Eclecto Notebooks

These notebooks from Uppercase Gallery are super fun. Using vintage papers and seriously hot design, I am trying so hard not to buy them all. So hard! Have a look at their website - it's inspiring.

Notes on Wood

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These wooden note cards make me quite swoony, indeed.

Autumn Swap

I am taking part in Sofia's Autumn Swap and very excitingly am sending off my package today to a lucky person far away. (We can't reveal our swap members yet!) The idea of the pack is to inspire comfort over Autumn (or Spring, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, like me). I have obsessively read my swap partner's blog to see what she likes, and have come up with this list. My partner loves art and making things, so I have tried to cater the pack to that.

It contains:
-The latest issue of Inside Out, to showcase some lovely Australian design.
-Some hot chocolate sachets, to warm up an Autumn evening.
-Some stickers for artwork.
-A pair of earrings I made to cheer up the cool breeze.
-A scrapbooking pack for artwork, too.
-A pack of stamps from around the world.
-Some badges to brighten things up in general.
-Some Paris-themed scrapbook papers.
-Some stationery.

There are also a lot more surprises I've hidden from the photo, just in case my partner sees this!
I can't wait for mine to arrive, now!

Man on Wire

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I had heard excellent reviews of this film Man on Wire and was lucky enough to attend a special screening which had an Q and A session with the high wirewalker Phillippe Petit himself.

Petit is most famous for stringing a wire between the Twin Towers and crossing the wire eight times, and the documentary traces the planning and execution of this remarkable coup.

As I wrote my thesis on the Twin Towers (or more specifically, 9/11), I found the film to be a beautiful eulogy to the Towers, and a testament to those who built them. It was incredible to think that the highwire act, which has passed into the annals of time, is as now as ephemeral as the towers themselves. After 9/11, I think that there's a really extraordinary sense of impossibility which seems to surround the act of walking between the towers, as if Petit has suspended and eluded the tragic fall to which many others succumbed.

Petit is quite a character, too. A quintessential egomaniac, he had an infectious enthusiasm and excitement about life which was so happy-making. He encouraged the audience to "look to the sky and not to the ground", and to live your dreams.

I thoroughly recommend the film - both uplifting and sort of crazy. It's interesting to me that Petit is good friends with Werner Hertzog, who is also interested in madness and the pursuit of extreme dreams.

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Studio Violet

Artists Elisabeth Dunker and Camilla Engman have started the most lovely Studio Violet, and I am all of a flutter looking at these images.

The colour scheme and the images themselves are just so peaceful. Have a look at their delightful blog, too.

Tag City

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I've been tagged! The lovely Ashlee of Refashionist has tagged me and here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3.Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Fact #1.
I have a weird aversion to frogs (and I call them "froggers". It's unclear why.) I think there is nothing redeemable about them (jumpy, gulpy, slimy, pads on their feet) and anyone who writes and says how cute they are is just plain wrong.

Fact #2.
I collect all sorts of papery goodness, but it doesn't really stop at that. I have cases and boxes fulls of ephemera, ribbon, beads, stickers, balloons, stationery, pens, badges, etc. One of the main reasons I am excited about going overseas soon is the ability to collect even more. (There's a corresponding fear about going overseas that The Pal maintains for this very same reason...)

Fact #3.
I like making lists (this one is less fun as it's all about me). This extends to lists of things to do, of books to read, of places to go, of people to write letters to. I won't reveal the extent of the listy-ness, suffice to say, you'd probably be alarmed.

Fact #4.
I love writing letters to people. I am always so excited to receive them that I think there's nothing more fun than writing them. This ties in well with #2 and #3 of this list.

Fact #5.
I am a nerd and at 26, have finally become ok with that. I wear glasses, I geek out on tv series (the West Wing - nerd paradise, anything by Joss Whedon, and The Wire are just some obsessions), I love debating, and have subscriptions to journals like Foreign Affairs, Harper's, NY Review of Books. I also have subscriptions to Real Living and Inside Out and feverishly collect design images which make me swoony. This last part makes me less of a nerd, but I catalogue the images with such a geeky zeal I think it still counts.

Fact #6.
I adore books. Any time a book fair is on or there's a chance to pore over secondhand books in particular, I'm there. I have a backlog of books to read which never stops me from forging on ahead. I have six bookcases and they are already overflowing. Any house I own (if I ever do, given the current freak outs of the economy) will have to be book-friendly. And yes, this strongly relates to #5. I am not particularly complex.

Fact #7.
I like to make up words or say normal words in strange ways. Apparently when I was three, I used to say "gyla-billa" when I was frustrated, which I guess meant "damn".

There you have it. Weird? Random? Definitely. Will you still be my friend? Who knows!

As for the people I've tagged:
1. Peapods
2. Kimono Reincarnate
3. TaiChi Fox
4. Gogoabigail
5. Eat Tori
6. Monkey Mind
7. The Plot Thickens

Scrap Happy

I've finally had time to sit down and execute my "colour themed" scrapbook packs!

I've been dreaming of these babies for a while now, and collecting bits and pieces whenever I could, and it's so nice to see that they've become a reality.

