I had myself a …

…nice creative inspiration weekend!

Friday I caught up with Bec, aka Little Brown Dog, and we set off together to check out the Textiles Convention in Brisbane. I must say, we were underwhelmed, perhaps because we've both gotten so used to the scrounge-around bliss of finding cool fabrics in op-shops!

After a trip to Nook to check out all the handmade goodness you can cram into one shop, we set up our own make-shift shop @ our Little Market At Avid!

Bec and I shared our space this time; my eco-jewellery on the left, her eco clothes, accessories and homewares on the right.

Oh, by the way, Bec, Kate and I have taken the Little Market At Avid reins and plan to make it bigger and better than ever!

… we’ve just given the Little Market blog a facelift and made a brand spankin’ new Little Market facebook page! Pop on over, check it out and show your support for local handmadians! :)

Then on Sat I took my lovely 10 year old niece off to a recycled rag rug workshop @ Pine Rivers Art Gallery. We learnt how to use old fabric off cuts and hessian squares to make rugs using a crochet hook … I’m a quick fix kinda gal so I used my time to come up with this nifty little brooch instead using the techniques … whaddya think?

Sunday morning was spent chopping an old jacket up to make a cushion cover-come recycled bag … I haven’t finished it yet, so I’ll post pics when I do.

Later that avo I checked out the Finders Keepers market @ the Old Museum … did you go too? Last year was waaay too crazy busy, so it was nice to find stroll-around space when I got there this time. I bought myself a cool little pair of male-female earring from Young Eve but I easily could have gone crazier than that!

Craft Day In

Crafty Parties for Adults and Kids: Gather a bunch of friends together and celebrate a special occasion nana-craft style by hosting a Craft Day In at your place with Chrissy Foreman C! Suitable for kids & adults birthday parties, hens nights, kitchen tea parties, and ‘just because!’get-togethers.

Have fun amongst friends and learn how to make your own jewellery, accessories and crafty-bits using new and recycled materials.

Chrissy has over 12 years experience working with kids and adults with a background in teaching and visual art and works in a fun, organic, exploratory manner.

	MAKE YOUR OWN ECO-EARRINGS! Learn to make your own eco-earrings using an array of recycled materials. $25/person. Min 6. Ages 8 - 100+!
	MAKE YOUR OWN ECO-NECKLACE! Have a Craft Day In and learn how to make your own eco-earrings using an array of recycled materials and fabrics. $25/person. Min 6 Ages 12 - 100+!
	MAKE YOUR OWN ECO-SCULPTURES! Great unique kids party! Learn to make quirky animals using recycled materials. $22/person. Min 8. Ages 5 and up.
	MAKE YOUR OWN ECO-GARDEN POT! Kids will LOVE learning how to make their very own unique garden pot and edible plant for their home garden, using colourful recycled materials. $25/person. Min 6. Ages 4 and up.

All materials provided. Minimum of 6 participants unless stated otherwise + Host/ess receives theirs free! Available in Brisbane Metro (travel added on top if you live 20kms+).

Non-refundable $50 deposit required on booking. Email for bookings mail@chrissyforemanc.com

etsy restocked

One liner: (big breath in) Hello peeps, I’ve re-stocked my Make Art Hug Trees store on Etsy with more giclee prints and eco-jewellery, so if you want to check it out you can do so HERE or click on my Etsy tab above and I hope you have a great day (breathe out!).

PHEW!

 

chinese whispers

Pass it on peeps!

It’s that time again! The once-monthly Little Market At Avid is on again this Friday night. I’ll be taking along some of my new designs and some funky new stall items to boot! Come have a wine and check out the hand-made goodies on offer.

See this mug shot? Guess who! Kate from Dash Robin Designs has started a new regular feature called ‘Meet Me Mondays’, interviewing creative craftists each week … and yours truly is is the first cab off the rank! Check out my interview here (*aww, shucks*) and Kate’s fantastic full blog here.

And if you want to meet us both in person, come along to the Little Market At Avid on Friday! We’ll both give you a group hug if you fancy :)

sneak peek ~ new design concepts

New eco-wallets I’ve been working on made from recycled fabrics. Whaddya think?

Belt buckle finds @ a vintage fair … and meet my very first stuffie, Mrs Owl, made from recycled materials for my lovely niece turning 1 today! I had no pattern or idea how to make one but she turned out ok I think!

Some new eco-brooch designs (these will be available at the Little Market at Avid next Friday, 5:30 – 8pm @ 193 Boundary St, West End)

  

And my faves, eco-hair combs. I must say they look fantastic to wear … I made myself one a while ago and get comments on it all the time … these will be at the market next Friday too!

hand-made showcase ~ with Michelle from Nook

I stumbled across Nook in West End a few months back and instantly fell in love. Run and owned by the lovely Michelle, this quirky store stocks a plethora of handmade items from local artists and crafters, and I can’t seem to leave without buying something quirky or eco-minded! Michelle has kindly stopped by to tell us a bit about herself and what she does @ Nook:

    

My name is Michelle & I run a little shop in West End called Nook. Previous to that I I ran my own label Pedrosprout for a year, making baby shoes from eco felt, selling to stores and via Etsy online. I also spent that year daydreaming about running my own shop … Selling handmade goods, brooches, stationary, that sort of thing. In the end I took the plunge and did it. I opened Nook in August 2009 with lots of enthusiasm & support from family and friends.

Michelle, how has your creative practice progressed over the years?

Initially I began making things for myself  because I enjoyed it & liked the handmade aesthetic. I still enjoy making things but the ethics behind handmade are much more important to me now. Preserving skills, creativity and adopting ecologically sound practices have made 'handmade' all that more meaningful.

