My Birthday / Launch Party Giveaway

It's my birthday today!  Yay! for birthdays for they bring messages from dear friends, cake, favourite dinners and yes, often, presents.  

This year's didn't go quite to plan as the little one is sick with a (mild) fever, but it was lovely nonetheless.  The little one loves giving and thought present wrapping was such a great game.  All day long I was gifted little things she'd find around the house; pencils, paintbrushes, toothbrushes and pegs to name a few, all wrapped in second hand paper with blue masking tape.  She was so excited with each gift and would loudly exclaim "Happy Birthday Mum!"

Inspired by her, I thought I'd give a present away myself, though I may tape it up with something nicer than blue masking tape.   I've been slowly working on uploading some of the Stainless Steel Tokyo Collection pieces to my website.  So I'd like to give one away to one of my dear blog readers.

For a chance to win, drop by here then come back and comment on the blog as to which one is your favourite (if you click on the picture it will give you the name).  If you'd like extra brownie points (and an extra chance to win), pass on the love and share the giveaway on your blog / on pinterest / on facebook.  If you'd like to let me know about the share in a second comment, that helps this little duck with working out the number of entries to count.

I'll let you know who I'm sending a piece to next Friday night, the 9th March, my time after about 8pm-ish.  Anyone around the world can enter.

I'm now off to enjoy the last hour and a bit of my birthday with a wine, some chocolate and bubble bath.  Happy Birthday to me!

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Psst... A Huge Giveaway on Bespoke

Have you seen the massive giveaway happening on the new Bespoke site?  It closes soon, there are so many adorable things you could win!

All photos from their respective stores via Bespoke (all links available there).

Psst...

My holidays are almost upon me and I'm really excited.  I was telling the little one tonight how after four more sleeps we'd be on a plane to go and visit Granny and Grandad.  And bless her little 17month old soul, while not understanding the concept, she understood the tone and got all excited too.

It looks like life will still be crazily busy right until that moment we leave for the airport, but once I'm on that plane, I get to stop.  Stop for a whole ten days.  To do nothing much other than enjoy my family and see the gorgeous sights in New Zealand, oh and hopefully to read, to read the first novel since the little one was born.  It's going to be blissful.

But before then there are exciting things going on.  Tomorrow night is my final market for the year and it's going to be huge!  It's the BrisStyle Indie "Christmas" Twilight Market".  The best place to do your Christmas shopping!  

And with wholesale orders and Christmas markets, my poor little Etsy store has been left quite neglected.  I'm going to close up shop on Sunday, so am having a special 20% off sale for my Facebook "likers" and blog readers.  You just need to use the coupon code "XMAS10".  If you're in Australia, I'll pop your goodies into an express post packet for you too!

And, if you haven't already... you've still got until tomorrow morning to enter my Facebook giveaway.

I'm off now, more gluing to do, stock to pack and hopefully some sleep to get as well!

Polli

Polli.  Pretty, pretty Polli.  If you drop by Creature Comforts, you could be lucky enough to win a Polli Eco Deco Garland kit.

I have been lucky this week already, I won this fabulous jewellery tree by Red Revival.  Can't you just see it painted up to join my other market trees!

The Bookcase Tour Giveaway - 20s Kimonos

I haven't been terribly consistent in my Bookcase Tour Tuesday posts.  I'd like to change that, and am asking for your help.  I'd love to know what you'd like to see, but more about that in a moment... first, some book eye candy... the book I'm giving away...

20's Kimono: 100 Royalty Free JPEG Files  

"The patterns used on kimono in the Taisho era (1912-1926) were composed, generous, bright and vivid.... when the tides of change were at work altering many aspects of Japanese society, the Taisho experienced an intermingling of the old and the new.  A brilliant popular culture blossomed in the resulting creative chaos." (from the book's introduction)

I  love the fabric designs that came out of Japan during this era.  There is a heavy Art Deco and Art Nouveau influence and you can almost feel the excitement of a culture opening its doors to the world outside.

