!  How fabulous is that!!) and share the final design with you all :)

29 January 2010

Fabulous Friday Favourites

We're back from the beach and getting ourselves ready to return the children to school.  Crafting has been put aside for the moment and labelling books and uniforms has taken over!!  Nothing like being organised!


As a result I'd like to share some of my fabulous favourites with you.  Don't you just love looking at items you've marked to buy - some day!  I've dipped into my favourites and bought out a couple to delight you with.  Perhaps they will become your favourites to :)


Be inspired, have a cuppa, go shopping and enjoy...



 

 

 

19 January 2010

LittleWaltz MooBeeTee Giveaway Winner...

Congratulations to Janil who won an original MooBeeTees designed tee, thanks to LittleWaltz and her great giveaway!

Janil's design idea was to create a village with an element of personalisation included in it. I'll be designing the tee over the next couple of weeks and will be able to share it with you all once it is finished.

 
For all of the info on the giveaway - pop into LittleWaltz via this link: http://petitevalse.blogspot.com/ 

While you are there check out her new giveaway with the fabulous Ange from Jewellery by Ange! It's worth entering :)

18 January 2010

Cafe Handmade: Vote for MooBeeTees!

If you have a spare second could you please click through and vote for me at the Virtual Craft Show's Cafe Handmade site - pretty please!!  Here's the link: MooBeeTees

Many hugs!!



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17 January 2010

Fascinating Denim Fact #2

It's been a slow Sunday at MooBeeTees H.Q., so I thought it might be the perfect time to give you fascinating Denim Fact #2 (after all I did promise you I would!):


The word dungarees (usually plural) is one of the few mainstream English words to have come from Hindi, one of the major languages of India. The source word in Hindi is dungr, and refers to a type of coarse cloth.
Source: www.denverfabrics.com

Fascinating! 


15 January 2010

New Listings - LITTLE BIRD Line

I seem to preoccupied with little birds at the moment - I think they are very sweet and suit a range of ages.  At the moment I have a tee, a bodysuit and a dress in the line, but I'm aiming for a few other bits to be added - indeed I'm working on a boy bird - why should the boys miss out!!

This is the inspiration for LITTLE BIRD:


All of my bodysuits are made from an approved organic cotton and are lovely and soft to touch (and very cute when accessorised by a bird!):
 
The girls puff sleeved tee's come in a variety of colours, so if you like the design but are nervous of white, let me know and we can change the colour for you:


 
Number three for today is the LITTLE BIRD dress.  Using a fabulous WholeGrainBaby pattern, I have created a lovely little cap sleeved denim dress for the girls.  It too features a little bird appliqued on to the front.

So come and visit my new listings at MooBeeTees and let me know what you think of the LITTLE BIRD :)



13 January 2010

MooBeeView #5: NyjoleJewellery

We are back for 2010.  A MooBeeView is an opportunity to learn a little more about my fellow Etsians and their many varied talents - but in a slightly quirky style.  

This year the first to take up the challenge of the MooBeeView is Nyjole of NyjoleJewellery.  Nyjole is a self taught jeweller who has been specialising in wedding jewllery for the last two years. Her work is exquisite, very fine and Nyjole uses only the best of materials, including Swarovski Crystals and Fresh Water Pearls.

So sit back, relax and meet - NyjoleJewellery...




1. Now it is obvious to say that you are a very talented artist when it comes to creating fabulous, intricate pieces of heirloom jewllery - but we all need to know the answer to just one question...is your avatar a picture of you on your wedding day? And as a supplementary question - are you wearing a piece of your own handiwork (details please!)?
 



Ha, I wish I looked that gorgeous. No, fortunately for me, my avatar picture is of the beautiful Lisa Ellison. I made all the wedding jewellery for her wedding, plus five bridesmaids and one flower girl. I have created and designed for over 60 weddings, but I just love this picture. I had fun collaborating together with Lisa’s mother making sure every details was agreed upon. Lisa lived in Melbourne at the time and I live in North Queensland so therefore all details went through Lisa‘s mother. One of my favorite weddings to this date. 

