Posts Tagged ‘other blogs’

currently obsessed with:

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

sozi

sozi: a new project from one of my favourite illustrators rilla alexander. sozi even has her own blog, and shop (cant wait for my very own sozi doll!)

radish

radishes: thanks to my step-father’s influence we used to snack on them all the time as kids. in the past few years they haven’t made it onto my shopping list – i had forgotten how delicious they are. particularly in the above salad from the wednesday chef. recipe here

dots

watercolour and paper dots (still!)

dogs-resize

come over sunday: my new favourite house blog, in particular the post on an 84 yr olds house in mackay - so beautiful! speaking of beautiful houses, this is my new dream house.

blossoms

blossom-spotting: although its been pretty easy of late – they seem to be blooming everywhere. in between the torrential rain and  gale-force winds we have actually had some blue skies, and even some 18 degree days. i read that spring “comes in like a lion and leaves like lamb”- so looking forward to some warm days and for the BBQ-ing season to commence!

studio update coming soon xx

no normality just yet

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

on raph’s return home, i had counted on things returning to normal. by normal, i mean shared pick-up of children and dinner/shopping/domestic duties which then allows for a proper working day. with the studio starting to get busy again, and loads of inspiration and plenty of new ideas i want to try, i have been positively itching to get some solid studio time in, and had thought now some real work could get done. 

but, i was mistaken. first of all, both the girls who help us out with ari could not work this week. then, on his daycare days, ari got sick and stayed home instead. generally, i would compensate this type of situation with late working nights, but of course, after a long dry spell in my social life, this was the week when i had something on every night. then, our washing machine died, which spells d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r in our house. and its been freeeeeeeeezing in melbourne town – hail storms and snow on nearby hills – it feels like winter will never ever end. plus my computer is misbehaving and i fear also on the verge of death. (might be getting off track at this point, but if you’re going to whine, might as well do it properly)

and just to add the icing on my annoyance cake, i dragged a crying, coughing, spluttering, snotty ari (who also now has a very black eye), to the supermarket and was confronted with more than a few suspicious looks. the only thing stopping me from screaming ”it was a playground accident – OK?!”, was that i would then possibly look like a psycho who did hit their children. 

i guess to put it all in perspective, things definitely could be way more awful – all family is in check (no deaths or life-threatening situations) and on the whole relations are good. but regardless, the past few days have been filled with nothing but cold, frustration, nights of coughing and trips to laundromat. joy.

anyway, here are some things which have been fueling my desire to do what i do (despite my current circumstances):

office ttable stationary – my lovely sister came to vist this week bringing with her lots of these lovely things for myself (thanks em!). so beautiful it makes my heart ache

office_ttable

jason rosenburg’s studio tour on sight unseen – his use of colour is amazing (in his work and his studio). plus he is a self-admitted hoarder, likes to collect things off the ground and is “way into mushroom subculture”. he also says “it’s always nice to find an eames chair, but I’m much happier if I find, like, a pile of notebooks from 1975″. a person after my own heart

jr_3jr_4

jr_!jr_2

 

(pics: sight unseen and mr.rosenburg’s website)

for the birds by luke bartels and jeff canham - an exhibition of collaborative pieces at the curiosity shoppe in SF. i am doing whatever i can to try and own one of these – so clever! 

birdhouse_1birdhouse_2birdhouse_3

hello sandwich’s tokyo apartment -  our folk face cushion has never looked so lovely! how can one girl have so many great colour combinations in such a little space?  

hs_1hs_2hs_3

i am rushing off to get some fluoro orange polka dot pillow cases right now, surely that will make everything better? 

hope you are having a good, frustration-free week x

and the winners are…

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

hooray

lilly and jenn! tee shirts will be travelling the globe to US and germany. (and just so you know - we picked winners by numbering all the comments and pulling numbers out of a hat, well coffee cup to be precise). thanks so much for all those who left comments. i had no idea there would be so many and wish i could give a prize to you all! never fear – more giveaway action happening soon.

also… i have a top ten on meet me at mikes today. thanks pip!! you and your blog are wonderful!

perfect saturday night

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

in my eyes, its a perfect saturday night at the orpin-rashid’s tonight. i have a banana-coconut cake in the oven, a glass of tempranillo in hand, just finished watching a DVD and the house warm and full of food from today’s market shopping and also surprisingly (sort of ) clean.

if i would had read this of myself (or anyone else for that matter) 10 years ago i would have scoffed and thought “how utterly tragic”. 10 years ago a perfect saturday night didn’t start until at least 1am, involved much more than a glass of tempranillo and definitely didn’t involve baking. on occasion i miss the sense of anticipation and possibility that i used to have before a night out, and of course the general spontaneity of my pre-parenthood life, but on the whole i would say i am pretty happy with this domestic state i am now in. 

