loving: candy stripe

Red and White bunting / Garland / Flags by vidastyle

Today I'm loving candy stripes. They're so cute & cheerful, and it's nice not to have to eat a candy cane to see candy stripes, right?

Candy Stripe coin purse by SeventhSphere

Candy stripes remind me of cute old fashioned shops that have striped awnings or blinds - I don't think enough shops have these anymore!

Gift Tag 8 pack - Candy Cane Red - Printed on Recycled Card by pocketcarnival

They also of course remind me of Christmas, which is always a nice (if stressful!) time of year. Every year I spend it with family, and we just eat a lot and hang out and sometimes play cricket. That's a nice thing to do.

Candy Cane Christmas Handmade Good Will Bunting in Small by heidiadnum

Candy stripe also reminds me of baker's twine. I never actually have seen a baker using this twine - maybe I go to the wrong ones? Normally they just use paper bags. I have been using so much candy stripe baker's twine for my gift tags these past few weeks it's making my eyes funny. But I'm happy the tags are so appreciated!


Hope you're all having a lovely weekend (and please please please don't let it be Baillieu...)

my creative space

Today I'm working on more purses. Always with the purses. Each month I keep a record of how many purses I've made - I kind of do and kind of don't want to add it up.

Also - new design! Yeah! I don't want to show it all, but I will when it's ready. It's going to be cute, I hope.

It's been such funny weather lately, hot & windy, now cold & rainy - it puts me off my tracks a bit! When it's a hot day I usually can't work in my studio between about 3.30 & 6 because it gets so hot, so I guess I could have a siesta, but instead I take little piles of work to the lounge-room. The lounge-room has terrible lighting, but is cool & dark, which is nice in the heat!

And so, this is the loungeroom table. Gift tags, cards, and swing tag type labels for the softies.


For more creative space, check out Kootoyoo!

staying cool in the sun!

It's finally warm! It's beach weather, picnic weather, weather for shorts, skirts & thongs, weather for icecreams any time of the day & ice blocks in every drink!

It's weather for impromptu picnics at the beach (or anywhere). You don't have to prepare - just grab a drink from the fridge, a snack from a bakery, and go!

It's weather for GRANITA!!!! This one's from 7 Seeds - it's an Earl Grey and Tangerine granita. So good. It's like a fancy, delicious iced tea.

It's also weather for mangoes! And snow peas! In a salad! With avocado!

And, when you next visit Lulu & Little Lulu in Balaclava, pop in to Wall Two 80 for an iced coffee - because it's iced coffee weather! And they're fancy and pop roasted coffee beans on top.

new! mermaids

Hooray! Finally the mermaids are here! Shannon originally suggested mermaid softies would be cute awhile back, and so I got to it! Merboys are on the way, but probably won't be here until next year.

I think they're pretty cute.

Get them while they're hot here, in the Pocket Carnival online store.

P.S. Thanks to Georgie from Bee Hive for the little feature!

roseus gifts - gifts for girls!

Another of Pocket Carnival's new stockists is Roseus Gifts - Roseus is an online gift store for girls! Everything on the site is very girlie - there's a great mix of gifts for newborns & babies, and gifts for older girls too.


And really, I'm sure a lot of us old girls would be very happy to get a cupcake soap any time!

You can find Roseus Gifts on Facebook too!

my creative space: so many things

So many things happening at this time of year!

The gift tags have been selling - I always love to imagine big piles of lovely gifts, wrapped up with a Pocket Carnival gift tag. Hooray!

Lots more toys waiting to be stitched up after they've been stuffed with corn & hemp goodness... the toys are still on sale for a little while longer too!

Purses! A big pile.

And something new I'm working on... mmm lemons :)

For more creative spaces, take a little peek at the list of blogs on Kootoyoo!


P.S. Just added a few sample pencilcases to Etsy at a lovely sale price!

i want: the little paper lane window display

Sometimes Shannon & I email each other photos of shops we'd like to run. I think this is one of them - how cute is Little Paper Lane looking!

Lovely Jade, the owner of Little Paper Lane, only opened the store this year, and it looks so fabulous. They've just decorated for the holidays - it's a beautiful colour outside, and I think the duck egg blue / candy stripe combo is one of my favourite things about the Australian holiday season - it's so bright & beachy & fresh, with just little hints of candies, snow & yummy things.

So cute! Look at those wee little blue elephants on the table.

Little Paper Lane also takes phone & email orders, but I think it'd be super fun to pop in with my gifts and choose wrapping paper all year round from the paper wall.

Little Paper Lane also stocks Pocket Carnival!

Little Paper Lane
1 Waratah Street
Mona Vale, 2103

Facebook
Website

hello, froggies!

Hello little frogs! I always like to have lots of matching things, because I like things in a set. So after I'd made my Frog Softies (which are currently on sale!) I felt the need for frog purses.

