Inspired by the local newspaper....

Click on the below link to see my article in the paper...


Paper art in the frame in Maribyrnong - Local News - News - Maribyrnong Leader



Very exciting times!

Inspired by the arrival of Nate...

Inspired by the navy blues...

I was met with a challenge when asked to make a custom frame for Tom which was to incorporate the Carlton Football team. With the team colours being only white and navy blue, I felt I needed to add some more colours to help make it more visually appealing. I ended up adding the green and the red and I am a lot more happier with the final product. With frames like this, I love calling on family and/or friends to offer some advice- I think there were 5 versions of this frame before I was happy with it!

Inspired by the people of Woodend...

Here is my setup from Sugar and Spice Market in Woodend last weekend. Woodend is such a lovely little town and I enjoyed the first time at the market. The locals are lovely and appreciate all things handmade and I look forward to heading there again in the new year.

Inspired by Christmas cards...

Christmas time is definitely a busy card making time... Above is a photo of some Christmas cards I made for a work colleague. I love making Christmas cards. Every year I say that I am going to start early on the cards and be all ready for the Christmas season and once again I found myself up late making them last minute. Oh well... there is always next year.

Inspired by markets, wedding invitations and loads of frames.... (part one)

So I think this one is going to be a long post! It has been a while since I posted on here last. Life has been so busy lately and the fact that I couldn't work out how to get the photos off my phone has resulted in the delay of the post. (I had to split the post in two as it wouldn't take all my photos!)

I am not sure where to start but perhaps I will with markets. October 24th saw me at my first ever Thread Den market. I have often visited the market and very excited to get a stall for the first time. This particular market coincided with the Spring Fling Festival in the street and went for 7 hours! Yes it was a very long day and having the flu didn't make it very enjoyable but I soldiered on. Lots of frames and cards were sold and I look forward to my second market in December.

November 7th saw me at the Monkey Market in Brighton. This is a new market and only its second one. Lots of mothers group mothers and children visiting and I am sure it is only going to get bigger and better. Here is a photo of my stall below.
Last weekend I was part of the final Maribyrnong Makers Market for the year. This is definitely my favourite market. I love the atmosphere of it and the locals certainly come out in large numbers. This November market is spread across two venues. I had a stall at the church along with about 40 other stall holders and then there was another 35 up the road at the park. I never got a chance to venture up there, or around the church site in fact as I was too busy! Here is a photo of my stall setup.

Inspired by markets, wedding invitations and loads of frames... (part 2)

Besides markets, I have been really busy with my wedding invitations. Yes, the upcoming wedding in January is fastly approaching and the need for the invitations to be completed really stood out to me when my sister received an invite for a March wedding. So after a few weeks of playing around with different papers I had a afternoon with some friends to get them all made. If I had of done it all myself I dont think people would've got there invitations before January. So if you look at the photos below you can see some people cutting, sewing, stamping and sticking things down. You will also see a picture of the final invitation.

Inspired by Christmas in Seddon...

Not long now to the big Christmas market in Seddon. Put it in your diary and look forward to seeing you there!

Inspired by Scarlett's first birthday

This is a frame I made a few weeks ago for a lovely neighbour. She had it made for Scarlett's first birthday. It has photos from Scarlett's first year. It was rather challenging to make but once I got it completed I was happy with the final product.

Inspired by new cards...

Some of the markets I am doing at the moment are baby and children focused. So not only do I need to ensure I have the frames ready for them, but I have had to ensure I have a good stock of cards. I keep forgetting to get photos of all my cards, but I have some below that I can show you.

Inspired by lots of frames...

I have been very busy getting my frame orders completed lately. If you click here, you will be able to see all the ones I have added to the frame gallery. One of the most recent ones I have done it the Pedro frame. This was for a customer in the Babies and Kids store in Seddon. They asked for a custom frame. It was quite simple instructions- soccer themed and include navy blue. I obviously needed to add a few more colours to make it work and came up with the frame below. I was lucky to be able to purchase some little soccer balls which were a great addition to the frame.

Inspired by the need to write!

Well, it has certainly been a while since my last post. I have been doing so much but haven't had a chance to get all the photos up here. Hopefully you have been following me via my facebook page as well. Since the Seddon market in September, I have been at the first ever Monkey Market in Brighton as well as my regular spot in Yarraville at the market there. Inspired by Paper will also be making its debut at a few more markets over the next few months so stay tuned!

