day 2 - capturing gratitude

Grateful for the smatterings of purple flowers of the jacaranda trees while driving to chillingham...

a month of capturing gratitude: pic # 1

I am joining in on a month of fun... taking a pic each day (or i will try to) that "captures gratitude".

here is my first pic....

the pic was taken around 5:30am this morning (1st of november). i was getting ready to teach an early morning yoga class at 6am. and believe it or not, this is the very view that we have from our studio/CF box.... it looks out across the cane fields towards Wollumbin (Mt Warning). 

... and today there was a thick blanket of fog hovering over the sugar cane, and the peak of Wollumbin rising up through the fog.

:: if you want to join in on this months fun run by local lady Lauren Tober, head over here or click on the "Capturing Gratitude" badge top left side of my blog :)

tshirt transfer awesomeness

my lovely cousin gave me a wonderful gift from her overseas adventures... it is a tshirt transfer booklet packed full of the sweetest images and fonts that transfer onto fabric. this is the book...

so inside this little treasure trove are pages full of quaint and fun filled designs that you cut out and transfer onto fabric..tshirts...bags....what ever tickles your fancy.

we (my 3 year old boy and i) worked together this fine tuesday afternoon to create 4 uber cool tops for him to wear over the coming summer months.

he did the layout and selected the text positioning all on his own for this 'under the sea' inspired T.. so proud!

and here are some close-ups of the other designs....

just a wee bit cute aren't they... have you come across any cool transfers lately?

BIRCHseed in Peppermint mag!

is this not just the loveliest spring cover for magazine?

and gracing the cover is the gorgeous lisa mitchel, who is from my home town of albury

and upon looking inside this delight.... you will see my little orange block-printed choke appears on page 3 of the 'teenie greenie' feature

she is part of an animal farm story.... oh so sweet :)

i just love spring.... do you too?

& this is how i made the couch.....

hello again.... am getting a few emails from my readers in response to this weeks post asking how i made the couch....(probably should have explained a little bit more in my post hey!!)....

the frame is queen size recycled hardwood futon base that i cut in half to create 2 separate bed bases. i bought this in byron bay 10 years ago for $50 i think. you could use 2 of the $39 ikea fjellse bed frames  and saw the bed head part off. and you will need some $30 slats to also go with this frame.

the mattresses are from ikea. they are the sultan harestua and cost around $99 each. cushions line the back wall and range in size from 40 to 60cm square inserts and covers, plus a few other random sizes too.

the grey cover is simply 2 cotton $14 yoga blankets purchased online from the army disposal store here. i have them folded in to place atm, but aim to trim and sew snug fitting covers from them that will just slip on and off for the wash.

so for me the total cost was $278 dollars for the couch set up and i think i spent around $150 on cushions (i got the nice feather inserts......zzzzzzz) and a few covers. the others i made myself. 

i am also hunting down some industrial 100mm castors to screw to the bases, as this then allows ease of moving the couch from a L-shape to a lux kingsize double bed which we use when we have guests.

....the best thing about this style of couch for us right now is that our 3 year old boy can eat, drink, read and commando roll all over the couch and it still looks slick at the end of the day.

:: hope this helps guide you to making your own version of simple, family friendly couch!

My Creative Space : Shaking things up on the creative front | Village Voices

i visited an old haunt of mine today to gain some inspiration for a blog post...'our creative spaces'.

today they have asked to show something that is finished....so this is a simple project i did a couple of weeks ago... i made a family friendly couch after ditching the 2 seater ikea karlstrand!

our creative spaces has a new home and its really quite fun of your a creative type. its a great place to see what other makers are making and show the creative world what your up to.

follow the link if this kind of thing interested you... be warned, its addictive!

My Creative Space : Shaking things up on the creative front | Village Voices

BIRCHseed now selling through a new market place...

BIRCHseed is trialling 2 new online market places (and giving the bigwigs - Madeit and Etsy a little rest....) I feel its time to support some new Australian small businesses to get up and going.

so today i am introducing you to..... Andable. Andable is a global marketplace launched just this week in beautiful Sydney, Australia as a partnership between Rupal Ismin, Melissa Dean, and a web development agency called Interesting.

"Andable aims to empowers those in need that are willing and able. The cycle of poverty can end for many when given access to basic financial services like loans. The Andable community helps make this possible... 

For every sale our shops make, 10% goes to a micro loan fund to help people in need.  

The 10% has deep roots. Starting as an impoverished boy without shoes in India and continuing throughout his life, Dr. Chhotubhai Patel donated 10% of all his income to charity. This had a profound influence on Rupal Ismin, his granddaughter and co-founder of Andable. The 10% inspired Rupal to reshape our connection with buying and to help spread a new way of helping people in poverty."


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next week i will introduce you to the other online market place BIRCHseed is now selling with. 


:: if you pop over to Andable for a look see (just click on the image above)... let me now what you think :)