Launceston - Tuesday 22nd September - Bookbinding

Launceston Brown Owls will be meeting again next month on Tuesday 22nd September at 7.30pm at Seworld, 88 Elizabeth Street, Launceston.

The lovely Isis is running a little class in bookbinding if you care to join in... Check out her lovely Etsy shop for a bit of an idea of what we'll be doing: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=48514. As always if you want to do your own thang, be our guest!

Materials Required for Enthusiastic Bookbinders:
*2 sturdy covers, roughly A5 is a nice size to work with (...old book covers, game boards cut to size, old record cut to size...)
*30 pieces of paper, the same height and double the width of the covers (eg. if each cover is 19cm high x 13cm wide, the paper should be 19cm x 26cm)
*about 2m of embroidery thread
*embroidery needle.
*scissors
*pencil
*ruler
Isis will bring a hand drill for people to drill the holes in their covers.

BYO teacup and a small plate to share if you can xxx
RSVP to the blog ladies!

Brown Owls in Mongolia: crafting near you!

Brown Owls Mongolia is meeting again tomorrow for some craft at the Woolcraft NGO. I'm also delighted to say that persistence in putting out an invite to the world to join us has actually paid off - at last, someone IS actually in the Mongolian neighbourhood and we have a couple of Finnish people joining us! Read more here. How good!
Thank you, Brown Owl of Finland!

i'm an owl magnet

hello ladies,

i have a question. has anyone else become an owl magnet since joining this club?

may i present exhibit A: the first of the owl invasion, my mum bought me these pyjama pants complete with cloth bag and eye-cover thingy.

exhibit B: a garden stake that was passed on to me from my climbing friend Rob, when he had to move out of his house in the country. Unfortunately I don't have a garden and it was a tad oversized for my windowsill herbs, however it eventually found a happy home sticking out of my CD rack.

exhibit C: this little guy travelled to my house in the suitcase of my uni friend emma. she was doing a fancy placement in london for our course, and found this interesting creature at a market on a weekend trip to paris. paris! he has a bung eye (i've covered it up pretty well with this photo angle) but he is still so frenchy so chic to me.

exhibit D: this brooch was given to me by my friend pete's housemate nicole, although pete prefers a story involving himself hand selecting it for me at some trendy market not specified. 

at this rate, it seems inevitable that i will become the crazy old owl lady (and all these years i thought it would be cats), but i don't mind at all!

ps. remember a long time ago, i put up a photo of some little geranium leaves that felt like puppies ears? well, look what happened! 

what a growth-filled year it has been.

kim x

Melbourne - Monday 31st August - Crafty Gal Drinks - All Welcome

EDIT : See you tonight! I'll be there from 8pm. Just look out for me somewhere warm inside!

Hi! Let's have a drink together and chat about stuff and nonsense!
No need to bring any crafty stuff, it'll be fun to just have a natter, no?!
Members, Friends and Non-Members welcome too!
Please come if you would like! I would LOVE to see y'all. I miss you!


Monday 31st August
From 8.30pm

Union Club Hotel
164 Gore Street
Fitzroy

(A minute's walk from Smith Street)

RSVP here if you will be coming! The Union Club serves dinner too - you could go for dinner and then meet us for a drink. If you would like to have dinner - register your interest in the comments and I betcha other gals will want to have dinner too!

Check back here on Monday to see where EXACTLY we will be in the Pub.

xx Pip

Recycled Craft Night @ the Box Factory

‘Turning old stuff into beautiful new stuff’

The Box Factory, home of the Adelaide Brown Owls, is hosting a Recycled Craft Night on the 2nd of September from 5pm to 9pm.

The plan for the night is:

5pm – Vintage Grocery Bags with Sophie & Joanne
Turning old sheets, pillowcases and fabric scraps in to reusable grocery bags

6pm Plastic Bag Knitting with Christine
Knitting plastic bags into new wonderful creations

7pm Soy Wallets with Sam
Turning Tetra Packs into nifty little wallets and purses

8pm Darning & Mending circles with Mary & Anita
Bring along your holey socks and torn garments and learn the vanishing art of mending.

Plus – The Forgotten Project Graveyard Mega Swap! Bring along your lonely and unwanted craft projects and find new caring owners at the grave yard trade table.


Cost $2 – tea and coffee provided

Come and support the Box Factory!

Brisbane: Upcoming Meetings

Brisbane Brown Owls, meeting dates for the rest of the year are:

Sunday 27 September - Brown Owls day out! An exclusive Brown Owls only visit to West End's new hotspot for all things handmade and eco Nook followed by a leisurely morning of crafting and coffee at 3 Monkeys Cafe. Further details coming soon!

