Web find... wire pears!

I was window shopping Etsy today and found a really cool shop!

There are pdf patterns for knitted pears..

A video tutorial for these cool beads..

A kit to make these cute earrings..

And heaps more cool stuff! (I've book marked it ready for Santa)

Check it out here....... the shop is called Yoola.

All images are via Yoola.

Ebay'ed fabric

Have you ever used Ebay?

I used it the other day for the first time & won the bid! 

So for 99c I bought some fabric (+ postage).

It was such fun, that I bid on some more.
I won some and lost some.

It's fun... maybe you should give it a go. 

There is stacks of fabric, yarn, paper - everything crafty, vintage & weird!

I need you help...

I need your opinions on this brooch I am making.

You see, I'm not thinking straight, I have no enthusiasm, no energy but I committed myself to making a brooch & I'm gunna make one. It's just that because I don't feel enthused, I don't know if this looks decent or not.  It's not finished yet, I'm still sewing on the beads... but I'd love your feedback on it... is it too beady, too out-of-fashion, too ickky?

The reason why I'm out-of-sorts? Well, not only am I tired cos I'm a brand new mum to the worlds sweetest 5mth old boy (who is still teething), I also have 2, yes 2, family members in the hospital - one with cancer in a hospital 3hours away and the other in Intensive Care (20 minutes away) that I can't pop in to see cos of the bubba.  So, I'm really trying to be crafty but when you kinda feel hollow on the inside it can be a little hard - that's why I need your honest opinion and please, if you don't like it, don't beat around the bush - I won't be offended!
BTW, my lovely Mr says it looks good, but hey, lets face it, he says I look good when I have baby vomit in my hair!!

Look at what I found!

I managed to unpack another moving box and look what I found inside!

I made him years ago and he somehow got lost amongst our clutter.

He's about 20cm long, made from calico & has a thread on the back for hanging.
I think I'll hang him from a door knob!

And the winners are.....

And the winners are....


Fiskars Circle Cutting Template
................Random number chosen was 5 which is Cath@ChunkyChooky with the comment ... yep. I am in. I have a giveaway on my blog too- pop over Rie. xx ( and everyone)


3 green balls of yarn
............. Random number chosen was 77 which by my calculations is Taleah with the comment ... Love the yarn. I just want to cuddle with it ;)


Congratulations to the winners, I have sent emails your way for your contact details.
Remember to stay tuned to CraftyRie as I have many more giveaways planned.

The great shawl crawl... part 2

It's still growing!  

And I think it's looking good!
I'm really proud of the myself that I can use circular knitting needles too.

The colour above doesn't really show properly.... So there's a close-up!
Have you entered my yarn giveaway yet?

Giveaway Day with SMS

Welcome to CraftyRie!

Would you like to win these balls of yarn?

They are a very groovy green with flecks of yellow/green throughout the yarn.
There are 3 balls of 50gm balls of yarn, the brand of yarn is Schachenmayr nomotta.

How to enter...     Just leave a comment below.

For additional entries:   Be a follower of the blog (new or old followers!!!) and be sure to add an extra comment stating that you are a follower.

Entries are open to one & all ... international entries are most welcome!

Entries close midnight May 25th 2011.

Good luck!

To enter more giveaways, click on over to SewMamaSew!

Did you enter my other giveaway? Be quick entries close for that one at 12pm Monday 23rd!!!

And remember to stay tuned to CraftyRie as I plan to have a couple of more giveaways really soon!
..... and the best way to stay tuned is to be a follower!!!

Giveaway

This is a case of ... Oops...
By accident, I purchased something that I already had.   Like I said.. Oops.

So this is where you come in because I'm giving it away!
It is a Fiskars Circular Cutting template - brand new & still in it's plastic. In fact, I haven't even opened the packaging.

How do you enter?
Just leave a comment below, leave as many comments as you want, you are not limited to one comment!
In fact, the more comments you leave, the bigger chance you have of winning.
Winner will be drawn by random.
You have until the Monday 12pm 23rd May to enter.
Good luck!

My Creative Space

Hello!
I'm (partially) back in the land of the living!

I've moved to Hobart (from Melbourne) and it's cold down here!!!!!

So, I've decided to be pro-active and I'm knitting myself a shawl.

Now, I'm not a fast knitter, so I've chosen basic knit stitch and I'm making up my own pattern.... which sounds dangerous, but basically all I'm doing is increasing 1 stitch in the middle of the piece each row. Well, almost each row, sometimes I forget!!!

Join in with Kootoyoo's Creative space here...

Circular or straight???

I recently took a jump to the daring side of life....

and bought a pair of circular knitting needles.

And wow!

They are 100 times easier than straight needles!

The knitting doesn't all bunch up - so I don't get frustrated with it!

Have you ever tried circular knitting needles or you sticking to tradition..
and staying straight?!?

The great shawl crawl

My shawl is knitting along.. slowly...

This is how big it is at the moment. 

Hopefully I will finish this before Winter finishes!!!!!

