Why are people so obsessed with you being vegan???

Why are people so obsessed with you being vegan???

Answer here

And the Winner is....

I know I said I'd draw it out of a hat (literally), but the downside of having boofy curly hair is that hats are not your friend:( So I didnt have any cool hats hanging around and had to use this colourful stripey box instead :)




Here is Mr/Mrs/Ms Flamingo waiting on the box for their new name (excitement!).

Considering I run Sarsparilly by myself, I had to rope in my hubby to pull the name out of the box. Sorry if the image is a bit shakey, I had to hold the box and take the photo and try not to make it blury lol.


And the new name is...*drum roll*
FRILLY!
And who named Frilly? Why none other than TONI HUTCHINSON!! Well done Toni! I'll get in touch with you shortly :D

Thanks to everyone who participated. Don't forget to participate in our next Giveaway which will be announced shortly (always, because I am not very tall haha, er ok bad joke...).

Don't forget about our upcoming Random Acts of Kindness Day on September 10th where everything in the RAOK album on our Facebook page is FREE. Yes you read it right, FREE. Just be the first person to leave a comment below the item to claim it. Claims are limited to one item per person, just to spread the love and make it fair:) There will be a -load- of ruffley ra ra skirts in all different prints and sizes and a few other exciting things too. Postage is paid by us:) Spread it round, best things in life are free!

Name that flamingo GIVEAWAY! (and a flamingo awww moment)

The Sarsparilly mascot is a stylin' pink flamingo. The problem is he/she doesn't have a name and I really feel that it needs one. This is where you come in. Leave your suggestion below (or on our Facebook or Twitter page), I'll collect them all and draw the name out of a hat at the end of the month:)

What's in it for you? Well, not only will the mascot be branded with your picked out name for eternity, You'll also receive a set of these cute heart shaped glasses in every single colour shown in the picture. Score! Now you can co-oridinate your glasses with every outfit you own :)



And just because I couldn't help it, check out this new baby Flamingo born at the Franklin Park Zoo, awwwwww :) fluffy :)



Get your thinking caps on peeps!

Rainy Day Crafting

I live in the Blue Mountains of Australia in a place called Katoomba. It's about 2 hours outside Sydney City, very beautiful and much more often than not, COLD.

Yesterday we got a taste of what's to come with a beautiful Spring-like day, but today it's rainy rainy rainy. So, I've decided to have a go at some crafts I've seen on online tutorials lately.

We have a lovely Australian Federation cottage which is about 100 years old. These types of homes are pretty typical of the area and I think if you move here from Sydney (or anywhere really), you'd be mad not to want to own something like this (biased I know!). So while I listen to the rain fall on our tin roof, I'm going to have a go at making...

1. This cool pillowcase dress on craftzine.com


I've got a lot of vintage pillow cases lying around and always wanted to have a go at making them into dresses :D

2. These very cute covered button thumb tacks on the Little Birdie Secrets blog.

I've always been a big believer that functional things should be cute also :)

I'll be back with my results!

What are you up to craftwise today?

Batmaaan, Batmaaaan, Batmaaaaan!

My friend Cate posted this on her Facebook, it made me laugh so I had to post it :D

Crafting for Charity in Australia

A while back I started looking for ways that I could use my love of crafting for good :D Not that crafting otherwise is evil, but crafting for an unselfish reason is what I was after (other than making a gift for loved one which is also crafting for good), I wanted to craft for a good cause.

I was taught how to knit when I was six years old, but unfortunately have never graduated from anything more than basic old knit stitch. I taught myself at a later stage how to cast on and cast off by watching tutotials online so when I came accross a knitting charity I was thrilled that all i needed to know how to do was knit a square. Woot! I could do that!

While searching I found Wrap With Love a non denominational group that provides wraps (knitted blankets) for the cold and disadvantaged in the world and here in Australia. You can either knit squares for them or a whole blanket (28 sqaures put together)or you can even sew your blankets. Even though I'm a bit more adept at sewing I wanted to try another craft so stuck to knitting my squares:) Here is my current effort below. I've only done 8 so far and need 20 more to finish my blanket (if anyone wants to donate sqaures to the Sarsparilly blanket feel free! Maybe then someone will get to use it before the end of the century lol).



Crafters are a very giving bunch and this was very evident on my search when I was met with literally hundreds of crafting charities accross the world making things as diverse as newborn clothing kits to afghans to dog jackets. I decided to compile a list of some of the great crafting charities I found in Australia (apart from the wonderful Wrap With Love) to make it easier for Aussie crafters to share the love.

Australian Red Cross Trauma Teddies - Red Cross Trauma Teddies have been knitted by the thousands over the years and are given to mostly children, but also adults who have suffered a tramatic event. I found a link to the Trauma Teddy pattern here. The Red Cross will also help you out with the stuffing for the bears and all you need to do is provide the wool and the talent.

Save the Children Australia currently have a Knit One Save One campaign where you can send in knitted squares which they will sew together to make blankets for newborns and small children. Many babies accross the world will die of hypothermia and Save the Children are aiming to cut the rate of deaths with these warm blankets. If you want to knit for this charity get in quick! The last date for squares to be accepted is August 31st, but don't fret Save the Children say they will have another knitting initiative to join in on soon :)

The Guardian Angels Knitting Program was started by Guardian Pharmacies accross Australia to encourage the 'Guardian Angels' of the community to knit warm clothing which is then distributed to Aussies in need by the Salvation Army. This is another one where you need to get in quick if you would like to help as the closing date for items is 31st of July. But don't worry if you dont make it this year, this program is run each year so you can either wait til then or get making now so you have a pile of things to give next year :)

Knit One Give One is a Victorian charity that encourages its supporters to knit things like scarves, beanies and blankets for local people in need. This program runs until the end of August, but runs each year so again you can either wait til next year or build your stash of beanies and scarves when wool is cheaper in the warmer months.

