The Boy Done Good

Over the weekend my wonderful boyfriend and I got engaged... please excuse me while I go and float on a cloud for the next wee while! (and excuse the cheesy photo... yikes!)

Diary Woman

I found a mysterious lady at the bottom of my diary page...

Saving Neshima

Today I just wanted to post some pictures of absolute cuteness and a happy story.

Yesterday one of my dearest friends became the proud owner and 'mother' to Neshima, a gorgeous wee rotweiler/kelpie pup from the Malaga RSPCA. I got to come along and meet her and help buy all the toys and things, so much fun!

Poor wee Neshima was abandoned at 2 days old, and since then has been hand raised by foster parents for the last 2 months. She has successfully batteled the parvovirus and now has two of the best owners she could possibly wish for. I'm so happy for them!

She became a bit of a miracle puppy in the Perth animal world for a while, see more of her story here!

A Different Style

I've been mucking around with some different styles of drawing lately, sometimes I get so sick of drawing in a style where everything has to be 'perfect'. This, of course, matches my perfectionist traits to a 'T', but I'm trying to force myself to try things where the outcome isn't necessarily going to be as correct as a photograph, and to just be OK with seeing what happens!

Oh my goodness, it's hard to let go! But I'm getting there slowly, and I actually had fun drawing these faces - I want to do something else with them, take them a step further, but I'm not sure exactly how just yet. We'll see... I got some great technical tips from Catherine over at My Folk Lover so I'm going to keep practicing, keep working on it. Good things take time!

Feather Love Photography

This photo makes my heart skip a beat, I just adore it... it is by Feather Love Photography and I found it over at Bash Eco Events, check out more of their super stunning photography here!

A Widdle Wabbit

Well my man is away in the middle of nowhere in Western Australia, building houses for aboriginal communities out there in the great red, dusty desert! He's gone for at least 8 weeks (yikes! The things we do for money!) so I am trying to find things to keep myself occupied.

An opportunity came up to work Saturdays at my old workplace so I grabbed it, and when there are no customers in the showroom I've been given permission to 'muck about', so here's a widdle muck-about wabbit I just doodled.

pinchandspoon

A couple of weekends ago I dawdled down to a designers market in Perth called Made on the Left - there were some fantastic stalls there, and it felt quite assuring that I was seeing some of the same designers that I'd come across at previous markets so I know I'm seeing the best of the best from Perth now.

I think my absolute favourite stall would have to have been the gorgeous 'neck pieces' from pinchandspoon. Isobel takes old clothing, fabrics, lace and tid bits to make these works of art... see all her other super fabulous pieces here!

A Home Base Summer

I wanted to share these lovely images from Home Base Collections - their fabrics are gorgeous on their own as it is, but these summery photos make me dream of all the goodies I could turn them into... or just drape myself in some 'toga style' and dance around like a summery goddess with flowers and feathers in my hair too!

Mags and Bags

Today I received an unexpected parcel from the lovelies at ES Design - two copies of World Sweet World magazine, and a bag from AQ Bags, all wrapped up in delicious brown paper and ribbon!

The fabric on the front of the bag is 'Nature Nurture' by Homebase Collections in NZ- one of my favourites.

Talk about making my day, (and making me a little bit home sick) I am so stoked - thanks guys! xx

New York, New York

A collection of bits and bobs, for a New York friend.

Meander in Kings Park

I have let my blogging slip lately, and I have no excuses really, other then that my little sister has come to stay with us for three weeks, and so right now I couldn't be happier. There is nothing better then spending time with one of my dearest, best friends in the world. Today we meandered through Kings Park, enjoying a mild winter's 18 degree sunshine, and doing nothing much else except 'hanging out'.

Jenn Shelton: Take II

Another wee glimpse into the musical stylings of the lovely Jenn Shelton, she's come a long way from the days in college where we sang together in a barbershop quartet - local homegrown superstarlett!

