Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Party Pics, Renaissance, & more FREE stuff!

Here are some pics taken at the BrisStyle Team meet-up at The Book Café in Mt Gravatt last Saturday. It was a fun morning, with our Secret Santa swap, the drawing of the blog giveaway and enthusiastic planning for the upcoming BrisStyle Christmas Market happening on Saturday 13th December.




I don’t recall that festive frog being in attendance. Frog face must have crashed the party after I left. Luckily another BrisStyler had left by then also. Would have been embarrassing because they were both wearing exactly the same outfits! Thanks so much to Em and Bel from EmBelISH for making the awesome Ferrero Rocher Christmas trees and for organising the meet-up! A great time was had by all!

Now onto a few things that BrisStylers are currently up to. The Renaissance Exhibition at Reverse Garbage opened last Friday and included in the exhibit are lovely handcrafted eco-friendly pieces by Ali (jellygnite), Bec (beckybean) and Helen (ruby red studios and ruby 2 go-go). I visited on Monday and took a few photos while there.


I am a Brisbane crafter and Art teacher and my work celebrates and is inspired by paper ephemera, vintage designs, memories, thriftiness and simplicity.

A big component of my making process is the use of salvaged and recycled materials: most of my work features at least 75% salvaged materials. I enjoy collecting and salvaging abandoned, old materials and transforming them, giving them a new and different life. I enjoy the extra ‘history’ salvaged materials bring to a piece as well as supporting the idea of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. So many wonderful materials can be found on the ‘scrap pile’!
- Ali Chisholm


My inspiration comes from the materials themselves, and the story behind them. I love the idea that a soft floral linen used in a handbag may have once been a girl’s first tablecloth, stored in her glory box until her wedding day. Or maybe the big sparkly button on a bookmark once glittered under the lights of a blue light disco in the 80s.

My pieces say a lot about who I am. And who am I? My name is Bec, and I am a mum, a wife, a daughter and a sister. I sew and I sing and I walk and I play. And I really like tea and chocolate.
- Bec Hollis


Helen is a local Brisbane Artist whose passion for nostalgia inspires her work. A part time air hostess, she is also heavily influenced by her intrepid travel adventures and surrounds. Viva the “re-purposed revolution”! Recycle, repurpose, reclaim, remodel, revamp, redesign, rediscover, recraft, rework, renovate, rescue, rekindle, reduce and revolutionise! - Helen Berthold

(info sourced from the Renaissance Exhibition artist bio booklet)

These photos don’t do the pieces justice, so you’d best head on over to see how truly amazing everything is. The exhibition is on in the Echoes Gift Shop during regular Reverse Garbage trading hours. This is one not to be missed! Fanflipintastic!


More giveaways! The big BrisStyle giveaway may be over, but four very generous and talented BrisStyle members are currently offering super giveaways on their blogs.

Teneale (wickedchilddesigns) is giving away a cool Gothic Gretel doll.


To enter click here. Quick! Ends Thursday 27th November.

Hayley (Re-Read) is giving away a fab Fruity Goose brooch.


To enter click here. Ends Sunday 30th November.

Cat (madebymaisie) is giving away a sweet Christmas Maisie doll.


To enter click here. Ends Wednesday 3rd December.

Eliza (ElizasArt) is giving away a print of your choice from her new website.


To enter click here. Ends Tuesday 9th December.

And a big bunch of BrisStylers are busy preparing for this…


To enter click…umm, nope. Just turn up! No clicking required. Phew! One more link and my head may explode!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for the plug!!! blog looks great as per usual. I can't wait to get togther with all the brisstylers and sell out stuff at the market!!!

Bec said...

Another superb post Tracy!!! Love that pic of the forest of Christmas trees :D
It was such a lovely afternoon meeting up with everyone and checking out each other's work. Really looking forward to the market...I think I can feel a bit of a spend coming on!!!!

Hot Fudge said...

What a fabulous time you seemed to have on Saturday - I am so sorry I missed it. You all scrubbed up pretty well by the look of the photos! I don't suppose there are any of those gorgeous chocolate trees left ...

I hope I haven't missed the Renaissance Exhibition - I will try to get out there some time this week. Congratulations to our three very talented stars who are shining so brightly there.

Excuse me while I check out the give-aways!

Le said...

see you at the markets - can't wait :) le

missknits said...

wow thanks for all this info!! awesome! love contests! but then again who doesnt! lol

BIMSCommunityGarden said...

Hey Bec,
Yeah I love that pic of the forest of Christmas trees too! So much so that I stole it from the EmBelISH blog. Thanks Em & Bel! :D
Cheers Tracy

Trish Goodfield said...

Renaissance looks so special, I hope I get in before Christmas. One Question, Why do exhibitons always have such hard names to spell? I've been scrolling up and down the comments checking on the spelling and I'm still not sure. Call it what they like its great.

Teneale said...

Thanks for advertising my giveaway, only one more sleep till the winner is drawn !! Can't wait for the markets too !

Ali said...

Great post Tracy - BrisStyle sounds like such an exciting place to be ;)

Lisa's RetroStyle said...

I'm guessing frog face must be the elusive Ms. Hey Harriet herself? Sounds like a fun and productive day! Thanks for all the cool give away links!

Amalou said...

Great feature Ms. Hey Harriet. Who would have thunk you were our frog-head!

Oh dear, I've probably just given away who the froggy really is. I'm sure I've just been recognized, whoops!

There you have it Lisa B... Frog face is really me!

Ms. Hey Harriet was hiding behind the camera,
which is the safest place to be.

Gosh am I rhyming?

Loved the little photo features of the talented girls, jellygnite, beckybean and rubyred doing their Renaissance Exhibit stint.

ElizasArt's new website is AWSOME!

and hmmm I really need to start thinking of a name for Maisie's little doll. I really, really want to win it!

Anyone got any pointers on how to make my skin less green and warty? Photo's of me really are not very flattering. Doesn't matter how talented the photographer is.

Blanche said...

I just found you and I an envious...I'm now going to see if there is a Melbourne team. I'd love to do this and be able to meet other Etsy seller in my area. Good luck girls. I'll be following.

Wocket said...

what a great group! I'm a brissy etsy seller. how do I join?

rubyredstudios said...

Ooh I thoughtI'd left acomment but with all the BrisStyle Market madness prep haven't!

Thank you thank you thank you for all the lovely comments and photos' and for the Reverse Garbage rundown - love the pics and am so excited that all the girly's goodies are flying off the shelves at the gift shop!

Oooh the markets are on in a just ove a week. Bring on the 13th and look forward to seeing you all there! xh

PS: Thula - yes a Melbourne team would be fab - then we can play giveaway's and comps with you! We met over coffee early this year after sending invites to all the then local gals..and here we are! Keep us all posted and thanks for joining all the fun.

Also Wren and anyone else wanting to join all the fun here in Brisbane go to:
http://team.etsy.com/profilest/aus.shtml

or simply email Bel at:
brisstyleteam@gmail.com

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments xx

xh