rainclouds afloat

Rain Drops coinpurse available in the Pocket Carnival shop!

It's almost starting to feel like Winter... again! The weather has been a bit inconsistent, I felt like Winter was coming a few weeks back but then it got warm again.

The only person who's unfailingly happy about the weather is my little gnome. He guards the clothes line, and this is what he can see...

Grey skies! The plum tree seems to have started dropping its leaves quite suddenly about a week ago, it's almost like a bit of a protest. 'You want Autumn? I'll give you Autumn! Hah!'

It is nice to walk around in the garden now, it's all scrunchy sounding! And the worms are enjoying the leafy additions to their compost bin... mmm.

Rain Drops Clutch Purse available in the Pocket Carnival shop!

I love love love this purse. It's a combo of gorgeous fabric from Spin Spin, and my own raincloud fabric. I made a few clutches with Spin Spin fabric last year, but I do love this combination of fabrics. It pleases me!

I think it works for me because the vibrant tomato red is printed onto a hemp/organic cotton fabric, which is a more creamy natural white. The rainclouds fabric on the flap is also an organic cotton (100% cotton), so it seems to go! I took one of these clutches out last night and it was so nice to have my cards easily accessible in the flap on the front... nice!

fabric sale & cupcakes

Finally all the new fabrics have been listed in the Pocket Carnival shop, and I'm having a little sale! 20% off all fabric, today & tomorrow only (ends Friday night).

Go go go get yourself some wind-up bunnies!
pocketcarnival.com.au/shop

Last night I was in need of something sweet - so I whipped up these vegan white chocolate & apple cupcakes! I'm still working on the recipe, it's not quite perfect yet, but they took maybe 5 mins to make (plus baking time) so I was rather pleased!

They baked in the time it took to watch almost 1 episode of Arrested Development. Very good.

my creative space: colourful mess

This is what my sewing table looks like most days... I wish it was a bit more orderly!

From front to back: new rainclouds fabric (for purses) plus some other purse designs, little pink cardboard template, a work in progress next to a half-finished cup of tea, zips and labels on (and around) my cake stand.

A better view - artworks on my pinboard from some favourite artists!

My zips kept erupting from my zip cabinet, I think I need something prettier than a cardboard box for them to sit in.

My storage for finished products is slightly less chaotic! The red box on top contains business cards, the wine coloured box contains gift tags, and the pink & white box contains bear to deer cards (elephant to rabbit are underneath). (You can buy everything in my shop, remember?)

And some works in progress, waiting to be cut out. How cute is that apple fabric? My friend Wendy gave it to me, it's from an awesome vintage skirt!


For more creative spaces, hop along and visit Kootoyoo!

my weekend

I couldn't think of what else to name this post! Last weekend was my Auntie and Grandma's birthdays - such a lovely gift, for your daughter to be born on your birthday! We had a big family lunch, and I took some food along - a lovely big plate of cupcakes! Banana & fig in the middle, and mini caramelised apple & white chocolate on either side. They were so good! I actually took twice this many cupcakes, as there were lots of us there. This was the plate we lit birthday candles on.

I'm really into these little stars lately, they're made of nori (seaweed sheets for making sushi), I just wet the pastry and squished them on. The little sausage rolls contain pumpkin, leek & silverbeet - even my Grandf'ther (we don't pronounce the 'a', it's a Scottish thing?), who thinks vegetarianism is one of the silliest things ever, thought they were delicious.

Edited to add: to make the little rolls, just roast some pumpkin with salt, pepper & oil for say 40 mins, add some chopped leek and roast for 5 more mins, add a teensy bit of silverbeet or spinach and roast for 3 more minutes, then take out of the oven and let it cool. Then, wrap in puff pastry & bake!

Shannon & I went to visit Magnolia Square Market last week and I bought this beautiful brooch for my Auntie from lovely Lauren of Okt-ober-dee. Beautiful! I've loved Okt-ober-dee for a long time so I was delighted to find that Lauren was such a lovely, friendly person. Hooray!

framed!

