Bonjour!

How utterely and completely divine is this drawing - it's the Eiffel Tower by a little girl in kindergarten. That's right, a little girl IN KINDERGARTEN!

This is why I love what I do so much. How purely wonderful is this. Those energetic cross beams are just as expressive as any masterpiece of Post Impressionism (van Gogh) or Abstract Expressionism (Jackson Pollock) and that's exactly where the inspiration to start Kids With Crayons came from. Those lines! That simple way of drawing how they feel! Gorgeous!

I found this beautiful vintage photo of the Eiffel Tower on Flickr by Rick.GDL.MX

The very gorgeous Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh. All that energy and movement is just wonderful.

And talk about energy and movement, Jackson Pollock's 'action paintings' had it all. I just love them.

Magazine love

How gorgeous is MAEVE! Their by-line is 'raising an inspired generation'. That's perfection!

I'm already stockpiling a stack of reading material for those long and hedonistic days of a summer break. Can you imagine how glorious is would be to lounge around and actually read an entire article? To flip through the sumptuous pages of my favourite design magazines with no nagging background noise in my head about having to do something else.

I normally snatch snippets at a time while waiting for the kettle to boil, or for the pasta to cook. Sometimes I kid myself into feeling productive by flicking through a few pages waiting for the glue to dry, and sometimes I make up an excuse like a sudden need for inspiration in colour choices. Yeah, right!

I love magazines. I love reading. I love a summer break. Hang in there Crayon, that time is nearly here!

Hello Facebook!

In the beginning ... there was a computer and a girl. Image from Vintage Office

I've done it, with more than a little help from a bevy of fellow stallholders while I was in Adelaide, Crayon Chick has joined the modern era and now has a Facebook page.

Image from here - beware a spoiler alert, I didn't want to read the article, I just want to do the right thing and acknowledge the source of the image!

You just know Joanie from Mad Men would have been the first girl in the office to have an iPhone and Facebook page! It's also a fabulous excuse to check out more Mad Men images on line.

Gorgeous iPhone app by Cartolina

Now all I need from Santa (well, it is almost that time of year!) is a bit of technology to stay up-to-date when I'm travelling. Like, an iPhone for instance!

Waiting for Don.

And if I can't have that, then I'd settle for a Don Draper doll.

Gratuitous Don Draper smiling photo found here.

Another (roadless) trip

I don't know, since I've become the Corporate Chick and fly to my destinations I'm no longer on road trips that involve endless hours on the open road, listening to a good talking book and salivating at the thought of another country town with a country town bakery and a tray of country town bakery baked goods, in particular a vanilla slice. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but something's missing in my new modern ways!

But if I was on the road trip then I'd be on the road right now, instead of in a great mad flapping panic trying to get as much done in every minute that I can. And on a very good note about flying instead of driving, I can crochet on the flight - it's the little things that bring the most Hurrah's to our day!

Hurrah!

So this Chick is about to go back to her flap and this time tomorrow I will be in Adelaide, preparing for another magnificent Magnolia Square.

See you there.

Dotty for these guys!

These little dotty guys are doing a very good job keeping an eye on my progress today! Ethan has drawn a gorgeous picture which has had some Kids With Crayons styling and his masterpiece is now sitting on the mantle in my studio overseeing my progress.

If I have to be stuck inside working on such a gorgeous sunny Sunday then I'm glad it's with these little guys.

Making lists

Crayon Chick crochet necklace, image from lmnop productions. Photo frame constructed by Crayon Chick.

Let's see, List Of Things To Do Today:

• I have heaps of Kids With Crayons orders I told myself I would have done this week. Given it's Friday I'd better get a move on with that.

• The gorgeous LMNOP are waiting for stock and I've just got a few more brooch backs to sew and then it's a dash to the PO.

• And while I'm on that dash I'll also send some crochet garlands that have been made to order.

• Book a visit to the dentist (that ice cream I ate yesterday wasn't a totally enjoyable experience!)

Now, I'm sure there was something else, if only I could remember ..... oh yeah! Make stuff! Make heaps of stuff! I have another market tomorrow at the wonderful Maribyrnong Makers Market where I'll catch up with some of my favourite market peeps, and then hopefully make enough stuff to load into another freight truck on Monday for next week's Magnolia Square in Adelaide.

Time to get cracking!

Still making making making

I feel like I'm morphing into the human pin cushion at the moment. If I have too much tea I think I'll turn into a tea fountain!

Busy? You bet! Burning the midnight oil? Totally!

