Little Treasure contributions abound…
Posted in australia, books, charities, little treasures: made by hand November 3rd, 2015 by pia

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Last month I sold the bulk of the last remaining copies of Little Treasures: Made by Hand through an online flash sale. I’m very grateful to every one who bought copies, shared the news, and sent me beautiful emails about the book throughout the past weeks. For those who don’t follow me on instagram or other social media and haven’t already read my appreciation, as I press publish on this blog post I send a big THANK YOU wave of love across the globe to every beautiful soul who supported the book, shared the book and bought the book and packages to make it happen back in 2013 and since. Being on the wild seas of self-publishing and crowd-funding was an incredible adventure, and it continued to be a stormy ride for the 2 years that followed as I discovered my limitations as a human – what I was willing, and not willing, to do. I know a lot of the murkiness had to do with the intensely challenging times in my personal life, and as I am a person who feels much, accepting that I feel that has been part of the challenge.  However I’m so thankful for the experiences on this particular part of my creative life journey, not just for the huge lessons but mostly for the amazing connections.

Today though I have to say that what is lifting me and strengthening my heart wings right now is the knowledge that I have been able to donate hundreds of Little Treasure books to some amazing not-for-profit foundations around the country.  It’s now become one of the most exciting parts of this book’s journey for me – as exciting as it was when the book was first published. It feels like a wonderful way to see out this book’s life.

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I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know where the books have gone and what their purpose and contribution will be within the community. Please click on each link to learn more about the organisations as they are all very special:

Grace Centre for Newborn Care – The Children’s Hospital at Westmead…
The Grace Centre for Newborn care is an  intensive care unit for new born babies at The Children’s Hospital, looking after some of the sickest babies in NSW.

50 Little Treasures: Made by Hand books were delivered to be included in the Christmas hampers given to the parents of each little one in care, with many thanks to Peta Cappello for coordinating.

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Kiss Goodbye to MS – MS Research Australia…
Kiss Goodbye to MS is an initiative of MS Research Australia, and calls on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), their friends, family and colleagues to raise funds for vital research into the cause and cure of MS. MS is the most common acquired neurological disease and affects around 23,000 Australian, of which 3 out of 4 are women. Kiss Goodbye to MS is on facebook, this is a great way to be updated on their events.

48 Little Treasures: Made by Hand books were donated to raise funds, give as gifts and as lucky door prizes for upcoming events. Many thanks to Emma Giunti for reaching out and coordinating the collection and delivery of the books.

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Sarah’s Place – Pregnant Alternatives…
Sarah’s Place is an independent, not for profit organisation that offers a service to women seeking advice on matters to do with an unplanned pregnancy, headed by a team of specialists in Pre AND Post Decision support and consultation.

100 Little Treasures: Made by Hand books were donated to their recent fund-raising event, with many thanks to Linda Smyth for coordinating.

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Sandhills Community Garden – Newcastle
Run by local volunteers, Sandhills is a self-sustaining community garden, supplying residents and visitors with herbs and vegetables without the use of pesticides or artificial fertilisers. The recent addition of a sensory garden provides visitors – including the visually impaired -with an opportunity to experience the aromas of a wide variety of scented plants and herbs. The concept of these gardens has been designed to encourage the community to ‘pop in’ take what you need and leave the rest for other locals.

48 Little Treasures: Made by Hand books were donated to use as part of the garden activities, developing outdoor craft activities using the contents of the book. The books will then be given to participants. With many thanks to Jen Robinson for reaching out, and coordinating the distribution of the books.

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There are a few copies left available to purchase through my online bookstore along with my other titles,  and I have a few remaining boxes of books reserved for charities so if you have any more wonderful suggestions for an organisation that can benefit from the donation of the books please let me know. Organisations that help new mothers or babies would be great, and if you or someone else can be in charge of liaising with the organisation that would be appreciated.

Unless there is any big news, this will be my last post about the book. I’ll update news about further donations on facebook and add them to the book blog page (when I renovate the blog in coming months).

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Little Treasures: Made by Hand – thank you for all you’ve taught me, I’ll never forget you!!

With love,

Pia xx

little treasures: bookstores & boutiques…
Posted in little treasures: made by hand, stores September 26th, 2014 by pia

PJB_littletreasures_PBP_nestLittle Treasures: Made by Hand is now available for purchase at Paper Boat Press

I’m so pleased to let you know that there are now a number of beautiful stockists around the country who are selling Little Treasures: Made by Hand. I’m very grateful to these independent bookstores and boutiques for supporting my latest creation, I hope you can help me to support them in return by visiting them because they really are magical places. All these stockists mentioned in this post are in Australia, but I am still hopeful that some stores around the world will become stockists.

Queensland:
Riverbend Bookstore, Bulimba
Rosetta Books, Maleny
Paper Boat Press, Ashgrove
Cathy Penton Atelier, Highfields

New South Wales:
Better Read than Dead, Newtown
Hill of Content, Balmain
Oscar and Friends, Double Bay
Oscar and Friends, Surry Hills
Little Paper Lane, Mona Vale
Bookocino, Avalon
The Design Hunter, Waverley
Megalong Books, Leura

Victoria:
Hill of Content, Melbourne
The Avenue Bookstore, Albert Park, Melbourne
Readings, Hawthorn

South Australia:
Council of Objects, Adelaide, SA

 

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If you’d like to become a stockist or international distributor of Little Treasures: Made by Hand, please email my sales assistant Penny with your inquiry and she will get back to you with the details.

