Monday, April 30, 2012

Brisbane meet up: Bunting!

RSVP now for fabric bunting!

We're super excited to announce that Brown Owls will be teaming up with BrisStyle for some bunting making fun for the next meet up as part of the BrisStyle Craft Caravan!

When: Saturday 12 May, 10:30am - 12:30pm

Where: Carindale Library, Westfield Carindale, 1151 Creek Road, Carindale


We'll be creating and embellishing fabric bunting. There are two options for this craft along project:

You can come along and create a community bunting which will be displayed at upcoming festivals at the BrisStyle Craft Caravan. Brown Owls will be actively involved in the Craft Caravan later in the year at the Racecourse Road Festival. You can find out more details about Craft Caravan here.

or

Bring along your fabric scraps just for yourself or to share, some thread or string and craft up your own fabric bunting to take home. We've been collecting some bunting inspiration over on Pinterest here and we'll be on hand with some hints and tips on creating your bunting.


And as always you're welcome to BYO craft and create over a cuppa and a chat.

Feel free to show off your baking skills by bringing a plate to share for morning tea.


RSVP by Thursday 10 May to brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog post.

See you then!


Preston Brown Owls May Meeting



Dearest Preston Brown Owlers,

Our next meeting is
May 20th 
2-4pm
Pearl Oyster Cafe
114 Miller Street, Preston

The cost is free but please enjoy a cuppa or cupcake or both from the lovely folks of the Pearl.  Everyone is welcome, beginners, middlers and all sorts.  Just bring some hand held craft with you.

See you there,

Rebecca

Friday, April 20, 2012

MITCHAM BROWN OWLS

Hi Owlies,

We're on again next Saturday, so come along and bring your goodies to work on. If any one needs help with knitting or crochet, I'll be there, and we still have some stuff left from last months' flower workshop, if any one would like to make one.
If you have any suggestions for workshops, or anything you would like to learn, please let us know and we'll look into it.

Don't forget to bring along any finished projects to show off!

Our fees have now gone up, and our room rental is now $7. per person.

The details:
Where: Gallery One, 1 Torrens Rd Mitcham PH 8272 4504

When: Saturday 28th April, 1.30 - 4.00 pm

Cost: Room Hire $7.
Our logo drawn by Jo Schofield.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Brisbane Meet Up: De-mystifying jewellery findings


Have you ever walked into a beading or jewellery supplies store and been boggled by the huge number of bits and pieces that go into jewellery making? The fabulous Freda from Raw Ceramics has kindly offered to demystify the jewellery making process at our next meet up.

When: Saturday 28 April, 10:30am - 12:30pm

Where: West End library, 178-180 Boundary Street, West End. The meeting room is upstairs, ask the lovely staff at the library to show you the way up :)

What: Freda will demonstrate various techniques for finishing your creations with purchased findings as well as how to make your own findings for pendants, earrings, extendable necklaces, how to make your own jump rings, a bit of macrame and loads more tips and tricks she has picked up over the years creating her own fabulous range of ceramic pieces.  


Bring: Anything you have at home related to jewellery making. The meet up will be mostly demonstrations but if you have a piece in mind that you would like to create bring it or your ideas along and Freda will help demystify the process for you.

Tea and coffee will be provided but feel free to show off your baking skills by bringing some treats along for morning tea.

Feel free to BYO your own crafting along or any crafty crochet, knitting or embroidery questions you have too!

Please RSVP by leaving a comment on this post by Thursday 26 April or email brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com. First in best dressed!

St George and Sutherland Brown Owls - MAY DATE CHANGE


  

We had a lovely meeting at Buzzbar yesterday! It was great to be back and I had some random crochet going on...there was also some lovely stitching, beading and blanket making too!

Our next meeting in May was scheduled for Mother's Day (my bad!) so we have changed it to the following:

Sunday 27th May 2012

Buzzbar Mortdale
22 Morts Road 
Mortdale

I hope to see you there!






Sunday, April 15, 2012

Canberra - stamping and shrinking

Hi Canberra Owls!

Our next meeting will be held on Sunday 29 April, and this month we're having another crack at something we've had lots of fun with before: eraser stamp carving! Speaking of fun, we had so much with shrinkies last month, we're getting double crafty this month and will be shrinking again too!

You can pick one or try both (or, as always, bring along something else you're working on!) - here is some more info to help you decide:(or skip to the end for all the important information!)

Eraser stamp carving
I always think eraser stamp carving sounds a bit crazy, but really you can get the most amazing results by carving a plain old eraser! You can have a look at what we've done with eraser stamps before here, and there is loads of inspiration on flickr, pinterest and heaps of tutorials you can turn up with google - just search for 'eraser stamp carving'.