Have been having fun taking photos of framed prints. I love these new frames, they're made in Melbourne and are gorgeous, and the frame colours I have chosen match my prints perfectly!

Beetles!

You can purchase the framed prints in my shop. Unfortunately the little stuffed bunny doesn't come with the frame!

prototype

I started working on a new clutch design a few days ago. I've been thinking about it for awhile, I liked the shape of my old clutches but I kept getting feedback from customers that they wanted a zip & a pocket. (Yes that is out-of-print Lara Cameron fabric, thanks Lara!)

This new design has both zip & pocket, but it's still small & slim. Perfect! The flap on the front is a secret pocket for cards (or business cards). Excellent for a night on the town!

The clutch is just little, but big enough for a coinpurse, phone, keys & maybe some eyeliner? Mascara? 1 essential makeup. Perhaps just lipbalm. And because it has a zip you don't need to worry about anything falling out when you're tottering around in the wee hours of the morning - hooray!

I'm still just deciding 100% on the shape, but I love the rectangle.

And the birds in blue fabric is new - this is a peek at my latest delivery of lovely fabric, which just arrived a couple of days ago!

my creative space: lazy creating

This week I've been in a bit of a grump. I believe it may have a wee bit to do with the whole working too hard malarkey, and so now I suddenly find myself doing this like lying on the floor of my studio for 2 hours reading really old magazines, or reading the Harry Potter series again (I'm up to number 3!) or planning the most elaborate dinners. Tonight is Vegan Bento night, I'll let you know how it goes.

So, I guess I am trying to take it easy today, business-wise!

The creative bit - awhile ago my cousin (the one with the new baby) confided that she didn't have as much time to wash her hair since Lucy was born, so she wanted headbands. She will love me broadcasting that, I know. I can totally understand how she feels though - usually I can't be bothered to wash my hair either! And since I stopped using fancy conditioners a few years ago (such as Pantene which contains silicone, gross) my hair is decidedly more tangled and birds nest-ish. So I am loving the headband revelation. And they took like 3 seconds to make. And they match my new clothes which I made from the same fabric.

Also I am working on a new clutch purse design... *fingers crossed*

Visit Kootoyoo for more creative spaces (hopefully less lazy than mine!)

now in red

Yesterday I found, in amongst my printed totes, a little handful that were unprinted. Two things came of this - I saw the need for better organisation (I guess I always knew it), and I got to print some bunnies in red.

Available in the Pocket Carnival shop (totes are still on sale!)


Now I think it's time to tackle the organisation part...

sale for oxfam

Let's raise some money for Oxfam Australia!

Some friends of Pocket Carnival are completing the Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge - they're raising money (and raising awareness about Oxfam by completing a 100km walk through the bush!) You can see more info about the Trailwalker Challenge here.

We Love Lovehearts Purse, on sale for Oxfam!

Pocket Carnival is having a sale on our old stock to help Oxfam - all money raised on items in this SALE section (excluding $ for postage) will be donated to the Oxfam Trailwalker challenge, which will be used to help people who are suffering in natural disaster zones or humanitarian crises.

Paper Planes Art Print, on sale for Oxfam!

We think you might like something pretty and the money to go to something good! But if you'd like, you can donate directly to our friends team here.

The prints & purses are all $12each, and $10 from the sale of each will go to Oxfam (the other $2 is for postage, Paypal fees etc).

photos from mathilda's!

Photos from Mathilda's Market today! I forgot to take my camera again, sorry about photo quality. I love Mathilda's, it's such a fun, lovely market. The organisation is amazing, and so many people bring their babies along, which is fun!

On the stall is (L to R): a couple of framed prints, a bowl of fabric fat quarters, purses, prints, notebooks & gift tags, more framed prints, and cards.

The lady in the pink top in this photo is from the stall behind me - The Crimson Butterfly. They make beautiful hair accessories & jewellery for little ladies and big ladies - they were such good stall neighbours!

