Shnoz of a Different Kind

This is the face of the Devil, in disguise. Really, it is. Yesterday she peed on my handbag, today she ripped my new maxi dress. So as you can see, it's just pure evil through and through.

Oh darn it, who can be angry at a face as sweet as that... !

Sad Shnoz

Some may say this is pushing the boundaries of sharing too much information on a blog, but I would really like to inforce a point here.

After getting a little too much sun on my shnoz over the weekend I quietly berated myself, but let myself off the hook as this was my first (and hopefully last) sunburn for the summer.

What I didn't realise, is that the red racing stripe I had blazoned on my face was a little worse then I first thought, and has now festered into a hideously painful, crusty, scabby cesspool.

I am now alternating between slathers of aloe vera, tea tree oil and antiseptic lotion, and in general feeling rather sorry for myself.

The last time I looked like this, I was four years old and went head first down the big vertical slide at Capital Discovery (now Capital E) in Wellington. I had a black scabby nose for weeks.

The memories have been re-dredged and I am living this horror all over again.

And I don't know why I bothered trying to kid myself, no amount of concealer could disguise this mess, it only settled in the crevices and emphasized the carnage further.

Please ladies (and lads), learn from my 'f' up, wear your blimmin sunscreen. Please. Just do it.

Marimekko Wallpaper

We had a little treat at work today; a presentation of some wicked Marimekko wallpapers.

My absolute favourite was the 'Ystavat' design which comes in some great colourways including a fantastic mustard yellow and black (but which I couldn't find a picture of).

The design is made up of a series of line drawn figures interlacing to create a wave pattern down the paper. It's so quirky yet fairly simple, now just to find a client adventurous enough to use it... yeah right, that'll be the day!

*UPDATE*

Maria, distributor of Marimekko wallpapers in North America has pointed me in the direction of her website New Wall Inc where you can view ALL of the papers plus more! (see the mustard and black colourway above? mmmmm). Thank you Maria!

Nina Kinert: Beast

I felt like sharing some more music today, this time from one of my new favourite artists, Nina Kinert- creator of some truely beautiful and haunting music.

What to do With You

New IKEA fabric for me... now let's see how long I leave this stowed somewhere until I think of the perfect use for it!

Peggin' Around

Photos by me.

Pippijoe

Ohhh I think I'm in love... I've seen Melbourne based textile design company Pippijoe featured in a few magazines and other online hidey-holes in the past, but my friend pointed me in the direction of the website yesterday.

Do you ever find things that you love so much that it actually hurts a little inside? Or is it just me?!

Sometimes the simplest things are the best, and this is certainly the case with Pippijoe's beautiful screen-printed fabrics. I want them really, really badly. Especially the birds on the line.

LOVE it!

Strawberry Goodness

A sprinkle of castor sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar = sweet strawberry goodness... mmmmm

A Note to Kiwi Sewers and Stylists

Photo, fabrics and SQUAB from www.estherdiamond.com

A top tip for the day... Do NOT say the word 'squab' to an Australian. They will look at you as if you have just dropped in from another planet.

A Wee Travelling Pickel

It's such a long way away that it probably is a little useless talking about this now, but I've decided to start a separate blog that will be purely devoted to our travelling around next year. That way I can keep the really random things on this one, and the travelly things on that one. Weellll that's the plan, but my plans hardly ever go... accordingly!? We shall see. There won't be anything much happening over there until early next year but keep an eye out... and that means YOU family! http://www.travellingpickel.blogspot.com

La PhotoCabine

And just when you really thought you'd had enough of seeing me, there are more photos! And it's me being a dork at that. I'm sorry, but I really wanted to share the link to this site which is TOO much fun.

I spent... a LONG time playing around on here last night. Catherine at My Folk Lover got me into it, it's all her fault! tehe

Have fun at La PhotoCabine!

New Toy

Well I harped on a little in my last post about not being able to spend money on setting up a creative room/studio, and I may have left out a little portion of the story as though it is 100% completely true that we are saving our booties off right now, it is also because we are choosing to buy other nice things... like toys.

When C went away to work up north for 10 weeks his 'reward' was a playstation 3, and he got that with no complaints. But then I thought well, what about me? (of course).

For so long now I have wanted to get a digital SLR camera, and I've just sucked it up and thought well there was no way...

So as a compromise of sorts, I did my research, and instead of buying a hugely expensive top brand camera, I settled for a not so well known brand which was half the price of the others. Plus it got really good reviews too. It does all the things I want and I won't feel quite so terrible if it doesn't get as much use as I originally intended. After all, enjoying photography class in 6th form was one thing, I haven't touched an SLR since! Chances are I will smash it or drop it or lose it somewhere in Europe next year anyways knowing my track record...

But I am stoked now and I am certainly intending to be in everyone's faces for the next wee while, practicing and re-learning all the in's and out's of manual operation.

Now that's it. No more toys! Must save! Sheesh.

My Blog HQ

Over at Hazelnuts the other day, Jacqui blogged about her sweet wee 'blog hq', and the place where she creates and writes and other such magic happens. Every time I see a fellow blogger share their gorgeously organised, creative goodie filled space I get a little sad, as because I class myself as a bit of a nomad this year, and as we are saving saving saving for our trips overseas I haven't been able to spend the money on setting up a designated creative space like those. But then it suddenly hit me that while I don't have a room as such, I have my IKEA shelves. When we arrived in Perth 11 months ago, IKEA was one of the first stores we hit, totally beside ourselves with excitement over the cool bits and pieces we could get for next to nothing. (Well I know I was, I don't think Corey is quite so prone to having sleepless nights over a piece of kit set lacquered chip board furniture). So I am going to share my 'blog hq' - and show you where surprisingly enough, I have still un-intentionally managed to cobble together a lot of 'creative stuff' and zone it into some classic IKEA shelving, enough so that I will often blog away, and look at my shelves and get just a little inspired, feel a little stir of excitement, and then I'm off on a creative tangent once more... Blog HQ includes; (left to right, top to bottom) My printer/scanner * Framed drawing * Corey's race car bourbon container! * Pile of invoices and bills * Another framed drawing * Dream catcher * Around $300 worth of Lonely Planet books * Fimo * Sewing kit * Millions of pens and pencils * Collection of ribbon and various tid-bits * Beads * Beading wire * Massive stack of design and interiors magazines * Sketch books * Doodle books * Yoga books * Folder of bills and invoices * A pear (!?) * Tracing paper * Butter paper * Old mp3 player * Bobbyrobin * Various random cd's * Novels (borrowed) * Thyroid book * Foot powder (!?) haha * Jar of coins * Rendering markers * Frankie magazines * Prints * Christmas pressies * Post from home * Chargers and other boring tech stuff * Paints * Sculpey clay * Jewellery findings * Stash of old wood veneer * Pieces of fabric * Video camera * More mags * More paint and associated things * Phew!