Posts Tagged ‘fun times’

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harvest residency pt 1

Friday, June 24th, 2011

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i have been having such a nice time down at harvest. it has been total radness being computer-free and playing around with paper all day long,and i have also been spoiled for company – not only that of the harvest ladies, but also dawn tan and emily green ,and mei, who has been doing work experience with me for the past 2 weeks. PLUS delicious home-made pies and cinnamonny hot chocolates from each peach next door. i’m already sad about the thought of leaving!

pop-up shop has been fun too – have had lots of nice visitors, some that i only know from blogland (hi emma!), and subsequently there has been a lot of chatting going on (i do love a chat). i didn’t consider chatting-time when thinking about how much work i could fit in during my residency, and have not been achieving as much as i wanted. SO, in quite a shambolic and unprofessional-type move (how unusual), i am changing the date of my work-in-progress viewing (originally planned and advertised for wednesday 29th – 6pm-9pm) to a closing party on sunday 3rd july, from 1pm – 4pm. this will relieve my stress levels a whole lot, and, actually makes more sense too.

do come and visit – (but not this weekend – we are closed because of my workshop. but open all next week and weekend!) – i am adding new things to the shop everyday (today some bits and pieces of tiny mammoth), and everything is at nice prices as well.

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pop-up shop opens today!

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

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my pop-up shop at the harvest workroom opens today! opening hours are:

wed 22 june – friday 24 june – 12- 4

sat 25 june – sun 26 june – closed (workshop participants only)

mon 27 june – sun 3 july – 12 – 4 everyday

address is 512 lygon st, east brunswick. we have eftpos/credit card facilities too.

we are selling all our beci orpin products, plus a few surprises. i will be making things and adding them to the shop throughout my residency as well (putting those amazing screen-printing facilities to good use!). also, there are still a few spots left in the mobile making workshop on the weekend. you can book here.

here are some shots we took while setting up the space yesterday. i am planning of it changing a little day to day (if you happen to be going past on the 96 8 tram keep your eye on the window!). beautiful sideboard was generously provided from ed at grandfathers axe. thanks ed!!

come and visit!

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for info on the harvest workroom please
email info@harvestworkroom.com.au

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some new favourites

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

place: royal botanical gardens cranbourne -

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i am a big fan of any botanical gardens, and this one has always been on my to do list. on friday myself, my mum, the kids and some friends were at an annual easter egg hunt in the area, and much to the kids disgust we made an impromptu decision to leave early and pay a visit.  i can’t believe i have waited so long to see this incredible place. it solidified my love for australian plants and confirmed my dream of having a natives-only garden one day. it’s kid-friendly and they loved it too – just the antidote we needed to soothe a chocolate-fuelled morning.

creative pursuit: embroidery -

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on my return from seoul i was feeling allergic to my computer – i simply couldn’t go near it. but i was also feeling ridicoulsly inspired, and on a whim picked up an embroidery hoop and some thread and made these. even though i am back at my computer, my embroidery obsession continues (mostly at night in front of the tv with a glass of vino). as you can see i am pretty crap at it , but it doesn’t bother me – the parts i love the most are the messiness and mistakes which i generally dont allow to happen in my other work. it feels like drawing in slow motion.

illustrator: eirian chapman -

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i discovered the beauty of eirian’s work a little while back. she has an amazing quality of line and great themes running through her work too, in fact pretty much everything she does is great. really great. in our limited email contact (i wrote her fanmail) she seems quite awesome and is based right here in my home-town too. you can see her work on her site, and she also has a great blog and has just opened an online print shop too.

clothing: PAM painted leggings

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i am a little obsessed by pretty much everything in the new PAM collection. these leggings (with a print by nathan gray) have amazing colours. and so many of them that they seem to go with everything in my wardrobe (and make it 100 x cooler). next on my list, the macarooned tank and ankh top . all available online at someday store

object: new chair

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i have long lusted after a plywood chair and spotted this one in my favourite vintage store few weeks ago. i have had it on old-fashioned lay-by since and picked it up yesterday. it’s now happily in my lounge room and i fall more in love with it everytime i walk past. raph is yet to find out about this purchase (he is away with the trucks at boogie festival), and i am pretty sure i am going to get in trouble for buying yet another vintage chair. but it’s so worth it.

there is so much happening next week it’s making my head spin. i have new work in 2 group shows and am also speaking at this forum. i even have a giveaway planned. more on that tomorrow (or knowing me, possibly the next day).

hope you are enjoying this most epic of long weekends, and if you are in melbourne getting to lap up the amazing autumn weather too.

