One kind Mum

Last month I got my Mum thinking cap on to make lots of new Mother's Day cards. Each year I wonder if I can come up with anything new and that maybe we have said everything that can be said about mothers. Once I get started I realised how wrong I am, there is always things to be said, especially about Mothers!

I was in our local Post Office a week or so back, stood in front of the Mother's Day display and thought I would have a look at what they had available. I noticed a very distinct trend, all the cards had flowers on them in some form or another. After noticing this I realised how we don't use flowers on any of our Mother's Day cards, except this one which is ALL flowers. I'm not sure if flowers is something that represents Mother's Day in the same way golf/plaid represents Father's Day and cupids and love hearts represent Valentine's Day. All I know is we didn't follow that rule. We did follow the rule that says at least one of your cards needs to feature a cute pink jumper with a snowflake on it and we created this, for the unique snowflake mother out there. The card is available on Etsy for that kind Mum in your life.

I really really really want a grandchild!

Being in the middle of my early middle 30s and the eldest of three childless children I can safely say that the desire for me to have children has been hinted at a few times. So much so that when creating this card I thought it might be fitting to slightly model it on my own parents. Will my own Mum fist pump the sky when she hold a grand kid for the first time? Probably. Will my Dad look slightly awkward in his blunnies and red explorer socks. Again probably. The card is available here.

Colour Box Studio Pozible Campaign

Last year we got involved in a new community arts space in Footscray called Colour Box Studio. They had a pop up shop running in November and December that we stocked with a bunch of other local people as well as some workshops, one of which I ran. The space was founded by Amie Batalibasi and a bunch of hard working volunteers.

Amie Batalibasi with Li Paapaa the programs manager. 

This year they have run both a Digital Media Program and a Fashion Month with a big focus on local and sustainable. We saw the space both before it was open and after and it is a credit to Amie and everyone involved and it is good to know there is a space like this available in Melbourne. It is very much there to support the artists and to create a community creative hub in the West of Melbourne.

They are now in the middle of a Pozible campaign to raise money for things like running costs and property maintenance so they can continue to run different programmes and support local artists/designers/makers. They have a bunch of different rewards available for the various pledge amounts (including one of our tea towels if you pledge in the $65 category) and they have 15 days left to reach the $7000 target. So if you want to help out you can pledge, or share it on Facebook or Twitter. Every little bit helps.

If you don't know much about crowd funding then have a read of what it is about on the Pozible website. We have supported a few projects and find it a really fun way to spend money. More often than not you get something for your pledge as well as the warm fuzzy feeling from becoming a "venture capitalist".

Wet and Wild dishes

We have just got our new tea towel design back from the printers and it is now listed in our online shop. This design is based on our wet and wild card and after a night enjoying some fancy champagne we thought it would be great on a tea towel. I spent some time trying to get the dishwater to look just right, at one stage the bubbles were too big and Gareth said they looked like grapes. I don't know about you but we are not ones to use grapes to wash our dishes. Mash them up and drink them in pretty sparkly drinks while watching TV shows? That we are into.

The blue on this tea towel is a really bright and lovely shade and I would say it is one of my happy colours, that's for sure. Used dishwater on the other hand, that is not a happy colour.

Post Finders Keepers Wrap Up

Over the weekend we participated in Finders Keepers in Melbourne. This year the market was huge, there was so many stalls full of amazing stuff. I got to have a good look around while Gareth helped man the stall on Friday night and the quality of the set ups are amazing with some looking like mini shops. I always feel so proud at these events because we live in a country that supports such amazingly creative small businesses. I've also filed away lots of different things for my wish list, including those beautiful shirts from Only Midge you can see next to our stand.

We Mother's Day next month we had our new Mother's Day cards out and it was fun chatting with people about which card they chose. On the Friday night the sorry I don't call you enough card was quite popular, a card I designed after feeling guilty for not calling my own Mum enough, so I had a few chats with like minded daughters on our inability to use the phone.

The next Finders Keepers is in Melbourne in October and I think I'll be saving up some pennies before then. Shopping Spree!