A gorgeous new colour addition to Moyou's felt earring range—perfect for winter!

I have just uploaded this beautiful pair of grey felt earrings to my etsy store. So deliciously tactile and unbelievably light...you hardly know you're wearing them!

I'm very excited to introduce Moyou's gorgeous new range to the online realm - beautiful felt earrings...

These earrings feature a segment of an original Moyou pattern that I have personally designed laser cut into beautiful 100% wool felt. They are fabulously intricate and wonderfully light—you'll hardly know that you're wearing them!

Please feel free to drop by my etsy store for a closer look at these lovely pieces and keep an eye on this space for further colours and patterns...coming soon!

Moyou will be in Melbourne again this weekend for the Rose Street Artists Market. I'm very excited as this is my first time at this market and I've heard such wonderful things about it!


The Rose Street Artists Market is a weekly outdoor market in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Located just off Brunswick Street (at 60 Rose Street) it is a wonderfully central location and very easy to reach...so if you're in Melbourne this weekend and you're free, please come along and say hi! The market is on Saturday May 2 and open from 11am–5pm. I look forward to the possibility of seeing you there :)

Things have been rather quiet on the Moyou blog front in recent weeks—my apologies for the lull...I'm afraid that daily life has been rather overwhelming of late but things are starting to settle a little now. And thankfully I have internet access at home again (greatly missed for a short period after moving house!)

So to launch back into the blog realm I'd like to introduce you to my new range of felt rings. *Felt!?*—I hear you say. Yes, felt! Beautiful, soft, tactile felt.

These gorgeous rings feature a segment of an original Moyou pattern that I have personally designed laser cut into beautiful 100% wool felt. This medium is a renewable and environmentally friendly resource and I'm so excited to be able to use it to transfer my intricate textile designs into jewellery.

For a closer look you can find these unique rings in my etsy store...and be sure to keep your eye out for my limited time FREE shipping offer on 'new items'!

Tomorrow (Saturday 14 March) will see me load up my little car and trundle out to Yass for the Yass Scouts 5th Market Day Festival. An annual event, the Market Day looks like being a wonderful day out with at least 63 stallholders set to attend.

The Market Day Festival is being held in Riverbank Park (on the corner of Main Street and Rossi Street). The weather is forecast to thunderstorm (at some stage) with a 70% chance of rain...so grab your umbrella and come along. Every stall site should be set up with a gazebo/tent so you can jump from cover to cover and still have a great day. I hope to see you there!

(*Please Note: This image has been used with thanks to ajft under the Creative Commons license)

I know that it is still a little way off yet...but I'm excited.
Moyou is coming to Melbourne!!

You will be able to find me at the fabulous Sisters' Market on April 18th & June 13th, 2009. A little bit of background—Sisters' Market is only held once every 2 months in the Brunswick Town Hall, Brunswick VIC and proudly supports beyondblue—the national depression initiative.

I have just created a flickr group to showcase the lovely creations out there being made from Moyou fabric.

If you have used some Moyou fabric in any of your projects please feel free to come over, join the group and add your pics to the flickr pool :)

I'm so excited to have been featured in this fabulous post by Jackie on Crafting A Green World.

You'll also find Aunty Cookie, Hollabee, Umbrella Prints, Of Paper & Thread and Pippijoe, some other wonderful Aussie textile designers, listed on Jackie's round up of Top 10 Modern, Eco–Friendly, Printed Fabrics on Etsy. Yippee!!

...4 sleeps and counting!!

We've almost reached the second wonderful Handmade Market, Canberra's quarterly Upmarket. This fantastic event is going to take place again at Albert Hall on Saturday 7 February from 10am–6pm.

There will be over 70 fabulous retailers (designers/artists/makers/craftspeople) and it is sure to be a wonderful day. For further information on the designers/artists involved be sure to visit the Clever Designer People page on the Handmade Market website. You can also catch up on all of the lastest news & designer profiles on the Handmade Market blog.

Handmade With Love is coming soon to Canberra!

Handmade With Love is the second Handmade Market, Canberra's quarterly Upmarket, and this fabulous market day will be held on Saturday February 7, 2009 at Albert Hall from 10am–6pm.