10 minutes ago

What were you doing 10 minutes ago before you read this post?

Me?
Well, bubba Joe & I were baking cookies.

Joe's a great supervisor but I burnt the cookies.
Stupid new oven in the stupid new rental house.

So, what were you doing? Tell me.....

We came, we saw and now we're back home

Melbourne was brilliant! 

I had so much playing tourist in a town that I had lived in for the last 11years.
Bubba Joe loved it too, he loved the lights, the trams and all the people!

We saw lots & lots of sculptures....

and we even saw a penny-farthing at a bike rack 

- do you think someone rode it to work!?!

We stayed at the Novotel on Collins Street which is awesome because it
connects with Australia on Collins, 

so even when it was bucketing down with rain,
we could go shopping without getting wet!  

We went to Clegs (on Elizabeth St),
they are an awesome fabric shop
but I didn't get to check out the fabric as they stock yarn now
& well, I didn't make it past the yarn.
Check out the colour of the yarn that I bought below...

We shopped at Lincraft and perused Morris & Sons. 

We walked up to Tessuti but it was raining & up some stairs - not pram friendly at all.
We also wanted to go Craft Victoria, but it's not designed for prams just like EG Etal too.
Oh well.

But we did go to the NGV at Federation Square.
Bubba Joe loved all the art, we only went to the free exhibits but that was ok.
He loved all the paintings, photos & scultpures & commented on them all
& when he saw a painting that looked like his mum (dark brown long hair, white pasty face & was a girl) he looked at it, looked at me, looked at it then put his hand to my face........ Awwwwwwwwwww!!!

Joe upon seeing his first tram!

We stopped by The Block Arcade and admired the mosaics,

then purchased & then quickly munched all of our choccies from Haigh's.
We checked out the new Myer and bought myself a treat from KIT cosmetics.

Do you like Fed Square?
I have to admit it that when it was first built, I didn't like it but then one day,
I saw it full of people having fun, relaxing & just generally enjoying themselves,
that's when I fell in love with Fed Square & now it's awesome!!!
(especially when they have The Designers Market or Mark-it markets there!).

What's your favourite places in Melbourne city?  
I'm going back in June & would love the chance to check out more places.

Joe in the Bourke St Mall

Me, this week.

Tonight I'm heading on a red-eye flight with bubba Joe & my Mr and we're headed back to Melbourne for a few days... Yay!!!!!!
So now, I finally get to do all those things I wanted to do before we moved away.
Here's a list of some of the places that I'm dragging Joe too....
..... Craft Victoria
..... Morris & Sons
..... Lincraft
..... NGV both Fed Sq & St Kilda Rd
..... that fabric shop around the corner from Tiffany's - it has fancy fabric but can't remember the name of the place
...... the pretty arcade with the beautiful mosaic floors
...... Mr Turds... ok, that's not it's name it's actually called Mr Tulk's but I think but Mr Turds sounds funnier
...... the shoe shop that I saw near the art store - it had really funky shoes
...... the art store near the shoe shop
...... that Japanese store where I bought the big box of nice incense
...... the french restaurant on the river
...... the little shop near the laneway with all the fun amber jewellery in it
...... the newly renovated Myer


Where else should I go? I want to stick to Melbourne city itself and want to visit all the fun crafty & arty places that I can.


And OMG - they had all better be Pram Friendly.... Any ideas on what I should do if I can't actually get the pram in the door way? Is it polite or rude to move the display a little to get the pram in????

Spoonflower... do you?

Have you heard of Spoonflower?

Spoonflower is a website where you can design then print your own fabric! 

How cool is that! 

Have you used it? 

Is it hard to do?

Did you know that you can also buy this designer fabric! 

Yep, you can purchase designer limited edition fabrics! 

I was going to buy some but the different types of fabric confused me,
so I purchased a sample card of the fabric.

Now, I just have to some time to peruse the fantastic store to make my selections.

Have you ever purchased fabric from Spoonflower?

My april stash-bust swap

Do you swap-bot?
I signed up a couple of years ago but never got around to swapping. BUT of course, now that I'm trying to unpack a house with a teething bub, I suddenly find myself committing to several swaps! Arghh!!
Anyway, I managed to meet my swap deadlines and just received my first one in the post.
It was for a Stash-bust swap - perfect for me as I was discovering all of these hidden craft stuffs as I was unpacking. 

Check out the goodies I got in the post.

And the beads, I love the beads!

Worship me....

Ok, so maybe don't worship me but if you are looking for a place to worship your family or perhaps start your own religion, I came across these churches for sale....
I wasn't looking for a church to buy, I was just looking for property and I kept coming across churches for sale & it kind intrigued me from there.....

I love the internet... you can find all sorts of weird stuff!

Great web find...

Have you seen this website, there is an online store with some great yarn for sale as well as some really cool free patterns to download.

I'm loving this sarong...  there are also some really great scarves & cardi's too.

image via Jo Sharp

Great idea

Check out this great idea that I found in a magazine - suitcase tables!!

It makes me want to go out & find old suitcases!