Thank you again to all of you for your continued support and sales, without it I know I would not be able to continue creating.

Love & gratitude,

Pia xx

 

bird by bird…

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Yes that does happen to be the title of one of my favourite books by Anne Lamott, recommended to me by sweet Kylie some years ago while I was writing My Heart Wanders. It helped tremendously as I had spent many days sitting looking at a blank screen, wondering how to start the mammoth task of writing a memoir of that time of my life.

But I digress! Do you recall this bird mobile I made for Laly’s room, which I featured in Little Treasures: Made by Hand? It’s on pages 208-211, with reference to Spool sewing who released the pattern some years ago. I made the birds using the pattern then attached them to some twigs with ribbon, and embellished the mobile with vines and dried fern fronds. It hung above Laly’s cot for many months, but once she began to be able to stand – and reach up to the birds – I took the mobile down. The birds were added to her toy basket until a few months ago when I found an abandoned birdcage. I gave it a good clean and then Laly and I painted it in an array of her favourite colours. I let her paint it in her way (mixing colours together, with big dollops of dripping paint). We added a couple of twigs inside the cage et voilà, the birds have come out again to play…

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I’m thrilled to have found a way for the birds to be played with again, relevant to Laly’s new skills: She’s right into inventing her own games and role play. To decorate the cage we went out to forage for some vines and ferns. Of course I had plans for her to be part of the photoshoot for this blog post, but she didn’t want to and I’m doing well now to let her make her own decisions when it comes to play. So while she was out with her Papa I took the opportunity to play with the birds and cage in my own way…

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Happy weekend mes amis!

xx

PS new music on the way, I hope you’re enjoying my growing collection so far. Thanks for your downloads and encouraging comments thus far, so appreciated.

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Little Treasures is now available to post within the USA & Canada…
Posted in little treasures: made by hand March 20th, 2014 by pia

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I little something rather wonderful… a limited number of copies of Little Treasures: Made by Hand are now available to PURCHASE AND POST within the USA! I’m thrilled to finally be able to offer you guys the book without the hefty shipping from Australia. So that means you can buy yourself a copy for the normal shipping price of $5 (making the book cost total of $29.95), and to Canada it’s just $11.50 per book ($36.45 in total).

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Also if you have a boutique in the USA or Canada and would like to purchase wholesale copies that is also possible, just email us to let us know where you are and how many copies you’d like, and we can email you a quote with the shipping cost from within the US.

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To refresh your memory on this very special book, click here to view past posts about it, along with page spread samples. And here to visit my online book shop, with updated shipping costs for USA and Canada sales of Little Treasures.

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I would absolutely love to have Little Treasures: Made by Hand distributed in France since it’s written in French as well, so if anyone knows someone in this area and can help make this happen, please let me know.

Thanks guys. As I mentioned, there are only a limited number of copies available so if you have been wanting a copy but haven’t wanted to pay the shipping from Australia, don’t hesitate to grab a copy now. Merci beaucoup!

xx

coming up for air…
Posted in little treasures: made by hand, personal August 26th, 2013 by pia

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Has it been almost three months since I last spent some time here in the (blog)house?

To think that a year or so ago I started dreaming and thinking obsessively about the possibility of creating a book of little handmade treasures. In the dark hours while feeding Laly, the idea bloomed in my mind, and now, after a lot of work and wonderful support from you, my latest book, Little Treasures: Made by Hand is complete.

Through all the making and doing, I’ve wondered to myself whether it was completely outrageous to have launched such a huge project so soon after giving birth, and in so many ways it was. I forgot that making a book in itself is a birth: I think I figured that because I’d made three before, that this ‘little one’ would be a walk in the park. But each book holds a large part of my creative being and so each has come with its own steep learning curve. The self-publishing aspect of this one, combined with my new life as a mum, certainly took hold of me like none of the others have.

With that said, I can say without hesitation that I am delighted to have this special little bound treasure in my body of work, an everlasting keepsake of Laly’s first moments of life shared in the form of a visual story of incredible handmade pieces given to her by creative souls around the world.

And the beautiful truth that there is no way this book could have been born without your support.  Not just from those of you who pledged but also those who have ceaselessly cheered me on from the sidelines, helping me get to the finish line.

The project is now finalised as we have finished the mailout of all the books and packages from the crowd-funding campaign.  That means that if you ordered a book or package back in February from the campaign then you should have received it no matter where you are in the world. If you haven’t then please email us at info@piajanebijkerk.com and we will resolve it for you as soon as possible.

I’m also really excited to announce that the book is now available for sale in my online book boutique and we can post worldwide!

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Also we are now at the stage where we can take wholesale orders around the world so if you would like to stock Little Treasures: Made by Hand in your own boutique then please email info@piajanebijkerk.com with your order request and location and we can send you more information.

Thank you for your belief and encouragement of this midnight dream of mine.  I don’t know how I made it through the past year but I was comforted during many an early morning hour with the knowledge that so many of you were cheering me on from afar.

I’m incredibly happy to be able to spend some more time here in the (blog)house. I’ve missed you.

xx