Hi and welcome to my first blog for 2016! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Years period. I had a busy but relaxing and fun Christmas, which I spent with my immediate family and close neighbours.

I will be "chatting" a bit about my intentions for this year with P&B and also what I have been working on and what's new.

My first market of the year was the Lady Luck Festival which is a celebration of vintage fashion, music, and custom culture. The top of the Main Street is closed off and vintage cars are in display. It rained....then rained some more on the day so I didn't leave the shelter of my stall gazebo much, apart from darting across to purchase some records from Rolling Records, a Katoomba based mobile record shop.

So therefore I didn't wonder around the market to take pictures, so I have borrowed some photos from the awesome local band The Honey Stompers https://www.facebook.com/The-Honey-Stompers-220656504689798/?fref=photo.

This year I am have decided to pick up on last years intention, which was to "shop from my stash", meaning use the fabrics I have on hand instead of purchasing new fabrics. I have a collection of vintage as well as new fabrics that need the opportunity to be made into something that can be used and enjoyed instead of sitting on a shelf or in a basket. It lends the opportunity for creativity and to make one of a kind items when working with materials and haberdashery that is available. The exception will be custom orders and requests for particular designs or fabrics which are always a welcome opportunity for a new challenge.
My mind is already full of new bag designs and products I want to make. I am really looking forward to making a new range of autumn / winter accessories with wools, corduroys and up cycled tartan skirts.
Just like a lot of sewers and crafters who love fabrics, I won't always be able to resist wonderful new fabrics, but at least I will also be using my existing fabrics and reducing the carbon footprint a little.

On the jewellery side of my business, and also in keeping with up cycling, I have been really enjoying creating statement pieces of jewellery and accessories with vintage knitting needles. A lot of knitters nowadays, myself included, have moved away from the old style of knitting needles and are using the new interchangeable needle sets. This means a lot of beautiful colourful knitting needles have been put aside or discarded. I love the colour tones of the vintage needles and some of them are Bakelite, plastic or anodised metals in shiney Blues, greens and golds. I have been busy bending, curving, sawing and grinding and even hammering them into all sorts of designs.
The latest edition to my etsy shop is these cute shawl pins. They are designed to hold your shawl or scarf pins in place, but can also been worn on your handknit sweater or cardigan as a brooch. I have made them in a variety of colours, and have knitted a wool cord, wound into a mini ball of wool and attached them to the end of the pin. They can be purchased at market stalls, The Nook at Leura or here in my store https://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppyandBelle?section_id=18458289&ref=shopsection_leftnav_5.

Just a few weeks ago I was offered the opportunity along with many other Australian Etsy sellers to participate in Etsy's first ever fundraising campaign through Plan International. The aim is to raise funds and awareness for the plight of girls in other less developed countries to have more opportunities for a brighter, safer future. You can read more about it here http://showandtellonline.com.au/whats-on-our-mind-today/because-i-am-a-girl-we-join-the-fight-with-etsy-and-plan-international-to-help-young-girls-achieve-their-potential-and-feel-safe-just-like-us.

The theme of our handmade products was to be "silver linings for girls", thinking of reaching for the sky and every cloud has a silver lining, with the name of the campaign being #makeforgood.

I immediately decided I would like to take part in this wonderful campaign with at least one product, as every little bit counts. With so many Etsy shop owners joining in enthusiastically, designing and making their individual #makeforgoodproducts it can be a wonderful opportunity to purchase Christmas presents that make a difference and count towards this worthwhile fundraiser, and are locally handmade, supporting Australia's economy and small businesses. I certainly have quite a lot on my favourites list ready!

For your convenience the Australian Wandarrah team has compiled a list of the #makeforgood products, which is updated often, or you can alternatively search #makeforgood.

https://www.etsy.com/pages/shopaustralia/makeforgood-fundraiser-campaign

I was really excited to make a completely new product that I had in mind, however I simply ran out of time. So I decided to make one of my Travel pouches out of a fabric chosen by my 12 year old daughter, and used a vintage silvery grey fabric lining. To me this reflected the power of choice for girls, the imagined freedom to travel undertaken to reach goals and destinations that provide greater opportunities for these girls.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/250320798/travel-pouch-small-messenger-bag-kids?ref=shop_home_active_24

I put some thought into a second product for older girls/ladies, even though my travel pouches are designed for adults too! My Jewellery items were not suitable as they are mostly one of a kind, and the idea is to be able to sell several of your chosen #makeforgooditems to be more worthwhile. Using repurposed fabrics in my sewing is one of my favourite ways to create bags and accessories and I was happy to find I had enough of this wonderful oriental themed fabric to make about 10 evening clutches. The fabric has a texture that is soft satin but I am unsure of the exact name. It is quite beautiful and elegant, just what I had in mind, and it has splashes of silver throughout it. I used a recycled soft light silvery grey fabric lining and as a final statement, I attached a large silver bow that I made from a quality silver fabric purchased in my local fabric store.

I feel very blessed every day to have the opportunity to do what I love doing, creating lovely items for other people, and to be able to work from home, independently, and run an online and market based business. I encourage my own daughters to embrace opportunities that help them reach for their goals and provide them with independence, and to always remember others born into situations less privileged.