Sunday 18 October - Ninyogami (Japanese paper dolls) with Melanie

Sunday 15 November - Christmas Yudu Screen Printing with Katy plus a crafty swap
This will be our last meet up for the year so we thought we'd celebrate by having a crafty swap! More details closer to the date.

Prior to each meet up we'll do a post with all the details for you to RSVP on.

Happy Crafting!

Sydney - Wed 2 September - Crafty Tools

Vintage Owl Barrettes found on Etsy from kitchentablestudios. sadly soldout.


How Now Brown Owl! The Sydney gals (and special male crafty guest) were at it again last night with pints and laughter at the Madison Hotel. If you missed out, you can catch us next week!

Wednesday 2 September
Berkelouw Bookstore
Norton St, Leichhardt.
7-10pm

It's a BYO Craft. Please RSVP here. Early marks can meet at the Zoo pub which is directly across the street and upstairs.

Show and Tell theme: My favourite crafty tool!
Bring along something you can't live without and show us how it works.

Note: Berkelouw cafe is still closed. If you might get thirsty, you should bring your own coffee. Snacks to share optional.

Top End : FIRST MEET : Darwin : Saturday

Hello fellow Brown Owls!! Darwin is ready! Come along, spread the word, more the merrier!

WHAT : A lovely hooty brooch, bring buttons or fabric if you have something in mind, or not, I will have enough for all. Families are welcome to join in after 6 for beer and fish and chips and watch the sun set. It is the Territory after all!

TIME : this Saturday 29th August @ 4-6 plus tea if you wish

LOCATION : 217 Casuarina drive, Nightcliff. We'll meet at the picnic table near the WW2 concrete slab (ooh sounds so picturesque). Park at the jetty, then walk about 50m to your right, towards Mimosa st.

The lovely tutorial for this brooch has come from A bit of this and a bit of that... check out her shop and facebook group too.

Please email me with any questions or to let me know you will be there biancajwood(at)hotmail(dot)com

Look forward to see you there! Bianca xox

Hanky Panky :: Some Shots From Last Night...

perth brown owls....early september meet

Hi ya'll. Over here in the West we walk to our own drum beat. *Cough* which means that the end of August Brown Owls meet is now the first week in September. I could give you excuses like SWINE FLU but you know, I won't.

Anywho. So we're going to do an early September meet and we're taking a leaf out of the Canberra owls and doing a freezer paper stenciling afternoon (thanks Canberra for the content!). The details:

Brown Owls Perth
Saturday 5 September, 2 to 4pm
Baby Goose, 945 Beaufort Street, Inglewood WA 6052, see map below
RSVP by leaving a comment.

You'll need to bring:

• a photocopy/printout of a design you want to stencil
• something you want to stencil on to (t-shirt, tea towel, fabric),
• a pencil for tracing the design on to the freezer paper,
• an exacto or paper cutting knife, and
• a plastic lid or some kind of paint palette
• $2 for the room hire.

$3 will get you freezer paper, and access to fabric medium, paint (black, white, red, blue and yellow) and brushes.

Here are some great places to start looking for a stencil or for a bit of information about the process. Best to try something simple to start with.

http://painting.about.com/od/freestencils/tp/free-stencils.htm
http://www.kittybuttons.com/stencils/categories/nature/index.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/04/make_tshirt_stencils_from.html http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=140.0
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=154651.0
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fpstencils/

View Baby Goose in a larger map

Melbourne - Monday 7th September - Penpal Kits and Paper Swap

via

When : Monday 7th September
Where : Rear of Fitzroy Learning Network
When : 7.30pm til 9.30pm

What : We're going to make PENPAL kits! We'll be packing up stationery and stickers and envelopes and the like! I'm going to be bringing lots of things to share and pack. But do YOU have any cute stationery, envelopes and stickers that you are not using that you could bring too? The more things we have the cuter the kits will be!

RSVP : 20 members only : please only RSVP if you can come! RSVP now on this post.
BRING : PLEASE make this super great by bringing some papery or penpally ephemera to contribute : suggestions - retro stationery, vintage stationery, notepads, stickers, pretty pages to cut up and stick on plain paper, erasers, pens, envelopes, templates for envelopes, plain paper, cute coloured paper, little paper bags, paper clips, cute tape, air mail stickers, printed stuff from cute blogs like The Small Object, labels... whatever you have that is cute! The more you bring the more we will pack!
I'LL PROVIDE : more of the above things, scissors, bags to pack into, guillotine

Food and Drink : I'll provide tea and coffee. Bring anything else you would like!

