Things I Love but can't afford Tuesday!

Ok,  I've posted about Beirut duo Bokja before but I just can't help bragging about their work again...Love it. I'm not sure of prices for their pieces but if Bob Sinclair,  Hilary Clinton and Kate Hudson can afford one, I know I sure can't.

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All images from Bokja 

I've been watching the news all weekend and it's really heartbreaking seeing the images coming from Japan and frankly quite hard to write inspiring blogs but through all these natural disasters we have to look forward to something and for our family it's EASTER. I have started making easter cards to sell at the shop and the girls have been making easter ornaments to give to family and friends, it's such a great thing to do with kids and so easy, thrifty too...

First part of Easter ornaments:

You will need:

Air dry clay - suitable for children it's made from 97% natural substances
Play doh moulds

Firstly cut out your clay shapes, the girls used play doh moulds

I used cookie cutters for my card ornaments -  they look a bit like cookies on the foil, it's much easier to put drying clay on foil or baking paper as it doesn't stick.

Paint shapes white... 

or whatever colour you like - of course the girls chose PINK again

Making a mess

Stay tuned for Part 2 on Easter decorations on Thursday...

and I couldn't resist posting my girls - playing with chains from my HH garage, while HH was...

spray-painting my new or rather old cabinet/lockers white, for my studio  

Stay tuned for my freshly painted cabinets!

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A bit of inspiration for Thursday from Akira Isogawa's 2011 - 12 collection. Love his free flowing style...

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Images from Marie Claire

Colour

Blue for a cloudy Wednesday...

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Image from Elle Decor

Celebrate International Women's Day, Wear Thongs!

Image from coloribus.com

Things I Love but can't afford!

Absolutely love this Proust Geometrica chair originally from 1978. It was re-designed by Alessandro Mendini in 1993 for Cappellini at Chaplins. This beauty would cost you around $10,867 Australian dollars...

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Image from Chaplins.co.uk

Fantastic new Geometric Earrings in store now! Must haves...

Click here to buy!

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Psychaedelic artwork by Melbourne artist Grant Nimmo for more click here.

Image from danrule.com

Have a great weekend everyone!

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My great idea for Thursday, is not actually my idea but I think it's Great. Real Living featured some fantastic DIY's a couple of months ago and these bespoke vases are one of them, I haven't had time to attempt them yet, definitely on my to do list.

Bespoke Vases

you will need:

• Bottles and Jars, (washed)
• Bucket 
• Oil-based or enamel paints
• Newspaper; plastic dropsheet
• Paintbrush or medium-nap roller
• Sealer undercoat paint
• Chalkboard paint; chalk

Step 1) Soak clean bottles and jars in bucket of water overnight to remove labels easily. Let dry.

Step 2) Pour a small amount of paint into each bottle/jar. Swirl, gradually rotating until inside is coated. They may require a second coat. Lay newspaper on floor in a well-ventilated room and cover with plastic dropsheet. Leave jars to dry, upside down on dropsheet. Peel jars off dropsheet. 

Step 3) Arrange bottles for a bright, striking vignette. Fill with flowers or paint a chalkboard wall and create an arty illusion with chalk (as shown above).

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Instructions and image scanned by me from Real Living Magazine issue Jan/Feb 2011

Colour

A bit of colour to get you through the week. Photo taken by Fashion Photographer Mariano Vivanco I'm a bit chuffed to say a friend from high school.

Image from Mariano Vivanco

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Things I Love but can't afford!

Love these lamps by UK designer Karen Ryan. The inner lampshade is covered in artists' canvas and then painted like beautiful paintings. These gorgeous lamps are a little outta my budget at the moment...they will take you back around $4000 Aussie dollars each!

Images from dezeen

Cute butt stools from Estd by Established & Sons are economical and stack perfectly. The design stems from a tractor seat and has three holes for lifting they are suitable for indoor and outdoor use. You can buy them at a semi affordable price of $195each...click here to buy.

Tomorrow's post is all about colour!

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New structure to my blog, daily posts will consist of:

• Monday - Shop stuff and whatever happened in the weekend
• Tuesday - Things I can't afford but want!
• Wednesday - Colour & shop stuff
• Thursday - New Ideas
• Friday - Artists and Designers
• Sunday - I'll just make it up...

At present, my blog is a bit airy fairy, my posts are about what I want when I want and working this way often leads me to writers block. So from this point on I am going to try and stick to a more structured blog...

So for Monday -here are the pics of my girls and their newly made cardboard butterfly wings mentioned in Friday's blog.

They had so much fun making them! oh and they had to be PINK

Little Rice Monsters now in-store!

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I was so busy yesterday I didn't get to do my post. So here it is. My hubby and I took the girls to the aquarium ... so we are going to attempt butterfly wings today!

Now, for the shop. Little Rice monsters will be in store tomorrow, they are so cute and just the right size.

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I'm so rapt with guest blogger Anna-wili Highfield on the design files I had to blog about it. Anna has spent the whole week writing about awesome projects to do with children - my girls and I are going to try these butterfly wings out this weekend.

All images are from the design files click here for more information and instructions on how to make these gorgeous wings.

I also have to note that Anna is an amazing sculptor. Here is an image of her fantastic work for more click here

My next post is on Sunday and you'll be able to check out what's new in store! Have a great weekend...

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Today was a seriously hectic day! So I thought I would lighten up the mood. For the last couple of days my blog has been a bit heavy with all that's happening in my homeland NZ...so today I'm going to go completely off base and blog about bold, bright & beautiful uplifting watercolours by Laura Trevey here are a couple of gorgeous images.

You can buy this here

Laura is an artist/blogger from the US that loves to paint in bright vibrant colours, her art and design blog has an inspiring array of "bright" ideas for the home and her works are sold all over the world. Click here to visit Laura's blog. 

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While I've been on the topic of NZ all week and they're having such a hard week, I thought it appropriate to add a little music from "the land of the long white cloud." For more from Josephine Costain click here. Hope you enjoy!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those people affected by the earthquake in Christchurch...the world is going crazzzzzy!

You can buy this painting "The Arrangement" at Red Olive Studio's Click here for contact details.

Now on a lighter note, when upset go shopping. I saw a girl wearing this necklace at the Pigeonhole stand at Finders Keepers Market in Melbourne last year, it looked gorgeous and I want one... 

Image courtesy of Pigeonhole 

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I just recently came across MoAD (Ministry of Art & Design) in New Zealand they are based in Auckland and the two organisers of the creative collective are Aroha Lewin and Zekiah Heath they help local artists and designers of exceptional quality show their work throughout NZ.

Aroha and Zekiah just happen to be very talented artists and designers themselves and below are a few images showcasing MoAD's new Alice In Wonderland collection - absolutely love it!

Image by Emily Andrews

Image by Emily Andrews

For more of Aroha Lewin click here

Before I forget I'd like to give a shout out to Nelson and Rose who listed A Little Shop as being one of the Cool online stores in Australia!...Nelson and Rose make beautiful handmade leather beanbags and their version of the pouffe - a dumpling, you have to check them out.

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