Sunday markets...

On the Sunday of the conference those who could met in Brisbane to do some market browsing. Though it turned out to be a small group, we had lots of fun.

Andrea, Meggan & I caught the train from Surfers to Southbank & met Gaynor near the cafe's. From there, we went for a wander through the Southbank Market.

Gaynor very kindly acted as our tour guide, driving us around & making sure we didn't get lost - thanks Gaynor :)
Next we went to the Marky Markets, where we met Cloud & Ky from Voodoo Rabbit (I didn't get any photos unfortunately).

I also treated my self to two lovely brooches - the mushroom is from pannikin & the lady is from Amanda - Hungry Designs.

After that we headed to the Valley Laneway Markets - held in several different Brisbane laneways, of which we visited two. We also stopped for some lunch at the first - yummy greek spinach parcels, followed by a very nice nut-filled biscuit. We had some company too...

Last but not least, we visited in.cub8r & met the lovely Sandra - another DUST-er :)

We left Andrea at the airport & Gaynor took Meggan & I back to the train station, from where we headed back to Surfers (& I got my extra crochet lesson)

wonderful workshops...

The Saturday of the conference was spent learning some new skills (or attempting to anyway)...

First Trish from TrishAlan Designs gave an interesting talk on teaching craft...not sure I want to go that way at the moment, but it certainly raised some things to consider if I do. Then we had morning tea  - & I would like to thank Ali for insisting on organising real coffee :)

My first workshop was Freeform Crochet - taught by Meggan. I made a cord for my id tag & started a circle...I didn't pick it up super fast, but I started to get somewhere. Then I travelled by train with Meggan on Sunday & got an extra lesson :). I not a crochet prodigy by any means, but I will spend some time playing & see if I can get anywhere...(in the photo below, the purple string & the smaller circle are my work - the larger circle Meggan made to show me a pattern).

After lunch, I did a zentangle workshop with Melanie. Zentangle is heaps of fun - I've been playing since I got home & have introduced my Mum & sisters to it. Amy has been especially taken with it & has produced some gorgeous drawings.

The bigger sheet in the photo below is the tangle I started at the workshop & have since completed. The smaller drawing is one that Melaine gave us the outline for, so we could all fill it in & see what we came up with - they have been great so far.

a better look at my first zentangle...

Conference goodies...

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend the inaugural DUST Conference, held on the Gold Coast. Not only did I get to meet some awesome DUST-ers, have a holiday & learn some new skills (more on that later), I also received a goodie bag, full of DUST-y goodness.

all the DUST-ers who attended - as well as some who couldn't make it - provided something wonderful for the bag. There were rings, earrings, hair accessories, pendants, brooches, beads, prints, vouchers.....the bag they came in is pretty good too :)

My contribution isn't shown above - I had two left & my sisters adopted those :)

I gave everyone a copper charm (made from ArtClayCopper) & a print of one of my mandala drawings.

I had an amazing time.....there will be a couple more posts on the subject coming soon.