Monday, June 1, 2009

June Featured Members and Giveaways!

This month, please give a warm welcome to Lauren from Raspberry Pink and Sophie from Strat Designs, as they give us a sneak peak into their fabulous worlds of crafty goodness, and give away some of their wonderful handmade items to two lucky readers. To enter is simple - just leave us a comment at the bottom of this post. For more info (and to find out how to score an extra entry) read The Rules at the bottom of the post. Good luck everyone :)

Introducing BrisStyle member...


NAME:
Sophie Straton - Ferrier
ETSY SHOP NAME: Strat Designs

1. Can you please describe the items you are giving away to one of our readers?

I'm seriously into felt balls this Autumn/Winter so I'm giving away two items using my new favourite matierial!


1) Cherry felt ball triple drop pendant, and
2) matching little cherry felt ball drop earrings.


2. How would you describe your work?

Colourful, stylish and fun.


3. How did your Etsy shop come into being?

A friend told me about the handmade expo. From their website I followed a link to the BrisStyle blog and from there...ETSY! And wow! That was such a mind blowing experience, I just read and read and looked and looked. I was totally hooked. I couldn't rest until I was signed up and listing stock.



4. Who or What inspires you?

My whole life has been involved with jewellery, antiques and collectables . I'm a very visual person, so beautiful things always get my attention and inspire me but overall it's colour that does it every time. The older I get, the more attracted I am to colour - I suspect I'll be one of those grannies with fuschia hair.. I find colour, like music, can really affect people's mood, and so I'm inspired to create pieces that bring "visual happiness". I enjoy architecture too, especially old buildings, and of course nature always has a wealth of inspiration in form and balance, colour and texture.


5. Do you ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ as part of your creative process? If yes, how is your art / craft eco-friendly?

At this stage only the felt balls have the potential to be made from recycled products, however I have a strong desire to bring in an element of vintage to my designs in the future - buttons and antique/vintage jewellery bits are things I'm actively collecting right now, so hopefully yes, in the future I'll at least have a section of my Etsy shop dedicated to recyled.



6. Can you describe your studio / work area?

My spare bedroom! Well it was once. Now it's totally taken over by my workspace and my long suffering husband has done a great job of building it in with workbenches and shelves. There's never enough room though is there? I've been eyeing off the garage for a while now..


7. What is your favourite thing in the shop at the moment?

Like I said - I'm very into my felt balls right now! This is my Autumn leaves felt ball lariat. You can wear it really long, or wrapped around twice, even three times. It's lightweight, cosy and textural and very colourful! Great for those dreary cold days ahead.



8. Do you have any other places that people can view your work?

I haven't made the leap into blog world yet, so other than my etsy shop the only site I have is my website www.stratdesigns.com

********

Introducing BrisStyle member...


NAME: Lauren Hillard
ETSY SHOP NAME: Raspberry Pink

1. Can you please describe the items you are giving away to one of our readers?

I’m giving away one of my gorgeous new Socrates the Sheep phone charms!

Socrates the Sheep likes to spend his days hanging around on your phone pondering the meaning of life, the universe, and your text messages.


2. How would you describe your work?

Colourful and cute. I love all things brightly coloured and gorgeously cute so they tend to be my favourite things to make. My characters are quite varied because most of them started as custom orders, just like these guys:


3. How did your Etsy shop come into being?

I discovered polymer clay early last year and in my research into all things clay, I stumbled onto Etsy and having already made far too many things to ever use myself, and still with so many ideas I wanted to try out, it seemed inevitable!



4. Who or What inspires you?

Everything inspires me. I have folders full of thousands of images that have inspired me and continue to do so. I find it hard going shopping because everything I see, my brain wants to translate into ‘clay’. As something to use to texture clay, store clay, shape clay, display clay, decorate clay, decorate with clay.. The list goes on!


5. Do you ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ as part of your creative process? If yes, how is your art / craft eco-friendly?

