New Stickers

I ordered some new stickers for the shop last week and I thought I'd share. How cute is that owl?!

The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project is where Sheena Matheiken has pledged to wear one dress (eeep!) for a whole 365 days "as an exercise in sustainable fashion" and to raise money for poverty-stricken school kids in India.
So, this woman has amazingly excellent motives and politics - and she also happens to look ridiculously wonderful in all of these shots! I wonder if a uniform could be a very handy way to stop wardrobe dilemmas? I love the way the uniform (she has seven, by the way, so she can stay clean!) is reversible and has deep pockets. Sigh. Pockets are amazing.

All images

Wallpaper Frames

I have seen this wallpaper (or variations thereof) in some design mags for a while, and I think it looks amazing as a poster, as seen in this picture. Dreamy, huh?

Michael Jackson Remembered

UPDATED: It is perhaps Stephen Metcalf who expresses my sentiments the best:

The falsetto speaking voice, the licorice eyes, hair steam ironed and Zambonied until it was straight. The skin—what? We still don’t know. Bleached? Blanched? Poached? The barely suppressed facial hair. Effacement, defacement, refacement, unfacement. What word could do justice to the creation, out of a perfectly normal human countenance, of the dilapidated faerie mask that MJ’s eventually became? It was as if the slightest concession to the normal human horizon would let in a besieging pain. To substitute for the childhood he never had, he picked, with uncanny accuracy, exactly those things that don’t substitute for an actual childhood. Amusement parks and toys—the placatory devices of the bad parent.

A genius; an angry dancer; a grotesque among grotesques. What to make of Jacksonian America, now that the King himself is dead? An immense and spectacular frenzy; an urgent celebration; the affect of triumph; at its center a derangement; beneath that, in all likelihood, nothing.

Papercraft Friday 4: Richard Sweeney

Richard Sweeney is unlike other paper artists I've seen. It's primarily because his designs don't even look like paper!
These organism-like structures feel weighty and almost as if they have been fossilised. The way these seem to use art and mathematics also reminded me of a beautiful talk about crocheting hyperbolic space.

All images

And the winner is...

I used the old random number generator found here to work this out - much easier than pulling strips of paper out of a hat!

And the winner is: Hello Sandwich! who wrote:

Hello Kate!
Oh wow what a lovely birthday present this would be!!! It's my birthday on Saturday 27th! :)
So sweet of you to offer a give away to your readers!
Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xxx

I'll contact you Ebony to work out how to send this little pack your way!

Black and White Passion

These images are so soothing to me. I could move right in!
Don't forget to leave me a message on my giveaway post before Thursday!

Felt Bird Brooch

Another little brooch I have made from my new-found love of felt. I am really loving this brooch-making fad! Available here.

Don't forget to leave me a message on my giveaway post before next Thursday!

Paris Poster Map

Image

Talk about my favourite interests converging into one object. Maps, Paris and papercutting? Oh yeah. I found this poster via decor8 and I think it's delicious. Now, if only it weren't so *pink*....

Don't forget to leave me a message on my giveaway post before next Thursday!

Papercraft Friday 3: Yulia Brodskaya

Yulia Brodskaya is such an inspiration. Firstly, I love how she uses colour - there's something about her designs which pops with an alarming cool. But the attention to detail is something else! (I, for one, have never been able to curl paper like this...)

All images

Don't forget to leave me a message on my giveaway post before next Thursday!

Packs of Colour and Giveaway!

I have been busy last weekend making all sorts of little things. I was inspired by this idea of spring in a box, and I thought it would be nice to send 'colour in a box' to some of my friends.I got out all my craft supplies and tried to find bits and pieces which were bright and fun. I packaged some fun stickers in glassine envelopes, and made some badges with some bright Japanese paper. I bought some ridiculous smiley pencils which can't help but look like fun.
And added some gift tags I made...These little map books turned out exactly as I had hoped. They are lined with bright coloured paper and sewn down the spine (and are also in le shop).See? Colours ahoy!

I packaged up some mini crayons with a little apple stamp... ...and packaged them all up in a vintage-looking popcorn bag!

