Lifeline Bookfest winter edition

Hello lovely people. I guess I had a mini blog break without meaning too. I just didn't feel inspired to blog about anything in particular. So hopefully that has passed. A few weeks ago I went to one of my favourite events of the year, the Lifeline Bookfest. It comes around about every six months and it's amazing. Like I always say, books and all for charity, it's a great event. 

A few of my children's books for my collection.

 A few adult fiction books. Kate Morton is a local author and I enjoy her books. 

A few Little Golden Books, a May Gibbs book and another Alice in Wonderland  book for my collection.

More Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley books for my other collection :) 

I have so many books now but I've started to go through my collection to give a whole bunch of them away. I don't think I could completely commit to ebooks but my book collection is getting out of hand. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Postcard Scavenger Hunt Swap

Hello lovely people. I hope you have had a good week. Lately I've been thinking about mail and letters and I want to do another swap on my blog. It makes me miss my little mail group which I've stopped because it was too difficult to do by myself. So I thought I could do some occasional swaps on my blog instead.

I thought I would host a Postcard Scavenger Hunt Swap. How it works:

♥ I will assign you one swap partner for the duration of the swap. There will be four prompts and each week you will need to send out one postcard to your swap partner for four consecutive weeks. I will give you at least two weeks to find your postcards and then the swapping begins. 

Swap timeline:

♥ Sign up closes on the 31st May 2013 Closed 

♥ Partners assigned by the 3rd June

♥ First Postcard to be sent 21st June

♥ Second Postcard to be sent 28th June 

♥ Third Postcard to be sent 5 July

♥ Fourth Postcard to be sent 12 July

Prompts:

♥ Black and white

♥ Arty/illustration

♥ Colourful

♥ Beauty

These prompts are fairly general so you can send whatever you think fits the topic. This is a pretty low risk swap and really doesn't cost much to send a postcard (interstate or overseas) but I ask to please not sign up unless you are ready to commit to sending four postcards. Plus if you do sign up please send postcards that you will like to receive yourself and to put some thought into it. 

To join:

♥ Email me gracienne.nancy{at}gmail{dot}com with the following:

1. Your full and address

2. Whether you are willing to send overseas (depending on who signs up you may need to send overseas so please keep that in mind if you really don't want to send overseas) 

3. List 5 likes (to help your swap partner)

4. Your blog/Twitter/Instagram/Other social media site

So this is supposed to be fun but I need to set guidelines because I want everyone who joins to receive their four postcards. Please only join if you have a blog or Instagram or Twitter or some type of Social media site that you can be checked so you don't just disappear on me. I'm sorry if this sounds so strict but mail is meant to be fun and enjoyable and I know it can be disappointing when you don't receive anything. 

I hope do more of these light swaps so be on the lookout and sign up :)

Ballet fun

Hello lovely people. It's been awhile since I've been around. I've written a few posts this year about my goals and how this year is going to be the best year. I did a letterpress workshop and for the past few weeks I've been doing a beginners ballet class. It's a 10 week course and I'm half way through. Ballet for fun and fitness is something I've wanted to do for years. I did it for a bit as a child and a little bit at school in my dance class but I'm doing it now because I want to. 

I usually do Tuesday night classes but I missed my last class so I went to a Saturday morning class today. I like doing ballet in the day time because the sunlight filters through the dance studio.

I love my little ballet shoes. They are extremely comfortable. 

I love ballet. It's an amazing way to build up flexibility and strength. I might continue and do another 10 week course after this one is completed I enjoy it that much. Have any of you taken an adult dance class for fun before?

Have a wonderful weekend.

P.S. I've also joined Bloglovin' too. Follow my blog with Bloglovin :)

Micah's (very belated) birthday photos.

Hello hello! My nephew Micah had his 2nd birthday a few months ago and I'm only sharing his party now. 

Birthday boy. 

With his daddy my big bro. 

Cousins! 

My nephew Elijah loved this tiny skateboard. 

Piñata time.

Siblings. My nephews Caeleb and Isaiah with their sister Layla.

Octonauts cake my sister in law Gem made (Micah's mum). She has a cake business too. 

Chocolate face.

Me with my name plate necklace my parents got for my birthday.

My handsome hubby. 

We love celebrating birthdays in my family. It's also the time when we all get together and hang out which is one of my favourite things to do. What's better than sun, family, food and just enjoying each other's company? I will have to share Micah's story soon too :) 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Letterpress workshop

Hello lovely people. At the beginning of this year I had made a few goals. One of them was to do a letterpress course/class/workshop. I also wrote another post about more goals and getting out of comfort zone. So far this year I'm achieving these goals slowly and it feels amazing. A few weeks ago I attended a two night letterpress workshop at the Design College Australia. 

