My Creative Space

This week I've been working on more Pride and Prejudice creations with some new products soon to make their way into my stores!  I've made a few more pairs of Mr Darcy cufflinks and have also had a lot of fun making these sets of P&P shank buttons.  The vintage book text has been inset into a metal button setting and then topped with a glass dome cabochon.  I've decided to sell the buttons as sets of five comprising the names of either Mr Darcy and Elizabeth or Jane/Mr Bingley AND Elizabeth/Mr Darcy.

My only dilemma at the moment is where to sell these buttons.  Should I sell them through my Two Cheeky Monkeys store (where I've been selling upcycled P&P jewellery and accessories), or should I sell them through Domum Vindemia, my upcycled homewares and decor store?

Things I Love...

Dr Who Chess Set

I don't know about you, but the Dr Who TV series used to really freak me out when I was a kid (okay, it still freaks me out a little now too as an adult) because not only were the Daleks pretty scary, some of the doctors were pretty weird too.  But since marrying my husband, who is a bit of a Dr Who fan, I have learned to appreciate the new series of Dr Who and am quite fond of the more recent doctors.  And now that the show doesn't scare me quite as much as it did when I was little, I find myself regularly surfing Etsy in search of fantastic Dr Who creations.  I think this has got to be the coolest one I've found so far, a chess set comprising many favourite characters from the more recent series (and some from past series), including the tenth doctor as the white king.  I'm not really a big fan of the game of chess, but I think it would be fun to play a round or two on this board!  So tell me, who is or was your favourite doctor?  Or do you still avoid the show?

Home Grown Mushrooms!

I know I wasn't intending on posting any more "birthday" posts, but this was so exciting that I just have to share it with you all!  After lots of umming and ahhing on my part (there are just so many things a girl could ask for), I finally decided that I would love it if Mr Cheeky Monkeys bought me a mushroom farm for my birthday.  He finally had a chance to visit our local Bunnings Warehouse yesterday and ended up getting me not one, but two, grow your own mushroom farms!  One kit has been seeded with Swiss brown mushroom spores while the other kit grows regular white button mushrooms.  I've had a lot of fun growing mushrooms in the past (although I haven't been spectacularly successful) and the cheeky monkeys and I are looking forward to harvesting our own mushrooms in about a month's time.  So let me ask you, have you grown mushrooms before?  And if you could, which species of mushrooms would you grow?

Sew Mama Sew Giveway Winners

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter my humble little giveaway!  It was nice to find out where everyone came from and how you use buttons, and I look forward to further interactions with you on either my blog or yours.  Random.org did its thing and our two winners are:

1ST PRIZE: Kelsey from New York who said, "I use buttons for conventional reasons usually-- in the past, this had been largely limited to my knitting, but over the winter, I sewed my very first buttonhole, so a whole new world has opened up!"

2ND PRIZE: Charlotte from New Zealand who said, "I love to use vintage buttons on my handknit projects."


Congratulations to both of you!  Please check your email for a message from me.   :)
My condolences to all the other entrants, I hope that you at least enjoyed finding lots of new blogs during the Sew Mama Sew May giveaway madness!

More birthday shenanigans

So I promised you a look at the inside of my attempted ombre birthday cake in Wednesday's birthday post, and here it is!  As I mentioned, it's not going to win any prizes (except for maybe "craziest thing Deb's done at the last minute"), but everybody loved eating it.  The cake is a simple vanilla butter cake which I attempted to colour purple with run-of-the-mill food dye.  I think that next time I try something like this, I will make a whiter cake (any suggestions anyone?) and use the specialist cake maker food dyes.  The dark chocolate ganache worked well at sticking the cake layers together, but I think I might have to play with the chocolate to cream ratio next time to get a slightly thicker consistency.

As my rather hectic week of birthday celebrations draws to a close, let me remind everyone that my Sew Mama Sew vintage button and fabric giveaway is ending tomorrow and will be drawn some time this weekend.  If you haven't already entered, you can do so here.

My Creative Space and a Special Birthday Discount

Yes, the day has finally come when I have to admit, grudgingly or otherwise, that I am very much in my mid-30s and that FORTY is getting closer and closer!  Today I turn 35, which feels sooooo oooold to me, but I know it's not really, especially when you think about my husband's gran who just turned 95.  Anyway, since it's my birthday, my creative space this week has been filled with my attempts at making myself a purple ombre birthday cake.  My first attempt failed since I did the lazy woman's option of making layers and ended up with a marbled cake, LOL.  My second attempt has worked better, although my cake is not going to win "best in show" for the prettiest cake!  I am teasing you with the outside of the cake (yes, that's a dark chocolate ganache, so I will be going for a run this morning!) and hope to show off the inside layers in another post this week.

Two Cheeky Monkeys

And just so you don't miss out on the gift-receiving fun (and I have gotten some great gifts already), I'm offering a special discount in both of my Etsy stores to my faithful readers and fans.  For the next 24 hours only, receive a 20% discount at Two Cheeky Monkeys when you use the coupon code BIRTHDAY at checkout (excludes shipping).

