The postman's been

My Frankie diary arrived in the mail yesterday. Even though I'm all tech'ed up I still like writing things down. Old school. There's a bit at the front that shows an overview of the month, then there's space to write something down each day. I likey.

Have a fab weekend. I'm going to hang out with my Girls and I couldn't be happier at the prospect.

The postman's been

All the way from Mexico!

I've really enjoyed following Geninne's development of her own personal style. She's incredibly open with her tools and processes which I think is really generous. And I'm really drawn to her botanical subjects.

I look forward to getting this in a frame and up on the wall this weekend.

The blues

A couple of weeks ago I did something very out of the ordinary. For me anyway. I made a purchase that included a shade of blue. Those who know me well may need a minute to pick themselves up off the floor. I can't explain what it is with blue, but in the nicest way it offends my aesthetic sensibilities. Don't ask, I am aware of the ridiculousness. But I could not resist the other colours in this necklace from Kristina Klarin. The arrival of the necklace brightened my week even with the blues.

A new addition

On Friday in amongst the maintenance, I managed a little retail therapy too. Thanks to one of the beautiful women I work with I was gifted a voucher to Dinosaur Designs for my birthday last year. I decided it was time to redeem. It took me forever to decide, but in the end opted for small and bright. I couldn't be happier.

200th post = give away!

If you ever get to Japan, you must take some time out to visit Tokyu Hands. It's a cross between Bunnings/Spotlight/Lincraft/Ikea but a whole lot better. No less than 8 levels of DIY heaven, each level having about 3 sub levels. A visit took up most of my morning, I was a happy Casie.

The little package above is for one of you, it includes a few things from Tokyu hands, some of my gift tags and a green tea Kit Kat. Oh yes!

Edited to add the stickers! I forgot to add the stickers, they're included too.

Blog land has been good to me, it's time to give back, for this I'll post worldwide. Come say 'Hi', I've been toying with increasing the image size. This picture size? A little bigger? Or leave as was, what do you think? Let me know in the comments feel free to leave any other feedback too. I'll draw a winner next Friday 4pm Melbourne time.

Good luck. And happy weekend. Ours is a long one and couldn't have come at a better time.

This giveaway is now closed.

Would you like some colour with that?

One of the 'boring' things to do this year was update our manchester. You know when the elastic on the fitted sheet reaches the stretch of no return? Shamefully some of ours did just that a couple of months ago, but I hadn't got around to shopping for new sheets until the weekend just gone. Imagine my delight when I entered large department store to find Orla Kiely bedding on sale. And Mr T actually liked them. The stars must have aligned or something. I love that there's now a crazy amount of colour in our otherwise neutral bedroom.

Slow Sunday

Slow is probably an understatement. A weekend away was just what I needed. In fact my body could probably do with a whole week. I feel as though I'm on the brink of illness. Bleh.

Still I was well enough to partake in some shopping. On the way home we made a stop in at a huge shed with all sorts of second hand goodness. I was in heaven and restrained myself to the tin box the Babushka doll brooch (later purchased uptown) sits on. I think I'll use the box to cart around my painting stuff. You can't quite see in the photo, but it once was painted a soft aqua colour.

A week of Special Stuff - Day 03

The photo on the left was taken for a folio piece back in the day. The model was my brother and it was taken in the bathroom with the best available light using B&W film. Developed and printed myself. Sadly if you put me near an enlarger now I'd struggle.

The piece in the middle is (and here I reveal my lack of art processes) looks to be an ink drawing. It's the first of eight in the series and was given to my for my 13th birthday by the Mum of my best friend at the time. It sat in the back of my closet for a good few years. I didn't like the thought of an unhappy puffer fish staring out at me, but he's proved to be good company. And I have quite an affinity for him.

The third and slightly hard to see, admittedly, is a friend's wedding invitation. There are two birds that have been pressed into the paper, you might just be able to make out their outline. It's subtle and multipurpose. Good design I'd say.

The porcelain crane (from Have You Met Miss Jones) is a far more recent addition and one of two frivolous presents to myself from the collection after finally righting my wrongs all in the name of credit card debt. My classmates and I folded many a paper crane in middle school and I have a love for the Japanese culture that hopefully will see me returning to Japan (for the third time!) at the beginning of next year.

These all sit atop a wooden chest of drawers that I inherited from my Mum. Special to you? Not so much. Special to me? Oh yeah!

Weekend recap

MC Chair. Image: Yellow Diva

Bubbles on a String Necklace. Image: Layla Starr

Phew. What a weekend. It all started on Friday night with an impromptu visit to Cumulus Inc. I have been wanting to visit for months. Everything we ordered hit the spot and I would happily go back in a heartbeat.

Saturday night was fun at the engagement and Sunday was a long day. We managed to get to one Melbourne Open house scoring some great views of Melboune as well as This is Not a Design Market (first image above) showcasing local fashion, products, paper, furniture, lighting art and people.

Then Design:Made:Trade, highlights for me were the two items above. I would love a statement chair, and the MC from Yellow Diva totally fits the bill. Plus it was comfy. I could happily spend an afternoon reading my book in it.

The bubbles on a string necklace by sisters Kate and Jessica Hart of Lalya Starr totally captured my imagination. The necklace looked incredibly delicate, but I was assured of their strength when I was told the girls accidentally dropped a box nearly watching their livelihood smash to bits. Thankfully they bounced and can now assure customers of their strength!

Unfortunately both a touch out of my price range at this stage. But one can dream.

250mL of goodness

The keep cup has to be one of my favourite recent purchases. The two bakeries on the way to the station sell their coffee in polystyrene cups. Gah! I couldn't bring myself to buy coffee from either of them. And the paper cups favoured by most other coffee vendors are currently not able to be recycled because the paper is coated. So take away coffee has kind of been a no win for the environment. Until now. The keep cup combines my love of coffee and the environment in one handy 25oml package. And I think it's cute.

Tasty

Admittedly, I wear far too much black. Most Melburnians do. I love that this brooch by elk accessories* makes things a little less boring. And I love that it's a gift from Mr T.

* I do find the website to be rather irritating, there's far too much backwards and forwards going on for my liking; you've been warned.

The postman's been

Look what came in the mail last night.
I was alerted to the fact that Spencer Lacy were having a sale. I've admired their collections from afar and now there's some substantial reductions. I just couldn't resist. Too good for sleepwear, I plan to wear the black top, which is silk and quite voluminous, with a belt to cinch the waist. And the cami, I think it will work under a grey cardigan. I just loved the pattern of the leaves or tear drops as they look to me.