madebymaisie

A little ray of sunshine

A little ray of sunshine peeped through my window this afternoon around 2pm. I was on my way out to my niece's first birthday party. I would have to be late on account of the light.

Living in the rainforest nestled at the bottom of a so called mountain has very positive aspects, however the negatives include:

It is bitterly cold in winter (well by Brissie standards).

I live in shadow with very little sunlight - which is terrible when you are trying to shoot photos of Maisies for this space and my Etsy store.

So when the opportunity arose, I quickly grabbed the camera so I could share with you the two new little girls who have entered my world...

 

Please meet Kiki (left) and Mei-Mei (right).

 

Mei-Mei is going to live with Justine in Melbourne.

 

Mei-Mei chose little red shoes to help distinguish her from sister Kiki.

 

Kiki doesn't mind where she lives in the world. She is very willing to travel.

Kiki is available in my Etsy store.

Kiki will be joining all the other Maisies, Kokeshis and me at the upcoming markets on Saturday 4 July.

Oh, I should mention that I was forgiven for being late to the party. I made the birthday cake. And there is plenty of good light at Miss Nadia's house to take photos all afternoon.

Soon...some big news.

 

Maisies go to the Stitches and Craft Show

On Saturday I ventured out to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show. I thought that I would go by myself so that I could peruse the stalls and activities at my leisure. However, little Betsy and Mei-Ling Maisie dolls insisted on coming along too.

A couple of my fellow BrisStyle girls had stalls in the incubator.

Helen from Ruby 2 Go Go had the most delicious ruby red themed stall.

 

I have never seen Helen without her smile!

 

I bought a Ruby 2 Go Go t shirt transfer. Hmm, must consider Maisie Doll t shirt transfers. Or even gocco images on shirts.

 

I had lovely chats with Christine from Little Diva.

Also met the very sweet dear fii.

I finally got the chance to see documentary Handmade Nation.

You simply must see this film. Take your friends, take your family, take your work colleagues...so they can finally understand what you are all about as a crafter. Being able to see this film was worth the admission price to the Stitches and Craft Fair, alone. So inspirational. Can't see the movie?? Buy the book!

This encouraged me to spend some time at the 'Why Don't You...Tell us your Craft Secret?' wall, reading all the serious and not so serious craft secrets.

 

My craft secret is not so secret...but I had to contribute.

I purchased some lovely Japanese fabric from Amitie for more Kokeshi Dolls.

 

Lastly, I had the pleasure of volunteering on the Mixtape stall. Justine trusted Mei-Ling, Betsy and I to sell subscriptions to her fantastic zine as well as selling lots of other nice things on her stall.

 

Fabric covered buttons/badges were very popular.

 

It was a good day all round. The little Maisies were very well behaved and very polite to all customers!

Fun times.

BrisStyle Stitches & Craft Show Promo

Are you going to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show?

The BrisStyle team are running a special offer during the show! Keep an eye out for the lovely ladies sporting a BrisStyle badge during the Stitches & Craft Show. If you spot one don't be shy, she has a 10% discount voucher for you to use in participating BrisStyle stores.

Participating BrisStyle stores are listed here.

Terms and Conditions

1. Offer can only be used once per participating BrisStyle Etsy seller. So, you can use the one voucher to shop in multiple participating BrisStyle Etsy shops but only once in each shop.

2. Discount does not include postage.

3. Discount does not include custom orders only stock listed in shops.

4. To Obtain the Discount:
Simply write the code that is listed on your voucher in the message to seller section of your sale, and when you have finished the checkout process, don't click the Payment button straight away. The seller will email you a revised PayPal invoice that will include your 10% discount, and you can simply click the PayPal button in the email to make your payment. Easy!

Big hint - I will be helping out on the MixTape stand at the Show on Saturday afternoon. Drop by and say hi and receive your voucher.

See you at the Show!

Peppermint magazine

Congratulations to all my crafty indie designer friends who have been featured in the latest issue of Peppermint magazine.

The very talented...

Bec and Jade of Beckybean - featuring one of their lovely salvaged fabric handbags

Michelle of Pedrosprout - featuring her signature baby booties

Ali of Jellygnite - featuring softies and vintage goodies

Leah of leahkl - featuring vintage chenille bunny

Matryoshka angels

 

Five little matryoshka angels appeared from Maisie's sewing room on Saturday evening.

 

Three are destined for the BrisStyle 1st anniversary catch up swap.

 

One little angel is a special little treat to brighten a lovely kindred craft friend's day. Not telling who though, just check your snail mail box in the coming days.

 

And this little angel? Well, she gets to join all the little Maisies in their pretty little room with all their pretty little things.

