That’s Ferntastic

27/03/2026

This week has been hard. You may have seen in my stories that we said our final goodbyes to our dog, Mia, on Monday. She was my shadow and, despite it not being a surprise - we actually had two years more than the vet initially predicted when she was first diagnosed with cancer, both my husband and I have just been walking around in a teary daze all week. We had decided early on our Brady Bunch was perfect and instead dubbed Mia as “our” baby, she really was the centre of our world.

Whilst I would love to don a mourning veil and take to my bed for a month, there are still bills to pay and kids to feed. I’m hoping to throw myself back into work properly on Monday but I thought I would allocate a day of playing in the studio with no pressure, just pull some fabrics, make something new and put on some sad music. Next week will be a fresh start.

27/02/2026

Not long before Christmas 2024 my friend’s home burned down in the middle of the night… it’s many months on now and V and her family are still living in a van and fighting with insurance agencies and all the associated crap that comes with losing your home. Everything is slow for small businesses now (I’ve just had my worst February since 2017!) and we are all fighting against the algorithm right now, but Veronica makes the most amazing soaps, and if you have any money in your budget to support cottage industries in Australia, she should definitely be top of your list!

I just ordered a whole bunch of soaps, lip balms and body butters and I can’t wait to show them off in my stories when they arrive ❤️

20/02/2026

These Mini Pouches and Flat Lays are only available at Purple Leaf Collective!

🐾 Have a Dachshund? Then these handmade sausage dog accessories are just for you! Pouches handmade by That’s Ferntastic

Complete the look with novelty earrings and a handmade satin scrunchie.

Available on our website. Limited stock.

https://purpleleafcollective.com.au/

04/02/2026

Sanrio but make it Valentines? 💌 I snuck just six of these handmade mini pouches onto the website when I launched the new scrunchies last night. How cute is this artwork from !?

03/02/2026

Valentines (Galentines?) scrunchies are live, these are very limited - I had intended on them being a feature at a market that I want meant to do last weekend that was rescheduled, so because I didn’t want to drown in heart fabric for months most of these designs I only actually have three of!

ALL scrunchies are buy 4 get 1 free AND if you were planning on gifting these on the 14th, all orders that include a Valentines theme product will be upgraded to express shipping at no extra cost. Let’s spread the love this year because I know right now it’s what we all need ❤️💌🌹

14/01/2026

The best part about running a small business? Getting gift requests and putting in that extra bit of effort because now you’ve been pulled into the secret inner circle and you want to make things a little more magical ✨

This morning I had an email asking how quickly my turn around time was right now and whether express post would be fast enough to get a parcel to its recipient by Friday. We chatted back and forth and it turned out that the birthday girl loves May Gibbs AND is turning 100 🥹 so of course I rushed to get this order out today and even stitched together a quick bookmark as an extra gift.

I always offer free wrapping for presents - just leave a note at checkout, and I have a whole stack of cards if you want to send a special message as well. Thank you for trusting me with your gifts, I freaking LOVE it ❤️❤️❤️

09/01/2026

The girls and I have been hanging out to do the punchcard trend so we pulled out all our art supplies and then Declan decided to join as well - my favourite goal of his was to see a Quokka this year but I didn’t get a photo of that card 🤦🏻‍♀️

Here’s to reaching goals and becoming even more brill in 2026!

06/01/2026

Showing off this custom witchy planner cover made for one of my longest (and loveliest!) customers and sized to fit a VERY chunky planner - when double checking the measurements the product description clarified that it weighed 1.5kg which is still blowing my mind a bit! For photos I stuffed it with the biggest planner I had to hand and it still didn’t touch the sides 😅

One of my goals this year is to squeeze in a few more custom orders AND remember to photograph them before they go out! If you have something in mind my DMs are open 🥰

31/12/2025

Well this was meant to just be a few pictures to finish off the year and then became a bit of a photo dump because there wasn’t anything I was ready to cut out. Thank you for everyone who’s come along on the journey with me this year, wishing you an amazing 2026!

09/12/2025

I am getting orders out as fast as I can right now but please be aware that once they leave my little (somewhat chaotic) space you are at the mercy of Auspost. Last day for international orders is the 10th of December and for Australian orders it’s the 20th. Don’t forget everything is handmade so maybe don’t leave it too late 😅

All orders over $25 will also receive a lucky dip scrunchie bag! Each bag contains a handmade Christmas scrunchie, a bracelet, sticker and a 10% discount code for your next order!

And if you’re in Port Macquarie use code “PORTMAC” at checkout and I’ll drop your order off to you for free ❤️

06/12/2025

Oh my gosh, would you look at this?! I did a market. Like… an actual interact-with-other-human-beings market. Edie and I spent the day at CWA Wauchope and, despite the heat and the bushfires trying their best to ruin it, we had such a lovely day, chatting with other makers, eating good food, and possibly spending more money than we made 😬

For context on how long it’s been since my last market… the previous one, I packed up half an hour early so I could catch a plane to see Prince live in Sydney. And I only had three kids instead of seven 😅

As someone who struggles with anxiety and self-confidence, I knew I had to push myself. Back in January I promised myself (and my sisters, because accountability!) that I’d do one in-person event by the end of the year. Today I ticked off that goal and it feels So brilliant, in fact, that I’m already hyped for the markets in January. Sewing is such a solitary thing, just me, Juno the Janome and my podcasts, so it felt genuinely good to face my anxiety and find that instead of people saying they “could get it cheaper at Kmart”, everyone was kind, supportive and excited about my work.

I’m probably never going to be an every-weekend-market girlie, but today showed me that I really do thrive when people tell me they love the silly things I spend all my time making. 💕