There is a real sense of fun and humour to the bold patterns of this time.

Funnily enough, I have a pair of pajama bottoms that have this red print on them.

This period is filled with vibrant and colourful designs.

This book comes with a CD (PC and Mac compatible) with 100 magnificent designs from this era. 

Now lean in very closely while I whisper... I don't want the Man to hear... I'm giving away a copy of this book because... I loved it so much I accidentally bought two copies!


The giveaway is open all, I'll post it anywhere.  I'll draw and announce the winner on Tuesday October 12th (my time) in that day's Bookcase Tour post.  To enter, please take a few moments to answer my survey (link below) to help me decide what books to show you from my rather loaded bookcase.


Click here to take survey

The back-on-eBay-back-on-Etsy-joining-BrisStyle-Blogtoberfest Giveaway

Lots to celebrate this month, lots going on, so I thought joining in all the Blogtoberfest giveaway fun was in order.

To the winner, I'll be sending a parcel with some kimono fabric, a kanzashi brooch, a large kimono fabric resin pendant, a small matryoshka pendant, a few of my "seconds" (they'll be on cords as well) and if there's room I'll add in a few mystery goodies as well.

Sorry, but I'm going to make you work for it a little, as little or as much as you like...

To enter

1) For one entry go to either my Etsy store or my eBay auctions and tell me in a comment on this post what your faves in there are. If you do both, you can have two entries!

2) For another two entries, either Follow or Subscribe to this blog (either existing or new) and tell me in the comment.

...and because I'm a sucker for punishment... I know the maths is going to be a killer...

3) For an additional five entries, blog about the giveaway and tell me you did in the comment.

Complicated? I hope not.

When you enter, make sure that I can reach you somehow, either through a blog link or email address left for me. Sorry, but I may not be able to reply to these comments, but believe me, I will enjoy reading them all.

Entries will end on Sunday 1st November midnight my time and I'll try to announce the winner on Tuesday 2nd November, or very soon afterwards.

For more great Blogtoberfest giveaways, visit Curly Pops.

A Late Winner Announcement after a Busy Week

I'm so sorry that I was late drawing the winner of my giveaway! It was quite a week, a good one, but a busy one.

Let's see, there was a prenatal checkup (all is going well), a sick husband who moved out of the bedroom to try to avoid passing on any germs to me, a farewell party for me thrown by the school Camera Club, presents and a talk about my "Photographic journey" to prepare for that party, bookings every lunch break and after school for students to practice an interview for an extra curricular English exam, tests to write and a birthday party also thrown for me, all on top of the usual. Pre-pregnancy I would have taken it all in my stride, but lately, I'm amazed at how quickly that I not only run out of energy, but gladly give in to the tiredness.

DH was feeling better by Friday night, after having a cold all week, so we thought that we'd try to go out for dinner and a movie. We managed dinner, but I quickly crashed after that and was in bed, asleep by the 8.05 movie start time. So much for the second trimester energy boost!

My bump is getting bigger, one day I will get over my camera shyness and show you a picture. I had my first complete stranger ask me if I was pregnant the other day and some of the girls at school have asked if they can touch my belly. My friend Mel, whose place we had the birthday lunch at yesterday, had told her adorable little one all about the "bubbie" in my tummy. When leaving, I got a big hug and a kiss from him, and the bubbie got a kiss too. So sweet.

I have been slowly listing stock in my Etsy store, but I have to confess I still have a lot more to do. I hope to get some more up (including new pendants) in tonight and will be extending the sale and closing of the store until around March 8th-ish.

But that's enough rambling from me, I'm sure you want to know who the winner was... well there were 32 comments, but one of those was a double, and one person who told me in the comments that they had mentioned the giveaway on their blog (I know at least two other people mentioned it as well, but without the comment and my airhead of a pregnant brain, I've forgotten who that was, please let me know, I'd like to give you a little something), so that made 32 entries.

