Blog Lovin Friday - One Perfect Day

I came across Sarah’s blog, One Perfect Day, yesterday in my wandering around blog world. What originally drew me in were the photographs. Each one seems to capture such a beautiful moment in time. Sarah is a mummy to one little boy (who’s blonde hair and blue eyes remind me of my own little boy) and lives with her “patient, loving and gracious” husband in Queensland. Sarah’s blog is about her adventures with her son and husband and their discoveries along the way. It all makes me want to go to the beach and enjoy my little man. Some of my favourites from her recent posts:

Thank you Sarah for making me blog happy

Just Smile....

I have a blessed life with beautiful family and friends. Yes I work hard, yes we are mortgaged to the hilt, yes I never get enough sleep, yes sometimes life can kind of suck – but so what. This is the only life I have so why not focus on the positives.

Life is good.

And this is why I smile.

I often get asked “what are you smiling at” or “what are you so happy about”

A smile is free and it feels good. Why not just try smiling for a day. You will never look back.

Mr. Funny Face 5x5 photograph - jendrivesacivic

SO VERY HAPPY dazeychic

You Make Me Smile (Little Owl and Tulip) - 11 x 14 Archival Print LoveSugar 

What makes you smile?

My creative space

I am currently working on a new range of gift tags with hand stamping. Fun but messy! What do you think?

Check out some others creative spaces here

Random Etsy Wednesday

Some random etsy lovelies that have made it into my favorites folders this week

 Up In The Sky Cloth Baby Shoes by starlightsound

Make Your Own LongDog Kit - Red by junecraft

Modern Stackable Cuffs. Bracelets. Sterling Silver by lenandlen

Farm Fresh BUTTONS (Mixed Fruit) by OhForCute

If anyone were looking to buy me a Christmas present – I would happily accept anything from my Random Etsy Wednesday posts or any of my posts for that matter (will someone please pass this message on to my husband!). What's on your santa list for this year?

Wordless Wednesday

More here

Women in Business

I recently (as in today!) came across Women in Business website via Janet At the Artery Store Blog. Janet writes a fortnightly column for the website. What originally caught my eye was this manifesto written by the editor of WIB, Clare Lancaster:

"It describes the heart and soul of this website. If this resonates with you please share it, blog it, print it out and stick it on your wall. We hope it gives you some inspiration on those days when you feel like you can build an empire (and those days when you don't)." – Clare Lancaster

WIB have even kindly provided easy to download versions of this manifesto. I am going to put one on the wall in the study.

Does it strike a cord with you too?

And the winner is……

Firstly – thank you to everyone that entered my first giveaway and welcome to all my new followers. I hope you enjoy following my blog and I look forward to your comments.

And now – drumroll please -  as selected by the random generator (I was going to cut out all the names and take photos of my son picking one, then eating the paper – but it all got a little too hard so went down the spread sheet route and random number generator) – the winners are:

1.      Erin

2.      Clip Café

Congratulations – and I hope you enjoy your cards and gift tags - they should be in your postbox soon.

Thanks again everyone. For everyone that missed out on winning - you can always pick up some of my cards and gift tags in etsy and made it (christmas tags and peg it ups now in store)- and better yet - there is still free postage (australia wide only) and i am donating $0.50 from every sale this week to pink ribbon day.

Pink Ribbon Day & Pretty Pink Things

Today is national Pink Ribbon Day in Australia. Can you believe 1 in every 9 Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. They are some scary statistics.

So in honour – I am donating 50 cents from every sale I make this week on etsy and made it (already made 3 sales – good start - keep them coming!) and will match it dollar for dollar. I would encourage you to make a donation too. I would also encourage you to take the time to read about Register4, Australia’s first national online community research register – by joining you can help researchers spend less time finding volunteers and more time to find a cure.

On a lighter side - some pretty pink things I have found in my surfing this morning:

Felt iPhone case - Fuchsia and yellow by ambette

Bloom Cushion by dedeetsyshop

Raspberry, Pink, Berry, Watermelon poms from Raspberry Rose

Birdie Initial Birth Print by my sweet prints

I Love Pink pinafore dress - Size 4 from Raspberry Rose

Three Little Cupcakes on Pink Spot from my etsy store

Blog Lovin’ Friday – General Lovin’

Today’s Blog Lovin’ Friday is a general blog lovin’ post about the first Sydney ABCD (Artists + Bloggers + Crafters + Designers) Meet-up. It will be a great chance to meet with some like minded bloggers, makers and designers and finally put voices and faces to the typed word.

Details:

Sydney ABCD Meetup Spring 2010

Thursday 28th October 2010

7-9pm

The Three Weeds Hotel (back bar), 

197 Evans St, Rozelle

RSVP via the ABCD Facebook page  here or on Bondville blog here

If you are able to make it don't forget to bring a card for everyone's goodie bag so they remember you. I will be working on my little goodies over the weekend – but thinking of maybe including a little gift tag or two – maybe something from my new range I have been working on…… (what do you think)?

Any of you follower's coming???



who doesn’t love a giveaway…..

Whilst working out the details of my first every giveaway this week I came across a nifty site: the Etsy Giveaway Blog. There are giveaways from all walks of life – some that shop US only – but many that ship world wide such as:

A touch of wimsy:

Viva La Blogette:

and of course – my giveaway:

Check it out – and remember you have to be in it to win it!

