hand claps for gemma

First up hand claps and pats on back for Gemma and all her hard work to make the Art Fights Fire fundraiser a big success. All the artwork winners were drawn on Wednesday night at Outre Gallery here in Melbourne. If you bought a ticket and want to see if you won, head over here. Gemma will also be emailing / calling you asap.
The total is yet to be counted but has reached the target of $10,000. So hand claps for everyone who bought a ticket too.
Whilst I printed and framed one of my photos for the fundraiser, I also snuck in one for our shop. (see pic above) It was taken at the Fitzroy pool a few years ago before the pool's refurbishment. I haven't been back since then, so I'm not sure if this beautiful blue bin is still there.
In other news I met Justine at the fundraiser, so now Arthur's Circus is happy to be selling Mixtape zine... I think that's enough words for today, I'm heading over to flickr to upload some photos as well as our online shop to add new stuff.

a wee bit of framing

I managed to squeeze in a wee bit of framing on Tuesday for ourselves and the shop. We have many wonderful vintage items and new artwork to frame up, but it's hard to find the time and then the space to hang in the shop. With Arthur at kindergarten this year, it's meaning a bit more routine in our lives. So Tuesday is my day of framing. The first photo is a new addition to the shop, created from a complete set of vintage abc cards from the 1960's. And second photo is one for the house. You may recognise the cards from this previous post here. A set of cards from a supermarket called 4 square in New Zealand. There is still an unframed set for sale over at our bigcartel shop or if someone out there would like a framed set, let me know. I have enough cards for 2 sets and then they're gone...well living happily in someone else's home.

art fights fire update

Gemma has been goccoing up a storm, to create some very snazzy raffle tickets for the "Art fights Fire" fundraiser. So they are now on sale. The best place to buy online is here and we have also put them up in our online shop. If you're out and about around town, you can always pop into Outre Gallery or Metropolis Books and buy tickets. Likewise in North Melbourne here at Arthur's Circus and in Fitzroy at Meet me at Mikes. With over 30 artists donating their work and the aim to raise $10,000, someone good at maths can figure out the odds of winning one of the very tasty art prizes on offer.

hello cookie magazine

It seems that our house has hit the stands in the latest Cookie magazine. I'm yet to receive our copy, so no sneak peeks here for the time being. So I thought that for the next day or two I should be a responsible shop owner and upload some new items to our online shop. Such as these photos by moi. They are an 8 x 10'' archival photographic print, mounted on 30 X 40cm board to fit into an Ikea ribba frame. Too easy. We have donated the full set of 6 photos to Gemma's Art fights Fire fundraiser in aid of the Red Cross bush fire appeal. As well as a few other items, a photograph by me (outside from Arthur's Circus), and 2 puzzle pictures, similar to those seen here. The tickets will be on sale this coming Monday 16th Feb, from us, Outre Gallery, Meet me at Mikes and Metropolis books. The list of artists donating work is getting pretty darn fancy. For more info head here.

I haven't really wanted to post anything shop related nor much about what's going on at the moment in regards to the bushfires across Victoria. We have friends in the Strathewan / St Andrews / Kinglake area and the devastation is hard to believe and still yet to be fully known. There are many people online that are organising different ways to help other than donating dollars. Have a look at Pip's blog as she has a list with links. Gemma is also organising an art auction and we will be contributing a few items to that. And you can always donate blood. Our weekend had it's own little drama with Arthur having a trip to the Children's hospital on Sunday morning. He had fallen and cut his head and it needed superglueing. Much easier than trying to stitch a wriggling child. People do amazing jobs, such as those in hospitals, the fire brigade / cfa etc, especially in such a challenging environment as this one. Our heartfelt thanks goes to them.

greeting cards

Fresh form the printers is our new range of six greeting cards, featuring photographs of toys from our own collection. You can get them from our online shop or also from here. They are also available for wholesale through here.

darn injections

I had big plans of organisation within the shop today. Fixing, tidying, photographing etc. But this gig of trying to run a shop, take care of child and somehow have a life can be a little tricky. Yesterday Arthur had his 4 year old imunisations. Hence today he's got a hefty temperature and he's in the shop on/off with me. I think 7 diseases (diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis/polio/measles/mumps/rubella) rolled into 2 needles is a little too much for a wee child to take in one sitting. I remember having mumps as a child and it wasn't the end of the world. I even got to go the the Rye/Rosebud carnival with my head wrapped in a towel and win an almighty big panda bear. Anyhow, I don't want to open up a whole can of worms in the should you / shouldn't you imunise debate. All I know is that my little fella wasn't going to childcare today..... I guess we're also lucky to be operating a small business, where when we need to, we can have the shop half open. It's a day of "we're open, ring the doorbell please."