(Long) Weekend Wishlist - Bright and Breezy!

Summer is trying to break through in Melbourne, the sun and warm air is feeling great when it manages to make an appearance.

With the change in the weather, my mind appears to have taken on a lighter, more bright and breezy mood. As a result, my long weekend wish list is full of fresh finds. 

Recently, I made a visit to South Melbourne and discovered a little pocket of great little shops on Coventry Street. I stumbled across Southwood Trading a wonderful fresh homewares store full of wonderful modern pieces. They stock products from one of my favourite Melbourne brands bonnie and neil.  Bonnie Ashley and Neil Downie, create functional decorative pieces which are handmade and hand-printed in their Brunswick studio. Their current collection is inspired by native Australian flora and fauna. I have my eye on some of their wooden storage cubes

If you want to know even more about them, Lucy on The Design Files did a great feature on them back in June.

Moving on from a local bricks and mortar store to an international online store, Dahlhaus. Heather Braun-Dahl makes some great ceramic pieces in her studio in Vancouver, Canada. I have my eye on a one of the turquoise (10 o'clock position in the pic) vases...$46 US well spent in my opinion.

Last but not least is to attend one of the Panelpop workshops which are being held at the Fitzroy store/workshop. If you have not heard of Panelpop they are the brains behind an exciting new stone art medium which can be drawn on directly with pencil or charcoal. Or you can even work your magic with watercolour, oil or acrylics. If you are not feeling creative, you can upload one of your favourite photos which can be printed directly onto the surface. The framed piece is lightweight and UV stable which means you can even hang in outdoors if you want to.  If that's not awesome enough, most of the materials used are salvaged or recycled which will also satisfy your carbon neutral needs.

I had one made a few months ago, using a photo of my dear cat Muffy (I know funny name - but I was 10 when we named her...give me a break!) who was with us for 20 years.

As I have already done a photo, I think I would like to try my hand drawing or painting on one so I think I might sign up for one of the last available spots for one of the workshops they have running this month and in December. Watch this space....

Side By Side Catch Up.

Week 108 - Crazy Babies!

A parade of giant demonic babies engaged in a battle of good and evil have invaded central Melbourne as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Crazy babies alright!! It has caused quite the stir in Melbourne though... 

Week 107 - Coffee Art

With my brother visiting over the last few weeks, we have been sampling the coffee delights of Melbourne. One of the best both in taste, and for the amazing Barista skills. The place is called Manchester Press named after the old printing press office that used to be in the building. It might be my fave place in Melb at the moment.

Week 106 - Modern History

It was my Birthday and I am now 33! Eek. One of my wonderful gifts was a refurbished 70s polariod SX-70 camera! Its fantastic...although I am a little scared to use it because the film costs so much! Also in the shot are some photos of me as a kid taken with our trusty polaroid. My Dad would get film from work and as a result a LOT of my old family photos are polaroids. You can just see my awesome birthday costume where I was dressed as a domino - I think I was 9 or so. Random!

Week 105 - Is that a Chicken?

I went to take some shots of these and it was too dark last week and I tried again the other day when we were visiting sadly its a phone shot! These are Japanese silky chickens! No I did not make that up and I also did not take a crap photo where you can't see any eyes or beaks etc  this is what they look like. They freak me out because you can't tell what there are up to - they are like toilet brushes on legs! So funny! 

Week 104 - Haste Ye Back

I have been working on a little Scottish print for my spare bedroom,which I have decided is going to have a bit of a flavour of home. Haste ye back is  Doric for come back soon.
I have designed the whole print myself and after a lot of changes and layouts. I am super happy with it. I also got a modern deer head from Pulp to add to the 'theme'.

Week 103 - Primary Positive 

 

Random photo alert. Shane is like a Womble and likes to re-purpose and recycle. Anyway, he has few car batteries ready to be taken to the recycling place and I was liking the colour and shapes of them all lines up. Primary colours a plenty.

