Monday 25 July 2011

New Zealand

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One of the wonderful things to come out of my recent Brooch Swap was its really international flavour. Swappers came from Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, the US, Canada and South Africa. I still marvel at how the internet makes friends of people separated by miles and continents.

I tried where I could to match people from different countries, and though it made for some postal delays and mixups (especially when the Canadian post office went on a month long strike!) it also meant that lots of people got parcels with exciting stamps and customs slips arriving on their doorsteps.

Thanks to Megan from mousehouse and Melissa from tinyhappy, who posted about the Swap on their blogs, we had lots of New Zealand bloggers involved. And while we Aussies have a long happy relationship with our neighbours, I somehow didn't know many NZ bloggers, save these two lovely girls (though of course one of my favourite mags Extra Curricular is based in New Zealand). So it was lovely to discover a bit more about the scene and meet some more wonderful NZ crafters.

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to ask Megan and Melissa and Clare from greenvalleycrafts, one of our NZ brooch swappers, for some favourite blog links in this small but creative country.  I've asked each to share five favourite links to get us blog-hopping. I would love it too if anyone wanted to share more favourites or even your own blog link in the comments section and I will add them to the post. Especially if you were one of our lovely NZ Brooch Swappers.

Special thanks to Melissa, Megan and Clare. I had lots of fun looking through your wonderful picks, I've nearly been round all the links and there is some wonderful treasure there, some new favourites and lots more for google reader!

tinyhappyheader

Melissa said:
"Some of my favourites include:
* http://felt.co.nz/ - Felt- like a NZ-based Etsy,
* http://sarahelaing.wordpress.com/ - 'let me be frank' by sarah laing- graphic novel/comic blog,
* http://nzvanette.blogspot.com/  - 'vanette' by ella. i really like the way she writes about craft and life as a mother,
* http://tomandemma.wordpress.com/ - 'small town stories' by emma. i like her useful recipes, she's funny, and i've had coffee with her a couple of times and she's great company,
* http://www.alionessyou.com/ - by my friend sonya. she's currently living in amsterdam, but through her blog she still seems close by. i love her photography."

mousehouse

Megan said
"I have so many favourite blogs but the NZ ones that I read pretty much every post they write would be:
* http://greenvalleycrafts.blogspot.com,
* http://littleminx.wordpress.com/,
* http://cottonkiwi.blogspot.com,
* http://missmollycoddle.blogspot.com/,
* http://verydarkhorse.blogspot.com/.
Oh so hard to only choose 5!!"

greenvalley

Clare said:
"I've chosen 5 NZ blogs I love for you:
* http://toastclothing.blogspot.com/ This is Rhiannon's blog 'Toast and Life'.  Rhiannon blogs about her crafty endevours, life, her clothing label Toast and her crafty label Croutons, and her boys.  I especially love seeing her funky outfit posts!
* http://verydarkhorse.blogspot.com/ This is Stella's blog 'The Golden Adventures of a Very Dark Horse'.  Stella is a very talented illustrator and blogs about her new ideas, gorgeous daughter, and the beautiful (often thrifted and re-styled) things she makes for her home.
* http://www.hellofallow.blogspot.com/ This is Kristin's blog 'Hello Fallow'  Kristin blogs about an amazing array of crafty endevours, and her baking posts always make my mouth water!  She also regularly posts about her cute outfits and her two boys.
* http://dee-construction.blogspot.com/  This is Dee's blog 'Dee-construction'  Dee is a mama of 4 who never ceases to inspire me!  Lately she's been busy making handmade dolls, and creating some amazing 'real life pins' and gorgeous outfit re-styles!"
* http://nzvanette.blogspot.com/  This is Ella's blog 'Vanette' - I love Ella's blog for it's Indie feel and her honesty, humour and wit.  I love seeing the gorgeous crafty creations she comes up with, mostly for her two gorgeous children.

