Friday Friends- Dusty Divas - Lizet Frijters & Living Earth Gallery

Welcome my dear readers to a new edition of Friday Friends. In this 3rd Dusty Divas edition, I want you to meet a Dusty Diva who embraces textile creation in the most amazing way - meet the gorgeous Lizet of Living Earth Gallery.



I was captivated by the variety of textures and love the flowing feminine lines in Lizet's work and once I started browsing her store I knew I had to feature her as a Dusty Diva. I am amazed by her creations and the variety of goodies she has on offer.

These are a few of my favourite items from Lizet's ETSY store. This hat is so beautiful - Lizet explained how this was made in her item description : "I made this one of a kind vintage doily hat through the wet felting process. I felted organic merino wool, dyed in a peach colour with natural dyes, and a vintage doily together. This hat is really cute and would suit anyone who loves vintage, romance and beauty."


I love the colours in this Grey Eco Dyed Upcycled Skirt created by a dye made from casuarina leaves and rust. As Lizet says : "The result is truly amazing and can not be duplicated. It is nature's print."

How about a set of 6 Print it Yourself Greeting Cards Beautiful Features made with the images out of Lizet's card game Living Landscapes. The originals were painted in watercolour by Lizet.


I really love the rich colour and amazing textures in this scarf and as Lizet explained in her item description : "I wanted to give this violet cotton fabric a new life, which I did by upcycling it by nuno felting. I felted circles on the fabric with purple organic merino wool, dyed with natural dyes. The border is in crochet and than felted with the rest"
And as some of you may know by now, I am quite partial to handbags & purses and was quite drawn to the simple yet intricate design of this Green Curly Little Felt Purse - it is so cute !

Lovely readers, I really enjoyed working with Lizet to create this blogpost and find her story fascinating - I hope you do to. I invite you to take the time to pop your feet up, brew a cuppa and to read Lizet's story.


The Fantastical Fairytale of Lizet Fritjers & the Living Earth Gallery


I was born in the flamish part of Belgium and in 1988, we moved to South of France, where we had an organic farm. 10 years later, we had 3 children by then, we decided to start travelling and look for a more tropical climate to live.

After traveling to Portugal, the Caribbean and Brazil, we decided to try Australia in 1998.

It was for me as if this was my home, we all liked it here and are now temporary residents. Our goal is to become permanent residents this year??? Let's hope.

I grew up in a family where textile was as much part of life as any other daily task. My grandmother and mother were always sewing, knitting and crocheting.

As I had these examples of what life was about, I started knitting my own underwear at five. I was only allowed to make underwear at that age, as my mother was perfectionist and of course no one could see my mistakes when they were hidden.

Dropped stitches were rescued and in case this wasn't possible anymore, it had to be undone. Basically, I was trained to become a perfectionist myself, which has positive and negative sides. I try to heal myself of that now. I learned a lot from that, one thing for sure is that I now love detail.

When I was in the first year of the primary school, we learned knitting. It was very boring for me, because at that age, I was already knitting with 4 needles and had to sit down and learn stitch by stitch to knit with 2 needles.

When I was a teenager, I started other textile crafts, I did a 4 year course in bobbin lace, learned spinning, macrame, weaving. In 1985, I did a 3 day felting workshop. When I realised what a tremendous possibilities there are in this wonderful craft, I haven't stopped experimenting and I never will.

As we live in tropical Far North Queensland, I have adapted my work to the warmer climate and make more nuno felting. Sometimes, however, I love to create a piece for the colder winters.

I am very passionate about experimenting with textures by using various materials.

I dye my wool and silk with natural dyes, that's another passion that I have and I also love recycling. I get a lot of satisfaction out of creating something out of scratch, or using recycled materials into my felt making. My goal is to constantly improve the sustainability and the quality of my work.

I am ready to create more higher end work, maybe wedding dresses and other nuno felted dresses. I also like to make some more wall pieces this year and organise an exhibition. I try to provide work in different price ranges.

Designing and making co-operative ecological board and card games is another part of my business. I have 2 different games for sale and want to get more published this year.

Do I ever sleep? Not much. Apart from my business, I have other hobbies, I love gardening and I am also part of the local permaculture group. I am going to start a homeopathy course this year as well. And yes, sometimes I take time to meditate. I just can't believe that someone can get bored!


Here are a few places where you can find Lizet & Living Earth Gallery online:

Buy Lizet's gorgeous goodies online at

Etsy :

http://lizetfrijters.etsy.com

or her websites :

http://lizetfrijters.com


http://livingearthgames.com.au

Connect through

Facebook :

http://www.facebook.com/lizetfrijters

Twitter :

http://twitter.com/lizetfrijters

Flickr :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizetfrijters/

Blogspot :

http://lizetfrijters.blogspot.com

Wednesday Wishlist - Australian Hand Made

Happy Australia Day to everyone out there - I hope your day has been a fabulous one, filled with all the things you wanted to do ! This weeks Wednesday Wishlist is made up of Handmade in Australia things that I feel represent the colours of this great land, from the Rugged Kimberley and Coastline to the Farmlands and Forest. I hope you enjoy this unique showcase of Australian Talent.