Mathilda's Market has big metal frames to use as stall dividers, Chris came up with the great idea of covering it in fabric and hooking prints on. Cute! Now I want wallpaper like this!

Thank you to all the lovely people who came and visited, said lovely things about Pocket Carnival & bought things from us! If you're visiting my blog for the first time, feel free to contact us!


Edited to add - the event photographers, Tea & Jam, have posted some photos they took of the market on their blog! Check them out here, they are beautiful.

my creative space

This morning was more productive than creative - website stuff, post office visiting and cleaning. And then... exciting... the lovely Parcel Post man brought me a little bundle of fabric! I am now working on a new product, washing then cutting the fabric, and then sewing it. I'm hoping to have them ready for Mathilda's Market this Sunday!

Cup of tea & two pieces of chocolate day - so far.

More fabric - I need to cut it up into fat quarters and package it for the market!

For more creative spaces visit Kootoyoo!


(And P.S. - remember the sale is still on - Rainy Day Sale: 20% Off Store-wide in the Pocket Carnival Shop (until 11th March - that's today!))
Code: rainyday20off

Mathilda's Market is on this Sunday!

Mathilda's is one of my favourite markets - the stalls are amazing, there are always so many people there, and everyone is always so happy & excited on Market Day!

Mathilda's is primarily a baby & kids market, so it's a fabulous place to find beautiful quality clothes for littlies. My favourite thing is the wide variety of gorgeous homewares & toys, plus the many sweet & amazing artworks for sale!

You can get a sneak peek at the stalls by checking the Mathilda's Market website, time to write your shopping list!

Mathilda's Market
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Hawthorn Town Hall,
360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn
9am to 1pm.
(Plenty of free parking at the back of the Town Hall)

We'll be there with all our current items, plus hopefully something new- if you come, please say hello!

rainy day sale!

Nice weather for ducks, right? It's been so very rainy all of a sudden in Melbourne, I was very much wishing Summer would hold out for another 6 months or so, but no.

So, I think my new Rainy Days range is impeccably timed! There are gift tags, notebooks, greeting cards & art prints in the shop (which has also just had a teensy revamp!) I've been wanting to do notebooks for a little while, and ummed and ahhed over it, until Chris came up with some ideas. More in the pipeline!

Now for the sale info. Let's call it a

Rainy Day Sale:
20% Off Store-wide in the Pocket Carnival Shop
(until 11th March)
Code: rainyday20off

Simply enter the above code when you purchase your items! You can check if the sale is still running by entering the code here. Edit: sale's now over!

If you run into any problems contact us!

You can also now purchase in $US, € or £ (as well as the default $AU)! Hooray!

new product sneak peek

Something new I'm working on! Hint: you can write in it.

Coming soon!

tropical vacation

I was here, on lovely warm Hamilton Island, drinking cocktails in the pool-bar. Nice. It's shallow enough that you can stand up, so it doesn't really matter so much how inebriated you become. Now I am back in cold Melbourne.

We were there for Chris's brothers wedding- I didn't actually go on those little yacht things, nor did I do anything resembling activity, it was just hours and hours of lazing in the pool. Very much needed.

The wedding was lovely, and whilst I had a great time I'm kind of glad to be back to reality. Shall I say that I don't think I'm really the resort-getaway type of person!!

Now I just have to catch up on work & emails, oops!

wishlist: tigers!

I'm currently on sunny vacation, but magically this post will appear without my assistance. This week I wish for two things, to ring in the Year of the Tiger!

Tiger Mo Art Print by littlemoandfriends
Obviously I love Helena's gorgeous work, as a flick through my blog will reveal- I just think her newest print series is gorgeous! I love Tiger Mo! I like her knees. So cute.

Tiny Tiger Baby by voiletpi
Is this not the cutest thing in the world? What more can I say? Go check out the needle felted bee in voiletpi's shop too. Cuuuute!