Toot toot toot!

That would be the sound of me tooting my own horn, as I have successfully managed to customise my blog format from two columns to three... AND this included adding, deleting and writing new coding (scary, un-chartered territory from my perspective!). So now that I have mastered this, I am going to be attempting more changes in the weeks to come, so my blog may look a little piecemeal for a wee while, never fear I am still around, still blogging, still reading, it's just a work in progress... like everything in my life!

Sweet Fan Finds

Hello sweet little fan shaped leaves, I found you on my lovely Sunday afternoon walk yesterday. I don't know what you're called or what tree you're from, but I just had to draw you, I hope you don't mind.

Today

It's raining in Perth today, which is a bit of a novelty for me as I can still count on my fingers the amount of times it has rained in the whole 6 months we have been here.

I have succumbed to the nasty winter hooglies, rather badly this time I must say, so I am stoked up on cold and flu drugs and rugged up on the couch with the laptop, making my way through blog land. The best way to spend a snuffly, drizzly day.

It was going to be made even better by some hot toast drizzled in butter and honey, except that I popped it in the oven (we have no toaster) only to get distracted with my blog reading, and I well and truely burnt that toast to charcoal like smitherines, setting off the smoke alarm in the process, and then discovering that those two pieces were the last bits of bread in the house.

So gelato it was for breakfast, (to sooth the sore throat of course), only to discover the hooglies have taken over my taste buds and I didn't get to appreciate the sweet strawberry sorbet goodness one little bit.

When all else fails, some trashy day time soaps and chat shows may just do the trick!

One Guy Starts a Dance Party

I was a bit bummed this morning about having to go to work on a Saturday, but I then saw this video over at Gala Darling's iCiNG and suddenly my day was a lot brighter... try watching this without at least smiling! Happy weekend everyone :)

Just a Little Bit More Music: Zee Avi

Yes yes, I've been posting a lot of music clips lately, but I've found another goodie (yea I'm a bit behind the 8-ball, she's plastered all over the net at the moment) but either way, I'd still like to mention the cute as a button talents of Zee Avi, 23 year old singer song writer, and creator of good ear love to make the mornings that little bit easier. Enjoy :)

Noted

An interesting thing happened the other day... During my lunch break, I was working away on a particular drawing that I am intending to send to a friend. The general idea of the drawing is as if a whole lot of bits and bobs have been tipped out of a bag and scattered around, and these are the things I have drawn. Each item relates to my friend in some way or another, so though to the average person it might look like a strange subject for a piece of artwork, it is has a lot of meaning to him. One of my managers came over, and, seeing what I was working on, said, 'What's this for?'. 'It's a gift for a friend of mine,' I replied, to which he responded with a rude snigger, 'Geez, what a waste of time, wouldn't it be quicker just to photoshop it or something?'. I was totally stunned, and as he abruptly walked away, I was lost for words. At first, I was admittedly a little offended, I have spent hours and hours on this drawing, and to have that kind of reaction towards it felt terrible. Slowly however, as I've thought about it more and more, I've managed to realise something very special (and I don't want to get all mushy here but it will probably come out that way). I realised that I have a gift, just like all of my fellow design and crafty bloggers out there, and the fact that we can find peace, passion, excitement, delight and so many more emotions through the daily processes that make us happy, is super fantastic. Design, art and general hands on craftiness is such a huge part of what my life is about, it is what makes me tick, and I'm sure it is the same for a lot of you out there too. So in the end, I thought, wow, I really do feel sorry for my manager, who obviously cannot see the merit in making/designing/creating something just for the pure wonderful feeling you get from just doing it, and not necessarily needing an outcome. He cannot see that the thought that goes into that sort of thing often means a lot more then the thing itself, and if he cannot measure the success of something, or produce it in a way that proves he has cut down time/costs/energy then it's not worth doing. What a dull, uninspiring life that must be! I feel so blessed to have my artistic talents, and you all should too. Not everyone has the ability to create the things we do, or appreciate the things we do. But we all know how great it is, so let's be thankful, and long may it continue!

