Flying kites ...

This weekend a lovely little kite festival was happening down the road at Edwardes Lake.

The wind factor was spot on for kite flying, and the weather was 30 something...
which seems to be a theme of late.

 Once upon a time Melbourne Summers used to have  heat waves for 4 or 5 days peaking at 40 something then have huge thunder storms to wash it all away. Instead this year, we are having really long stretches of 30 plus everyday.  Almost how one would imagine a normal summer to be. Go figure

But weather aside, we made our way to the park for some kite flying and some rather sticky gelati.

The rest of the festival was stall after stall of community organizations, Councillors and such with info booths.
Good on them for getting out there and spreading the word, but you know me...I wanted some crafty stalls, gourmet foods and homegrown grub. Oh well maybe next year.

 

Alas my needs were met the very next day,
when we had to set up our marquee and be a part of the Sydney Rd street party.

It was huge. Positively thousands of people, 30 + again, no wind, awesome bands,
lots of good food and a great mix of community and craft stalls.

An awesome day out, hopefully introducing a whole new crowd of people to Olive Grove and what turned out to be one busy weekend.

Hope you all had a good one too.
Jay x

Pop up shop ...

Tomorrow only ... 

there will be a special pop up shop in the Polly Pratt studio at Olive Grove Studios.

If you're in the neighborhood do pop by,

 there will be lots of handmade loveliness on offer.

A window has opened ...

Our new baby...

No I'm not preggers.

I'm speaking of the creative baby that has been in the making for the last month. 

Our new little range to grace the shelves at Olive Grove studios.

Lost in Melbourne.  

We focused on only 3 designs to get it off the ground and happening,

 but look forward to building it into something even more ab fab.

 Check out the rest of our goodies on our Lost in Melbourne Facebook page.

Jay x

Sale weekend is upon us, down at the Grove.

 

Do pop buy if you're after a bargain.

Jay x

And the rest...

After a two day stint in the sewing room, I'm proud to say the rest of the Sheriff range is complete...

A fun little selection of goodies for 1 - 4 year olds by Roze Elizabeth and I.
Now available at Olive Grove Studios.

Grand sale...

Big crafty sale happening down at the Grove tomorrow.

I've managed to hit the fabric shelves and have a BIG clean-out. So sad to see some go, but it has to be done. 

My home will breathe a sigh of relief for having a bit more free space.

I managed to rustle up...

Little pieces perfect for applique or fabric buttons,

Bigger pieces and by the meter for garments and bigger projects...

Test screen prints, great for applique' ...

 

and boxes a plenty of fabric. Vintage, jersey, craft and more...

Sale is one day only, including fabric from Polly Pratt, Starashan and the other designers down at Olive Grove too. So do pop down and grab yourself a bargain.

Jay xx

 

Know someone crafty ...

Know someone crafty or are you a maker yourself? 

We are now taking expressions of interest from our handmade community, 

to sell your goodies at the shop I am a part of, Olive Grove Studios. 

'Open space rental' is a new incentive we have created to promote local artist/designers whereby you rent a space to display your goods in store. No working behind the counter or boring meetings, just a new home for your wares.  A perfect arrangement for those of you possibly to far away to work shifts, or who work a day job and craft by night.

Prices are comparable or less then having a market stall and for that your goodies are on display 7 days a week in our Fab little shop on a bustling Melbourne shopping strip.

For more info just drop us a line at olivegrovestudios@gmail.com

Jay xx

Calling all ducks...

When the lovely Liz put out the call for crafty peeps to make ducky things for her first Gleaners exhibition, I just couldn't refuse.

Didn't matter that it was my busiest making month of the year, that I was in the middle of an e-course, had an upcoming open studio and high school orientations to attend.

Nah... not too busy, She'll be right.

Well, in retrospect I did possibly over commit, but Somehow... god knows how...I managed to make the time to sit down and design/make some awesomeness for the first ever exhibition to be held at Gleaners.

I can't spoil the opening by showing you my offering, but I can invite you to come see for yourselves the duck extravaganza...

Sydney Rd has much to offer on opening night too...

After the opening of 'Flight of the ducks' why not head down to the late night 'Sisters Market' at Brunswick town hall and then on to Olive Grove studios for our late night shopping....shops open till 9 Yay.
A night positively jam packed with handmade delights.

Might see you there.
Jay xx

Boy oh boy have I got a lot to show n' tell...

I've been in overdrive getting all my goodies stocked up for the craziness of December.

So I won't be too wordy with this post, just lots of lovely pics of all the fun stuff coming out of my studio these last few weeks.

Our latest additions to the {finkigirl} range feature the artwork 'Shine and Journey'

We have also extended the range to offer silver and old gold in every piece,
including these fab new lockets that are just running out the door...

Bit of re stocking in the men's corner. Cuff links, bags, cards and badges.

Necklaces galore, from fabric covered buttons and scrabble tiles to tea cups and resin.

New 'Hello Dolly' skirts and 3/4 sleeve cardi's

Totally restocked all my resin clippies, brooches and earrings.

Made some cool screen printed cuddlies and girls singlets.

Finally got round to using some of my cool laser cut shapes for necklaces and a few other tidbits.

and lastly earrings galore.

Resin hooks in silver and old gold, ceramic birdies,
wire wrapped Czech beads and a splash of silver.
All available down at Olive Grove.

Whew...think I'm gunna sleep now.
Jay xx

A new range...

Finally I can spill the beans on the secret squirrel business I have been working on of late.

It's been a crafty collaboration a long time in the making.

Not so much that we had been planning it for a long time, more so that when we met so many years ago during our first foray into markets I knew... I just knew that this day would come.

