Spy me in Penguin

I have been super lucky to acquire some very very lovely buyers in some beautiful shops. Recently, I started stocking through this cute little shop in Penguin (how much do we want to go there?) called Nest. The owner Natalie is delightful and I'm pretty much coveting everything in her shop, and also wishing that I lived somewhere which had a cool name like "Penguin". And I just saw this picture (via the Nest facebook page) which made me squeak because it feels so surreal to see something I've made somewhere so far away and lovely.

Check out Natalie's blog and facebook pages, and if you're ever in Penguin swing by and get yourself something pretty! xx

Life Instyle - done and dusted

Whoa!

What a crazy weekend. I'm still feeling hit by a wall of exhaustion, but exhibiting at Life Instyle was fantastic. There was an overwhelming amount of beautiful wares packed into the Hordern Pavilion, and I was hovering around my humble little setup in an gallery of other (extremely lovely) first-time exhibitors. The weekend was full of chats with the other exhibitors, laughs with Sarah (the designer of Oh Mabel) and Jenny (her mum), meeting current stockists for the first time (including Jayde from Little Paper Lane), and picking up a whole list of new buyers - which was very exciting! Oh - and did I mention that I will soon be stocked at Reclaim in Summer Hill? Which is run by the one and only Monica Trapaga - yes from Playschool. This probably means that I've made it - hello retirement.

Now comes a frantic week or two of compiling orders and posting parcels to locations in EVERY STATE in Australia (eeek!). So thrilled to have my cards in so many gorgeous shops! A list of new stockists will be coming soon!

These beautiful photos were taken by Jayde - and many thanks for all her blog love! x

6 MORE DAYS

...until I will be at Life Instyle. Trying not to feel nervous, or anxious (although I'm feeling mostly organized) and also trying to feel well (because I'm down with the flu).

I suppose I'm trying to feel as mellow and calm as this:

PS. Not sure why 6 days is such a significant number. It just seemed like a good time to start a countdown...

Paper gone nuts

I remember in year 6 I had this horrid old art teacher who made us do quilling. Which is pretty much the art of scrolling strips of paper into tiny rolls and then pinching them to make swirly shapes.

And let me tell you, my 11-year-old decorated jewelry box was nothing as spectacular as this:

 

This is the flipping genius work of Yulia Brodskaya, who can manipulate paper to "convey meaning and emotion". 

Thanks to Emily via the Daily Smudge for this amazing find.

You can drool further over Yulia's work on her official website here.

Things to be thankful for

My lovely friend Sophie a blogger who I can only aspire to match. It's probably never going to happen because I am no way near as organized as she is.

Some people just have a prolific ability to be routinely and consistently organized in every possible way - Sophie even has detailed plans for how she will design and redecorate every room in her dream country home (where she's just moved). I don't know how she does it, and also does so many other things including writing a deliciously beautiful and interesting blog which she updates pretty much every day.

As for me, I am more of a last minute flurry lady. I just hope that my gut inspiration is going to be right and that everything will come together.

But, in an attempt to be more disciplined, I'm going to have a stab and regular blogging.

One of the things Sophie does (on her blog) every Saturday is to compile a list of all the things she is thankful for. I think this is so wonderful, and important to remind yourself of all the good things in life that you're grateful for.

So today I'm thankful for:

• Newly acquired crocheting skills - it makes me so relaxed and happy
• Carrot cake - I've been eating it pretty much every day last week
• Craft Parties at my house with some lovely ladies - we had one last week and it was so good we're having another one this week
• My Mum (who's not?) - she is nutty and hilarious and probably my number one fan. It's her birthday today, and I'd say that she's unquestionably the best mum out there. I'm so grateful that she's a hippy on the inside, who let me stay at home and have a happy art-full, maths-free childhood, and if cakes could survive the post to Jakarta I would send her one. Probably a carrot cake. 

What are you thankful for?

x

PS. Look at Sophie's pintrest. I heart everything.

These lovely floating balloons via Angela Hardison

Extreme Papercutting by Lotte Reiniger

How about this amazing video??

It's so perfect I nearly died when I watched it!

It was made in 1935 by papercut artist extraordinaire Lotte Reiniger. All the puppets are cut out with tiny scissors, in segments hinged with tiny wire hinges so that the characters can be moved. And then the animation is created by 1000s of photographs taken over a back-lit glass tabletop. And all this done in a pre-computer technology era.

What astounding skill.

I hope I'm this good at papercutting by the time I'm a nanna.

How much do we love OhMabel?

About a week ago, I received an email from the lovely Sarah Power who the number one designer and business owner of Oh Mabel.

How sweet and pretty are her wares?? All I want to do is snuggle in a set of these sunshiny pinwheel pillows!

After feeling a bit of trepidation at the thought of going to this enormous and fabulous trade fair (it kind of feels like your first day of school all over again - I have no idea what to expect or what will happen) - emailing Sarah has been so lovely. And I am so excited to meet her in person in a couple of weeks and have a chat and a giggle in between customers (which we will hopefully be swamped with). I can't wait, and it will be so nice to meet a fellow newbie exhibitor (although Sarah is way more pro than me - she's been featured in pretty much every magazine you could think of!).

If you're feeling tempted to look at all her beautiful product range, just head over to her website, and also give her a facebook like.

x

All images used with permission - via Oh Mabel's website.

And the winners are....

Out of a basket of names on folded paper, the two winners drawn are:

Brian Tran

&

Virginia

Whoohoo! Congrats guys! Inbox me your addresses, and a card set will be in the post to you tomorrow.

e: miamariadesigns@gmail.com

To everyone else who entered: THANK YOU SO MUCH for entering! And stay tuned for more giveaways in the future...

Love xxx

A Snap Valentine's Day Giveaway

 

 In the spirit of feeling excited about the Life Instyle event coming up in late Feb, I've decided to run a snap giveaway of two card packs - each featuring five loveydovey designs. Although this is not assuming that you'll be giving away Valentine's Day cards to five different people! Deary me!

These cards are perfect for all year round, or weddings or engagements...

So to be in the running for a pack, all you have to do is leave a comment with your name below (eg. PICK ME!!! - Mia C.) and on Thursday two winners will be picked out of a hat and announced! And the cards will be on their way in the post first thing Friday morning!

xxx

Exhibiting at Life Instyle Sydney 2012

Exciting news! On February 23-26 I will be exhibiting at the Life Instyle trade fair at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney.

This is terribly exciting and also a tiny bit scary. Mostly because I'm a bit of a rookie businesswoman, and have no idea what it's going to be like. Apparently buyers attend in the thousands and there are a lot of pretty amazing designers exhibiting. Eeeekkk!

But, there's nothing quite like being thrown into the deep end to get things happening.

You can check out the official website here, and find me listed as an exhibitor under the First Instyle section.

I'll let you know how it goes! x

Some More Colour Plates

Oh dear. The blog and the business have been somewhat neglected after a flurry of activity early last year. Aside from finishing uni (yessssss), I spent the second half of the year completing an internship with UNICEF Australia (which was fabulous - give them all your money, seriously).

One of my tasks for the internship was creating some simple one-frame illustrations for 10 of the Articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The idea was to create some child-friendly images which could be used in educational resources for schools and online.

Do you like? I think they've come out gorgeously. And it's been fantastic to use my creative force for a very good cause.

Have a browse of the UNICEF Australia's action packed website to see what's going on in the world of children's rights both here at home and overseas. 

You can also take a peek at some blog posts written by yours truly, just go to the UNICEF Australia blog and my name is under some of the posts from 2011.

Happy weekend!