One of my goals for business this year was to start writing a blog and newsletter, with the idea in mind of letting my customers & interested followers get to know a bit more about me and my story behind the scenes. Here we are hurtling full speed ahead towards Christmas and the new year, and I am only writing my third blog!

I have however been busy stocking up my etsy shop, and am also currently adding stock to my Hand-Made online shop, which is for Australian sellers of handmade goods, here is the link to my store; https://www.hand-made.com.au/PoppyandBelle.

On the 'making' side of things, I have been having lots of fun! As you may know I adore and collect vintage buttons, among other things (fabrics, haberdashery, lace...), which I use in my jewellery and bag making. During my op shop travels I have admired the colours and textures of vintage knitting needles, and have also found myself being unable to resist bringing them home with me with the intention of making them into something wearable.. Yes I am a knitter, but only for pleasure, and I am not great at it! I admire and support the work of knitters & love to purchase hand-made knitted accessories. With a bit of a push from a fellow creative friend, check out her facebook page if you like cutlery jewellery & other upcycled creations ;https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alcharoma/257647517741626?ref=ts&fref=ts, i started experimenting with upcycling them into jewellery pieces, to go along side my other upcycled jewellery line that I offer for sale at markets and on etsy. I started with the bangles tutorial I found on Pinterest, and after a few tries and scolds, I got the hang of it, and love the look of them stacked together.

Then I started to get creative with big and bright twirly earrings, which are so light weight to wear and the colours are wonderful in reds, greens, yellows, soft cream and blues as well as tortoise shell which are scarcer to find. I also made some smaller tip and end earrings.

Next I got to play in my husbands shed full of machinery and tools and will be making some jewellery pieces made from old anodised metal knitting needles. I will share these with you on my Instagram feed soon enough, as although I have the design in my head, I have to wait for some silver components to complete them, fingers crossed. Some times the best ideas turn into nothing, or even something completely different to what you started doing, which is exciting.

Meanwhile, I have lots of sewing work to be getting on with to make bags and purses with the vintage and new fabrics I discovered in my stash. I have several markets coming up over the next few months, see my "markets and fairs" page on my website to see where I am trading, and I will be adding more stock to my Hand-Made & Etsy shops.

Hopefully I will fit another blog or two in at least before the year ends, but let's see what pans out. I am sure to have some new designs and products to share if I finish that "to sew" pile!

Another of my favourite things to create with, especially in the winter season, is wool, and vintage Tartan wool skirts and blankets in particular. The two little little wristlet clutches featured above used to be vintage wool skirts, but they had had their day as an item of clothing. The gorgeous colours and quality of the wool however just meant I had to create something new with it.

Recently i designed a new curved style of clutch purse, which has a soft pleat on the front and back, and I included the wristlet strap, which can be unclipped from the purse if one would like to simply hold as a clutch. I find the wristlet handy as extra security by slipping it onto my wrist, then I have the option of having two hands spare if need be (as is often the case with young children in tow). Although a small style of bag, it is deceptively roomy. It will easily hold your money, a small purse, mobile phone, lipstick, pen and small notepad for example.

The perfect Occassion to use a small bag such as these wristlet clutches is when on a movie date night with your husband (which I will be doing tonight, yay!), or out to dinner, lunch or meeting friends for a coffee and spot of shopping.

They also make a great handmade gift for someone who has everything, because you can never have too many bags!

You can find these wristlet clutches in my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/PoppyandBelle?ref=hdr

Hello, welcome to my very first blog!

Let me first briefly introduce myself, my name is Jenny and I am the owner and maker behind Poppy & Belle, my little handmade biz. I am also a mother of seven, yes seven...and when I can make the time I also like to garden, knit and read.

I have collected vintage tea towels for about 5 years now. It all started when I came across a tea towel of my (late) mothers and it brought back nostalgic feelings from my childhood. I was expecting my last child at the time, and experimenting with making my own bibs so I whipped up a bib using this particular tea towel, and each time I used it I felt a connection to my mum to my baby, but also felt great that it had been given a new life!

I still make bibs today out of vintage tea towels, especially souvenir teatowels from Australia and other countries and towns. I have made a messenger bag using an australian bird vintage teatowel, but have also had vintage tea towel totes on my 'to do' list.

This is the bright and cheery tea towel I chose to use, since the weather at the time was so dreary here in the mountains.

One of my favourite things to do when creating is add pretty trims and buttons.

I sometimes have an exact plan when creating products, but other times work organically, and ideas and inspiration for the bag or product I am working on come to me as I go. With this tote I decided to add a co-ordinating vintage trim onto the inside of the red Upcycled corduroy fabric handles, for a special touch.

I felt to complete the bag I would include a few vintage buttons on the interior, just to be a bit different, and pick up on some of the colour from the outside of the bag.

Overall I am very happy with the end product. It is a large tote bag with added snaps on the sides, to make it's size and shape versatile. It is completely ecofriendly, and has been made from vintage and repurposed fabrics and haberdashery which makes it one of a kind and unique.

A bright and cheery tote for a lovely day out at the markets!

Here is the original tea towel bib I first made from my mothers tea towel. It has been well used but the picture of the lady spinning yarn in her kitchen is just so special, I have never come across another teatowel quite like it!