The Studio Open Night



The very retro Jetty Arcade

 

Monday Night was a great night in the Jetty Arcade. It was “Sneak Peak Night” of The Createry, but it was also the Exhibition Night for Garbrielle’s Gallery next door. That was why I had to get my door open on that particular night, to join in with the creative community of Redcliffe! And what a turnout… what a buzz! I didn’t get to take any photo’s on the night, but here are some from earlier.

 I was busy all weekend and all of Monday moving stuff in and making the studio space look inviting. As I mentioned in an earlier post; I have considered how to create a space that is pleasing to all 5 senses - for anyone who enter The Createry. Once I was done on Monday afternoon, I thought it looked great, it felt great – light, bright and inviting to the imagination. As people arrived, I had background music playing, but you could hardly hear it for people chatting and asking questions about the place, I thought that was pretty good, happy about ticking that one off for the hearing sense. For the scent I had an oil burner with lemongrass oil and everyone commented on that one, loved it - tick! The only thing I did not get organised in time was taste, something to drink and eat – bummer! However it was only a sneak peak and I will definitely have a grand opening later with goodies included – soon! Main thing is; a lot of people came and were very excited about it all, the Wish List got filled and I now have participants to start filling classes – and some great teachers who are joining me also came on the night, which gave me a chance to introduce them. I will introduce them here too very soon. Can’t wait!

xo Sarah



My Boys were proud to see some of their work exhibited



Everyone loved the Granny Squares that Britt are going to teach!



It is so important to try!



Proper Signage is on it's way.



Knitted cushion in beautiful wool - come and learn!

Sneak Peak at The Createry

The Createry Textil and Craft Studio

 

The Createry Shop Front

That is original 1970's wallpaper - very hard to put up, matching up the busy pattern!

The right wording for mindful knitting!

 

I am so excited to finally be (almost) ready to open The Createry! It has been a dream for such a long time and tomorrow we will have a sneak peak opening. The Jetty Arcade that I am in has in the last few months become an “artistic arcade” with galleries/artist studios, cute and quirky gift shop and a cool vinyl record shop opening up. And of course now The Createry - it is all very sensational for Redcliffe and the interest is overwhelming! There is a buzz in the Jetty Arcade which is very catching.

The Createry, Jetty Arcade, 139-141 Redcliffe Parade, Redcliffe QLD 4020

Arcade Open Night: Monday 24^th of March 6 pm till 8 pm

The Createry will have proper a GRAND OPENING soon, stay posted!!

xo Sarah

 

Cable Knit Wrist Warmers

My dear mum is visiting and she has brought a few projects with her to keep herself busy. One of them is knitting wrist warmers. Now it is 28 degrees here, not the kind of weather for wearing woollen things, but we will be moving into cooler months soon.

My mum is a keen member of the local crafty women's association back home and the wrist warmers are being produced to be sent back to Denmark as part of the goodies you can win at their annual handicraft stall. I have seen the pictures of what you can win at their tombola and let me tell you if I could I would be there cashing in on the tickets for my chance to win all the gorgeous handmade stuff!

Knitting is not my forte, but I have a fantastic knitting teacher, whom I will introduce very soon and she will be teaching knitting at The Createry – so would you like to learn how to knit stay tuned!

xo Sarah

 

The Finished Wrist Warmer

 

Here is a little inspiration from the web, click on text to follow link:

 

These would be good for Brisbane winter - not too hot



Beautiful!



Very handy with hole for thumb



Fabric ones - nice

Groundwork for a Creative School

Getting Ready for Take-off

 

This is it, the lease is signed (albeit with shaky hands!) and the renovation of the premises for The Createry has begun. It is very exciting - it is going to look and feel just as I had imagined, thanks to the support of my wonderful family!



 

 

The place was an absolute junk yard when we started, walls painted candyfloss pink (!), but thanks to Norman (backpacker relative from Germany), who was staying with us, walls were fixed and changed to white in no time. Furthermore; unsafe electrical installations, and a rotten kitchen with dead cockroaches and dust galore, floor tiles only conveniently laid in the middle of the room and missing along the sides, wobbly partition walls. Most of it is gone now. I am very very grateful for the incredible help from my mum, who looks after our home and ensures we all get food each day (including lunch delivery by bike) and not least my dad, who can repair absolutely everything – he is an ideas man with an amazing talent for fixing anything broken. And they are here, escaping the Danish winter, on their holiday!! What a holiday….

 

The planning of an exciting and very creative space has begun! If you are in any way interested in following the development of my creative school, please feel free to follow here or via Facebook.

xo Sarah

My Creative School?

Could this be it? Really?! Do I dare go ahead??! This mess of a shop, full of stuff others have left behind – unwanted things from all the other shops around it. Could this possibly become the location for my dream creative school – The Createry?

It is in an arcade on a busy Redcliffe street with cafes and restaurants, but best of all it is along the waterfront. A real seaside location! Ok, it has no view over the sea as it is inside the arcade (Jetty Arcade), but as soon as you walk out.. Wow! It hits you; the most breathtaking view of blue sea and misty Moreton Island in the distance.

