Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Side By Side Week 117 - If I look cute, I won't get in trouble!

Side By Side Week 117  - If I look cute I won't be in trouble?!
Little Missy 'found' a Christmas tree bauble and was enjoying some frantic fun with it. I appeared in the living room to investigate what the noise was and she dropped and rolled into the "if I act cute, I won't get in trouble" pose! Too funny, although glass baubles do not mix with wooden floors and cat entertainment! 

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog

Side By Side Week 116 - Joyeux Noel

Side By Side Week 116 - Joyeux Noel
As part of my rustic and homemade theme I made these little tags for the wall. I also decided to go a little European with the lovely french version of Merry Christmas. Joyeux Noel everybody! Check out more here. 

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog




I think Mr. Postman played football with my parcel!

My package from the lovely package exchange was the last in a frenzy of parcels from friends and family from all over before Christmas. This was The parcel was sitting at my front door and I picked it up with great excitement as I knew I was allowed to open this one before the 25th. When I picked it up I could hear some bells inside which were jingling as I walked inside. Hang on a moment....I can hear the bells tinkling but I can hear something else, I think its broken glass not so festive.



 Sadly, I opened up my package and the jar which Carmen had used for part of the packaging had shattered in the box. All was not lots I managed to salvage everything which she sent and it was ok. These things happen and I just felt bad for poor Carmen as she was nervous about sending her package (as I was). 
Anyway, she sent me some lovely handmade goodies, some Christmas tree decorations, crochet coasters, some cute bells (the ones that were jingling) and a one of her wonderful hand screen printed tea towels which I read about on her blog the other week. As a lover of screen printing myself this was perfect. She had printed using my fave coral colour and the subject was fab vending machines from Japan. Couldn't be better as I too was fascinated by them when I visited Japan last year. Thank you so much Carmen, I really do appreciate all your handmade goodies. 


The exchange was such a cool thing to do, I loved it. Plus I think I have found a new blogger friend who shares my interests. Just a shame she is in Sydney and I am in Melbourne. I hope we will keep in touch and who knows we can maybe try the exchange next year - without any misshaps! ;-) 

Monday, December 26, 2011

Neon and neutral package exchange

I wrote a few weeks ago about a package exchange I had signed up for via the Oh Hello Friend Blog. 
I had great plans and I think I actually managed to pull off my plans/ideas. For a while I have been seeing neon with neutrals and I love the look. I think Leslie Shewring showcased the neon/neutral look the best in her Tokyo and Neon post in August this year.
Photo: A Creative Mint
I found some great neon pink ribbon at Spotlight which was just what I was after - super vibrant and awesome. I decided I would use it with some brown kraft paper but it just wasn't quite enough, looked a little plain. After some messing around and trial and error I decided I wanted to add some interest to the paper. As a lover of all kinds of printing techniques, I decided I would carve out a snowflake motif and use that to stamp the kraft paper. It worked really well and just the pop that it needed.
Side By Side Week 115 - Handprinted wrapping paper 

I didn't manage to get a very good photo as it was late and there was no natural light. Still you get the idea. 
Carmen my swap buddy took a MUCH better photo, check out her super lovely post about my package and gifts.All packaged up inside was a cool print from Dawn Tan, some tags from super ace new packaging company Blank (I bought a tonne of stuff from them at the Melbourne Design Market earlier this month). Oh and also a little pack of postcards from the awesome Yellow Owl Workshop which I got from Notemaker a while ago. 

All in all my package was a hit Carmen LOVED it and I loved putting it together. I look forward to doing another one soon.




Sunday, December 18, 2011

Joyeux Noel

Pinterest it's a veritable feast of all things beautiful, clever, or just down right cute. At this time of year though its jam packed full of festive goodies, yummy food shots,sparkly dresses and my favourite, Christmas decorations! While I was  scanning the pages I stopped on this shot which gave me an idea...


I used Rosewood font and printed out the letters onto 250gsm off-white card. Then trimmed them up so that they were all an even size. I then used a fancy scalloped corner punch for the corners which add to the vintage feel. I strung them up using some mini pegs on a natural twine. Added a couple of calico stripey tape bows and threaded in some mini lights from IKEA to add some sparkle. The battery pack is cunningly hidden behind the L on the Noel so that I can switch them on/off easily.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure.  I am particularly happy with it, hope you like it and the French  vintage vibe I am aiming for.



Side By Side Week 115 - Handprinted wrapping paper

Side By Side Week 115 - Handprinted wrapping paper
I may be a little mad to even think about doing this BUT I did it anyway. I carved out a snowflake stamp and went to town with some white paint and a roll of brown kraft paper. I am pretty happy with the results.

Side By Side Week 114 - Tis the season

Side By Side Week 114 - Tis the season
I did take a shot last week similar to this but it was no good so I took another. The reindeer decoration from Ikea is my new favourite decoration, but the tartan bauble in the background is a close second. Yay....I love Christmas!! 

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Lovely Package Exchange

Whilst cruising around the blogosphere - I do a lot of that don't you know! I stumbled upon yet another great little blog called Oh, Hello Friend. Now it seems Danni the author of this awesome looking blog is a big fan of thoughtful, beautiful packaging, as am I. So much so, that I often take more time to either decide on my wrapping of choice or physically wrapping the gift than I do buying it! So when I read that she was running a packaging exchange I jumped right in.


What is a package exchange I hear you ask!  Firstly I had to sign up and answer a couple of 'about me' kinda questions. We were then partnered with another one of the willing participants from the same part of the world - quite the coordination effort on Oh, Hello Friend's part I think! From here the fun part starts. I have to buy a gift and parcel it up and send it to someone I have never met and I will receive a parcel back from my swap partner. The emphasis is on the packaging and it is important to put in some thought and effort into the package. 

My swap buddy Carmen, is an Illustrator and Designer based in Sydney. She writes and illustrates about things in her day to day life including her funny cat Miso on her blog Forgotten Fancies. I am REALLY looking forward to seeing what we manage to come up with. It reminds me of writing to penpals when I was a kid. Just a bit of festive fun people! 


Side By Side Week 113 - Rad

Side By Side 113 - Rad
I love the NGV Studio in Federation Square, it's an active little space focusing on 'youth' apparently! Currently there is an exhibition called Board which presents a collection of 1970s & 80s skateboards and ephemera from Tony Hallam’s (Australian Skateboarder) collection alongside contemporary decks created for the exhibition, it explores the evolution of board graphics and design. I have a blank deck of Shane's at home that I have been meaning to do something with...now I feel inspired. 

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog

Side By Side Week 112 - New Shoes!

Side By Side Week 112 - New Shoes!
We had a wedding to attend this weekend and I decided on a very high (for me) pair of new shoes to finish off my outfit! Wowsers....they are my fabulous disco shoes! So I decided to add a crazy gold bokeh overlay for added effect! 

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog

Side By Side Week 111 - Setting a Scene

Side By Side Week 111 - Setting a scene
I have been messing around with some 'styling' for the first few of my prints I plan to post up in my online shop and I like how this looked...sunny and relaxing!

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog