The Ironing Board Studio

I was taking product shots today. In my very flash studio on an ironing board. With my un-ironed bed sheet backdrop.

Using very expensive cut-up erasers to prop the pieces.

Hopefully, despite my very extravagant set-up, the photos look alright.

Flick Faves on a Friday

Japanese sweets. Such delicate pieces of art, you're almost tempted not to eat them.

1. Japanese sweets 04, 2. Pastel mood, 3. Valentine's chocolate from Kyoto, 4. japanese sweets

My Creative Space

I'm choosing outfits for my new Kokeshi doll brooches....

And making lots of flowers.

For more creative spaces, drop by Kootoyoo.

Scrumptious Fabric Flower Tutorial

These fabric flowers by Ravenhill are so sweet!

A Flower Button Tutorial, originally uploaded by Ravenhill Designs.

And not only that, she shows you how to make them in this tutorial! Can you believe this is her first tutorial? The instructions and photos are so clear, you'd think she was a pro!

Hmmm... I'm already imagining a string of these in kimono fabrics....

Bookcase Tour (on the occasional) Tuesday - Creative Time and Space

Hands up those of you who'd like more hours in the day to dedicate to your creative pursuits. And how about more room to really spread out in to do them? Hmmm... looking through my magic mirror I can see a lot of hands there, some people with both hands up waving madly.

Can we ever really have enough time and space for our creativeness? I'm certain I'm not the only one whose crafty to-do list grows by the week to the point of it being a monster that I could only finish in this lifetime if there were five of me. I know I'm not the only person who despite having a workroom of my own still feels the need to spread fabric, paper and jars of beads all over the house.

I'm not sure if it was a hint or a way to silence my occasional complaints about the lack of both, but last Christmas The Man gave me the book Creative Time and Space.

Sadly, the book doesn't reveal a magical way to add an extra 5 hours to every day or how to add an additional room or three to your house free of charge. It does have a few time saving hints - nothing new, but rather reminders, or if like me you feel you need it, permissions. One that I really took to heart was; "I never spent precious nap time cleaning the house because that was ideal, uninterrupted creative time" (types she as the bub is in the next room having her mid-morning nap). The housework still needs to get done, but I do what I can while the bub is awake and with me, and for other larger cleaning chores, we tweaked the household budget and have hired a cleaner to come in every two weeks.

Mostly though, this book is more about a mindset. It's about a way of thinking about adding more creativity, or rather creative thinking into your everyday life. It's about making more room in your head for creativeness. A lot of is told through the voice and examples of other artists, things that do and don't work for them. Their work is used in the pages as well as inspiration and for something pretty to look at while you ponder what you've read.

On this subject, there has also been an interesting discussion going on over on Scoutie Girl, firstly here and then here and then in response, by Three By Sea.

Have you found something that works for you? A great way to infuse as much as you can to those precious hours we have?

Background Crafty Entertainment

Do you have background entertainment on while you craft? TV while you knit? Music while you sew?

Personally, I'm a huge fan of a period costume drama to accompany me for many a crafting adventure, especially anything Jane Austin. Nikki however wouldn't recommend Tess of the D'Urberaville's while trying to topstitch.

The last couple of days have been spent on a marathon cutting session in my office so it was time to get something other than my cup of tea to get me through it (though you do have to love playing with gorgeous fabrics for hours on end and getting to call it "work").

Firstly I checked out the new Philippe Starck series, Design for Life. Recommendation and links from Mizu Designs.

Next was catching up on some crafty podcasts. The Craftypod archives was a great place to start. She has some really great interviews that not only get you in the crafting zone but are also great food for thought.

Other great places to visit for some great craft listening is Craft Sanity and One Pretty Thing's podcast links.

How about you? What powers you through a mammoth crafting session?

Karuta

Karuta. A traditional Japanese card game. One I've never actually played, yet own a couple of sets of, just for the artwork.

Flick Faves on a Friday

Cuteness on a cloudy day.

1. Little Rain Cloud, 2. HOLD MY LIFE TOGETHER Series: No Clouds Go Pin, 3. Only Cloud in the Sky Ring, 4. Cloud magnets / journal Branch, 5. make it rain, 6. Sky Balls, 7. A Curious Swift, 8. this is Gosh!, 9. Cloud stamping

Kimono and Fabric Sale

A few weeks to go, but I'm getting very excited about the upcoming brisStyle Eco market!

I'll have a few of my usual pieces there, some vintage fabric kanzashi, some fabric cranes, but at this market, I get a chance to let some other people play with the gorgeous vintage kimono textiles I use. I'll be having a large sale of some of my kimono and obi collection as well as many, many fabrics from them.

Over the next few weeks, I'll pop up some photos of some of the pieces that will be there. Well I'd best get back to my unpicker now!

Plum Treasury

With this colder weather upon us (as cold as it gets in sub-tropical Brisbane), I'm being drawn even more to rich reds and luscious plums. It's good to see I'm not the only one! My new "Murasaki Plum" kanzashi flower was featured in an Etsy Treasury yesterday.

You can get a better look at the collection here.

Talking of rich reds and plum (blossoms), have you seen my new blog header, created by the oh-so-fabulous Julia of A Creature Strange.

Playing with Dolls

Some girls grow out of playing with dolls. I never did it seems. I'll blame my mum - she's a doll collector. I was never into Barbie but had a large collection of stuffed animals and puppets.

Last night I was back to playing with dolls. Making one in fact. A little kokeshi, hand painted with a kimono made from vintage kimono fabrics.

She's now sitting on my shelf, hanging out with my fabric covered tins. She's showing a bit of leg too, how very un-Japanese.

