See you on the flipside fellow bloggers :)

What a crazy month March was! There was the BrisStyle market in the beginning (there's some pics below of some lovely stalls on the day), and of course the big birthday bash for Jettster who turned two at the end of March. Above was 'the cake'. The real 'toot toot' cake he had been pointing out since he found my Women's Weekly birthday cookbook in February. It was one of those 'great from far' cakes. Don't look too closely at the smeared icing sugar, or the fact that taking a big cake like that to a park (mum nearly wore it a few times as I rounded corners!), in Brisbane - still reaching tops of 30 degrees, was no mean feat. Melting icing sugar meant wheels were not always staying where they were supposed to. But he loved it. So I'm happy. Last year Kym had to 'save me' with my pirate ship cake, so I was pleased to avert such disasters this time around.
Somewhere in the middle of it all I've been decluttering and trying (??) to organise myself for the arrival of the next little one coming out...ahem... Monday. eek. I'm sorry did I say 'eek'? I meant, holy crappola!!!!

I really need to get off the internet and finish cleaning/packing/writing Kym's do's and don't lists for Jett/organising movies to watch in the middle of the night, etc etc etc! Oh and of course trying to find time in the day to 'relax and sleep' before the meanings of these words become all but a distant memory for the next few years again :p
So, farewell, fellow bloggers, it will probably be a while... See you on the flipside!

Me!

SMboutique

Hot Fudge

RERead

Kimono Reincarnate

Enticing Icing

BIDM wrap :)

Last Saturday was the December BrisStyle Indie Designers Market - and what a day! Sure it was hot, but there were yummy cupcakes, good coffee, and lots of water to go around. Not to mention all the awesome wares on offer! After a few days of R&R to get over the excitement of it, I thought I better post some pics. I'd brought along a fan to help cope with the hot day but luckily found I didn't need it - it was put to much better use blowing some air into the portacot of Bel and Em's gorgeous little boys behind me - if second babies are this easygoing them I'm not so worried about welcoming our next one. I can't believe you barely heard a peep out the little guys and they were there all day - little marketers already!! There's no way Jett would ever have been this easy as a 5 month old!!!

Anyway, I think this was the least stressed Bec and I have been going into this market, and by making a few things easier for ourselves like simplifying our tagging, less props etc, we managed to get the stall set up early and still have time to eat breaky and check out everybody elses stalls - yay!

Here's a few pics of how we looked at the start of the day :)


And luckily for us, we managed to sell a few bags early on, so Bec and I got to tag team while we went about the market buying up Christmas presents for the family! Hooray! Here's a few of some of the very lovely things I picked up for my nieces and nephews. These items are for my pink-loving niece - a hairclip holder and clips from EmBelISH, skirt by the Seamstress and the Daughters, and cute cupcake and polka dot belt by Hip Brown.
For my mum, a 'just because' present by Hot Toffee - Nicole makes the best earings!!
A pair of aeroplane PJs for my nephew who's Jett's age, by Katie from Miss Kitty Boo Boo.
For my other niece - who is not a pink-loving little girl!! Pretty skirt by Christine at Little Diva, a beautiful necklace by Amanda from Twinkle Star Art, and some hairclips by Chicuff :)
And one of the presents I got for my five year old nephew - who wouldn't want to be a superhero for a day? This cool outfit was by Chicuff as well.
I have no pictures to put up but Jett didn't go without - I've purchased him and the little man still in my belly some lovely plane wall prints with their names on them from Twinkle Star Art too. I can't wait to see them! Amanda does such lovely kids illustrations :)

OK, I think that's the market wrap up for me - so many good things to buy, never enough time or money to get it all!!

So new stock has now been uploaded to the Beckybean shop - but I'll do another post about that one at another time :) Have a lovely weekend everybody if I don't do it before then. xxx

Sneak peak of some new Beckybean bags :)

Today I finished all my machine sewing for this Saturday's BrisStyle Indie Designer's Market - woo hoo!

After spending the last hour and a half sewing on lots of Dad's wooden buttons, my bed has never looked so good... so before I trot off to dream of fabric, buttons, Scotchgard, and thread, I thought I'd leave you with a sneak peak of some of the Beckybean bags that will be on offer :) This was the line up of a few bags waiting their turn for a light Scotchgard!

Nighty night :)

BrisStyle is Comin' to Town

How quickly the weeks are flying!! Only three and a half more weeks until Christmas :)

If you're like me than you have barely started your Christmas shopping and panic is slowly setting in about how much time you have left to get everything you need. Have no fear, fellow bloggers, you are bound to find something for your little ones (or for yourself :p - I know I will!) at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market this coming Saturday 5th December - St Augustines Church Hall and Grounds at Racecourse Road, Hamilton.

