etsy captains' summit australia

A couple of weeks ago I was in Australia, if you've seen my post about Melbourne you'll know this ;) but why was I there? I had been invited to speak at the very first EtsyAu Captains' Summit.

If you've been following us for a while you might know that this is actually my sixth summit! Phew! But I learn something new every time, even when I'm invited as a guest speaker!

There were around twenty different captains and leaders from all over Australia, and each summit is an opportunity to learn from each others experiences. Each team is different, and takes on different opportunities. Some of the common misconceptions about Teams is that they are run by Etsy, whereas each Etsy team is run by a group of volunteers, that's right, nobody gets paid, it's just fun!

Have you mEtsy? STICKERS OF OUR FACES!?!

Oh hello, nice to meet you!

The summit was held in such a cool space! It seemed very "Aussie" to me.

I learnt a whole load about leadership, which I will be writing another post about soon. As Helen the MD of Etsy Australasia and Cyan from Envato are definitely women that have their shiz together. (Read uber inspiring)

Obviously the most important thing I learnt was how to do a Tim Tam Slam! I made the foolish mistake of suggesting that Tim Tams were actually very similar to the humble Penguin bar, but was very quickly corrected!

What do you love about your team? THEY'RE BLOODY AWESOME!

Tim Tam Slam Prep

If you want to find out more about my adventure you can check out the Brighton Etsy Team blog or the EtsyAu blog!

ROAR!

Karli

my trip to melbourne

For those of you that live in a cupboard, the last week I have been in sunny grey Melbourne! I was very kindly brought here by Etsy Australia to do a talk about leadership and the Brighton Etsy Team.

Rose Street Market, I visited when it was open too, but all the things I liked were living so I knew I couldn't bring them home!

Love this! Welcome to Sunnt Fitzroy, except it was definitely grey!

Buutttttt, when I've not been presenting I've been bumbling around and hanging out in some pretty cool places that I'd love to share with you!

I arrived on Thursday morning after what probably is the world's longest flight and I stumbled into Babka, feeling gross and confused.

I had THE BEST french toast, I think I would like to point out now that I haven't had a bad meal in Melbourne the whole time I have been here, I don't think there is bad food here to eat so WIN!

Eventually I'm going to own a vintage petrol pump, I think it will tie in nicely with my new traffic lights...

Awesome exhibition at the National Gallery Victoria, using Aboriginal art with modern techniques.

Unfortunately I disclosed my dislike for coffee rather too early as I've realised that coffee is a way of life in Melbourne. I would get asked if I would like a coffee upon arriving an establishment and then a server would return to double check I was sure I didn't want a coffee and in some cases I would be in the middle of my breakfast and a server would run over and ask if they had forgotten to bring my coffee! THEY REALLY LOVE COFFEE HERE!

I've already told you I loved all of the street art!

I hung out at Movida, having some tapas, watching the world go by and watching all the other tourists taking photos of the graffiti!

I have mainly spent my time here, eating, drinking and wandering the streets and taking in the INCREDIBLE street art. Now Brighton is a pretty vibrant city, we had what I thought was quite a lot of street art (definitely compared to Luxembourg which is where I was last week - that place is BLAND!) but here, well it's a whole 'nother ball game!

Melbourne CBD including flinders station.

Cool art at the NGV. Colour and shape are my kinda thing....

I have tried not to spam street art pics on instagram but there are so many pieces, in different techniques and in awesome colours it's been hard!

Did I mention colour and shape are my kinda thing?

Phamily for lunch in Fitzroy, it was as beautifully decorated as the food was delicious!

I've got a real feel for Melbourne, it's a pretty cool city and I'm so pleased I came, have you been? Want some more tips? I can probably point you in the right direction!

ROAR!

Karli

behind the scenes | filming a video

​A couple of weekends ago we got together with one of my talented friends Heather, and her boyfriend Sia to film a little promo video for designosaur.

You might recognise Heather as she has previously been the otherside of the camera as one of our models!

We roped in Milena to model for us, and I feature quite a lot in the video too (sorry for the cringe)

It was a fun day of doing crazy things, including letting an ice cream melt all over my hand, which then stained my hand pink!

Getting told off on the Merry Go Round for not sitting down properly and Milena getting a whole heap of candy floss in her hair because it was so so windy!

These are just the behind the scenes shots, we'll let you know when you can watch the whole video!

ROAR!

Karli

a weekend in glasgow

​This weekend we were invited to by Sally of Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes to hang out with her, her boyfriend Keith and their two cats Chi and Harry at they pad in Glasgow.

 

The gang!

