What lies ahead:
- I start my graphic design course in February
- Another year of selling on Etsy.com and expanding my range
- Hopefully we will be moving house and heading into the city
- I will probably need to find a new casual job

Goals for the year:
- To get a domain name
- Get my business more organized
- Sell and list items on etsy more often
- Learn more and develop my skills

I look forward to seeing what the year has in store, life can be so unpredictable, 2007 was a great example of that. It will be an exciting year full of changes and new things.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!

There are rain clouds everywhere! Except outside my window :(
Such cute fluffy little things :)

Silver cloud necklace

Cloud brooch

Fabric cloud ornament

Storm cloud necklace

Cloud hair clips

Metal cloud necklace

Felt cloud

I would sum up 2007 as unpredictable, educational and eventful.
A year of tea parties, cake, shopping handmade online, hair straighteners, elections and job interviews.
This year has ended very differently to how it began.
I started the year with high hopes of a fashion career, having just graduated from Whitehouse and landing a part time job at Hot! clothing. But things never turn out how you expect , I often think you should expect the unexpected. Well the job was originally supposed to be three days a week, so I kept working at Mr. Whippy on the weekends, but they got busy and kept calling me in for extra days, many weeks I would work six days a week. But then suddenly, as the busy season begins to slow they decide they no longer need me as there is no longer enough work for me. And so the job hunt begins…

Luckily while bouncing from one interview to the next I made some interesting, and rather significant discoveries.
First of all I discovered the wonderful, yet frightening world of social networking. I kept hearing about ‘myspace’ and being the curious person I am, i decided to join up to this infamous ‘myspace’ I quickly discovered I knew little about coding, but with help, I soon learnt the fine art of code (or at least taking advantage of other peoples code). Myspace, as dodgy as it is, had some significant plus sides, and I reunited with some old friends, acquaintances. As the year progressed I began to join more and more social networks, including the very popular ‘facebook‘, ‘deviantArt‘ which I have found extremely inspiring, as well as ‘We love Etsy’ , ‘IndiePublic’, Flickr, YouTube and StyleMob.

My second great discovery after leaving ‘Hot! Clothing’, and probably the most significant, is Etsy. Etsy has had a HUGE impact on my year. Instead of buming around, moping because I couldn’t get a job, I have been able to occupy my time, making and selling things online. This of course taught me an awful lot! To start with I had to learn how to use paypal, and get over my fear of spending money online (I was very hesitant to spend that first 20 cents to list an item). I also began to shop online for the first time. I became very encouraged and inspired by all the amazing work I was seeing. I also learnt a lot about promotion and getting your name out there. I even learnt how to use a forum, yes its sad I know, the first time I entered the forum I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

But it has all paid off and I have had some amazing experiences including gaining wholesale orders, selling my work around the world, become a featured seller on etsy and even having my work published in a book.
I felt like I just had a crash course in running a business.

Another thing I discovered online is the wonderful world of blogging. I have an extensive list of blogs I now read as well as the fun task of keeping my own up to date.

It has been an iteresting year, and I have learnt a lot, I’m going to Tafe next year the study Graphic Design. So I look forward to learning even more :)

I have designed a new range of purses, with purse frame closures. They feature cute appliqué and embroidery. Now available in my shop

I don’t have time for my clothing line any more so I have taken 50% off everything

This is my second shop and I have realised I really don’t have to to keep it up and since my listings expire at the end of January I decided to have a HUGE sale and get rid of it all. IM CLOSING DOWN!!

I am offering 50% off on all clothing, Most of it is size 8-10(US).
This is an amazing offer,most of these are one of a kind or have only been made 2-3 times before, so they are truely unique.
I am a fashion graduate, so I have full dressmaking, patternmaking and design skills.

Not an offer to be missed :)

THIS dress now just $US 27

NOTE: I sell through etsy.com, a safe secure online selling venue (similar to ebay) I accept paypal :)

The last window in an advent calender, is usually bigger and has a larger more exciting chocolate inside. That last special treat before Christmas. And so for my advent blog I thought I’d share two luxury expensive items that I like.

Plastic fantastic Series Voltaire 1 Chair, for $1813, from modern frontiLEMi PARiS Leather Bag, $470 from iLEMi

Christmas wishes to everyone :) have a fantastic holiday. Hope you enjoyed my advent blog.

Tomorrow is my last advent calendar blog *wipes tear*. But i will try to make it special.
I did lots of christmas baking today, and made a big mess too.
This is the giant cake I made, which looks like a giant donut. (im going to top it with berries on xmas)

And some cupcakes I made, which didnt work out quite how I envisaged.
And for todays advent item:
A Red Squirrel Brooch, lovingly hand stitched from felt and filled with toy stuffing. For just $17 from Melissa Beal
she’s an Aussie designer :)

Well im off to start my first day at Cotton On, scary! theyv’e thrown me in the deep end making me start at midday on one of the busiest days of the year.

Todays item:
Danish Queens Guards Bowling Set, $90 at Fjorn
I absolutely love theses!!

I’m slowly starting to list my new items in my shop, here are the most recent additions:

I heart cupcakes, Mirror

Sweet mirror

Todays item: Beautiful Bouquet of Button Flower, $15 from princess lasertron

I love this idea, so cute!

Well its only 5 days till Christmas, so I think its time to start considering wrapping (yes wrapping gifts is VERY important, well to me it is). I might start looking about to see what I have to use. Trust me, our family get very creative when it comes to wrapping gifts, me and my brother have been known to get old fabric scraps and stitch it around the gift, held at the top by a button. Its fun.
We fixed my ancient laptop yesterday, with cardboard, haha. Mum suggested we throw it out, but I couldn’t bear it, so my brother took a look at it and finally worked out that a connection was loose and some cardboard would push it in place, so now it works, though its still dodgy and im not terribly sure what to use it for other than to play around with.
Enough rambling.. heres todays item:

Butterfly Wings Soy Teacup Candle, $14 by Something Beautiful
I keep seeing these gorgeous tea cup candles, so I had to share one :)