In anticipation of this wonderful event a small selection of Handmade With Love stallholders (including Moyou) and the fantastic organiser, Julie Nichols, will be attending a promotion day at the Canberra Centre on Saturday January 31, 2009. We will be situated on the ground floor of the Canberra Centre outside Smiggle (near Cotton On & Target). Come along for a sneak preview & a chance to buy some of the gorgeous, unique products that will be available at Handmade With Love.

All packaged up & ready to go...a beautiful range of Moyou jewellery is ready to hit the streets of Melbourne!

From tomorrow you will be able to find Moyou stocked in the fabulous Chapel Street store of Design A Space Retail Gallery. I can't wait to get to Melbourne and see it with my own eyes! Perhaps a trip is in order...

Wow. It's the start of a new year & I have just reached my 200th blog comment! It's time to celebrate. I want to send a BIG thankyou out to each and every person who takes the time to read my blog...and an extra special thank you to those who stop to comment—it is great to know you are there :)

I love comments, I really do, it is so lovely to log on and to find some contact with the wider blog realm—so to say thank you I would like to offer $15AUD credit in my Moyou store to the 200th commenter on my blog

...and the lucky recipient is Chrisy of Sophism Press.
Congratulations Chrisy! And thanks again to everyone who has left a comment. I really appreciate it!

There is now a selection of 3 gorgeous patterns to choose from in the small red acrylic etched ring range online in Moyou's Australian store.

The rings also now feature a beautiful decorative hammered sterling silver plated brass ring base. The ring bases are 10mm/0.4" wide and completely adjustable. They are soldered at the point where the ring adjusts so that the adjustment is hidden. This makes for a more attractive ring—a nice change to rings that adjust through a split in the back! Lovely lovely.

Please feel free to head on over to Moyou's store & have a closer look at this lovely new range.

The first of Moyou's acrylic etched ring range can now be found online in Moyou's Australian store—yippee! There are two sizes (small & large) in the red acrylic currently available...but keep your eye on this space, there will be more colours and patterns to come soon!

You can now find Moyou on facebook. This global group is open for anyone to join and members are free to invite others along as well—the more the merrier! Joining Moyou on facebook will provide another great way for you to keep up with Moyou's movements & every once in a while you will be eligible for member-only offers & sales. Why not pop over and join today!?

Happy New Year (and belated seasons greetings)!! I hope you had a lovely Christmas break & a wonderful start to 2009. I apologise for my blogging absence of late but rest assured I'm back on deck ready to kick start the year...and what a busy year it looks like being!

Thank you to everyone who entered my 100th post giveaway. I really appreciate that you took the time to comment—such lovely feedback, thank you, thank you! Having finally made it back to my computer, I have drawn the lucky winner...

Congratulations Kirsten! (author of the fabulous assemblage blog) who said:

'congratulations!
my favourite item?
well, i am loving light grey at the moment but i cannot choose between the concentric arrow or concentric circle. in warm grey. LOVE them.'

Thanks again for your support :)

I have a (reasonably) new series of cards—all images that I took around Kyoto whilst in Japan over 2006/2007—that have just gone up in my store. They have been beautifully digitally printed, bonded to high quality 200gsm card (nice and thick!) and come with an envelope—ready to be written on and sent, given as a gift or kept to be admired.

AND...this is my 100th post...yippee! In honour of that fact, I have decided to have a giveaway. I will be giving $30AUD credit in my new store to one lucky winner chosen at random. If you would like to enter my little giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment on this post about either:

1. Your favourite Moyou product
(and perhaps why it is your favourite—design, colour, shape, etc.) OR

2. An idea for a new Moyou product that you feel would fit nicely amongst my existing range...

I will draw a winner at random after 5pm (ADST) Monday December 29, 2008.
Good luck!

Hello...I'm back! I'm sorry for my recent absence and the long silence between posts. The last 3 weeks have been incredibly busy in the lead up to Christmas business–wise, with the winding down of the university academic year and with filling orders for some wonderful stores now stocking Moyou products.

You can now find a beautiful range of Moyou products at the fabulous new National Portrait Gallery Store (right here in Canberra!) & also at the Tamworth Regional Gallery Shop. If you are ever in the vicinity of these fantastic stores, be sure to stop in for a look!

