Backtrack : A new post series + some Sydney city gallivanting

New post series? Not really.. but kind of. Let me explain...

So on a trip to the city with some friends from my youth group we all started talking about our uni-student-on-holidays life. It just so happens that the four of us all had our own blogs (because we're all hip and blog and stuff).

And so began our little chat about our non-productiveness on the blog front. in terms of our blogs. We all have differing levels of disengagement with our blogs, from a week, to a few weeks to a few months (in my case - I've posted what, twice? in the last 6 months?)

Anyway.. someone suggested we need to make a pact to all post more and so our little blogging productive challenge was born! (I just made that name up just then) This challenge pretty much just requires us to post SOMETHING (anything?) onto one of our blogs by midnight on Monday-Tuesday. And I guess this post will count as mine. YAY! (I will link all their blog posts at the bottom so you people that read this can check it out.)

I know that I have a lot of worth while things sitting in my drafts and thought I really should post these on here. And my new "Backtrack" post series is born! HUZZAH! So for the next few weeks I will be posting some things that have been sitting in my drafts for months, years even! I can't guarantee that it will be done in chronological order but we'll see how we go. These are all events, though there are a few things that aren't, which I can get away with not being in this series (as they don't refer to some specific times/dates).

I will hopefully be posting the first Backtrack post next week some time. In the mean time here are some photos of what we did get up to in the city. Enjoy!

 We went to customs house.

And the State Library of NSW.

 

  My friend's dad shouted us lunch! We had Thai. It was yummy. 

(Yay for instagram!)

Then we strolled through Hyde Park,

jumped in front of St Mary's Cathedral

and wondered through the Royal Botanical gardens.

We took some photos on the way up to Mrs Macquaries Point.

Then watched the sun set over the harbour.

 Walking back to the station we found this sign. We accepted the invitation by walking on grass and hugging a nearby tree.

On the way back we bought some cake and other baked goods for the train ride back home. We had been talking about red velvet cake on the trip into the city and were craving some. So we managed to find some but alas! It was a very deceiving super sweet, pink, vanilla cake or sugar cake or something. There was NO CHOCOLATE. 

THE CAKE IS A LIE!! 

(Woo! References from games I don't even play)

All in all a pretty good day, despite this "red-velvet" cake. And and at the end of it a new post!

Also here are links to my friend's posts for our challenge!

Trip Tide

Brendon the Smiling Chef

A Piece of Shortcake

I am BACK (again)

Hello internet!

I am back! Semester is over and I can get back to blogging again. Apologies. Anyway, what have I been up to you ask?!

Since my last post I have been making things, traveling and studying and making and PROCRASTINATING (what's new?). But more specifically, my stall at the Parra Lanes festival went pretty well.

My jars were also stocked at the Prospector Store over Christmas and the past summer.

 

They were also featured in the Christmas window display at Sweet Street Bakery in Parramatta.

I have traveled to the Philippines to visit family plus a few side trips to Melbourne and the Gold Coast (theme parks, YEAH!). Also, did a massive research paper at uni among other cool projects and got a job at the 3D Printing Studio!

the least fun you'll ever have, all 135 pages of it

So that's a the last 6 months in a nutshell. I hopefully will be writing up a post about the Etsy Craft Party I attended on Friday and another on some plans for my winter break, which includes lots of crafting and making and experimental designing. Not to mention more The Jolly Cottage things!

I'm excited!

Till next time, stay cool.

- Julie

My deepest appologies

Hello internet,

I would just like to appologise for my absence over the past month. I know I said I would post at least once a week and I haven't been doing that.

In all honesty I have been caught up with life and my newest project, being my new brand The Jolly Cottage. Business has been slow but progressing and I will have to update you all on how things are going and a look into what I have been working on lately.

I swear I will get back into it soon. In the mean time please check me out on The Jolly Cottage Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram if you would like to get back up to speed.

With that said, Hope you all have been well.

Julie.

It's TOMORROW!

Can't keep my excitement for the Vintage Markets tomorrow!

So the shameless advertising will soon be over, soon..

The markets will be running for the next fortnight. Dates are as follows:

• Thursday 17th October
• Friday 18th October
• Thursday 24th October
• Friday 25th October

Starts at 4:30PM but more info can be found on the Facebook event here.

SO come down and see all the things I've been making in person. There are quite a few things that I haven't posted up so come and say hi and see my stuff before the rest of the internet does!

Also just a reminder to like the facebook page, The Jolly Cottage.
And to follow on twitter @TheJollyCottage!

Yay! See you tomorrow!! :D

Julie & The Jolly Cottage.

DIY Must Try: Improv Polka Dot Wallpaper

Love polka dots?
Love wallpaper?
On a budget and/or not willing to commit to big renovation project?

Well here is the perfect DIY for you (and me)!

I present to you the easiest and cheapest faux wallpaper DIY ever!

and how good does it look?

This awesome project is from Finnish blog My Second hand Life on the Indie Days website. It is in Finnish but there is an English blurb at the bottom. There is no actual DIY instructions but I thought I would add some here. And I haven't done this project yet (hence the "DIY must try" but I am hoping to try it out ASAP, probably going to the shops to get my supplies tomorrow or by the end of the week)

Now for the how-to.

All you will need is:

• a wall
• a roll of little dot stickers in the colour/size of your choice otherwise known as circle label stickers.

So this is the kind of thing you are looking for. You can find a roll at your nearest Officeworks or other stationary store. Probably just in the stationery isle of your super market will do. One of these should cost you between $5-$10! Change the look of your walls for LESS than $10! How crazy is that?!

