Melbourne - The Streets

Check out my cammo gear!! (thanks Shar, there's a wee treat for you below too) 

Street art is the best in all its colourful glory

Melbourne: Two Wheelin'

Bike racks (some woolly like these) are everywhere across Melbourne Town! 

Bikes are everywhere too, it was so so great to see. 

Yes its been pretty quiet around these parts of late, as I am concentrating a lot of my time over here.

I also took a research trip to Melbourne over the last 5 days. I will be sharing the sewing/textile stories over here. But its nice to have the loft as more of a anything goes kind of place where I can share anything that truly excites me. like my number one form of transportation bikes baby bikes!!

Lofty Loot winner announcement

I have a sorted list, and each got a lovely number, nothing is more true than mums the word...so I asked mum to pick a number between 1 and 116 (facey friends & bloglovin buddies combined) and she selected.....the big bold 110!!! This is you LISA from Big Little Tales :) :) :) Congratulations. 

All packaged up and ready to post to ya - HOORAH!

Early mornings

I had the privilege to visit a beautiful marae this weekend with a wonderful group of creatives.

We are all artists in some shape or form,

We are all entrepreneurs in some shape or form

We all want to enable, enhance and excite the artisitic ecology in Auckland

in some shape or form.

 A few words and these pictures I took early on sunday morning is all I can share right now, 

but there is awesome news soon to come :-) Orakei Marae (up above Bastian point) was a stunning setting, and I have never felt so good up that early in the morn. peace surrounding us, fullness inside us.

I FELT like something different - A SHOP!

What's this? Well its a cheeky screen grab from my SHOP!

I'm finally/amazingly/stoked-to-be selling online now over at the beautiful Felt

So if you never can make it to my usual markets or  stockists you now can buy lofty over HERE!

Yippee!

& I thought what the heck, free shipping too :)

A lofty loot GIVEAWAY!

Perhaps this is my first giveaway ... yes indeedy! I wanted to say thank you to my followers/readers and also the crew of 'likers' over on my lofty facebook page. Thanks! Gracias! Ta! que bueno!:) 

Just the other day I reached a lovely 100 likes, not much to some, but feelin' pretty fancy for me. Its been just over a year since I started my paper crafting not just for myself but to share with others too, and its been wonderful, making more, finding more, connecting more - I have met loads of creative ppl and made friends with people I have long admired - what a bonus! So as a thank you to the support out there, I've prepped a pretty bundle of lofty goodness to send to one lucky liker. To be drawn next week...

1 x Golden Hands art pad/book // 3 x resendable cards // 1 x square gift card // 3 x postcards // 4 x vintage lass gift cards // bundle of handmade washi tape // 1 x bird mini jotta pad // 1 doz handmade envelopes 

Head on over and like my lofty facey page if you haven't already, and you might be that lucky chap who gets a whole swag of recycled stationary goodness in your mail box soon - hooray! 

There's a pic over there you may even like to share with your friends...

BONUS ENTRY sound like a bit of you? 

Follow with bloglovin' kos those will counted too!

Post-fair Antics

Walking to room 545 I was praying for an ocean view....and some streaming in sunshine. 

Exactly what we arrived to!

Straight after the Auckland Fair, I know like all other vendors, it's a time to breathe, to catch up on Z's, to perhaps count and re-count the days takings, to thank helpers, to treat oneself to a well earned wine.

Mr Oratia and I were lucky enough to be treated to a hotel room in the city for sat night. So we packed up from the fair, and rolled around the corner, donned the complimentary fluffy white robe, chopped up a nashi pear of all things and I PUT MY FEET UP!  ahhhh!

Napping in the sunshine aside, the lippy was applied and I wiggled into my recently-invested-in-a-piece-of-nz-eco-fashion-history-Starfish dress! woot! We headed out to XuXu a delish Vietnamese inspired cocktail bar, sister to the wonderful Cafe Hanoi. There were drinks to start, and a taster of squid in blackbean sauce with coriander & lime, a delight. CHEERS!

We managed to get a table at Mexico for dinner. Crumbs, que rico, it literally was my cielo!! Seriously good food! We ordered 4 plates between us both, each around $8-$12 dollars, and all packed a flavoursome punch. We had been told the fried chicken was a must, and boy was it! I'm a bit of a sook when it comes to spicy food but it tasted so flavoursome, the spice was actually a thrill to eat. The pork belly soft taco was my favourite though, seriously creamy.

The margie's were poured, and we didn't stop doing our happy dances as we laughed, ate, sang in the smokey, colourful, picture-filled room with latino covers of fat freddy's warming our ears & hearts. I exclaimed on numerous occasions...could this get any more perfect?? (happy dance, happy dance) 

So, I'm pretty much checking the diary for when I can visit next. 

Our italian waiter was ever so polite and took a 'couple' picture for us. awww graci.

 Feeling blessed to have such joy about us.

que bueno? que rico? regresar pronto! y tu tambien?

Grand Ol' Auckland Fair

Saturday was a full on day at the Auckland Art n Craft Fair. So great to catch up again with some market mates, nearby me was Celena from Oak Tree Mama, Super Sammy from Plastic Fairy, & luckily for me, when the crowds sporadically parted I got the beaut view of Emily's Millicent Crow stall.

There is a great deal of late nights, and paper-crafty pushin' in the days prior to the fair, that fellow crafters will know, and its all worth it to jam pack so many lovers-of-handmade through a room for 4hours, where we smile, chat, meet new friends, receive visits and hugs from old friends, and for me, have many laughs over knitting pattern poses & attire. It's a splendid few hours chocka block with energy and positivity. MASSIVE props to my lovely Mr Oratia, and to all the other boyfriends, mums, sisters and friends who come along to help set up/pack down/store 'manning' on the day. It makes a huge difference to us marketeers xxx

I have a few books left over (and mucho cards too of course) so I will soon pop these in my new snazzy felt shop called 'the loft'. YES THATS RIGHT I NOW SELL ONLINE - YAY FOR FELT.CO.NZ supporting NZ handmade goodness!

I realised, with the new hair do I had to change the backs of my cards. check the NEW ME vs the OLD ME :) I've also now drawn headless stick figures so it is MORE CLEAR for card receivers where exactly you draw yourself in to the line up of friends. Does it help?

Here's some pics of beaut brooches by Millicent Crow & Plastic Fairy...I was so loving to swap cards for some of this crafty goodness.  Last but not at all least, a massive THANK YOU to Jess & Kylie for organising the day, and to all the visitors to the fair supporting handmade xx where would we be without you? xx ...plenty more pics over here too.