5 other things that have been making me happy: 

1. supermarket sarah

supermarket_sarah

i am sure this is one of those things everyone in the world knows about this except me. online shopping on whole new level. founder annette’s selection is amazing. she does live just around the corner from portobello market, but still, you need a good eye to seek out such awesome-ness. made even better by her hand-drawn”your deserve it” and “buy now” signs. too good. this week supermarket sarah featured the talents of another design gem donna wilson. but my absoltue fav thus far was her col-ab with uber-fantastic patternity.  no wonder just about everything sold on their page. 

2. karen walker’s runaway A/W collection

KW_AW

its like ms walker has been in my head and designing exactly what i would like to wear right now (with these two outfits in a particular - even down to those cute yellow boat shoes). now on the hunt for both of these outfits.

3. choo choo’s at the toff

choo-choo

on the nights i do manage to go out – the toff  is one of the places i like to go. having worked for owner camillo for a long time, and knowing a few folk who work there, it has a family vibe for me. this week the toff re-launched their restaurant, re-naming it choo-choo’s and changing the cuisine from 70’s inspired gourmet snacks to contemporary thai food designed to share. 

technically, i am not sure if choo-choo’s is actually making me happy, as i am yet to try the food. but… i did design the new logo and menu (which i have read in depth, and subsequently my drool caused my already mal-functioning keyboard to become even more broken), and have eaten karen batson’s outstanding thai food many times downstairs at cookie (in fact, we love it so much we had our wedding there!), so deliciousness (and happiness) is almost guaranteed. and rumour has it, its been packed every night since the re-launch! i’d book ahead if your thinking of trying it. 

4. my sisters blog

elfi

this is purely selfish reasons really – em lives in seoul, and now with her blogging i can easily keep track of what her and her cute puppies elfi (above) and ferdi are up to on the other side of the ocean. but aside from that, she is a great writer and is sure to cover all things good, crafty and otherwise. take a peek!

5. holidays!

800px-Cherry_Blossom_Inokashira

after weeks of frustrating location, date and budget discussions (ending in a day of tantrums from myself) we have  booked a family holiday and will soon be departing for 2 weeks in tokyo! i have been lucky enough to travel to japan many times before, but its been over 3 years since my last visit. have so many things on my “to do ” list – one of the first is to hire a cute duck boat and paddle around inokashira park enjoying the tokyo summer humidity. i also cant wait to make good use hello sandwich’s tokyo guide (fingers crossed might even get a personal tour from the almost tokyo-resident miss sandwich herself!) 

oh! my cake is just about baked. hope you are having a perfect saturday night too xx

finally…

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

…i think i get to have a break! not anything crazy like a holiday (although there are family whispers of that soon), but an actual whole day off. i plan to spend it with ari. i used to spend one day a week hanging out with just him but the past few months i have been so busy that that fun duty has been passed on to papa, which has made me a little miserable at times.

oh my god i am so sick of talking about work. so i wont too much – but needless to say there has been no reprieve and it has been another manic week full of late working nights and stressful deadlines. keeping me busy this week has been: cute new project for frankie (more on that in the near future), an illustration for US magazine popular mechanics (thanks JW – who also have a new site!), seven seeds new website (coming soon!)/business cards/tee-shirts/coffee packaging/anything else they can get me to do, textile prints for jethro and jackson plus other on-going projects. dude – i am exhausted.

anyway, like i said, no more work talk. so here instead are my current 5 favourite things:

1. “sequential” top from pam

sequintial

i got this a few weeks ago and i have been wearing this flat out. it has become one of those pieces of clothing that i am sad to wash because it means i wont be able to wear it for a whole 2 days.

2. bow headband from south for the summer

ss_bow

how good is it?!  i also have an inez feather headband on order. bow will hopefully make me feel like hello kitty, and also match perfectly with sequential tee. i am all about a bit of colour co-oridnation. (creator jen also has a blog)

3. “the language of graphics” book

 book_coverbook_1book_2book_3 

i brought this after a quick glance from my favourite junk shop. i had no idea of the awesomeness that lay inside. once i got home and opened it i was blown away – every single one of the 320 pages is an absolute joy and inspiration.

4. ‘after’ shop

after_1after_@after_3after_4

i discovered ‘after’ about a year ago and now every time i visit it has something original and cute to offer. their eclectic selection (from recycled paper bowls to african woven bags, pretty porcelain pieces to vintage medical containers) is too good to resist. it’s also conveniently opposite queen vic’s deli section, so you can stock up on delicious pantry treats while you are at it. 78 therry st, melbourne, 300o. hours:10 – 4 tues, thurs, fri, sat & sun

5. tsumori chisato s/s 10 collection -

tsumori_1tsumori_2

pure mind-blowing genius. via bird & banner and lena corwin. more here

hope you are having a nice crisp-morning, leaf-falling, soup-making, cake-baking, autumn-type weekend. x

ari_walk

happy easter!

Monday, April 5th, 2010

chillsville

due to raph being away (with beatbox at boogie festival) i was happily forced into having a few days off. we had lots of easter egg hunts and hot cross buns and it was nice. this combined with looking at my new favourite blog chillsville (thanks ed!), had helped ease my stress levels a little.

however, here i am today back at my computer and back to feeling completely freaked out. anyone got any tips on how to stop time or add an extra day in the week? 

