Around town...

Thanks to Bec from Madeit for including my 'kangaroo paw' eco fabric storage basket in her Staff Picks this week!

New stockist for stilelemente

Just popping by to say Lumeah Gallery and Gifts of Bruny Island in Tasmania is the lastest stockist of stilelemente products - thanks Di!

The gallery and gift store will be stocking some of my eco-friendly greeting cards and some cushions as well.

Unfortunately I don't have links to a website, blog or other information about the gallery (perhaps this will eventuate) but here is a link to Lumeah to give you an idea...

I'll be back soon to share my progress on what I've been doing behind the scenes...

Behind the scenes...

Just popping by to say my absence is from working behind the scenes... so please bear with me as I don't have much to share now but will when I get back into full swing with the business side of things. I'm starting the process of overhauling the website, there may well be a new online store... and there will be new products in the range. I do have to admit I kind of got lost for a while, well since this post really so I don't think I could have done anything until I got my groove back anyway... nothing we can do about it except wait until the inspiration comes back or we have the 'light bulb' moment about a particular thing we were stuck on. In the meantime I've been keeping busy with settling in and getting organised after the move... but always in the back of my mind trying to find a way forward and thankfully that happened a couple of weeks back and now I know how to proceed... now to make it all happen.

A word or two on gratitude...

Just popping by to share a great TED talk, this one is about gratitude by Louie Schwartzberg. It is visually stunning as well as thought-provoking... watch it and see for yourself.

Two other great talks I've seen in recent times are by:
Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability
Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity
They are both very much worth watching, especially by creative types who I'm sure will really relate to them both... enjoy!

Updates from stilelemente HQ...

I've been a bit absent from this blog for the past couple of weeks, apart from sharing some non-personal and non-creative related posts. The creativity is a bit neglected too which doesn't really sit well with me as I am bursting with ideas that I just want to put into action.

In the meantime I've been doing these things:
- photographing my new surroundings which I am posting over on my gardening blog... you can see the posts here, here and here... with more to come on a regular basis.
- finding some inspiration from the plants that now surround me:

Nothing fancy, just quick sketches, not drawings or developed designs... but it all has to start somewhere. This tree is actually on the neighbouring property. I don't know what it is but it has some similar characteristics to a Pittosporum but also some differences as far as I can see, so it has me a bit stumped... anyway, I love the big seed pods or berries that hang down and also the leaf formations. If it turns out to be an Australian native it might work it's way into a fabric design down the line.

I've also been:
- selling stuff on eBay... helping mum streamline (one small reason for coming back here to help her with the process) plus I'm getting rid of a few of my things as well
- hanging out with this gorgeous little guy:

Max E Mumjoy - on the front steps at Como

He's settling in well and meeting the neighbourhood cats which is really funny to witness. There is a beautiful Missy girl that lives two doors down that is the spitting image of Max (I mean seriously twinny) ... so weird... then there is Buddy boy from next door who is a gorgeous ginger and about 12 years old... I'll share images when I can... you know, animals are just about impossible to photograph.

And then there's works in progress like continuing to sort through stuff and set up my personal and work spaces:

 Above: my new bedroom

 Above: my new sewing room and home office

Above: my new cutting and printing room but this still has a while to go before it's ready for production. All the boxes still need unpacking and are sitting on my printing table (I'm planning to do placement prints on some new products once I get set up)... and the cutting tables are just behind this, you can just see a corner of it on the left. Unfortunately this large room has carpet on the floor and I loathe carpet more than anything else inside a home... but as it's not my home I'll just have to deal with it.

I think this is week 5 of being back in Sydney and I'm really on the fence about it... I knew there would be aspects that I didn't like and I wasn't wrong in that regard, namely the traffic! But I knew that these would all be balanced with the good things like being geographically closer to long-standing friends as well as taking my personal life and the business in some new directions.

On the subject of the business. I've been calling it a business but have come to a sad realisation that in all honesty thus far it has been nothing more than a hobby. This is mostly due to time restraints while I tied up loose ends in parts of my life that needed it... always something in the way of me being able to just throw myself in the way I want but hopefully that's what this time is all about... finally turning this long-held dream of running my own successful business into a reality.

Local Harvest... where does the food you eat come from?

As the basis of my business is to be as environmentally friendly and ethical as possible it's only natural that this stems from how I wish to live my life and so when I come across great organisations doing similar things but in different ways, spanning all facets of how we live then of course I'm going to want to share it, to help spread the word...

So I wanted to share this fab little animation from the Local Harvest website (I came across this via the Ethical Consumer Guide e-newsletter). It's worth watching so you can understand exactly where supermarket food comes from and the processes it has to go through to get on to the shelves. Anything that promotes more environmentally friendly and ethical options is a winner for me so I think Local Harvest is a great idea and am sure the website and organisation will be a big success... head on over to the website to see how you can get involved.

Some online love for stilelemente...

Above: I was happy to see one of my cushions featured in the latest Bluecaravan newsletter - thanks Jen and the Bluecaravan team. It's all about Autumn Love so pop over and check out all the other fabulous products featured there as well as a giveaway by Society COLLECTIVE (Please note I am in no way involved with the giveaway, am just passing on the information).

Above: More stilelemente love over at tickle the imagination blog - Thanks Tanya! Have you checked out this fabulous online magazine? If not I suggest a little visit, you won't be disappointed.



Above: ... and more love from Annaig's Gemstudio over at Madeit in her Seller Picks today - she has included one of my eco-friendly Nippers notebooks - thanks Annaig! (In the screen shot it is 3rd from the left). Pop over and check out her lovely jewellery and the other items she's included in her Seller Picks today and support handmade.