tag!

Anna & Hollie from Hokey have both tagged me in the next couple of days. I have to tell you 6 random things about myself... I've never responded when I've been tagged before, but here goes!

1. I don't like insects. It used to start with spiders, but now it includes anything alive with more than 4 legs. Case study 1: 2 days ago, I noticed a huntsman just above my front door. Therefore, for the past 2 days, whenever I have had to go out I've had to use the back door. This morning I couldn't see the huntsman... not knowing where it is is worse I think. Case study 2: on Tuesday a butterfly landed on my arm and I did a little girlie shriek and started flapping my arm till it flew off. (And yes I know a spider's not an insect, but they're all creepy to me.)

2. I am a vegetarian and have been for about 10 years, maybe more. Hungry Jacks (Burger King to those not in Victoria) is what tipped me over the edge.

3. I made this pencilcase/makeup bag for my mum yesterday, from the fabric I mentioned here.

4. I read really fast, like a book every two days. It's quite good for those exciting, can't-put-'em-down type books, but usually it just means that I run out of books really fast. I try and buy a lot of books in op shops. Two books that are taking me a lot longer than my usual two days are The Mill on the Floss and Great Expectations, but I really want to finish them!

5. Our teevee is in the laundry. I am a TV junkie, I watch so much television. So, my boyfriend and I put TV in the laundry. If we really want to watch something, we have to sit on the washing machine.

6. I love rabbits! I used to have two, Polly & Flora, they were little twin babies. I got them when I was in grade 6. In need of your own rabbity inspiration? Check out this Bunnies gift guide on Dawanda.

Some of my favourites are:

Bunny Loves Owl tote bag by Bukubuku

Bunny Person hand carved rubber stamp by CraftPudding

Alberto - the Rabbit with Hearts by albertosfamily

Knitted Rabbit Brooch by funiscool

I'm not going to tag anyone this time, but I am going to say that I will be back in a day or so with a fun giveaway and a question!

little achievements

Aaaand, tax return has been completed! Hooray! And my new invoicing system for wholesalers is complete. I almost feel like I'd like to be an accountant (almost). And a whole pile of lovely new things is now in my Etsy shop, coinpurses, pencil cases, clutches (more clutches over the next few days).

Lovely rabbits!

Enjoy your weekends, mine will be filled with sorting out my rather unwieldy fabric collection. It's the little achievements that are important.

taxtime

I am currently doing my tax return. I have been putting it off since, well, July 1st. It is not pretty. I am the world's worst record keeper*. Resolution as of right now - keep better records.

* Obviously I don't know this for a fact, but it's pretty bad right now.

old man rabbit

New illustrations on calico, coming soon to a coinpurse near you. The little plaid jumper just seemed to jump out of the pen when I was drawing... Funny little-old man.

plus three

Am pleased to annouce that Pocket Carnival can now be found in three lovely new stores around Melbourne.

The first is the gorgeous Southwood Home. Southwood is full of beautiful, amazing things (even their website is lovely), and the ethos of the store is that everything in the store should be locally produced or ecologically friendly (and usually both). They will be stocking my coinpurses, pencil case & clutches, all made from a combinated of new & recycled materials.

Southwood Home

284 Queens Parade

Fitzroy North, Victoria

The second (and third) are the two Hunter Gatherer stores, one in Fitzroy and one in St Kilda. In case you haven't heard of them, Hunter Gatherer are run by the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence and sell classy secondhand & vintage clothes, as well as their own Fairwear accredited (hooray!) label of excellent mens & womens clothes. They also sell locally created accessories, and you'll find my badges, coinpurses and clutches there.

Hunter Gatherer

82a Acland Street

St Kilda, Victoria

274 Brunswick Street

Fitzroy, Victoria

Both stores will have lots of hand illustrated goodies, and I will be adding a few of the above clutches to my online stores over the next few days. Along with, hopefully, some illustrations!

more pencil cases

A little update on some of my new pencil cases...

I am slowly adding them in to my Etsy store, along with some other bits and pieces. Am working on some new ideas, too! More, soon.

Phew!

Long week. After finding out at the start of the week that I would be doing a stall at Sisters Market, and realising I had very little stock, I spent most of the week sewing. Bzz!

This is the pile from the start of the week - will have to post the end of the week picture tomorrow. Sadly my machine's sounding a little worse for wear... I oil it fairly often but I'm not sure, I think it might be on its way to the little sewing machine playground in the sky. The market went okay, I met lots of nice people that I had only ever read blogs of like Emma and Suzie. And I got to sit next to Shannon. Hooray for real life! I didn't sell too, too much so I have lots of lovely new things to add to my etsy shop this week. Photos soon... promise.

Less stressfully, (and yummier) these are teeny little carrots I grew myself! They're all around the size of my little finger, so cute!

Sisters' Market this Saturday

Excellent news for those of you looking for a little shopping style entertainment in Melbourne on Saturday... the Sisters' Market is on, and I will be there with a Pocket Carnival stall.

Am sewing a storm over the next few days to get ready for it, pictures to come!

Details for the Sisters' Market:

Brunswick Town Hall
233 Sydney Road
Brunswick, Vic
Saturday 18th October
10am - 4pm

(If you're getting public transport, it's tram 19 along Elizabeth Street from the city. Easy!)

A - Z

Today I went to the opening of the A - Z exhibition at Brunswick Bound - all the paintings/illustrations start with the letters A - Z. (And do check out the invitation, it's amazing). I always go and check P (for Penny) first whenever there's an alphabet involved, and this amazing P by Mel Stringer did not disappoint at all.

Then took a little journey down to the lovely 696 to deliver some stock - excellent. They now have a lovely fresh bundle of clutches and some hand illustrated coinpurses.

Have added a couple of older clutches at a sale price to Etsy (decided to put them on sale as they don't have straps). If you're looking for the front one it'll be there tomorrow as my photos need to be redone.

Enjoy your weekends!

face food

I found this book in Readings a little while ago and had to keep it hidden away as a gift for my boyfriend for finishing his thesis - he finally finished so I got to give it to him (and take a closer look myself!)

The full title is Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes and it's just full of pictures of the awesome cartoons people make out of food - Charaben. You can view the authors blog here... plenty of pics and links to other Charaben bloggers.

My favourite... Piglet!

Hooray!

Hooray x 3! Hooray number one is for my favourite kind of op shop find - the crafty supply. Yesterday I found a little bundle of zips tucked away in amongst some saucepans & tupperware at one of my local op shops. All ready to be washed and used.

Hooray number two & three are combined, as both decor8 and Edward and Lilly have put a sweet little something about Pocket Carnival on their blogs. Thankyou!

Busy, busy

Have been a little busy lately, sewing up some wholesale orders, figuring out some new things and just generally getting a bit more stressed than I usually am. Thankfully have calmed down again today and I'm doing some very much overdue cleaning.

Little bit of pencil case experimentation... think I will be making more of this one!

And a big pile of wholesale action.