It was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I finally took the plunge and enrolled in the workshop. They work with traditional letterpress and type and even though in the future I'm aiming to work with polymer plate letterpress printing it gave me a better understanding of the whole process and the history of the printing form. My instructor was so passionate about it that it filled me with excitement. 

The workshop was over two nights over two weeks. We worked in partners because it takes a long (loonngg) time to put it together and it's easier having someone to bounce ideas off. 

It's terrible but I can't remember what type of letterpress machine this is but it's the one that we all used. 

*TheDesignKids Instagram

I was trying to figure out another way to put the type together and I was concentrating hard. 

* Stongarmpress Instagram

I like this birds eye view of us working. This was taken by our instructor. 

* Strongarmpress Instagram 

Another view from the top. This place was amazing! Apparently it's an old bacon factory (or something like that. Lots of character). 

This was from night two. This part took a long time to do. It doesn't seem like much but if you've done any traditional letterpress you would know the time it takes.

* Minusculetiny Instagram

As you can see I was quite excited to paint and get the print finished. 

A few of our prints. We had to make a few as they are all slightly different. 

So this is the final product. What I love about the traditional form is feeling the wood type in your hands. It has a nice texture and I like the rustic look. The imperfections give it character. Plus our instructor suggested the awesome orange. You can't tell from this photo but it's a delicious looking fluro orange. It adds a more modern element to an otherwise traditional piece.

At the end you feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that you put together this print. We chose the type we wanted to use, the layout and we had to pick a print saying from a list they provided us. 

You can not believe how excited I was to finally do something I've wanted to do for ages. I'm glad I finally stopped making excuses and just did it. 

Oh if you want follow me via instagram. My username is Graciebellabutterfly. 

What have you done that you have been wanting to do for a long time?

Have a wonderful weekend. 

That time I went to Disneyland...Part 10

Hello lovely people. So after about seven/eight months I've finally got my last USA post up. This was one of my favourite parts of the trip. It was a childhood dream come true to visit Disneyland that I can't even begin to explain how excited I was to be there. 

Halloween decorations just shows how long ago this trip was.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan!

I can't believe we didn't have time to go on the teacup ride, especially because I love Alice in Wonderland. 

My name is never on anything so it made me so happy to get my name on my Mickey Mouse ears. 

This is when we left. I was so sad to leave and wish I had booked to stay the night there like my original plan.

I've wanted to visit Disneyland ever since I was a child and to be there was so amazing! As soon as I saw the Mickey Mouse lamp posts I started to squeal (inside!)

So that finally concludes my USA posts. It might be late but at least it's finally done :) What have you done that was a childhood dream? Have a wonderful weekend!

Modes4U Review...I get a bit creative

Hello lovelies. As you know I'm a major stationery, letter writing, journal writing fan. It's been a part of my life for many years now and I hope it continues to be a part of my life. Cute stationery is especially a favourite of mine and when I find an online shop that sells stationery it makes my happy meter go up. That's where ModeS4u comes in. It's a Kawaii online shop (Japanese cuteness explosion!) that sells stationery, fabrics, DIY clay sets, bento lunch boxes, Re-Ment Miniature toys and accessories. I had the opportunity to use some of these products. 

I think cute packaging is always a plus.

Colourful business cards and some deco tape thrown in as an extra will make my smile. 

These stickers are so fun! 

Who doesn't love Pandas?? 

What I love about this stationery is it can be used for sweet letters to a friend, or for writing lists, or put into your journal to add a bit of cheer. 

The envelopes have this sheer window and a little card to slip in to write the address. It adds a little 3D element to the letter. 

The stickers inspired me to create this Alice in Wonderland page in one of my journals. I think it adds a nice touch to the page. 

I also made this little fawn page which has nothing to do with the quote I added but to me it makes me think of fairytale books and how much I love them. I just love those stickers. 

What I like about this online shop is the close up photos of the products so you can see the detail. There's also free international shopping when you spend over a certain amount and there are a lot of different items you can purchase. If you like Kawaii stationery and items this online shop is a must. I wouldn't mind getting myself more stationery and trying out one of the DIY clay kits or getting some Re-Ment Miniatures. 

So check out ModeS4u and get creative and add more cuteness into your life.

Disclaimer: ModeS4u sent these items to me without charge to review. Words and opinions are my own.