A little bit about me!

 Hi, I'm Gem, I'm the person behind Musings of a crafty mind & Eastside Crafters.

I'm 30 (turning the big 31 on our first crafty catch up ;)). I have an adorable 4 year old son and a gorgeous partner who I adore. I am currently a SAHM but am just finishing off cert 3 in child studies (to become a child care worker) but in previous life was a Vet nurse. I live in the beautiful Yarra Valley which I wouldn't change for the world!

I left vet nursing to become a mum over 5 years ago but unfortunatly we lost our first child after she was 3 days old due to complications with her birth. Her name was Lily and she is my beautiful angel. She is actually the reason I got into craft as an adult.

I had always been a crafty/creative child but as time went on I forgot about that part of me but when I was organising my daughters funeral I really wanted to make something for her, so I decided to make a guest book for people to sign at her funeral. It wasn't perfect but I was happy with how it turned out, it was pink, yellow and white pastels, I used some very cute baby related scrap booking papers on in the front left hand side near the bottom I used some cute pink letter tiles to spell out her name, LILY, lined the pages inside to make it look professional and worthy of being such an important memory from such a sad day.

I don't have any pics of it unfortunately and it's currently in storage with all her other items but I promise when I get it out I'll show you all.

So from there and as a sort of therapy (and to indulge my stationary addiction) I decided to learn to scrap book, I collected many themed papers, got obsessed with card stock and embellishments etc. I've made about 3 pages to date....LOL. It was fun while it lasted but just wasn't for me. I realised I liked to make things that serve a purpose, that can be used over and over again, so after trying card making, invitation making etc, as well as graphic design, I went to the other side, fabrics and sewing! This is where I am today with my craft.

I ♥ fabric, it makes me happy, I have make clothing, toys, aprons, bedding, room decoration etc and I love it all! I currently have two machines which are like my third and forth children LOL. One is a Brother BC 2500 sewing machine and the other is a Elna 344 overlocker, basic but what I need right now. My dream would be to get an embroidery machine but that's a while away!

Not my actual machine taken from google images, too lazy to take a photo of mine LOL.

 

 

Again not my machine, too lazy to take pic myself!

Back to reality I have a wee dog who's name is Daisy, she's a funny little thing she is but she was my saviour in very dark times, she gave me something to love when I should have been loving my newborn daughter. I also have 3 cats, Molly, Scout, and Moushka, three ratbags of cats but would be lost without them! 

I'm obsessed with the internet and having access to it, I couldn't live with out my internet, facebook, google, it connects me to a world I need to be a part of! I also love reality TV, I know not the most stimulating of activities but I ♥ it. My latest fav was The block, I even stood in line (FOR 4 HOURS!) to see inside the houses, am a little lost now it's over, although I'm glad to have found Katrina's blog, as well as Josh and Jenna's website so can get a fix in a round about way LOL.
I'm now watching the Renovators which is good but isn't the block!

Disclainer-
I promise I'm not a crazy stalker fan, in fact I can't stand when people get obsessed with celebrity, while I was waiting at the block to take a peek inside I stood there waiting to get things signed by the contestants and thought, wait a minute this isn't me, I felt strange asking for a signature from someone who was not 8 weeks a go just like me, don't get me wrong I loved watching the show but that whole celebrity thing just doesn't sit right with me, asking for autographs should be for 15 year olds with braces and acne, not 30+ y/o women. I admire the peeps from the show because they are just like us who have a talent for design and renovation, I love all things creative so to me it's a good fit. I did however get the promotional hat signed by a few of the contestants for my son as he loved watching the show and when I brought it home got a kick out of the autographs but never again will I ask a stranger for a signature, no matter how famous, they're just people!


So yeah, that's me in a nut shell, there isn't much to me really, I'm a Wife, Mum, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Crafter, Internet and Reality Show Junkie, Coke Zero Lover.

To market to market...

I've been sewing, and gosh it feels good!

This is a market apron I made for one of my sewing sisters for a Christmas in july swap we were doing! What do you think? I used fabric bought from Verri Vintage. Sam from Verri Vintage was my recipient and she didn't even realise I had bought this to use for her present!

I was going to use a free pattern I had found online to create the apron but I couldn't get my head around it so I just thought I would make up my own, at the end of the day it's pretty basic and straight forward. There are a few things I would change if I were to make it again but for a first go I am pretty chuffed as to how it turned out.

Sam was very impressed which is the main aim :D

Do you participate in swaps? Do get them done as soon as you get your partner or leave it till the last minute (like me LOL)?

Click to enlarge.

Exciting new step!

I have something very exciting to share with you, I am excited to announce a brand spanking new craft group being started up by moi in my local community of Lilydale! I have booked the venue, just have to confirm dates and everything will be up and running! I'll update when the time comes and things are more set in stone, but in the mean time head on over to the facebook page.

So if you're local to Lilydale (or don't mind a bit of a drive) I would love to see you at our crafty catchup! There will be coffee and cake (and coke zero, of course), bring something your working on or pick up some hints from the little demo's being held each week.

I ♥ OP shopping, do you?

