boxes and mooching

I have been admiring the stenciling on wooden wine boxes.

Bookworm alert! Go to BookMooch. Such a fantastic book exchange. First found via.

rubbish

So Hollywood want to remake Park Chan Wook's Oldboy.
I hope it is a joke. Anyone passionate about it can sign this petition.
Face it big H, you can't match Korea on this one.

the gift wrapping begins

Anyone else get as much pleasure from gift-wrapping as I do?

If I owned my own house I wouldn't mind if I woke up one morning to find any one of these painted on my walls.

pif and pencil case

Now that the recipientt has received it, I can reveal her pif gift.

• Handmade pencil case
• A copy of Dumbo Feather
• Paper to play with
• A vintage ET eraser

Happy weekend everyone.

calico house extension

Those calico houses were calling to be made into plush for my ma + pa.

drying wrapping paper

I was a one-woman production line printing wrapping paper on Saturday whilst certain birthday people were out of the house.

oh.

one for you, one for me

I love giving presents, and I purchased this print of Sandra Juto's triangle illustration for a friend. The bold coloured triangles contrasted with the spindly stems and the textured pencilled person really appeals.
It arrived today, with the copy that I just had to purchase for myself as well...
Dangers of giving?
Dangers of affordable art?

calico house

Birthday season continues. Eb and my mum share the same birthday soon, and my dad's birthday follows a few days after. Above are the cards I have made for my parents. They had said all they wanted for their birthdays was a new house. Thankfully they found and bought themselves a new house last weekend, so the calico ones I have on offer shouldn't disappoint.

happy saturday

What a Saturday morning already. A chocolatine, great coffee, and a quick spot of op-shopping where I found the above fabric and saucepan. (As much as I adore the saucepan, I am going to have to give it to a friend who would love it even more).

I have some cleaning to do, but also some cards to make...i know which will reign supreme?

Some recent blog discoveries for you to peruse:

• .chocolate circus. - the best excuse to look at only the pretty pictures because I can't read the language!
• bamarik - colourful view of everyday life
  
• itty bitty tiny things - new blog of cute illustrator Laura Berger
  

The gig last night was fantastic. C.W and the band did not disappoint, and it was nice to be part of an intimate receptive audience. His support act, Brownbird Rudy Relic was a bunch of fun.

Happy weekend.

Mr Stoneking

We are seeing C.W Stoneking play tomorrow night. I am peeing my pants because I am looking forward to it so much. As a bonus we only have to drive to a town 50 minutes away to see him. What next? Great live music in our own town?

If looks deceive you easily then close your eyes to listen.

ribbon and twine

I saw this gorgeous ribbon on Loobylu's blog and jealousy ensued. I had to purchase some of the Camilla Engman ribbon and the Rosa Pomar ribbon from Rosa Pomar's lovely store Retrosaria. I have told myself that I need it for presents...
It arrived so quickly and I am smitten.

P.S It is so hard to get hold of jute twine these days!

sunny boys

The warm weather and these colours remind me of sunny boys.

pif sneak peak

I have put another of my pay-it-forward gifts together. A sneak peak above, will reveal it all when I know the recipient has received it.

out with the washing machine, in with a winner

My random number generator, (Eb), picked number 9. (Although, he would argue the lack of randomness).

If I can count, that means edward and lilly won the giveaway.
Hooray! Email me your postal details.

Thanks for entering everyone, and all of your fab links.

giveaway nearly closed

I ♥ links on the last day:

• Yarn Love names their yarns after literary heroines. I think Juliet is my favourite. Via Jess
  
• The One AM Radio must be a cool band because they have pictures of Voltron. Via Angela
• ZeCe pointed me towards Ted.com, where you can see and hear inspired talks by the worlds best thinkers and doers. Their tag line is " ideas worth spreading", i like the notion of that.
• Keep updated with the happenings of cute etsy seller Bungle Bear Designs. Via Crystal
• As many people have been, Digital Misfit was inspired by the acceptance speech of Obama, and what his words meant.

So I do the giveaway draw this afternoon. Still time to enter if you haven't.

printing wrapping paper

Good thing that orange paint is such a cool colour, I accidentally paid a truck-load for it.

where did thursday go?

On Friday afternoon I ♥ links:

• I am a kid in a candy store at the Knitting Pattern Central animal page as pointed out by Chelsey.
  
• The election of Obama has inspired Melody to listen to the speeches and dreams of Martin Luther King Jr .
• If I was going to step over to the crochet way of things I think I would start with Creepy Cute Crochet. Via Sweetmeat. (I once started crocheting an elephant. All I have to show for it is a trunk that looks like a crochet penis).
• Mel has been drawing inspiration from these stories from cancer survivors. I haven't read them all yet, but there is a common thread in appreciating and living life.
  

links number next one

I ♥ links on hump day:
(Sounds a little off?)

• The Believer magazine for bookworms. (I am really liking this). Via Amy
  
• Angie Lewin printmaking. Via Jezze, make sure you check out her octopus beak, fascinating.
• Blog of animal-drawing artist Erin Kobie. Via Crissy Girl
• Shellbells reminded me to visit the tsk tsk blog of Australian artist Tiel Seivl-Keevers. I haven't been for a while.
• The lovely Ashley says that seeqpod is the place to go for music, and that it even makes suggestions based on your favourites. (Is anyone else bummed that etsy ditched their suggestions machine, i thought that thing was ace)?
  

a goat was found

I ♥ links day 2:

• Karen is a genie and found an adorable knitted goat pattern.
  
• The daily nice, title says it all. Something nice everyday. Via turtleclubqueen
• Elsa Mora never ceases to amaze me. Her paper-cuts are so delicate and pretty. Via sew-funky.
  
• The coolest knitting bloke about introduced me to the soothing folk songs of Vashti Bunyan. I am disappointed that I haven't discovered her before!
  

diamonds in the rough

I have been gleefully reading all of your recommendations in the giveaway post, thank you.
They are too fantastic not to share, so consider this the " i ♥ links week".
It has also allowed me to click through to your own lovely blogs, some of which I have not visited before. Expect some comments from me!

So on Monday I ♥:

• Adorable song by Lenka and an even more adorable stop-motion clip to match. Curlypops thought it was right for a Monday morning. It made my day better.
• Divine stitched wallpaper by Claire Coles. Via Sharon.
• 3 FUN felted jewellery, Krissy digs it and so do I. Great minds think alike lady, they were already a favourite etsian of mine.
• Gretchenmist does art and textiles. Very talented lady, I think I will be lurking quite a lot. See you there Edward and Lilly.

I am still exploring, will keep you posted.

the day my washing machine broke giveaway

To say thank you for the reading and encouraging.

To say the web hub of craft, crafters and artists is a valuable place.

To giveaway a copy of Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand, a small piece of Lara Cameron fabric, and a coin pouch made with my teeth-brushing fabric.

To enter leave a comment and point me towards something you think I would find inspiring. An artist, a song, a maker, a photograph, a book, a word, a knitting pattern (especially if it is for a knitted goat), anything.

To be valid, comment before 5pm next Sunday the 9th. ( I ♥ November).

in my head

The story of the first song

Firekites

Mr C.W. Stoneking

$2.50 and never been worn

I made my mum buy these for me one year at easter as a child. I thought them too special to ever wear. I think though I might wear them one day soon.