And the winner was.... number 17, which was Edward and Lilly. Rebecca is such a generous, inspiring woman. Not only has she been busy making the cutest little Bushfire Bunnies to help out those who have lost so much in the Victorian fires, but she's also donating the proceeds from her sales in her Etsy store to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. I'd say this win was really good karma.

The Move, the Sale and the Giveaway

The fact that I have only six and a half weeks left until I leave Japan is becoming more and more real. Our packing boxes from the shipping company arrived on the weekend, so stand as a reminder every time I go into the living room. As the living room is in the centre of the small apartment, that is a lot of the time.

For months now, I've been reflecting on where I want to take my business. I've had a few great years playing with ideas, exploring different product ranges and working out where my heart really lies. I've found that I've been spending too much time buying, sorting and photographing fabric supplies, that it has left little time for my real love, creating. As a result, once I move back to Australia, I'm going to be focusing on creating more jewellery, more bags and other things that for now remain in my sketchbook. I'll continue to sell kimono fabric, partly as an excuse to play with the gorgeous textiles.

As a result, I'm hoping to clear as much of the gorgeous Japanese cotton fabrics that I have in store and in stock waiting to list. Soooo... that means, it's time for a sale! A moving, leaving Japan, sale!

For the month of February, there is, and will be of all the new stock I list, 25 to 50% off everything. I hope to list new things every few days.

Mmmm... so that's the move, and the sale. How about the giveaway? I always love a good giveaway.

I'm giving away a US$30 voucher for my store. I'll draw the winner on February 18th, but need to ask that you use the voucher by February 28th. After that, our apartment is in serious, need-to-pack-everything-in-sight mode.

To win? Please visit my Etsy store, then comment on this blog which item is your favourite and if it's a fabric, what you think you might create with it. If you'd like two entries, mention the giveaway on your own blog and tell me in the comments also.

Good luck! I'm back to my packing now.

Christmas Decorations by Edward and Lilly

Has anyone else noticed that December has already started? Is anyone else panicking? Every year, I tell myself, I'm going to be organised, I'm going to be prepared, and yet, somehow, it always sneaks up on me. I supposed at least I can use the excuse that presents are delayed in the international post....

We're on the last day of test week at school. I've done most of my marking and so can leave work early today. I think it'll be the perfect time to bring out the tree. Fake, sadly, but its fibre optic lights are very cool. One thing I meant to do this year was make some decorations. I started one day, but never quite finished.

That is why I would love to win one of these gorgeous little birds by Edward and Lilly. Drop over to her blog to enter the giveaway, or to one of her stores (links in her sidebar) if you can't wait. I pick red! How about you?

Preparing...

Well, I know I should wait at least until I'm pregnant, but I really want to win this gorgeous nappy bag by Sable Fyre. It does have polka dots on red after all!

And We Have a Winner!

Thank you, thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support and advice for the Tokyo Fabric (and Craft) Lovers' Guide! It blew me away and there were so many great ideas. So many in fact, I think I have a series of books to work on now!

I'm off to Tokyo on Wednesday and this time will be there for five days. I'll spend the first couple of days on my own and then hubby will join me to check out some places and enjoy the remainder of our holidays.

One place I'm really excited about visiting this time is the Shinzi Katoh shop. I just melt when looking at his designs. I think I may have to give my credit card to hubby to mind that day.

Anyway... what I'm sure you really want to know is... who won the giveaway?!? Well, out of the 159 comments there were a couple that didn't give any advice, so in fairness to all the people that really put so much effort into their answer, I didn't include them, so that left me with 153 entries and the winner was...

.. LeilandBen! LeilandBen said;

Great idea! I would love to see little photos of each shop, either from the outside or the inside. I'd also love to have links to any stores that sell online as I don't think I'll be making it to Tokyo anytime soon.

It seems I can't actually contact LeilandBen through her blog as there are no posts and no contact details, so LeilandBen, please contact me with your details by the 9th September. If I haven't heard from her (assuming it is Leila and not Ben who entered), I will draw another winner.