Domum Vindemia

For those of you who prefer my vintage upcycled homewares and decor, I'm offering a 15% discount at Domum Vindemia for the next 24 hours too.  Get your discount by using the coupon code BIRTHDAY at checkout to receive your discount (excluding shipping).  If there's anything in my Madeit stores which you have been eyeing that aren't in my Etsy stores, just send me an email and I'll be happy to reserve the item(s) for you with the discount already included.

My Birthday and Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!

I am excited to announce that I am once again participating in the annual Sew Mama Sew May giveaway day!  I love the May giveaway day event as it usually coincides with my birthday week and hosting a blog giveaway in the midst of my birthday celebrations is always lots of fun.

This year I have decided to give away TWO prizes.  The first prize is a package of some of my vintage button stash and a fat quarter in a turquoise/blue floral design.  The second prize will be one package of vintage buttons.  That's right, TWO WINNERS!  Each packet contains about 40 buttons, and although the packets are not identical, they are very similar.  To enter the giveaway, simply follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below.  I'll be running the giveaway from the 21st of May until the 26th of May (AEST) and it is open to worldwide entries - enjoy!

Edit: I realised that I've asked you to answer a question as a giveaway entry but I haven't told you my answer!  I live in Melbourne, Australia where it is almost winter and getting very cold every day.  I loooove buttons, especially vintage ones, and mainly use them in jewellery, hair accessories and as embellishments for fabric flowers or bags.   :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Creative Space

Lulu, Amelia and Jemima buntings.

Well, it's been another week of craziness here at house of Two Cheeky Monkeys, but I have still managed to get some creating done in my "free" moments.  This week I've been working on new buntings for Domum Vindemia.  I just love putting together each bunting, although I always seem to hesitate when I have to start cutting up the gorgeous vintage doilies and napkins.  Here are three of the buntings I've sewn up this week (pink and yellow seem to be the most popular bias colours at the moment), with some more in the works using aqua, green and patterned bias tapes.  I have been sourcing vintage bias tapes and sewing trims for my buntings, and plan to start adding ric rac and lace to them soon.  What do you think?  Would you like to see other colours and embellishments on the buntings?

A DUSTy Craft Swap

This is a long overdue post about some of the beautiful items I received in the March/April DUST team craft swap!  I was partnered with the talented Chrisy of Artdecadence who sent me a variety of beautiful creations, including a framed version of the Take Flight print (see above) and an assortment of funky postcards (see below for an example).  I think I'm going to put the framed print up in my study/craft room/computer room and I'm looking forward to using the postcards to send people colourful surprises in their mail!

Mother's Day Gifts

Well, it's Monday and back to reality for all of us mothers who quite enjoyed being pampered yesterday!  For all of my readers who are mothers or grandmothers, I hope that your families took the opportunity to show you how much they love and appreciate you, although I do hope that they do that on a regular basis anyway.  :)  Today I thought I would show off some of the wonderful presents I received as a form of escapism from a dreary, winter-like Melbourne day, he he.
My cheeky monkeys went all out with their handmade creations, which included items they made at school, kindergarten, home (while I was banished to the study) and Sunday school (although monkey #2 was quite cut up that she wasn't allowed to attend Sunday school due to her asthma flaring up).  I am really pleased with the painted ceramic platter monkey #2 made at kinder as it will make a nice partner for the painted platter I received from monkey #1 when she was in kindergarten.  Monkey #1's handmade card tugged at my heart strings when I saw that she had written, "I will never stop loving you."  Aww...  She also used some of her pocket money (and some money from her daddy) to buy me an assortment of funky items from her school's mother's day stall, including some Paris-themed sticky notes (that child has good taste).

Not to be outdone by his offspring, Mr Cheeky Monkeys made up a hamper of gourmet foods and candles for me, although I'm not entirely convinced that his choice of present was purely altruistic since he and the cheeky monkeys seem quite keen to help me enjoy the contents of my hamper!

Mother's Day Finds

Today's post is all about handmade beauties I would love to receive for mother's day!  So as you sit back and enjoy browsing through each amazing store, let me wish a Happy Mother's day to all my readers who are mums or mums-to-be.  And to those who are especially missing their mums or mourning the fact that you aren't a mum this weekend, I send to each of you a big hug.

Totally Crosses

La Plume Ethere

Lucid Doll

Lazy Lightning Art

Keilantra's Kreations



My Creative Space

My creative endeavours have slowed down a little this week as I've struggled with tiredness and two little monkeys who caught very sniffly colds from their school/kindergarten friends.  However, we're all on the mend and I did manage to make a few items!  The lace and pearl bracelet above was inspired by this bracelet and combines gorgeously multi-coloured freshwater pearls and some vintage lace which I found on my travels.  I also managed to make a few new dictionary page prints for the store, including the teapot print below.  What have you been creating this week?

My Creative Space

From top to bottom: Flower Girl, Wedding Bells and Floriana headbands

This week I've been having a lot of fun sourcing vintage lace for the new range of bridal headbands for Two Cheeky Monkeys.  And it has been even more fun working out the placement of the lace on the metal bands and seeing the finished product!  Now my only decision left is how many different lace designs and which colours to source.  What are you making this week?