Body Parts

I have just recently felt the first Autumn nip in the air. The perfect time to ready yourself for the chilly winter days and nights to come. So here are some super cosy products to keep your exposed body parts warm.Body Parts is collaboration between Gaye Naismith (Gaye Abandon) and Melanie Hill (Textile Allsorts) The Body Parts range transforms recycled, felted wool jumpers into snug and funky winter accessories.

The original Tubeway Armies arm warmers feature unique ‘two-of-a-kind‘ combinations of stripes and textures with stitch, button, and applique detailing. I'm liking the vintage buckle adornment! They are perfect for those times your hands need warming, but you need free fingers to grip!

The beautiful recycled wool circle scarves are colourful and as warm as toast.

I love the Hottie Jumpers. One-off hot water bottle covers with fold up collar made entirely from upcycled, thickly felted, wool jumpers and finished with repurposed buttons.

Body Parts midriff warmers keep your midsection warm and toasty and boost blood circulation to the whole body. Gaye and Melanie's take on the Haramaki - an item of clothing commonly worn in Japan for health and comfort. Remember: belly warm = body warm.The woolly pocket purses are one-off coin purses with a magnetic clasp closure to holds coins safely(and warmly!) Look at all the gorgeous colours!

Find Body Parts on Etsy , Made it and Indie Art & design store.

If your heading up to Daylesford on Easter Saturday,
Body Parts will be having a stall at the Makers' Market in the Town Hall.

I'll be there (shopping,not selling) wearing my own cosy, colourful Body Parts accesories!

Off the Wall

I LOVE vintage wallpaper. I have rolls of the stuff at home! Some I've shared with other crafty people, and for a while I even played around with some jewellery designs incorporating wallpaper. But after finding these designers work, I'll leave the wallpaper crafting to them!I first saw the work of Claire Coles way back when Betty Jo designs was just a baby.
I loved the way she lets the patterns of the wallpaper dictate the feel of the finished pieces. Pretty, and delicate. Or Bold and striking."Stitching vintage wallpapers together of various textures and patterns Claire creates one off intricate accessories."Have a look at her website and online store to see these other beautiful wallpapery products.
Next is Italian designer Francesca who has one of the best business names I have come across..."When in Doubt Draw Flowers".
Using the most desirable original ’60 & ’70s wallpaper, Draw Flowers creates beautiful floral neck pieces, earrings and vintage inspired accessories.Francesca says "Vintage materials, objects of diverse nature (i.e. furniture, lamps, carpets etc.) found on flea markets in the course of years, and gathered and archived are an unlimited source of inspiration. I want to express the old and already made in a new and actual way. The key to it are the colours, that – drawn close to each other in different tonalities – make the design modern."
Have a browse at Etsy or DaWanda or drool at the amazing prints and products on the website.
I just want to say here, how good is the blogging world! As you are getting inspired by a particular designers beautiful work, Bing!, up pops a post that leads you to another cool designer, and then another......
So thanks to Lucy from The Bowerbird, I found Deliah devine, an Adelaide designer who creates delightful brooches adorned with vintage wallpaper.
According to the creator, Linda Marek "I am a collector and constant observer of surface pattern. I have cupboards full of old wallpaper and fabrics. Delilah devine is a happy little label. I hope you feel it."Linda also has a "seemingly endless fascination with scavenging the hard rubbish collection".
A girl after my own heart!Visit Deliah devine's website and blog, and buy her goodies on Etsy and Madeit .

I just discovered that as well as brooches, Linda is making flying ducks !
And you know how I feel about Flying Ducks.

Yasmin Ellis

Everytime I pop into Craft Victoria to deliver some stock, I always spend time checking out the jewellery and getting excited by the cool new work for sale at Counter.
Last time the amazing pieces by Mornington jeweller Yasmin Ellis caught my eye.Yasmin uses the humble tape measure and sculpts it into beautiful swirly designs.

