Listening to on loop"

Roslyn -Bon Iver

(couldn't find a great vid on it but the music on this one is decent enough!)

More free time = more fabulous finds!

introducing Ban. do

They make the ever popular headbands/pieces everyone is envious of right now, they started out just designing for their friends and pow! it has turned into a major player in the accessory world.

Might have to have a bit of fun and try making one of my very own!

I am absolutely in love with this person's photos and style I came across on Flickr, not too sure of their actual name but their Flickr alias is liebemarlene and she's from Atlanta Georgia.

From what I can gather she has an enormous love for vintage clothing and accessories (her collection is amazing -I am incredibly jealous!), actually as I write this I've discovered she has a website click here! turns out she has an ebay store too! selling all her vintage finds!

What really got my attention though is the amazing photos she has taken of herself in the garments, she has completely set the scene and created stories for all the gorgeous dresses, skirts, blouses and cardies!

She kinda reminds me of Zooey Deschanel, with the whole 1950's cute doll like look.

The settings are beautiful gardens clearly playing on the seasons and her poses are so innocent and shy.

Have a gander at them!

So welcome to the almost new year, okay I'm early by a good 3 days... I have heaps of time off in which to surf the web and let you guys in on a few of my recent discoveries!

Here is Mike Perry -A really talented artist/illustrator from Brooklyn NY, who has written a couple of wonderful books one of which is on my wish list -Over & Over -all about handrawn patterns! Buy it!

Anywho check out some of his stuff below!

Ahhhh Christmas.

Isn't it odd how you can go everyday without talking to the strangers around you but the minute Christmas (or other over the top holidays), occur everyone takes the time to say -have a great Christmas or enjoy the holidays all up-beat when you step out of the elevator, off the bus or even just walking down the street? It's never during the week mid year -say maybe a tuesday and someone you've never seen before says have a great day! I'd feel quite special if someone did that to me but at the same time it's socially unacceptable???...

I get the feeling this is only in the city though, it's incrediably impersonal and you actually wonder if anybody truly means it or if it's because at Christmas (or other) it is socially acceptable? I'd also kind of liken it to when you see a collegue or someone and you ask how they are -a lot of the time it is just a sentence filler as the usual answer is along the lines of -fine thanks -as no one wants to air their dirty laundry, well okay the majority of us don't... give or take a select few individuals.

just a little something I pondered on today while waiting to finish work...

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! -see what I mean?...

Super excited to have done a wee bit of screen printing after two long years away from Uni, on the kitchen floor, not directly onto the floor... and no Mr landlord not in the kitchen....

I did a couple of the images from the previous post, I like them but they could have been bigger prints, they are a bit experimental because I had to find somewhere that would expose my screens, then find all the right printing paste and find somewhere to print them... so not as easy as Uni! But I didn't make too much of a mess.

I would love to try some different colours and perhaps try to have them stocked in a store somewhere but I will need to find some much better quality totes to print on in bulk.

The results are below, plus I had a couple of my prints laser copied which I framed and am going to give as christmas pressies, nice and cheap plus I get to give them back to my nana -they were her flowers after all! (see early posts and my addiction to my nana's garden).

Okay I promise to stop this soon....

Shout out Louds -listen to 'Impossible' it's kinda got a bit of an 80's feel to it but the mix of male/female vocals is great. I actually really like 'Normandie' too... knock yourself out.

Thought I'd throw the next two in as well

Band of Horses super fav, can't decide on just one song for you... but try The Great Salt Lake or Ode to LRC or Is There a Ghost.

Bon Iver particular favs include -Skinny Love, Re:Stacks, Blood Bank and Blindsided,

Laura Marling....
Addicted to her stuff,
Also kinda kooky -Lykke Li.

a little bit more of me...

A few more fun talented people...

The Weepies Indie/pop/folk. Hard not to like. listen to Gotta Have You.

Michelle Featherstone -as soon as I heard the piano intro I knew I would like her stuff, it's pretty upbeat and happy -check out Good To Be Alive. -actually on listening further her other songs are a little slower paced but still very nice to listen to.

Myspace -I never knew just how addictive it really really is! I have a problem where I have to look at as many as I can and sample at least one song from each band who's name takes my fancy, this can take hours! and it's super annoying if I find a band/singer I really like and can't find their music anywhere! esp in NZ.

Here are a couple if my favs from this evenings adventure through the web:

The Belle Brigade - tried to pick one for you to hear but they are all very cool, so take your pick!

