Upcycled Ladybirds in the making.

Upcycled Ladybirds in the making., originally uploaded by [mummalu].

These are currently being made by me. They are little ladybird purses with a zip through the middle. The dots have been screenprinted onto the fabric of old shirts. The little eyes have been sewn on using a free machine embroidery method. I can't wait to see them finished.

What do you call them: ladybirds, ladybugs or ladybeetles?

Weekend treasures.

Did some hunting at the Wickham Markets in Islington yesterday. It's always a fave. I came home with a few treasures:

1. The mushroom jars, two for $1. I don't know what I'll be putting in them yet. I just thought that they were cute.

2. The rusty enamel teapot, $2. This won't be getting used for anything, it's going up on the top shelf in the kitchen to gather dust with the rest of my teapots. I loved the retro pattern and couldn't pass it up for only $2!

3. A Paklite vintage suitcase, $10. I have been looking for a vintage suitcase to keep Miss 2.5 dress ups in. It has been hard to find one that doesn't smell like a cross between talcolm powder and mould. This one is just gorgeous, it is almost like new.

Check out some more Flea Market Finds from the weekend here.

Circles by Encircled

I am currently working on some circular coin purses with a zip through the centre. My niece is in love with ladybirds at the moment, so the plan is to do some screen printing and make some ladybird style purses very soon.

Yes, I'm still alive.

softies, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

Here are some little softies I made a few months back. It's not the best photo, but I am quite proud of the screen printed fabric. I did a photo emulsion of some lace on to a screen. I can now jazz up some old fabrics with a bit of lace texture :)

The Envelope Project

Here is my contribution to the Meet Me at Mikes's Envelope Project. It was so much fun picking out the little treasures from around the house and creating my envelope. I made the envelope from a stash of my favourite vintage wallpaper, threw some little goodies in there, chose $1.1o worth of stamps and sent it on its way.

A little update

Although things have been fairly quiet around my blog, my real life has been very busy. I am now back at work, hmm a real job, I am studying 2 days a week, helping a friend out with her ladies 2nd hand market and juggling a very active 2 year old.

School (TAFE) is moving along very slowly, but that's what you get for only going 2 days a week. This semester we had a good play with some screen printing which I have been loving. The last couple of weeks we have been doing up some screens with photo emulsion. I made a screen with my label 'encircled' on it so that I could use them for tags on the items that I am creating. The sushi fish was part of a project that had to be japanese inspired. We are in the middle of making a skirt that had to have one of our screen prints on it.


The pillow is made up of lots of upcycled fabrics including parts of my favourite pair of jeans and many men's shirts. I did some self cover buttons and attempted some piping for the first time. The circles pattern was made using some fabric paint and printing bubble wrap onto the fabric. I then free hand machine embroidered over the top.

Raid My Wardrobe

Raid My Wardrobe, originally uploaded by [mummalu].

Finished screen printing the t-shirts for the Raid My Wardrobe event on this Sunday in Newcastle, Australia. It's a second hand ladies clothing and accessories market. There are going to be 40 plus stalls. Come and check it out if you can: http://raidmywardrobe.com.au