We went up with fellow Brighton creatives and pals, Jam and Ali from hello DODO, Toby of i Like CATS and his boyfriend Kieran of Little Mountains. They are all regulars on this blog so you already know all about them!

Sally and Keith organised a crazily jam packed party of a weekend!

When we first arrived we went to the Kelvingrove Museum to see a baby dinosaur exhibition! It was all about their eggs and young and the answer to nearly all the interactive questions was ornithopod.

Little baby dinosaurs! How cute!

We then grabbed the biggest and most delicious ice creams and milkshakes and had a walk around the park. We deserved it, we'd done lots of thinking in the museum!

In the evening we went to a Cèilidh, I think probably the hottest Cèilidh in the world and I was pretty terrible at it, butttt it was so much fun all the same!

Saturday we had Butteries for breakfast, a local Aberdeen breakfast so I'm told, they were delish, if not ridiculously unhealthy, but all the best things are ey!

We went to Glasgow city centre to bumble around the shops, we had an awesome vegan lunch at Mono, which is also a record store! And played find the load bearing minion. (This drove everyone crazy as only Jacques has spotted it, and nobody else could find him)

Colouring in with Kieran | Photo Credit HOYFC

Photo Credit HOYFC

Now most people have relaxing Sunday's but we decided to go to the Trampoline Park and it was THE MOST FUN EVER! We got to bounce for an hour, we played trampoline dodge ball and basketball and even jumped into a massive foam pit!

Check Jacques in this photo! haha! (but not me cos I look terrible!) | Photo Credit HOYFC

I can levitate! | Photo Credit HOYFC

Being back in Brighton seems boring in comparison now! We can't wait for Sally and Keith to come and visit us so we can have just as much fun here!

ROAR!

Karli

PS most of the photos I have used in this blogpost are from HOYFC because all of mine are already on instagram :)

designosaur collections | toby from i Like CATS

MEOW! It’s Toby here from I like CATS! A few months ago Karli guest blogged for me (RIP blog, soz) and it was really good and funny, so when she asked me to return the favour I couldn’t say no I jumped at the chance! So I’m going to be talking about my own designosaur collection which has grown pretty big over the last few years!

I remember the first time I saw a piece of designosaur jewellery, long before I met Karli and Jacques IRL. Having moved recently to Brighton we spent a lot of time sloping around the North Lanes, and it was here that I spotted one of their skeleton dino creations hanging in the window of Porta. Being already familiar with a few other laser cut jewellery brands I was super impressed by the quality and design of their necklaces, PLUS I have always LOVED dinosaurs and so instantly I was smitten. Funny to think that a few years later I would be such good friends with the people who made this necklace of my dreams…

My first designosaur piece

This photo makes me laugh everytime. Me (Karli) and Toby at Craftaganza a few years back, I think Jacques was at a stag do this weekend so Toby had to deal with me all weekend ;)  Photo Credit | Rockcakes

I have to admit that looking through my collection I found it difficult to remember which piece came first, but I’m pretty sure it was my tiny Allosaurus necklace in gold acrylic. It remains probably my most worn piece as it goes with everything. Also (because I’m an awkward customer) I got Karli to change the length of the chain to make it long enough to throw over my head without undoing the clasp. I’d like to award myself ten lazy points for this decision! 

My favourite designosaur piece

My favourite designosaur piece is quite a new addition to my collection. Although I LOVE all of their non-prehistoric pieces, I think their dinosaurs will always be my faves. Karli gave me (I know, I’m jammy) the plesiosaur when we went to the Jurassic Seas exhibition together at Sea Life. I find the shape and weight so pleasing and it hangs just right on me. I have to mention (otherwise I get in trouble) that my necklace is actually one of the prototypes and is slightly different to the one you’ll find in their shop as he’s in ‘racing position’ (how cute is that?), and I think that’s also why I like it extra cos it makes me feel special.

My fanciest designosaur piece

Late last year designosaur added some sterling silver pieces to their collection and (I know this will make you think I’m a massive spoilt brat) Karli and Jaq gifted me one as a late birthday present, much to my delight! I feel like this is the fanciest piece of jewellery I own since most of my necklaces and rings are made from the kind of metal that makes your skin green. I always like subtle contradictions in life and having a silver dinosaur feels like a good one.

My special designosaur piece

I actually have TWO special designosaur pieces that I’d like to talk about. The first is extra special because I don’t think you can buy it anywhere anymore. Two years ago we had a tropical party, and Karli and Jacques brought along these AMAZING googly eye pineapple brooches for everyone. I would like to point out that this was like a year or more before the tropical fruit trend happened and you saw pineapples everywhere; yup, designosaur were first (and still the best). 