There is literally no wastage with polymer clay unlike other mediums. Single colours are stored and used in future projects, attractive leftover patterns are made into beads or incorporated into other projects, unattractive colours (I always end up with lots of strange shades of red for some reason?) and patterns or colour mixes become tools and texture plates.



6. Can you describe your studio / work area?

Messy. As much as I try to organize it, I have so many tools and colours and works-in-progress that I have a desk covered in clay, tools and findings, a box of findings on the couch arm, a bookshelf shelf (gotta love Ikea) that doubles as a semi-portable work area and boxes of stuff all over our unit!


7. What is your favourite thing in the shop at the moment?

I love everything glow in the dark. I keep forgetting to get photos of them glowing though!


8. Do you have any other places that people can view your work?

Blog and Clay Shop: http://raspberrypink.com.au
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raspberrypink/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Brisbane-Australia/Raspberry-Pink/95765001207
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenhillard
Workshops: http://www.tangledyarns.com.au/


Thank-you Lauren and Sophie!

The rules:


Simply leave a comment on this post to be in the running to win one of these two fabulous giveaways. Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you. If you don’t have a blog, please include your email address. Only one entry per person. You may enter twice if you mention this giveaway on your blog. If you choose to do this, please pop back after posting to your blog and include the url address to the post it was mentioned on here in the comments. This will count as your second entry. International folk are welcome to enter. BrisStyle members and their immediate families (ie: husbands/partners, dependent children, and their computer savvy pets) are excluded from entering all BrisStyle giveaways. A name will be randomly drawn on the 25th of this month and the winner will be announced on the blog on that same day.

Once again, the very best of luck to you all!

Anyone for tea and scones?

Is there anything more civilised than a spot of afternoon tea? Cupcakes, petite ribbon sandwiches, and definitely something with cream.
By Creative Artyfacts

And not forgetting the tea itself. Made in a pot, and served with teacups and saucers of course.

At BrisStyle we are all for a lovely get-together over some tasty nosh, and cheery conversation. Whether it's the ceremony of eating small things, the opportunity to do a little 'dressing up' (who doesn't love playing 'ladies'...he he...) or simply the enjoyment of good company, there's just something we all love about afternoon tea.

So in the spirit of these special small pleasures, we have put together a selection of afternoon-tea inspirations from some of our talented BrisStyle members. Bon appetite!

By MJ Mosaics





Delicious - Cleopatra Necklace
By Epheriell Designs



petit chapeau
By SMboutique



Purple Lady Brooch
By Little Chrissy

Thursday, May 28, 2009

BrisStyle Weekly Round Up

Congratulations Louise from Made by Miffy who was recently featured in RAVE magazine, check out the interview here.


This week Jess from Epheriell Designs shared some excellent tips on her blog for photographing jewellery.


Lauren from Raspberry Pink is running polymer clay workshops at Tangled Yarns in Newstead. You can make 4 cute little sheep like the one below to use as stitch markers, charms, phone charms or figurines. For more information contact Tangled Yarns. Workshop times and dates are listed in our blog sidebar.



*** BrisStyle Member Giveaways***

It's been a big week for BrisStyle members participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day. Click on the links to enter each giveaway.

Ali from Little Jellygnite is giving away two patterns from her new Little Loxies softies series so you can make your own Bronty, Chirpy or Dashie.


Sam from Jetta's Nest is giving away these cute little Bloomin' Buttonhead Brooches plus a Sunnyboy bag.


Chrisy from Artdecadence is giving away a 5x5 inch print from one of her original mixed media artworks from the 'Look Up' series.


Sandrine from SMBoutique is giving away this beautiful piece of handmade felt.


Teneale from Wicked Child Designs is giving away this cute Little Red Riding Hood coin purse.


Shannon from My Girl is giving away gorgeous hair ties and earrings made using vintage fabric plus two sweet little Holly singlets.


Benita from Bettsy Kingston is giving away these cute rainy day ruffle pants.


Rebecca from edward and lilly is giving away two little brooches plus a mini stash of fabric.