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

Side by Side Week 102 - Chocolicious

I made Molten Chocolate Puddings on the weekend - Yummers! This is typical of me, but the remaining chocolate that I didn't use has sat in the packet for the last few days and I don't have any inclination to eat it. Its a family joke that I could sit with an open packet of chocolate and not eat it - much to the dismay of my Mum and Bro. I look at it as one of my key skills in life, cause I reckon I would be a few kgs heavier if I didn't have it! :-)

Weekend Wishlist - Prints

I have quite a bit of wall space in my house and much of it is just crying out for some colourful art to brighten up my neutral décor and add a bit more interest to some of the rooms. 

I plan to frame some of my own photos and to make some prints of my own but here are a few odds and ends that have caught my over the last couple of weeks. 

The first is City In Pink by Inaluxe
 

The next is a handmade silkscreen poster for a Feist concert in 2008 by Vahalla Studios posted on the Poster Cabaret website (where there are a whole heap of other awesome prints by other artists and design studios.)

I LOVE Melbourne artist Ghostpatrol and can only dream of owning one of his original pieces. Recently though, he collaborated with another of my faves Panelpop  (a wonderful company who have come up with an innovative framed art surface which you can draw directly onto or have photos printed etc). This is his Fox Shadow illustration now I just need $180 to buy this little gem.

Last but not least is a 2012 Mountain Calendar by Palmostracco on Etsy.
It's a wonderful mountainscape (Did I just made up a new word?) and dates follow the mountain contours. So cool.

Hopefully a couple of these little beauties will be on their way to a new home - my home - soon.

Side By Side Week 101 - Spring has Sprung

Week 101

The weather has been fantastic and it looks like Winter has gone and Spring is here. We have a big old fig tree in our back garden and the leaves and little figs are already popping out all over the tree. (oh and a little overlay action - Prismatic Paper 2 overlay from lostandtaken.com/ )

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

Side By Side Week 98- 100!!

 Week 100 - X marks the spot!

X marks 100!! Wow we have been doing this for 100 weeks! That sounds nuts! This is a random metal 'thing' Shane found and thought I might like to paint it or something and turn into a door stop or the like. I do very much like it's industrial look and after a bit of filing and grinding (by Shane) it's had its first coat of white paint and is already looking better. A paper weight perhaps?

 Week 99 - From the Shadows

 

We headed up to the snow this past weekend for some snowboarding! Its much like spring here which is WAY too early and it looks like the snow wont hang around this year sad :-(  Still we had a great time with what is there and enjoyed the sunshine! Ooh and I got a new snowboard which was all kinds of awesome!! 

Week 98 - A snails pace

I am kinda fascinated by snails in that they appear from dark damp places when the rain appears and slide around the back garden and then disappear again. Crazy crawlies!

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog....Happy 100th photo and yay to us for keeping at this for so long!

Weekend Wishlist

I have been thinking of creating a regular feature here for a while . After a bit of thought I decided that I might write a little about the things I like and have on my wishlist to buy or at least dream of one day owning. I seem to bookmark more and more wonderful products every day whether from the newspaper, magazines and all the wonderful blogs and sites online.

This weeks wishlist has a few odds and ends that I have my eye on...
1. Hilary Grant - Mountain Cushions
These are just brilliant, I HAVE to have these. Not only because they are made from 100% pure Lambswool in my home country Scotland, but they appeal to my snowy/mountain love and therefore tick all the boxes for me. They will go just perfectly on my Eames eiffel chair in my bedroom!Hilary Grant is an independent knit and textile designer who in addition to creating these wonderful cushions makes scarves and mittens too.

2. Pony Rider - Swiss Alps Cushion
Following on with the mountain theme, I am loving this Swiss Alps cushion by Ponyrider which features a screen printed image of the Matterhorn with a little extra graphic touch to make it pop. I have singled this one out but I could quite easily buy one of everything in their shop. I don't think the bank balance could cope with that though (sadly)!
Pony Rider is a collaboration between Sydney friends Kelly Searl and Jacqui Lewis. Their textiles and soft furnishings are designed in house, and then hand screen printed and sewn in Sydney.

3. Gotye - Making Mirrors
Ok so this is no longer a wishlist item because I just bought it this afternoon (while writing this post), but it I think it should be on everyone else's list. A fantastic album...really brilliant - love the album cover artwork too. Check out the first song from the album below.

Look out for more goodies soon.