Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange - Autumn

Here's something not organised by Spiral Garden, but I thought I would share it again. I joined the Summer Exchange and it was great fun!

Ready for a ‘Autumn’ crafting challenge?

Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange is inspired by the small nature table Katie has tried to start for her young children to mark the changing of the seasons. She has found most material and craft project sourced for inspiration is often based on seasons in the northern hemisphere which is not always relevant to us. Seasonal changes where we live in the southern
hemisphere can be subtle and quite different from what is happening in the northern hemisphere.


Like her children, Katie is learning about the unique seasonal differences in Australia. She is new to crafting and new to keeping a nature table. She would love some inspiration and is sure other people would as well.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Seasonal Craft exchange reflective of the seasons of the Southern Hemisphere? A crafting challenge, a chance to create your own symbolic item reflective of the current season and a chance to inspire a stranger through your chosen craft...

To participate you need to include a minimum of one handmade item that you can swap with your allocated partner.


Guidelines:
* The swap is related to the theme - Autumn.
* The swap is open to everyone. You don’t have to live in the Southern Hemisphere to participate!
* You must be willing to mail overseas and honour your swap commitment.
* Participants will be allocated one (only) swap partner. You will send directly to your partner and they will send directly to you. Swap partners will be randomly allocated.
* No prior crafting/ art skills required.
* Participation should be done in the spirit of openness, appreciation and sharing. The only requirement is the item you send should be handmade by you with love and care. Make something special that you would love to receive yourself.
* No returns!
* The exchange is open to all ages.
* All packages must be mailed by the 15th April, and should be suitable to send in the mail.



Requirements:
* At least one, no more than five items are to be sent.
* One of these items must be handmade. It can be an object, an artwork, an ornament, small handmade book, something to display. The key requirement is it is something made by you.
* If you would like to include additional items things that could be included might be items from nature (unless you are shipping internationally), a card, additional artworks, a candle, purchased items made from natural materials (no plastic/polyester/foam/etc) etc.
* All of the items must be seasonally appropriate.
* You may want to include in your package a little blurb about your items and/or yourself.
* In addition, it would be wonderful if you were able to document the process of making and the final product. These images can be posted on the Flickr group Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange.



How Do I Sign Up?
Sign ups will take place until 14th of March.
The first 100 people to sign up are in!
Please email Katie with your Real Name, Mailing address (in English) and Email address to be entered into the swap.

Your privacy will be respected and your details will not be passed on unless you give permission.
Partners will be allocated after sign-ups have closed. Katie will confirm when you have been added to the list. Please be patient, this may take a couple of days.

As mentioned previously, Katie is a mother of two very young children, new to crafting and has only co-coordinated something like this once before, so your patience and understanding is really appreciated.

Inspiration
Thanks to Seasons Round Exchange and New Zealand Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap.
for inspiring the idea of the craft swap.

Seasons Round Exchange
The SavVy { Seasons } - a modern Swap
Soft trees Swap
Rhythm of the Home
Seasons South and North

Autumn Craft Pack
White Craft Pack
Create @ Spiral Garden

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Queensland Floods, Orders, Fund Raiser

Thank you to those customers who have emailed regarding the flooding in Queensland right now. We did have a cyclone on Christmas Day, followed by torrential rain, but no flooding. Spiral Garden is located on a farm in the mountains west of Cairns, Far North Queensland. Thankfully, we are not in a flood-affected area.

To those of you who have had to wait for your recent orders, due to road closures because of the flooding, we thank you for your patience. Australia Post recommended to me that we keep your parcels high and dry here in our office, and we have contacted each of you to check that was okay. We will attempt tomorrow to post any orders we have waiting here, if it looks like the situation may improve enough over the weekend.

Spiral Garden has decided to donate 50% of all order totals (before freight) from midnight Thursday 13th January until midday Sunday 16th January to the Australian Red Cross' disaster relief and recovery appeal. The Red Cross are renowned for making a real difference during times of crisis. So if you're planning to buy your back-to-school items, summer holiday craft items, gifts, magazines and subscriptions or art supplies - now is a great time to order and help flood-affected families at the same time.

Thursday, 16 December 2010

Sale Time!


It's early, I know. Stores don't usually start their sales until after Christmas... But we are seriously overstocked! Check out the bargains here.


PS - We can't guarantee delivery, but will try to get orders to you before December 24th (Australia only).

