Dinosaurs Roar!

Allira Tee is a Melbourne based designer who just started an Etsy shop. Allira makes lovely brooches from acrylic and wood and also has a shop on Mintd. The dinosaur brooch is my favourite, although the raw one is also very cool, and everyone needs some yellow in their life right?

I was also tagged by Sylvia Vincent, here are the rules:

• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself

• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog

• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names

• Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog

I was in a fictional band called Randall'us at University. It was taking the piss out of the popstars band Scandal'us and we had our own website.

I liked to crank call people, although I have not done it recently. I like it most when I get a cold and my voice goes husky and people I know cannot recognise me.

I worked in a very low quality call centre for 3 weeks selling fire extinguishers to people in Noble Park, Springvale and Keysborough. The woman who was the "team leader" was annoying and I left and didn't bother to tell them for 2 days because I had a new job and didn't have time to call them.

I went to Poland for 2 days in July 2005. I ate more meat and drunk more beer in those two days than a normal month in Australia.

I told a member of the band Area 7 that I didn't much care for their music after a concert during O week.

I had a white pony called Pippin who died when I was in Year 7. I didn't tell my "horsey" friend because I was worried she would get mad with me.

I got addicted to a computer game made by one of my students. Although it took me almost all holidays I clocked it.


I now tag Jason, Jodie, Veronica, Helen, Sarah, Mike, and Penny

Man About Town

I'm back from my 9 days in the bush and enjoying such luxuries as a flushing toilet, running water and a soft bed. It was fun, although I'm not sure that my ideal Saturday night would be digging trenches in the dirt for the water to run down to prevent my sleeping bag becoming even more of a soggy, muddy mess at 3am.


I listed a new artwork on Etsy. Since getting back I have wanted to try and get lots done, but everytime I walk into my studio I don't do anything. I look at something and then when I am about to start doing something drop it and touch something else. I decided to get the "good paper" out. There is more pressure to make something look good otherwise I have just wasted the paper (and I have wasted a lot of paper with strange drawings which I like, but not enough to bother finishing). This one is a little dark, which a lot of my drawings have been lately. The guy looks drunk and I got the idea from a drawing in an old sketchbook, although they look nothing alike. I'm not sure if the darker artworks are something people would buy because who wants a strange looking man sitting in their pretty living room? I just realised I have one in my living room from an a guy who was in Art School with me. All previous housemates refused to hanging in a communal area because it "scared" them.

Wallets

I made some wallets with a lovely bright blue fabric I purchased at Job Warehouse last year. I had it cut to make a tote bag, but it was big enough to create three wallets so I decided to make them instead. I screen printed onto one side of the wallet with a dark orange ink and it is a hug contrast against the blue fabric. The lining is orange polka dot fabric and I also did one in a yellow fabric which is available at Kids In Berlin.

I'm going to be away until the 26th of April on a 9 day camp in East Gippsland. Although I wont be here to answer emails, Gareth, my Distribution Manager will be in charge of shipping off any Etsy orders. He does a good job and likes trips to the post office because he can also go to the bakery for scones and diet coke, unless it is a Friday and he gets pies and sausage rolls. Yummers.


Here is some of the stuff I currently have on Etsy and a chance to play with the Etsy Mini.

Sheep and Birds

Sheeps Clothing is a new Australian Etsy seller. Have a look at her shop, it has very beautiful knitted items including this lovely hair tie. The wool and the colours are impressive and I'm sure as all of us southern hemisphere people head into winter we will all need a pretty scaft and beanie to liven things up.

I took some bags, wallets and badges into Kids In Berlin today, so stop by and have a look. They have a fantastic range of products available and they are always very friendly.


This is some new artwork I just listed on Etsy. I have been working on it over the last few days. I purchased lots of old books to use in collages from various opshops, mainly old Atlas' and Melways. The bird in this artwork is from a Melways, but I painted over it so much you can't tell and also it was mainly Port Phillip Bay. This artwork is quite dark, especially in the images I scanned. It has a PVA coating so it is smooth and shiny.

Mintd!

I just started a store on the new website Mintd. I only has one product so far, a little green puffy monster badge. I wanted to go with something new, that is not available on Etsy so I thought I would put one of the puffy badges I made recently up there. I am taking a lot of them into Kids In Berlin on Saturday, I also have jellyfish, dogs and cats.

Mintd is also an Australian Website so the prices are in Australian Dollars and there is a lot of familiar faces from Etsy which is nice.

Farming Darling

I went back to my parents farm for Easter. It is surpringly green there at the moment. These are some photos I took, one of Pumpkin the cat who has been on his "last legs" for the last 18 months and the other is just of a big pile of branches.

Tony Tight Black Denim

When my sister and I worked in the glamorous profession of packing vegetables we were both awestruck by a co-worker called Tony. My sister and I were both unlucky that Tony never asked us out, as it seemed he asked every other female working at the factory out on dates. He probably overheard the vegetable replacement game we played and thought we were nutcases while we were both laughing at "little red cobette". Tony did not look like this guy below, he was more like Freddy Mercury with a pack of Winnie Blue in the sleeve of his black t-shirt, but I am sure there is a lady out there somewhere who is in heaven with Tony tight black denim.

Man Bag

I have added another artwork to my Etsy store, this is a drawing of a man with Indian Ink. I use a quill style pen dipped in watered down ink that creates a light, almost transparent drawing. The pen makes a lovely fine line on the paper and I am able to create quite small detailed lines, although when I first dip it into the ink it can sometimes blob the ink on the paper which it frustrating.

Here are a few items that have caught my eye on Etsy lately. Etsy Mini makes this so easy to do!

The Girl From Ipswich

This is a new artwork I created. The background image is from an atlas I purchased from a local opshop, it's a satellite image from Queensland. I also used some sections of drawings I created with grey ink and a quill and two blue and green paint chips. It is currently available in my shop

The whole thing:

I have been making some new badge ladies today while sitting and watching 90's teen films on Channel 7. Holidays are lovely.


Also, thank you to the lovely Modish for mentioning me in her blog. It's the first time I have had a write up in a design blog, so I was really touched.

Rude Dog

I made some new badges last night. These are a combination of the puffy badges I made a while back with screenprints and my normal stitched badges. I have been trying a few different ideas for badges with some mixed results. The ladies are going well, but these have a nice 3D quality to them. The bottom badge was meant to be a octopus, but it looks more like a cloud and jellyfish combined.

I have been meaning to post a picture of this for a while, it is a sketchbook my sister got me from India. The paper inside is handmade and very soft and the front is covered in all the jewels and sequins it can handle.