Matryoshka angel pattern by Rosalie Quinlan. From her beautiful book full of nice little things, Gift.

Favourite market buys

Please don't think that at the BrisStyle Markets last Saturday, all I did was sit with all my Maisies until a new home was found for them. No, I went for a walk and left my sister Ju-Ju to mind all the Maisies. I have been saving my dollars to buy local handmade items at this very market. So, let me share with you some of my favourite finds and buys. I can't show you some of the purchases because it may ruin the Christmas surprise for some of my friends and family.

 

Therese from Little Mary Moo creates the cutest little purses and bags. Simple designs with such beautiful fabrics used make them sell like hotcakes. Note to potential buyer - get in early at the next BrisStyle Markets for these little cuties before they are all snatched up.

 

 

 

Next stop, beautiful recycled fabric handbags and other goodies made by Bec of Beckybean fame.

   

Bec's market stall was directly opposite mine. So I got to watch all her handbags (well just about all of them) go to new homes during the day. Women were crowded around this stall. Well ladies, we all know that you can never have too many handbags. And these little beauties are reversible!!! I watched this one (orange one pictured above) all day, but I restrained.

 

I think that I bought myself this one (pictured above). Bec and her lovely sister did such a good job wrapping the handbags that I have forgotten exactly which one I got. Well, this is my present to me on Christmas day. Don't you just love the use of recycled fabric?

   

Miss Hot Toffee's market stall was devine. So many beautiful items to choose from. You may have observed by now that I am a really bad photographer, so my photos aren't doing any store justice in this post. Note - must read my camera manual.

 

Mmmm, fused glass earrings which look good enough to eat.

 

Gorgeous individually hand drawn cards with collage. Miss Hot Toffee and I have something in common. The love of drawing lots and lots of little pics. Some days my work computer is covered in sticky little post it notes with little Maisies drawn all over them!

 

Beautiful Christmas gift cards.

 

Little pocket mirrors, buttons and mini magnets. How could I resist picking up some of these?

 

Michelle from Pedrosprout had the most devine market stall. Her booties are just too cute. I wish that I had a little one to buy them for.

 

The detail, the stitching, the colours, the fabric ...oooh!

 

For a comprehensive wrap up of the markets visit the BrisStyle blog. The photos on the BrisStyle blog are much better than mine!

Maisies go to market . . .

Wake up little Maisies, it is finally time to go to the Markets. The BrisStyle Markets at Hamilton Hall to be precise.

Make sure that you put on your prettiest dress, and tie your hair back nicely. Don't forget your signature satin bow - tie it tight.

   

The sun was out and it was warming up to be a typical Brissie December summer day. The BrisStylettes came out in force to promote and sell their wares at their first market.

The people of Brisbane got their first hands on look of all the Maisie dolls on offer.

 

 

Maisies were generally pretty well behaved. They liked meeting new people, especially the little girls who wanted to take them home.

 

It was a long day of sitting up straight.

    

Fifi and Evie (above) joined the last baby soft to keep him company. All his friends had gone to new homes.   

 

Lots of Maisies went happily to new homes, including Elsie, Gillian and Edith (below).

 

It was a lovely day and we made a lot of new friends.

A big thank you to all my readers who stopped by and introduced themselves. It was so nice to meet you. Thank you for all your support.

 

Buy handmade this Christmas

I have been a little quiet on the posts lately. I am busy preparing for this...

 

Handmade arts and crafts market - including jewellery, bags, softies, childrens clothes, graphic illustration and art, and of course . . . Maisie dolls will be on sale.

See you there!

BrisStyle Christmas catch up

Today I finally got to meet many of the talented ladies who are members of BrisStyle. We met at a very busy suburban shopping centre coffee shop to catch up, seek advice, draw the winner of the BrisStyle giveaway and to do our Secret Santa gift giving.

Winners of the BrisStyle giveaway will be posted on the BrisStyle blog soon.

I had lovely chats with Em and Bel, Teneale, Helen and  Therese. There were so many ladies that I hope to have more chats with at our 13 December BrisStyle markets at Hamilton Hall.

The common thread amongst us is that we all have Etsy stores, we all live in or around Brisbane and we all promote hand made.

 

This is the cute softie angel which Bel from EmBelISH gave me as part of the BrisStyle secret santa swap for 2008.

   

Thank you Bel for your lovely angel. She will be amongst friends in my sewing room.

Also, Bel gave me the cutest headband featuring little matryoshka dolls. How did she know that I love matryoshka dolls?

Oooh! Too many goodies in one day for me. Now, back to Maisie doll making for the upcoming markets.