I have been busy working on this new addition to the Moyou jewellery range—a selection of gorgeous wooden & acrylic rings. Currently you can only find these lovely pieces at the National Portrait Gallery Store, the Tamworth Regional Gallery Shop or directly through Moyou at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston.

I am excited to announce the arrival (and unveil) my new Moyou store. If you head on over to take a look you'll already find a great list of items there—all in Australian dollars! All of my fabric by the metre, fabric packs & a range of wooden earrings are listed & waiting to be purchased :)

I would like to send a BIG thank you out to everyone who participated in my little birthday giveaway. I am looking forward to having some time to sit down and peruse the lovely blogs that you left comments about. After a fantastic weekend of markets I have finally made it back to my computer and drawn a winner...

Comment Number 4 | redmag of Waiting in the Capital who said:

'Happy blogiversary.....choosing only one fav is hard....I'd have to say at the moment I'm really enjoying checking in with nanette over at rummage.typepad.com. Her photos a devine, her posts are smart and its lovely to read about someone who is enjoying living in Canberra when there are soooo many people who complain about it.'

Congratulations! Could you please email me your contact details and I'll get your little Moyou gift pack packaged up and sent out to you as soon as possible. Thanks again!

Whew! What a busy week it has been. I feel as though I'm constantly *go go go*...and life it is set to stay that way until Christmas arrives. Ah well, I do love what I do and I certainly wouldn't have things any other way.

Today I've been busy preparing more stock for the coming weeks of markets. Tomorrow, if you're in the area, you'll be able to find me at the Queanbeyan Artists Market. It is being held at 'The Q' (Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre) from 11am–4pm and should be a wonderful day out. On Sunday you can visit me at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston. Hope to see you there :)

I also finished this earring order for Moose: Art for Living and posted it off today. Very shortly you'll be able to find these lovely wooden laser cut earrings here, along with my hand-drawn range of jewellery.

And last, but definitely not least, you only have a couple of hours left to enter my bloggy birthday giveaway. If you would like to be in the running to win a little Moyou gift pack all you need to do is leave me a comment here with the name of a favourite blog and why it is so special to you by 8pm (ADST) tonight: Friday November 14, 2008. Good luck!

Just a quick post to show you a few pictures (please excuse the quality of these images...I took the photos on my mobile phone) of the fantastic screenprinting day that I had today. I love printing! My screenprinted linen tea towels are back in stock (in a lovely new colour as well!)—yippee!! Well, they will be after tomorrow once I've labeled & packaged them all :)

A lovely interview |
Over the weekend I was interviewed by the lovely Amy (of Doobleh–vay) for the wonderful Scoutie Girl blog. Amy is writing a new feature for Scoutie Girl titled Brief Introductions, where she chats with indie designers & artists. I was lucky enough to be invited to participate and the interview was posted yesterday—you can find the whole post here if you would like to read more :)
Thank you Amy & Scoutie Girl!

An etsy treasury listing featuring Moyou |
November 8th saw this little kuma (available in my etsy store) hit the front page of etsy in a lovely treasury listing compiled by 3fun (who creates amazing felt jewellery). Yay!

Giveaway One |
The fabulous Modish blog is currently holding Part I of their enormous November giveaway. This lovely batch of handmade goodies is valued at a huge $778 and you can enter the giveaway here.
Entries close on Sunday November 16 at 11:59pm (PST).

Giveaway Two |
Don't forget to enter my birthday celebration giveaway if you'd like to be in the running to win a little Moyou gift pack. All you have to do is leave me a comment here with the name of a favourite blog and why it is so special to you by 8pm (ADST) Friday November 14, 2008. Good luck!

*...happy birthday dear moyou blog...happy birthday to you!*

Today marks the one year anniversary/birthday of my little blog. A milestone well worth celebrating, I believe. From my very first post one year ago to my 93rd post today (almost 100!)—I feel as though I have had quite a journey in the space of a year...and I'd like to celebrate this with you by way of a little giveaway (what better way to celebrate a birthday than with presents!?)

How to enter Moyou's blog birthday giveaway |
To join in my birthday celebrations (and be in the running to win a little Moyou gift pack) all you need to do is leave me a comment on this post with the name of a favourite blog and why it is so special to you by 8pm (ADST) Friday November 14, 2008.

