this is... my best op shop find

This is my best and also my latest op shop find. It's a bangle that is covered with embroidery thread in three of my favourite colours. I'm a bit of an accessories junkie and usually buy something in the hope that I can find other bits to match, but this time around I was set to go. As you can tell my current colour of the moment is turquoise!

A big thanks to Angela for all the fun of "This is" and the very talented Lino Forest for this great theme. 

Stay tuned for next week's "This is" as yours truly is lucky enough to be picking the theme. I've had a long hard think about it and I've decided on "This is... my most treasured childhood possession". So it could be anything (object, memory, person) that you have held near and dear as you were growing up. Look forward to taking a peek at them all next week.

something in the water?

There seems to be something in the water these days as more and more friends and family are popping up pregnant... No announcements from yours truly so don't get too excited boys and girls (do I have any boy readers apart from Mr Teacups?). As I like to be prepared, I've decided to begin my present-making-frenzy before these little peeps make their welcome into the world. With four beautiful bellies growing I am softie-ing up a storm! The first one of these is above. As I'm unsure who the lucky munchkin receiving her will be, for now she shall be called Little Miss Ruby-Rose... Little Miss Ruby-Rose has told me that she can't wait to find out who her new owner will be, and with the first due date in a couple of weeks she won't have to wait too long! 

To even out the boy/girl bubsy possibilities, a Mr Softie is next on the list. Currently he is sitting on my dining room table waiting for a spare moment to sew him together. He is very patient as he has already been sitting there for a week! I'm also hoping to get embroidered little labels made so I can sew them on to my softies. Does anyone know where I can get these done? I've found a place on eBay but not sure of the quality. Thanks blog-land :)

tote-alicious pin-cushion goodness

These are my latest sewing creations! A tote bag I made from my "Simple Sewing" book by Lotta Jansdotter, and next to it is the hand pieced pin cushion I made at Brown Owls last night. As usual an owly great night was had by all and under the careful guidance of Pip & Kirsty our flat seams were perfected! 

I'm very happy to say I'm back on the sewing bandwagon too. I've had to take a back burner in the last few weeks, namely because I thought I broke my mum's sewing machine. Lucky for me my aunty was on hand and it was sorted very quickly... turns out my newbie sewing skills need some threading lessons! Oh well I guess we learn from our mistakes and since then the machine has been running hot. 

sharing the love

Thanks to CurlyPops I've just found out about this amazing project. It's called The Toy Society and is all about sharing the love throughout the streets of Melbourne via handmade toys. A great project thought up by the very lovely SadieandLance!

this is... the space in which i create

This is the space in which I create... most of the time. I mainly work from home so between the hours of 9(ish) and 5 I'm in here. It's a spare bedroom which I have taken over. There is a nice big window to the right of my desk which easily distracts me during the day. Working on a laptop takes up minimal space which is just the way I like it. I much prefer the focus to be on my inspiration board and anything else I can find to pretty up the place. During my beloved craft-time I'm usually found at the dining table or on the couch where I can catch up on dvd's and tv... there's nothing like multi-tasking! 

Thanks to Michelle for this great theme.

on my desk...

I've given "on my desk" a miss in the past few weeks as things have been quite hectic in the business world. This week though I thought I'd show you a teensy weensy bit of what I have been working on. It's some illustrations and overall design of a small book. I had a meeting with the client this morning and she loved it, so it looks like all systems go. Pop over here to see some more of what is on desks this Wednesday.

this is... my favourite travel memory

Or should I say one of my favourite travel memories. We travelled through Europe a couple of years ago and had lots of little European adventures along the way... not quite National Lampoons but we loved it. 

While in Venice we stumbled upon a lonesome barber and Mr Teacups took it upon himself to take it as a sign for a haircut... And that's where we met Umberto. A quiet old Italian man (or so we thought) who didn't speak any english. Lucky for us I speak italian so we were able to communicate, and on finding out we were from Melbourne, this quiet man transformed into quite the talker. He then elusively slipped behind his beautiful bright pink floral curtain to bring out a book on our fine city. He explained that one of his closest friend's migrated to Melbourne many, many years ago and sent it to him. Opening it up to a page on football he explained that he used to be quite the soccer star and then again slipped behind the curtain to bring out a photo album containing photos of him as a young soccer star. With a big smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, he then treated us to a demonstration of his fancy footwork. Very impressive and even moreso considering he must have been in his 70s! Our next "show and tell" items were letters of thanks he had received from other tourists, one of which had taken shelter in his store during a downpour of rain. Basking in the limelight, he then began demonstrating the technique of a Gondoliere (we were in Venice after all), and encouraged Mr Teacups to join in. On his final trip behind the curtain he brought out a Gondoliere hat to complete the Venetian scene and of course photos were necessary!

When we arrived home a few months later we sent him the photos, but to this day are not sure if they made it into his precious "show and tell" items. My parents are heading to Venice in the next few weeks so I've told them to keep an eye out for a barber with a bright pink floral curtain and a cheeky twinkle in his eye...

Head over here to check out more favourite travel memories and big thanks to Hila for this great theme.

happy snaps

I received some lovely comments about the photography in my last post. Unfortunately I can't take all the credit. Mr Teacups is quite the talented photographer in his spare time (not that I'm biased at all), so I thought I'd share some of my favourites. If you want to see some more happy snaps take a look at his site or sneak a peak on his RedBubble profile.

this is... my pet

Some of you may remember Poncho from when he first came to stay with us a month or so ago. He had just had a knee reconstruction and I am very happy to say he is recovering nicely. He is mum and dad's dog (so mine too while I was living at home), but while they are on their three month holiday he is part of the Teacups family... and more spoilt than ever before! He loves sleeping in the sun, belly rubs, schmakos and walkies but hates being home alone and going to the vet.