What to bring:
  • erasers for carving - just any will do, but make sure they are big enough for the design you want to carve. You can pick them up super cheap at $2 shop type places - my favourite are the HUGE ones you can get at hot dollar. We'll have some spares you can buy if you get really stuck.
  • the design for your stamp - remember to think about size - unless you get your hands on one of those lovely big erasers, your stamp will be little and cute!
  • a pencil for drawing your design onto your stamp
  • tracing paper to transfer your design to your stamp if you aren't confident drawing it on by hand. (greaseproof paper like Glad Bake works really well for this!)
  • a stamp pad and paper for testing your stamp when you're done with the carving!
We'll bring two sets of carving tools to share, but we could use a couple of extra if anyone has any. We'll also bring a couple of spare erasers and some paper and stamp pads for testing the stamps, just in case anyone can't get their hands on some.



Shrinkies
There are plenty of tutorials and ideas around if you google ‘shrinky dink’ or poly shrink, and of course Pinterest and Flickr have heaps of inspiration too!



What to bring:
  • the design or idea of what you’d like to do with your shrinky
  • permanent markers - we'll have some, but if you have your heart set on particular colours it's best to bring your own
  • jewellery findings - If you plan to make a brooch or pendant then you’ll need findings and adhesive. 
  • scissors - to cut out your design (obviously!) 
  • craft punches - Some craft punches will be strong enough to punch through the shrinky plastic (I made those bunny earrings using Martha Stewart and Fiskars punches) - if you're brave enough to try you could bring along your own punches


We’ll have some shrink plastic sheets for purchase at cost and some permanent markers, a hole punch and a light-box available for use.

All the important details to remember
 
When
Sunday April 29, from 1pm – 3.30pm

Where
Downer Community Centre

Don't forget to bring:
  • $5 for room hire and a couple of dollars for shrink paper/erasers if you need. 
  • a plate of something to share for arvo tea if you’d like.
  • anything you'd like to share with us for show and tell!
And please RSVP in the comments so we know you're coming! This is especially important if you would like to purchase any supplies (including the shrink paper) on the day - we need to know how much to have on hand!


Please let us know if you;d like any more information!

Looking forward to stamping and shrinking with you all!

xo Canberra Prefects!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Canberra Brown Owls - dates for 2012

Hello Canberra owls!

Your prefects are busy putting together the final bits for our April meeting (to be held on the 29th), and will have all the details for you right here on the blog by the weekend!

In the meantime, here are all the dates for the rest of 2012 for your diaries!
(All meetings are Sunday afternoons!)

April-29
May-27
June-17
July-22
August-19
Sep-16
Oct-21
Nov-18
 Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

xo your Canberra prefects!

Brunswick Brown Owls learn about EMBROIDERY from Rebecca


The delightful Rebecca, who completed a three-year apprenticeship in embroidery in London, will be taking us through an informal workshop on Wednesday 11th April at 7pm at the Sporting Club, Weston St, Brunswick, Victoria.


OH GEE! THAT'S TONIGHT!!


You can learn more about Rebecca’s work, and see some amazing examples in her gallery at Rebecca’s website http://ralrayembroidery.blogspot.com.au/ and her Facebook page RalRayEmbroidery. You can even go to her shop on Etsy! Like her! Follow her! Buy her stuff!


You will need:

1. An existing embroidery project or an idea for one, or just some materials

2. Fabric

3. embroidery floss

4. embroidery needle

5. embroidery hoop

6. scissors

7. pencil & paper


ABOUT REBECCA:

Rebecca took art, textiles and ceramics at school, and even went on to get a ceramics degree from Loughborough University, but after all of that, textiles was still her strongest passion. She was given a chance to develop her skills in hand embroidery in 2005 when she was one of the lucky seven people to be accepted that year onto the apprenticeship at the Royal School of Needlework, and since then has never looked back! She has been lucky enough to work with the Royal School of Needlework, in their commercial studio taking on new commissions as well as conservation and restoration of older works. Through them she has played a part in some larger projects such as the regeneration at Dover Castle, working on hangings for the Henry II exhibition. Amaze!

If you’re not into embroidery then that is fine too, just bring your own project and carry on with that, there is no pressure to do what else is happening in the fine Ladies Lounge…

Welcome to the Brunswick Brown Owls! If you can’t make it, we’ll pop up photos of the evening on our Brunswick Brown Owls Facebook page so you can join in the fun too. We have OVER 100 members, and you can be a part of our crafty community too! Come along and learn some new skills with us!