Do Re Mi Mix

I know I've posted about flash mob type happenings in the past, but this is another example that made me smile, actually anything to do with The Sound of Music makes me smile, so of course this is no exception!

Parcels = Love

Yesterday was a truely exciting day, I received a parcel I have been waiting for for what seems like an eternity! (Actually maybe two weeks max.)

I ordered two dresses off one of my favourite sites Modcloth, and I was like a kid at Christmas when I got the note in my letterbox to say there was a parcel waiting for me at the post office- I drove for an hour round trip in my lunch break just to get there and collect it as soon as I could, jeepers!

Yay for parcels and yay for cute dresses to wear with tights, cardis and boots in winter and jandals in summer. Bliss!

Little Birdy - Summarize

What better way to start a Monday then with some fun sounds from Perth band Little Birdy, get ready to dance around in 3...2...1.... go, yayy! Thanks Mouse for the re-introduction, isn't it great when you re-find things you used to love? Super :)

Andrea Joseph: Pixie Boots

I happen to know there are a few of you wee pixie lovers out there in blog world, and I thought of you all when I was scrolling through the works of one of my favourite blogging artists Andrea Joseph... how sweet is her drawing of 'a brief history of the pixie boot'!? (You may need to click on the image to see the fantastic detail...)

See her original sketch blog post here along with many many other goodies.

Bird to Fly

One wee birdie, framed and ready to fly back home to my cousin as a pressie for her graduation.

Leafy Faces

Image from Bloesem

I saw this post on super blog Bloesem a couple of days ago and just had to share, how totally bizarre yet neat is this!?

Every time a leaf falls from her tree, dutch designer Nienke Sybrandy carves a wee face in it, and keeps it, adding it to her collection of previously fallen leaf faces to make a leafy face family... they look creepy!

Lil' African 'Dudes'

OK, last drawing from me for a little while (though it's been great to re-discover my drawing bug lately!) - some sweet wee African hair pins. I know they look a little evil but in real life they're very cute little wooden dudes... whack one of those through your messy up do eh?

Mountain 'o' Retro Chairs

Here's another fun drawing - inspired by the creative lovelies at home in Wellington at es design!

Doodle Noodle

What can you do with a spare hour in the evenings, a random glittery gel pen from childhood years and a bit of imagination? Create super quirky free hand doodle collages!

Tid-Bit Tiki

A few years ago I spent six months researching my Great Great Grandfather's collection of Maori artefacts for my final year dissertation at design school, and through the process I discovered that the Wanganui museum not only holds many of the items he collected during the late 1800's and early 1900's, but also some of his own attempts at carving tiki. I fell in love with all the intricate pieces of stone work, and have dabbled in representing their detail in my own way, only 100 years later, through drawing.

These are some of the attempts I've been making lately, I'm quite pleased with them I think!

Elephant Giggles

Each day on my way to work I drive by a big park at the end of our street, and each one of those days I smile to myself when I look at this sweet little elephant 'tag' someone squiggled over a boring 'Perth City Water Council' sign on the park maintenance building... love this!

Birds in the Woods

On a more successful note, I have been experimenting lately with printing some of my drawings onto timber veneer - and I'm really liking how they're turning out.

Of course I'm only printing at this stage using my basic black and white home printer so the images are losing a bit of detail and definition, but the idea is there so I might now think about getting them screen-printed...? Oohh project!

When Fimo Goes Bad

Don't you hate those moments when you get so geared up and excited to try out a super idea you've thought of, only for it to end ... badly?

I had this happen to me a few nights ago, when I cottoned on to an idea of making fimo flowers.

