'jane on jane st' - getting back in to gear!

I've been so slack with posts on my other blog 'jane on jane st'. But to be honest, I haven't been doing much towards what I originally set it up for.

The idea was to complete fabric designs through the name 'designed to a T' and make the fabrics into handmade products for sale under the name 'jane on jane st' homewares.

I need to get back on track! Starting here! I'm also on the hunt for a semi-industrial sewing machine! This is all about the lead up to my 2013 deadline of decisions decisions....

Head on over to 'jane on jane st', if you are interested, to hear my musings...oh and here are some hints for you...

Creative Collective March Project - Green or Green

Well I'd love to say I've been very environmentally friendly with this project, and recycled something for the challenge.

To be honest, I recycle all my household rubbish, but haven't done much in the way of actually recycling materials OR up cycling them for projects. This is a challenge for me. Storage is minimal at home and so is work area, hence a lot of my small project magic happens on the computer and printer, or my sewing machine, and on occasions when I'm at the family holiday house I get stuck into the BIG projects (like my ottoman, which I am yet to complete the instructional post for!!)

Where am I heading with this...whilst I would love to be able to scout more op shops, vintage shops etc etc, I have to focus on where I am going with this blog and 'the business'. There will be time for all the other stuff when I get past thinking I have to do ALL the projects rattling around in my head. Not all of them fit in with where I'm heading...

So to get at least ONE of these projects out of my head, I decided it fitted fairly well into the criteria for this month over at The Creative Collective.

Behold my new Sling bags, in my own fabric design.

My level of satisfaction went through the roof when I finished them, I'm so happy with the fabric design. I'd have to say my favourite one is the one on the left, the one with the circle fabric on top and the complimentary stripe on the bottom.

My fabric designs have been uploaded to Spoonflower, and they print them on natural fibres with eco-friendly inks.

That's one part of the 'green' criteria for this project!

The other is...the design has an olive green background colour.

The fabric is part of the 'Circle Circle' collection, with a complimentary stripe. There are about 25 of my designs up on Spoonflower at the moment, some of them are the same but in another colour way. I still have about another 10 coming, again the same or similar designs in different colourways, or as part of a collection.

I took my favourite one to work on Friday as we were having a team day, and a couple of the girls mentioned they wouldn't mind one, then one of them thought they'd be great for Christmas presents. 

Next step, try a couple of different colourways, and make a few more bags. I have a quick job to do first, some bunting as a gift for a new baby girl. This will be in another of my collections 'Pink Diamonds'...some samples are over here on 'jane on jane st', my other blog.

I'm off now to start the bunting and to post about a little trip I took today to Berrima and Mittagong. I have some goodies to show you from the trip and I'll post about the bunting when it's done too!


Have a good week everyone!

Happy New Year...and a post Christmas wish to everyone

Welcome to the eve of a New Year everyone.

I've been a bit absent over this last month, so it's time to catch up a little bit.

Firstly, Merry Christmas to you all. I do hope your Christmas Day was filled with love and cheer. My Dad is visiting from QLD and it was nice to have him here on the day.

My thoughts go out to my friends and family caught in the floods in my home town, Bundaberg and a very dear friend in Emerald. Both towns are in dire straits, so if you are able to donate to the flood appeals, please do so to help them out.

I've had regular contact with some of them and they are all doing fine, with no evacuations...yet. It's hard to believe the amount of water in the Bundaberg area. I remember the floods in the 70's, and yes I was 'very young' then.

A big thankyou in advance if you can help. 

So, the lead up to Christmas was pretty busy for me at work, including a quick 2 day trip to Melbourne to join the national team for some strategy days on what's in store for 2011.

Silly me, I decided a few weeks out from Christmas, I'd better get a move on with making the Christmas pressies for this year. I did OK in the end, thanks to some great ideas from you wonderful bloggers. I'll let you know who they are as I go along.

My boys have both moved into new addresses, and I thought as a surprise, I'd make them each a set of Christmas decorations. Darren's set was in green and Brendon's in blues.
 
I started with wreaths made out of circles cut from some Murobond paint chips I had accumulated. 

If you've seen the paint samples from Murobond, you'll know they are a decent size, so I was getting 3, 4 and 5 circles from each colour in varying sizes. I included some contrasting papers also. The project was finished with some small silver hearts and buttons for embellishments. Viola!...instant wreath in about 1 hour.
   

Then I moved on to making some birds from a post Tina at Rubie's Place featured. These are also featured on the 'Christmas Tree' we had at home this year. You'll see what I mean soon.

Next some wooden heart shapes covered on one side with a flocked transparency and a contrast blue (or green) on the other side. The wreaths and the ornaments were finished with a white or an ivory ribbon to hang them.

Garlands were next. Again, the theme of circles was carried through to these. There's also a photo of Brendon's tree (well branch) with the decorations.

With the decorations finished and mailed off, I settled in to making a present each for the girlfriends. Brenda at 'Hoo are you lookin at?' has fabulous fabric boxes. Mine aren't quite the same, but they were OK in the end and both the girls liked them, which is more important.


Sarah's is the owl and Natalie's was a shooting star.

The Christmas Tree was a bit different this year!!! 

There just wasn't any room in the house in Sydney to accomodate a long table for 12 guests, the loungeroom furniture and the usual Christmas tree. 

I used some brown paper to cut triangle panels to make the different levels of the tree then decorated it with bunting, christmas birds the same as the decorations I made for the boys, some more silver hearts, and circle 'baubles'. The tree was topped off with another dove.

I was really happy with it!! It all came together at around 11 pm on Christmas Eve.

This is what the normal tree looks like. It's quite big but beautiful, so we missed it a bit this year.

The theme for Christmas wrapping this year was white paper with a contrast tied off with twine and the gift tags I made in November for the 'Christmas Giveaway'.

Some other projects completed in the lead up to the big day...

A matching set of cushion and matryoshka doll for my niece in Bundaberg. The print 'In the Pink' is another great idea from Tina at Rubie's Place, using freezer paper as a template for the print.

 


Lastly, phew it was a busy week and a half, was a present for the wife of one of my co-workers. One of my products soon to be on 'jane on jane st'. Fabric Art similar to my Wallpaper Art. They will both be available soon and in 3 sizes. Stay tuned.

I took the photo at work on the carpet, with my phone, so it's not a great photo, sorry. The fabric is some curtain fabric offcut from Ikea. Beautiful colours.

So everyone, that's what I've been up to in the 4 weeks since my last post. I do hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and have a fantastic start to 2011.

May everything you hope and strive for comes to fruition.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

(Anyone else having trouble with Blogger formatting. It drove me crazy doing this post!!!)

New test print - Art Deco

A design I'm thinking of for an Art Deco range for the new 'jane on jane st' products.

This will probably end up being a paper product, with a few other styles to compliment this one.

About me and 'jane on jane st'

Full bio for 'jane on jane st' finally finished - now on About Me.

Marketing ideas??

Just trying a few marketing ideas for when I finally get all my soldiers in a row for 'jane on jane st'.

Possible idea for product tags??

I'm going to use designed to a T to test prints and products and 'jane on jane st' will eventually be the 'shop'.

Still a way to go. Working full time and travelling sort of takes up a lot of spare time. Especially when I travel. At least while I'm away for work I can play with designs and ideas on my laptop.

{No reflection or taking away from the wonderful Alarna Zinn of Little Jane Street. My products

will in no way be the same or in competition with her fantastic range of boutique stationery.

The name 'jane on jane st' came from a line of dialogue in the 'Madmen' television series}