All who wander...

It has come to my attention that I am a slack blogger.

That it's been over a month since I've blogged here.

Confession - I've gone to the other side.

I've started a Tumblr page.

http://blackbirdcorner.tumblr.com

It's just so easy.

So quick.

And I feel less pressured there somehow for it to always be shop related. Sometimes I just share posts by others that amuse me or are lovely or sweet or Newy related.

Anyway, I thought I'd pop over and let you know where I've been.

You're welcome to pop over anytime.

I will be back here too occasionally I imagine.

I guess that I "blame" my favourite blogger for my relocation - http://viewfromkingstreet.tumblr.com  

because I was getting frustrated not being able to click "like" on or share his posts.

Anyways sorry again for not being here lately!

Hope you're well.

See you soon!

xxx

All who wander are not lost.

xxx

Good Luck.

Our latest window features Good Luck© tees for Hims and Hers by Anorak® plus the latest My Fascist Mother skirt - Geometric Inca.

Sean printed his new Anorak® design on Saturday.

He thought he'd do a quick video of part of what's involved whilst he was at it. Luckily for you he didn't film all of the rather repetitive process.

The new design is called Good Luck© and he even had an explanation chart/sheet printed up which is in 

this week's window display.

So many tshirt designs make literally no sense these days.

A definite #firstworldproblem we know. 

But still. 

All Anorak® designs have a back story/explanation.

What is the point otherwise?

Really?

Excuse the mess.

xxx

PS Tuesday Sarah is in Japan for a while (ah! jealous much?) so expect to see a lot more of Sean & I in store!

See you there.

xx

No more heroes....

Closed Mondays to make::sew::print.

Yes. Indeed we are.

We printed Anorak® No more heroes©...tees for Him 

+ sweaters for Hims/Hers.

They took two days as they're 4 colours.

(We print "old school style" then heat set them individually.) 

We also printed Anorak® Introspection© hoodies 

for Hims/Hers + topped up the Introspection© tees for Hers.

And hey! Sorry I've not blogged lately.

Everything's great at Blackbird Corner. 

Hope it's great with you too.

Shop has been very busy - the last two weeks have been school holidays here which are always great for the shop. Lots of lovely new people popping in; who are visiting Newy for a break. 

The last two weeks have also been "incident free" (as in no shoplifting!!) after we sadly pretty much were forced (against our will) to install security cameras. 

We had 10 days where there was more handmade, one off items stolen from us than in the previous 6 1/2 years.

It was extremely demoralising and depressing. 

And beyond infuriating and insulting.

There are other words for it but I don't swear on my Blog.

What got us through that time was the positive words of our incredibly supportive and sympathetic Customers.

Our Customers don't steal from us.

They're lovely.

In fact, I think if a real customer caught a fake customer thieving from us they'd attempt a citizens arrest!  

That I'd LOVE to catch on our security cameras!

Crash tackle!!! Stacks on!!! 

Anyway the shop is currently extremely FULL of gorgeousness.

Lots of delightful, unique gift ideas for 

"The Commercialisation of Motherhood Day"

as our Family has always called it.

Hey! If you're going to participate (And who isn't? We don't want to hurt our Mums' feelings despite her claiming not to believe in it!) you may as well BUY LOCAL and BUY HANDMADE.

Yes?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hello. 

I hope that you had a lovely, relaxing Easter long weekend.

We spent ours rearranging the shop again - to fit even MORE stock in comfortably. On Good Friday I went through our tiny, cluttered storage area with a fine tooth comb and cleared out a ludicrous amount of "stuff". Have you ever seen the TV show Hoarders?

Well, there was no food waste or pets in the storeroom, but there sure was a lot of items I cannot understand how I justified to keep for nearly 7 years that's for sure!

Saturday?

Well on Saturday we were open and had a spectacular day!

Both sales-wise and people-wise.

It was one of those incredibly reassuring days; where lots of like minded individuals were all in the shop at once. 

I love days like those! 

They're occurring on a much more regular basis of late.

As soon as we closed on Saturday the curtains went up & the hard work began. It's amazing how time consuming rearranging, cleaning & touching up the paint in such a small space can be!

But we did it. It took us Saturday afternoon, all day Sunday & Monday and most of Tuesday (apologies again that we had to close that extra day) but we think it was worth it!

We really hope that you guys like what we've done.

...

Oh! I almost forgot! 

I was a tad exhausted yesterday morning - I'd hit "the wall". 

You know what I mean?

And look!!!! Instant motivation!!