What started out as a fantastic finished product that I could see in my mind of these really gorgeous, detailed objects that I could then add into a really neat necklace I'm working on, turned into a burning session in the oven which included smoking the house out and setting off the fire alarms, and soon after that I quickly lost my fimo mojo. Doh!

Love.

OK, this is naughty. I have this photo. I've had it saved in my 'fav pics' folder on my computer for a while. Problem is, I don't know who's site I got it from. I know, naughty, and I'm really sorry, and if it was your site, please let me know and I will give you credit. But I just love this photo. I love it so much I had to be naughty and share it. I'm sorry. Love love!

I Heart Gala

Images from Gala Darling

The beautiful Gala Darling... Strong, clever, beautiful girls like Gala inspire me every day.

Catch her blog, it's choca bloc with so many tips, tricks and goodies!

Heaven in a Crispy Shell

I'm sorry, I just had to pinch and share this image of crispy, gooey delightfulness from Modlife... yes, it is a deep fried Cadbury Cream Egg... (Insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here!).

Little Design Horse

Main image from Little Design Horse, segments from Blockbranding on Flickr

I wanted to feature this fantastic wall that was displayed recently during the Perth International Arts Festival. The light would change colour to depict different moods and music being played at the venue.

Produced by a wonderful team of designers from a studio called 'Little Design Horse', I tracked them down to a gorgeous wee store in North Perth.

They are experts in textile, surface and illustration art, designing items from this super wall installation through to fabrics, posters, packaging, wall decal and wrapping paper.

Check out their website and blog here for more goodies!

In My Dreams I Go

Flickr photo 'Twilight and the cliffs of Kai Iwi Beach' by Peter

Nearly every night this past week I have been having dreams about my favourite place in the world - Kai Iwi Beach in Wanganui, where I spent every school holiday for about 10 years during my childhood. I was thinking that just in the same way that people use door frames as a measuring stick for all the milestones in their youth, Kai Iwi is the measuring stick for my adolescence. All the important family events were celebrated there, most of my memories are of long hot days in the water, and bitterly cold winters by the fire. It is such a beautiful, special place for me - but not in a cliched way. It's wild and rough - the wind bites in the winter, the blue streaked black sand scorches in summer. The cliffs are dark, moody and dangerous... but it's mine. I may not be able to go there now, but at least I can visit it in my dreams... Bliss!

It's Good Readin' Monster Children

Got my sticky paws on a very good, and unexpected read over the weekend - quarterly magazine 'Monster Children' is on its 22nd episode, but my first! I initially picked it up because of the quirky cover art, and soon discovered it is a very slick mag aimed mostly at a skate and surf, male 'urbanite' market - (none of which I am however) and I still appreciated its cleverly written articles, refreshingly designed graphic layouts and features and impressive photography. If you're looking for inspiration in a new format, check this magazine out, the website is worth a look too!

Sweet Sounds: Katie Noonan

Just thought I'd share a new find of mine - talented Aussie jazz singer Katie Noonan. I love this cover of Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy', what a fantastic new twist on an already great song. Her version has been around for a couple of years, but I still think it's worth a mention for those of us non Aussies who may not have come across this talented lady before!

BobbyRobin International

Today I received my 'Lil' Bob' from Faery Sarah of BobbyRobin, yay!

He is super cute, and is currently playing post-it keeper next to my computer at work - 'Lil' Bob' is an international star now... Perth today, who knows where tomorrow!

Sophie Kyron on a Monday Morning

I have just discovered a super Australian talent Sophie Kyron, designer of STUNNING pieces of jewellery.

I have tried in the past to ween myself off busy, brightly coloured, full on jewellery, but I have come to realise that it is forever ingrained in me - I think I'm a little like a magpie, drawn to all things bright, shiny and colourful, so now I am embracing it!

I love how Sophie combines layers of beading, chain, fabric and bits and bobs to create beautiful pieces of art to drape around your neck, and not to mention some great marketing photography too.

Check out her site here for more pictures, info and stockists.