KIMBERLEY DREAMING Hand Dyed Silk/Viscose Velvet by RaesRags

Pearl and sterling silver multi strand bracelet-Seaside treasures by laceandlinks

Emerald Green Ankle Boot by HeidiLouiseBootmaker

Red Reef Australian Organic Clay Face Mask by New Earth Soaps

Persistent Illusion - Original watercolor painting by klbaileyART

Japanese Cherry Organic Wave Bangle by WoodNPiece

Flame Tree red Textile Ring by RawHemline

Orchard Fruit Trees (hand dyed organic wool felt, needle felted oranges, wooden trunk and base) by Rumpelfeltskin

Desert Sunrise Hand painted elegant silk habutai scarf by sesenarts

Calm in the Woods - Recycled Wooden and Carved Jade Necklace by earlybirdcreations

Handbag OOAK Freeform Crochet by rensfibreart

Citrus Sunrise Handmade Cold Process Soap, All Natural with Essential Oils by innerearthsoaps

Friday Friends - Dusty Divas - Two Cheeky Monkeys

Welcome once again lovely readers to Edition 2 of my Friday Friends - Dusty Divas series. I want to take time to quickly make special mention to all those who have contributed, in any way, big or small to the donating of goods, administration or promotion of the Etsian Australian Flood Appeal store. To date, there have been 380 sales, there are still 279 items available for purchase and US$4323.85 has been raised (less Etsy and Paypal Fees) for The Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal. This week I have great pride in introducing a fabulous Dusty Diva who has been working behind the scenes, helping with listing and the administration of the Etsian Australian Flood Appeal store - meet Deb
of Two Cheeky Monkeys !
I am really excited about the new range Deb is introducing this year - these gorgeous shabby chic fabric cuffs! These ones aren't quite completed yet (they need their button closures sewn on) according to Deb but I think they are gorgeous !

and I quite partial to this sweet brooch

I mean who doesn't swoon just a little at the thought of the lovely Mr Darcy ?

I also have in my personal collection these lovely Two Cheeky Monkeys goodies - a girl can NEVER have too many earrings right ?




I invite you lovely readers, to take a load off your weary feet, to put them up and rest awhile, and enjoy the this tale of Deb and Two Cheeky Monkeys.
PS - sending lots of Maddabling love to those affected by the floods on the East Coast of Australia - stay safe xo




The Enticing Tale of Deb & Two Cheeky Monkeys

I was born in Singapore and lived there until my family emigrated to Australia in the mid 1980s, but think of myself as an Aussie and a Melbournian. In fact, I am so Westernised that my family, husband and close friends often refer to me as a "banana" (Chinese in appearance but "white" in my outlook and lifestyle). I live in Melbourne with my maths/computer/theology geek husband and our two little girls.

I still find it a little strange when my friends call me crafty or creative because, although I have loved to craft since a very young age and have also been heavily involved in musical activities for most of my life, that's a side of me which has sat in the background while I spent years chasing my dream of being either a lawyer or a geneticist. As it turned out, law wasn't really for me and I ended up studying science and history at university, eventually completing a PhD in molecular biology.

It wasn't until my second daughter was born, and I found myself unable to find a part-time research position, that I returned to my love of creating. I love my daughters, but being at home all the time with a baby and a toddler and little adult stimulation was slowly driving me crazy. I started making birthday cards for our family and close friends and jewellery for myself while the girls napped and eventually ended up surfing the web for online bead stores and new craft projects.

Reading the blogs of many creative individuals opened up my crafting world and I found craft projects I could do with my young children as well as projects I could make for them. By this stage I was giving our friends and family not only handmade birthday and Christmas cards, but handmade birthday and Christmas presents too.

So much so that several of them suggested that I try selling my creations at markets or online. I thought long and hard about such a scary step for about six months before my Two Cheeky Monkeys "label" was born. My husband helped me to come up with my label name, inspired by our two gorgeous, but cheeky, little girls!

Although I don't think of myself as a very "girly" girl (some of my favourite movies are the Matrix, LOTR and X-men series), I absolutely love vintage items and wanted to sell a range of vintage-inspired and feminine jewellery and accessories. Many of my pieces contain at least some vintage beads or cabochons from the early 20th century as well, to keep with the vintage feel I am trying to achieve.

Using vintage supplies also makes me feel like I am "recycling" and being at least a little eco-conscious in my creating. Earlier this year my love of op shopping and vintage books led me to create a line of black and white vintage dictionary art prints which have proved to be surprisingly popular. This further led me to create a line of Pride and Prejudice jewellery pieces which contain a snippet of vintage P+P text set into cameos.

I am constantly amazed at the wonderful array of vintage items I can find at op shops and every new find inspires me to create something new or to expand my already existing lines of jewellery and art.

While I originally started my business as a solution to my unemployment and "boredom" at home, I feel very blessed to live in a first world country and to be able to access pretty much everything I need so readily. I don't want for food or shelter, I didn't have any trouble getting an education and I can even practise my faith and religious beliefs as I wish, for the most part. Because of these blessings in my life, I was challenged to think about how I could use my crafting to help those less fortunate.

After some research, I decided to donate a portion of all of my profits to the Lydia's List project which helps women in developing countries to fight poverty, discrimination and lack of education. I thought it was fitting that as a woman with her own small business, both my customers and I are helping other women to get on their feet and hopefully influence their communities for the better as a result.

And as for my dreams for Two Cheeky Monkeys - I would love for my fan base to keep growing and I want to find more stockists for my work as well as pursue more opportunities (especially paid ones) to write for beading or craft magazines. I know a lot of that will have to wait till my children are older and not so dependant on me, but it's nice to have a goal to work towards.
Want to snap up some Two Cheeky Monkeys goodies just for yourself ?

You can buy online at :

Etsy : http://dspdavey.etsy.com


Madeit : http://www.madeit.com.au/TwoCheekyMonkeys

or why not connect through :

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/TwoCheekyMonkeysJewellery

The Two Cheeky Monkeys Blog :
http://twocheekymonkeysdesigns.blogspot.com

or how about some lovely tweets from Twitter :
http://twitter.com/dspdavey