Our first etsy sale!!!!

"2 items sold"
I thought it was a mistake at first, but I am so very excited to announce that we finally made a sale on Etsy!! It took a while, but with about 200,000 listings in the "art" category alone, its pretty good and its fairly easy money, seeings as the work was done for the exhibition anyway. The two pieces featured Carly's cute Gocco print (its a special home screen printing device nicknamed "Gocco") of the Hillshoist clothesline.



Its just great to get some feedback and something concrete that its worth having them for sale. And, fingers crossed, it gets the ball rolling.

and in other news...

I hope everyone is enjoying the colours of Autumn at the moment. I know it may sound a little dorky/corny to some, but I find it quite beautiful - and thought I'd share some pics from my own backyard which is a mass of yellow, mainly on the ground now.

Melbourne Trip #1 out of 3

Lately I've been clocking up the km's and have made a few trips down to capital city. Firstly, is pictured, was a sleepover at one of my best and longest friends Karyn. Next was a foot check up at the Royal Children's for Bain - foot is perfect as it could possibly be, all things considered, so yearly check-ups!! Yay!!! This is pretty big for Jon and I, that is the news we've been waiting to hear since he was born.


First bath
First plaster - 1 day old.



The last, but not the least, was for Harrys 4th birthday - our nephew and not only a cousin for Bain but a good mate. We always enjoy a good catch up with Jon's family, we're always made to feel very welcome whenever we crash on Karen's doorstep.


Karyn had 2 things in mind for when I visited - the footy - she is a bulldogs member. And dinner out at De Los Santos - a highly recommended Spanish restaurant in Brunswick st.
This was the first AFL match I've been too. At the MCG which I guess is THE place to experience my first. Despite my anti-footy nature I actually enjoyed myself. Great atmosphere, and great to be right there - I think thats what its all about really, not sitting on the couch. We also experienced a rude and obnoxious punter, which just added to the day. Karyn didn't take any crap!!














When we had finished our beautiful meal and had a couple Sangrias, we then walked along Brunswick street. So on Sunday, we decided that we'd re-visit. Highlights was visiting the Alannah Hill factory outlet. Great Melbourne designer, very eclectic and feminine. The bit that excited me, wasn't really her beautiful dresses etc, you could buy for $80 or so rather than $400 or so, but the area where you could buy her material and trimmings buy the metre. Lots of great fabrics and lace. But the whole street is wonderful, with an arrear of great cafes, interesting jewelery and homewares. Its my type of place for window shopping.
Another interesting site, was a the walls of graffiti when we parked the car. Had to snap some of my favourtites.

I'm loving all the stencil art thats around now...









and sticker art..




And the weekend also featured one lovable pooch named Lola. Karyn's little furry friend and I become great mates as I would happily pat and pat her, especially Sunday morning up on the bed. Such a friendly, happy dog with loads of personality.

cooking with bain...

One thing about children is they make you appreciate the simple things, they make you stop and have a bit of fun. Bain and I enjoyed making mud pies a couple weeks ago... on a lovely sunny day.















Followed by some real cooking... cupcakes, with Bain's favourite coloured icing - green! Bain loves helping in the kitchen and I like to have some home made goodies from time to time. And what a photo op - on my cake stand - they looked a picture.

stormy night

We had a spectacular storm the other night here in Ky. Of course, I ran and grabbed the camera. I have never photographed lightening before.

There was lots of sheet lightening

which doesn't make for a great a pic but I persevered and ended up with a few good shots of fork lightening, which, by the way, is extremely hard to photograph. The storm started miles away and I watched it over my back fence, until it passed through Ky. At that time I saw lightening forks over my head... thats when I tucked under cover. But it kept moving away from us, which is when I took most of the photos below. There blurry as I didn't really feel like standing out in a lightening storm with a tripod....

Etsy feature.. yumiyumi

As mentioned, I plan to do a feature on a favourtite Etsy seller from time to time and I haven't been doing anything exciting to show you. As the other seller was a more comical, less serious type of work I thought I'd feature this wonderful artist - Aline *Yumi* Yamada. She is a fine artist and illustrator originally from Brazil and currently living in Ohio, USA.

One great thing about Etsy is the affordable artwork. Obviously studying art for 3 years, I appreciate having art and having it around, as have my parents often collecting interesting prints from markets while on holidays. Art can often be an expensive thing, but at Etsy you can find an array of great work at very good prices. I guess because there is little cost involved with selling on Etsy, artists can keep there prices low.

Yumi's work is quite interesting, it does have a feminine feel. Most of the works are a "Giclee print of an original illustration done in combination with pencil, ink, watercolor then digitally tweaked". Most of them are 8.5 x 11 inch (although she is happy for queries of any size) and sell for $20US. They also come in different colour combinations, for example,
red pink


or blues and purples

I think there is a definite gum tree influence here...

There is a real delicate feel to this style of her work..








But she also has these more bold designs


yumiyumi has a great series of owls and 'berry monsters', as she calls them. I think they would be great decorating a young girls room, something a bit different..







and she has even more styles in her shop. She has had very successful sales and reached her 1000th sale in early February after only 8 months.

Anyway, enjoy this beautiful art and go buy some if you really like it.


All images are copyright of Aline Yamada and were used here with Aline's permission.