I was also commissioned to design and make jewellery for another wedding in the same family. Lisa’s brother was getting married the next year, so fortunately they contacted me again to do Tallara’s wedding jewellery (see picture).


2. Now that we have that out of the way, your work is so fine and so very detailed and I find many artists often suffer from the same issue of when is enough is enough. How do you determine this with your pieces as I imagine it would be hard to stop sometimes when working with such beautiful materials.

When I create my pieces, I just let things be, sort of a natural process. Things are never planned, otherwise if they are, generally in my experience things never go to plan. Each piece is designed to showcase the gemstones to their best advantage. Freshwater pearls and Swarovski Crystals are my passions. For me wire becomes the extension of my finger tips, wire and I seam to have a connection, an understanding that seams to be in sync. There is a sense, a feeling when enough is enough...having a background in Interior Design has given me a great foundation for symmetry and balance.


3. I'm now seriously considering getting married again so that I can wear your Lace Bracelet - when you work with brides have you ever been asked to create a design that you initially thought was impossble to make, only to find that you have to invent new techniques in order to complete the piece? Could you tell us a little about the process that you went through? (I ask this knowing the answer will be yes!)
Of course, the answer is yes. I find a lot of my commission pieces are unique and original. I go into each design with a fresh mind, sometimes I am quite apprehensive with nerves as to what I am going to come up with. Wondering will I be able to pull this one off. But I do, and things fall into place. As you can tell with my designs they are quite organic and free formed. I am constantly inventing new techniques, ones that even surprises myself. I find I do get bored when making the same designs for my market store Therefore in frustration, I do experiment and tend to come up with new techniques. I also look towards nature for inspiration, and of course anything vintage that has glam and sophistication.


4) And finally, if I told you that one of the following three people was on the phone requesting you to provide jewllery for their impending weddings - Chelsea Clinton, Katy Perry, Robbie Williams - who would you choose, why and what would you make?

Ah a trick question, thought you had me tricked there Karen for a minute.
I was going to say Chelsea Clinton. Bah, I know I’m from the old school and I’m a bit tame and ‘good’ at times… But then I had to google Katy Perry to get some of her pictures…

 
What the! I am going to say Katy Perry wins with out any doubt. She has that retro glam, sometimes bad look that I love. Katy Perry would look great against my jewellery. A perfect match. Karen can you give Katy my number please!

===============================================
I'd like to thank Nyjole for taking the time to answer my questions and letting us in to her elegant world.  If you want to learn more about Nyjole and NyjoleJewellery please visit her at one of her online sites:

MooBeeView's 4 Word Review: Jewelled Elegance; Wired Delacacies :-)

10 January 2010

MooBeeTees Blog as a Wordle - Nifty!

Thanks to http://www.wordle.net/ there is a super nifty little
program that will turn your words into a 'picture'.  As I said, nifty!
 
I couldn't wait to get to the end of January to try this out, so
here is MooBeeTees blog for January (Part 1) depicted as a 
wordle:

I'm going to do this at the end of each month, so take a look - 
you may find yourself in my Wordle! 
 
As I said, nifty!! 

09 January 2010

Brown Owls (Oakleigh) Meet for the First Time!

Well I don't know about you but I had a fabulous afternoon chatting and crafting today.  The first meeting of the Melbourne SE chapter of the Brown Owls happened and by all accounts was a great success.  As they say 'from little things big things grow', and I have no doubt that the five ladies who met today will be joined by more next month (I already have another person who wants to come along).


 
Present today were the lovely Estelle (Messy Essy), Karen (me!), Elana (EP Designs), Celeste (LittleWaltz and our hostess with the mostess!), and Celeste (BowerBirdInc).  Some of the names may be familiar to those of you who hang out in Etsy, on blogs or tweet - so it was terrific to put some faces to names.


We'd like to do a lot more of that!  So keep checking back in as I will let you know about the next crafty get together.

08 January 2010

MooBeeView #5 - Nyjole J Walters, Jewellery Design



MooBeeViews are back in 2010 and I am hoping to bring you a little insight into the minds, hearts and hands of some of the most talented crafters and artisans in Australia.

