An Australian Christmas...........Merry & Bright!

A collection of awesome ETSY products made for a hot summer Christmas in Australia........inspired by everything that makes Christmas truly Australian!

Hot summers, swimming, sleeping, eating and drinking, fresh seafood and cold salads, cheeky fun & being merry!

Golden Book Blossom Mobile

A little Golden Book Blossom Mobile in the ETSY store now

An Anthropologie Xmas

I LOVE Anthropologie, I could spend all day trawling the online store and the window displays they do are always so creatively stunning! I wish we had a store in Sydney but its probably a good thing we don't as I would spend all my money there!

I put together a small selection of Christmas items for this post but truth be told I could have used everything! Just click on the image below to go straight to Anthropologie heaven!

From bottom left to right
// Tall twig tree // PomPom wrapping paper // Aspen Bunny // Vintage Xmas mailing set // Knit one Purl one garland // Alphabranch monogram // Zeolite ornament // Wooden feather gift card // Tufted wool wreath // Etoile velvet ribbon // Zeolite ornament // Hovey holiday house // Golden hive curio // Braided fringe garland // Wooden house ornament // Distant Decembers tree topper //

Weekend Wanderings

A Hip Handmade Holiday Guide for Xmas

The Craft Pack

Im getting all Christmasy here at My Handmade Heart, I have a small market stall for charity at work coming up soon and im busy making Xmas bunting and gift tags and decorations and thinking about putting some stuff in the store.

Im also prepping our little apartment for the holidays with a Xmas tree drawn in chalk on the inside of our yellow front door, decorated with Polli design decs and a Gods Eye tree topper and finishing off painting pinecones in multicolour harlequin pattern ready for the proper tree to be set up!

I cant reist a bit of colour at this time of year (who am I kidding, I cant resist colour at all!) and usually cant handle the traditional or matchy matchy Xmas colours and themes that seem to repeat themselves every Xmas. I think this is possibly a hangover from my Visual Merchandising days when Christmas started in September and consisted of dust and glitter, "fluffing" trees (yes thats what they call it, I was a great Fluffer!) and garlands and scratches all over my hands and arms, although I have to admit there is still a big part of me that misses it and i've found myself fondly staring at the PO boats sail past our beach recently, even though I hated decorating those the most!

 

So Christmas is on my brain and I wanted to share this GREAT Xmas Craft pack I found the other day.
Its made by..........you guessed it The Craft Pack, the Craft Pack consists of three crafty geniuses that are dedicated to sharing fun, accessible, and well-designed crafts with the world.

The holiday guide they have designed is seriously AMAZING, the projects are unique, funky and modern with a nod to the traditional and for once there are some REALLY great crafty gifts for guys!
Always a hard one AND........it only $10!

 Now all I have to do is decide which crafts to make...........and then find the time!

The Craft Pack

The Craft Pack

Weekend Wanderings

My Love and I spent the weekend in a tiny country town called Henty, where some friends have purchased property just recently, it was such a nice break and I feel so at home in wide open spaces like that.

I could have stayed forever..............instead I wandered 

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Xmas Gift Tags - Free Printable

Its been a while since I written a blog post, gosh life gets in the way sometimes! 

I've been busy catching up on my day job and my evening job, thinking about My Handmade Heart (instead of doing) and getting ready for the fast approaching Silly Season!

We have a small charity Christmas Market at my Day Job and among my other products I have decided to sell some Xmas items. 

I created these cute Gift tags (and some matching paper Bunting Flags - keep your eyes peeled later next week for that one) in a mix of hand drawn fonts.  I've been hole punching and threading cotton and hemp twine onto mine and I will definitely be using these for my gifts this year!

So, to celebrate the coming of Christmas and help you all feel a bit more organised............... I have included these tags as a free download for all my lovely readers. 

Just CLICK on the Image below and you will be taken directly to the file in PDF.

Happy Christmas Crafting  to all!

Unleashing My Creativity

Images from the latestst issue of Country Style

I had the most wonderful afternoon at the LISA MADIGAN store in Berry on Saturday.

Lisa has been a friend of mine for many years, in fact we attended Primary and part of High School together and I have been dying to visit her and her sublime shop for quite some time now, so when Lisa offered me a place in her wokshop "Unleash your Creativity" I jumped at the chance.

Lisa has been an artist for as long as I can remember, creativity runs in her blood, and she has been creating stunning works as a professional artist for over 10 years. I admire Lisa's style more than anyone elses, her pure white canvas with tonal creams, grey, brown , blacks and the occasional pop of naural colour exudes warmth and comfortable style and makes my heart ache. Her store is simply stunning and if your ever in Berry its the only place in town for brilliant coffee which Lisa will make for you herself!

The workshop was just what I needed to get me thinking about what lies at the heart of my creativity and what really motivates me to make and create.

