Blog Posts

Liz Scobie

Not every couple can work together but husband and wife team, Liz and Neil Scobie, seem to have found the secret. Combining his talents with wood and hers with textiles they’ve built a thriving business based on their own picturesque property, allowing Liz to travel near and far to share ...

Artist profile - Carolyn Sullivan

An inspiring woman who pursued her love of quilting and embroidery via further education, whilst raising her family, Carolyn Sullivan is now at a point in her life where she can focus on her work, happily ensconced in her much longed for studio in the Southern Highlands of NSW. We ...

India Flint

Regular ‘get creative’ readers may remember a book called ‘Eco Colour’ that we reviewed in the July 08 issue. This month we have the great pleasure of interviewing the author, India Flint, internationally renowned dyer, costumier and artist. We met her at the Geelong Forum run by TAFTA - The ...

Artist profile - Maggie Grey

Sometimes in life it takes a huge and tumultuous change to put us on a new and happier path. When the husband of textile artist, Maggie Grey, was retrenched from his insurance industry job the couple were initially in shock. “We thought it was the worse thing in the world,” ...

Artist profile - Hilary Peterson

Late last year at TAFTA (the Australian Forum for Textile Arts) in Geelong, Victoria, Gale from the ‘get creative’ team met Hilary Peterson and was blown away by the work produced in her class, ‘Mixed media and the artist book’. This month we’re privileged to have Hilary share her story ...

Sue Dennis

Not many people can say their quilting career kicked off in a mining region where the dramatic, sometimes harsh, natural environment inspired their work. Sue Dennis can. It was when her husband’s work took her to Mt. Isa, in North-West Queensland, that the stitching bug bit. Since then she has ...

Nic Bridges note on project

This note is in regards to a project supplied by Nic Bridges, which you can find on this site by searching for 'fabric postcards'. Fabric Postcards have in recent years become popular in art quilting circles as a wonderful way to collect miniature artworks made by quilting friends. They have ...

Artist profile - Sue Pearl

Sue Pearl, vibrant felt maker, artist and author of the new book, ‘Making Felted Friends’, was recently in Australia where she took time out to speak to ‘get creative’ about 500-year-old farmhouses, making Nuno, teaching and felting on the international stage. Sue’s website describes her as “a felt maker making ...

Artist profile - Nic Bridges

Nic Bridges is a professional longarm quilter, artist, designer and teacher whom we met at Be Creative By the Sea at Coffs Harbour. She makes fantastic textile postcards, journal covers, quilts and much more and, this month, Nic shares her talents, and her story, with us. Nic has been making ...

Freeforming into the future

Creating textured surfaces with Jenny Dowde. ‘Surface Works’ by Australian artist, Jenny Dowde, is about adding surface decoration to plain knitted or crocheted backgrounds. Through more than 30 projects Jenny, using traditional and freeform approaches, provides numerous suggestions for creating textured surfaces in knitting and crochet, using fancy yarns, handmade ...

Nina Bagley

Some of the ‘get creative’ team had the pleasure of studying under the USA’s Nina Bagley when she came to Australia for Art Journey Retreat. Inspired by her spirit and ideas we’ve tackled a project based on her approach and pinned the busy artist down to answer a few questions. ...

Artist Profile - Helen Godden

She only began quilting in 2002 and already Canberra’s Helen Godden has become a rising star of the international quilting world. While those who have toiled over needle, pin, machine and fat quarter for years might groan when they think of the success of this ‘newcomer’ - she had an ...

Christmas: made by hand

It’s a hard heart that can’t be just a little warmed by the trappings of Christmas. You don’t have to be a confident handcrafter to play a hand in creating your own festive atmosphere, you just have to have a go. Or you can employ the skills of women like ...

Artist profile - Christine & Julie Ashford

English jewellery makers, Christine and Julie Ashford, whose book, ‘Spellbinding Bead Jewellery’, was released in the UK, Australian and NZ at the end of 2008. The sisters established their company, Spellbound Beads, in 1984, where they gather beads from all over the world. The shop is supported by a ...

Designing our world

In recent years it has become clear that the worlds of paper and scrapbooking, fabric and even wallpaper design are morphing together and greatly influencing our lives and the lives of the artists who create them. This month we meet some of the creative women whose job it is to ...

