yay for little greek yiayia's in op shops..

a little while back i was in a little op shop and overhead the sales lady talking in Greek. 

I was looking through the beads, buttons and jewellry at the front counter and started talking to her in Greek too. She got so excited that I could speak Greek that she ended up saying that I could have all the beads and jewellry in the bowl on the counter for $2.. yep $2!! 

These photos show you what I got for $2. Lots of new (sustainable) projects ahead i think! Upcycle! Upcycle! Just in time for my upcoming stall at the Sustainable Living Festival with Craft Cartel.

But I do feel slightly guilty for only spending $2 in an op shop... I think I'll have to take her a present!  

BIG news...

ok i have some BIG news...

i resigned this week. Yep, i quit my stable day job in an architecture firm!

I know it sounds like a crazy thing to be doing in the current economic climate especially because of all the recent job losses BUT this has been a well researched and carefully planned decision.  I'm so ready to do this!. 

So as of February 6th I will be a TEACHING CRAFT-ITECT (cant think of a proper name yet!)

that is:

- I will be using a few private architectural projects to build up my own small architecture firm

- I will be teaching a few design studios 

- I will be crafting away with my little brooches and stuff

yay! yay! I'm a tad scared but oh so very excited!! 

hooray the rhythm treble brooches are back!

it all started some time last year... 

i started rummaging around in my boy's studio (he makes and repairs guitars). I was on a hunt for new things to make brooches out of...

i found these fab things called toggle switch surrounds which are used on electric guitars. They came in black with gold text and cream with black text. 

I made a few combinations of brooches with these toggle switches and my own vintage buttons and beads... the first few were too special to give away so I made some more to sell...

You can find them in my etsy shop (www.kallliopi.etsy.com) or in my cube at incube.8r (321 Smith St, Collingwood). 

you can see a few of these rockin' little brooches below but stay tuned because there are many more to come.

Kalliopi x

yay 2009!!

yay! 2009 is here hooray hooray!

i'm so excited... i just know it is going to be an exciting year.

Here is a photo of the fireworks in Melbourne as seen in ACDC Lane on NYE!!

Hmmm... now for some crafty new year's resolutions:

1. To stop procrastinating like i always do (eeee this wil

l be a tough one!)

2. To be more creative and make more fun stuff

3. To be more sustainable in my brooch making ways

4. To find more avenues to market my stuff and approach cool people in cool shops who could sell my things.

5. To be a tad more organised and to balance work, play and art

6. ummm.... can't think of many others right now 

and here are this week's brooch creations:

spring holidays

Yikes! i have been very quiet with my blog for the last month or so.
But i have slowly been making a few little brooches and earrings and most of these are on etsy now.
I have done a bit of op shopping and found a few pairs of lovely earrings which i have pulled apart and turned into brooches... one of my favourites is below!this is now on etsy... see: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16190604

i am in the middle of a 2 week holiday from work so i have been a bit crafty...for more brooches have a look at my etsy store www.kallliopi.etsy.com
i spent a few days in my grandma's lovely garden and many of these new items have been photographed there... yay spring is in Melbourne!

kalliopi x

my cube at in.cube8r

Yay... I set up my little cube at in.cube8r over the weekend... exciting stuff!

in.cube8r is a gallery space that supports art, craft and handmade things by Melbourne artists.

They are located at 321 Smith St, Fitzroy (near Johnston St).

 

My brooches will be there from now until December 12th.

Here are some photos of what you will find in there this month.

things i made on this sunny Tuesday afternoon...

Well it is supposed to be Day 2 of spring and there was a bit of sun today.


I have every second Tuesday off work so here are a few things i made this afternoon while procrastinating because i should have spent the WHOLE day working on my small private architecture project...hmmm fun little crafty break.


so i did the following:


- i decided to do something with all my old magazines rather than throwing them out (the good ones went to the op shop) so i've used my flower and pear paper punch to cut out a few shapes for my future projects as well as selling them on etsy to other crafty people who may use them.
link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14828650
and
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=14828726


- i also made 4 new brooches... 2 of these are the guitar themed ones (with the rhythm treble switch thingie as these seem to be really popular at the moment)...i've also used my last two red plastic strawberry beads so you wont be seeing them anymore...unless of course i can find some more...somewhere.