Back and creating......

Its been a while since my hands created anything that didn't involve regular house paint, the use of a hammer or require a team effort. Thankfully, the renovations are almost complete. More importantly our craft studio is almost done. Last week I spent time unpacking boxes of beads, felt, fabrics. Its time to get creating again. I missed it.

Ive also taken this time to think about the direction I wish to take my craft and what I want to create and how I want to sell it. I am excited about the changes and look forward to sharing many new projects and ideas via this blog.

Breezy days.....

We have moved and finally settled in our new (old) apartment. Martino and I have been working very hard on creative projects of the home decor variety. Using paints and brushes we have never used before - big ones! Its been a lot of fun and the process of bringing to life each room as we have imagined it in our minds eye has been exciting. Sometimes exhausting, but exciting nevertheless.

So I thought I would share some pictures of what started off as a very dark, dirtry, musty smelling apartment. With the help of my very talented cabinet making dad, martino's eye for colour and detail, mum's recycle/reuse approach and my craftyclaudes know-how --- our little apartment has been transformed

The little apartment (56sqm) is now a place where air flows freely from room to room and light is welcomed and enjoyed. All adding to the feel we always knew we wanted. A place to rest and relax. A place to allow ourselves to become inspired and continue our creative vibe. We still have more work to do. However, everyday, I see more of what we had dreamed off and less of what we saw when we first (bravely) took the plunge to make an offer on the place. The little apartment that could.....everyday can and will.


There I am (and my shoes!) reflection in the mirrored wall/cabinet. Looking from the front door out to the living room/kitchen and balcony. Parquetry floors (love!) and west facing balcony light filtered by a lemon tree. The floors were in a very bad state. Scuffed, scratched and dented. There is my dad (in the white). Who would soon transform this room into our combined kitchen/dining/lounge area.



Here is the floor after we had it sanded and polished. The process took 3 days. The floor still has little marks here and there which we chose to keep. Character lines we call them :-)




Here is the original kitchen. The apartment was built in the 60's from what we have found out. The kitchen looks to be from the 70's. Very small and poky. Would not allow for much storage at all so it had to go. Ripping it out was lots of fun - just look at how much fun Martino is having here!




The kitchen is now almost complete. To maximise the small space we opted to have the kitchen sink moved from under the window to the adjacent wall. The trade off for this was much more counter space and of course storage. This is how the kitchen looks today. In a few days time we will have a sink and tap ware installed by our plumber, the kickboards and pelmets added, the electrical work finished and a funky little splashback done. There is also a cabinet coming that will house our fridge. More pics to come soon.....

Mirror Mirror on the wall.......

I have been researching mosaic tiles and specifically the art of Pique Assiette. Pique Assiette (meaning "stolen from plate") originated in France and is similar to mosaic except it uses found/reclaimed objects like broken plates, bottles, glass, pottery, etc to decorate other surfaces.

A crafty fellow by the name of Raymond Edouard Isidore who lived in Chartres, France in 1938 began collecting and decorating his home with bits of broken pottery and glass that he would find in the fields near his home. He is credited as introducing this art form which went on to inspire other artists such as Gaudi and Klimt.

Gaudi's most famous work with Pique Assiette (or "trencadis"in Catalan) is found at Parc Guell in Barcelona. A very beautiful park which draws lots of visitors who not only get to admire the work of Gaudi, but also some fantastic views of this vibrant city.

Here is some beautiful work by Etsy artists who are also using this technique. Creating some very pretty and intricate work....


Starburst Vintage Jewelry Mosaic Mirror by Laura Winzeler Designs


Vintage Costume Jewelry Mosaic on Hand Held Mirror - by Harvest Moon Studio 13

Southwest Mosaic Mirror by Memories in Mosaics

Confession time.....

My name is Claudia and I am addicted to Make Up "How to" videos.
There. I said it. I feel so much better now ;-)

I simply love watching the process of transforming a makeup free face into all sorts of sexy smoky eyed vixens or silly barbie lookalikes. Whilst watching these artists may not always inspire me to try new looks, they most definitely intrigue me. The process where they come up with a look and then uses all sorts of brushes, glues, false eyelashes, powders, glitter, pencils etc to complete it is so fascinating. A fun and a very skilled art form I think. I guess because my make up routine tends to mostly consists of my trusty Carmex lipbalm and (if I am feeling a little daring) some eye shadow and liner. So anything that uses more than one colour on the eyes to me is very fancy.