The Sporting Club still has delicious tapas and they discounted cocktails! Bonza! What a night! Bring your friends!


Wednesday, 11th April, 2012

Thursday, April 5, 2012

St George and Sutherland Brown Owls REMINDER FOR APRIL!


Just a reminder before you go off and have a wonderful Easter that BROWN OWLS will be back on Sunday 15th April!! 

I hope to see you then!

Sunday 15th April 2012 
2pm - 5pm
Buzzbar 22 Morts Road, Mortdale

Amelie says " BE THERE! "

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Southside Owls - Thursday 12th April - Embroidery at Frankie & Swiss!

Hello ladies!!

April will be our first ever meet at Frankie and Swiss! It's such an great space. If you haven't been there before then you are in for a treat!

Date: Thursday 12th April
Time: 7:30pm onwards

Studio 8, 199 Toorak Road, South Yarra
Turn left into Claremont and turn right at the first drive way
Parking is available under the building, we'll be there to buzz you in
Also the South Yarra train station is really close by

map

Craft: EMBROIDERY!!

Michelle is going to print up a cute pattern for us all to embroider using her amazing digital printer "Florence".
Here is a list of the stuff you will need to bring along:
~ Embroidery hoop
~ Embroidery floss
~ Embroidery needle
~ Scissors
It's all pretty cheap, and Spotty in South Melbourne has a good range of embroidery floss.
We'll bring along some spare stuff too just in case.
Pip has a great tutorial on the basics, and there is lots and lots of inspiration on the internet.

Of course, BYO projects are always welcome, please do come along even if embroidery is not your cup of tea.

Sweeties: We will have tea and baked goodies, please feel free to bring something along if you would like to show off your baking skills!

RSVP: Add a comment to let us know you are coming along!

Feel free to email me or tweet me with any questions.

Can't wait to see everyone! Looking forward to it.

Brisbane Meet Up: West End

RSVP for the next Brisbane Brown Owls evening meet up in West End! 

Date: Thursday 12 April

Time: 5:30-7 pm

Venue: West End Library Meeting Room,  178-180 Boundary Street, West End

Brown Owls fun this morning :)

We're so excited to kick off our 2012 evening meet ups for those who can't make it on the weekends. Pop in after work and unwind with a bit of crafting. It's BYO craft this time around but Rebecca will be on hand to teach crochet or embroidery for those who want to give it a whirl.

If you would like to learn crochet or embroidery at this meet up, have any questions about what you should bring or want to check anything email brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com.

Please RSVP by leaving a comment on this post by this Tuesday 10 April or email brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Hobart - A very small gathering...

Hobart Brown Owls got back into the swing of things on Saturday, after a small hiatus while the weather was too hot for any Taswegian to go outside.

Our meeting was small, yet had four different crafts going on and one new member!  There was bead knitting from Hilary:


I have never seen this before but their skirts are made by knitting with strings of beads and they look so gorgeous:


There was a very small amount of newly learned continental knitting from me (I can normal knit the "throwy" way...) which resulted in this not very impressive picture :)




There was bunting being made for a wedding by Josie in gorgeous colours (apologies for the truly awful picture):




There were babies trying to hide from the camera*

*technically not craft, but worth showing anyway

 And Lauren was making (slightly creepy) headless dolls:

We have been assured they will have heads in the fullness of time,
at which point they will cease to be creepy...
 
With hairy armpits (the dolls, not Lauren):


Perhaps poor picture timing on my part :)

Despite our small numbers we had a nice catch up, with kids playing in the playground while we relaxed and did our thing.

We also discussed our potential theme / charity / team crafting a bit.  I don't think we resolved the issue but our first step is some workshops - so I am going to get Lauren and Josie into some basic amigurumi type crochet next time (I just now remembered that I promised that...).  A few workshops and a few more players and we might be ready for something more structured and organised.

Looking forward to crochet fun next time!

Bye for now from our "brown owl"

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Preston Brown Owls April Meeting

Girl at Sewing Machine - Edward Hopper

Another month has passed and it is Preston Brown Owls' sewing session at GJ's again. If you've never been before, do come along.

GJ's has a huge light filled upstairs room, cutting boards, ironing boards and lots of flat spaces for us to make lots of stuff. If you have forgotten to bring something, you can just pop down to the shop downstairs and purchase something lovely.

Bring your own sewing machines and project. Tea and coffee provided.

Saturday 14 April

12.30 till 3.45pm
GJs Discount Fabrics
443 Lygon Street, Brunswick

See you there, everyone is welcome.