Time Flys

Is it monday already! Wow the weekened just went by so fast, it was lovely. Busy but so enjoyable, it included:
- the best sushi at my favourite Japanese tea house. It's such a hidden gem, I would go there every night given the chance!
- antique shopping with my mum, we went to a little town outside Hobart had some lunch and purchased some lovely powder blue plates perfect for cinnamon tea cakes.
- cuddles with the little grey purr-y thing (Angus)
- singstar karaoke on the playstation, man I rocked on Karma Chameleon, rd does a mean Bob Marley!
- a backyard birthday party for rd's dad, so lovely to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air, a few drinks and some yummy food
All in all a very enjoyable weekend! Now why does monday have to come around so fast.

Yellena

Loving the work of etsy artist Yellena, she has an interesting background and the more time I spend looking at her pieces the more I enjoy them. So for your viewing:

Above: Petals and below Garden.

Cruisin'

It's been a really cruisey week this week and I'm enjoying it! No pressure, no stresses just quiet days and enjoyable evenings. Today it was a balmy (rd's word) 17 degrees celcius! (That's 63 degrees fahrenheit) quite amazing for this time of year.... err isn't it supposed to be winter?!
I have been a little slack with doing anything much creative, but instead cooked some dinner from this book by the fantastic Bill Granger. He has such simple recipes based on fresh everyday ingredients. A few years ago rd and I went to one of his restaurants while in Sydney, and it was such a special night, and as we are planning to go back to Sydney in October this is definitely back on the must visit list.
At the moment I am thinking a lot about affordable art, particularly after seeing Victoria's from sfgirlbybay arrangement. It's perfect! I have a small collection but I am yet to frame most of them. Today I started with a frame for one of my Sugarloop gocco prints, and I am so happy with the result. One down hopefully many more to come.

Note Books

I am currently making some memo/note books by hand. I have made them a few times in the past, at school (a long time ago!) we learnt the process of folding the paper, sewing them together and making covers and putting it all together. I hope to eventually open my etsy shop and sell them. It's time consuming but good for winter nights and I have so many ideas about covers and designs.
I love hand made books I think they are so special, in particular I love Bookbinders Design note books. I have a few of them, one I use as a recipe book to write all my favourites in, the other is my personal journal. I love the colours and the patterns on the inside sleaves. I doubt mine will turn out as professional but I can give it a try.

The Gloaming

I am sitting here and there is the most fantastic winter light coming through my window. It's twilight, or the gloaming, I love that word so much. It is very calming really and so bewitching, I have been sitting back and watching the light through the trees and behind the hills. Such a lovely way to watch the world and appreciate the greatness of it all, and after being in a big city earlier this week, know again why I choose to live here. Because it is so beautiful and unique.
I am finally starting to feel a bit more energised again, I have felt a little flat and tired and now I am feeling more like myself. Ready to create some new work and be inspired.
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Please excuse my ramblings.

Catherine

Friday

Hi there,

I am so pleased that it is friday and I have a day off. It has been such a crazy hectic week and now I can just sit back and enjoy it. The weather is very cold and grey here and it's the perfect excuse to sit and finally do some organising of all my paper and pens and various other bits and pieces I have had stacked in a pile waiting for a new home. In Melbourne I went to Smiggle and purchased some really good folders and boxes, so I have no excuses now.
I promised some Melbourne pictures and in retrospect I really did not take that many. I guess when you wander by yourself it's not so easy (or when it's pouring with rain), but here are a few, including some of the little things I found.

I hope you all have a great friday!
Catherine

Me and Birdies

I have such a strange relationship with birds. They terrify me! I don't know what it is the beaks, the wings, the fact that I have no idea what they will do. So I am a total scardy cat when it comes to the real thing, but as a design motif, an object, I really love them. Increasingly so.
Yesterday I came across Minori Designs, and just had to have a little birdy! I don't think I would use it as a pin cushion it's too cute, and the Liberty pattern, made for me. As a child my mum used to make me dresses and shirts and even a mini patchwork quilt for my little dolls from Liberty prints. So basically I am in love....