Thursday, 9 December 2010

Handmade Christmas?

I often pledge to make each Christmas a handmade one. More often than not, mid-December rolls around and EEEEEEEEEEK - I haven't made everyone's gifts. These days, I figure that if what I'm buying is fair trade or locally handmade, that's still a lot better than ordinary store-bought gifts!

If you love to give handmade too, here are some ideas...

Breastfeeding Mother Doll and Baby $82.00 (I actually have one in stock, which is unusual for this time of year!)

Itsy Bitsy Lou Lou reduced to $30.00 - a fantastic price for a handmade cloth doll of this size with such beautiful clothing - her siblings Molly and Oliver are also up for adoption!

Bamboo Face & Body Wash Cloths $10.00 each


All of the Beguile Soaps and Lip Balms are handmade here in Australia!

Jasminka's Silk Angel Mobiles are just perfect and only $40.00 each.

We love our Hand-felted Garden Flags - a very versatile gift.

Eco Clay is handmade and certainly hand tested around here!

The very popular Sandwich Wraps are just $15.00 each. Our last stock sold out quickly, so order soon.

Juggling Balls are great fun for all ages! Check out these felt ones!

Of course we have many more dolls, gnomes, animals, bags, dress-ups, jewelery and craft items which are made by hand within Australia. Come and browse our online store today. Almost all of our products are actually handmade or handcrafted, but the ones above are some which are made by people I know, with their own hands!

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Thank You!


Thank you to all of our regular customers for your support over the past couple of weeks (and before then of course!) Welcome to our many new customers as well! Please contact me if there's something specific I can order for you, if you have any questions or suggestions.

For overseas Christmas orders, please order by Monday 13th December, Air Mail generally takes 7-10 days from Australia. Within Australia, please order and pay for your Christmas gift orders by Friday 17th December (Direct Deposit), or Sunday 19th December (PayPal), for posting within Australia. If you live in Tassie or Western Australia, it's a good idea to allow a little extra time at this time of year, as mail can be delayed during busy periods. Spiral Garden is located near Tarzali, which is a village in rural Far North Queensland.

Express Post can be arrange for a small extra fee (for any parcels over 500g). Please contact me if you require Express Post.

We will not be closed over the Christmas and New Year period. Parcels will be delayed due to public holidays, but we are available to send your orders as quickly as usual.

Do you need specific items for back-to-school? Most art supplies are in stock, but if there's something else you need, let me know soon as I need to order Main Lesson Books and other goodies from Mercurius. I also plan to stock a lot more homeschooling, unschooling and Steiner education books from January 2011 - please let me know of titles you're after!

My office is still overflowing with tea sets, craft kits, soaps, lip balms, games and toys... Crayon Rocks are still available in both sizes. I look forward to receiving your orders and packing them with care, and taking a bit of stress out of the shopping event of the year!

Seasonal Blessings from our family to yours...

Friday, 3 December 2010

Last New Stock for 2010

What a busy time of year it is! Summer is here for us in the Southern Hemisphere, and with it comes the busy-ness of the celebration season, a general end-of-year flurry and an increase in activity because of the warmer weather... I know our customers in the Northern Hemisphere are also busy right about now, but I wonder if you feel like buzzing bees too, without the sunshine and warm days?

We've finally received the last of our New Products and restocked items for 2010.

Crayon Rocks Standard $10.00
Crayon Rocks Happy Holidays $5.00
Branch Wood Blocks $30.00
Branch Wood Rattle $16.00
... and don't forget our gorgeous Enamel Tea Set and Cookware range, delightful Beguile products (yum), the three Tree Branch Sets (different to the German Branch Wood products) and of course the popular Coconut Wood tea set items and accessories.

Thanks again for your enthusiastic support of Spiral Garden. We delight in finding perfect gifts and everyday items for you and yours. What a joy to offer items which have an impressive impact on the recipient, but a low impact on our planet...

Friday, 26 November 2010

Art Makes Sense

A lot of our art supplies are sourced from Mercurius Australia. They stock the quality European brands Stockmar and Lyra which are best sellers at Spiral Garden.

From an educational, developmental perspective, an environment that is rich in sensory experience is essential. Mercurius is committed to providing a complete and thoroughly tested range of products which are designed to:

• nurture the senses
• stimulate and support creativity and the practise of the 7 arts

For more information on the twelve senses and the seven arts, check out this page.

Link