The Fierceness of Mother Nature & How You Can Help

As you are most likely aware Australia is in the grips of a massive natural disaster at the moment. 22 Days ago a flood occurred in Rockhampton Queensland (QLD) devastating the town and we as Australian's did what we did best - we started to band together to help these people but no-one could imagine what would happen next. Instead of just seeping away mother nature decided that she would push our spirit of solidarity and humanity as far as she could.

The Lockyer Valley in Qld was hit by an inland tsunami last Monday, which decimated the town and then the water kept going and flooded the city of Brisbane by Wednesday affecting more than 40, 000 homes.

• 75% of the state of Queensland has been affected by the flood (that is an area that is twice the size of Texas)
• 15 people as of today have lost their lives
• 55 people are missing including whole families
• thousands of people are currently without a place to sleep

And fierce Mother Nature is not stopping there. Towns in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania are currently either experiencing flooding or are on alert to evacuate.

The Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal has been established to raise much needed funds for people and communities devastated by this natural disaster.

A collaboration of Etsy sellers have come together to help raise funds for this charity via the Etsian Flood Relief Appeal. The store is full of lots of wonderful handmade goodies and a 100% of proceeds from the sales (less Etsy and Paypal fees) will go directly to the appeal.

I urge you to head over and check out the store and if you can spread the word. (They have a facebook page here) This is a great way to own a fabulous handmade goody and feel warm and fuzzy knowing that you're helping a good cause at the same time.


Have a beautiful day,

Christmas Gift Guide - For Your Best Friend

Don't forget your Furry Friend this Christmas, and if yours are anything like mine they have great taste when it comes to handmade goodies. Harry and Winston have been hard at work selecting some goodies from Etsy that they think their kitteh and doggy friends would love to find under the tree on December 25.

For Kittehs:
1. Suitcase Pet Bed by K Grant Designs
2. Ergonomic Cat Feeder by Woodin' You
3. Catgrass/Nip Holder by Firecat Pottery
4. Catnip Fortune Cookies by Jake and Micah

For Doggies:
1. Mini Woof Rug by Ma Barker
2. Moe Collar by Murphy & Gert
3. Big Chicken Dog Toy by Wags & Wiggles
4. XXL Tough Dog Bed by Bow Wow Beds

I'll be back tomorrow with some more gift ideas.

Have a beautiful day,

WANT! Oversized Tote Bag

If you're like me, and you shove everything into your handbag then you need a pretty big bag. And at the moment my want is a large bag to carry everything that is made out of beautiful leather to last the distance. Here are some of my favourites:

Tuquoise Leather Hobo Bag by Patkas.

Olive Green Cowhide Large Tote by Paulina Carcach.

Weekend Safari by Yoobu Handcrafted.

Green Leather Tote by Hedilu.

Leather Slouch Hanbag by Rib and Hull.

Have a beautiful day!

Etsy: You Might Like...

Have you ever noticed the "You might like" suggestions on the home page of etsy? They come up with all kinds of goodies and a recent one that I love, love, loved was from Yellena.

This fabulous print was what Etsy thought I might like...

.

Allusion

.

So I visited the shop and found so many beautiful works it was hard to choose which ones to share with you.

.

Morning

Flare

I adore the use of colour and the detail, they just take you somewhere else.

Have a beautiful day!

CityKitten {hearts} Foxes

I'm not sure if anyone has told you but Foxes are the new Owls! Well at least they seem to be and I am loving them. Here are some of my Etsy favourites:

Running Fox Wood Stamp from A Hue Of Duck Egg Blue

Fox & Tree Print from Carambatack Design

Handpainted Locket from Kharaledonne

Orange Fox Greeting Card from The Art of Helloheath

Liam the little red fox from Sleepy King

Have a beautiful day,

CityKitten {hearts} Tokyo Inspired

Earlier this year I bought the BEST iPod case ever from the wonderful Tokyo Inspired.

The wonderful grey Hungry Cat Case now travels everywhere with me:

And look now they have a Ginger Hungry Cat!:

.

And these fab Gold Leica camera cases:

The detail that goes into each item is fantastic like this Business Man Zipper Pouch

So that is what I am loving today!

Have a beautiful day,

Want! Vintage Maps

I want, I want, I want! (I'm an only child can you tell? LOL)

This week I want Vintage Maps re-purposed into fabulous things for the home. Here are some of my favourite finds from Etsy that I have on my wish list.