OMG I love a good op shop, it's so satisfying to go into a shop full of glorious wonders knowing I could find my newest favourite things for a couple of dollars! I recently came across a big jar of vintage buttons for $10, I was in heaven! I can't go past an oppy without checking out their haberdashery section. I also check out the kids clothing section, having a 4year old boy who is growing like a weed the need for new clothing on a regular basis becomes bloody expensive, but picking up a cute top of pair of shorts for $1 or $2 each how can you go wrong! And the best thing is because kids do grow like weeks the clothing for sale is usually in great nick or sometimes even brand new!

One of my most exciting finds recently while not from an op shop is a book about op shops! It's actually a directory of op shops all over Victoria! How good is that?!, over 380 pages detailing 773 Op Shops.

Image borrowed from Little Red's craft cupboard.

Image borrowed from Op Shop Guide Victoria

I am seriously considering parting with $25 for this gem as I think it would pay for itself after a few trips. If you're interested in scoring yourself a copy you can pop over to their site, or check out their Facebook page. Also if you're in the Dandy Ranges you can pop into Little Red Craft Cupboard in Monbulk and pick yourself up a copy, while there why not peruse the crafty goodness available for sale!




Till next time crafteroonies!

To paint or not to paint.

I found this wee vase at a local trash and treasure a few months back, cost me all of $1, I fell in love with the 'shrooms, thinking it would fit in ever so nicely with my woodland theme addiction I am currently working on. What I didn't fall in love with is the curry/mustard brown/yellow glaze which adorns it.

My first thought was to paint white but then a little voice said, um hello it's glazed, you can't paint over glaze, a little googling pretty much brought me to the same conclusion, unless I wanted to go the trouble of having it fired again which could ruin it which is something I didn't want to happen. But I just don't know if I can live with the colour, so it has sat on my desk where I stare at it most of the day while working trying to like the colour and it is growing on my but still now 100% convinced.

What do you think? Do you like the colour, should I keep it with the vintage/retro vibe which comes with it, it is gives of a very 70's vibe. A part of me wants to go at it with some heavy duty spray paint and see what happends but I don't want to ruin it, humph.

WWYD?

Feels blergh

I hate when you think you're going to be having a great day and then you get a phone call and it ruins everything, well this just happened to me. I have been in tears and asked a very generous friend to come to my rescue which she did thankfully to get me out of a self dug hole.

I will NEVER again commit to anything that involves others.
I will NEVER again commit to something that will cause me being out of pocket because people don't follow through with their promises and obligations.
I will NEVER again get a bright idea and run with it with out any planning.

I like to be spontaneous and generous but it always seems to blow up in my face and it's MY name which gets dragged through the mud! I admit perhaps my organisational skill have a little to be desired but I can't take full responsibility for the chaos which ensued. I hate rude people and if I am being spoken to rudely expect it back.



Ho hum, what a depressing post. I am just feeling deflated now, grrr, snap out of it!

Sorry this is rather cryptic but I had to get it out. To make it better here's a picture of a cute puppy.

What a massive weekend!

How was your weekend? Mine was flat out! Actually most of last week I was either socialising or shopping (I know such a hard life, if only it was like that every week).

This weekend I was lucky enough to be shouted by my gorgeous friend M, a girls weekend. We had our makeup done, ordered room service, drank cocktails, ate over looking the yarra river and dancing to music from the 80's through to the 90's and had a blast!

On the Saturday I spent the morning and part of the afternoon with my sisters, not my blood sisters but my sewing sisters, we came from far and wide and assended on Jeff's shed (Melbourne exhibition building for non Melbournites).
There were a few who I hadn't met yet and it was great to put voices to faces and names, one including Gill who has taken over the reins at Oz Handmade but also some I've known for YEARS! So it was about time we met in person.

The girls who attended were...

Jane - Lil Pip
Bec - Baby Chilli & Chilli Tree
Ange - Perigren Creations
Bel - Little Sew n Sews
Mel - Handmade by 3 little b's
Gill - Frilly's Designs and Oz Handmade
Sarah - Skip Chasey
Kylie
Lynda - Stoked Designs

Here's a pic of us with Martha, the traveling doll I told you about a few posts ago, yes she has a name!

(And no I'm not going to say who's who cos I hate the photo of me so for now my identity will remain a mystery!)

FTR I actually didn't buy up big at the show, I got a few fat qtrs and some thread, I didn't really have time to slowly look around as I had to be at David Jones at 3 for makeup. Oh well, It was still great to catch up with my awesome sisters! I'm hoping we can do it again in Oct when the new craft show comes to town!

Have you been over to check out the new look Oz Handmade? It was released at 9pm last night and I love it's new look. Although I will miss my wee birdy, maybe he could pop up somewhere in a new form some how :D When you have time be sure to check out Oz Handmade, for all your handmade buying and selling needs! You can also be kept up to date on the Oz Handmade blog, where you will be the first to know about all the goodies which are going to be stocked in the Oz store, these include patters, supplies etc etc. Very exciting things are a foot in Oz Handmade land!

Till next time...