It feels good to be getting them done! Get them in the shop while you can :)

A Magical Day

Yesterday was the first day I have really felt like I was on holidays - I had the most wonderful time! In the morning, my friend A and I headed to Sydney's inner west for some much anticipated second-hand furniture shopping and general flaneurie. First stop (ok, it was a book fair we saw on the way,) but the first Proper Stop was Old Furniture, (51 Parramatta Rd, Annandale). This shop was filled with stunning wooden modern furniture, all of which I had to stop myself from putting straight into my car. I loved these matching bedside tables:

And if this sideboard could talk, I know it would say, "Kate, I was made to come home with you!" It even has very cute little slide-out trays (I'm sure they have a proper name...) and was bursting with 1950s cute.Next stop was Recycling Works (45 Parramatta Rd, Annandale) which looked and felt like a veritable treasure trove of furniture love. So many sideboards, mini tables, couches, and dressers. Oh my.
In the photo above, there are even old theatre seats to buy, all in a row!

A and I thought this little table looked like a little foal standing up for the first time on shaky legs. Or a table, sure.
A bought the small wooden step on the far left bottom shelf to reach things around the house. I liked the pale blue milking stool on the far right. Again, I have very little use for a milking stool, but it felt crucial at the time.
On the way home, we saw this bus and truly thought we had been transported to the 1950s. Neither of us want to know why this was here (or if it's a frequent bus) - just that we felt it made our day.

After the furniture crawl, we grabbed some lunch and more goodies at the Marrickville Fair, stopping in to Reverse Garbage and The Bower for some more rummaging. We ended the day with some perfect, creamy gelato (hazelnut and vanilla, if you must know) in Haberfield and then spent a lovely sunny evening wandering with the Pal and watching some DVDs.

Perfect day!

Swoony, Swoon, Swoon

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Isn't this the cutest house ever? I don't know whether it's the neat folders, or cute cute chairs, or white -and-floorboards-combo, but I love it. Have a look at Design*Sponge for more!

Getting My Craft On...

Yes, I know it seems ridiculous to be making Christmas things (eeek!) but I have been waiting to turn this lovely Rudolph into mini envelopes, as is my usual desire...

They're available in le shop. And yes, I'm having trouble relaxing...

Kaleidoscope: Ornements Abstraits

The New York Public Library Digital Gallery is one of my favourite places to find pretties. What an incredibly cool resource - so many scanned lovelies in the one place. These pre-Deco abstracts were some of my favourites.

Again, wouldn't they look superb as posters above a minimalist couch? (Still so nesty... And now with no thesis left, I have more nestiness to spread about, so get ready!)

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Pressies

Some time ago I spoke of my deep love for these oil and vinegar decanters from Pepe and Friends, and The Pal surprised me with them yesterday! I'm so very excited. Can't wait to display them! (You pour the oil/vinegar through the hole where their hats are!) Eeee!

Celebrations All Round

Since I last wrote, the feeling is still a little bit odd. I keep thinking "I have to get home to get started on my..." and then can't finish the sentence! Ahh. The Pal surprised me yesterday with a night at the Observatory Hotel which was sensational and the BEST surprise.

The Pal and I spent yesterday afternoon getting full body massages, then had a swim in the indoor pool, the roof of which is covered in stars as if you're looking up to the night sky. Then we got into our fluffy hotel robes (why are they always so fluffy?!) and had room service while watching U.S. election commentary. Swoon! Had a leisurely wander down to breakfast this morning - it all seemed very fairytale. Thank you Pal - you're the best.

Happily, today is also the day in which I draw my etsy-versary prize! I used the random picked and came up with NATASHA! Yay for you, lovely! Have a look in the shop and let me know what goodies you'd like to the value of $20!

The Finish Line

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I have measured out my life in coffee spoons, or so writes T. S. Eliot in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

For me, I measured out the last 1500 or so days of my life in spell checks, word counts, articles, endnote references, and eye strain. My heart has felt the full gamut of emotions from utter bliss (I'm getting paid to think and read and write!) to crippling anxiety and looming fears (I can't do this! Why is it only getting harder as I go along?). And my poor old body has suffered back pain, a lack of exercise/fresh air, teeth-grinding, tears, anxiety, and general bumps and bruises - I sure did fracture my nasal bone, too - along the way.

But I've made it. Today I hand in four copies of my super big PhD thesis! For now it feels pretty surreal and I have a pretty agonising wait to see if I pass, but I am relieved, if not still feeling a small amount of residual stress.

Thank you to all in blogland (and in reality) who helped me on my way. You're the best! Will tell of the adventures when I return!

Pulp Gallery

All images from Pulp Gallery via My Folk Lover

I adore these schlocky covers. I'm obviously in a book cover mood right now, but again I say, How amazing would these look enlarged and and framed above the Sideboard of my Dreams? (You know, the sideboard we all dream of finding as someone puts it by the side of the street. The Danish, 50s-style dreamboat? Yeah, that one.)

By the way, have you had a chance to comment on my etsy-versary post for your chance to win a voucher to my shop?
Hope to have some good news later today - I'll keep you posted!