Ueberland Map Lamp by Umbu

(which I found through the fabulous sfgirlbybay blog)

Sweet Home Alabama Encaustic Painting by Susan Najarian

Bespoke Map Dish by Bombus

...

Hope you have a beautiful day,

Folds of My Heart

When I was little I loved Origami. Making things out of paper - one sheet of paper! - that were lovely to play with (animals) or functional (little boxes) was a complete delight.

I recently came into possession of some shadow box frames and I wanted to do something with some beautiful Japanese papers that I had been hoarding away so I decided that it was time to start folding my heart out (haha) once again.

Initially I was going to use white backgrounds but felt the black gave a more striking effect.

This next one is my favourite because of the red paper I used:



I also had some light pink papers and the black was too dark for the background so I used a light green to compliment the pink:

Which one is your favourite?

Have a beautiful day,
Manda xxx

Etsy Find: girlwitharadiomind

I found girlwitharadiomind when she left a comment on my latest treasury which was inspired by Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (which I am currently reading, and loving, I am sure you have heard of it and if you haven't read it already it really is a very good book). You can see the treasury here.

Anyway when I popped over the girl's shop I was instantly mesmerized by the beautiful bright colours of her bags, they remind me of summer and beautiful days.

Here are some of her creations.

Hope you are all having a beautiful week,

Manda x

A Wintry Wednesday

I know, I know - I am always carrying on about how cold it is but I seem to be having trouble adjusting to the climate here in South Gippsland. In reality it is probably only 3 degrees (celsius) cooler than Sydney but my city-girl bones seem to be frozen through, I can't even seem to get the fire hot. But as I stand looking out the back window across the hills and farmland I am inspired by the beautiful wintry colours.

The second I saw this beautiful piece by Studio 722 it reminded me of the lovely little nest out in the oak tree.

These lovely little embellishments by One Craftee Mumma are just like the frost crystals that are around early morning.

The Oak tree is bare just like the ones on these elegant napkins from Mary Elizabeth Arts

And although I am cold, I am thankful I am not as cold as this Moon Through Fog print!

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Manda x

Bright...

Well I have had a rather unproductive weekend in the craft department, it has been drizzly and grey and I am starting to think I am getting SAD (seasonal affective disorder) so I am looking forward to a bright and colourful spring which seems to be eons away. But these bright items have bought some colour to my day:

Red Dome Resin Ring by Fingers & Toes Unique

Orange & Denim Hair Piece by d3bz

Rainbow Bracelet by Dina Fragola

Have a beautiful day!

Manda x

Song Birds

At the moment I am bird crazy. I cannot get enough of little birds - I did my bedroom out with a song bird theme with a duvet cover and wall decal in black and white, and I am very happy with the result. Anyway I am loving birds like these:

Faux Bois Song Bird Wall Art by Wickedly Good Wares

White Hemp Purse By Sir Tom

The Sweetest Lovebirds Necklace by Sparkle Peach

All of these birds have inspired my new range of all occasion greeting cards which I have just listed today:

Songbird All Occasions Greeting Card by Me!

Have a beautiful day!

Manda x

Winner of Etsy Re-Launch Giveaway...

Thank you to those of you who entered.

The winner has been selected via Random.org

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 12
Result:
5
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

So the winner is:
Bec Clarke

Congratulations, I will contact you regarding your prize.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

ETSY Re-Launch Giveaway

To celebrate the re-launch of my Etsy store: CityKitten Designs I am giving away to one lucky person any item in my store. That's right you can choose which listing you would like to win!

To be in the chance to win all you need to do is one or all of the following:

1) Visit my store here and leave a comment here about which item you like

2) Fan me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CityKitten-Designs/123789707667518 then leave a comment below

3)Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/citykittencards then leave a comment below

4)Tweet the following: Etsy relaunch giveaway http://bit.ly/d0uML7 @citykittencards
and then comment here.

You get one entry per comment, so if you do more than one of the above make sure you leave a separate comment for each.

The comments will be randomly drawn on Sunday 08 August at 7.00pm Australian Eastern Standard time (That's 9pm Saturday night US central). The competition is open to ANYONE, ANYWHERE.

So get clicking for your chance to win!