Bluebirds, owls, berries, fish, deer, stormy clouds. All these gorgeous brooches, necklaces and earrings come presented on a handtyped notecard for that personal touch.Yasmin has a cute blog too, with all her posts also presented as handtyped notes.As well as Craft Victoria, Yasmin's work can be found at Arbour, Queen, Pomme , Design a Space and Etsy.

Yasmin also makes colourful rings , perfect for the crafty person in your life!
And my Favorite?..........this sweet Bluebird of Happiness necklace.

Sister Outlaws

Sister Outlaws are three crafty Melbourne women (actually three Sister Inlaws!) who have put their heads, hands, and massively bulging stash of crafty materials of the textile persuasion together to come up with these great DIY kits for people of all ages (crafty kids through to crafty Nanas).
Going by the name of Re* Sew* Cool, these "environmentally sane kits for the craft crazy" contain 99% recycled materials. Cute, eco-friendly and crafty.

According to Sister Outlaws,"between us we have over one hundred combined years (never you mind the details),we love to fossick for second hand, vintage and post-industrial materials, we hate the idea of waste,and we love to make things".

Visit the website to buy a selection of bag-tag and brooch kits, in sweet designs like lovebirds, owls, donkeys and toadstools. Each kit comes brimming with recycled materials like felted wool, pre-loved trims and buttons, and clear instructions. Look, there's even a needle and thread!

If you need some directions with stitching, Sisteroutlaws have kindly added tutorial diagrams on the website to instruct you.

At the Stitches and Craft Show in 2009 we all wore our "Craft is the new Black" badges.
In 2010 I'd like to propose "Kits are the new Craft"!

We are lucky enough to have two Re*Sew*Cool kits to Giveaway on Find, Make, Do.
A donkey bag-tag and a lovebird brooch. Our first Giveaway ...yippee!!!!!!
Just leave a message on this post to be in the running.

The Great Wall of China

Segueing seamlessly from my last post about Trixie Delicious, I've found three other creative women who transform vintage, recycled china into desirable jewellery and wall art.
There was a time I madly hunted for old china in opshops, something akin to my present lino hunting crusades!
I would smash em' up for mosaics...luckily those days are long gone, along with numerous sliced fingers and too many boxes of broken plates in my shed.
Now I"ll happily leave the china for these creative people ........
First up we have another New Zealander, Lindsay Pemberton of Rekindled.
Lindsay creates delicious jewellery from pre-loved teacups. The sliced rims become bangles, the handles become heart shaped pendants and the bases become brooches. Nothing is wasted.How's that for recycling efficiency !
Lindsay wanted to " find a new use for all the abandoned teacups collecting dust in the Salvation shops? After exploring various concepts around the teacup, I discovered that by slicing the teacup up into rings using a diamond cutter, it could be transformed into an elegant bangle."

Find Rekindled jewellery for sale online at cleverbastards and Biome in Qld.

Next up is the beautiful work by Lightly. Cindy-Lee Davies is the designer behind Melbourne based design house Lightly, and among other beautiful items, they produce these delicate cut butterflies and swallows.All made from recycled china plates and saucers.

Last year I acquired my own Lightly butterfly. This pretty nasturtium saucer butterfly spoke to me at Craft Victoria, and was bought home as an early birthday present for me from myself!
Just a few weeks ago the swallows were on my birthday wish list for this year.
Go here to find other Lightly stockists if these are on your wish list too!

Finally we have another talented Melbourne designer Lucy King, who's products go by the name "Me Old China". All the jewellery and wall art from ‘Me Old China’ is made from second-hand, retro and vintage china plates. Cut and shaped into quirky domestic items and simple circles, "The ranges showcase the beauty of the old plates and patterns, with the opportunity to give a mundane discarded plate a new lease of life by recycling and restyling into new creations".

You can find "Me Old China" on Etsy ,or visit Lucy's lovely blog The Bowerbird.

And just announced, "Me Old China is now available from Moose.