Once again, thank you so much to everyone who gave me such wonderful, helpful, creative, insightful advice!

The Not Secret Anymore Squirell Business Giveaway

I really can't thank everyone enough for all the lovely comments, advice and cuddles on my last post. It meant more to me than you'll ever know!

I'm happy to say that I'm now super excited about my Fabric Lovers Guide to Tokyo again, busily working away on it and planning where to go and what to do on my next trip.

As a token of my appreciation, and to get just a little more clarity of what people want, I'm doing a giveaway but asking for a little more help.

The prize? A $50 gift voucher to use in either my Etsy store, my eBay store or a combination of both. Don't worry about postage costs, they aren't taken out of the voucher, but will be included in the prize as long as everything is sent together.

Now, I have to confess, my Etsy store is still looking a little bare, but I hope to get it stocked up next week, here's just some of the fabric waiting to go in there...

How can you win? Easy, just leave me a comment (with your name and an email contact if you're signing in anonymously) telling me what you'd like in such a Tokyo/Japan Fabric/Craft Shopping guide book.

If you're one of the fabulous people who has already given me advice on it, please just leave a comment on this post and say something like "See my cuddles comment".

Leave the comment by Sunday August 24th, I'll draw the winner using a random number generator on the 25th.

Good luck!

And the winner is....

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised at all the entries. I loved reading every single comment on the blog on people's ideas about finding balance in life. For me at the moment, a couple that I'm going to try to put into practice is the idea of doing things in 15 minute blocks and making lists. Once I'm feeling better, I can start using some other ideas as well. I'll let you know how I go!

So, there were 161 entries in all. There were 65 Etsy hearts from the competition period, so they were numbered 1 to 65. The blog commenters started at number 66 (and any double-ups were taken out). The random number generator picked.....

So that means that the winner is Guzzisue who wrote;

"I never have enough hours to sew but I use my biker social life and interests to counteract my unintersting work life.( given the british weather, I get to spend weekends in muddy fields all over the country !!)"

This chick is a biker textile artist. How cool is that! So Guzzisue, drop me a line with your postal address, and I'll be sending a package your way very soon.

Sorry to those who didn't win, but I will try to hold a giveaway every couple of months, so good luck for then!

Still time

A couple of people have commented that they thought they'd missed out on the Tokyo Trip Giveaway , but it's not so, there's still time.

The confusion is my bad, I just wrote "next week" and not the date. That's what can happen when you're blogging past your bedtime. I'll be drawing the winner on Wednesday night (my time) 11 June.

I've loved reading everyone's thoughts so far on achieving balance in life. There has been some great advice and well as support. Thank you so much! I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to the comments, but I really have loved reading them all.

So, for now, good luck on the giveaway!

News and a Giveaway

Today, my horoscope told me;

"Although you may attempt to keep your work schedule simple today, it will still probably grow out of control. Forget about fitting everything into your calendar for a while, for you are likely biting off more than you can control."

Seriously, I felt like it could have been talking about the last few months.

So, news! No, it's not that I'm pregnant. I just thought I should clear that up. One of my Japanese friends gets very excited every time I tell her I have "news". "You're pregnant!" she blurts out. I feel bad for disappointing her each time.

No, instead, a new baby of sorts. I finally got the Kimono Reincarnate Etsy store opened! I really wanted to have more listed in there for it's big "Hey world, I'm here" announcement, but well, see the above in this post.... I have so much more to list, some gorgeous fabrics and papers I've been collecting for months as well as lots of little crafty things I've been working on, but that will get done gradually.

Drop by and check me out sometime, I'm over at Kimono Reincarnate.

So, to celebrate, I'm giving away some of my Tokyo trip goodies.

Firstly in the package is a collection of artists' cards from the Design Festa. Some postcard size, some smaller.

Then there's also this little kokeshi strap made from antique kimono fabric and leather. She's another Design Festa find.

And.. there's ten not-so-fat not-quite-quarters of new Japanese cotton and cotton blends.