(unbelievably appropriate rabbit pic from chillsville)

scrambling

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

i hate to start with another yet another whine, but these past 2 weeks i just cant keep up. we have been so busy day and night, weekday and weekend – i feel like i am scrambling to do anything and everything. there are a million emails/messages unanswered, the cupboards are empty, the washing is piling up a mile high (clothes and dishes), children are feeling neglected and i am feeling like there is no way on earth i am ever ever going to get it all done.

what has been making us so busy? well, there was the justine clarke film shoot, (which was a manic and amazing experience), a decent-sized freelance job for a major banking corporation (thanks jacky winter), delivery of tiny mammoth AW range into stores, on-going illustrations for a UK published DIY book (think bunnings catalogue’s, but a nicer, colour version) and not to mention artworks/preparations for my very-fast-approaching exhibition at lamington drive

although i do love all my work equally, i have been most excited with the latter. i have titled the show “the infinite shape of rainbows”. all the works are going to be brightly-multi-coloured or black & white. i am also looking at opposites. so far its working out pretty well, and i have been producing pieces in a feverishly ecstatic state – often completely losing track of the time (oh look, its 1.35am, how did that happen?) who knows if this will translate into the pieces actually being any good, but at least i am having fun making them.

the show opens on the 15th of april – no doubt i will posting more in depth about it soon.

rainbows_flyer_blog

some other things that have been getting me through my busy-ness

my sister sent me an awesome package -

em_package

she just moved from hong kong to seoul in the last week, and sent me this bunch of lovely korean-designed stationary to tempt me into visiting (not much tempting needed!). not only did this make me feel very happy, but also equally lame – i am totally crap at sending packages (owe you one too gini) and have had her birthday present waiting to be sent on my desk for 6 weeks now. she has just moved her whole life from one country to another and she can still get it together to send me an exceptionally thoughtful and very cute package. sigh. how did i miss out on those genes? 

i met megan morton.

homelovecover

oh. my. god. what a lady. warm, heart-felt, hilarious, fascinating and not to mention ridiculously talented and enterprising. plus mother of 3 kids! she has a new blog and also a new book (above) out titled “homelove” through penguin.

sarah showed me this. sarah has been working in our studio on casual basis for a little while now. she is awesome and i am beginning to think we cant live without her. especially when she bring things like this into my life. if you are into english accents, cats talking and need a good laugh this is the video for you.

our house was featured on design files today -

orpin5

once again thanks go out to lucy feagins – you and your blog does such great things for melbourne! and thanks also for making my house look nice, it was worth the 16hr clean-up (stayed like that for all of 20 mins once children were let back in…) also while at design files check out  tinker by print inks beautiful new homewares range.

we went to raph’s nan’s 91st birthday. there are few things that make you feel better than a sunday lunch in the country on a beautiful autumn afternoon. we also went fishing here (tyke said it was the best day of his life!)

alix_4alix_7alix_6alix_2

happy birthday dot!

scratch it

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

nothing

scratch and sniff sticker collection via nothing is new (hands down my fav RSS feed in my inbox). more sticker collections here. have a had quick look but cant wait to explore in detail… i have a feeling its going to be a loooooooong night.

look what arrived on my desk last week…

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

BBW_DRESSES

the new built by wendy book! was pretty satisfying to see all our illustrations in place for a third time around. cover worked out quite nicely too. it is officially out in the US tomorrow – you can pre-order from amazon, and also from BBW site, but a little birdy told me it might also be available locally at metropolis books in the near future.

here are some of our fav drawings we made for the book -

bbw_favs

and also speaking of online shopping… dare i say it… we have been testing our online store this week and all the cyber-space gremlins that have been causing us much grief have been chased away, so it is now very close to being live. perhaps i have said similar things in the past, but this time it is for real! once its up will be sure to post. possibly even with a little giveaway as well. 

and if you are looking for some kitchen accessory envy/inspiration (as i always am), check out lisa cogdon (of rare device, SF) amazing cathrineholm collection on dwell. her plate display (and pretty much everything else) is great too. (via the lovely seesaw designs)

lisa_kitchen

new work

Monday, January 4th, 2010

its such a beautiful evening here tonight – warm, slight breeze…. i took ari out for a putting-to-sleep-walk and felt like i could have kept walking forever.

anyway – its been a while since i have posted some new work. i currently  have a lot of ongoing projects which seem to roll on forever (not complaining!), and its not really kosher to post until everything is finalised and public (which in some cases could take several months). but here is a sample of some things i have been up to lately

hexagons_smalllp_teeshirt_colour_blogtotemicosmic_papercuts

from the top…

“step into”  giclee print i created for monster children’s christmas show “square”

a graphic created for light project promotional tee shirt

totemi dolls from “three of a kind” exhibition (can see unfinished ones here, or possibly even just scroll down the page)?

cosmic papercuts, again from “three of a kind” exhibition, three of which also appeared “small fry” show at brisbane’s nine lives gallery

also… some images of my memory tree are on blog dossier37 today – thanks olivier!