Plus don't forget to enter Christine's gorgeous giveaway, hosted right here on the BrisStyle blog, for your chance to win a beautiful handmade hatbox full of vintage treats.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Giveaway Day


It's Giveaway Day and Christine from Why Not Street is giving away this gorgeous hatbox filled with vintage bits and pieces to one lucky BrisStyle blog reader. The sweet little hatbox is adorned with vintage lace, pink ribbon, a tatty flower and filled with vintage scraps. Size: 20cm diameter/11cm height.


To enter simply leave a comment on this post by 31 May when a winner will be drawn randomly.

For two entries mention the giveaway on your own blog and pop back to let us know.

The giveaway is open to international readers.

If you love the hatbox and simply must have one pop over to Christine's shop for a gorgeous selection of hats, hatboxes and accessories.

Good luck!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Ode to Autumn...

In a subtropical land, Autumn is often not much more than a crispness creeping into the morning air. But in the spirit of brown crunchy leaves and sepia tinged twilights, our creative members have presented some Autumnal offerings, inspired by our most nostalgic season...

Gourdy Arrangements
By Hey Harriet

Vintage Flowers Journal
by Jellygnite

Children's Fleecy Jacket with a Touch of Africa
By Ogekko

Proud Stag Pendant
By Scampsville

Miss Hepburn...
By Whynotstreet

Giant Jaffa Felt Ball Lariat
by Strat Designs

May Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations Anja and Dr Chris.

The random number generator decided that Anja is the winner of the gorgeous wonderful Kitty Boo Boo loot.



In her comment, Anja said "Wow fantastic giveaway!"

And Dr Chris is the winner of the Bettsy Kingston Ruffle Pants/Bloomers (Dr Chris, you get to choose which ones you would prefer!)


Dr Chris left us this message: "Loving those Hungry Catapillar Bloomers. Fresh and gorgeous."

Sounds like both giveaways are going to very good homes!! Anja and Dr Chris, could both of you please send us an email with your postal address to brisstyleteam@gmail.com and Katie and Benita will pop your items in the mail for you :)

And thank-you to everyone who entered. Don't forget, we will have another double giveaway starting on 1st June, so check back to get your entry in for that one, and enjoy reading about our featured members at the same time.

Cheers!!!
xxx

Thursday, May 21, 2009

BrisStyle Weekly Round Up


BrisStyle member Trish from Trishalan Designs has created a fun embroidery project for the Living Creatively website. You can make your own embroidery frame here.


**New Members**

This week BrisStyle welcomed three new members!

Megan from Blossom Child makes original handcrafted children's wear. Who wouldn't want to be seen in this uber chic denim pleated dress. Look familiar? Blossom Child was also part of the incubator section of the Brisbane Stitches & Craft Show.


Seriously cute vintage tea towel bib from new BrisStylette Suzanne of The Seamstress and The Daughters. This dynamic team of sewists include Suzanne, her daughter and daughter-in-law!


Crafty spark Shannon from My Girl Design churns out sweet little accessories, applique tops, fabulous buntings and these cute as a pie Bushka friends.



**BrisStyle Giveaways**

It's all about the giveaway this coming week as BrisStylettes gear up for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day on 27 May.

Teneale from Wicked Child Designs will be giving away a Little Red Riding Hood coin purse, sounds super cute!

Samantha from Jetta's Nest will be giving away a Sunnyboy bag and a robot.


Rebecca from edward and lilly will be giving away some handmade brooches plus a mini stash of crafty supplies.

Ali from Jellygnite and Little Jellygnite will be giving away two Little Loxie pattern kits over on her blog Charlie and Grace.


Sandrine from SMBoutique is taking part in Giveaway Day. She's also been very busy since reopening her store last week creating amazing hats including this cute Chloe Cap.


Be sure to pop back here on 27 May for the BrisStyle Giveaway Day post including a full list of all the BrisStylettes involved!



And if you're even slightly crafty you might like to check out Liz's pay it forward game on her blog Creative Arty Facts. Play along to score one of Liz's beautiful glass creations, the only catch, you'll have to then pay Liz's generosity forward by creating something for five other crafty peeps.