my style

just a few lovely things i found on Pinterest ... and wanted to share x

all images via Pinterest

~ inspirational images ~

Samara of Maddabling

 Today I'd like to introduce you to the very special Samara of Maddabling.  She was the inspiration behind me wanting to 'pay back' kindness and start featuring these wonderful people in my blog.  Samara very kindly blogged about me (and my art) when I was very new to Etsy, Madeit and the fantastic DUST team.  I'm ever grateful for that gesture as it gave me the confidence to keep going.  I hope you enjoy her article.

Hi, my name is Samara and this is my story. I live in a country city on the Southern Coast of Western Australia with my wonderful husband and fur kids. I am a proud DUST team member and one of the three DUST Team Leaders, doing my best to fill the huge shoes of dear Julie-Ann who was taken from us in tragic circumstances last year. It certainly keeps me on my toes ! The DUST team is an amazing community of Australian Etsy Artisans who are supportive and creative. The DUST Team Awards 2012 have recently closed and I was stoked to be nominated for The Social Bunny Award and The Best DUST Blogger Award.

Funny enough, I won The Social Bunny Award - I do tend to talk a bit ;)  

I make, I create, delving into a world of paper, gemstones, beads, canvas, digital film and print - I love experimenting with different mediums. My signature line is Kilt Pin Brooches. I also LOVE to blog, promoting the craft of Australian Artists (predominantly DUST Team Members or WA Street Team Members) each week !

Competition Piece - Southern Summer - representing the colours of the South Coast  WA

I find inspiration in many things, beauty is something I see everywhere - the way the light falls in contrasting shadows or raindrops on a spiders web or cloud formations or sunsets or shiny sparkly craft supplies or a blank canvas or a new camera to play with ! Working full time I find being creative is a great way to reduce stress and to express yourself.

I originally wanted to pursue a career in media or graphic design, but sadly it wasn't to be. Maddabling came about from being encouraged to open an ETSY store by my dear friend Del over at DELicious Designz / GET Spooned and my first craft market that a very creative friend  Judy encouraged me to do a few years ago.

The markets were great encouragement, I thought "people like my stuff so that's a good start" - I am completely self taught and still learn new things every day. Which is good, because when one stops learning, the mind becomes stagnant and creativity is lost. As a child, I used to cut up lots of paper into tiny pieces (so my Mother tells me) and she used to dread it when I would pick up a pair of scissors. I also used to draw quite a bit but that pursuit has fallen by the wayside.

My proudest crafting moment was in 2008 I entered the Fire Mountain Beads and Gems annual beading contest with a necklace I made called "Ancient Ocean". I was a finalist and my necklace travelled to America and back to be photographed by Fire Mountain Beads and Gems - even though I didn't win, it was so exciting !

Maddabling Wine Charms have also been featured in Southern Minnesota Magazine. Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to Deborah for giving me this opportunity to share a little about Maddabling with her readers and in sharing the Handmade Love.

Thanks again Samara for being part of my humble blog... I am so happy to feature you on here.

... more contact info for Samara
Etsy Store
Blog

Facebook

~ inspiration from the West of Australia  ~

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winter uniform

... always have and probably always will be a 'Jeans Girl'...

it's my favourite uniform in Winter... (which thankfully is still a couple of months away).  alas ... i have a 'small problem' ... there seems to have been some kind of 'expansion' take place from the waist down and I'm having trouble getting back to my favourite denims...

 ... not one to give up easily (and inspired by the fact that I have about 8 pairs of gorgeous jeans in my cupboard) I've started 'training' ...   i'll keep you posted.

in the meantime, here's some faves i found on Pinterest ...

 

 

~ many hours of running to go ... ~

my productive SuNDaY ...

i LOVE it when i get things done in my studio ...

iron on transfer FreNCh MaRKeT BaGS ... one

two ...

three!

finally got around to doing a watercolour ...

... more shabby chic embellishments ...

~ mosaic tile shabby chic canvas embellishment ~

~ and again ~

some items listed already in my Etsy store and more to list soon ...

~ wahoo... let's hear it for productive Sunday ~

the most beautiful day ...

it's just turned out to be one of the most gorgeous days here...

... homeschooling went well this morning, i'm getting through officework this afternoon...  but the weather outside is just MAGNIFICENT ... a gorgeous autumn day ... and out here, days like this are quite rare.   Oh ... and it's Friday ... what more could i ask for?

hope your Friday has been a beauty ...

 

 

... just wanted to share some of my favourites from pinterest ...

~  inspiring autumn  ~

rainy tuesday ...

... we live on a cattle property in north west queensland, ... Australia...

it's been raining (which is expected for this time of year) for about a week now and i thought i'd take a few snaps of it all to show you...

... an old gate on the left (from old cattle yards) and my fabulous pink allamanda and some other pink vine ... (which I don't know the name of)

my treasured cumquatt trees (pots) and the back yard

something tells me the mailman won't be bringing our mail this week ...

... and unfortunately for our 4 children ... even when it rains we can STILL homeschool... :-)

rain = grass = happy cattle

we breed Beefmasters

introducing... Bambi ... Daisy and Ben - 3 poddy calves we keep near the house for the kids

... one of our girls is always hoping to discover a fairy ...

... i like the look of this croton ...

LOVE ... my gloriosa lilly - deep pink ...

.. and maybe i HAVE discovered a fairy trail after all ...

~ be thankful for what you have ~

lilly pulitzer

.. now for most who know me... due to my location and having 4 small children ... i have become quite the 'ebay queen' since i've lived here...  getting to stores is just a non-event.

a long while ago, i snapped up a shift dress by Lilly Pulitzer ...   it's just the most gorgeous summer item i have in my wardrobe.  easy to wear, bright, pretty and I always get compliments whenever i wear it!

i've done a tiny bit of research and it would seem that Ms Pulitzer lived in Palm Beach with her then husband where she ran an orange juice stand for something to do.  the juice was making a hell of a mess of her clothes, so she made some shift dresses in pretty fabric to hide the stains. 

she made extra dresses to sell at her juice stand and in no time she was selling more dresses than juice  ... and as they say ~ the rest is history...  

love those kind of stories - what an inspiration!

school friend Jackie O wore Lilly's dresses

fabulous palm beach digital image

gorgeous fabric

Ms Pulitzer

~ fabulous Lilly Pulitzer ~