I have had some new customers come through and order via the Babies and Kids store in Seddon as well as more orders through my market stall and of course through the great friends that I have. I am about to upload some more photos and shall hopefully get them posted before I go to bed tonight!

Inspired by a great day in Seddon...

A big thank you to those who came a visited me in Seddon on Saturday at the Maribyrnong Makers Market. The rain held off and the locals continues to visit all day. Actually it wasn't only the locals, I recall talking to someone who was visiting from Albury, another from Moorabin and also a few country towns I hadn't heard of!
I have a heap of photos to upload of my recent creations but need to try get a early night tonight. Hope to get them on here in the next few days before I start getting ready for my next market- The Monkey and Baby market at the Brighton Bowls Club on September 26th. More details to come soon...

Inspired by Maribyrnong Makers Market...

It is that time of year again- the third Maribyrnong Makers Market for 2010. I will be there along with many great local makers so look forward to seeing you all! Come and stop by to say hello!

Inspired by the number 50...

With three frame sales this week, Inspired by Paper is getting closer and closer to that 50th frame sale for the year. Get your order in and the 50th frame could be yours for free!

Inspired by 50 frame orders....

Well what a beautiful Sunday it was here today in Melbourne. So good to see the sun shining. It seemed like there was a lot more people smiling today too! Lets hope it starts to warm up a bit.
I am very excited to have had lots of frame orders over the last month and am getting close to the 50th frame order for the year. To celebrate that, the person that orders the 50th frame will get it for free! So get your order in and I shall add you to my spreadsheet of names. I look forward to getting your emails.
(Please note, if the winner needs the frame to be sent, then they will have to cover postage expenses).

Inspired by my little man Charlie...

For those that follow me on my facebook page, you would have seen my updates about my little sewing adventure. When one of my close friends gave birth to Charlie, of course I needed to make him a gift. I thought they would be expecting a frame, or some sort of paper product so I thought I would mix it up a bit and attempt something with the needle and thread. I purchased a pattern for these great little owls. Can you believe these are actually made out of baby socks? They are so cute. I called on the help of my friend Evette who was great in helping me understand the instructions and the stitches needed. The first one I created was my 'practice one' and definitely wasn't good enough to make the final cut. So then I continued on and made the 4 owls below.

The next challenge I was face with was getting these made into a mobile. It was a lot easier said than done. I went to the park and hunted for some perfect looking sticks and then attempted to make all the owls balance. Mmm... this cause some frustration, especially when it was looking like this.... yes very un-balanced!

Eventually I got it sorted but then was faced with another issue. I had purchased the stand (or what I learnt is called a 'crook') and didn't like the the colours on the little part that created the music, so I decided to cover it to match the rest of the mobile.

So it was all complete and ready to give to Charlie and is shown below. If only I was quicker in getting it made though- a mobile was bought for Charlie in the days prior as he didn't have one. Damm!

Inspired by Handmade Kids

So I was so excited the other day when I came across my frame on another website. Handmade Kids is a site which they like to call a 'one stop shop' for all things baby and kids related. The ladies write about their finds and I find myself easily distracted by stores like this of which provide so many links to other business' that I stay on the computer too long looking at fantastic things. So here is the link to their page and a look at the photo that featured on one of thier entries- Handmade Kids

Inspired by the red, white and blue...

You would never guess what team James' parents support?! I was happy to make this card and frame as I support the same team!

Inspired by Adelaide...

Another frame and card order done for my wonderful customer Emma. Welcome to the world little Adelaide.

Inspired by Babushkas...

Well firstly I hope that I spelt Babushka right! I have been noticing that these dolls are on a lot of wall decor, t shirts, bags amongst a lot of other things at the moment. I thought I would try and incorporate them into some cards. Here are my designs.

Inspired by music...

I had a request to make some music themed birthday cards for a friend who is a music teacher. I am always up for a challenge so purchased a few new music related products and this is what I came up with. The first photo shows 4 cards made in nice bright colours which are suitable for the girls and boys and include little wooden music notes. The other photo has cards that are aimed at the older kids and has music embossed into the card in the background.
I hope the students like them!

Inspired by gift cards

I dropped off some more gift cards at Babies and Kids last week.... Here is a peek of a few!

Inspired by Cancer...

