Things I Love - Gel Pens

This is no secret to some of you, but I have a mild obsession with all things stationery.  I love coloured pens, I love pencils, I love staplers that come with coloured staples, I love funny-shaped erasers...you get the point!  One of my favourite items of stationery is the gel pen.  I love the way they glide while I write and the fact that they come in so many different colours.  I don't even mind using cheapie gel pens from KMart (I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my most recent packs were SCENTED).  Are you a stationery fan???  And what is your favourite stationery item and favourite stationery supplier?

It's the small things...

I don't know what it is about security doors (actually, doors in general), but the last two homes Mr Cheeky Monkeys and I have owned have both had issues with faulty doors.  A security door in our first home broke within a week of us moving in and our current home has had problems with both the front and back doors (including my most recent escapade juggling a massive glass door on my own to stop it crashing and breaking when it slipped out of its sliding channel - eep).

So you can imagine how excited I am that we finally had a brand new security door installed at our front door!  I know, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but this is HUGE for us because we have been battling with a shonky security door since we moved in (it broke the day we moved in - gah) and it has taken us almost two years to organise this new door what with the various issues cropping up over the last few years.  Now that I've got a functional security front door, I'm going to open my wooden door to let in the beautiful breeze every chance I can get!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

Okay, so that's not really a HUGE rock for your hand, but sometimes a girl's got to take what she can afford, right?  I've been making these vintage glass stone rings for a few years now and I think the Crystelle ring above has got to be one of my all time favourites.  There's nothing like adding some new colour options to perk up an old range of creations!

Besides adding rings in new colours to my Glam It Up range, I'm also re-visiting favourite colours which were very popular.  I have to admit that I find it hard to decide what colours to create these rings in because I have to turn off my bias for or against certain colours!  I love purples, reds and blues for my rings - what are your colours of choice?

Tutorial Roundup - Friendship Bracelets

Having grown up in the 1980s (er, yes, that is how old I am!), I have fond memories of the knotted friendship bracelets that my friends and I made for each other.  Some of my friends were amazingly adept at creating the most intricate designs, whereas I was hopelessely limited to the most basic striped version and despaired of even successfully attempting the (also basic) chevron pattern.  Now that I'm a little older, friendship bracelets are back in vogue, and I have finally mastered the knot-tying technique so essential to making them.  For those of you who want to try making some yourselves, here are a selection of great tutorials.

Find a selection of patterns including asymmetrical chevron and blinged out versions.

The Purl Bee has two cute Valentine-themed patterns.

Braceletbook.com and Friendship-bracelets.net have a host of friendship bracelet charts to suit all experience levels.

Goldilocks, Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales

When I was a very small girl, my favourite bedtime story was Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I loved it so much that I insisted my dad had to read it to me EVERY night before I went to bed.  My poor dad got so bored of that story that he would change parts of it to see if I noticed (which I did, of course)!  Even though I rarely read Goldilocks nowadays (the Cheeky Monkeys can read for themselves), I still have a love of my childhood fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

This love of traditional rhymes and tales (and memories of my large collection of Golden Books) was a major reason for starting my Golden Book line of buntings.  While Disney-themed buntings, such as Bambi, have been much sought after by customers, I am also making more traditional tales (like The Owl and The Pussycat) for those who love the old classics.  So tell me, which classic stories do you prefer: the traditional stories, or the Disney-ised versions of old tales?

Things I Love - Scherenschnitte (AKA Papercutting)

I have long been fascinated by the art of scherenschnitte, or papercutting as it is better known.  It never ceases to amaze me that artists using a simple blade can achieve such intricate and beautiful results.  Having tried it myself (you can see one attempt here), I can attest to just how difficult it is to keep one's hand steady while slicing delicate designs in paper!  There are a host of amazing papercut artworks one can find on the web, and today I'm highlighting just a few I have found on Etsy.  Enjoy!

Sarah Trumbauer

Rural Pearl

Heirloom Paper Cuts

Whispering Paper

Zipper Flowers Revisited

Do you remember all the way back to March last year when I last blogged about zipper flowers?  I made up a stack of zipper flower hair ties/ponytail holders for the fundraising craft stall that the Two Cheeky Monkeys' school runs at the annual school fete.  Well, I was told that these hair accessories were A HIT (most of them sold to the parents running the craft stall before the general public even got a look in!), so this year I am making some more.

Like last year, I will be going for a range of colours and styles to suit all tastes, though I think my favourites are the two-toned ones with the button centres.  If you're in Melbourne, you can come along to the school fete in March to purchase some zipper flower hair accessories!  If you're not in Melbourne and would like some of these flowers for your hair, you can make your own with this very simple tutorial.  And if cutting up zippers is not your thing, I can take custom orders for ponytail holders, headbands or brooches - the possibilities are almost endless!