Never moving house again

I'm finally all moved into my new place, and just today finished all my unpacking. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say that I never want to do that again. Mind you, I do love new houses... I just don't like the moving process. It always takes way longer than you anticipate.

It has been an eventful last week with a bit of beading, a bit of sewing, a lot of packing and a lot of cleaning. A couple of weeks ago my now ex-flatmate commissioned me to make some watches for her family and friends as gifts for Christmas. It was quite fun playing with beads again for a change. I think of how many hours I used to spend a day creating jewellery, and how now I am surrounded by an endless choice of beads and I barely make anything. I've made a promise to myself that I will make one new piece of jewellery a week for the rest of the year — and I will post a pic each week :)

One of the watches with its little black organza gift bag

There has been one little guy who has been absolutely loving that we have moved into a new house, with so much more room and a lovely garden to explore. Buddha has spent hours entertaining himself with empty boxes that are lying around the new house. It's hilarious to watch him jumping in and out and throwing himself around inside them! He also has loved the fab window sills that he can lie on to soak up some rays.

My new business cards arrived this week aswell, which is very exciting! Looking forward to being able to hand them out at the Devonport Craft Markets on Sunday Nov 1st.

My snazzy new business cards

Had a bit of an urge to crank up my sewing machine this evening and make a couple of new little bits for my new place. I had nowhere to put my plastic bags so I made a little bag holder to hang in the cupboard. I also altered a couple of tea towels that I picked up from Briscoes on the weekend for 50c (Bargain!) and made them into handtowels with buttons tabs to attach them to the cupboard handles.

So after a busy week and little sleep, I now feel ready to get crafty again. I have bought myself a table to use as my sewing desk, that I pick up on Thursday night and once I have that all setup my office/craft room will be complete. Can't wait!

K x

A busy week ahead

It's been a fabulous weekend that started with a fun night out in West Auckland for my BFF's birthday (continued on from her lunch on Tuesday) on Friday. It was my first night out, out West and what an eventful evening it was. We weren't allowed to leave the bar when we wanted to because there had been a supposed armed robbery. So for our own safety we had to stay until the police gave everyone clearance to leave. It my have just been a ploy to keep the numbers up at the bar, but either way, it made my first "westie" experience a memorable one.

 Me with three of my best girls

 

I was so excited to receive my email in my inbox last night letting me know that I had been accepted into the Devonport Craft Market on Nov 1st. It'll be my first market I've attended for Skipapple so it's going to be great fun. Hopefully I do well, but I am just looking forward to getting back into the markets again. It'd be fabulous if you would all come along and say hello, and what better place to do some of your Christmas shopping? There will be loads of fabulous stalls full of clever crafty creations, so there will be no shortage of choice.

In other big news, I am moving house this week and I am definitely not looking forward to all the packing! I have started, but there is still so much to do. Thankfully I am not moving too far, so a few trips backwards and forwards in the car isn't too bigger deal. Some of you may already know, but to those who don't, I also have my own online beading supplies business which I am currently re-structuring and clearing a lot of current stock from. So as you can imagine, I have A LOT of stock that needs to be shifted from my current place to my new place. I've tried to clear some of it off on Trademe recently, and whilst I've been selling a lot, it's barely made a dent in my stock. That is the bit I am dreading moving the most.

One thing I haven't packed is my sewing machine (who is back home and all better now) and I have an urge to crank her up tonight and make some more goodies in preparation for the Devo markets. On that note... I am signing off.

Speak to you all soon enough xx

Sewing Machine to A&E

Wow, this is the longest I have gone between blog posts... and I'm sure you are all distraught (hehe) so here is an update of the last few days.

Saturday I finally signed the lease for a new rental. Very exciting. Moving next week — which is a little more stressful than it is exciting. Have started packing, but there is so much I don't want to pack "just incase" I need it between now and next weekend. On Sunday I took a lovely drive down to Devonport to drop some Auckland Craft Collective flyers to Jess (who had her lovely Bam Bam Creative stall there, absolutely chockers with new goodies) and to also have a look at all the clever crafty creations that were there this month. I honestly think the quality and assortment just gets better and better every month. Well done to everyone at the Devonport Craft Market!

Today I had a particularly busy day and it felt like I spent all day driving backwards and forwards. My lovely BFF celebrated her 25th Birthday today so I went to join her and a few of her other close friends for lunch in the city. We had a delish lunch at the Belgium Beer Cafe and lots of laughs.

My Gorgeous BFF

Since I had launched Skipapple, I thought I should probably make her a little something for her birthday. I was going to make her a pendant, but she received a beautiful necklace from her boyfriend so I didn't want to make her choose which necklace she would wear ;) She had dropped a subtle hint that she would like a pencil case so I cranked the sewing machine this morning and made her one from a pattern that Jess had posted a link to on her blog a few weeks back. This is the result...