Here's a little sample to whet your appetite of some of the lovely wares that will be on offer.

(felt and fabric necklaces from littlechrissy)


(Twinkle Star Art gift cards in packs of 5)

(Offerings from Selvedge House)

(labradorite ear candy from rocknwrap)

Of course, Beckybean will also be there with bells on (boom boom) :) I won't write too much about what we have been working on, as you can read about here, on Bec's blog. I'll just leave you with one pic of our new range of shoulder bags which are incorporating the humble tea towel :) Why waste such beautiful linens on something as boring as drying dishes???

Anyway, we hope to see you at the market this Saturday!

To market, to market

Things have felt very busy lately and I'm only now starting to feel on top of things again. We've had a busy few weeks that I thought I'd recap for those interested (and for those who aren't, this may be a little boring!)... I can't believe it's been over three weeks since I last posted - what a slacker!I just received a comment from the lovely and talented Rebecca from Edward and Lily to say I have been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award. Given how slack I've been lately I feel embarassed to receive this - but thanks Rebecca! I'll try to post more often! The rules of the Award are:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Now I don't think I could narrow it down to only pick my favourite 15 bloggers so I'm not going to... Can I please just urge you to check out some of the lovely blog links in my blog rolls. Perhaps you might find yourself another favourite :)

Urbane closed down nearly three weeks ago (hmm... maybe this is also why things have been different - new routine perhaps?) and we've been enjoying having Kym here - particularly at nights! He's doing lots of work for the restaurant still during the day but I'm getting more help with Jett which is cool for me. And nighttime company! Although we have become 'Storage world' for the restaurant (which initially I wasn't keen on!), they have left all its alcohol here... and some pretty cool equipment too. Dinner party anyone?? Just kidding. Sort of... he he he. We're also keeping some of the shelving apparently as its no longer needed, so I'm envisioning a new sewing area with better material storing space which is exciting.

Last week we also had a wonderful five days back in Melbourne for Restaurant 09' (like a trade show for hospitality). Although a little chilly compared to the Sunshine State, the sun shone and I had moments of wondering why I left there 10 years ago... luckily it was overcast and dreary the day we left so that helped remind me!! Although Restaurant 09 was fairly crap compared to the one we'd been to in Sydney last time, our time away was fabulous.

I can't remember it's exact name... but this was my dish from Cutler & Co it had mixed wild mushrooms, burrata (handmade bocconcini), bread pastry square, freshly shaved truffles, and truffled polenta - yummo!

We ate. And ate. And ate some more. To the point when it was almost (I say ALMOST!) unenjoyable to eat anymore. Eating around Jett's daytime sleeps meant late lunches around 2pm but still early dinners at 6pm before bed... so it felt like all we did was eat for hours. We went to (excuse spelling mistakes!) Lau's Family Kitchen in Acland Street St Kilda (ex Flowerdrum), Giusseppi Ronaldo & Sons in SouthBank, Ginger Boy in the city, Cutler and Co on Gertrude Street Fitzroy, along with pastries from Laurent and yummy dumplings in the city, just to name a few. And they were all pretty damn good.
Lucky for me there were lots of sales on and we got to do some damage to our credit cards. Yay! I will apologise now to anyone trying to walk around Melbourne Central on Friday and Saturday last week and kept being ran into by a 15 month old little man carrying his own shopping bag and going in every which way direction!!! I tell you, when he's been couped up all day either because we're in restaurants, or crossing roads, or on public transport, trying to contain him while he stretched his legs was an effort :p
A few weeks ago now Sophie Formica and the Great South East team from Channel 7 undertook some filming on BrisStyle featuring some key committee members. As Bec is one of the founders of the ever expanding group, and they decided they like the 'sisters who sew' angle, they decided to pay a visit to Bec's house and film us talking about our bags, our philosophy, materials and Dad's buttons!! Luckily for me Bec was the main speaker as they wanted to mainly talk about BrisStyle :) I'm not really one for public speaking... So anyway, if you live in the Great South East be watching this Sunday 28th June at 5.30pm on Channel 7. Bec and I have our fingers crossed we don't sound like utter twats! Bec had a cold at the time and is particularly stressing about how her voice will sound! I'm sure it will be fine Bec :p The above pic is how we set up the stock for the show.

