Hedgehog mad.

Weekend Wandering.

The boyfriend and I ventured away this weekend to my family bach in the Coromandel. It was freezing but one of the nicest weekends I've spent there and we even made it down to the beach once or twice. We were only there for one night and two full days but it was enough to feel like we'd had a real holiday, we even indulged and went to the Fire Place in Whitianga for tea which has the most delectable food and desserts to die for. I was quite suprised by how many people were around, the fish and chip shop was packed! The night we stayed and the night we left.

Richard got the chance to write some music, while I fiddled with owls and other goodies. Here are a few pictures from our 'getaway' for those who'd like to see.

Richard's new Trade Aid ted. They are seriously the cutest things you will ever see.

Freezing on the beach. Thank goodness for my grandmother's warm wooly cardi.

The frizbee rescue and our neighbours particulary good looking veggie garden in an old red dingy.

Some fresh new owls at sunset.
Have a lovely week!

Hot Air Balloon Ride Crest Pin, by Suzanne Carlsen

I promised I'd post when I found out about any Suzanne Carlson stockists so here goes! It turns out there is one online stockist, Good Egg Shop, which sells just a few bits and pieces from her range and there are a few galleries that carry her work, in her home town Toronto and then in Ottawa and Montrealand. For anything else you can email her direct- you can find her email on her site.

The Good Egg Shop sells a whole lot of other great handmade goodies, including things from Anatomy of A Skirt who curated the Etsy Finds today. Here are a few of my picks from the site.

Burnaby and Alicia Paper Puppets by Pin Pals, Drawing a Blank Merit Badge by Lee Meszaros and a Moose Antler Ring by Anneke van Bommel.

Nice Suprises.

A got a nice suprise last night, although I knew something was coming- just not exactly what, from Ginny of Swonderful! A nice cheque for the things of ours that have sold in the shop over the past month and she sent me a kettle necklace from their new range! (oh! and a cute little piggy too). What a great way to end the day- a letterbox full of goodies. She also popped in a card made by some very talented ladies, Poppies for Grace, and said they're going to start stocking their things in the shop- so keep your eyes peeled Wellingtonians

Last week I received my first Berkley Illustration print, the raccoon above. Ginny's post featuring the raccoon photographs reminded me to post about it. At $7 (US) he was a steal and will be straight on my wall as soon as I find a suitable (and just as pretty) frame. I think I'll get the stately tiger next, and they've just done a hedgehog too.

Venting Machine.

I found this clever passive aggressive anger release machine on the Design You Trust blog , it's made by YarisalKublitz. There are days when I would pay to smash some plates in an attempt to release my frustration- perhaps not ones quite as pretty as these though! You can find all their weird and wonderful inventions on their site. I especially like the sliding and collapsing chairs- the hangman light is amusing too.


I also found another great photographer, (and Gin did too- check out her blog ) on Design You Trust too, Ricardo Salamanca-Salamagica. You can view his advertising portfolio online, there are so many brilliant images I suggest you take a look.

Flickr photos

These photos are just beautiful- went on a wee blog trail this morning and found them. From Anemone to La to Particules. The photos are from Laurens flickr, and she has so many more. The colours in these two are my favourite, as they were Particules, and they're making my making fingers itch.

By Francine

I really wouldn't mind one bit if this great blouse from Le Train Bleu appeared in my letterbox. It's bucketing down here but this blouse has raised my spirits that spring will one day come- and it's on sale now too!

Nice things for the weekend.

A few of my favourite things this weekend.

I would really love an excuse to use these wonderful personalised wooden icecream spoons from Paper+Cup- one day I'll find one.




And I spent a while browsing Design Sponge today- I really love their latest post which features Nea's wallwear embroidery, she also does really beautiful necklaces and other bits and pieces. And another post they did on the illustrator Jen Corace, her stuff makes me smile and I like how she takes time for so much detail.



And lastly, I went to a house party last night and a really good friend from high school happened to be there too- was great to have such a chance meeting and made the weekend that much better. Was delightful to have such a good catch up.

I hope everyones having a great weekend too.

Poor Owls

This is Castro- I mentioned him in the bit about me in the makers section of World Sweet World. I thought I'd put up some proof that he really does attack owls and would you believe I've been finding them out in the garden covered in dirt! Good one Castro. Your still cute though. :)

xx

A Birhtday Garden

My boyfriend and I made a (very last minute) attempt to decorate the trees in his mother's garden for her birthday today. We put everything together so fast I didn't notice I'd spelt 'BIRTHDAY' 'BIRHTDAY' on the stamper until I saw the pictures this morning! It's the thought that counts? But I hope she doesn't notice/or care :) and that it makes her day.

Happy Birthday Marina!

It feels like a long way till spring..

Pretty in white. Photos by Oscar Falk for Elle.

Camilla Akrans

These are some of Camilla Akrans' photos for Harpers Bizzare- love how they are so clean. What an amazing place to shoot in.

owls and tea

Some new owlies for all to see and snippet from the afternoon tea party some friends and I had at my place a few weeks ago - to truely say goodbye to summer.

world sweet world

The weekend has been a good one. I relaxed, made owls, visited a craft fair on in my area (and managed to get the boyfriend along too- no mean feat) and my copy of World Sweet World arrived in the mail.

Our wee owls and Papercup's Kafta dress are both featured and I did a 'how to' page, on how to make cute hot water bottle jumpers from old sweaters for winter. Was very exciting to see it amongst the other great articles in the magazine- which is another great issue. There is an article on growing your own veggies too, which is brilliant timing for me as I've just set aside a section in my garden to do just that. Swonderful is one of World Sweet Worlds many stockists if you're interested in picking up a copy- but if you're not near Brooklyn, Wellington- all the other stockists are listed on the site.

I'll be popping the new owls up on Etsy tonight, please feel free to have a wee look. Thank you!

xx Have a great start to the week.

more on Mine

What's even nicer than stumbling upon a great designer, is to find out she is lovely too! After posting about Mine I emailed Katherine asking about her great designs and stockists. Turns out there is more than one place online that stocks her things- Standard Deviation , based in NY (they have the biggest range of Mine online at the moment, and stocks a bunch of other brilliant designers + Katherine tells me the buyer is lovely too!) and No-one, based in London. And Mine has future plans for it's own online store.

The new "Elsie moved in circles" collection (below) is available instore around August/September- and the current collection 'I gave my love a papercut' is in stock now.

Happy shopping!

mine, mine, mine

I wish it was all Mine!

I have fallen in love with every collection from Mine by Katherine Pont. Everything has a touch of delicacy to it without being overly girly- and her amazing illustrations and cut-outs have left me in awe. Who knew art could be so wearable. Katherine was born in Sydney and sadly (for us) moved to London after graduating from an honours degree in painting and drawing at the College of Fine Arts. She has lived in the UK for seven years, and has been designing her independent label Mine since it's humble beginnings in 2003. There's more information on the Mine site and myspace page. There luckily is one online stockist, the gorgeous Sotto boutique- they don't have much Mine stuff up at the moment, just two neat shirts, I'll let you know when more pops up.

Sotto also stocks beautiful vintage inspired frocks by Mooka Kinney (see second pic) and one of Ginny's from Swonderful favourite stationary designers Yellow Owl Workshop.