Knit 4 Charities is an Aussie Yahoo.com group. This group of concerned knitters donate their efforts and knitting to many various charities and support a new charity each month. It has links to craft charities that they support, but that you can support without joining their group, links to patterns and links to other informative knitting sites.

This one is not strictly a charity, but it's about spreading the love accross the world. We might not be in need of a scarf or a beanie, but I'm sure we could all do with a bit more love in our lives :) The Toy Society was started in Australia as a small street art project, but has spread accross the world. All you need to do is create a small toy, it must be a handmade one, but can be whatever sort of toy you like. This is then put in a bag with a message that it was made by a member of the Toy Society for them. You then drop your toy Anonymously somewhere you think someone might see it. I've seen places as diverse as shop change rooms to play equipment in the park to a busy wall in the middle of Sydney city! A definite smile creator for both parties.


I've given a bunch of examples above, but there are so many opportunities out there to use your crafting talents to help others. Why not make dog jackets and blankets for your local animal shelter? Clothing or Toys for your local women's or homeless shelters? Toys or cards for children with long term illnesses in hospital? The list is endless.

Now, I better get back to my knitting :) xoxo

Confessions of a reformed letter writing addict

I can't actually recall the last time I wrote a letter, but at one point in my life I was mildy obsessed with it...

When I was a little kid in primary school we had weekly library time where our teacher (or the librarian) would read us a book. My mum made me a very cool library book bag out of a tea towel which I now find was very clever. Though at the time I don't think I was as thrilled as i would be now if I had a book bag made out of an old tea towel.

One week we were read a book called 'The Jolly Postman' and thinking back it was probably this book that started my love of letter writing. I found a copy of the book in an op shop a while back and bought it because I had loved it so much as a child :)




When I was 11, I had a best friend who lived a couple of hours away in another country victorian town. We had always known each other because our parents were friends, but we really became besties over our love for New Kids on the Block (for those not in the know, -the- 80's/90's boyband in my opinion). We became obsessive about writing letters to each other, we were writing letters to each other every day! We wrote about school and new kids on the block and swapped posters of said New Kids on the Block:) Writing letters and New Kids on the Block were kind of my life at that stage, school was incedental.



Then, because I obviously felt that I wasn't getting enough letter writing in with just writing to my best friend, I wrote to TV Hits magazine, to see if they would put my name and address in their Pen Pals section. While I waited to hear back I busied myself with writing to people already in the current edition. I was shocked when one day I actually got a call from TV Hits to say I would be in the Pen Pals section of the Summer Edition, woot! (It wasn't the issue below, but would have been circa 1991 like the below issue).



Once my name was printed I got a boatload of letters, I was in heaven! I was finding it hard to reply to the many people that wrote to me, plus my best friend, PLUS the other people I had already started writing letters to from the previous issues. But if you think I was satisfied with this, you would be wrong...

Australia Post was advertising a Pen Pal service where you paid a small fee and this company would send you the name of a person from OVERSEAS. OMG, an international penpal, it had to be done! They would also in turn give your name to another person also so you effectively ended up with two penpals. I begged my mum to pay the fee (about $5 US - we had to go into the bank to get a US bank cheque to pay for it). I got the name of my penpal in a letter, but to be honest I can't remember where they were from. I'm sure it didn't matter other than for me it was another person to write to.

My mother supported my writing habit, by buying me nice letter writing sets for my birthday and Christmas, but my father was getting very annoyed at the mounting number of letters he had to send for me. One evening when I handed him 10 letters to send off to people, he said it was getting too expensive and he wouldnt do it! I was mortified. I -had- to write to these people! I went off to mum on the sly and asked her instead and she did it for me :)

Around that time I discovered that my mother and father had been pen pals and that's how they met and fell in love. I was surprised my father didn't understand my obsession then, because obviously it was their fault for passing on this obession with writing letters.

As time passed and I went into high school the obession waned slightly, but never left me completely. I kept a few of my TV Hits penpals, but turned to writing to my friends while i was in one class and they were in another and vice versa:) I wrote to one of my friends that had gone off to boarding school and then later on when she lived on campus at University.

Then as the email revolution started, the letter writing pretty much stopped. The obessession of a life time was replaced by typing emails. Then it stopped even further with the introduction of social networking. Now I don't need to write anything to anyone, ever. All I do these days is write a short update on my page and the whole world knows what I'm up to.

It's a sad day really. Letters are lovely things :) I kept every single letter I ever received from a penpal or friend at school. A friend of mine tried to show me a letter I wrote at age 16 that she had kept, I was so embarassed at all the expletives and silly things I said, thank goodness for progression lol. I look back at my letters and reminisce and remember who I was at those different ages (and at my changes in writing and thinking) and it's interesting, sometimes embarassing reading, but I love it. I don't ever do that with my past emails.

I am a reformed letter writer, but I think it's an addiction I'd like to restart. Anyone want a penpal????