hello world!

It's been sometime since I've been here. What can I say, but that I'm slack??

And I'm going to blame it a little on getting my bearings in a new country, and a new stressful job... is that fair enough?

London is good, life is good.

I've just been for a quick shop down Oxford and Regent streets - I try to keep away, but there were some art shops close by that I needed to get some supplies from. And of course, sorry simon, I couldn't stay away from the clothes shops!



Christmas lights on Oxford Street, originally uploaded by Mister-E

Christmas lights are out down central London. I'll have to go back to have a better look at night - there's some real pretty ones down Regent street, that our strewn above the street like big cobwebs!

In the meantime, thanks to Fran's reminder about yummy macarons (not to be confused with macaroons which I learnt in Paris!) and having admired them so much in Paris - I finally have purchased some from Yauatcha in Soho. On Fran's blog she has a good link to making macarons - which Simon and I will have to do soon.



Waiting for Simon to get home so we can devour them together! He's been working today...on a Sunday!

I'm trying to get back into some kind of craft - just a touch. I wanted to buy a packet of pencils (so I can scribble), and found these at Muji, along with some other Christmas presents.



And also, am very inspired by this scrabble board idea, that I bought some fimo. I haven't used fimo since I was 10! So many things my mum got me into, thanks Mum! So now to tackle my own scrabble board :)



Next weekend consists of a Herbie Hancock concert at the Royal Festival Hall, and finishing our Christmas shopping and making!

It's never too early to start those Christmas carols.

Travels

So three months later here I am! Drafting this post in flight to London via Zurich. And I'm very excited to say that my second ever international flight, we were upgraded to business class - how cool is that?
Although feeling a bit awkward, not knowing what's what, is there some kind of business-class etiquette?

Tokyo was amazing - overall hospitality is superb, everyone is so friendly. And I'm sure they thought we were just clueless westerners! We had a few words worked out - by a few I mean probably around 4.

Highights:

Arazni Aronzo shop

My first ride on a ferris wheel (apparently the world's biggest, big web)

Shibuya crossing

Shopping in Ginza

Itoya - 9 floors of stationery!

Ordering our first Japanese meal and struggling to read Japanese!

Sky line of buildings and lights - great view from Roppongi Hills




(photo taken by Simon)

Being able to navigate our way daily through the subway and train networks (well mostly Simon)

all the yummy, delicious food

Tempura!

Our first awkward experience of ordering at the sushi bar

The little streets, the shops and the people


ooh, maybe not so much a highlight - but pretty much ripping off my big toe nail - ouch! And my gosh, next time I need to pack much more comfortable shoes - we walked pretty much all day every day. Although what's comfortable to wear in hot hot weather?

Next stop - London. And then Paris in 3 weeks!

Can you tell I'm excited??

Holga

My clever husband took these shots of Kadel (favourite nephew) with our Holga a few weeks ago.






He doesn't have a skateboard, but did insist on taking Luke Skywalker and some Transformer along for the journey. I wonder if he shared any of the chewing gum he found on the ground with them? Eww I still can't believe he ate it. It must be a boy thing....

random things...

curlypops has tagged me to tell you 6 random things about me (rules below)... it's a tough one! what do i write?

-+- my favourite ice-cream on a stick are Golden Gaytime
-+- i can't get to sleep when i can hear noises, from noisy neighbours to simon's eyes blinking! (Although rain on the roof and fan/airconditioner are the exceptions)
-+- my childhood dream careers consisted of: archaeologist, business woman, fashion designer (doesn't everyone?), inventor, school teacher, museum curator, librarian (all very geeky!)
-+- cream doesn't go well in my stomach
-+- i like computer games
-+- 'little miss sunshine' is one of my most favourite movies of all time!




Here are the rules:


1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website

And I will tag the following people (not necessarily selecting random!):

tam
nat
fran
bridget
lorraine
brierley & clover

thanks tam!

my big sister, tam, sent me this cute softies magazine last week - i was very excited when i opened it to see what it was!

"The Toy Book: In fabric oddments or felt" (no. 524), 1976, England. (by the way, toys are by Anne and Barry Morley - another couple!) can't find anything about them on the inter-ma-net though...



I really like the tiger and the owls -- now to think who i could make them for!





the images remind me of vintage swap cards

this is ... the contents of my handbag

contents of today's sunday handbag (after breakfast with my husband down the street looking at tokyo lonely planet guide's)





i like to be streamlined and that includes the contents of my handbags. i can't stand huge handbags, and i can't stand taking excessive, unnecessary stuff. so my contents are quite bland unfortunately! I can't believe I'm already carrying around gloves - haven't used them yet, though.


But i've always been curious to see what others carry with them, so thanks Sharon for this week's this is!

vintage take 2 - mittens for kittens!