I follow many artists on their Youtube chanels and blogs. So I thought I would share 2 of my fave ones. The first one is Pursebuzz. She is great. Has very useful ideas on how to style your hair and do your make up. Simple things like how to get curly hair dead straight (and vice versa) or how to do smoky eyes without looking like a raccoon. OMG (big time confessions alert) I learnt how to cut my own fringe (bangs) using her video. It was funny as I had to watch the video a few times the run upstairs to our bathroom to cut my hair then keep coming back downstairs to check I was getting it all right. crazy lady i know. In the end I was pretty pleased with the results even though for the first week I did have to wear a cap to work as I got a little too excited with the scissors ooops! .....oh well. Its hair. It grows back eventually.

Lately though, my fave has been Kandee the Makeup artist and her blog.

She has been featuring some looks based on Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie staring Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham-Carter and Johnny Depp *sigh* . Check out her amazing videos where she recreates the looks of both the Mad Hatter (Depp) and The Queen of Hearts (Bonham-Carter).










She is quirky and funny and very talented! Makes me wish we really got into Halloween here in Australia. I would mos def try my hand at the Queen of Hearts look. Would be fun.

All these things.......

I have decided to come back to my blog, after some time away. During this time Ive been busy trying lots of new things, working on old things, taking some things up and leaving other things behind. Some things have become easier, other things still remain a challenge. There are things that have made me laugh, cry and scream. Other things have made me question life and my place on this earth. All in all - a good time for thinking things over.

One of the things I realized was how much I missed my blog. A place that let me share pictures, craft finds and projects that others (or I ) have been working on. I love the idea that somehow this might inspire someone else to create and/or share with me some internet finds of their own.

I am very excited to pick up where I left off. Very soon (once this crazy life gets back into some order) I hope to be creating lots of fun new things to share with you all!

Working on a new little craft......

A few weeks back I was looking for a project. Something nice and easy and fun to to do. Visiting my local craft store I found these little projects that only cost $3 in total as they were having a sale. Its a "build your own Mini Park". It consists of wooden pieces that you put together (like a puzzle) to make the different park equipment including an elephant slide, a giraffe swing a merry-go-round and a see-saw. The fun part is you get to paint it and decorate it any way you like! So inspired by a recent picture I saw of a decorated Indian elephant I am adding a theme to the park - a mini Bollywood Fun Park! Here are some pics of the work in progress


Also something really cute and inspiring I saw yesterday. The local Children's Hospital asked kids visiting the hospital (some for weeks - others for months at a time) to paint something that they recall as their "Golden Memory". Lots of beautiful and heartwarming pictures .





This one was my favourite - drawn by an 8 year old girl whose Golden Memory was traveling to Europe/UK with her family on a holiday. The Swiss mountains, Paris, Rome and London all in her itinerary. Too cute.

Winter wonderfullness......

Tomorrow is the first day of winter and my mind is already racing with excitement! Movie nights, funky scarves and hats, wholesome-tummy warming foods and really appreciating the few days/hours/minutes of sunshine available. It is also a great season to get stuck into all matter of crafty goodness. Learning new crafts and also developing skills with old ones - I'm trying it all this winter. In preparation I am stocking up on fabrics, lovely papers, some silver wire (and other metals) to try my hand at different jewelry techniques and other bits of hand made fun.

I am also building up my list of soup recipes, to ensure this winter is all about enjoying lovely, healthy and seasonal vegies. Here are 2 of the soups which I have made from scratch and we both enjoyed. Martino says the chicken one needed hotter chillies so will try the little Thai Birds Eyes from the Asian market near work.

Soup: Organic Bean and Vegie soup. I found the recipe here.


Soup: Chicken, shallots, Bok Choy and chillies. I found this recipe on a meal suggestion card from my mum's local fruit market (but the recipe is easy to find - its a very simple soup).


Oh and also this month we are off to the Sydney Film Festival. Two weeks of films including documentaries (my fave) , drama, romantic, animation and many foreign films. We are off to watch a Chilean Film called "La Nana", a documentary based on the book "The Horse boy - A father's quest to heal his son", a film about the life of designer Valentino and making its Australian premiere - Coraline.

Coraline has got me very excited now. The first ever stop motion film of this length (1hr 40mins). I just read that to construct 1 puppet of Coraline, 10 individuals had to work 3-4 months. The movie had 28 puppets of Coraline!.....amazing. I just watched these little videos about some of the artists involved in the making of this masterpiece.

Althea Crome who knitted - with miniature needles - some of the clothing worn by Coraline. Also Suzanne Moulton who was in charge of the Hair department of the film. What awe inspiring talents!