 The Birthday Pressie!

For a first attempt I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. There is a few little things that need improving on the next one that I make, but all-in-all it was a success and Hayley seemed to like it (or she's a very good actress! Oh hang on, she is a good actress. Damn! hehe)

Sadly this afternoon my poor little sewing machine had a break down and needed to go to Sewing Machine A&E. I was happily winding a bobbin when all of a sudden it stopped turning. I opened her up to have a squiz (no idea what I thought I would be able to do, mind you) and saw the broken belt. And just incase you were wondering what the inside of an old sewing machine looked like, I kindly took a photo for you all to see ;)

It's not the best photo, but you get the idea! Lots of cogs, rods and turning pieces! I was lucky enough to find a man that repairs sewing machines, that isn't too far from where I live which was great news. Plus, he said he can even probably get it finished tomorrow so I should have my baby home to me by tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed!

I've been busy working with Jess on the Auckland Craft Collective and things are progressing really nicely. We've come up with a website design and have just about finished nutting out all the details and we are really stoked with how it's coming along. It should be up in the next couple of weeks, but you can follow our progress on our blog.

Another busy day ahead tomorrow, so I should probably try get to sleep now. Hope you are all having a fabulous week so far.
xx

Preparations

I managed to sneak in an hour or so of photography in this morning before going to catch up with Jess for our Auckland Craft Collective meeting. I'm planning on getting a lot done tomorrow, to continue my super productive week, but for now here is a snap of a few of my completed headbands.

I am going to finally get myself sorted and get my Etsy shop loaded with some products this weekend. Wish me luck x

The Auckland Craft Collective is here

After much anticipation (okay, so perhaps just from Jess and myself, but still!) the Auckland Craft Collective is finally born.

What began as a discussion with Jessica of Bam Bam Creative about the Auckland crafty community and a couple of suggestions for ways to help bring it together, ended with the creation of this fabulous idea. It had been Jess' intention for quite a few months to try to connect all the craft peeps of Auckland together to form a support group. Okay so perhaps not in the "I need help" sense, but more in the "I'm sure there is ways we can help each other" sense. And for me — anything that involves craft and business, you count me in!

So we've had a very busy and productive time putting our plans on paper and deciding what it is exactly that will be offered. We are super excited about it and hope that you all will be too. Our mission is to provide practical business support to the Auckland craft community. We 110% welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas, as the Auckland Craft Collective is about everyone in the crafting community — and that includes YOU!

You can read up on what it's all about on the blog and keep updated with all the happenings by following on Twitter and becoming a fan on Facebook. That way you are sure to not miss out on any progress!

xx

What a score!

My lovely flatmate Mel is getting all sorted for her big move back down the South Island and has been a very good girl and vigilantly chucking (or donating to charity should I say) a lot of her clothes and accessories. Before she could even walk out the door I was sifting through her bags to nab any goodies that could be recycled into something new and exciting. I found the coolest old school evening dresses made from a really good quality satin that is going to make a lovely clutch purse (or a few!). But my fave score from her discard pile was this brown genuine leather laptop bag. It is so cool, and I am so stoked she no longer wanted it!!!

 

It needs a bit of a clean up and some polish but this is going to be one stylish accessory! All I need now is a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches and a grandpa hat ;)

Vintage and Sunshine

Today was the last day of the super sales at Spotlight, and I couldn't resist going back to stock up on a few of my fave fabrics that I have picked up over the last couple of weeks, and to also grab a little bit of some new fabrics. Here is a sneak peak at some of the gorgeous vintage and assorted printed fabrics I have acquired over the last 4 or 5 days.

I have an idea on what I would like to do with some of them, but most likely they will be turned into an array of accessories such as headbands, business card wallets, lining for handbags and clutches and reusable bags. I'm looking forward to making lots of goodies, but I think it may have to all be put on hold for a few weeks as I have found a new place to live :) Yay! I am going to be moving in only 3 weeks, and you would not believe the amount of packing I have to do! It is super exciting though, because my new house will have room specifically dedicated to crafting! Extra space is just what I have needed and can see myself becoming much more productive once the new room is all setup and ready to go. I'm also feeling a Spring clean coming up... which is appropriate, seeing as it is infact spring!

Bummed I missed out on going and checking out Kraftbomb this morning, but finding a place to live has become a priority recently (as it would be!). I'll hopefully get along to the Devonport Craft Market next weekend for a squiz.