Sleepy but Content

Well I am back from my three day non-stop walking tour of melbourne! I tire myself out, I love being there and I want to go everywhere and see everything. If I stop for a while a little voice in my head tells me to make the most of it and keep going!
So I am a little sleepy today.
The Guggenheim exhibition was fantastic, I really enjoy modern art, especially after reading this book a few years ago and getting a better understanding of the different styles and ideas. So I was really excited to see works by Jean Dubuffet (rd's favourite artist and I was impressed), Dan Flavin (whose work is the picture in the previous post, and was a sickly can't-keep-your-eyes-open green on the other side), Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol (although I wasn't so keen on these, it was the Electric Chair series, quite distressing).
It was packed but really worth going to see and after that I sat outside in the slightly warm winter sun, which was fantastic to be out in the fresh air and not stuck at work in an air conditioned building.
I found lots of little treasures on my wanderings and visited some very cool shops, Meet Me at Mikes (yes I visited yesterday but was a little shy to introduce myself) they have the most lovely wares, Douglas and Hope, Empire Vintage, and treated myself at Dinosaur Designs and Kikki.K
Yesterday it poured until later in the afternoon, so I spent some time in Borders reading and had a yum-oh afternoon tea of hot chocolate and a strawberry tart at French patisserie Laurent.It was so lovely to sit somewhere warm and dry in the window and watch the people hurry past with their umbrellas and the rain while I was warm and dry and completely indulgent! That's what a holiday is all about!
(Pictures to come soon I promise)

Mid-Winter Break

Well I am off on a little mid-winter break for a few days! I am soooo looking forward to it, off to Melbourne for some shopping, relaxing, some me-time and something I am quite excited about going to see this exhibition.

It has been quite a while since I've had a trip away and I love going to Melbourne, it's a proper city for me, as opposed to our little town here in Tasmania. The shopping is great and I hope to have lots to share with you when I get back!
Have a wonderful weekend, I know I will!

Ready, Set, Go(cco)!

I am all set to print my first proper round of Gocco prints. I really hope they will turn out the way I plan!
So while I am busy working, here are some of my current flickr favourites:

these cupcakes
this desk
this dining room

Have a fantastic friday everyone!
Catherine

Laugh, Smile

I was checking out the great kitchen here, and discovered these letters. I am a sucker for letters, I love them. I once saw in a magazine a white wall with smaller white letters displaying a quote from Breakfast at Tiffany's and it was really cool.


Not sure of the word I would want most of all, perhaps laugh is a good one, or smile or something cheerful that you would look at and think yeah ok will do!

Mareike Auer

I really like the work of Etsy artist Mareike Auer there is something about it that sticks in my mind and gets my attention. I like the black and white and grey tones, they stand out so well.

Top: Point, Comma, Line 5
Bottom: Problems and problems

Cut and Paste

Here are a few more pages of my journal for you to see, I have been going a lot of cutting and pasting lately, it's quite relaxing and Rd is away for a few days and i miss him so it's a nice distraction. I have been putting them in colour groups, generally I love white or cream with brighter colours or pastels but lately I have a bit of a thing for nice slate blue/greys. Perhaps that's the influence of winter and wanting to be warm and cosy. I have to say my favourite page is the one that says yes you can buy art (do I need encouragement? no not really!) and the bent wood chair painted bright yellow, it just looks so stunning.

Cookin' in the Kitchen

Being winter here, and a pretty cold and dark one at that, there's nothing better than something sweet to brighten my morning tea or afternoon tea for that matter. So tonight I have been baking, in this new apron I got today, I mentioned the other day my caramel slice and seriously it is sooooo good! Rd loves it, an easy way to a man's heart! So here is the very simple recipe for you:

Chocolate Caramel Slice

For the base:
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup desicated coconut
125g butter melted

Combine ingredients into a greased lamington (19 x29cm) tin bake at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

Filling:
400g tin of condensed milk
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Combine in a saucepan and stir until boilling, cook and stir for 5 minutes. Spread over hot base and return to oven for a further 10 minutes.

