Tuesday, March 31, 2009

featured:


............. in Woolworths Parents magazine this month. p26.


Thursday, March 26, 2009

A little visit to Stumped HQ

You may have noticed a link to Stumped in the 'nice blogs' list over to your left. Found it?
I have just returned from a short stint to Stumped HQ in Northern NSW to see what those good friends of mine were up to.
A little over a year ago, Sean and Jan relocated a beautiful old existing house from Brisbane all the way down to their 15 acre property just west of Murwillumbah. Prior to relocating the new house, they lived in a two storey barn style shed (see below) on the property for several years .


S & J wanted a home that was suitably sustainable and comfortable enough for their families needs. Many options were considered and researched before the decision was made to recycle a pre-existing home. Sean started a blog to record their experiences and share all that they had learnt along the way. Stumped is a truly informative read even if you don't intend moving a house anywhere anytime soon. The blog even includes a tally of the costs to date.
It has taken approximately one year to get the house back together, stumped and plumbed. Sean and Jan did loads of the work themselves too.
Oh, and did I mention they did all this with a (now) 2 year old and a baby due in 3 weeks.

Go Sean & Jan!!!


house arriving in two parts and the new tank ( photo's from Stumped)






view of Wollumbin (Mt. Warning) from the back deck


misty view from the composting toilet


breakfast in the nook

I didn't take too many pics of inside the house as S & J were still in the process of moving in. I think Jan would kill me if I posted any here : )

Thursday, March 12, 2009

more tops

My good friend Momo lent me a selection of her Japanese craft books while she is away visiting friends and family in Japan. Very generous!
I am halfway through making one top but in the meantime I have made another top from this book.



Pedro held the pattern down while I traced : )
This is my favorite top yet. The fabric is a cotton linen from Japan. It's a little coarse but in a good natural sort of way.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

new brooches....



etsy & the aussie dollar

It's been really hard deciding what to do in regards to pricing on my Etsy shop. Our dollar is sooo low in comparison to the US dollar. Whilst writing this it's at about .64 cents.
The dilemma is that if I lower my Etsy prices too much it's unfair to other sellers in the US and if I don't the price is way too high for my Australian and New Zealand customers. Plus I think it's confusing to buyers generally (and me) to see different prices for similar items on different sites. To top it off, I'm now pay almost double for my listings on Etsy as well.
So anyway, I've decided to go ahead and lower my prices on Etsy so they're in line with what I charge here in Australia and offer free shipping to my fellow Aussies. Hopefully this will work out OK.

If you're in Australia (or the US for that matter) I highly recommend purchasing through my other shop on Big Cartel. It's works out about $2 cheaper I think.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Monthly Bris Style giveaways

There are 2 new giveaways this month over on the Bris Style blog. This months goodies come courtesy of Little Diva Crafts and Bubba Chenille.