And one more giveaway that I just came across on facebook from little.lovely (my blog love from last week) – some super cute robots from Little Korboose

The Calendar That Keeps on Giving

Can you believe it is only 11 more weeks until 2011. Scary! But to make you feel better prepared– check out these gorgeous 2011 Letterpress Calendars by Linda & Harriett.

Not only is each month beautifully letterpressed in two colours – but each month also features a post card on the back for cutting and sending at the end of the month.  What a great idea. The calendar that keeps on giving!

Linda & Harriett only do limited runs of all their work – so get in before they are all sold.

My creative space

My creative space…..

Felt a bit like I was on The Block last night – came home from work, sanded for an hour then had to stop due to baby enforced noise restrictions.

Sticky-beak some more creative spaces here

Wordless Wednesday

More here

Summer is here

The final shot is in for my three seasons wall tree photo – summer has well and truly arrived (technically not really but I needed something after summer and you get my drift).

Just a reminder of the previous photos

Winter: 14 September

Spring: 7 October 2010

And now Summer: 20 October 2010 – what a difference a month can make

Not sure if I will still be here to get the autumn shot – but you never know -  stay tuned

Random Etsy Wednesday - Pencil and Paper

When was the last time you actually sat down with a pencil and paper? In today’s society of iphones, ipads, laptops, emails I rarely write things down – I do however love paper and pencils, and pens and erasers…. So today’s random etsy’s theme (is that an oxymoron?) is pencils!

kawaii koi - a set of 10 washi-coated pencils by  maoiliosa: “10 beautifully hand-wrapped #2 graphite pencils featuring kawaii (cute) koi fish, each unique pencil is approximately 3.5 inches long (no eraser). made with gorgeous, genuine japanese washi paper. packaged in a gift box, and includes a gift tag for easy giving”

Sketchy Pencil Thank You Note Set by FierceMally: “Set of eight white 4-7/8"x3-1/2" (4Bar) folded cards packaged in a cute cheesecloth drawstring bag. Cards are blank inside and come with red envelopes.”

Know It All No. 2 Pencil Set by Paperpastries: “Now, with more knowledge :) Perfect to give away to a student, teacher, or know it all in your life! Set of 6 pencils. Comes in a 5 x 8 muslin bag.”

Better Together - Pencil and Paper by Earmark: “Horizontal, folded card, 4.25 x 5.5, the "Pencil and Paper" card features a delightful, Earmark original, illustration. Simple and sweet this card is perfect to give to the one you love any time of year!”

Why not go old fashion and buy some pretty pencils and note cards

50th Post Giveaway

What better way to celebrate my 50th post (can't believe there have been that many) than a giveaway. What can you win I hear you ask? Well – you can win one of two packs of cards and tags from my another donkey design range. Each pack will contain 4 cards (three little cupcakes, three little circles boys, robbie robot and terry turtle) and two gift tags (apple theme).

How do you enter – let me count the ways:

1.      “Like” my another donkey design facebook page – there is a convenient link on the right hand side of this blog and then leave me a comment below saying hi

2.      If you already “like” my facebook page – just leave me a comment below telling me your favourite colour

3.      For another entry – head over to my etsy store and leave me a comment below telling me your favourite card / pegs / tags

4.      For another entry – post about the giveaway on your facebook page and leave me a comment below telling me your favourite day of the week (apparently even this is a no no!)

5.      For another entry– tweet about the giveaway and leave me a note below telling me your favourite movie

6.      For another 2 entries – blog about the giveaway and then leave me a note telling me your favourite animal

That is 7 6 possible ways to enter- pick one or do them all!

Entries will close at 5.00 p.m. Monday 25^th October 2010. Family and Friends are of course welcome to enter. PLEASE make sure you leave contact details (if you don't have a facebook, twitter, blog, store etc and you need to leave your email address pls do it in format myemailaddressatheredotcom for privacy reasons) so I can contact the winner.

Yeah – I’m excited. Good Luck!

Chalkboard Calendar

Chalkboard paint seems to be all the rage at the moment and it is doing the rounds of the blogging world. I particularly love the idea of a chalkboard calendar – though I am thinking even if it took up an entire wall – my husband would still not know what we had planned! Still – I can dream

Image via papernstich blog

Image via Pininterest

Or if you can’t bring yourself to paint the wall – why not try one of these:

Image via Ohdeedoh

image via Ohdeedoh

Image via wallsticker

Blog Lovin Friday - Little.Lovely

Today’s blog love is little.lovely. This pretty blog is full of “lovely” ideas for little people. Written by Khlali, a Sydney local with two lovely little ones of her own, the blog is refreshing, simple and can be counted on to inspire you and bring a smile to your face (and make your “I want” list just that little bit longer).

Having a little person myself I love looking at new and exciting decorating ideas, toys, and generally pretty things, but there is something on there for everyone – young and old from the:

 Friendly fruit and vegetables by by Carl Kleiner

To the DIY drum kit - instructions here

 To the monster illustration recommendations by Mexican illustrator, Luis Silva

Find a cup of tea, a tim tam and have a look at little.lovely blog, facebook and twitter pages.

 Thank you Khlali from little.lovely. – you make me blog happy