Happy Birthday BrisStyle!!!!

(photo sourced from jossy02116 on Flickr)

Welcome to the BrisStyle 1st Birthday bash!!! Come in. Pop on a party hat. Grab a balloon, and get ready to talk some serious craftapalooza!

Ok, so I'd better be honest. I'm sure not many of the 60 odd members of BrisStyle are actually extroverted enough to rock up to an outdoor cafe wearing party hats and waving balloons. But we did manage to get at least half of our group together on the exact anniversary date of the birth of BrisStyle. And 30+ people all sitting around talking about craft and doing show and tell around an enormous table, is still a formidable effort (sorry to any tourists who were hoping for a quiet lunch at this lovely Roma Street Parklands cafe)!

So it was only 12 months ago that a small group of 12 Brisbane-based crafty ladies who had never seen each other in real life, all met up at a West End cafe with a view to maybe starting their own little local craft collective. An Etsy Street Team. And fast forward to now. Sixty plus members and growing every week. A very successful BrisStyle market under our belt, and more to come. A blog that has people from all over the world drop in and say hi! And many more things in the pipeline that will come to fruition this year - a bi-monthly newsletter, a website to be a central repository for all things BrisStyle. And even better than all these achievements, is that a whole heap of nice people have managed to meet a whole heap more nice people. And you know, that's just really, well...nice! Friendships have been made, inspiration has been fueled, creativity has been nurtured, and a real sense of community has been fostered.

Speaking of community, the very lovely Therese from Little Mary Moo, made a simple request to the BrisStyle group recently, asking if anyone who sews could make a little bag to help in the Oncology Unit where she works as a Registered Nurse. The bags are used by patients to take their chemotherapy infusions home in, and are used by people of all genders, and ranging in age from 16yrs - 80+ yrs. As Therese said, "having a nice bag to take chemo home in often makes the patients feel a little better about such a difficult experience".


Many members said they would bring some bags to the next meet-up.


And this is just a sample of what was given to Therese on the day. There were many more that wouldn't fit on Therese's arms!!! Not a bad way to kick off a birthday party, with a little community spirit, and lots of ooh-ing and aahhhing over everyone's different interpretations of a simple little bag!


And although we didn't whoop it up with party hats and birthday cake, we did do a crafty lucky dip, with people popping in a handmade gift, and pulling out a surprise for themselves.


Yours truly made a sensational score, with these fabulous handmade oven mitts - something I not only actually need, but totally love.


Thank-you so much Robyn from Hot Fudge!!! And thanks so much to Catherine from Made by Maisie who organised the lucky dip swap :)

And of course no birthday get-together would be complete without a little speech looking back on the past twelve months.


Helen from Ruby 2 GoGo and Ruby Red Studios, who was one of the original 12 members at the very first meet-up, gave a great speech, that made us all feel proud to be a part of this little (ok, maybe not so little anymore) group.

Thanks to everyone who has made and is still making BrisStyle everything it is today. It is a true collective, full of inspiration, motivation, community spirit, and general loveliness. And I feel very proud to be a part of it all.

So please raise your glasses people....

Hip Hip, Hooray!
Hip Hip, Hooray!
Hip Hip, HOORAAAAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday BrisStyle, and here's to many more wonderful birthdays.

In the words of the lovely Helen, "...it's good to be crafty"!!!

PS. Don't forget our giveaway is still happening. Comment on this post to go in the draw!