To kick off the year the lovely Nyjole of nyjolejewellery has agreed to be the first this year to undertake the intense questioning style of the MooBeeView.  As you read this, Nyjole is wondering what she has gotten her self into and is cautiously waiting the arrival of her fabulous four questions.  What will she say, how will she say it?  You can only find out if you keep popping back - or indeed follow me and you won't miss out!

in the meantime, take some time to check out Nyjole's beautiful creations (more than enough reason to get married again!).

Lovely New Listings!

Finally,  I have started to list some of my new items!  Denim is my new muse and I plan to use a lot of it this year in lots of different ways.  Throughout the year I shall share with you some of the interesting denim facts I have discovered whist researching it as a fabric!


For example, did you know that The word comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nîmes, France, by the Andre family. Originally called serge de Nîmes, the name was soon shortened to denim.


There you go, interesting fact number one!  More to come!!


In the meantime here are some of my goodies that will be listed over the next couple of days:






For these items and many more, come and visit MooBeeTees at ETSY.






07 January 2010

I've Been Featured!! Keeping Up With Stella

Number Bunting - 1 to 10 in all the Colours of the Rainbow

How exciting!  I've just received a lovely email from Marla telling me my number bunting has been featured in Keeping up with Stella's blog.  Check it out: http://keepingupwithstella.blogspot.com/2010/01/abc-easy-as-123.html

05 January 2010

Mini Me MooBee!!

The day has come, when the MooBee has sat in front of her very first sewing machine.


A proud moment for me.



The look of concentration.  The utter disregard for the mess that is the spare front room.  All focus on the task at hand.


So proud...


In fact the MooBee sat sewing with me (my mess sewing room is behind where I'm taking the photo) for the better part of the day learning to thread the machine, wind thread on a bobbin and stitch in straight lines!  Normally sitting still for 10 minutes would throw my gymnastics loving child into a compulsive fit.


But sit still she did for sewing.


Here is a picture of her first creation - a group of charm squares that she stitched together and stretched over a canvas to use as a wall hanging:



The love of creating is a genetic gift (well, I think it is) and I'm so glad that I have passed it on to my MooBee!  Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring if this is any indication of how happy she is:

 Happy crafting!

03 January 2010

Brown Owls Crafting Chapter - Now in Oakleigh!



The lovely Celeste of Little Waltz has been on the hunt for craft clubs and the like - and unless she has been incredibly blind, has not been able to find a general craft club that welcomes all ages and all experience level of crafters.

That's why Celeste has decided to pick up the challenge, and start up a chapter of Brown Owls in Oakleigh, Victoria.

What is Brown Owls?

Brown Owls is a craft-a-long club for chatting and teaching each other and just having fun together! It's for beginner level and experienced crafters, and everyone has a happy time making and talking about craft and also having a good laugh too!

There are other chapters around Melbourne and Australia, with some Brown Owls overseas as well! You can view all available chapters on the Brown Owls member blog. 

This is a call out to all crafters in the South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.

And this is where you come in:

Oakleigh Brown Owls Meet and Greet 2010

Where: Oakleigh RSL Dining hall (95-97 Drummond St)
When: 9th January 2010 ( From 2 pm onwards)
Bring: A few dollars for a cuppa and a handheld craft to work on while we chat!

Please RSVP to Celeste by  8th of January 2010 at the very latest!
You can RSVP by leaving a comment on on the Little Waltz blog.

And remember, if you are stuck for ideas,
let Celeste know with your RSVP so she may prepare some craft kits for you.

See you there!


02 January 2010

Little Waltz Blog - A Chance to Win an Original MooBeeTees Tee!

Just in case you haven't had the opportunity to enter this giveaway, Little Waltz is giving you the opportunity to win one of my original MooBeeTees tees - in fact the design is so original the concept will come from one of you!!


Thank you to those of you who have entered already.  The deadline is being extended due to a little event called Christmas taking over the last month or so, so pop your thinking caps on and come up with a design concept for me to create for you.  The tee will be named after you and you will have the very first one off the Janome!


So don't wait, click on the thinking cap link and leave your idea...





Good luck!!