Mittens for Kittens and other Rhymes about Cats, chosen by Lenore Blegvad and illustrated by Erik Blegvad. (1974)

I love the pics but also the old cute rhymes and poems! Lucky my mum is a poet :)











I wonder if there are many husband & wife writer/illustrator combo's today for kids books?

this is ... my creation

ok so am just a teeny bit behind on the "this is" meme post for this week!

So my creation for this weekend was the hot-cross bun recipe loobylu recommended! But they didn't look as good, as Claire's did, but they still tasted yummy all the same - and even got a great review from my new brother, Danny, who said he would give it a 9.9 out of 10! So there you go - thanks Danny :) Maybe next time I would go easy on the mixed peel though (my family aren't a big fan of that).

So here's a pic of the creation and also of my niece who munched them right up! She ate two of them!







Happy Easter everyone. My husband and I will be up in Darwin over the Easter break, spending time with guys like this!!

stuff

Is anyone else watching the four part series, Stuff, on ABC1, Tuesday nights? It started last Tuesday, hosted by Wendy Harmer. Last week was our stuff, this week my stuff, then their stuff and lastly stuffed! It's putting some thoughts and questions into what i have been questioning lately -- what is it with stuff and us wanting it? Why do we want it? Why is it so addictive? And what are the benefits? And so on and so on...

From the "Stuff" synopsis:
Stuff asks: Are we hard-wired to accumulate? At what age do we begin to identify stuff as our own? Why do we choose the stuff we do? How do we express our unique personalities through our stuff? And how does our attitude to stuff change on life's cluttered journey? The answers Wendy is given tell us that our relationship with our stuff is much more complex that we might realise... and that our conversations about over-consumption have only just begun.

My second mum enjoys watching Oprah and has been fascinated by Peter Walsh and his theory on clutter and hoarding. This show here is an extreme example of one poor lady's life of hoarding.

I've never seen anyone's stuff get so ridiculous! I like to think I am not a hoarder, but I do like to collect, I do like things, but I can also throw things out, clean up and get organised... So I think I have a balance of both worlds? (even though my husband still thinks I have a lot of stuff...)

Vintage - sew-it-yourself!

I'm joining in on Pip's "week of vintage children's book illustration"! Visit here to see how to join in.

Here are a few pages from "The Lucky Sew-it-yourself Book" by Camille Sokol and illustrated by Bill Sokol (1970)











This book is a fun instructional book on how to make so many things from one little square of fabric! from a scarf, little bag, apron, pin cushion and a pillow for your doll. 48 pages in total. It even teaches you a few stitches, and some ideas on how to make a sewing box. What a great book!

I noticed someone else has loaded one up to flickr, with a different front cover, but the illustrations are still the same.

I bought mine last year at the annual Bendigo Easter Festival "y-men's second hand book fair". This is a definite "to do" over the Easter break - I've been every year to this book fair with my mum for as long as I can remember, and find great books at cheap prices - where can you still find books for 10 or 20 cents?? Although am quite sad as I will be missing out this year and next (but my husband is very happy that I won't be bringing home even more books). Am off to Darwin for Easter to spend time with our brother and his family, and then next Easter we will be in the UK!

The Bag...

I have found THE bag to take away with me on my overseas trip with my husband in July. We're heading to the UK to work (and of course see the sights in Europe) for a year or so.

I noticed in The Age A2 guide today, an event advertised at the NGV, "meet the designer: nancybird". Have been keeping my eyes peeled for beautiful australian designed bags, and Nancybird has an amazing range. May also go along to the event at NGV on the 2nd April, take a look at the events listing on the NGV site.

I particularly admire the "jones bag"





but also admire the clyde bag


 


and the overnight bag!





Now the problem is trying to save the $$$ to afford such an amazing bag!!

this is...

I've been following the "this is..." meme for sometime now, started by threebuttons. So now that I have my own blog - I'm joining in!

So "this is... looking out my front door" as crafted by Brooke.




So I live in a tiny flat on the third floor, and as we open our door to go out, we have a large window showing an amazing view of the city! Pity about the chimney and the ugly antenna, but anyway it gives a great view of the fireworks when they happen.

This was taken by my husband a year or so ago, and we used for our Christmas cards!

Bunny making

I have spent part of my Saturday and Sunday creating the cute blossom bunnies found in the Softies book (Penguin, 2007) - and these blossom bunnies have been created by Sarah Bowe. You can see some of her bunnies on flickr.

You can see my blossom bunnies on the header of my blog, and have just uploaded a pic to flickr here.



From this Softies book I've also made two Mad Dogs from Herzensart's pattern, and the beetle bug by Nest Studio for a new baby boy. I completely forgot to take a photo of this beetle bug, but he was extremely cute!

One of the mad dogs I made for Lili over at insideadog.com.au -- as it just looked like inky, their mascot. She posted it here and here.

Meine Familie

New to the blogging world and new to the craft world! 

A favourite childhood drawing of mine that captures my large, inspiring and active family. Drawn when I was five years old.