Handmade for Mother's Day

I love a flapper! Hence I purchased these iconic flapper girl buttons the minute I saw them. They have now been used in my favourite pair of earrings ever designed by me. They are the only flapper girl buttons I have so no other piece of jewellery or craft I make will feature them, the Flapper Girl Earrings I am selling in my Etsy store (see link on the right of page) are unique.

These earrings are a medley of black, black and white, plum, and burgundy glass, ceramic, and plastic beads on a double strand of gold chain. The design also features plum marbled heart shaped beads.

This is my second button design featured in my Etsy store, this is a bright buttoned heart with inner spiral on a white short sleeved tshirt, size 12 (a small size 12).

In my Etsy store at the moment I have four sets of 6 hanging gift tags, the two tags here are from the set marked Opulent Gift Set. Each tag is unique but tags are created in coordinating pairs. Every gift tag has a patterned heart motif and lovely embellishments. (Far top of post and below)

There is still time to purchase handmade gifts for Mother's Day online, or to make something beautiful and original yourself, so don't lose heart, you can give the special lady in your life a terrific gift from the heart.

Gilmore Girls Gifts for Mother's Day

Does it really surprise you that I am a Gilmore Girls fanatic? I am, I have every season on DVD only when I watch them I am Lorelai Gilmore in thought and feeling, I just am! Gilmore Girls is terrific, and if you haven't seen the show you have so many hours of great 'girl time' to look forward to!

Above is the cover of my soundtrack purchased this year at Amazon, it is called 'Our Little Corner of The World, music from Gilmore Girls'. Fans of the show will be pleased to hear that the la la las and ornamental acapella singing is included in the play list. There is only one let down and that is that the cd does not feature the song that Lorelai and Luke first dance to at his sister's wedding, a crucial song to miss out if you ask me! I still do not know what this song is called or who performed it, if any reader does know, I would love to hear from you.

These were last year's sale prices so as a general rule you should not have to pay more than $32 a season, so if the price is too high, keep walking, you can do better. I have collected my seasons from Kmart, Big W, Target, Sanity, JB Hifi, and Video Ezy.

I recommend the Australian merchandise site cafepress.com.au for quick delivery and Australian Prices (better than overseas sites where you pay US dollars and higher shipping fees).

Browsing cafe press today I liked the following items:

Dragonfly Inn women's longsleeve tshirt $26.50

I'm A Lorelai tshirt, $26.50

I'm A Rory tshirt, $32

Life is Short, Talk Fast fridge magnets $6

Coffee is A Way Of Life in Stars Hollow mug $20.50 or better value, tshirt $26.50

Reading Is Sexy tshirt **** This is stunning, I am going to get one of these!

www.wbshop.com/Gilmore-Girls offers tshirts, totes, journals and my favourite is the pink jewelled travel mug, only the most gorgeous travel mug you will ever see, priced at $14.35 I am going to get one, I can't resist!

Warner Brothers Shop also stocks Dragonfly Inn mugs, and Kirk tour merchandise.

Easy Mother's Day Projects

This knitted purse is as easy as knitting a scarf. Yes it is. You cast on more stitches than an ordinary scarf as some width disappears when you stitch up the sides, but it is a short scarf folded together (right sides in) and a large wool needle easily makes the seams, and the handle is simply plaited wool sewn into the seam.

These were wire hangers I revived from the shame pile in the bottom of the closet. Lovely sparkly and fluffy, fuzzy wools did a nice job. Though the photo doesn't do them justice. Your kids could easily make these for mum or grandma.

These balls of wool were left over from another project, one is very fuzzy and frizzy and not easy to knit, the ball on the right plaits up like chenille, so that is what I did, I plaited the chenille wool into a cord. Four strands plaited together, with a loop formed by my toe at each end. I prefer to plait from my toe as I control the tension, moving my foot further away from my body the longer the plait becomes, my leg is just the right length!

You can see the chenille wool does not look like a plait when it is done, it looks like a cord or one very thick noodle.

The loops are important, you simply hook the loops over the wire hanger top, and I twist two plaited cords around and around the hanger leaving no wire visible. If you have not made the plaits long enough it is no problem to tie off the ends of two plaits and then start again with another pair, you can even tie the new plaits through the loops of the old ones.

I finished the chenille hanger with a bow tie with champagne crystal drops on the ends.

The other hanger, which my mum prefers, has the chenille base, with plaits of rich fuzzy plum wool wound around it, for a stripey effect. The tops of the hangers can be covered with shorter plaits tied around the neck, worked up to the very end of the hook and brought back down to tie around the neck again. Trim the ends off close and you will never see any evidence of the knot.

The hangers are very cheap and easy to make.

I will be continuing with a series of mothers day posts, including a Gilmore Girls Tribute, Books for Mothers, Mothers Day Movies, Home Day Spa ideas, and perhaps some baking.