Someone YARNBOMBED our front door overnight!!!!!

I cannot tell you how thrilled we were!!

Yarnbombing is such a positive form of graffiti.

We adore these, and hope they stick around for a while - like our traffic pole out on the front corner has.

Thankyou soooo much if it was you!!   

It was a beautiful way to start the day.

We are in love with our little shop again.

xxx

PS. Not that we were ever OUT of love with it but it just needed a bit of re-energising, you know?

x

   

Wasn't it just yesterday that we were Christmas shopping?

Today Emma-Lee over at Milk Thieves posted a picture on Facebook of the many cute bunny related goodies she has in store 

ready for Easter!

I then realised that I should probably do the same huh!

So here you go!

Luckily my makers are more organised than I am this week and Blackbird Corner is rather full of cute, handmade bunny treasures for those who aren't chocolate inclined.

Whoever you are!

Me? I like a bit of choccy and a small gift. Both. Just saying.  

(Above you can see creations by Blossom & Cat + Core + Little Shop Of... + That Vintage + The Butcher's Wife 

+ Miss Kate's Kollection.)

I put my back out earlier this week and am barely holding it together on painkillers and heat packs - I reckon that I totally would've forgotten Easter until the pain disappears as randomly as it appeared!

Anyways once I started looking I found soooo many bunnies!

(The above bunnies are by Pirdy & the below are 

by Whiskers Lane.)

And, of course, we have lots of Bunny lights from Lark back in stock just in the nick of time!

Despite being in stupid and inexplicable pain; I've actually had a rather sweet day in store today. It was lovely to be visited by Linda from Pink Patent Mary Jane in particular - even nicer than usual as she gave me some handy advice regarding dealing with & preventing back pain. 

Anyways...with just a half hour until closing time I've made it through a day that I'd seriously considered not opening for.

Luckily Sean gave me a pep talk this morning about how crap I'd feel if I hadn't at least tried working.

Owning a small business is mostly a great pleasure but unpaid sick leave is a bummer huh!

xxx

PS. Some of the bunny items pictured are ONE-OFFS. 

Well that was fun!

The winner of the little giveaway (as selected by our rather heavy dog Pepper Puppy) was Monkey and Bee!

Congratulations Christine!

We'll be popping your prize in the post to you tomorrow!

Thanks to the 25 entrants for ... well... entering!

We'll have another giveaway fairly soon I reckon!

xxx

PS Isn't Pepper Puppy a poser!

mmmmm chocolate......

So. As you can see, Blackbird Corner will be CLOSED Good Friday and Easter Sunday but OPEN the Saturday as per usual. 

The temptation to close on the Saturday (thus be closed for four consecutive days) and head off for an often postponed trip away was strong but we resisted it...

We will possibly cop some criticism for closing those two days but we do it every year, for a couple of reasons, and can cope with a bit of flack.

We do very strongly believe in the tradition of Public Holidays. We are saddened by the 24/7 "convenience" now apparently "demanded" by society which forces staff at large, generic, chain stores to work ludicrous hours and regularly miss out on what used to be Family days. 

Good Friday has always been one of these days to us.

After nearly seven years trading (eek!) we are making the decision to also be closed on the Sunday as it actually makes no financial sense for the shop to be open. We opened the first few, sold virtually nothing and barely had anyone come in - even to browse. We can actually use those hours in a much more productive way by being closed. At this stage we plan to spend that and the Monday (we are always closed Mondays!) to rearrange a bit, to squeeze yet more creations of Australian Indy Designers in!

So fear not!

We'll still be working - just behind the scenes.

We hope you've something equally enjoyable planned for your weekend. Be safe.

xxx

PS Thought we should give you plenty of notice - we know it's two and a half weeks away.

xx

PPS I love Humpty Dumpty Easter eggs.

Cheeky pickle!

Who are you & why is your range called what it is called?

My name is Ali and I’m a Textile Designer. I’m originally from Manchester in the U.K, but have been living in Melbourne with my hubby, our two little girls and our scruffy dog, Dougal for the past seven years. Cheeky pickle is a term of endearment you say to children from where I come from in the north of England. I also wanted a name that would stick with me and grow with the business.

Where are you located?

I’m located on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, just outside of Melbourne. We are a few minutes amazing beaches and about 50 minutes to the city. Life couldn’t be better!

How long have you been creating your lush wares?

I’ve always created, from a very young age, and my degree is in Mixed Media Textile Design. However, it was only about two years ago that I decided to go it alone and start Cheeky Pickle.

