down to oatlands

pure Australian cotton scrubbies

a new batch of scrubbies

is making its way down to Oatlands Handmade today

they will be bundled into beautiful care parcels

along with Red Bamboo Soaps

just in time for Christmas shopping

Made from pure cotton

grown and spun in Australia

Crocheted by hand in Tasmania

and trimmed with a little wild apple

from our paddock

Scrubbies are a great replacement

for disposable facial wipes

and can be re-used after

a quick wash in a dedicates bag

in the washing machine

the creative process !

gentle colour

 adding some gentle colours to our handmade range

the subtle colours are naturally enhanced

by the foliage of a Christmas tree

or coupled with some plain brown wrapping paper

these lovely stars are once again made from my favourite

Australian grown and spun cotton

and trimmed with the ever present

up cycled buttons in pearly white tones

(R-L) Large, Medium and Small Stars

dainty hearts

 

if you are a little crafty

then these hearts are a snap to make

but, if like me time is creeping away

we have again added these little red hearts

to our on-line store

made from pure Australian grown and spun wool

they are even machine washable !

birthday makes

another run on birthdays at the moment

so Lucy at Attic24 has come to the fore again

with her handy and quick

flower tutorial

i whipped a half dozen up on Friday evening

adding hair clips to the back and buttons on the front

my variation is that i only used dc's in the petals
which creates the even petal edges rather then peaks

for brights I've used an 8ply wool and a 4mm hook

heaven help me when it comes to boys birthdays 

I'll be sunk !

anyone know how to crochet cars ?

coffee cup coasters

i wrote up my coffee cup cosies pattern a few weeks ago

pat made a great variation, attached cup coasters

she has now even made a set for her grand kids

and taking up her inspiration

i have made myself a set
(i'd made my original full sized set as a birthday present)

a strange variegated green wool

it was 50% acrylic/50% wool

it was an appealing colour as a yarn

horrible texture to work with

but a great finish

thanks pat !

aussie christmas style

just out our front door is a little grove of black swamp gums

they are native to our area

the kids play in them,

but they are not quit big enough for climbing tree's yet

they have started to protect the front of the house from the roaring 40's

but now they have provided a few branches 

this seasons fresh wreath for christmas

very roughly bound to a circlette,

with a couple of my jute decorations

against the corrugated of the house

rustic !

simple !

(quick!)

P.S. it will of course get BAKED against our house - it faces direct west
but then the dried leaves will get that soft silvery grey
and a few fresh leaves are just across the drive !
hmmm maybe a "spool" bird or two for colour?

christmas tree stars

just whipping up some little stars

they are made to go as a feature

on a Christmas Card

 a card, gift and tree trimmer all in one

these ones again use a lovely bamboo and cotton yarn

trimmed with a nice joyful red button

a handmade christmas . . . .

here is a call to fellow tasmanian arts and crafters !

are you creating handmade christmas decorations ?

then get your stash of crafted delights together and head down to The Atrium Cafe

Janie is getting our tree all dressed up - using ONLY tasmanian handmade crafts

better hurry  - or i'll fill it up with crochet doilies !

make sure you take a little stash of tags to price your work

and have in mind your retail and wholesale prices

christmas tree garlands

i have been inspired to celebrate our first year of christmas tree harvesting with having all handmade decorations for our tree at home

no plastic, no imports

i tweaked to suburban jubilee's colour theme idea

ours will be cherry red and turquoise blue

and then i was inspired by clara's herculean efforts for crochet tree decorations

so i firstly decided to dispense with the plastic little beads we normally seem to have,

replacing them with pure wool leaf garlands

in another colour

rather then procrastinate i thought i had better get this post up and some how to's on making your own 

(should you find yourself with that illusive thing known as free time)

i'll need a few more metres of garland !

something new

This term I had the chance to try something new in the art and craft world. Rosemary Hill is a superb local watercolourist and has been teaching classes for goodness knows how long. Unfortunatly for me I have discovered watercolours the year she has decided to retire.

It has been a very demanding function to learn watercolours. It is such a volatile medium, you never quite know where the paint will flow or how the colours will blend. In saying that, it sounds like a bit a of a problem. Where as, really, it is more of a surprise - exciting to see what evolves from the process.

As you can gather I have  vastly enjoyed learning something new, such a different process compared to growing plants or crafting wool !

Taking the Plunge . . . .

Well here goes - I've gone live at MadeIt.

After a few suggestions of  "You should sell these"  I've finally worked up the nerve to actually do something with all that latent creative energy. I say latent because between farm, kids and work it almost counts as comatose creativity!

It has taken quite a bit of research, a heap of testing to decide to go Australian. Etsy is superb and dynamic, but with some 400,000 sellers it really is a bit daunting for a newbie crafts person.

So have a sticky beak at my new MadeIt store, let me know what you think :)