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grandpa’s house

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

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we went to visit my dad today. he lives at the bottom of the dandenong ranges. it’s always a small boys paradise at his place –  lots of space to make cubby houses, trees to climb, paddocks of long grass to hide in, a damn full of ducks and sometimes tadpoles, fudge the dog and dylan the free-roaming horse (he likes to poke his head in the veranda door while we are having lunch). and of course grandpa who makes us fish and chips and his special noodle salad, followed by cups of tea.

today i was obessesed by the pink eden roses (i think also called pierre de ronsard?) that were blooming on mass in my uncles’ garden (he lives on the property too). i am not usually so into roses but these looked so plump and old-world and amazing next to the very green grass i couldn’t resist but pick a big bunch.

i was feeling grumpy all weekend, but left here much happier. amazing what a bit of almost-country air can do.

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birthday list

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

its my birthday soon. i do like birthdays, and when the time draws near i plan a minimum of two celebrations per birthday (usually more). i also like birthday lists. i can’t remember quite how it started, but my sister and i have always provided each other with extensive birthday lists. much thought goes into each others presents, so much thought also goes into the list. i am surely a HUGE pain in the butt to buy for – my lists to her are full of links to ebay auctions, or some rare only-released-in-japan APC bag. but em always comes through with the most amazing and thoughtful gifts (often not even from my list).

if i could get anything in the world (world peace etc aside), this is what would be on my list this year:

* sabrina dehoff rope necklace (xl): its from her last collection but i do still love it, plus many more of her pieces too.

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* nymphenburg ”bowl with hare”: any of these or this would be fine as well thanks

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* vintage ercol daybed: i am sure they are in australia but i am yet to find one. its my dream sofa for my dream “lady-den” that i plan to have one day (essential for mental health in a house full of males)

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* geoff mcfetridge painting: any piece from his most recent exhibition “the westest” would suffice. this is my favourite

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* gouldian finch: the sound of finches peeping and canaries singing always remind me of staying at my ganny’s house. she lived near the dandenongs and had a huge magical garden with big avaries full of canaries and finches. she also had the best knick-knacks (great brownie downing collection) and fed us sao’s with tomato and cheese. pretty great memories. but… as beautiful as they are, i think it might upset me to look at a bird in a cage every day. especially when they are an australian native with numbers dwindling in the wild. its a nice in theory though.

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*  lunch at ottolenghi or rose bakery (including plane fare to get there too): i have been to neither but have both cookbooks, and they are heavy on the things i most love to eat – salads and sweets

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oh, its nice to dream, but really, i will be just as happy with a sleep-in, a piece of cake and glass of proseco in my sunny backyard with friends and family. 

hope you have a great weekend x

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christmas tree for frankie

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

yesterday issue number 38 of frankie magazine came out. i was lucky enough to get sneak preview on the weekend and between the amazing dolls house and the backyards article its possibly my favourite issue yet. plus i got to make a christmas tree for it too, and was rather happy with how it turned out. (pip and amy’s tree’s are pretty gorgeous as well).

the photographer peter tarasuik  (that’s him with the fake lolly teeth in one of the frames) kindly sent me the WIP files so you can see a little animation of how it all came together

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ps thanks to sam for being technical and putting the gif together for me.

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sydney

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

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raph and i spent the past few days in sydney. despite having to negotiate sydney’s maze of one-way streets and make it to a bunch of meetings on time (did feel a little like we were on race around the world at times), it was the longest child-free time we have spent together in a while, and was so nice.

in between the meetings we enjoyed catch-ups with friends (these guys and these guys too), stayed at a very nice hotel, and attended the opening of new argentinean restaurant porteno (from the owners of bodega – so yum!). plus not to mention relishing the beautiful sydney weather – sunshine and 22 degrees! 

i also got to check out my fav sydney stores –  incu womens’ store (why do we not have one in melbourne? ), poepke, and the new sydney outre gallery. while on crown st i visited chee soon and fitzgerald. the store owners had just brought down two huge baskets of old marimekko swatches from their office and very kindly let me rummage through them for an hour or so. was heaven – i couldnt help but purchase more than a few.

although it was action-packed there were still a million things i didn’t get to do and some of my favourite people that i didn’t get to see – doesn’t matter how organised you are 2.5 days just isn’t long enough. keep those skies blue for my next visit sydney – am hoping will be soon.