Please feel free to enter more than once if you would like, but you will need to leave a different blog reference with each comment to be entered into the draw multiple times. I will draw a winner at random after 8pm on Friday evening. I look forward to learning about (and reading) some lovely, new blogs and wish you all the best of luck for the draw!

Moyou RedBubble Sale |
As a final birthday celebration I am having a sale in my RedBubble store for the next 3 weeks (until Sunday November 30, 2008). The prices of cards have been drastically reduced, and at such a wonderful price they would make lovely inexpensive Christmas gifts.

I love comments on my blog, I really do, and I am ever so grateful that people take the time to read and to comment. It is nice to know that you are there. So for all of these reasons I have decided to give $10USD credit in my etsy store to the 100th commenter on my blog.

So without further ado...the recipient of my 100th blog comment is the lovely Melanie of Kimono Reincarnate. Congratulaions Melanie, and thank you to everyone who has stopped by and left a comment. I really appreciate it!

I have just discovered that some lovely blogs and an etsy treasury listing featured Moyou last week and I'd like to share them with you.

I knew something must have happened because my views for this pair of etched wooden earrings (available in my etsy store) jumped up exponentially overnight. I was lucky enough to find that I had been featured in the treasury listing shown below and it had made the front page on October 31st. Yay!

October 30th saw Moyou featured in posts on two separate blogs—what a wonderful day! A lovely post on Creativadoration titled 'Screenprinted Fabrics, Mate' featured this screenprinted fabric (available in my etsy store), as well as other Aussie designers including Umbrella Prints, Aunty Cookie, Of Paper & Thread, & Hollabee. A second post on Tiel's gorgeous blog, Tsk Tsk, titled 'Thinking Local' featured this pair of acrylic laser cut earrings (available in my etsy store) as well as the work of six other fantastic Aussie designers. If you're interested, please feel free to pop over and have a look at these lovely posts—you won't be disappointed!

I must apologise for my absence over the past few days. It has been a busy (and slightly interrupted) week. Busy with orders, preparations for the anticipated Christmas–rush, & with final classes & assessment preparations for university; & interrupted by a public holiday here yesterday in the ACT.

In the meanwhile a few lovely things have taken place that I would like to show you...

Modish opened their Modish Holiday Marketplace on November 1st, 2008 & I was lucky enough to have secured a place in the November Jewellery section. There are so many wonderful designers & stores to see on the Modish Marketplace in a variety of sections including jewellery, art, bags & purses, eco– friendly products, home goods, papergoods and more. You really should pop across and take a look!

And then November 2nd brought about a lovely write-up on the wonderful Esta Sketch blog. I feel so lucky to have been included in a gift guide post, with a pair of my alphabet-o etched wooden earrings being featured. Thank you!

I have a new colour and a new shape in Moyou's delicious laser cut earring range to unveil...

4 patterns etched into 2 shapes (the rectangle, as previously seen in the red tint acrylic range and arctic ice acrylic range, and [the new] oval shape), in red tint acrylic and black acrylic. These gorgeous accessories are so very light and so beautifully patterned—you won't find anything else quite like them!

A selection of these lovely earrings have been added to my etsy store or, if you're in Canberra, feel free to swing by the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston, Canberra this Sunday to see them in person :)

Following on from my etsy pricing dilemma post yesterday, I have made some adjustments in my etsy store. Due to recent fluctuations in currency values I have reduced my shipping prices on ALL items to maintain competitive pricing in the current market.

The big news |
Every item now has FREE postage within Australia!! (and international shipping prices have been drastically reduced!) So if you're thinking about Christmas presents, or would just like a look, please feel free to visit my shop.

I am struggling with online pricing (etsy in particular) with respect to the recent fluctuations in worldwide currencies. I have been watching with interest the way that various independent designers/makers/artists have been attempting to cope with this issue but I'm not sure which way to jump.

Initially I thought it best to adjust my prices on etsy to reflect the price of my goods in Australian dollars...but this is proving to be a very difficult task as the dollar fluctuates by the second/minute/hour/day and I can't keep up. I thought about reviewing it weekly but I'm not sure that I would be happy with that outcome either. It seems fine to adjust my prices in this way at the moment given that everyone wins—Australian customers receive Moyou goods at a reasonable Australian dollar related price and American customers receive Moyou goods at a bargain US dollar price...but what happens when the Australian dollar begins to creep back up? How will customers feel about fluctuations in my pricing? And at the end of the day I wish to cater to a wider global market, so should I keep thinking in Australian dollars or do I need to be more 'global' in my pricing too?