Now, for the exciting bit for you... I have one more pack to giveaway! So leave me a comment before next Thursday 25th June and I shall pick a winner at random. Feel free to link through from your blog, too!

By the way, I have marked down all the Japanese stationery in the shop - have a look if you feel like it!

Save FBI Radio Cookbook Zine

This is very exciting. For those of you who live outside of Sydney, there is a small, community radio station called FBI which is facing funding cuts and possible extinction.

In order to raise some funds, they have put together a beautiful PDF cookbook zine, which you can download and give a small donation in exchange.

I have downloaded it, and it is really delightful. As the zine says, you could even try imaginative ideas to raise money: hold a dinner party using recipes from the zine and have people donate, or spend a night in with the zine and donate what you would have spent on dinner. All excellent ideas.

Have a look here for the links to download and donate!

Hop, Skip, Jump

I have been a huge fan of Fiona's for a long time. She seems to manage motherhood and crafting with supreme ease - and look at how beautiful her little creations are! You can see more of them here, but beware, they tend to sell out quickly.

All images

Felt Flower Brooch

I made this felt brooch on the weekend and am so happy with how it turned out. I looked at some flickr photo galleries to get some inspiration (an all-round excellent thing to do if you're stuck) and was so struck my people's creativity. What clever little chickens!

Papercraft Friday 2: Simon Schubert

This week's papercraft feature is the haunting Simon Schubert. I love the way that these pieces look different every time I look at them.
I discovered these through another blogger and I can't remember who it was (bad blogger, Kate!). If it was you, please contact me and I'd be delighted to credit you.

All images

Sugarfree Love

For the past two and a half years, I haven't been able to eat wheat (gluten) or sugar. Yes, it's awful! I don't normally post this sort of thing on le blog, but I have FINALLY found some amazingly good sugar-free and wheat (and gluten, and dairy) free chocolate, and thought it well worth publicising.

You can buy it at health food stores (or have a look at their website) and it actually tastes like chocolate, not like a bad cooking mistake.

By the way, seeing that this post is all about your well being, I found this article and really like the idea of simplifying. Enjoy!

Bookplates

Peacay has done it again with these lovely antique bookplates. These are exquisitely rendered (and personally commissioned, one would think) to grace the libraries of the very wealthy.
This hat is priceless! If I were any good on the old photoshop, I would no doubt raid some flickr galleries of old bookplates and re-invent my own. So very pretty.
Do you stamp your own books? Mouse purchased a lovely book stamp a while ago and I also quite like this one, but can't (yet) actually deface my books with one. Because what if I changed my phone number? Would you stamp your email, instead? Gah! And what if I wanted to give the book away?
Let's be honest: I am actually not a lender of books. I am so ridiculously careful with how I look after mine that I get a bit antsy at the thought that someone else might not take good care of my little ones. So therefore bookplates or stamps are sort of a moot point, aren't they?! However, my favourite bookplates are on etsy (unsurprisingly!) at Oiseaux. They are so pretty and would make perfect presents.

All images

I love this, man

I saw this movie on the weekend, and I cried with laughter. Another Judd Apatow classic - go and see it if you want a warm and easy-to-watch bro-mance comedy. And also, everything Rashida Jones wore was impeccably styled - lots of cute t-shirts with cardis. It was all very colourful and inspiring. Go! Watch!

If I may be so bold...

...may I suggest you vote in this poll for the lovely Sarah Darmody? Full disclosure: we are related, but she is still a super inspirational ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a brilliant writer and all-round lovely. You can find out more about her here, and see more of her book here.

Sarah's in category 10, but I also suggest Marieke Hardy, Chloe Hooper and Pip Lincolne as other very worthy and super-dooper women.

Butterfly Send-off

I just received these delicious flowers from the Pal. I have been sick this week (and a bit grouchy, if you must know!) and they are making me so happy.
And these little beauties are part of a custom order, and will be winging their way off to Canada this afternoon! Made with some of my favourite black and white maps, with flashes of pale blue and teal.

Papercraft Friday 1: Jen Stark

Each Friday I'm going to post some of my favourite papercraft artists. I know I've done this before, but there are just too many out there not to share!
This week I'm looking at artist Jen Stark, whose work gives me tingles. The time! The effort! Enjoy!

All images