Honey Honey - Listen to their cover of Whos Loving You,

Obi- quite catchy and kooky (-my new favourite new word as observed in previous posts...)

Jake Blanton -really sweet acoustic guitar melodies, his voice is pretty neat too.

The Bird and The Bee -fun, whimsical sorta reminds me of a less hyper Lily Allen.

Kate Wilson

Came across a link to an amazing illustrator off of Print Pattern blog today, meet Kate Wilson and her kooky little assortment of birds! I love them! The detail and themes/settings she puts them in creates the sweetest if not a little bizarre... feeling.

See more of her wonderful work here

Christmas!

It's almost Christmas! just had to state the obvious...

Although it's not officially Christmas until I hear Snoopys Christmas on the radio, and yes it has to be a radio. This may be a problem seeing as I don't own a radio...

I have to admit I'm not as excited as I thought I would be, I think I'm finally growing up.

A friend passed this site onto me (Guess what you forgot blog) and I have to say I love the quirky tshirt designs! Collage of photo vs sketch is a really effective way of conveying ideas, there is another designer who creates the most amazing fashion illustrations by using bits and pieces of other imagery -can't recall her name right now but I feel a future post in the making and a crafty challenge ahead!

Also anything Alice is good in my books! (ooo which reminds me the Museum of City and Sea are having an Alice inWonderland theme weekend and will be hosting an outdoor screening of the silent 1933 version of Alice at 9pm, bring a cushion and a picnic! Saturday, November 28th)

Two posts in one day! I know, but then again I have to catch up for the few hundred or so days in between all the other posts...

Courtney Brim is another one of those incredibly talented illustrators who was chosen by Bespoke Letterpress for a limited run.

She hails from Brisbane Australia and says: 'She loves all things unusual and is inspired by fairytales, Victorian illustration, memories and dreams.'

Her work is super detailed, the mixture of mechanics with dream like characters are very eyecatching.

Doing a little bit of foraging amongst Finders Keepers Blog and stumbled across a company who specialises in vintage letter press stationery and illustrations -Bespoke Letterpress I'd love to know how they make/use a letterpress! hmmm I feel a google search coming on!

Anywho Bespoke Letterpress held a competition of sorts for up and coming illustrators to submit their work to win a spot amongst 10, that would see their design printed in a limited edition release of 150. Kristal Melson was one of the lucky ones with an amazing talent, I absolutely adore 'Her love is a Pony' illustrated above.

Glee!

I love this show! it's super quirky and the characters are such a clash of personalities, it's brilliant!

We had the pilot show screen here last Friday and I can't wait for more, I've got to say Jamya Mays character Emma Pilsbury has the best costumes! They suit her character to a 't' -she's a perfect throw back to the 60's with her adorable co-ordinating outfits all prim and proper with amazing little vintage jewel accents, especially all those different sweater pins!

wow i'ts been a while since one of my posts! thought I'd better catch you and me up.

Okay so not to jump on the bandwagon of 'omg she's amazing!' but check out this kid, Tavi Gevinson (I call her kid but really she's like a teeny tiny adult in a kids body). She's pretty outrageous and has a whole style all of her own that appears to change everyday depending on what she finds in her closet. She's only 13. She writes like a fashion editor.
She's pretty quirky.

Check out her blog Style Rookie

doodles continued...

okay so I think I may be a little too into the whole flower thing but I can't help it, so here are some more....

some doodles....

WOW

Went to WOW (World of Wearable Arts), last night. I went to the first one they had here in Wellington after they moved it from Nelson and it was okay... not amazing, but last nights one shows just how much they have stepped it up a notch or two. The designs were great but the themes, dancers and acts inbetween were something all on their own -wasn't quite expecting the Topp twins to make a couple of appearances but they got the crowd going inbetween stage changes. I'd have to say my favourite part was the UV section -there were some amazing and beautiful pieces but the UV and Open sections were the winners for me.

Above: American Dream by Sarah Thomas (Winner of WETA design award) one of my favs from the show.

Firebird, Susan Holmes

Nayyyyyyy

I'm gettting me a Dala Horse!

All the way from Sweden! thanks to my friend who's doing her OE in europe. Curious to see what colour it is!

Russia has Russian dolls, Sweden has Dala Horses, anyone going to Russia anytime soon?

how?

Helen Amy Murray -a brilliant textile designer who has an amazing technique for sculpting 3D fabric pieces. I would love to own/commission a piece from her. I can't figure out how she does it, it looks extremely time consuming but soooo worth it. (patent applied for technique).