Be Inspired - What's Keeping Me Warm This Winter, part II

As with part I (see below) these are my favourite old and new things to keep me warm this winter. Above - scary close up of me in my fave beanie, I got this when I shaved my head for charity in the middle of winter (not the best timing, but one of the best things I've ever done).

I bought this glittery beanie just this week in Target, for $14.99 but actually at the checkout it cost $11.99 thanks to the storewide sale.

This is a vintage knit hat that used to belong to my mum, she added all the ski resort tags to it, and I get a lot of great compliments when I wear this, I am currently looking for a pattern to make more of them in different colours etc.

This is my natual hot water bottle and the only fur I wear, my cat Roman. He loves to lie in the sun and is a good boy, bravely sitting outside on the grey days fluffed up hoping for some warmth, or else gives in and sleeps in the bed between the quilt and blanket.

Check out Part I below for shawls, coats, and boots, and don't forget to check out my Mother's Day carnival of posts between now and the big day!

Be Inspired - What's Keeping Me Warm This Winter

It was 6 degrees this morning, which has prompted me to dig out all my warm clothes and tuck the summer things away. I thought I'd give you a run down of all the favourite things old and new that are going to keep me warm this autumn and winter.



Above are my two shawls, or I should say, shawl and wrap. The top item is triangular shawl with tassels on the three points, it was knitted for me by my Mum from a pattern book I own. The bottom item is a wrap that was made from a free in store project sheet at Big W from the wool supplier Sean Sheep. Both projects were easy.

My trio of scarves. The green is ultra long, you double it and loop the whole thing around your neck, it is so soft and sparkly, and brings out the green in my eyes. The pinky one, is also fuzzy and glittery and I knitted it and then made a fringe for it, another very easy task. The middle scarf is polar fleece. An easy mother's day project would be to purchase a metre of polar fleece from a fabric store and cut it into the width and length of scarves you desire, your children can do this - you do not need to sew anything. That is right, polar fleece does not need to be hemmed, it maintains the integrity of its edges. You can cut a fringe just as easily.

My new boots, $50 from Kmart, bought in March, they are felt (fake psuede) and wool, with the wrap around straps and buckles with zips for easy fitting. I love them, they make my feet look small (a miracle as I have long thin feet) and they are so cosy and warm, I feel protected and snug inside them, and yes I have worn them twice already!

My new jacket from Sussans, this was pricey ($109) but it is so thick, and warm. The body of the jacket is quilted and reminds me of a bomber style jacket, but hugs the body without adding the appearance of too much weight. The sleeves are wool, and will go very well with my new boots.

This jacket is very heavy, you will have to be quite strong to wear it! It is a long trench coat but not full length, in charcoal and silvery white plaid. It is very warm, and I bought it this year from Kmart though I can't remember the price, sorry.

My Etsy Promotional Contest

During my first month of business on Etsy, I am holding a promotional contest.

For every item (not every order, every single item) sold during my first month of business, that is until May 15th 2009 (to be precise, items purchased before 11.59 pm Australian Western Time on May 14th 2009) gives the purchaser one entry into the draw for a set of handmade cards.

The cards can be seen in the photographs above, and the set is made up of 11 cards sized 9.5cm by 14.5cm and one large pink card with a fairy motif.

The cards are very bright and cheery and cover a range of occasions from birthday, congratulations, thanks, hello, thinking of you, and unmarked occasion.

They are a celebration of stripes, flowers, butterflies, flourishes, buttons, and ribbon, and I made them especially for this contest.

If you want a chance to win this set, you need to go to my etsy store Starry Girl via my link on the right of my blog, or by entering www.etsy.com and searching the search engine for my sellername Starzyia, or try googling starzyia.etsy.com

I hope you all enjoy browsing my store, and I wish you the very best of luck, I would be delighted if this contest was won by one of my readers.

Etsy and Tokens of Appreciation News

Here I am sitting down at the end of a long day with a sigh of happiness. Can't be luckier than that.

On the Tokens of Appreciation Make the World Go Round front, I am happy to report that many people have received their sets of tokens and have responded most enthusiastically.

I have received my first token of appreciation from my lovely cousin Betty.

And tokens are circulating in Australia and are on their way to the US, Germany, and the UK.


and now for my big announcement: I Am On Etsy, Yes I Have Opened on Etsy

www.etsy.com is an international online market for handmade goods and craft supplies, my store there is called Starry Girl, and can be accessed by my username Starzyia; through my link on the right of my blog page; or by my URL starzyia.etsy.com

I hope you will come and visit me and give me any feedback, I am yet to upload my stock of cards but my jewellery, chiefly earrings, can be viewed there as we speak. And from time to time other crafted items as my inspiration leads me will also be available.

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive of my quest to spread Tokens of Appreciation, and my adventure into Etsy... you are all so wonderful and deserve my love,

xxx Starry