Thursday 15 December 2011

Hoarder


I'm a bit of a hoarder. I have a lot of stuff. It runs in my family (well my Dad's side anyway) but I'm starting to appreciate my Mother's view on stuff (the less the better kind of view) so when I came across these tips on buying new items, they really struck some chords in me.


When you think about your things or want to purchase something new, consider these parameters:
  • It brings beauty into your life and stirs your soul.
  • It supports a passion or hobby.
  • It helps bring family and friends together in a creative and meaningful way.
  • It educates and enlightens.
  • It makes life profoundly simpler so that you can pursue more meaningful things.
  • It helps someone who is sick or incapacitated.
  • It is useful and necessary for day-to-day life.
  • It’s part of a meaningful tradition or a reminder of a special event.
You know you are buying mindlessly if you:
  • Buy on a whim.
  • Buy to impress others.
  • Buy because you feel you deserve it.
  • Buy when you can’t afford it.
  • Buy just to update something that still works or looks fine.
  • Buy because someone else has it and you want it too.
  • Buy because the advertisement seduced you.
  • Buy because you are bored.
  • It’s purchased because buying soothes you.
I found it via The Marion House blog
Originally from Zen Habits

I think this should also apply to what you keep.
And for the things you have, keep in mind these questions
Do you use it or appreciate it often?
Do you have a place to keep it?
If not then you should consider giving it away!

xx

Which Goose

I thought I'd share some of the beautiful things from Etsy shop WhichGoose with you. Spoil yourself and buy something or use them as inspiration to make your own!






xx

Monday 10 October 2011

Artist -Edmund Dulac

They Might Have Been Lovers
Edmund Dulac was born in Toulouse and studied in France before moving to England. His timing was very lucky as he was there for the beginning of the reign of the illustrated gift book. He was commissioned to provide the art work for a number of books such as Stories from Hans Anderson, The Tempest, The Bells and other poems by Edgar Allan Poe among a great many others. He was at his artistic height during the Golden Age of Illustration.
I love the subject matter he has covered, Fairy tales, Arabian nights, poetry...


She had read all the Papers
The Bells

You can buy prints from ArtsyCraftsy and books of his art from Dover.

xx

Monday 26 September 2011

Song of the moment - Florence and the machine "What the water gave me"

This song didn't hit me the first time I heard it. I'm a big Florence fan and I have to say I remember being a little disappointed when I heard this on the radio for the first time. I don't know why now though as I love it and have driven my fella a little crazy with it on repeat. There's a clip of her saying she loves big sounds and this song has just that; big sounds, powerful vocals.



It really swells and flows and What the Water Gave Me is definitely my song of the moment.
xo

Thursday 1 September 2011

Gemstones

I came across these gem prints from Elizabeth Corkery and LOVE them. 



I love the colours and the shapes and the fact that they look like huge specimens. I mean who wouldn't want some big rocks like these on their wall!
You can buy them from here.


xx

Monday 1 August 2011

It's a Girl.



My sister has just has a beautiful little girl named Grace and to celebrate I thought I would try my hand at embroidering her some personalised little singlets. I quite enjoy embroidery but as you can probably tell from the photo's I'm still quite a novice. I took out some library books on embroidering and the lovely lady at my local library told me about a friend who had just finished an epic piece that had taken about seven years to complete!! These little things took me about 15 mins total, at a guess. The videos by Mary Corbet at Needle n Thread are really useful when you're learning new stitches (like me). I used french knots for the flowers and stem stitch for the G and the stems (how appropriate).

xx

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Song of the moment -Gotye "Somebody that I used to know"

Gotye (pronounced the dutch way -something like Goit -ee-ay or like the french Gaultier). Normal name Wally de Backer is just about to release his third album. He was born in Belgium but grew up and lives in Australia and I can't wait til his next album comes out on the 19th August.
The song of the moment that I can't get enough of is his latest single- Somebody that I used to know.



Kimbra features in it and in an interview on the radio he said he wanted a strong female voice to come into the song's story and surprise the listener. I had heard the song before the interview and it totally did this for me. Hope you enjoy it as much as me.
xo

Thursday 30 June 2011

Photo Love- Allison Trentelman

I came across Allison Trentelman as I was browsing Etsy the other day and totally fell head over heels for her fine art photography. Being a budding nature photographer myself I was really inspired to take some more photos after seeing her work. It also gave me an appreciation of her amaazing bird shots which I know require a lot of patience. She has post edited a lot of her photos to great effect giving some a real dreamy sunshine and lollies kind of feel with these bright pastel colours. She also has some amazing black and white photos.


 
 
 

You can check out and buy her work at Rocky Top Studio or at Etsy here.
 I would be happy to hang any of her photos on my walls!

xx

Sunday 19 June 2011

Artist of the week Cathy Delanssay


Cathy Delanssay is a french illustrator who has a number of children's books. I came across her work and immediately fell in love with the colour and texture of her fantasy laden illustraions which have quite a distinctive style. If you read french you can follow her on her blog La Goutte de Rosee. Here are some examples of her work.





I love the title of her book about mothers Mieux que dix Fées -Better than ten Fairies!
You can purchase some of her work at Fiche Produit though again it will help if you speak French!
And if you're a Firefox user you can top your browser with Delanssay designs for free which is pretty kewl :-)

xx

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Yalingup Wedding Part 2

I have already mentioned the beautiful wedding I went to in Yalingup. But I forgot to show the cake!
Wedding Cake

It had a chocolate top layer and a Heavenly raspberry almond orange base layer. Sooo delicious. I thought I would also tell you a bit more about the interesting venue in which it was held. The venue was Injidup Wave House in Yalingup. Its a lovely house though a bit crazy and has a not-thought-through feeling in its design. The views are to die for.

Behind the house there is a natural ampitheatre and a cave/cliff face which is beautiful. The cave/cliff had mirror balls attached to it which I imagine you'll either love or hate.


Sometimes I wish I could have my wedding over again. (With the same man though!) It seems a shame that you only really get to have one and if like in my case you organised most of it when you've never organised anything like that before there is a lot of stuff you learn when its too late. This venue was fabulous for a small intimate wedding. It had a very relaxed air which was continued with the music and food. The music was a live celtic band which played lovely music at a level which encouraged dancing but still allowed for conversation. The food was gourmet pizza with salad and lasagna.

xx

Monday 30 May 2011

Yalingup Wedding

I spent the weekend in beautiful Yalingup, WA, for my cousins wedding.
View from the wedding venue

Her family is very crafty and it was a beautiful relaxed affair.
Check out the string lights and message leaves made by the bridesmaids. The string balls had rope fairy lights incorporated into them and looked very effective in the evening. I believe they were made by covering a balloon in petroleum jelly/vaseline and gluing the string and fairy lights around the balloon before deflating it and sliding it out. They experimented with painting the balls silver but ended up liking the natural cream string colour better. It is not very noticeable in the picture but the lights were powered by small AA battery packs.

String Light Ball
The 'messeage leaves' formed part of the table decorations as well as being a beautiful way for guests to leave a message (no pun intended ;-)  for the newlyweds. Guest wrote on the back and then hung them on a selection of branches.
"Leave a message" Leaves hehe