If you watch the show and like what you see (how's that for a segue?), come along to the second BrisStyle Indie Designer's market on Saturday 4th July from 9am-2pm at St Augustine's Church Hall on Racecourse Road, Hamilton. Go check out the BrisStyle blog to find out more details. I probably haven't been as busy as I should have be in the lead up to this market, but my little holiday's are over and I'm doing some last minute sewing now. And loving it. We'll even have a few large and small pochettes that are 'new' to the Beckybean shop so come see. We're just so excited! Not just to showcase our bags, but to check out the other talented BrisStylette's and do a spot of shopping ourselves. Hopefully we sell a few bags so I have more spending money!!!

Here's a list of who'll be there:

Made by Maisie
edward and lilly
RE-read Design
little chrissy
Sharlzndollz
Flight Industries
Prettyhead Designs
Epheriell
PretaPawte
Raspberry Pink
SM Boutique
Shelley Berelli
Designs of the Heart
My Girl
Creative Arty Facts
Little Diva
Beckybean
Hot Fudge
Why Not Street
Blossom Child
Rellesh
Elvin Hair
Create and be Happy
Shazzabeth Creations
Hot Toffee
Denim Days
Up in Annie's Room
Scampsville
Kitty Boo Boo
Jellygnite
Little Jellygnite
Mimoo
The Seamstress and The Daughters
Ruby Red
Ruby 2 Go Go
Strat Designs
Bubbachenille
Lemon Ink
Jetta's Nest
Vintage Cherubs
MJ Mosaics
Ogekko
Willows Heirlooms
Vintage Visions
Wicked Child Designs
Red Seed Studio
Bellabijoux

Thanks to those of you who hung in there and got to the bottom of the post. Pretty poor PR person aren't I? Hopefully people didn't read using the inverted pyramid where I should have put the most important info (our market and tv) at the top and my waffle about my holidays at the bottom. Woops. I'm so out of practice. OK, over and out :)

BrisStyle @ Stitches & Craft, BrisStyle Giveaway and new Beckybean bags uploaded!

Saucy Apron by Made by Miffy

I've been a little busy this week so have had to skip this week's Eye Spy theme of 'A Work in Progress' by Melissa from Hugo and Elsa... I will try and be organised on Sunday for the next theme I promise!!!

I'm a couple of days late (surprise surprise!) but if you're in the Brissie area go and say hi to some of the lovely and very talented ladies from BrisStyle at the Stitches and Craft show (look out for them wearing a BrisStyle badge). By doing so you can also pick yourself up a 10% discount voucher to use at participating BrisStyle stores - how awesome is that? Who doesn't love a bargain??? You can read about the participating stores and also who will be at the show here.

Scooter Girls by Ruby2GoGo

Finally, BrisStyle is having another double giveaway! Oh if only I could enter... the super talented Katie from Kitty Boo Boo and the lovely Benita from Bettsy Kingston (I know I've said it before but if only Jett were a little girl so he could acceptably wear the 'P is for Punk and Miet' ruffle pants!) are the featured members this month so get your entry in for your chance to win :D

‘Galaxy’ Boo Boo Booties by Kitty Boo Boo

Girls' Hungry Caterpillar ruffle pants by Bettsy Kingston

Finally, the next upload of the 'Crema Range' coffee bags are in the shop. All of these ones have been lined with a gorgeous hemp/cotten blended fabric and the insides feel divine. I really need to make one for me with this hemp...(you know what they say, leaky pipes at the plumbers house!). Head on over to check them out and tell us what you think!OK, housekeeping done!!! Now, I'm off to do a spot of sewing while Jett's in bed and before I stop running on adrenaline and the tiredness kicks in...:P Happy weekend everybody!

Cast your vote for Etsy's best eco-friendly finds!

It's time to cast your vote for your favourite environmentally friendly item on Etsy - and we're a bit chuffed to say that one of the Beckybean bags has made it to the top 60 nominations!!! Yay!!! OK, we're more than just chuffed - we're super dooper excited :D

We're also in some pretty good company too - five other BrisStylettes made the top nominations too - congratulations Ruby2GoGo, REread, ArtDecadence, Epherelli and Pedrosprout! We're so proud to be part of such an inspiring group of people.

So if you haven't cast your vote, head on over and check out the fabulous Etsy Eco-friendly finds.

Eye Spy...my favourite colour and other goodies!

My usual favourite colour is green - I don't mind which. Olive, khaki, tree frog, bottle, lime, and all the rest that live on the green spectrum. This affinity started as early as I can remember, perhaps because my name is Jade... who knows. I'm sure I was (and also still am) a big pink and red fan too...