We were both just beginning to take our craft seriously and wonder if we could make a business of it. We both struggled with self acceptance and forms of expression. Wanting to create but not entirely sure what path it would take.

I do believe we are still both on a journey, a creative path that for each of us is so different but has led us to this point in time, this T- intersection in the road that has found us both standing at the same spot at the same time. Confident in our own abilities and creative talent and wandering which path to walk down next.

Well I tell you, the path we have chosen is very exciting and I'm very proud and all tingly to share the results of our first collaboration.

{Finkigirl}

Brought to you by Cathy Kirwan (aka Tinniegirl) and I.

Our first range, celebrating four pieces of art titled
Grow, Acts of love, Abundance and Surrender,

are available in store at Olive Grove studios
or online at Tinniegirl.

Working with my love of colors and Cathy's amazing use of color in her artwork has been an absolute joy.

The range so far incorporates earrings and rings,

bracelets,

and pendants.

Image via Tinniegirl on etsy

I just adore every piece we've made, and hope you do too.
Hooray for crafty collaborations.
Jay xx

Skirts to match...Blogtoberfest Day 29.

The rest of the story to go with yesterdays cardi's,

are these new a-line skirts...

Well not super matchy, but tonal and super good looking all together.
Yay, for another step forward in finishing my sewing for the year.

Next I'm working on some awesome dresses and cardi's for November.
Jay xx

Got me some bunting...Blogtoberfest day 21.

Boy oh boy, I've been hanging out to get me a bunting necklace ever since I saw them on Betty Jo's blog.

So today I made the trip to her new shop for a sticky beak and to grab one of my own.

Gleaners is the exciting new store opened by Liz of Betty Jo fame
and that girl....I tells yah, she's got taste.

Beautiful range of recycled, up cycled, retro and vintage delights,
great displays and of course the friendliest service this side of town.

Putty tat likes my necklace too...

Silly me I had walked past the lane way twice this week not realising it was so close to my work. So if you know Brunswick, or not...it's just around the corner from Spotlight and it's seconds away from the Sydney rd tram. Very easy to get to.

You could make a day of it and come see me at Olive Grove, pop in for some op shopping at Savers, see Liz at Gleaners then dine at any one of the awesome cafes or yummy Turkish restaurants on Sydney rd.

Jay xx

Still on the maxi's...Blogtoberfest day 18.

Maxi skirt week this week.

So after drafting my pattern, it was cut, cut, sew, sew
to get them ready for the shop.

Today's additions are the stripes.

With matching tee's of course!

Can't help myself.

Jay xx

Look Mum, some pink. Blogtoberfest day 17.

I do have a wee aversion to all things pink.
Not sure why, but it is just one of those colors that does not appeal to me.
I love it on others, but just not on me.

So in a sheer act of impulse I got this gorgeous fabric
simply because it had pineapples on it,

and made up a batch of maxi skirts. Soo cute.

Also made black and gray skirts and found I could not put skirts in store that didn't have a matching tops,

So made a few of those too.

And the pink...well this shade of it anyway, it's growing on me.

Jay xx

Shop girl...Blogtoberfest day 6.

It ends up that I have two shifts down at the Grove this week.
A good enough reason to be sporting one of my new skirts again.
So it's all good.

Today I went with 'wild hoses' My new horsey skirt.

Love, love, love the bright blues...

Knowing I had a shift coming up and that I do hate to pop in empty handed,
I made sure my new red skirts were good to go too.

Such a vibrant print, I just couldn't pass up.

See you tomorrow.
Jay xx

Shop girl today...Blogtoberfest day 3.

Today was my turn to play shop girl down at the Grove.

A chance to take the new deer skirt I made for a spin.

With the luxury of working from home most days, I could work in my pyjama's if I choose.
So it is nice to have at least one day a week where I get a chance to wear something I've made for show and tell.

I would usually have new goodies to tag/label and set up in store on my shop days, but I've learnt from previous school holidays that if I work as per usual on my days in between shop shifts, all I do is create grumpy kids and a miserably stressed me.So it's a little break in crafty transmissions whilst I try my best to make the holidays less about me and my work and more about the kids and what we can do together.

So today my focus was on finally taking in my buffet/hutch and setting it up in store. It was one of those oppie finds that was to good to pass up.

I did use it in the house for 6 months before I decided it did really suit a retail space a bit more then my abode. So off we trot to house it at work for a while.

Perfect timing really as everyone is starting to make gifty stuff in preparation for the holiday season and it has lots of room to fill it up with handmade loveliness.

Bit scary really, how close Christmas is... didn't we just finish celebrating new year!
Catch yah tomorrow.
Jay

Sale time...

We are having a little 3 day Facebook sale to clear odds and ends.

Ti's a new thing for Olive Grove and considering there are 8 of us in one small space it makes perfect sense to have a FB sale once a month to keep things moving along.

Gives all our out of towners a chance to shop with us too.

Eventually...don't hold me to it though...we would like to get an online store up and running. But these things take time and we want to make sure it's done properly, so stay tuned for updates.

My little offering for the month is some men's tees. Were $48 now $25.

A perfect giftie for the hubby, brother or son.
More details here.....

I did have some jewelery up for grabs, but a lovely follower typed SOLD with the speed of lightening way before I even had a chance to tell you all about it. (Thanks lovely lady)

To keep posted on all things new at Olive Grove head over to our Facebook page and like us and whilst you're on the Facebook liking adventure,

be sure to pop on over to my Finki page and share some love there too.

I'm such a technical failure and really resisted the whole FB thing, but.... you know what they say...'The rolling stone gathers no moss'. So I had to roll with it too.

Jay xx