Last night was pumpkin carving night, an event that is becoming a tradition among my friends, thanks to an American in our midst. It's only the second year I've carved a pumpkin and both times I've been surprised at how much fun it is. Here are some photos from the night, starting with the messy carving part.

The most satisfying part of the night is turning off the lights and admiring what we all achieved in a few short hours.

This little butternut pumpkin was the unofficial winner of the night. Congratulations Michelle on an amazing pumpkin!

I have finally opened my online shop! Rather than using Etsy I thought I'd make my own shop and see how it goes. This way all the prices are in AUD and everything seems a bit simpler. I might end up having both shops, but for now I'll just be using my own. Here are some of critters you can find in my shop.

Yesterday I had an awesome day which started at Sweets Workshop in Summer Hill at their exhibition opening for Food Fight which was also the launch for their zine called Food Fight. There were some great illustrations and sculptural pieces, definitely worth a look. The exhibition is on until 5th November, you can read more details here.

The second part of my day involved sitting in a park having a picnic and stitching with friends for hours and hours, something I haven't done for ages! It was the perfect spring day!

In other news, last week I spent a bit of time on my website adding a 'creatures' page where you can see all my little critters in one place. I'm trying to make my website more user friendly, so if you have any suggestions let me know! I'm thinking of adding a page of my 'masterpieces' as well. 

I hope you all had a great weekend!  

On a fateful day in September, Thursday the 23rd September 2010 to be exact, Henrietta was hanging out in a tree practising her acrobatic moves when she swung straight into a sloth, not just any sloth, it was in fact Sammi the sloth! Sammi had been about to descend the tree to join Willem and Jelena for band practice when he was hit in the face by what appeared to be a loris. Henrietta and Sammi both let out a yelp of surprise. Henrietta was the first to compose herself and proceeded to explain that she had been performing a new tricky acrobatic move that she hadn't yet mastered when she happened upon (or rather slammed into) Mr Sloth.

Sammi took a moment to recover, then decided the only way to proceed was to introduce himself and explain where he was going. Henrietta's face lit up when she heard mention of a band and asked if maybe she could come along and if they happened to need an accordion player she'd be happy to join the band, she had after all had five accordion lessons and her teacher said she played "splendidly".   

Sammi thought this over for a minute then replied that an accordion player was exactly what the band needed!

Our Melbourne adventure started with flight issues at the airport which has become a way too common occurrence for us! Our one hour flight to Melbourne turned into an eight hour day spent at Sydney airport with only $8 food vouchers to keep us company. In the photo below Herbert is pointing out the culprit, Tiger Airways.

Unfortunately after our extended stay at the airport we had no time to explore the delights of Melbourne, but as luck would have it the market itself had a great deal of these delights on offer! Here are some of my favourite stalls. First is Goldenink who make beautiful painted ceramics and ceramic jewellery.

Next are these awesome lampshades by two layers of cells. They have heaps of great limited edition designs with illustrations by local Melbourne artists.

Another pick for the market is Nikki Catalano who is actually a Sydney based illustrator but I had to include her anyway because I love her illustrations!

Lastly is Red Parka, where I bought these super cute fridge magnets. They also had some great prints that are really fun and colourful. Their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment but here is the link anyway www.redparka.com.au.

Here are some photos of what my stall looked like over the weekend. I recently decided to get an eftpos terminal for markets. You can see my new sign on the left in the bottom photo which I have sewn out of felt, the sign received an overwhelming number of compliments which was unexpected but really nice. 

All in all it was a great weekend!

We arrived back is Sydney last night after a fun filled weekend in Newcastle. The Sunday Fair was great! The highlights for me were Spoonful, a beautiful zine about art and crafty things that's bound to make you smile, and Shelbyville who's stall is always full of fun and beautiful things.

This morning there was a knock at the door and this arrived!

It's a box full of felt that I've been waiting impatiently for. Now I can make red pandas!!! And it's just in time so I can make some before this weekends market adventure in Melbourne!

I'm in Newcastle at the moment for This Is Not Art festival. This afternoon I took a little break from festival stuff to explore the quaint boutiques of Darby St. Each year there are more and more lovely little shops, so here is my shortlist with accompanying photos. 

This first shop is called Blackbird Corner which is full of all sorts of wonderful colourful things and this awesome poster you can see behind the counter. 

Honey Bee was next on my list with lots of wonderful little things and a cafe at the back with amazing coloured chairs and flower pot, I just had to photograph these! 

High Tea With Mrs Woo was my next stop and is always absolutely stunning with nothing out of place and every object is an artwork. Here I also discovered Red Cap Cards, the cutest cards I've come across for quite some time.

Last but by no means least was Betty Mim where I discovered some super cute ceramic owls!  

Tomorrow I'll be having a stall at the Sunday Fair, so if you're in Newcastle come by! If you're in Sydney my lovely friends Justus and Zoe are looking after my stall at the Eveleigh Artisans' Market.