But wait, that's not all! I'll also throw in some surprise goodies. Some of my new Etsy-like products that haven't been listed yet.

So, how do you get your hands on this stash? Easy. To go into the win, do one, (or both) of two things.

1) Comment on this post. I WAS going to ask you what Japanese craft stuff you'd like to play with and what you'd do with it, BUT, as I'm trying to fit more into the hours of my days, I'd love to hear what you do to find balance in your life.

2) Who said money can't buy love? Well, I'm going to bribe you. You can get an entry into the giveaway by "heart"ing my Etsy store.

If you do both, you get two entries!

If you're a non-blogger, feel free to enter, but don't forget to put your name on the entry somewhere!

I'll draw the winner next week on Wednesday night-ish.

Good luck!

This is... something I got, but still haven't used

Thanks Flossy-P for this week's This is… theme. Over on this blog, we could also call it Melanie's Hall of Shopping Shame, as it is going to be proof of how I really do shop far more than I make.

Living in a small apartment, knowing that in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to have to pack up and send everything home again, we have to think hard about the things we buy. I do however, seem to be able to justify craft purchases to myself all the time, and so am building up a large collection of things to play with once I get some energy back.

So, here goes...

A whole stack of resin jewellery supplies, some fun handbag handles and lots of patterns and kits. With summer on its way, I really should break out that skirt pattern.

And also a little hint... I'm planning a Tokyo Weekend Giveaway very soon (hopefully in the next few days). Here's a sneak peek at what will be in it....

Drumroll Please

Oh! That was fun! I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments for their Fabric Giveaway entry. There was lots of sleeping in, lots of things that involved water whether it be swimming, soaking in a bath or listening to waves and of course lots of crafting. I'm really going to have to free myself up some more days do some of those things myself.

So... you're probably wishing I would stop rambling on and announce the winner already. Well, there were a total of 60 comments, a few of those were doubles and a couple of anonymous but with no names at all (some of the nameless "anonymous" people emailed me with their names so that was no problem). In the end, there were 52 entries and the random number picker picked number 44.

So that means the winner is.....

Zenzhey who wrote

"If a had a free day I would sew all day! I have been dreaming of it..I have so many ideas of bags and things I would like to make but never anytime to just play around with the fabric. Not an extraordinary thing but honestly that's all I want!"

Ahh... she sounds like a kindred spirit. Don't you just love the term "kindred spirit", it always makes me think of Anne of Green Gables.

Zenzhey, please email me with your address so that I can send your little package onto you.

Thanks to everyone that entered, sorry you didn't win this time. I'm going to try to do a giveaway on a somewhat regular basis so please keep your eyes out for them. Better luck next time.

And for some shameless self advertisings.... After a longer-than-planned break to sort out stock, I've finally begun auctions again. Here's a sneak peak of what is going this week.

Fabric Giveaway

The plan today was to get up at a reasonable hour (done-ish) and to use as much natural light available on these winter days, to photograph kimono. Alas, it's a dreary day outside and not really enough light to work with. So that means.... I have a free day! Yah! I can't decide what to do first.... I have some jewellery making techniques I'm trying to perfect, some photoshopping of images from our Christmas trip to Matsumoto, a load of new bag and purse patterns to play with, some more softies I want to make..... Where does one start??

Of course, I COULD go and clean the kitchen, put away the Christmas tree, do some washing... but really, that's not going to happen.

The night before last, I stayed up until 3am sorting fabric. Just the smaller pieces mind you. I really thought it would only take me a day or two to sort my purchases from the latest kimono auction, but it's taken over a week! Below is preview of some of them that will be going up in the store soon.

While I was sorting, I thought I'd share the love and put together a large pack (about 350 grams) of vintage kimono fabric to give away. You can see the fabric in the picture below. If you're interested, please leave a comment telling me what you'd do with a free day. If you're not a blogging person, you can just leave your name in the comment. I'll draw a random number on January 21st and post the name of the winner then. Please don't forget to come back and check to see if you've won!

Now I'm off to play!