However this week my favourite colour is 'Misty Blue'. Yes, it sure does sound like a porn name, but it's not. It's the colour name of my new Townie Electra bike. And I just love love LOVE it! With Jett's first birthday approaching in two weeks (where did the last twelve months go???) we decided to get him a Wee Ride. So of course in order for the whole family to go riding (Kym does have two bikes but they are way too big for me) I needed a newbie. So happy birthday Jett, mummy got a new bike!! Hooray!!

After much searching I was beginning to think I'd just settle on any old bike because none really grabbed me. Until I met Misty Blue at New Farm Bikes. And I fell in love. Sure, it was more than I wanted to spend on a bike, but then I rationalised that I am going to have this for a long time so I should get one I really love. And Kym being Kym told me to get it if it was what I wanted...He's a bigger shopper and spender than I am! So we took it out along the river on Sunday and it was as fun and comfortable and cruisey as it looks. Perfect! Kym even brought me a basket to go with it - how ace is it???

So I felt like we were the three bears of the biking world. Me on my girly mama bike, Jett on his Wee Ride, and Kym on his very expensive and 'manly' downhill bike - which looked extremely funny with a kid seat on it! It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

On other news, BrisStyle had it's first birthday on Sunday in the Roma Street Parklands and it was a fabulous day filled with crafty goodness, perfect weather, and even more fabulous and inspirational people. Check out the latest post on the site for details here. It's always great to meet new people and also put faces to the blogs and etsy stores I've been looking at and reading for a little while now. The day also consisted of a lucky dip - and look at my fab score from Little Diva crafts!! Some of you might remember back in a previous post I said I wanted to make myself a new apron, well now there's no need! And the pin cushion I'd been using was dead boring - plain grey and something I'd got out of a watch case many years ago... I'm too embarrassed to even put an old pic of it up. So as you can see, I could not have picked out a better present - thank you Christine!
Well I've been speaking of presents for Jett (well me really I suppose!) and presents I've received, so here are two little ones I brought for me as well. I just love getting mail! I brought some cool little buttons from Hayley at RE Read which arrived yesterday - the are so brilliant - she makes them out of old children's books. And today my beautiful fabrics from the lovely Melanie at Kimono Reincarnate. How gorgeous is the packaging? Melanie even wrapped them in an extra piece of beautiful fabric - thank you!!!Now that I have these I really should get off the computer and start making something for 'Me' I think before Jetstar wakes up :P

So many things to love, to want, to buy...

Yesterday was the BrisStyle market and I have to say it seemed to be a raging success! I was helping out my sister at the Beckybean store and she sold more than half her stock - woo hoo! She's closed her Etsy shop until the 26th of January but somehow I think she's going to have a bit of sewing to do in the new year... I might have to help out I think - I'm feeling very motivated!

It was very inspiring to see so many great crafters, designers and artists in the one place. I'm generally not a market kind of girl (unless it's a food market...) but I have to say I loved it! Kym had Jett for the morning and didn't bring him in until the afternoon, so it was also lovely to have some 'kid-free' time. Of course after only five hours I was starting to miss him so it was very nice when Kym turned up :P I also needed to promptly show Kym to a few of my favourite stalls for my Christmas present so I'm looking forward to seeing what he chose - I think it may be a bracelet from StratDesigns - yay!



My lovely sister also got me this lovely necklace from Raspberry Pink which is very cool, and this awesome little bib by Jellygnite with cowboys on it for Jett. I managed to pick up Jett this gorgeous little tee by Tees2Knees and I couldn't resist the little zipped purses by Little Mary Moo (I couldn't decide which I wanted most so I got all three...)
and also this tiny purse mirror by Hot Toffee. Oh and a brooch from REread Design (I couldn't take a pic of it as I think it's somewhere in Kym's bag and he's off riding with my brother-in-law). I think that's everything!

I had moments yesterday where I wished my gorgeous little boy was a gorgeous little girl... so many beautiful dresses by Hot Fudge and gorgeous ruffle pants by Bettsy Kingston... I would have brought some for two nieces but Bec had already beat me to it - maybe our next baby (not any time soon!) will be a girl and I can go nuts then :P

I helped Bec with five bags to sell at the markets, and while three sold, I was very happy that my favourite one didn't, so I get to keep it. Yay!

After all those purchases I still managed to forget to buy something! I really wanted to get a print for Jett's room by Twinkle Star Art - I'm going to need to go online now and get one I think. They are soo cute. How I forgot when they were the store next to us I have no idea :P


Speaking of recent purchases (how's that for a segue?), Kym brought me this present this week. Yay! I'm so excited about it that I'm 'saving' it for when he's off work over the holidays so we can just sit and watch. I love love love the Mighty Boosh - 'ooh such a good time' :D