ALSO : bring some crafting to go on with if you would like to!

xx Pip

PS Edit : If you would like to come and show the other Brown Owls how to do or make something then let me know! I will help you! Surely you must be getting sick of the sound of MY voice by now?! So let me know if you'd like to lead the group for a night! Because that's what Brown Owls is about - sharing skills and having fun and getting involved!

The Way We Wear Fair in Adelaide

Photo from mysweetieie

The Way We Wear Fair is on in Adelaide this weekend so if you love Antique, Vintage and Retro Fashion, Textiles and Accessories be sure to head a long to the Burnside Ballroom

Friday 28 August 6pm - 9pm
Saturday 29 August 10am - 5pm
Sunday30 August 10am - 4 pm

The Burnside Ballroom is located next to the Burnside Civic Centre at the corner of Greenhill Road and Portrush Road in Tusmore

Add a comment to this post if you think you’ll be heading to the fair on the weekend. If you want to, add the day you think you will go to the fair and we’ll try to coordinate a catch up at the fair over a cup of tea mid afternoon on the Saturday and Sunday.

PS - Don't forget to RSVP to Wednesday's Adelaide Owl meeting here.

REMINDER : Brown Owls Melbourne - TONIGHT - 7.30 start! REMINDER!

Just a reminder that we are starting at 7.30 tonight NOT 7pm!

The details again : this event is FULL : no more RSVPs if you please!

When : Monday 24 August - 7.30pm until 9.30pm (a slightly later start)
Where : Fitzroy Learning Network - REAR entrance - 6 Wood St, Fitzroy
How Many : 20 members (this is a members only event)
Cost : It will cost $10 - to cover globes, screen, ink and hankies.
Plus : I will provide floss, needles, scissors and loan hoops for embroidery.
Drinks : Tea and coffee is on the house!

Optional - Bring drinks to share and snacks if you want to.
Optional -Bring some extra squares of light coloured fabric to make extra prints if you would like to! Or extra hankies that you might have. We'll be printing in BLACK ink.
Optional - a swap if you would like to - a wrapped up package of things from your house/stash that you don't need, but that someone else might like!

Canberra Owls stencil - step-by-step!

Canberra's Brown Owls had a fabulous time today with freezer paper stencils!

There was cutting and ironing:


painting:


drying:


peeling:


and TAAAADAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
click on any pic for a better looky

Thanks for another fun afternoon crafty Canberra owls! =)
Remember our next meeting is Sunday September 27 - we'll have more deets soon!

Bron S xo

Sydney Social Night

image from Organized Sound

Sydney Craft Social Night
Tuesday August 25th
6pm-9pm, Madison Hotel (www.madisonhotel.com.au)
(right by Central Station for public transport)

Late notice on this on, but we're all excited to get together on Tuesday night at our local CBD pub for another night of drinks, a bit of making and some good crafty chatter. We haven't themed the meetup, but there's so much good stuff to talk about like the Stitches and Craft, Warts and Spin, Craft for Markets, Craft for Art. Lots of good stuff. The pub is located right by Central Station, so if you'd like to have a bit of tipples there are safe transport options to be had! Look for us upstairs.

Hopefully we'll see you there. Please let us know if you're coming so we can save enough chairs.

Adelaide Fabric, Buttons & Embellishments Swap!

When: August 26th 7pm til 9:30pm

Where: Box Factory - Adelaide Community Centre, 59 Regent St South Adelaide

Cost: $2 donation to the Box Factory

This is a member's only event

Numbers: We have room for 27 Owls - the first 27 to RSVP after 8pm tomorrow (Friday) night are IN! This gives everyone a chance to be alerted to the meeting. You need to comment ONLY once when you RSVP with your name and initial (eg Cherry G!). Please only RSVP for one person on your comment to keep it fair.

Theme: (only if you want to take part, no pressure!) Bundle up a small package of fabric, buttons & embellishments (no bigger than 10x10cm in size). Goodies need to be of the sort of quality YOU would like to receive! Can be vintage or NEW - Up to you! (If you do wish to buy keep everything under $5) You will need to wrap your swap goodies so we can't see it (we're doing the swap lucky dip style) - wrap it in newspaper if you please.

Craft: BYO current project for after the swap. Don't have a project? No worries at all, just come along to the evening and be inspired!

Bring along your crafted creations, ‘zines and books to show off, too

See you there,

Xx Cherry, Tracey & Cathy

As with the last meeting, to be sure that everyone finds the meeting place please email us at adelaide-brown-owls@hotmail.com and we will email you back a mobile number you can call if you're lost.

Brisbane Brown Owls goes eco!