With all the incredible artists, makers and crafters atound the world now sharing what they create on the world wide web, it can be easy to get caught up with a million images, inspirations and ideas all competing for space in my little head. It can be overwhelming seeing so many great ideas and sometimes it gets me thinking just a little that maybe my craft and what I make pales in comparison.

It was so nice to get back to basics and do a little painting and sketching and really take the time to THINK instead of DO. I was so inspired when I got home that I spent half of  Sunday and Monday putting whats important to me and My Handmade Heart down on paper. Hopefully as a result of all of this you will start to see some changes going on here soon, maybe a website in the works, a new blog space and some more serious craft and carefully created and well considered useful items.

Untill then, if im not here, I will be off in my happy place THINKING.......

Image From LISA MADIGAN

Image From LISA MAGIGAN

My Handmade Heart on Instagram

I'm on Instagram - Follow me HERE

Ye Olde Shoppe

My Handmade Heart featured on Paper Heart Weddings

There was a lovely featured on My Handmade Heart shared on the beautiful Paper Heart Wedding website last week. The ladies behind Paper Heart Wedding are collecting the best unique, hand-crafted and sustainable crafts for weddings and just all round niceness.

You can read the full feature HERE, but if you cant be bothered clicking over, here's a mini extract from the feature - all about how My Handmade Heart came to be!

How did it all begin?

Instinctively drawn to the creative arts, I have been creating artworks and “making” since early childhood. Passionate about colour and with an eye for design, I have stitched and folded, cut and pasted my way through life; preferring to make than buy, to recycle, reinvent and re-use, to ‘mend and make do’.It was this creative ethic and understanding of how special a handmade item can be that lead to the creation of my unique, handmade products. 

I have always been a maker since early childhood, but My Handmade Heart really began its life with an ending of another. When my Grandfather passed away in 2009 I wasn’t happy with the idea that all his clothing would be thrown out or donated to charities. He had always taken pride in his appearance and had a wonderful collection of patterned button down shirts in crisp cotton. I decided to save his best shirts and reuse them in a series of small hand sewn “memory” quilts for myself and my Mum and Aunty (his daughters). I enjoyed the process of reinventing the shirts into quilts so much that I just kept making stuff, when I ran out of the shirt material, I found other sustainable and reusable types of fabrics, from skirts, shirts, knits, bed sheets and blankets.

What do you love about what you do?

I love having the freedom to create one off pieces and try my hand at new ideas whenever I feel like it. My Handmade Heart is constantly evolving and not creating the same items over and over allows me to explore and expand my creativity. Every piece I make is such a pleasure to create and I enjoy being able to customise and make every item individual and unique for every customer.

Link With Love - Credit Where Credit's Due

Thanks to a recent blog piece on The Red Thread, I have just discovered LINKwithlove and the  Pinterest Project. 

"A kind social media experiment to reach as many Pinterest users as possible (and Pinterest) to raise awareness about the importance of LINKING to the original source + respecting intellectual property online."

I have a bee in my bonnet about the correct crediting of Creative's and the rampant use of images without links back to original sources. 
Too many times have I seen amazing work un-Credited or used on websites without permission, Original images re-purposed and original ideas and products copied and re-produced! 

It really makes me upset because I know how hard all of these people work to create such beauty and often if your a stylist, designer or a photographer, an image or photograph is all you have left as evidence of a days hard work! To have someone appropriate or use that image without passing on credit or linking to an original allows other to believe that the image/design or style belongs to the person or blogger who posted it................so PLEASE.............LINK WITH LOVE

Mexican Beach Fiesta Inspiration

Im thinking about having a Mexican Beach Fiesta for our next party.

Some of you may remember seeing our "Winter Solstice Forest Dinner Party", it was such a success and so satisfying seeing it all come together, that my bestie and partner in crime  and I are starting to think about the next one. 

Its a beautiful Springy Spring and turning into a HOT Summer here in Sydney and with Day of the Dead coming up and a steamy and colourful Summer on the way, a Mexican Beach Party seemed like the perfect fit!!! Ive been trawling the net for inspiration and cool party products.

You can find these fab products HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE or click on the ETSY treasury in the post   below to browse the awesome collection of  Mexican Party items I have selected.

Mexican Beach Fiesta - ETSY Treasury

"Welcome Home, Little One" Newborn ETSY Collection

This is the loveliest ETSY treasury I think I've ever had the pleasure of being included in!........and such a gorgeous subtle concept for a babies room, I ADORE it!

This was put together by the wonderful Bjorn and Bringly, and features my "Little Ships Paper Mobile"

Click on the picture for a browse through some of these items or click through to my ETSY store to check out my mobile (and other stuff)

Little Ships Paper Mobile 

Made to Order - $20 (plus P/H)