As a Daffodil Day volunteer each year, I get mail about the Cancer Council Arts Awards. I always look at it and think that I cant draw or paint nor can I write a good story, so I push it aside and think that I can't enter. This year when it came I thought, perhaps I should give it a go in what I can do best. That is use paper. So after a lot of thought, I decided to enter. The theme this year was Lost and Found and the idea is to express your experiences in a creative way through either visual art, poerty, film or short story.
The frame below is what I came up with. It is full of lots of squares of what people have found during their concer experience such as Hope, Courage, Strength, Embrace. There is one square missing. It is the square of the cure as this is yet to be found.
Along with this frame, I had to write a piece on what it meant to me, however I would like to keep that to myself.

Unfortunately, I was not sucessful in winning in my category but I was really happy to complete this artwork. Currently the winning entries and some other handpicked entries are on display at 120 Collins st (the foyer of the building). So if you are in the area, you should stop by as there are some great pieces as well as short stories to read. My work is on display in the visual art book on the desk with all the other entries and my name is amongst those on a large poster in the foyer.

Inspired by two new little girls....

A busy week this week with more orders coming in. Thanks to Marina who ordered some frames and cards for the new babies in her life! Welcome Lylah and Ayla!

Inspired by Love...

What a better way to spend a Saturday night when home alone than to sit in the study listening to the footy and trying to get creative. Yes, my creativity side has sort of gone walkabouts of recent months. So much on my mind and going on in my life. I am slowly getting back into it but it seems to be hard at times. I hope that soon it gets back to not being a effort to sit here and make something and instead be exciting like it used to be. So tonights effort resulted in a few dud cards before one was created that I really loved. I have still got a lot of lace so I thought I would use it to make a wedding card again. It is shown below. Are you feeling the love? :-)

Inspired by new babies...

Heather from Babies and Kids recently asked for some baby shower cards as there appears to be a baby boom in the area and they are in high demand! Baby shower cards are a little hard to get right- most people don't know the sex of the baby so they have to be rather neutral. And then the wording on the front of the card needs to be considered. "Congratulations' didn't seem to be appropriate as the baby hasn't arrived yet. So I have gone with "best wishes" along with "the best is yet to be" and then have left one blank. I'm happy with using the pregnancy silhouette on the front of the cards and feel it makes it clearly a card for a baby shower. I created this silhouette for a baby shower invitation I did last year and have since gone on to use it for many creations. I look forward to getting feedback from Babies and Kids to see if they sell and what people say.

Inspired by my man...

I was engaged early this year and are busy planning the wedding for January. Our house is full of photos of family and friends and I wanted to add a creation of me and my other half. The photo below shows now what is on the wall of our living room. After it was up I said to him, "do you like the new piece I hung in the living room?", He said, "I didn't notice it". Mmmm, perhaps the fact that the tv is in the opposite corner of the room so his eyes only go one way! Oh well.

It is done on what is called a printers tray. It was done with the help of Julie from Scraptacular. The ideas are now going around my head about what I could do with our wedding photos. I have actually bought a large antique printers tray off ebay and will come up with something for that. But I think I need to plan the actual wedding first before I think of being creative with the photos!

Inspired by a babies arrival!

A work colleague of mine recently finished up to have a baby and of course I was the first one to put my hand up and offer to buy the present and of course make the card! So here is the card that I created. It took a few hours to make as it was so big- but that meant everyone got to write on it!

Inspired by other crafters...

I am a fan of a group on Facebook called The Contemporary Handmade Alliance (CHA). It is a great page where the many are people like me can go to ask questions and get assistance with our various crafting endevours. I also like seeing what other people are making. I really like to support other people that have tried to start their own little business and try and buy gifts from their online stores.

Recently CHA put a call out to those that wanted to participate in a swap. I belive there was around 80 people that put their hand up and we all were emailed the name and webpage of one other maker.

I was given Megan from Handmade Treasures. I emailed her and she told me she loved orange and blues, so I set about making a frame with her business name on it. The creation is shown below. I look forward to hearing back from her and seeing if she liked it. Perhaps Megan you can send me a photo of it up on your wall!

I shall post a photo of what I receive when it arrives.

The Contemporary Handmade Alliance group also has a blog that can be found here

Inspired by repeat customers...

I recently posted a card and frame made with the name Claudia on it. It was great to get a call a couple weeks later from the same customer who wanted the same gift for a new arrival called Addison. The photos are below (not the greatest quality unfortunately).Thanks Emma!