It's a sad day.

At approximately 1.30pm this afternoon,

sweet little Sam passed away.

Sam was expected to undergo surgery today to treat cysts as a result of urogenital chlamydiosis (a life-threatening disease that affects 50% of the koala population) however due to complications with the disease, the decision was taken to put Sam down before surgery to prevent her suffering too much pain.

Mr Tree, the firefighter who featured in the iconic image of Sam, giving her a drink of water, was distraught when told of the sad news.

"She meant so much - she highlighted the plight and vulnerability of Australian wildlife around the world.''

In a statement, Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter said they were grateful for all the support they have received and will continue to provide aid and comfort to distressed and injured wildlife.

Please help them to do so by donating here: Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter

God Bless you Sam.

x Narelle

Here it is:

The coast is clear!

My customer has now given this gift to his wife so I am now able to show pictures and not spoil the surprise.

This is one of the custom orders I have been working on. Every part of it is hand-made by myself and I am pretty pleased with how it came out.

I was sent an email to let me know it got 'two thumbs up' so that's what makes it all worth while.

It was such a personal piece to make and I really enjoyed that, I felt so involved with the piece and with their family.

Thanks to the special person that let me share a milestone in their lives with them.

x Narelle

Whoooaah!

Where did that week and a half go?!!

On Saturday and Sunday I had back to back markets. The one on Saturday was just for my jewellery, so I was really busy trying to get enough pieces made to fill a table. Both markets were a lot of fun and I got some really great feedback.

I think that's why it's important to get out of the studio every once in a while and let yourself be face to face with the people buying your things. You may have a wonderful product that you make, but for some reason it's not selling online. All you need is a couple of comments; 'it should be smaller' or 'that would look better highly polished' and away you go. Make these small little changes and sales are likely to go up.

Now, I do already know you shouldn't be making purely to sell, you have to love what you're doing of course, but a few sales here and there not only helps to keep your business afloat, it's also like getting a pat on the back, a reward for all the hard work.

I had my new lines at both markets and achieved sales from them so they will be making their way into my stores as soon as I can manage some time to list them.

At the moment I am a little flat out working on custom orders for some wonderful people, so I'd better get back to it.

x Narelle

I got an award!

Thanks to the lovely Melinda over at 'Here we go Loopy Lou' I have received a lovely blog award.

You can find her shop on Made-it here. She makes beautiful greeting cards and wall hangings using the most cutest fabrics.

Thank you again for my blog award, I'm going to have to work on my award recipients list a little later on as I have a full plate of pressing deadlines that I really need to get back to.

x Narelle