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Leonie one of our lovely brooch swappers has emailled to say she hosts a Kiwi Mothers blog resource which lists lots of wonderful blogs from locals and expats here: http://www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz/

Kristin's all time favourite is prairiemouse :-) Love the felty doodlejumpers!

Greta loves http://rubyinthedustdolls.blogspot.com/

More brooch swappers :-)
Nin's favourites:
Heart Felt http://teatodtoad.typepad.com/my_weblog/
and Imba http://imbadesign.blogspot.com

And these are Lis's picks:
http://michellespatch.blogspot.com
http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/
http://allthingsrustyandfabric.blogspot.com/
http://nz-debz.blogspot.com
http://thesewingattic.blogspot.com/

Last but not least, brooch swapper Emily from Millicent Crow has a few more recommendations:
http://www.rw-scissors.blogspot.com/
http://www.confettiyeti.blogspot.com/
http://www.bondstreetbridge.blogspot.com/

12 comments :

  1. I really enjoyed checking out the listed NZ blogs. I'm ashamed to say that as a crafty kiwi I'd only come across one of them before.

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  2. Hi there!! i just have to chime in here with one of my all time favorites...Prarie Mouse.

    http://prairiemouse.typepad.com/prairiemouse/

    She quietly posts some of the most amazing hand stitched felt creations out there. Louise is not to be missed. She is an all-around crafty sensation.

    I'm loving all the links and like Keryn and not familiar with most!

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  3. HI I have a website called Kiwi Mummy blogs and you can check out a long list (400) of Kiwi Mummy Blogs!
    www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz


    I also participated in the Brooch swap so please come visit me....
    www.kiwiatheart-leonie.blogspot.com

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  4. I was just about to mention that all the blogs in your post are on Kiwi Mummy Blogs (but the owner Leonie, has beat me to it) - so thats probably a good place to get a slice of the kiwi as it were.

    My treasures - yet to be mentioned are
    Heart Felt http://teatodtoad.typepad.com/my_weblog/
    and
    Imba http://imbadesign.blogspot.com

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  5. all those lovely ladies mentioned all my favourites too!

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  6. With a not very secret desire to be a Kiwi and having visited your wonderful country several times (including attending the mini symposium in Timaru) I follow a lot of lovely NZ blogs. Here are a few of my favourites:

    http://michellespatch.blogspot.com
    http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/
    http://allthingsrustyandfabric.blogspot.com/
    http://nz-debz.blogspot.com
    http://thesewingattic.blogspot.com/

    I must give you a link to wonderful Nat's blog, she's in Australia:
    http://notjustnat.blogspot.com/

    and I am at
    http://piecenpeace.blogspot.com and took part in the great brooch swap. Have fun bloghopping.

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  7. Yes the NZ bloggers are super-lovely ladies, I would add http://rubyinthedustdolls.blogspot.com/ too :)

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  8. I really enjoyed this bloggy tour! Such a fantastic idea and such beautiful blogs. Wonderful choices indeed. :)

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  9. What a great idea! Here are some NZ blogs that I really like:

    I second Melissa's recommendation of Let Me Be Frank: http://sarahelaing.wordpress.com/

    Two of my friends who are talented makers of things are:
    http://www.rw-scissors.blogspot.com/

    and

    http://www.confettiyeti.blogspot.com/

    and while not a craft blog, http://www.bondstreetbridge.blogspot.com/
    is a great blog about music, life and paradise ducks. It just so happens to be written by my partner in crime, too!

    My blog is: http://www.millicentcrow.blogspot.com/

    Happy reading!

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  10. What a great post to celebrate the kiwi bloggers out there. All my favourites have already been mentioned as has my own blog but there's a lot of 'new to me' blogs that I'm looking forward to checking out too! Thanks!

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  11. What a fab notion, S. Think I'd better go and drop in on the neighbours...

    PS. Small critter up above on latest post? HIL-ARIOUS.

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  12. What a gorgeous swap this was and now look at all these fab blogs I get to visit. I'm bookmarking this post to take my time. Thank you! x

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Thank you for dropping by and commenting :-)