My second special piece is my custom MEOW ring! You can still get these personalised rings from their shop for your name or favourite word. I wear mine at every market I ever do and get about a million compliments which makes me feel like Rihanna at the Met gala.

Special mention to…

My triceratops ring that I wear practically daily, my magical unicorn ring that I like to think I could use as a weapon and my cockatoo necklace gets lots of good attention! Can’t wait to see what designosaur come up with next, I still have a million things on my list that I want!

Toby xoxo

unboxing. june's dinosaur disco lucky dip club box.

** SPOILER ALERT this post shows the contents of June's Lucky Dip Club Subscriber Box!**

This June we were very lucky to be asked by Leona of Lucky Dip Club to create a dinosaur themed gift to be a raffle prize in the Dinosaur Disco Box!

For those of you that don't know what Lucky Dip Club is, you're in for a treat! Lucky Dip Club is a themed monthly subscriber box. You sign up (here if you want one) and each month Leona sends you a box full of goodies!

Blogging is turning into a bit of a game (most things in life are a game for me) as I want to tick off all the different types of posts that bloggers do, this week I'm doing an UNBOXING post! I'm so excited!

Leona very kindly sent us our very own dinosaur disco box to enjoy, so here's what's inside!

Best thing about Lucky Dip Box? It comes straight through the letter box, so no sorting office trips to pick up this baby! The box was tied up with rainbow string and when you first open it, you get the HAPPY DANCE message! WOO HAPPY DANCE!

Fastened with a LDC sticker, all your goodies are wrapped in lime green tissue, getting EXCITED YET?

POW! All that goodness! I'll mention again that not every box had a designosaur brooch in, but if you were lucky enough to get one then let us know in the comments!

Everything in the box laid out. I'll go through everything individually below but from top left to bottom right we have, a dinosaur desk pet,  glitter plesiosaur brooch, dinosaur party washi tape, dinosaur charm necklace, dinosaur felt coaster, dinosaur succulent stalker and the LDC zine.

TAPE! This tape is lush, some of you may recognise it as we have been using it to parcel up our recent orders, lots of dinosaurs having a party, what more could you want?

Each month there is a limited edition charm of the month, this month was obviously a dinosaur, mine came on a chain because it was my first box, but if you are a regular subscriber it comes with just the jump ring to add to a charm bracelet you receive in your first box! How cool is that?

The dinosaur desk pet, who doesn't want a pet dinosaur? This is created by the wizz kids at Garudio Studio, they make other flat pack pets too!

A Succulent Stalker / Cactus Creeper by Funky Laser, another great thing about LDC is that in every box there is a personalised item. Ours isn't personalised, probably because Jacques and Karli - designosaur wouldn't have fitted on, but yours would be! If you have names like Jacques and Karli this is an added bonus because NOTHING COMES WITH OUR NAMES ON EVER.

Felt Brontosaurus coaster. Got it on my desk and it's doing a smashing job. Did you know that the Brontosaurus has only just been reclassified as an official dinosaur, previously they thought it was a juvenile Brachiosaurus or two different dinosaur skeletons that had been mashed together! 

The LDC zine! It's great reading fun facts about all the people that have made bits to go in the box, and look THAT'S US!

Finally, if you recieved one of these little ladies you are very lucky! There were only 20 little Penny the Plesiosaurs  to find  in just over 1000 boxes, but isn't she SPARKLY! If you want your very own sparkly swimmer you can get one here. Oh and that pretty looking paper is the back of the zine which you could use as wrapping paper?

So what do you think? Would you subscribe to Lucky Dip Club? Do you wish you'd got the Dinosaur Disco Box? If you do want to sign up the next box launches in August. You've gotta be ready to go, as they sell out so quickly every month, follow Leona so you don't miss out!

ROAR!

Karli

light up necklaces. what i wore.

A few weeks ago we released these HUGE STATEMENT necklaces. You can't get flashier than this (literally!)

The necklaces have three lighting modes, constant light, flashing and sequential flashing, and they can be worn day and night!

Want to show off in your favourite cocktail bar, or wear for coffee with your mates, you can wear them switched on, switched off, flashing or not.

I'm modelling the necklaces in this shoot and I wore both with a silver crushed velvet babydoll dress, which I normally dress down with sandals and frilly socks for the day, or dress up with graphic tights patent white shoes! If you want to see what that looks like I've made a Pinterest board with all the items on!

So what do you think of the light up necklaces? How would you style yours?

ROAR!

Karli

Credit | Photos and video edited by the super awesome Bob Prosser (who does most of our photography) you can see more of his work here.