Wear It

"Young Melbourne designers, Emma Grace and Ellie Mücke (who was featured on Find, Make Do last year), invite you to be inspired by their novel approaches to making new from old. Through the Wearit exhibition and workshops, the designers aim to facilitate a shift in the way that we consume fashion items.
The general public is invited to participate in a workshop, bringing along broken, un-loved and out of date jewellery ( everyone's got some in the bottom of their jewellery box!),and pre loved shirts, (you know, the ones that your boyfriend has had stuffed into the back of the cupboard and is never going to wear again. Or that shirt your bought at the op shop that just hasn't managed fit in with the rest of your wardrobe. In any case a shirt, a 'biggish' one, an old one, a mens one ideally, one that definitely doesn't fit you as it is, but one you can see would be just right with a bit of a makeover) to fix or re-create into something new and unique.
Simultaneously an exhibition of new works by Grace and Mücke will provide inspiration, challenge conventions and offer new perspectives.
Wearit is an opportunity to re-connect with community in a regional location and a forum to exchange skills, materials,thoughts and inspiration. Together we can begin a mental and physical shift away from a ‘throw-away culture’.
Come and visit Stockroom in Kyneton this March, and see how wearing the consequences of this shift can be truly inspirational."
Bookings for either a Jewellery or a Shirt workshop are essential and can be made via the Wearit Blog.
via the Wearit MediaRelease

Pin Pals

While shopping in my favorite precinct of King St. Newtown while on holiday in Sydney, I finally got to visit Made590 and was very taken with these Pin Pal earrings. They kind of summed up me and my moods when on a holiday with two kids and no Mr BJ!

I now want the matching hair clip.

I have been a fan of Pin Pals on Etsy and Flickr for ages, and love their cute blog.

The Pin Pals are Samantha Purdy and Sara Guindon. They are two self-taught crafters working and living in Montreal, Canada.
Samantha and Sara met in 2006 and decided to combine efforts to establish a small business called Pin Pals. Sam works with vintage textiles and cross stitches her own designs on to handmade brooches and earrings.Sara is an illustrator and designs paper toys and T-shirts.

All I can say is...what an ACE combination of talents!

The talented Sara collaborated with fashion designer Supayana on these gorgeous dresses.The illustrations were done specifically for these designs with the drawings digitally printed on cotton. Sweet!

Plastic Fantasic

Summer days mean swimming and relaxing, but they also means extra litter on our beautiful beaches. Today I am celebrating some more eco-conscious designers that have given salvaged beach plastic a new life as interesting and colourful jewellery. from top left 1.Rainbow Warrior Lei by Rebecca Ward

2. Aquamarine bracelet by It's a Man Made World
3.Save our Oceans armband by Illicitly Beautiful
4. Beach Plastic Necklaces by Judith Selby LangDisc Necklace cut from plastic bottles from the beaches of Cornwall by Spacefruit Chunky necklace from Salvaged plastic found on Kehoe Beach by Beach Plastic jewellery.

Ball and Circle Neckpiece from plastic salvaged from the Bahamas by It's a Man Made World
Save our Oceans Charm bracelet from salvaged plastic collected on the Atlantic coast by Rauschmittel

And a quick look at the Recovered Beach Plastic pieces I made for Markit .Plastic collected from an assortment of Victorian beaches.

Hanging by a Thread!

I featured this gorgeous Robin tree Decoration by London based paper cut & collage illustrater Kate Slater on Lino Forest, but I just had to show you all the others in Kate's etsy shop.
They are handcrafted from prints of Kate's original illustrations, mounted onto thick card and varnished. Kate loves paper and hoards magazines, envelopes and paper scraps. She says "I am usually covered in bits of paper. Sometimes I even rustle."
The original birds were part of this amazing window display at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in the English summer of 2010.
The designs also come as beautiful brooches!

These are only a tiny part of the beautiful work by Kate. Check out her website and blog for loads more colourful paper cut and collage illustrations , prints and cards.

Kate has also written and illustrated a book called Magpie's TreasureSo totally affordable from The Book Depository I'm thinking I may just be getting a copy for me (if a book features a button factory. I'm sold!)
Kate's 3D artwork is amazing too! Bear and Birds

BUMPER Christmas Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the Find, Make, Do BUMPER Christmas Giveaway!

Miss Milla's Glass Pendant Kit- Bron66

Shara Lambeth Fawn brooch- Coco Jackson

Focus on Art Kitchen Owl- Little Cooties
Cocos Closet Bunting -Rebecca McClymont
Leigh Wagner Kookaburra brooch- Michelle- Button Tree lane
Betty Jo Designs Rainbow Orb brooch-Robyn Stewardson.

Mixtape Zine- Miss Milla, Robyn -Crafty Box, Leonie- Dr. Bones knits,
Jo- Joe bloggs, Black Eyed Susie.

Please email me with your addresses so we can get your goodies to you !
Thanks to everyone who entered and to all the readers of Find, Make, Do.
Warmest holiday wishes to you and yours.xxxx

Christmas Memo

Just a reminder, the cool and crafty BUMPER Christmas Giveaway is running till the 17th Dec. Here are the goodies on offer so just leave a comment here and maybe you'll win yourself a little Christmas cheer!

Handmade Living: Little Miss Doily

There is a fantastic new book being launched on the 4th of December bursting with crafty goodness.
Handmade Living has been lovingly created by a dedicated team of Canberra women who believe strongly in promoting handmade, small business and local designers.According to one of the books creators, Tania McCarthy ,"Handmade Living is not about elaborate, complicated or exclusive design. It's essence is centered in whimsy, simplicity and style, and its greatest gift will be in the inspiration to create"
Find, Make, Do has hitched a ride on the Handmade Living blog tour and I am happy to introduce you to one of the many designers featured in the book: Caleena Edkins. Caleena got in touch with me earlier in the year after my post about Recycled Doily Craft, and I discovered the sweet and ethereal dresses she creates from vintage doilies.

And you can make one yourself ! Handmade Living is chock full of crafty tutorials and there are clear instuctions and "how to" pictures to help you make your own divine doily dress .

Being a doily re-purposer myself, I was drawn to her beautiful creations and am only thankful that we don't live in the same city and scour the same second hand shops!

I asked Caleena where she sources her doilies "Most of my doilies initially were from second hand shops and garage sales but as the word spreads alot of people actually give me their family heirlooms and I usually make their child a dress as a contra deal.I also have got some great ones on ebay,the secret is to try to buy in bulk as people ask alot for individual doilies. From there, if they are stained, I dye them beautiful colours!"

It's not hard to tell that Caleena is totally in love with vintage doilies "I love the fact that someone took hours embroidering or crocheting that special piece and that is was probably made with lots of love.I want to honor that by giving it a new life in the form of a beautiful dress.I am inspired by the sheer beauty of them and sometimes I wait for a few doily's that match to appear and then magic happens and they seem to merge together beautifully for a dress.

You can read about Caleena's creative life as a maker and busy Mum on her blog Little Miss Doily. And visit her "bursting at the seams" online stores :Little People Clothing Made It Shop and Little Miss Doily on Blue Caravan.

"Handmade Living" would be an excellent Chrissy gift for the crafty people in your world. It is available to buy here!

The Find, Make, Do BUMPER Christmas Giveaway is still running here.
Enter for a chance to win some cool and crafty goodies!