Cruising through a few sites and came across these great little clutches for sale on TradeMe, turns out they are made/designed by Tanya Whelan, take a looksie at her fun blog all about crafty sewing, fabric and pattern!

Go Now!

I've been addicted to watching the tv show Dollhouse (which by the way I've just discovered has been cancelled, good ol' American television companies always getting rid of the good stuff). One of the characters on an episode paints and they had a really great piece of work by this artist Brooke Reidt -who is amazing! beautiful colours and the way the shapes are painted around and through each other are stunning.

Take a looksie here!

The first image on her main page is the one used in the tv show and it was auctioned off to raise money for a childrens charity by the show after a crew member brought his 2 year old son on set who had been diagnosed with Leukemia.

I could stay on here for hours!

INCREDIABLE photos daily

So.... yip it's been a while, and I know I said I wouldn't leave it too long between posts but lets be honest, I'm not perfect. I've actually been pretty busy of late -helping out with designing the invitations, table setting cards, name cards, seating charts etc for my sisters wedding, not to mention the hens night last weekend and the rugby sevens this weekend, a second hens night/weekend away next weekend then the following weekend it's the big day!Wedding!!!
So busy busy busy!

Anywho, moving on take a look at what Jean Paul Gaultier has come up with, he has created the most amazing haute cuture pieces to die for, in particular this beautiful shibori corset, the gorgeous black weaved bodice on the black dress and the stunning leather weave on the rustic ankle length gown.

Still on the Etsy note but exploring the kids section, I am really loving the great hand crochet pieces people are coming out with. Purple appears to be making it's way into the colour ranges a lot more these days and I gotta say I quite like it!

There are some really creative prints and embellishments showing up, I am a big fan of the free stitching directly onto the garments like this one below,

Also this is a really fun applique technique and a genius way to use up bits and scraps of that adorable fabric we all have but can't bare to throw away... or is that just me?...

I really love the sweet teapot applique, I can imagine a few of these but with cup cakes making an appearance as they are pretty popular at the mo!

for anyone reading out there... this is on my wish list! okay lets say birthday wish list seeing as christmas was only a couple of weeks ago, then again it could also be considered a late christmas pressie... I will accept it either way thank you.

introducing... the Lomo Fisheye Camera!

Oh no. I have replaced my addiction to Myspace with etsy....

here's another great one -Dutch Door Press, they have some amazing fun kitschy designs on kids clothes, bags and letter press printed cards. (still have to learn how to do that!).

They even do one with a Dala horse!

Mie Kongo makes the cutest little mugs with gorgeous vintage inspired animals as the handles!

You can purchase them at her etsy store here!

So still on break and just about to go to bed and I stumble upon these two fantastic designers! One of whom is a fashion designer in Romania Diana Bobar Her garments are really different and she's not afraid to experiment with different textiles and dye application -for example check out her spray painted mini dresses, I'm loving the jackets and only wish I had the gall to wear them in Wellington...

Next up is Josephine - Who is an accessories designer and has collaborated with Diana -above- the photos above are from their shoot, mixing Diana's garments and Josephine's accessories), she makes these great little flower head pieces that complete any outfit, I have my eye on one of the little broach like ones with the gem in the centre!

Now I know this has been doing the rounds on several blogs recently but I have only just now had the chance to watch it and she's a very talented artist! Makes me want to throw some paper up and just get to it with the free painting, might just have to!

Nathalie Lété

Sooooo was a little bored today and got out my bags of fun fabric. Spotlight had a massive sale during the year where a lot of their quilting and kids fabrics were 50 cents a metre! How could I possibly pass up the chance of buying some/a lot of them, so as you can see I didn't!

I thought I had better do something with some of it so I embarked on an Apron making mission! I don't do nearly enough cooking or baking to warrant using one but I'm going to start, and it's not going to be one of those 'only-for-show' aprons, I'm actually going to use it.

So this is what I ended up with... I'm not the best of sewers but I still had a bit of fun making it up as I went along, I like that I made the ties quite long so I can either tie it at the back or wrap it around to the front again.

It may be a little too nice to get dirty...... but then again I have loads more fabric and can always make another couple!

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).