Right now I'm...

Reading:

Looking for Enid - this is an excellent biography of Enid Blyton, children's author extraordinaire! It's a great read - funny, entertaining and very interesting.


Listening to:

Little Birdy - I won Little Birdy's album, Confetti, the other night at a quiz evening. Turns out they are pretty awesome!

Watching:

Nothing, now that my favourite show's been canned. I suppose they did go slightly too far with the cancer skit, but still...
xx

Oh Peppermint

I went out for a bit of a shop and an iced chocolate at the local shopping centre today, and just before arvo tea time I found myself in the newsagent, searching for something to read. I was sick to death of trashy gossip mags and mainstream fashion glossies and was looking for something a bit different. And then I saw Peppermint!


Now I am in love. Peppermint brings together two things that I am passionate about: fashion and the environment. It has lots of info on eco-friendly products and companies, competitions, sewing projects, nice long articles and real fashion spreads (ie. real pictures of real people wearing real clothes). It is very very awesome and I am considering taking out a subscription because I like it so much. I hope you like it too! xx

Printing with Lotta

Last week I bought this excellent book, by surface artist Lotta Jansdotter. It covers a range of techniques to get images on paper, such as stamping, screen printing and iron-on transfers. This morning I gathered my supplies and had a go at a couple of the methods outlined: printing with leaves and designing your own stamps.


That's the book in the bottom-left corner and my rusty, antiquated lino cutter in the middle. I'm going to buy some more supplies once I get more confident: inks in nice colours (all I've got is that dark blue), some better lino cutters in different sizes and perhaps some embossing powder. I haven't really found my particular crafty medium yet - maybe printing is the one for me.


This is a close-up of the leaf prints, made with leaves from a lovely Chinese pagoda tree in the backyard. xx

Lots of Crafty Goodness...

Look what I was lucky enough to get on the weekend:


The awesome Meet Me At Mike's book, chock-full of crafty goodness. I can't wait to start some of the very excellent-looking projects. I especially love the 'Cute-as-a-button Vintage Clutch' and 'Super-cute Tote'.
Oh, and see those folded pieces of fabric on the left? They're going to become one of the projects from this book. Stay tuned!

My Long Weekend

Over the long weekend I...

bought my new pet gerbera (see previous post)

inherited a new pet budgie

baked a chocolate cake (it turned out rather flat because, unbeknown to me, someone had already used half the mix for something else)

made a lantern out of an old tin can

read The Magician's Nephew - one of my old favourites

made a birdy nesting box out of our old letterbox

went to Spotlight to stock up on wool and buy a new quilt cover

did some more crochet - I'm getting quite good at the stitches but I haven't started a proper project yet

And that was my quiet and crafty weekend in a nutshell. Hope you had a good one and happy Tuesday! xx

Library Update

Work was alright today (I do casual work at a discount variety store) - most of the time I was just tidying up the shelves and colour co-ordinating things, which makes them look more appealing. Even plastic salad bowls and rubber clogs look attractive when stacked by colour and arranged in a rainbow.
I went to the library after my shift and got out these three rather interesting (so far) books:



From left to right, they are:
1. Journal Revolution - Rise up and Create: I haven't had time to take a good look at this one yet, but basically it shows you how to make some incredible art journals involving collages, poetry, painting and all sorts of other techniques and materials. Uh-oh - I think I see a new project in the works!

2. Home Grown: A very interesting and handy-dandy book about growing and cooking your own fruit and veggies. Written by Don Burke, of Burke's Backyard fame.

3. The Big Trip - Your Ultimate Guide to Gap Years and Overseas Adventures: Pretty much as soon as I opened the pages of this gem the travel bug buzzed out and bit me on the hand. And boy does that bite itch. This is a fascinating guide on travelling the world on a budget by the very awesome Lonely Planet. I think I'm in love.

Unfortunately I couln't find any good books on learning how to crochet - all of the ones that I could find just had patterns in them. I tried to follow the directions on Crochet Australia but they had me bamboozled. Perhaps I should ask my Nana!
TTYL xx

Salvage Style

Just borrowed this incredible book from the library - The Salvage Sisters' Guide to Finding Style in the Street and Inspiration in the Attic. It is fantastic. There are tonnes of awesome ideas that involve recycling everything from old drawers to pinecones to jelly moulds. I love eco style and this book is bursting with it! A must-read.

Right Now

What I'm reading, watching and listening to at the moment.

Reading

My Brilliant Career – A classic Aussie novel written by a young woman (gasp!) in the early 1900’s. I haven’t got very far with it yet but is seems very interesting.

Listening

Lily Allen – It’s Not Me; It’s You and Alright, Still. At the moment I just love Lily Allen’s mouthy and meaningful style, along with her strong ‘mockney’ accent. I also love all the issues and pop culture references littering her songs.

Alright, Still album cover

Watching

December Boys – This is a very sweet, low-budget Aussie flick starring the one and only Boy Who Lived himself (aka Daniel Radcliffe). Set in South Australia and partly filmed on Kangaroo Island, this is a lovely film with a quirky storyline.

December Boys movie poster

And of course, my own favourite soap-opera, All Saints! Just your average medical drama, complete with regular affairs, disappearances, hold-ups and medical mysteries. What can I say? I'm hooked.