Monday 19 February 2024

Heading into Easter!


We are in the final days of a very beautiful Summer in Tasmania and we are excited that Easter is just around the corner. It is definitely one of my favourite times of the year because it means the Southern Hemisphere is in the full swing of Autumn. In Tasmania we are blessed with wonderful Autumn colours and gentle warm days as we brace ourselves for the winter months. Easter is usually one of our busiest times of year as we make our popular vintage book paper covered eggs and smaller nests for various stockists and for our own bigcartel store. This year, however, we will only be making a small supply of our nests and eggs due to my troublesome neck and back issues that have been plaguing me for the last few months. 


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Our apologies to those who have been waiting for new stock to arrive in our online store for Easter but you will be able to find a small number of our handmade eggs and nests and stamped stones at the lovely store in Cygnet, Tasmania - Cuckoo Etc. Keeping my fingers crossed that my back and neck start to behave so we can get back to some serious making again soon!

We hope you are all well and traversing this unstable time in the world with care and safety. xx










 

Saturday 4 November 2023

Tags and Reindeer!

 


These little birch twig reindeer have made there way to the lovely store Cuckoo Etc in Cygnet https://cuckootasmania.com.au/shop. We have made a family of reindeer with a little one and its 'mother', shown here, and a larger one as well. Created with birch twigs from our garden each one has its own unique character and personality. We really love using natural materials and bringing them to life in new ways.

 


We also had the joy of making a large order for the lovely store Hearth. Co in Palm Beach, New South Wales https://hearth-co.com/  . This is our second year of sending Christmas inspired gift tags and cards to this very special store.


We also have a delightful little local store, Habeo, in Battery Point https://habeo.com.au/  selling our small Christmas tags, so it is lovely to see them nestled amongst their other beautiful Christmas wares. 

It is wonderful and heartwarming to have stockists who truly support handmade artisan products. 

Saturday 21 October 2023

Christmas Lead Up

 As we head into the rush of the Christmas season my daughter and I are consciously slowing down this year. We have just completed a large box of our popular vintage paper baubles for our lovely stockist "Cuckoo" in Cygnet recently but we are now putting a hold on any other large orders just for this year. Due to back and neck problems I am not up to the intense workout they receive when making all our handmade products this year. We are, however, still selling through our online Bigcartel shop for smaller orders and we have just created a new lux gift tag using gold lustre paint gently echoing a Christmas tree shape, that we hope you will enjoy. 


I have also been making a family of quirky reindeer made from birch twigs that I will show you in our next post. There is something so special about a natural Christmas of handmade decorations and cards isn't there. We also have a small range of hand painted Christmas tree cards available online this year too. 

We hope the lead up to the Christmas season is a peaceful one for you. Look after yourselves and enjoy that lovely festive feeling that is beginning to take a hold on us. xx



Saturday 15 July 2023

Winter - thinking time

Winter has always been a good time to hunker down, take a moment to plan, recalibrate and recharge ready for all the new beginnings in Spring - just like much of nature does. This winter we have put our making on hold due to my ongoing neck and back issues, so I am hoping that this time will provide a chance to heal and come right! It may also mean that I need to change my creative output to something less problematic for my neck and back issues too I suppose. But change is often a good thing. 

In the meantime I have been able to document some site visits to the midlands in Tasmania where I have been commissioned to create a large scale eagles nest. More on this to come in future posts, but it has been lovely to work on a small watercolour 'diary' of this projects progress to date.

We hope those of you who are in the Southern Hemisphere are staying warm and toasty this winter and that everyone, where ever you are, has their creative juices flowing with inspiration. 

xx


Friday 5 May 2023

Autumn Musings

As Autumn draws to a close in the southern hemisphere this month, we have been thinking about all the wonderful things we love about this season. The fire has begun to be lit each day as the temperature is dropping and the leaves we have collected on our walks are pressing under books. At the end of our street we have a large old Rowen tree which has been absolutely bursting with divinely coloured leaves. Our own garden has been covered in a carpet of golden leaves from our paper birch tree and the Virginia creeper put on a splendid crimson display on our deck. Don't you just love the colours of nature!


We are planning a thinking time about some of the products we create and are going to use winter as a time for reflection and hopefully feel inspired for some new ideas to make during spring. We will keep you posted!





Monday 20 March 2023

More nests and egg making!

 


As Easter nears, our home studio is a buzz with nest making materials and old book papers as far as you can see! We are so pleased to be sending these little nests and book paper covered eggs to the lovely store in Cygnet, Tasmania - Cuckoo etc, in time for Easter. We've packed our 20 eggs of different sizes and papers carefully into a box ready for delivery and there are a few eggs available on our own bigcartel shop too. This time of year in Tasmania is a favourite of ours as the days are mild and the autumn light is beautifully gentle. And, of course, it is also a time when families have a small holiday and come together to celebrate Easter. We hope you are all looking forward to this lovely time of year and although we make easter eggs that are not made of chocolate, I can assure you we will also be indulging in some chocolate ones too!!




 

Friday 6 January 2023

A New Year Ahead!



We hope that the festive season has been a healthy and happy one and that everyone is feeling relatively relaxed and in holiday mode now! The 'Two in a Teacup' studio is on our annual break and we are very thankful to all the lovely customers who ordered through our online shop and to those businesses who stocked some of our products in their stores. We have been so lucky to have continued support from our Tasmanian stockists: The Black Hen online store, Cuckoo-etc in Cygnet, Habeo in Battery Point, as well as our new stockist, Mr Wolf in Devonport. On the mainland we have some new stores who now stock some of our products including Town and Country Gallery in Yarragon, Victoria and Hearth Co. in Palm Beach, Sydney. We can't thank you all enough for supporting small, bespoke and handmade producers like us. 


We hope very much that 2023 brings you a very happy, healthy and creative new year.