f the butterfly collector: December 2006

the butterfly collector

A Collection of Fashionable Finds,Jewel Box Treasures,Exotic Art and Decadent Decor! Handmade Delights, Luxurious Shopping, Wonders from the China Cabinet and Secrets from behind the Wardrobe Door, Dramatic Books and Delicious Treats!. Read on to find out more...

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

At the Stroke of Midnight and a Secret!!!







There's a couple of things about to change in the world of The Butterfly Collector!!!


I have been working hard on some new paintings, the newest is above, a pretty Cinderella and her glass Slipper complete with green and lilac sparkles, collaged vintage wallpaper and beautiful printed tissue paper. I have decided to stick to this paint, collage, fashion illustration style on anvas and paper for a while and see where it takes me! Cinderella will be for sale soon in the Gallery Section of Madame Butterfly!


And I've been keeping a little secret ... the Grand Announcement .... I'm moving my blog!!!


I have decided to upgrade my blog and have been working on it for weeks! It's great, it has photo galleries, great list making ideas and is so much more fun and easy to use! Its also going to be an archive for my Madame Butterfly Gallery, storing all her fabulous recipes, projects and interviews!


So farewell Blogger at nearly 150 posts ( I'm glad it will still be here to come back and read! ) and hello Typepad!!! I hope all my wonderful regular visitors will come with me! I'd love to have you all come visit and re-link me up at my new address ... www.thebutterflycollector.typepad.com

I am taking all my links with me plus adding some new and fabulous ones too!
Can't wait to see you over there and thanks for all your visits and comments over the past year too , Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, love Shae xxx ooo

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 5:25 PM 3 comments

Monday, December 11, 2006


Today I wanted to show off someone's work I have admired for a very long time! Helen Mary Stewart is a Mosaic Artist originally from New Zealand who makes the most wonderful Mosaics I have ever seen! Her signiture Shoes which she makes from old wooden shoe lasts and then adds heels are just divine. Her work is so intricate and delicate and she often adds beauiful embellishments and real gold plating and gold leaf! She also creates bowls, mirrors and has mosaiced entire bathrooms!!! Her website is a fabulous visual feast for those who love this artform or just want to be inspired... Visit her HERE!

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 9:38 AM 4 comments

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Above the Clouds!


Its so hot here today and the smoke from the huge bushfires that are hours away is smothering the atmosphere too! My husband's Uncle and Aunt have a house near Mansfield , only a few kilometres from the fire front! They are very well prepared, but we are still scared for them. I keep imagining how horrible the air must be there if we can smell the fire so strongly here! It would be nice to be in this little hot air balloon I started to paint for Drew's room and high above the clouds today!

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 2:50 PM 1 comments

Friday, December 08, 2006







Today i wanted to show off what my mum made for Drew for his birthday last week!
She made him a ZOO! He loves it and I thought I would share it for all of those of you who would like to make one for your kids or with your kids!!!

First she took a storage box and covered the ouside of it in animal fabric! Then she lined the inside in a plain fabric and cut out fabric and felt pieces to create trees, roads, entrances, ponds and walkways!

She went shopping in Toy shops and 2 dollar shops and found some mini trees and fabulous animals!

She also bought some mesh and glossy cardboard gift boxes and turned them into an aquarium, a shop and enclosures and pools for the animals!

Andrew thinks its great and I know a secret too!, Mum is making him a farm too for Christmas!

Labels: ,

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Be a Goddess!!!

I featured this wonderful book in Madame Butterfly this week! I love it so much that I thought I would share it here too! The Goddess Guide is by Irish girl, illustrator and journalist Gisele Scanlon! It is her collection of fabulous things from all different countries, great shops, fantastic interviews with designers, beauty tips, interior tips, and every page layout is just wonderful! It's a big fat book of wonderfulness with her quirky collages and fashion illustrations! Get ye to a bookshop to check this one out! It comes very highly recommended from me. I was lucky enough to recieve this as a present, maybe you could put it on your wishlist for chrissy. Read more about it here!!! Oh and the cover is flocked velvet! Beautiful!

Labels:

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 9:41 AM 2 comments

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Madame B's Vintage Christmas







In this week's Madame Butterfly Gallery things have gotten very pretty indeed and very Christmassy too! The countdown has began! We are featuring the fabulous Lilia Meredith who I discovered in Flickr posting beautiful photos under her alias FLEA MARKET STUDIO, everything she creates is just beautiful and take a look at her very inspired Shabby Chic Christmas Decor! some of her pretty little things are pictured above!
In the Creative Cabinet I've creted a fun project this week to make your own Studio Door Decoration and we are doing White Christmas as our Afternoon Tea Recipe.
We are also showing off some fabulous books we love and there will be more Vintage Wallpaper Packs going into the Gallery during the week too!
Last of all, there is only 4 weeks to go until Santa comes and we have some beautiful gift ideas in the Boutique . Don't forget our gift service too ... we can wrap and mail it for you!!!
See you there!

Labels:

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 10:29 AM 0 comments

Monday, December 04, 2006

Party Time!

TA DA !!! Here is our Birthday Cake extravaganza for this year!!! We had to top last years one and I had done a hot air balloon illustration for his party invitations, so the balloon cake was born! He loved it and so did everyone else! We had so much fun decorating it too! Now I have to think up something for next year!
Andrew's Birthday party was so much fun, he had a ball and got so many new things to play with that I think we really need a new and bigger house to fit them all in! We had our friend Dave, who is a photographer take some black and white photos of Drew and us to frame. They turned out really great and I especially love this one above! Even if he has got Birthday cake all over him! What a cutie pie!
We put up our Christmas tree on Friday and Andrew was so excited. It has more baubles and lights and decorations and stuff on it than actual tree! But we all loved putting it together and it is the one I had when I was little. Mum even gave me the decorations from when I was little to hang on it!


And this is the fun little project I made for this week's Creative Cabinet in Madame Butterfly!
I used lots of fun collage bits and pieces like glitter, tissue and crepe papers and buttons and some more embossed and textured Vintage wallpapers to make up this fun medallion to hang up on my studio door! Make one for your own in your favourite colours, it only took me about half an hour to whip up! I will post it to the Madame B sometime today ! See you at the next post with hopefully some more creativity to share!!!




Labels: , ,

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 1:24 PM 4 comments

Friday, December 01, 2006

He's TWO!!!




It's been a quiet time in blogland for me the last few days! But I'm back with a personal post!
My little Drew turned two on Thursday! I can't believe he s two already! We had a fabulous day! We took him to the pool where he had a ball, gave him the swing and slide set pictured above! He also got lots of beautiful new books and an Elmo dvd too! And we still have the big birthday party on Sunday coming up!
We have officially already run out of room in the house for toys and I'm not sure what we will do after Christmas comes! There is talk of moving to a bigger house!??? Maybe I need to have a clean out and give some to charity! I've told him he is a very lucky duckie and know he is walking around saying that too! He also says "Of Course" to everything we ask him too! Funny Ha! Have a great weekend and I'll be back with some new things I'm making soon!

posted by thebutterflycollector @ 9:28 PM 2 comments