The home office makeover is definitely underway… I was going to start this post with “The home office makeover is *almost* finished” but that would have been a big lie. It seems like it should be almost finished, but in reality there’s many things still to be done! I did put up the new panel curtains from Ikea (LOVE them) and have also hung some DIY panel curtains in front of the open shelving. I’ve painted 2 walls and hung the mirror, and have sewn a hanging curtain under my craft desk to hide all the shenanigans that go on under there (rubbish bin, recycling etc). Unfortunatly I couldn’t find the right rug at Ikea for the floor, so I am stuck with the salmon coloured carpet until I find something cheapy-cheap to cover that up. And I’ve discovered husband wants to keep the natural timber colour of th desks and shelving (blerg) but know how I’m going to work with it… I will get some heavy glass tops and sandwich some light and pretty wallpaper or fabric underneath (or just plain white as there’s quite a few patterns already in the room), and just change the knobs. I’m hoping once that’s done the golden timber fronts will just be a nice contrast to the rest of the white in the room.

So here is your sneak peek – I know it isn’t much, but it is still very much a work in progress and I don’t want to share just yet!

This last weekend was a super nice one. We didn’t actually *do* much, but just hanging out with husband all weekend was really lovely. And the weather was gorgeous! Still a little bit chilly, but the sunshine put a smile on my face (COME ON SPRING).

Sunday we took the dogs to the doggy park by the lake, and had a little bbq for lunch.

Doggy Park in the Sun

BBQ Lunch (mmm bacon)

Billy helping me clean the cutlery (photo by Clo)

What did you do on the weekend?

I picked up this old easel/chalkboard at Aussie Junk in Mitchell a few weeks ago along with a few other trays and things for a whopping $15. There were some masonite boards screwed to the front and back, and I was planning to use it as a stand for my market signage. But beneath them were chalkboards, so I decided to give it a little makeover and use the chalkboards to write my prices on for markets!

All it needed was a couple of coats of white glossy enamel on the frame, and 2 coats of chalkboard paint (my first adventure with this stuff) on the drawing space. I alwmost forgot to take a “before” photo:

As it turns out, it’s a bit of a heavy mofo so I’m not sure if I’ll end up using it for many more markets, unless I get a flatbed trolley or something to cart it around on. So it may have just been a very “in-advance” DIY for when I have kidlets and they are old enough to use it =P

I’ll be selling my Juno Jewellery range at the Fash’n'Treasure markets in September!

Check out more details at www.FashnTreasure.com.au, I think it will be a really fun event!

What is Fash ‘n’ Treasure?
Fash ‘n’ Treasure is Canberra’s one and only fashion event, bringing together local wardrobes, fashion designers, fashion shops, milliners and stylists. Held every second month, Canberrans can come along and indulge in a day of shopping for clothes, shoes, bags, hats and accessories, whilst thrifty fashionistas can sell their beloved items to make room for more essential purchases!

Where is it?
Fash ‘n’ Treasure is held at Kingston’s Old Bus Depot – the same place as the Kingston Markets. Sat 4th September, 10am-3pm.

Does it regularly happen that peole have 1000+ posts to read in their RSS feeds? I’ve recently switched from iGoogle to Google Reader and every couple of days I try to catch up on all my feeds, but by the end of the week it’s always back up to 1000+… Nice to know there’s a lot of fantastic, creative and inspiring stuff going on, it’s just a pity I can’t get it all into my brain more efficiently! A few of my favourite blogs right now include Oh, Hello Friend, The Happy Home Blog, Allison Waken, and Kyla Roma (Kyla’s latest post I could quote almost word-for-word and it would remain true to me). All lovely creative women!

I’ve been busy (as always) doing freelance design work for my business Danvers Creative, working on multiple websites and small business identities. I’m also involved with the design of the very first issue of *bespoke* a new crafty handma zine which is the brainchild of the ever fantastic Jessica from Ephierell Designs. The zine is due out late October and is sure to be a hit with anyone interestd in handmade goodness.

Speaking of handmade goodness, I’ve put together an informal online meeting place for the many Canberrans who run a handmade business to get together and chat about thigs like having a market stall, packaging and pricing your goods and anything else that takes your fancy! Feel free to pop in and say hello: CanberraCreative.com.

I gave the Mikaela Handmade website a little makeover last week – any designer will know how hard it is to design anything for yourself (never happy!), but it is definitely getting to where I want the branding to be.

It still needs a little tweak, but I’m really happy with how my multitude of handmade items are slowly coming together to form a nice collecive whole. Still have a way to go, but at least it’s there in my head now!

This week I need to take more more goodies into Handmade Shop in Civic, and tonight I’m having some good friends over for a night of jewellery making in anticipation of holding a stall at Fash’n'Treasure on September 4th. You can see my mini site for that market here: JunoJewellery.FashnTreasure.com.au.

I hope everyone is having a lovely hump day, it’s all down hill from here to the weekend!