The instructions..

1. Select the wall you want to polka dot. It can be one wall in your room to use as a feature or two walls or even 3. All of them?! The ceiling maybe even or a door (I do like the door idea).
2.  Make sure it's nice and clean. It doesn't have to be spotless but no one wants to look at a dirty wall. Just use a damp cloth. If you are having any difficulties, consult a professional (that's a joke).
3. Start sticking! You can place your dots as dense or as sparsely as you like! You can place them randomly like in the photo at the top or you can be really pedantic and space them all out evenly with a ruler (this will probably make this DIY more difficult and time consuming).
4. You're done! Step back and admire your hard work. ☺

Of course there are alternatives to dots. Use stars, squares or cut up your own shapes from a roll of colour tape. And it doesn't have to be on a while wall either! It's all up to you. Hopefully I can try this out soon and I will post some photos up.

In the mean time good luck with this!

Julie

Little projects: Origami business card stand

Hey internet,

So I've been following How about Orange for a while. It's a blog by a woman named Jessica Jones, she's a graphic designer. On her blog she posts little DIYs, free printables and  desktop images and other cool little fun things she find on the internet. Needless to say I have spent a good amount of time on her blog (especially during my HSC)

Anyhows, so I saw this link to a tutorial to make an easy origami business card stand a little while ago (post here).  Thought it was worth trying, but thought "hang on I don't have any business cards to put on it". So I left it and continued surfing the net as I do.

Don't you think they look pretty nice all coordinated with the stationary and such?!

Anyway, months later, I made some business cards/contact cards for The Jolly Cottage for the markets! And these neat little crossed my mind. So I made some!! 

Here are my new cards! Don't mind some ink leaks and wonky printing/trimming. They're handmade, complete with some washi tape. But they look pretty good if you asked me. What do you think?

And here are my cards in my little card stands! Yay!! They aren't really in the colour/pattern of my choosing. Just recycling a map of Taronga Zoo my little sister printed off when we took her there last school holidays (pretty sure it was the winter break). I thought it looked nicer then all the other random stuff in the recycling pile. Huzza! for recycling and saving the planet! Think I will make another proper set of business card stands for the markets. Any suggestions on the kind of paper. Colour? Pattern? 

Pretty happy with how everything turned out. Those card stands are SUPER easy! You should try it yourself. I've even embedded the instruction video for you! It is just below. :)

Woo! It can also be used as a phone stand too. Multi purpose. I like it!

If you try it out, let me know and tell me how you went and we can chat over how awesomely easy they are to make.

Anyway, have fun with that and enjoy your weekend!

Julie

Packages + Announcements

Mail time! MAIL TIME! MAAIIL TIIIME!!!

Anyone get the Blues Clues reference? Used to love that show, even when I was older than the intended audience age.

Anyway..

I got a package!! Here it is..

WOO PACKAGE!! It arrived in the mailbox on Monday. It came all the way from the UK! Hoorah for online shopping! Was TOTALLY excited for it to arrive. I've been wanting one of these for a while and finally got around to buying it online a few weeks ago. Want to know what it is?!

TA DA! A very badly focused photo of my new DIY self-inking stamp kit!! Then I can stamp all the things! It can stamp up to 4 lines of text. It even has 2 different sized character sets. Only reason why I preferred this to the one I could have bought from office works with 5 lines, also it was a few dollars cheaper.

It actually took me a good 10 minutes to stick all the little letters in.. I think i was over thinking having to write everything backwards. I had a few errors mixing up the character sets. Also left out the second "L" in finally the first time. Got it right in the end but I have to get faster at this.. It is a little tedious.

But worth it when you finally get stamping!! Weeeee... Anyone getting the Toy Story reference? Too many references in this post from my childhood..

And then changed all the letters out to use it for it's intended purpose and stamped the back of all my notebooks so that they're all branded and ready to go for the markets! How good does it look? (I was super pleased with myself at this point).

Speaking of markets, more info has been released about the Parramatta Lanes Festival later this month! The Vintage Market that I will be featuring in is going to be held in the Connection Arcade just across the road from Parramatta Station on Darcy street. The arcade connects to Church street where Sweet Street Bakery is. Here's a map.

And just a reminder I will be there at the Vintage markets on Thursday 17th, Friday 18th, Thursday 24th and Friday 25th October from 4:30pm to 9pm each day.

For more info, click here. You can also download the festival guide there too.

And now for my announcement!

The Jolly Cottage now has a Facebook page!!  Yay! That's facebook.com/thejollycottage. So go ahead and like that if you wish. Either by searching "The Jolly Cottage" on Facebook or clicking here!

As you can see it's only got 7 likes.. we need more friends..

There is also an event page for the Vintage Markets on the Facebook page. Go and check it out here. So if you are planning on stopping by click that you are "Going" and go invite your friends too! I'm sure the Festival will be a great night out. Well 4 great nights out.

There are some photos up there but other than that page is still a bit bare but only really been playing with it over the past two days. Just need somewhere for people to go if they want some contact details from the markets but just in general too I guess so I can show people what I'm up to. Those who can't be bothered reading this blog. Any suggestions on what else I can put up there?

Speaking of which, not sure whether I should change the name of the blog to "The Jolly Cottage Blog" or something along those lines. Only thing is that it's not strictly just Jolly Cottage stuff that gets posted on here though at the moment the vast majority of my latest posts are related. I think I will have to think about it more. See what happens after the markets. 

Anyway, till next time.

Julie & The Jolly Cottage