A freshly 'baked' tray of Lark cupcakes!

These tasty treats will be in the Genki Happy Springtime Caravan, a unique exhibition taking place in Melbourne next Tuesday and Wednesday. The caravan will be full of wonderful items to be auctioned off in aid of the Melbourne City Mission. Find out more here.

THRIFT THURSDAY


Ok, Ok, I know it's supposed to be 'Thrift Tuesday' but I was too busy on Tuesday so I went thrifing today instead, in Ballarat, while hunting for new kitchen taps.


Found quite a few goodies, including a whole lot of vintage children's books (my main passion!). These included a 1968 Tina annual (that's the year I was born!), Peter the Pup illustrated by Gilbert Delahaye, and a dozen other cuties. Also old patterns and handicraft books and some choice vintage linens. And a vintage suitcase for Angela . I found this gorgeous 1950s Junior Scrabble Set in my favourite shop, Joyce's Junkatique.


Joyce has owned her store on Main Road, Ballarat, for forty years. She used to live there too, but the junk has taken over the three-story old building to the point that she now has to live elsewhere! Joyce's 'junk' is piled up to the rafters in every room and it all looks a bit chaotic at first, until you look closely when you will see it is all quite ordered. And Joyce knows where everything is, just ask. I didn't find any kitchen taps, though.

I've spent the last few days at the Magnolia Square market in Melbourne. It was hard work and I lost my voice, but Angela and I had a few giggles and the best thing was meeting in person lots of lovely crafty blog girls, including Lara, Jodie, Miss Marzie, Vicki, Nichola and Justine. And Dana and Kerry too. And Jo. Hi everyone! ( I'll post some links when I'm back on top of things). We shared a tiny room with two fab designers - Little Chipipi and Little Living Spaces. Erin from Little Living Spaces brought along this cute doll, made by her mum when she was little!


Auntie Cookie was there too and her stall looked awesome, I thought it was the best of all. Ours looked pretty good though, and Angela managed to sneak in some needlework between the busy periods!


Home to sick kids, a sick husband and a million junk emails. Forget about the emails, they can wait until tomorrow. Now that everyone's settled in bed I'll check my favourite blogs insead, and do some crafting. I have just finished these baby shoes - in a Denyse Schmidt cotton with an orange felt sole for contrast. They are too easy! I pulled apart an old leather pair that Jacob had as a baby and use them as a pattern. I'm going to go and try them in some other fabrics right now.



It's good to get back to designing and making stuff after being 'out on the road' for what feels like weeks!

SHOW PONY!

Well, we did it - our first Australian trade show! I had a gorgeous time - the Exhibition Building in Melbourne is a stunning venue and is set in my 'old stamping ground' of Carlton. Over the five days Angela, Paul and I met so many lovely people, the whole Life in Style show had a really nice atmosphere. The Lark stand stood out for being so colourful and chaotic amongst a sea of minimalist design and we were really happy with the amount of new stockists we attracted.


Show high points: being next door neighbours with the lovely Chook Leaf duo Rie and Guthrie with their beautiful handmade children's shoes; meeting Remo Guiffré, one of my most favourite shopkeepers for many years; getting to buy lots of handmade goodies on the last day, including a huge lampshade from Bird that I had to carry home on my knee in the ute, and a Bholu critter; stuffing my face with liqourice allsorts from the giant bowl Angela brought to the stand.


Show low points: discovering that Angela's creation Miss Buttons has been ripped-off by a copycat 'designer' who was selling it to retailers at another show at the same time; getting up early every day; packing up yesterday and saying goodbye to all our lovely new friends. But I'm sure we'll do it all again next year!


Oh, and here are pictures of the cubby house I had to make over for the Unicef auction - I chose a vintage Ladybird books theme as I love them and thought their images of family life and domesticity would be well-suited for a playhouse.


I only had a couple of evenings to cover the whole house with collaged images but I was quite pleased at how it turned out (I wanted to keep it, in fact!).