At this stage I seem to be leaning more towards keeping my etsy prices stable and current with the US dollar. I realise that this may discourage some Australian customers from purchasing through etsy at this point in time (given the state of the Australian dollar and its relative worth) but I hope to be branching out more directly within Australia in the coming months and I am always contactable via my blog and email for direct inquiries and orders. This being the case, I feel that keeping a more 'global' perspective for online selling is perhaps the better path to travel for now.

Oh pricing! This could be a question for the ages...it has kept me going around and around and around in circles. I would love to know what other people think about this matter and how you are dealing with it, so please feel free to leave a comment :)

Wow, Friday here we are again!
Another busy week and another addition to the growing Moyou range...

Adding to my current jewellery range (including red tint acrylic etched earrings, wooden laser cut earrings and arctic ice acrylic laser cut earrings), I now have 3 patterns etched as a fill and 2 patterns etched with lines into beautiful beech ply sourced from a sustainable plantation. Very light and intricately patterned, these gorgeous earrings are sure to add a splash of style to any outfit.

You can now find these beautiful earrings in my etsy store or, if you live in the area, come along and see me this Sunday at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston, Canberra :)

Koto (Japanese harp) concert
Friday October 24, 2008
7:30pm–8:00pm

1. Koto in Japan

Beautiful koto (Japanese harp) music will be played in the lobby of Nishiyama Ryokan, a traditional Japanese–style hotel in the center of Kyoto (close to the Imperial Palace grounds and Shijo–Kawaramachi shopping area), for half an hour on Friday evening. This concert is free of charge, so if you are in the area please feel free to drop by and enjoy the wonderful music of this traditional instrument.


Kitano Tenmangu market
Saturday October 25, 2008
7:00am–5:00pm

Kitano Tenmangu, also known as Tenjin–san, is a Shinto shrine in Kamigyou–ku, Kyoto. This popular shrine hosts a large sprawling flea market in and around the shrine on the 25th of each month. This market, like To–ji, attracts large crowds and sells just about everything—from antiques to furniture, from food to plants, from household items to secondhand kimonos and obi.

1. Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan, 2. Flea Market, 3. _MG_3152, 4. Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan, 5. Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

You can get to Kitano Tenmangu by taking bus #10, #50, #101, #102 or #203 to the Kitanotenmangu–mae bus stop.

(*Please Note: These images by Jim Epler, txipiflick, MShades, and donnaidh_sidhe have been used under the Creative Commons license)

I have just finished updating my etsy store with assorted fabric packs & fabric pieces from my new fabric range...*yippee!*.

Whether it is a single piece of fabric you are interested in (for a certain project that you have in mind), or a yummy collection of beautiful co–ordinates that you're after, I now have an array for you to choose from.

These pieces and packs would be great for any small crafty project—suitable for anything from patchwork to purses. Let your imagination run free!

Woah! Another addition to the growing Moyou range.
Can you tell that I love to diversify!?

Adding to my current jewellery range, I now have 4 patterns etched into red tint acrylic. Very light, very bright and very cheerful. The red tint acrylic is great because it isn't a flat, solid colour. As it is a tint the colour changes depending on the light that you are in. I took these photos outdoors (in the shade) on a sunny day. They're so vibrant!


You can find these lovelies in my etsy store...or (if you're in the area) come along to the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston, Canberra :)

And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to send a big thank you out to everyone who has left such lovely comments about my new screenprinted tea towel range and my fabric by the metre. It has been great to know that they are well received...thank you!

I can't contain my excitement!! I have another new range!!

I have been waiting to do this for quite a while now and it has been in the works for a month or two—designing, ordering, shipping, printing, posting. And today it arrived! I can finally unveil my big surprise (that I have alluded to in previous posts).

...I'm proud/excited/happy to introduce to you...
moyou fabric by the metre!

The fabric is a lovely natural 62% Hemp/38% Cotton blend and I have designed two concentric geometric patterns which are printed in warm grey & aubergine (separately) with environmentally friendly, solvent free ink.

If you are interested in purchasing some of this delicious fabric you can find both designs in both colours in my etsy store.