Due to unforseen circumstances six Brisbane Brown Owls braved a morning of crafting and chatting (aka gossiping) in the great outdoors!


Sandra busily stitched the morning away on an eco-friendly softie.


After much convincing Abbey finally conquered crochet in record time!


We ooohed and aaaahed over Helen's super granny square blanket and at the end of it all we were lucky enough to meet Melanie's new little owlet.

Thank you Sam, Abbey, Sandra, Melanie and Helen for a lovely morning, I think this was the most relaxing Brown Owls to date! Perfect company for a perfect day :)

And stay tuned Brisbane Owls because we also did some planning for meet ups for the rest of the year, dates coming soon!!

Canberra Brown Owls - 23 August

Freezing? Well come along to the next Canberra Brown Owls meet on Sunday 23 August, where we'll be tackling freezer paper stencils!

You'll need to bring:

• a photocopy/printout of a design you want to stencil,
• something you want to stencil on to (t-shirt, tea towel, fabric),
• a pencil for tracing the design on to the freezer paper,
• an exacto or paper cutting knife, and
• a plastic lid or some kind of paint palette
• $6 for the room hire.

For the princely sum of $3 we can provide you with a 50cm length of freezer paper, and access to fabric medium, paint (black, white, red, blue and yellow) and brushes. If you're a quilter you may already have access to your own freezer paper, or you can bring your own paints. You can buy a piece of freezer paper for $1, or some fabric medium (turns regular paint into fabric paint) for $1. Let me know if the comments if you want a the 'package' or just freezer paper.

Here are some great places to start looking for a stencil or for a bit of information about the process. Best to try something simple to start with.

http://painting.about.com/od/freestencils/tp/free-stencils.htm
http://www.kittybuttons.com/stencils/categories/nature/index.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/04/make_tshirt_stencils_from.html http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=140.0
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=154651.0

Look forward to seeing you there - Sunday 23 August at 2.00 at the Downer Community Centre. Leave your RSVP or any questions in the comments.

Screech (Naomi)

Melbourne - Monday 24th August - Stitched and Printed Hanky Panky

image via WeeBirdy

Hello Owls!

Our next Brown Owls event will be Embroidered and Printed Hankies! Inspired by this and Hankie Queen Gemma Jones, we'll be experimenting with Gocco printing some plain and printed Hankies (and fabric too!) - and we'll be embroidering some hankies!

When : Monday 24 August - 7.30pm until 9.30pm (a slightly later start) - NOT this coming Monday - we have a bye then.
Where : Fitzroy Learning Network - REAR entrance - 6 Wood St, Fitzroy
How Many : 20 members (this is a members only event)
Cost : It will cost $10 - to cover globes, screen, ink and hankies.
Plus : I will provide floss, needles, scissors and loan hoops for embroidery.
Drinks : Tea and coffee is on the house!

Optional - Bring drinks to share and snacks if you want to.
Optional -Bring some extra squares of light coloured fabric to make extra prints if you would like to! Or extra hankies that you might have. We'll be printing in BLACK ink.
Optional - a swap if you would like to - a wrapped up package of things from your house/stash that you don't need, but that someone else might like!

RSVP - from now on this post. Please note - I have to buy/make lots of hankies for this - please don't RSVP if you won't come - as I'll have catered for you and be out of pocket. I hope you understand. xx

Brown Owls Mongolia

Felting and knitting continues in Ulaanbaatar! A bit light on photographic evidence this time but here is one of the final products: a bird bag (finishing touches after our last visit to Ayush at the Woolcraft NGO for some feltmaking). Next time, either/and/or papier mache or back to Ayush for some wool dying and spinning!

Brisbane Owls RSVP for Sunday!

Brisbane Owls: It's time to RSVP again!

Date: Sunday 16 August

Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm

Venue: Same as the last meeting. Recreation Room in Building 7 of Roma Street Parklands Apartments, Parkland Blvd, Brisbane. The Rec Room is on the ground floor of building 7. Building 7 is the end apartment block furthest away from the City. There is plenty of parking at the Parklands or if coming by public transport catch the train/bus to Roma Street and take the Parklands exit at the back of the station.

BYO Craft
NB: The yudu demonstration has been postponed for a later meeting.

Tea and coffee provided.

Feel free to show off your baking skills by bringing a plate for morning tea :)

Please RSVP by leaving a comment on this post by Thursday 13 August.

See you then!

Launceston Owls: L- I -N-O Let's Go!

This month we are taking on the art of the lino cut.

If you would like to take the lino challenge  please bring lino, cutters, rollers and paper or fabric to print on and we'll all throw in $2 for ink. 