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tokyo!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

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highlights included:

* beautiful green-ness and serenity of kichjoji (my new favourite place in tokyo)

* studio ghibli museum

* riding bikes around our neighborhood (see masami’s awesome BMX with childseat above. so cool)

* hanabi at teppei’s daycare summer fete

* eating cold soba noodles accompanied by a kirin or sapporo almost everyday

* drinking late night champagne with masami

* eating an ispahan macaroon at pierre herme with shauna (possibly one of the best things i have ever eaten)

* paddling in a swan boat in inokashira park

* kitchen shopping in kappabashi

* catching fish and turtles at an asakusa festival 

* watching tyke and ari loose there minds at kiddyland

* discovering cute stores around nakamichi street 

* hara donuts and ice-cream

* spending a ridiculous amount of money on stationary and stickers at loft 

* sipping iced lattes with ebony at this cafe

* being constantly surrounded by awesome graphics 

this trip showed me a different tokyo to my previous visits, but i still loved it just as much, maybe even more. i cant wait to go back!

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i’m back…

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

and still coming back down to earth and feeling slightly surreal after our tokyo rendezvous. as expected it was amazing, inspiring, delicious and super-fun, and also at times sweaty, exhausting and exasperating (mostly due to travelling with small children in a huge and humid megalopolis with A LOT of stairs). i am still sorting through my photos but will be posting about all my favourite parts and discoveries soon.

in the meantime here is one of  my favourite discoveries – textile company tafca.  i happened across a display they had put together in parco books (pictured below), where i couldn’t resist buying a scarf in the “dancing” print (also shown below). most of their site is in japanese, but there is an english description in the “concept” section which is so sweet – have a read here

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more tokyo soon! 

p.s this is my 100th post!! who would have thought? not me! as i have said many times before i am loving the blog-life – apart from providing a way to show new work its also been a great form of therapy and support for me. thanks to anyone out there for who takes the time to read my excessively wordy babble xoxo

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rounding off nicely

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

i am major countdown mode for our holiday – in a few days i will be exploring new toyko neighbourhoods, eating onigiri from 7-11 and buying ridiculously cute homewares. its been perfect timing with work in the studio too, as today we were able to sign off on lots of recent jobs: a project with japanese company GAS (designing credit cards! more soon!!), textile print for local store grace, an illustration for monthly column in readers digest and the justine clarke tour posters and advertising. and the absolute icing on the cake was a final approval for a very long and equally as frustrating job i have been working for a few months now (have mentioned it before) – cant tell you the relief it gave me to see that leave my inbox forever. 

leah, noe and miso will be holding the fort while we are away, and there is still lots to keep them busy too (well maybe not miso – he will just be getting spoilt rotten by our house-sitters).

one thing i will be sad to miss out on while we are away is MARKit at fed square – a market focusing on illustrative design. not only do i love a good market, but it’s our first ever time taking part in one! we will have all our products at special market prices, plus some other goodies too. and there are lots of other great stall holders as well including zaishu, third drawer down and the lovely victoria mason jewelery. its on sunday 12th of july, 9am -5pm. 

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speaking of our products, the love tree was featured in july/august issue of inside out. thanks to styling genius vanessa colyer tay  and photography genius  sharyn cairns – its never looked so nice! 

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and one more thing to check out… irene grishin-selzer (aka iggy and lou-lou) has a solo show of new ceramic works at outre gallery titled “i threw a kiss in the ocean“. the show opened tonight (was planning to go but unfortunately 2 grumpy kids, rain and a ton of washing made it tricky) and is on until 18th july. i really love irene’s work and have no doubt her new things will be beautiful.

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well, thats about it for me for now. i may have neatly finished off my work, but now the family pre-holiday organisation frenzy begins – pack everything for everyone, clean the house, write instructions for house sitter, set auto-respond on my email, give miso some extra pats, and oh, dont forget to buy cat food. and plane snacks. and something to sedate the children (JOKING). and remember to get to sleep in time for a 4.00 am wake-up to catch the flight. geez, my mental lists are already getting the better of me.

i am fairly sure i will be blogging while i am away (although our laptop literally just died on raph as i was writing this post!), but if not, i have a good excuse and rest assured there will be plenty of japan adventure stories & pics on my return.

oyasuminasai xxo

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