And so! They are done! My favourite is the little frog in those very 1980s spotty leggings with the cup of tea. The tea cup is very tiny, but it has a cute pink geometric pattern!

You can find them:
Pocket Carnival Store
Pocket Carnival on Etsy

today i love: my bearded pigeon.

Cath from Chunky Chooky is awesome. She makes super cute kids stuff, and has recently started a second line, My Bearded Pigeon. Possibly the cutest name in the world (although I can't verify that sorry), and just all round awesome.

This cushion reminds me of the posters that became widespread after the 2002 Woomera Detention Centre protests... it's bold & graphic, and the message is immediately clear. I think sometimes messages can be lost in the design and the media... not this! Plus it's made of organic fabric, and $5 from every cushion sold goes to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, who are a great organisation. The ASRC work with asylum seekers and refugees on their refugee applications, and also do heaps of work to help people get jobs, training, etc.

My Bearded Pigeon also offers awesome cross stitch patterns, plus finished pieces.

Right on.

Visit:
Chunky Chooky Blog
My Bearded Pigeon on Etsy

pocket carnival fabric!

First, a big hooray! Finally the new designs are available for sale. They're printed on lovely organic cotton sateen, which is a smooth, slightly satin feeling cotton.

My personal favourite is the little bunny in the hat, I'm wondering if I might do the fabric in an additional colour as well?

I'm selling small panels of the organic cotton in the Pocket Carnival store - they're about the right size for a cushion cover, or of course you can do a multitude of other things with them. If you'd like larger quantities you can let me know, or else...


For Sale on Spoonflower! Click on any of the following designs to purchase it directly from Spoonflower. It's less expensive to purchase larger quantities directly from Spoonflower, and more designs are available - click on the image to see purchasing info!

And also - little bit of a sale happening currently in the shop on coinpurses, toys & fabric!

little indigo: so much cuteness!

One of my newest stockists is Little Indigo, a brand spanking new online children's boutique. Hooray! Little Indigo stocks all kinds of neat items for boys & girls, which makes it easy for finding the perfect gift for lovely littlies you might know.

You can also take a peek at Little Indigo on Facebook for the occasional discount code!

All items pictured are stocked on Little Indigo - take a look!

candy cane!

Pretty cute! I mentioned to Chris that I'd like to have some candy cane gift tags, so he designed them! We were going to buy a bunch of candy canes to use as photography props, but then we'd have to eat them...

Available sor sale:
The Pocket Carnival Shop &
Pocket Carnival on Etsy

sunny day!

Hello! Thank you all so much for your kind comments, emails and thoughts after my last post - I really appreciate it :)

Today I've been having a nice day in the sunshine. I went for a walk to post some letters, and wandered home a long way, looking at everyone's nice Spring-time gardens. My cousin Alice and her adorbs baby Lucy came for a visit - hooray babies!

I washed some fabric for more softies, as a big box-full are currently winging their way to a lovely shop in Perth.

My mum gave me some organisational tools - surely the 'Someday' clips will be most often used?

I made an apple cake! I might pop the recipe up, it's pretty yummy. I think I need a cake detox soon, since Thursday I've eaten enough cake for at least a month?

It is nectarine and peach season! Hooray! And I ate a mango (not pictured, as is already in my tummy). My friend Debbie was aghast that I hadn't had a mango yet this season, so I had to rectify the situation.

Happy purse! Big 'thank you heaps!' to Michi Girl and The Design Files for featuring it!

Okay! Hope you're all having super nice days too.

today

Today we said a final farewell to my lovely little Grandma.

She was a lovely, kind, warm, wonderful person, she was so friendly and good at looking after people. I think we gave her a wonderful goodbye. My mum and I read a eulogy (hard to do!) and then the whole family & friends had tea and cake and laughter & gossip.

I wasn't too sure about putting something on my blog, but it's nice to be able to honor her memory.



The past week has been pretty sad & exhausting, and I am very much looking forward to getting stuck back in to work tomorrow!

xx Penny
(P.S. - the photo is of a book I wrote for her in primary school - it's pretty cute.)

today i love: mochipan!

Kawaii! Such a good idea! Emily of MochiPan makes these adorable purses - it's cute, and it teaches you the Japanese alphabet at the same time!

Chris - I know you are reading this, please buy me one for Christmas? The purses all come with different zip colours and charms, but I like the blue girl best :)

日本語 love

日本語がだいすき!! I think that Japanese alphabet is super cute, kawaiidesune! And I also love love love the silly nonsensical English that Japanese people are so fond of, so I wanted to do some silly nonsensical 日本語 for Pocket Carnival. Although I think my Japanese does make sense, but that's okay. I got my lovely friend Yuko to help me with the bunny purse!

Flowers love Sunshine Coinpurse
On Etsy - On Pocket Carnival Store

Bunny loves Carrots Coinpurse
On Etsy - On Pocket Carnival Store