Randomness

Not much crafting happened today, but I did get a few moments to do a bit of a tidy up of the space, and to take some photos of some fabric for a custom-ordered kimono crane.

I had a good giggle reading this post. My own "Craft Widower" has decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and had me take him to the bead shop the other day. He's now stocked up on jump rings to start playing with some chainmaille designs.

This post really spoke to me as I crave more creative time but feel guilty about the lack of balance with other things in my life. I'm trying to learn to let go of certain things and accept the fact that I really can't do everything. At the same time am desperate to reconnect with friendships dear to my heart that I have neglected while The Man has been ill.

On that note, a new mantra that I should try to live by.

This week I dropped by In.cube8r and Kazuyo's Collection to restock. I've also relisted some things in my Etsy store, now with a $US adjustment and a sale on some items.

And finally tomorrow, if the planets align and The Man gets home from his daily clinic appointment early enough, we're going to take a little family trip down to the Boutique Markets where I'll get to be a shopper for once.

Flickr Faves - Frucci

I am so in love with these pieces by Francesca Vitali, of Frucci. She works a lot with sterling silver and old magazine papers. Love, love, love them!

1. fru and MATTONELLA PENDANT, 2. GIRASOLE earrings, 3. red stecco, 4. TALLY pink, the crativity side, 5. Pink CURVA necklace, 6. RED SHELLY

You can see more of her stunning work here and here.

Weekend Wrap-up on a Wednesday

You know you're behind on your blogging when it's late Wednesday night before you blog about the previous Saturday...

Saturday found us at another fabulous BrisStyle BIDM Market down at St Augustine's Church. While Brisbane was enjoying a gorgeous sunny winter day outside, I was enjoying the cosiness inside the hall. My table continues to feel like a work in progress, but it is slowly coming together. And don't you just love the rich red stage curtain in the background, it reminds me of my old tutu wearing days...

A couple of new additions this time, a new display tree and some kimono fabric and resin hair-slides.

As well as lots of friendly customer faces to brighten the day, there were many a cheery BrisStylette friend to talk to and their wares to be tempted by. Just a few of my fellow indoor-mates (apologies for the small images)...

1. Pbyers Design

2. Made By Maisie

3. Retro Bird

4. RocknWrap

5. SM Boutique

6. Strat Designs

7. Hot Fudge

8. Cute As Buttons

The next BrisStyle market coming up is the Indie Eco market on July 10th, where I will be selling a large number of kimonos and kimono fabric as well as some of my handcrafted pieces.

For more Market Wrap-ups, visit the BrisStyle blog.

A Day of Thanks

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love., originally uploaded by {life through the lens}.

Today was a special day. A quiet one with little fuss but so very special nonetheless.

Seven months ago today I took my husband to the hospital emergency centre where they had him in surgery within hours. Over the last seven months there he has been, sometimes staying for weeks at a time, the remainder, daily visits for treatment.

Today, I brought him home from his last hospital stay. His chemo has finished and stem cell transplant a success.

Today is a day to truly give thanks.

I give thanks to my mother who has repeatedly flown from her home and life overseas so that she could be by my side for the difficult days.

I give thanks to our family and friends who have been so wonderful in so many ways to our little family.

I give thanks to all those people who while we've never actually met, have showered us with kind words of support and kept us in their thoughts and prayers.

I give thanks to his doctor and all the amazing staff at his hospital, they have not only been so generous with their care and caring towards The Man, but also to the rest of our family.

I give thanks to the Leukaemia Foundation, who especially in the early days helped us through a difficult time.

I give thanks to my husband whom I love so dearly for fighting so hard so that he can continue to be by my side and to be a loving father to our wonderful little girl.

I give thanks to the little one, who is wise far beyond her age, has been a shining light and joy and so understanding and flexible with the chaos thrown into the beginning of her life.

And finally, I give thanks to the universe for my husband's life.

My Creative Space

A little peek at some new pieces I'm playing with at the moment... bamboo and vintage kimono fabrics with hand painted details...

For more creative spaces, Kootoyoo is the place to go!

Middle of a Makeover

It's been rather quiet on this blog of late... don't be fooled in thinking that it's because not much has been going on in the land of Kimono Reincarnate... quite to the contrary.

I'm in the middle of a makeover... new logo... new packaging... new designs, all very exciting stuff. I can give you a little peek at how it's coming together...

... my new logo design by the fabulous Julia from A Creature Strange.

In the meantime I've also been busy preparing for the always exciting BIDM this Saturday. If you're in Brisbane, I hope you can pop down and join in the fun.

in.cube8ing

Exciting news on the Brisbane front, we now have our very own in.cube8r! The fabulous fushia store opened last week, filled with cubes of delight, all like colourful little lollies of handcrafted goodness.

I had lots of fun setting up my own little cube.

I'm in good company too, AND there are still some places to rent.

in.cube8r gallery

1/253 wickham st. fortitude valley

These Boots Were Made For Stitching

Today at the Brisbane Brown Owls meet was a stitching type of day. I jumped at the chance to get started on a project I've had in mind for quite a while... to embroider a pair of boots.

For now, it's just a lone crane, but the plan is for a string of three on each leg.

And with the split-toe in these Japanese boots...

It's lucky that I have a collection of split-toe tabi socks to wear underneath.

A Softie on a Saturday

This morning I was lucky enough to go to a Softies class run by Teneale of Wicked Child Designs fame.

My blanket stitching was a bit dodgy...

But turned out the right way and stuffed the stitching didn't show too much. I can't take credit for the lovely neat stitches around the eyes, Teneale had them pre-done for us when we arrived.

Once home, "Little Red" got an instant seal of approval with lots of cuddles and lots of loving sucks.