As usual, there’s going to be a bunch of our finest local crafty talent there on the day, including the likes of Freedom Creative, Rose Among Thorns, The Wardrobe, Mudbird, Hello Lovely, Sly Fox Jewellery, Honey and Spice and a whole heap more! (check out the facebook event for a full list of vendors). I’m busy pottering away (at an increasing pace) on some new designs, so fingers crossed they’ll be ready in time for the market. Hope to see you there!

So excited, a couple of my favourite wee independant gift stores have opened again – Blackbird and God Save the Queen! Both shops were taken out by the earthquake, but it takes more than a natural disaster to keep these ladies down! You’ll find their pop-up shop out in Sumner at 11a Wakefield Ave, open from Wednesday to Sunday. You’ll even find a few Black Swan goodies in store too.

How rad is this bicycle spread from Adore Home magazine, featuring one of my totes no less… (thanks Hello Polly!) Makes me pine for some decent Summer weather… poor old Mr BSA has been hanging out in the garage by himself rather a lot this year due to a lack of sunshine and over abundance of rain here in Christchurch…

Some other recent finds include Jump From Paper’s 3D bags, these flower nails blogged on Design Sponge and a nifty free Jam Labelizer (there’s also a Beer Labelizer for the chaps). And if you’re at a bit of a loss as where to start your online inspiration hunt, check out Pinterest. You can take a look at my boards here… but be warned, I hold no accountability for time wasted on this site! (hehe)

A little tardy, but nevertheless Happy New Year! Hope you all had a lovely festive season and Summer holiday (for those of you on my side of the globe). I was lucky enough to take a whole month off work, though time flew by awfully fast and before you know it here we are in February! As far as New Years resolutions go, I’m not normally much of an advocate but thought I’d have a crack at something a little fun for 2012 – taking a photo a day! So far so good, only 11 months to go…

Valentines day is also just around the corner now, so here’s a few cute wee finds on felt that you might want to get for your loved one, and there’s also a nifty gift guide here… so no excuses there gentlemen! (hehe)

From left to right, top to bottom; set of 6 heart magnets from Tinch, heart mug from Little White Box, Japanese washi tape from Cat Taylor, hottie card from iDear, hugs and kisses ceramic heart from Little White Box & cross stitch heart notepad from Love Ideas Ink. Plenty more where those came from too!

For a super cute quick last minute DIY project this festive season, check out this free printable bunting from Team Kitten…

And in closing, here’s a little light hearted entertainment on how to wrap a cat! x

A couple of great new stockists have been added to the Black Swan family recently – in Christchurch Where the Fox Lives, situated at 270 Lincoln Rd (upstairs) in Addington. Pop in to visit Tipi and you’ll find a great selection of fashion from local designers, alongside some black swan jewellery and pieces from Aroha Silhouettes’ molecular addictions series (pictured above). Also, spot the black swan necklace being worn below for their latest Metropol advert! Choice.

And in Wellington you can find more black swan goodies at Made.it, 103 Victoria Street, alongside a whole host of other crafty goodies from the likes of The Sewphist, Smash Palace and Copper Red to name a few. Both are great place to do a spot of last minute Christmas shopping, if you’re that way inclined!

With only 19 sleeps ’till the big day the All I Want For Christmas Market is a great opportunity to support local crafts people and get your Christmas shopping sorted all in one hit! You’ll find wares from the above crafters – Cloud Nine Creative, Little Minx, Aroha Vintage, Feltgood & plenty more! This is my last market for 2011 before I take a well deserved Summer holiday, so pop along and say “hi”!

One of my favourite things about Christmas has to be advent calendars. Mum has been making me one ever since I was 1 year old, and it’s nice to be able to return the favour now that I’m older, proving that you’re never to old to enjoy an advent calendar! There’s a bit of work involved in making one, but if you’re lazy there are lots of ready-to-fill ones about, though making one from scratch is always nice and doing a search on the likes of sites like pinterest will help give you ideas (which is where the selection above came from).

This is my 2011 handmade calendar from Mum, with little boxes that contain a wee treat for each day of December leading up to the 25th, complete with a hand painted shrink plastic Christmas papa smurf…

And here’s the one that I made for her! She has developed a bit of a iPad smurf game addiction after I introduced it to her (yes, I know, it’s a bad habit) hence I couldn’t let the opportunity to have her on with an entirely smurf themed calendar go to waste! I’ll post pics of the goodies inside post Christmas as I had a lot of fun making these.

‘Tis the season for craft markets! This Saturday I’ll be at the Christmas Encraftment market along with other local talenty crafty peeps such as Freedom Creative, Mudbird, Relique, Rose In Thorns, In My Backyard & Sailor Spy, to name just a fraction of the 80+ stall holders who’ll be there on the day! I’m planning on taking my vintage BSA bicycle along for a little outing so I’ll be extra easy to spot. Here’s a wee selection from the aforementioned makers…

Then if you still haven’t sorted all your Christmas pressent worries, there’s the All I Want For Christmas Market on Saturday 10th December, organised by the lovely Craft Collective ladies!

Whilst up in the capital I also made a point to pop in to visit one of my stockists, Voon, to grab one of their latest catalogues which includes a couple of my bicycle goodies being modeled. I love their photography work, especially the bicycle themed images.

And of course with there being a distinct lack of independent shops in Christchurch at the mo, I had to pick up a few treats. Iko Iko is one of my fav shops, which is where I spied these finger staches! Another wee gem was the lead type alphabet and ships wheel stamps that I picked up in a junk shop. Can’t wait to try these out on my ceramics! And of course I couldn’t not buy one of these black swan ceramic brooches at the fair from Stéphanie Cahorel…