Let cool and top with 150g of melted milk chocolate. Let set before cutting.

Trust me it's good!

I also wanted to thank everyone for their lovely comments on my blog, it is so encouraging and exciting to know other people are out there in blog-land. And I would especially like to thank Sarah from Favourito, who is the first person to add me to their blogroll and I am so excited about this. Thank you Sarah.

Crafty Week

Hello there,
hope you all had a great weekend. I got a few things on my list done, why is it always when you plan a quiet weekend things come up and change your plans? Oh well it was lovely just the same. I am looking forward to a bit of a crafty week, I have been doing some pretty basic designs in my journal and would like to expand them and make them into some cards.
I feel slightly frustrated with my work at the moment, I know what I want to be doing, and how I would like it to look, but my actual outcomes are letting me down. I don't know if this is just because I am so excited about getting them out there or that I just need to spend some more serious time on them.

I am sure it will all come together and work out fine. Anyway tonight I am looking forward to watching this Radiohead concert while I work. I went to see them first in 1998 and then in 2004, I think they are so amazing and live they have a slightly different feel. Can't wait to see it!

This weekend

This weekend I plan to:

Work on some Gocco printed cards
Listen to the new Wilco album over and over, cause Rd bought the delux version for me today! He is so lovely!
Wash the car
Make some caramel slice, I have the best ever recipe (mmm)
Catch up with friends
Read some books

Ahh it all sounds so good.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Bag Lady

I am in need of a new bag. I love the bag I currently have it's a beautiful tan leather one, a bit crumpled and a bit worn. The problem is it's just not big enough, ok so I probably carry waaay more things than I need... but glasses, sunglasses, ipod, diary and note book, umbrella, wallet and at the moment gloves. I can't ditch any of them! So it's time to update I would love something fabric and patterned but I am just not sure it's practical or strong enough. I love these three, they are quite classic and simple but that works for me.



The top two are from here and the bottom one is from here.

Cat Nap

I could really do with a fantastic big long deep uninterupted sleep. Don't need dreams just pure relaxation please! Its been one of those days really and I haven't been sleeping all that great lately, I think there are just so many things on my mind that it is just racing at one hundred miles an hour. I would love to have a day like my cat Angus here, he spends a large proportion of his day looking perfectly gorgeous asleep.
However there are somethings that have brightened my day today, the words of the lovely rd, lovely fresh and juicy mandarines, and this Cavallini & Co stationary which i have seen in three of my favourite stores around town. The difficulty is chosing just one thing!

A bit of Summer in Winter

So I was excited today to see the new summer prints from Port2Port with Camilla Engman. They are so great, I have already ordered mine and can't wait to see them in the real. I really love Camilla's work there is somthing about it which really connects with me.

Photo from Port2Port.

Soup, Soul and Success!

Ahh monday not a huge fan of mondays! I had a lovely semi-quiet weekend. We went to watch some local football which was a bit of fun, made some fantastic winter veggie soup with the brilliant idea of putting some basil pesto on the top to serve (mmmm), and listened to a lot of Sharon Jones who is a totally amazing soul singer and puts you in such a great mood!
I finally had some success with Gocco prints (well I am very pleased with them), I have had a few failed attempts with screens not fully exposing my designs, and was a little frustrated. I have only had my Gocco for a little while and now I am on track and very excited about the process and possibilities! I will share them sometime soon I promise.
Along with doing some printing I had a bit of a go at painting with gouache, I have never worked with it before and rather liked it. My painting skills aren't great at all and I didn't do anything complicated but I wanted something bold and graphic. Anyway it was just relaxing to sit and be absorbed working on it.

Man's Best Friend

I love these Let's Stitch Frank designs from Egg Press they are so cute!