Etsy Challenge #1 November

Hello!

I must say its lovely to be back, after the long weeks of hard slog at uni. Christmas is gearing up, as is my excitement about getting back into the swing of running my darling little businesses! Keep note this week, as I will be updating my online shops with a whole manner of new and new-to-the-internet designs that I think you'll love (they certainly have a few fans in the market world). I'll also be listing a COLLOSAL amount of vintage over at www.acornsvintage.etsy.com, and I hope you'll be able to find something there that takes your fancy for a Christmas present to yourself or someone else - I'll be sure to preview them here too for a reminder!

Also make sure you pop-over to the facebook page as I'll be running a comp there in the next week for my fans - naming one of my design ranges!

Also very excited about my return to roller derby practice tomorrow night, and the amount of Christmas markets I'll be at!


But now for the real reason for my return - a challenge to all of you with an Etsy store! (myself included...

1. Create an item to one or more of the following themes from Etsy's November merchandising newsletter

2. List on etsy with the tag "merchchallengenov11" and link to your item in the comments of this post

3. Do this by the end of November

4. I'll promote all here on the blog

5. We do it all again for December!

As for me, I'll be choosing the theme of movember! (and can I just say how much i LOVE the marketing and advertising style they're using this year, so so dapper.

Be sure to let me know what you'll be doing in the comments!

xx L

The Spring Roll

Puns, bruises and rollergirls await you for just $11 at the last bout of the 2011 between the two teams of my roller derby league. If all goes well and I pass the tests that await me in the next few months, I could very well be playing sometime next year, which is a pretty darn scary thought when you see the girls in action.

Roller Derby has a fairly wide audience, families with young kids love coming along and watching women kick ass at a sport thats far from "ladylike". You get the groups of teens, and considering watching sports isnt exactly "cool" for most teens these days, we've got to be doing something pretty amasing for them to want to watch. And then we get the old couples who remember Roller Derby in its earlier incarnations of the 20s-50s, and are proud to see girls on skates again, bashing each other up :)

Get your tickets here.

Hopeless Lingerie - Hip Hip Hooray

One of my favorite and one of the most inspiring Australian handmade labels turned three today, and so I thought I'd give you all a quick look at whats currently floating my boat from Gaby's collection. Her photo shoots are sometimes spooky, sometimes sad, sometimes wistful, but always awesome.

Have seriously been considering getting these for roller-derby. All the girls would be SO LELLOUS. :)

See what I mean about styling? And that bow - the talented lass also has an accessories range, but she might have discontinued it because I cant find it right at this moment, although I did do a feature on it back here.

The gorgeous photoshoots are often the brainchildren of the photographers Gaby employs to present her handmade wonderfuls in the best light possible - I'd love to have a label that not only promoted myself, but others in the independent creative scene too! Love the cut-away details of this piece - a regular feature of Hopeless designs.

The colour palettes she chooses for her collections are always unusual - but they work so well, you almost dont notice them unless you pay attention.

This is what I mean about the spooky.

These would also get some use as outer wear at rollerderby practice methinks... that triangle panel on the side is actually see-through mesh! Awesome...

Further Info:

Website

Flickr (for perving on more of the stunning photography)

Tumblr (for more vintage/retro/nostalgia inspiration images than you can poke a stick at)

the Blog (for inspirational pin-boards, photoshoot-behind-the-scenes, plus debuts of her new works)

Facebook (her updates are always awesome)

Twitter (for whatever thats for :P )

and of course the Etsy and bigcartel stores for buying.

Yeah!

Guess who just passed her Level 1 Perth Roller Derby testing?

Me! Now I've just got to not suck at next weeks Level 2 testing, then I can relax for a tiny while - until Level 3 & 4 testing come around.

Cant wait to show you a pic of my helmet. The lovely Lisa from lisamax did an AWESOME job, I wore it for the first time tonight and got SO MANY COMPLIMENTS.

xx L

Resolutions In Action #1

Taking Action on New Years Resolution #3 : start some form of regular exercise.



First time I've ever really found sport exciting in terms of actually doing it (gimme live AFL Dockers any day of the week)... They have training once a week, yay! Hopefully it will fit in with uni. If not, there may be tears.

I've got "Fresh Meat" signups (i.e. Newbie Intake) this Thursday. Wish me luck.

Oh, and if you wanna go skating with me sometime, I need a LOT more practice so let me know and we can go together!

xx lauren (or Wind Screams O'Brien? No? - rollerderby names are fun!)