BYO project instead if you'd rather.

Leave a comment to RSVP and let us know if you will be joining us in the lino-cut adventure.

Monday August 24th at 7.30pm at Seworld, 88 Elizabeth Street.

Bring along your own cup and a tasty treat if you can.

See you there!

Mongolian Brown Owls to meet again!

Tomorrow night (Tuesday 11 August) at 7pm, the Mongolian Brown Owls will meet up for some summertime craftiness. Call me (Amy) on 999 50124 if you're in the Ulaanbaatar 'hood and would like to join us!

STOP PRESS - Tonight's Melbourne Meeting

Hi gals - the back door that we use at the Fitzroy Learning Network is jammed shut! We need to use the FRONT room and the FRONT door. There will be a note on the door for those that don't see this - but just in case you do, you now know!

Fitzroy Learning Network
198 Napier St
Fitzroy VIC 3065

Right near the Napier Hotel!

xx

looky looky, i'm in a booky.

hello owls,

i felt a bit special on wednesday, and not just because i was wearing my cool op-shop shoes.

i went to the launch of 'handmade in melbourne'! 

john brumby did a speech, and i saw some B grade celebrities, like Huey the chef. I even spotted some C grade celebrities, like that comedian, the one with the fringe. There were free drinks, and some pretty displays from a few people featured in the book. My favourite was an arm chair upholstered in touristy tea towels.

if you happen to come across one of these babies in a bookstore, flick to pg.117 because i'm in there too!

anyway, i was wondering if there are any other owls in the book? leave me a comment so i can read about you too and be proud.

i hope i get to come to a meeting soon, i've been so busy doing placements for uni all over the shop! i especially want to get in on this package swapping business- who even needs christmas?

until then,

kim

x

Melbourne Meet - Monday 10th August - 7pm - Pack, Snack, Swap and Make

Where - Rear of Fitzroy Learning Network - enter via 6 Wood St (NOT the front entrance!)
When - Monday 10th August, 7pm til 9.30pm - we ran a bit late last week and it was nice!
Who? - 20 spots available - RSVP from now on this post (no need to wait!)
What -

1. Stash Swap - pack up a bundle of things to swap on the night - they should be things you already have at home - don't buy anything new! Wrap them up into a package to put on the swap table.
2. Pack - we'll be packing the brand-new-fresh-from-the-printers Handmade Help recipe books to send out to those who pre-ordered it! We need help!!
3. Snack - bring a snack to share - and wine if you would like to! We will provide tea and coffee!
4. Make - bring some crafting to go on with (or just come and pack and chat if you like!)

Sydney Stitchalong...

At Sydney Brown Owls last night, a couple dozen owls tackled embroidery. No one stepped up to call themselves an expert, but the colours in their embroidery boxes and the needlework in front of them told another story... As we collectively left our memory cards at home, I only have two photos to share. Photos from the moment that everyone left the table... Poor timing, I know. Maybe Jess can post a few more from her camera's internal memory? (see edit)

The Sydney chapter has a busy month ahead of us. The Stitches and Craft show promises to be a real gem. If you're visiting from out of town, you'll find fellow owls at The Red Thread and Shelbyville stands. Our mid-August Lane Cove meeting happens smack-bang in the middle of the show. Details on that soon. Then we're on again for early September in Leichhardt. There's even talk of another bar meet and a fieldtrip coming soon. Hope we see you there!

*Edit - 7/8/09 @ 10:27PM I've just added a few more pics to Amy's original post. Sorry about the quality of photos, I'm still working out my camera!

Adelaide Owls unite again on 12th of August!!

Picture taken from sofiakatariina's flickr

When: August 12th 7pm til 9:30pm
Where: Box Factory - Adelaide Community Centre, 59 Regent St South Adelaide
Cost: $2 donation to the Box Factory

This is a member's only event

Numbers - We have room for 27 Owls - the first 27 to RSVP after 8pm tomorrow (Friday) night are IN! This gives everyone a chance to be alerted to the meeting. You need to RSVP on this post with your name and initial (eg Cherry G!). Please comment ONLY once (any other queries email us direct!) - please only RSVP for one person on your comment to keep it fair!

We haven't picked a theme for this meet so bring along your current project. Don't have a project? No worries at all, just come along to the evening and be inspired!

Show and Tell is happening again too - feel free to bring along your craft books and magazines :)

A BIG thank you to those owls who bring along supper each meet. We appreciate your baking awesomness :P

As with the last meeting, to be sure that everyone finds the meeting place please email us at adelaide-brown-owls@hotmail.com and we will email you back a mobile number you can call if you're lost.