What’s the best thing about running your own store?

So many things! I love selecting new goods for the shop & chatting with designers. I love spending my day with Pedro (the cat) & drinking tea.  However, with no one to supervise us, Pedro & I do have a tendency to spend lots of time looking at pretty things online.

Do you have some top tips for connecting with/engaging your audience?

I like to keep things simple & down to earth. Blogging has been great! It's casual, very visual & allows your audience to comment.

 

Thanks so much Michelle! To have a look at Nook yourself, check out the Nook blog or better yet, set  aside time in your diary to pop into the shop!

vintage fair this weekend

 

Gimme gimme! I popped into Travels With My Aunt @ Nundah during the week and was AWED by the fantastic range of vintage goodies in store. There was one room downstairs to the right that I was particularly fold of, jam-packed with vintage lace, fabrics, buttons, ric-rak and anything you could possibly want to hand-make your own upcycled gear. I had the butterflies in me tum-tum!

I came across this particularly luscious length of vintage lacey-stuff in mint condition. At 10cm wide, I reckon it’ll look AWESOME stitched onto some upcycled wallets I’ve been working on.

Anyhoo, the lovely ladies in store added in a hefty portion of extra lacey-stuff because I said I’d share their upcoming vintage fair with YOU my friends! For all you Brisbanites, GENIE’S FASHION FAIR is on THIS SATURDAY 19th from 10:00am - 4:00pm @ Brisbane Table Tennis Hall, 86 Green Terrace, Windsor.

There will be over 50 stalls selling designer, antique, vintage and retro clothing, ladies finery, jewellery, buttons and bows, line and lace, fashion accessories and other boudoir items. If you’re on Facebook, check out the event link HERE . Might catch you there!

Luv C

HANDMADE SOFTIE GIVEAWAY

Shiver-me-timbers! The lovely Bec from Little Brown Dog is offering a hand-made, fully customised softie giveaway on her blog! In true eco-fashion, it’ll be made using some of Bec’s extensive range of recycled and vintage fabrics … Yummo!

Better get in fast, the comp finishes on the 26th. The best thing is, there’s none of those gimmicky do-this-do-that content to enter ~ all you need to do is specify what you want your softie to look like and come up with a cool name for your critter to enter! Yaaay!

By the way, Bec just turned 29, so make sure you say Happy Birthday! Love your work Bec! C xx

tranquility reminder for busy bees

new mural complete

Wow ~ what a journey! After months of planning, workshops, design sessions and this week over 100 volunteers and 140 painting hours, the community mural @ the Bulimba Creek Sustainability Centre is complete! Yahoo!! The mural is about all the wonderful sustainable activities at the centre, including worm farming, plant propagation, volunteering and ecosystem restoration + many more. 

I’ve put together a little album of the unfolding mural from start through to completion if you’d like to check it out below.

View Full Album

A huge Thank You to everyone involved ~ all the wonderful Bulimba Creek volunteers and employees, teachers and students @ Mansfield and Tingalpa Primary schools, Hannah for managing the project, Heather for cooking up a storm for the volunteers every day, and of course, Signature Brisbane for the project funding!

And if you would like to check it out in person and visit the wonderful Bulimba Creek Sustainability Centre!

festival, fashion & markets

A lovely beachside market day ~ blue skies, great friends … Bec’s Little Brown Dog , Kate’s Dash Robin Designs , the lovely Di and a few other hand-madians and I had a joint stall called ‘The Suitcase Collective’ @ the Hays Inlet Festival.

We each bought along different bits and pieces for the stall. Bec from Little Brown Dog brought along an awesome wardrobe and cupboard she’d upcycled, which we mish-mashed with suitcases, shelves, wire adornments and trinkets aplenty! Oh ~ and then there was our collective plethora of hand-made-eco-goodies! We loved our homely stall and wanted to stay (until the gusty sea breeze picked up and had us chasing our eco-items around!)

I manned our stall while the others went off to organise our eco-fashion parade, run by the amazing Bec ~ With loads of hand-made fashion items created using recycled/upcycled clothing and fabrics. Check out the fashion parade pics on Bec and Kate’s awesome blogs.

And if you love their stuff as much as I do, come along to the next Little Market @ Avid ~ we’ll all be there!

footprints of hope

Wow ~ these last couple of weeks have been jam-packed with juicy creative work! Today I have some breathing space so I thought I’d upload a few highlights.

  

We ran ‘Footprints Of Hope’ as a community art installation, bbq and tree planting mini-festival to celebrate World Environment Day @ Kalinga Park Clayfield, in conjunction with the Brisbane City Council Creek Ranger program.

     

Nundah State School students’ ‘Footprints’ and ‘Hopes for the future’ were hung in the trees, telling of ways to reduce our carbon footprints and care for our environment to ensure a healthy future. Check out the art workshop here using recycled materials and collage.

   

Families and teachers involved in the project, as well as Creek rangers and local community members were invited along to the day to share a low carbon bbq, add more messages to the art installation, and finish the day off with some tree planting. The smell of the bbq bought many new faces to the celebration and some great discussions about clean, green, healthy future ~ a really lovely day!

mural progress

Day 1: Drawing the mural up first in yellow (it’s the easiest colour to mark out and paint over) … then outlining in black (clearly marking spaces and borders for participants)

  

 

Day 2: Commencing painting with local school groups

  

 

Day 2: The view at the end of day 2.

 

it’s mural time!

Wanna help paint this … 



… Onto this …

… To look something like this?

 

… Then come along to this on Saturday 12th June!

 

It’s always exciting when a long term community mural finally reaches painting stage … I hope you can come along and join the fun!