This shop is on offer, it needs a lot of TLC, but I believe it really could become The Createry! The arcade has 8 other shops, most have been empty for a long period of time. But they are now filling – with artists, a gallery offering art classes, a vinyl record store, the cutest gift shop and now perhaps The Createry; Could this become the artistic arcade of Redcliffe; destination for all things creative? My school will be where you will be able to learn everything about textiles: sewing, knitting, crochet, modern embroidery, craft etc. - from me and from other knowledgeable textile teachers. Well, we will see, it is still on the drawing board, but I have to decide very soon. Can I do it?

xo Sarah

Snapshots from an Australian Summer Holiday Extraordinaire

Woodford Music Festival

We have had a summer holiday extraordinaire. The kids had two months of school and I only worked a few days here and there. Before the holidays started I must admit I thought OMG two months – how on earth am I going to entertain them?! So I started making all these plans in my head, but as it turned out things just happened, as they do with children, and there was no need for any of my planning. The days went so quickly, but now when I look back at the photos I can see that we did so many things and had some fantastic time together as a family. Time has flown, the holidays are long over, but what a fun time we had!

It was a holiday with great variation from family camping, lazy days at home, day trips, to a 4 day sailing adventure for only my husband and I. Up to Christmas we worked a lot in our little workshop creating fun things from recycled materials for Christmas decorations and gifts, you might have seen the post about that here. After Christmas we spend a week camping at the coolest music festival, the Woodford Folk Festival (at Woodford not Woodstock). On offer was world music from every corner of the globe, art and craft, children’s festival, interesting talks and yoga stuff. Not the alcoholic kind of festival, but a very family friendly one. Loved it! The pictures above are from the festival. Summer and music festival is such a great combo don’t you think?

Below are some snapshots from the rest of our holiday, the beautiful beach ones at the top are from Byron Bay and the ones at the bottom are from Hamilton Island. What stunning places! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

xo Sarah

 

Ice Cream O'clock



Isvaffel med guf (Danish) or Ice cream cone with the softest marshmallow topping (Guf)

 

 

 

This is a very unhealthy post, so don’t read on if you are trying to reduce your waist measurement as part of your resolution for the New Year!

Summer holidays equals lots of ice creams! Crispy ice cream cones filled with one or two scoops of delicious, good quality ice cream - here at home we try to buy or make the good stuff, which is not made of milk powder, air and emulsifiers + worse … and now to the fun childish bit...”Guf” on top! Now what is “Guf” you might ask? It is a sweet, some would say sickly sweet topping made of whipped egg whites, sugar and berries, a sort of very soft marshmallowy foam. The berries are only for the slightest bit of colour and the weakest bit of taste and if the Guf is industry made it is highly likely that it has never seen a berry, but is coloured with chemicals. We used raspberries.

So what is so appealing about Guf? Firstly we grew up enjoying ice cream with Guf in Denmark during the brief Danish summers - it was part of summer life; secondly it is the cloud of sweetness on top of the creamy coolness of ice cream that is so enjoyable. And just on a note; Denmark, is mostly a very cool place, but still the people there love their ice cream and are amongst the top ice cream devours in Europe. Both bad and good ice cream. In recent years a lot of gourmet “real” ice cream companies have popped up and are successfully producing and selling good quality ice cream. Maybe I should open an ice creamery.. hmm?
I would become huge!

 xo Sarah

 Hansen Ice Cream

 

 

 Paradis Ice Cream

Ice Cream Cones with Guf

 

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of sugar

80 g of either raspberries or strawberries

2 pasteurised egg whites

(Tip on using raw egg:  If you cannot get pasteurised, put the eggs in a sieve and scold the egg shells with boiling water before cracking and separating yolk and white. If any, the bad bacteria sit on the outside of the shell - always be careful with raw egg).

 

1.       Put the sugar and berries in a small saucepan. Heat up and simmer until the juice is flowing from the berries and the sugar is melted. Push through a sieve and discard the pulp.

2.       In a clean dry bowl, whip your egg white until they form soft peaks and you can turn the bowl upside down without them spilling out! Add the berry syrup and continue whipping for 15 minutes until it has a stiff shiny consistency.

3.       Add your favourite ice cream to the cones, top with Guf and e.g. sprinkles, nuts, chopped chocolate, fresh berries or other.

Happy 2014!

Bits and pieces from the shelves of The Createry.

 

Happy New Year!

Wow… 2014 is here! The first week has already gone, but even so here is a belated Happy New Year to you! I hope you have had a fun filled, sparkling and bubbly New Year! We now have a fantastic 365 days (- 8 days already gone!) to look forward to. I want to fill them with family, friendship, laughter, reflection, healthy choices, inspiration… and of course all kinds of projects.

I have big plans – this is the year I want The Createry to take off. Now I feel settled here in Redcliffe, Australia, I feel ready for new beginnings. I want to follow my dream of being creative and even more so; help others, young and old get their creativity soaring! The teaching skills, technical + design knowledge that I acquired from my Bachelor degree in sewing/design and over the years in the fashion industry – now I want to make a different use of those skills – teaching and interacting with other creative souls… amongst other things - that is what I hope for.

Welcome 2014 – let’s make a sprawling, glittering fabric of inspiration.

xo Sarah