So many lovely orders have come in for Kids With Crayons and they are all just too cute for words! And with all these fabulous markets this little Crayon Chick is run off her feet trying to restock goodies. I've had a lot of people ask if I sell online. I definitely do, and once this Christmas rush settles down my online stores at madeit and Etsy will be full of Crayon Chick goodness. I promise!

Until then it's off to market, to market, to buy some lovely handmade delights!

Sighing over Sydney

Sydney! You were hot, humid, sunny, smiley and welcoming. You were full of best friends, fabulous food and great catch ups with my fellow market peeps. I got to meet new people whose work I've adored for ages and new people I haven't heard of before, and more than one goodie found it's way into this chick's baggage!

And along the way some of my work was noticed by Jason Grant, a guest stylist awarding prizes for the stallholder who went the extra mile to create a really special space. And in front of everyone it was announced I'd won a WOW award! Really? Wow! And my little secret was revealed - Crayon Chick is shy and tends to blush and I'm so glad to have demonstrated that with everyone there! I was very pleased to see the lovely Printspace win a WOW award as well! Wow!

And lets not get started with the sassy Have You Met Miss Jones - girl, you're fabulous! And I adore my little birdy bowl, despite being wrapped in napkins and shoved in my shoulder bag with Norma Desmond it survived the flight home - hurrah!

The gorgeous work by Simone at States of Nature. I've been a fan for so long and you should check out her beautiful blog! Talk about gorgeous.

Finally, the divine lushness that is Dames and Divas, more specifically my new resin ring featuring vintage kimono silk. Sigh.

No prizes for guessing how long these freshly baked bread rolls lasted as a prop for my string bowls - yep, not even half a day. They were fabulous with vegemite!

So that was Sydney. Next stop - Maribrynong Makers Market this Saturday.

Chat amongst yourselves

This is the only chatting going on at Chez Crayon today. The final day for a furious flurry of fabrication! I love this print, it's called - wonderfully - Bla Bla Bla by Printspace, and I'm pretty excited it only took us a month to have it framed. I've lost track of all the prints and artworks I've got just waiting to be popped in a frame. Printspace will be at Magnolia Square too and it's always fabulous to catch up with other stallholders, a.k.a. fellow creatives burning the candle at both ends and running on minimal sleep!

Enough chatting, back to work!

Busy is good!

How busy can one girl be, well just hang around my place for a minute and be prepared to redefine what busy can be. I remember in a past life thinking I was busy and that was nothing compared to the World of Making Things I've created for myself now. And I'm not going to let myself read my diary for now because it will only bring on an unproductive state of hyperventilation and I can't afford the luxury!

But this state of busy is taking me to some wonderful places, such as Sydney for another GLORIOUS Magnolia Square event at Randwick. I'm staying with my oldest and dearest friend, I'm meeting some wonderful new Sydney-based customers, and did I say it's in Sydney? Wonderful, lively and colourful Sydney in late Spring.

Busy is good!

Summer Stock and a Vanilla Slice

Fabric Petal Necklace by Crayon Chick

It's another road trip tomorrow to gorgeous Daylesford for another Daylesford Makers Market - hurrah! Which means, another stop on the way for the yummiest vanilla slices at Woodend - double hurrah!

mmmmmmm

And what a pleasant surprise to find my Crochet Ball Necklaces featured on this month's market flyer. Which is a spooky coincidence because I've just spent all morning finishing more necklaces to deliver to lovely Lark tomorrow! I'll also be taking some fresh new Fabric Petal Necklaces for Black White and Rouge. So much lovely new summer stock at Chez Crayon, new season colours, new outfits to wear, lots of dress ups and parties. More hurrah!

Which was a whole heap nicer than yesterday's glueing sessions, exhausting every ounce of glue from these tortured tubes was, well, torture on my hands. I'm nothing if not frugal!

On My Desk

I'm loving my lavender at the moment and this little posy on my desk has petals so long they look like they could take flight at any minute. And that's what you get from a childhood spent reading Enid Blyton!

This is an assemblage piece I've had since art school called 'Display' and lives on my windowsill in front of my desk. I was exploring presentation and enjoying grouping and arranging found objects, and the way ordinary objects can be viewed differently when curated to be displayed, not unlike bugs pinned on boards in museums.

Day 285, vintage wound thread/yarn, by Lisa Congdon, A Collection A Day 2010

And I think this background is what I relate to the most when I visit A Collection A Day by San Fransisco artist Lisa Congdon, a fellow collector and displayer.

Lisa says: "This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint."

I love a project.

On my desk, circa 2003 (vintage???), 'Collections' work in progress.