Do you currently have a favourite item in your range?

My favourite item changes by the week, but the one that I always want to explore more is anything where Miss Pickle features. I can see her sticking with me for quite some time. I have big plans for that little lady!

  

What motivates you to keep crafting/creating?

Other designers motivate me. Seeing what others are creating is very inspiring and pushes me to work harder, aim higher and do better!

Are you someone who generally tends to buy Handmade over mass produced? Why?

If I’m buying a special gift for someone I always buy handmade. Handmade to me says that at some point in the making process, love and hard work (sometimes even blood, sweat and tears!) have been put in to it. Making it that extra little bit special and personal.

Do you have any new items in the pipe works that you'd like to hint to us about?

Yes, always! I have a few things roaming around my head stopping me sleeping at the moment! I would love to step into Textiles sometime soon and have my work printed on all sorts of textile products. You name it and I want to print on it!

Do you also sell online? 

Yes, I’m on numerous online shopping sites, but my main ones are Hardtofind - https://hardtofind.com.au/store/cheekypickle

and I also have my own website –http://cheekypickle.com.au/

Are you sick of answering these silly questions?"

YES, it’s too HOT today!!

xxx

We're proud to be Newcastle's exclusive stockists of Cheeky Pickle gift tags which will be on our shelves very soon.

Hurrah!!!

xx

PPS. This Q & A was done on day nine of a heatwave in Melbourne. Ugh and it's meant to be Autumn!!!

A teensy tiny little giveaway...

Look what I found whilst tidying up the shop.

A Frankie 2013 Daily Journal + a Frankie 2013 Calendar.

It is March. I'm well aware of that. 

They're still sought after though and who am I to decide who gets them? I'm going to let random chance/fate/kismet/call-it-whatever-you-like decide instead. Just leave a comment on this blog post to enter. At the end of this week we'll collate the entries (printed screen shots anyone?) and I'll get Sean to pull the winning entry out of a bowl (we don't have a hat.) 

This is a no skill competition.

It can't be run on our Facebook page due to their weird & wonderful rules, but I believe anyone can leave a comment here even if you've no blog. Well that's my understanding anyway.

A few rules:

*Any spamming posts will be deleted/ineligible for entry.

(We've been copping so much spam on our FB page lately, it's pushing me over the edge - this is Blackbird Corner's page 

- not somewhere for you to flog yours. 

But that's a blog for another day!)

*One entry per person.

*No "likes" or comments on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages will be valid entries.

*The only place to enter is here. With a comment. 

On this blog post.

*We will post the prize anywhere in Australia only.

*We reserve the right to add little extras to the prize.

*There is only one prize - A Frankie 2013 Daily Journal + 

a Frankie 2013 Calendar. 

*I'm sorry if you can't enter due to choosing to be online with a specific type of phone/tablet/other device. Technology is not my friend. Sorry if it's not yours either.

OK.

I think that's it.

I wonder if anyone will enter?

xxx

May as well face it...

...I'm an instagram addict.

But it's just such a fast & simple method of sharing shop news when I don't have the time to sit down to my computer & blog.

If you have instagram too please feel welcome to follow blackbird corner and/or dalek10 (that's Sean's user name) - as soon as new items are made by us or arrive in the post I take a shot of them & upload them there. Next to get updates is our Facebook page and lastly our poor, neglected blog.

So anyways, here's a few of my favourite instagram pics from the last two weeks or so:

Today we took delivery of a lovely new magazine called "oh comely". It's straight from the UK, full of divine photographs and delightful content. "Tuesday Sarah" discovered it online late last week and we simply had to order some immediately. 

Can you believe it?

We finally stock something by amazingly talented Queensland Artist Mel Stringer! Her scrumptious new range of gift cards hit our shelves this week and are already proving popular.

Well they would be really as they're bloody gorgeous!

A dear friend of our is due to have her baby son any day now. 

Her & her partner are very into anything with a nautical theme. With that in the back of his mind, Sean designed & hand printed this range of tees for babies & young kids this week.

In stock now.

Remember I was off sick?

Well I developed cabin fever.

So we spent an afternoon rearranging our lounge room and putting a lot of our favourite things all on one wall.

That way I got to laze about on the lounge staring at this 

wall quite contentedly.

Did I show you a photo of the shop once the painters had finished? We LOVE it. We are about to pop a sign on it too.

(We do realise that not everyone knows that the black shop on the corner is called Blackbird Corner! Even after nearly 7 years!)

xxx