Just realised I actually will need to pre-wash some of the fabric I am about to sew or else the first time someone washes their double sided red print with white fabric backing, the under side will undoubtedly become pink! Glad I thought of it before I started sewing! Best do a bulk wash of all red things now :)

Chat to you all later x

Thank god for Seam Rippers!

I've had yet another fantastically productive couple of days, and am feeling really good about where things are headed. My initial plan was to work on one project at a time, but as you can tell, I haven't really done that. I've got so many things I want to make, that once I have made one prototype I have the urge to go onto the next. But today I was a good girl! Apart from stopping in at Spotlight on my way home (and getting some bargains!) I managed to stick to my plan and get a heap of headbands done. I've altered their shape slightly, as the first one I did was a bit too wide at the base and stuck out a little bit when you wore it. I'm really happy with the new style :) Due to the time, I have had to put the sewing machine to sleep, as I don't want to iritate my flatmates until the early hours of the morning, so I am just going to spend a bit more time cutting and prepping them ready for assembly in the morning.

I had a bit of a crabby evening on the sewing machine yesterday arvo, because I was working on my sandwich bag and snack bag prototype and the damned thing just wouldn't go together how I wanted it to. My seam ripper got one hell of a work out! I ended up scrapping in my original design, and creating a new more sewing machine friendly one. Once I have completed a collection of headbands, I'll get to work on getting the re-usable bags done.

When I was at Spotlight today I picked up so much fabulous material, but there was one in particular that I love to bits. As I have no doubt mentioned previously, Green is most absolute favourite colour, but I am also very partial to Brown. The material is a lush brown with blue and yellowy green flowers and patterns on it and I am dying to use it as a lining to one of my handbags that are in planning. I am thinking about getting some beige or natural coloured fabric for the exterior of the bag, but haven't completely decided yet. I'm going to try and avoid Spotlight for at least 3 days so that I can use up the materials that I already have. Will see how that plan goes ;)

My fave fabric at the mo!

Another bit of exciting news (for me anyway!) is that my glass bits and pieces arrived for my other pendant range I am doing. I've put them aside for now though whilst I am on a mad sewing buzz and will probably pull them out next week to have a play.

One last little note before I get back to cutting and hopefully sleeping at some point, is that I am very excited to learn about a new craft market that is starting in Bayswater. You can never have too many craft markets so I wish them all the best and hope it is a success, so that they continue them. The market is called Love Handmade and is starting up in November. I'll definitely be getting in an application for that! I'm also going to apply for Kraftbomb and the Devonport Craft Markets in their next open applications so wish me luck :)

Evening all x

Tidying and Sorting Day

Over the last week or so, I had managed to make my office a right disorderly mess! So, today I decided it had to be tidied. I feel so much better now that I have organised my craft stuff, it actually makes me want to get it all out again and start making new things. But I am going to be good and have the afternoon off. I am about to head to the post office to pick up a mystery package that has arrived for me. Okay, so it's hardly a mystery when I am expecting 3 deliveries.... but which one will it be?!? hehe I will be sure to let you all know in the morning.

Last night, well past my bed time I finished another sample of a different style of business card wallet that I am going to be making and selling.

This one is probably going to end up on my keyring, as it's my fave colour and pretty gosh darn cute!

I have cut out a some fabric ready to create a couple of other things, but as the day has completely gotten away from me they will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm off to my course now, so I hope everyone enjoys their afternoon :)

A productive afternoon :)

What better way to spend a windy, grey, miserable day, than to be inside cutting and sewing? I personally can't think of anything better! I am testing out the templates that I have made up, and I am pretty pleased with how they have turned out. There was a few little hiccups incurred that will need to be rectified in the next ones I make, but for a first attempt they're not too shabby.
Of course, the headband is such a basic design it'd be pretty poor of me to stuff that up. So here we have one of the styles of headbands I am going to be making.

This style headband is fairly wide, and is reversible. It has some pretty ribbon to tie it nicely at the back. My initial plan was to sew the ribbon right across the outside of the headband, but I completely forgot that I needed to do that before I stitched the two sides together! My bad. Oh well, I will try that idea out next time.

I saw some neat business card wallets when I was in Melbourne last year and I just had to try making them for myself. You could even use it as a mini wallet for when you go out, with your ATM cards and ID in it.

 

 I also picked up a little bit more fabric on my way home this morning (just couldn't resist stopping at Spotlight!) and when I got home I discovered that it was actually cheaper than I thought. Here I was thinking I was paying about $18 or $20 a metre for fabric, and it actually was only about half that. Score! I am glad that I didn't know that until I got home, or I would have certainly spent more money and time getting more. hehe

Now I am trying to decide on what to make next... so will get back to it, and post another blog soon x