Inside the studios of creative women

In the late 1920s the famous English author, Virginia Woolf, delivered some essays that came to be published under the title, ‘A Room of One’s Own’. In the years since, these writings have become famous for one of the key messages they presented; that “a woman must have money and ...

Artist profile - Jhoanna Monte Aranez

Jhoanna Monte Aranez is part of a new breed of crafters producing wonderful soft toys that are as appealing to adults as they are to children. An artist and inventor as a child, Jhoanna has always loved to make things with her hands but it took the birth of her ...

Artist profile - Katherine Rees

Twenty-six-year-old Katherine Rees is the perfect example of the talented indie crafters now coming out of Australia. Her website has been up and running for more than six months and, under the business name of Macho Bantam Cards, she sells her gorgeously artistic work. Every card is drawn, painted, pressed, ...

Indie craft report

Changes are afoot in the craft scene and major players in the industry are finally sensing the shift. Carrying the moniker, ‘indie craft’, this new trend sees 18 to 35-year-old crafters taking to needle, thread, the computer, the recycle bin, you name it, and coming up with beautiful, cheeky and ...

Just can’t get enough!

The addictive world of beading The last five to seven years have seen a rise in popularity in beading that rivals many other craft forms. Today, most major shopping centres house at least one specialist bead store, most craft markets overflow with handmade creations and the amount of related books, ...

Memory Art - Where life is your muse

Memory art is a term that has been used in recent terms to describe a new wave of creative work being produced by people whose original scrapbooking forays have evolved, now, into works of creative wonder. Three leading women in the field - Carol Wingert, Helen Bradley and Nic Howard ...

Where quilt police fear to tread

Seeing the women behind Bathing Belles, the seabreeze Quilters’ delightful, semi-autobiographical work-in-progress, try to stop giggling long enough for a group photograph to be taken is a bit like watching school girls, bursting with stories & secrets, trying to keep quiet during class. Community quilting groups like Seabreeze, which meets ...

Skirtgirl - Alison Willoughby

British author and textile designer Alison Willoughby creates gloriously sculptural skirts that look as sensational on as they do hanging in the grooviest galleries of Europe and the USA. Describe Alison Willoughby as a craftsperson and she’s liable to wince. The acclaimed graduate of London’s Royal College of Art admits ...

Artist Profile - Claire Aristides

Claire Aristides describes her new jewellery making book, ‘Bejewelled’, as the first of its kind because it takes a high fashion, magazine editorial style approach to the handcraft. “I think it’s fair to say it’s the first of its kind,” says Claire. “Everyone’s very excited.” Whether she’s on Channel 7’s ...

Art emotion & letters

Calligraphy - what is it? Calligraphy comes from the Greek words ‘kallos’ and ‘graphos’ and means ‘beautiful writing’. It is a traditional art - gestural drawing or painting that illustrates and illuminates the written word in a sumptuous, spontaneous and sometimes elaborately unintelligible way. In the western world ...

Artist profile - Ann Baldwin

In 2000, after 25 years teaching English in high schools in England and middle school in California, Ann Baldwin decided to take the plunge and try forging a career as an artist. “I had been painting passionately since 1991 and was already exhibiting widely and selling my work, so it ...

Jenny King

Regular readers of the 'get creative' magazine and visitors to Quilt & Craft Fairs around Australia will be familiar with the woman we have, in the past, referred to as a doyen of the crochet world. Queensland-based Jenny King is a one woman revolution in the crochet and yarn field ...

Artist Profile - Lisa Daehlin

There’s something about the Big Apple - that old town New York - that breeds uber-talented knitters and artists of all types. Could there be something in the water? Certainly there seems to be inspiration in the air. Our latest Manhattan discovery is opera singer and knitting designer, Lisa Daehlin, ...

Projects

Knitted beaded choker

Inspired by Claire Aristides... we’ve tried our own version of glamour beading with this distinctive choker.

Nereid necklace

“The Greek myths tell us of the fifty beautiful sea nymphs or nereid companions of Poseidon who come to the aid of sailors who find themselves in peril fighting dangerous storms. The necklace brings together the azure colours of the Mediterranean Sea and the pebbled textures of the shoreline. Although ...

Handmade Book

Inspired by Hilary Peterson... we’ve created our own handmade book.

Couture clipboard

A Helen Bradley exclusive design - Use 35mm slide preserver sheets & a small office clipboard to make this marvellous display piece.

Your Inspiration Room