Little Ari

This photo was taken in 2009, in the lane way outside 

'Our Little-Big House' in the city (as Ari used to call it).

A Little-r Ari in his winter woolies. So cute and

how cute are those bunny mitts?!  Too small now :'(

I drew this picture in 2008 of Ari and his best friend Henri,

(who was one of my earliest toy creation).  I recently uploaded it

to my online portfolio of Art and Illustration... take a peek↓

Another World Recordings

southern winter

Solstice Bonfire
+

Self-saucing Mocha Choc Pudding

Image © Katie Quinn Davies

INGREDIENTS

100g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa

60g brown sugar

25ml crème de cacao (optional)

25ml strong espresso coffee

100ml milk

1 egg

50g butter, melted

For the topping:

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Dutch cocoa

1 teaspoon dried espresso coffee powder

250ml boiling water

METHOD

1.    Preheat oven to 180˚C, fan-forced. 2.   Butter a 17cm (1.0L) pudding bowl and set aside until required.

3.   Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large mixing bowl, 

add sugar and stir to combine.

4.   Add the crème de cacao, coffee, milk, egg and melted butter, 

stir well to combine thoroughly using a wooden spoon or electric beater.

5.    Pour into pre-prepared pudding bowl and place on a baking sheet.

6.   To make the topping add brown sugar, cocoa and dried instant coffee 

powder into a bowl and stir well to combine, scatter the whole lot liberally 

over the top of the pudding then pour the 250ml of boiling water 

over the top again.
7.   Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until top has risen 
and sauce below bubbles up through pudding.

8.   Serve hot with vanilla bean ice cream.

Recipe from the always delectable whatkatieate blog

Have you visited her blog before?

If not... Ooooh you're in for a treat!

The 'What Katie Ate' cookbook is also coming out soon.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon.  Take a looksy!

Update: Jane noted that I forgot to add the cooking time.

Ooops!  Sorry for that... it would be useful, wouldn't it? ;) 

Katie also has a chocolate recipe here.  For littler palates.

cardboard LOVE

I have a secret. A very small secret. But a secret that's
taking up quite a bit of room in the storeroom.

 I have a wee bit of a thing for...

Mister Clock from the incredible

Atelier Pour Enfants

{ cardboard }

There. I've said it! Phew.

It all started a couple of years back, 

when we moved out of the CBD. I scoured 

high and low for boxes. But, I was very particular. 

I did not want just any old cardboard box. 

Quirky creatures by

Steen Drabik

I chose brightly coloured fruit boxes. 

Packing boxes from the asian restaurant sector.

And anything with a really nice tone of recycled brown.

I packed them. Moved them. Un-packed them.

And ever so lovingly flattened and stored them away

...much to the rest of my household's disdain!

Whimsical artwork by 

Blanca Helga

 My initial thoughts were packaging... 

for 'Raised by the Wolves' designs.

I would cut box templates to fit each design 

and then hand-make my very own shipping boxes.

I still intend to do just that BUT... some of these boxes, 

now they are just too nice to ship away. 

They are deserving of a higher purpose.

I've long yearned to turn 

those cardboard beauties into...

ART! 

Well, with the help of my ever ready assistant, 

the mid-winter holidays being just a week away and

the projects I've been working so madly on nearing

completion, perhaps it's time to take a breather,
and breath new life into that...

 old pile of cardboard!

xoxox

cut and play

It's really late here, but I just can't sleep!

I guess my mind won't stop ticking... thinking... 

about all sorts of things.

Yesterday's post got me thinking about this blog. 

Filled to the brim with wonderful vintage paper-cut outs. 

I'm sure you're going to love it too! xo

paper planes & memories

There is a giveaway for a rather cute book on Fine Little Day.

also available from Amazon

To enter you just need to leave a comment
about a favourite paper plane memory.

So, I asked Ari what we should say and he said 

"Well, all my paper plane memories are in the drawer!"

And indeed they are. Ari likes to keep all the projects we make

and probably spends just as much time playing with our paper and 

cardboard toy creations, as he does with the store bought ones.

So we pulled them out and took some photos of

'Ari's paper plane memories'.

He was so happy to see his creations up here,
on my blog, that it got me thinking perhaps... 

he should have a blog of his own?

It's something I've mulled over before but he always seemed
too little to understand the concept of having a web page. 

This year he turns seven though! Such a big boy ;)

Perhaps we'll build Ariel Gray an art blog for his birthday!

pattern play

 I love these combinations of pattern and colour ↓

The work of german artist Sabine Finkenauer is so playful and the

Kilim cushions from Sukan display such interesting tribal designs.

They look great in juxtaposition, don't you think?

the music maker

We've been having a lot of fun with my birthday present.

It's been a while since I've had a turntable and Ari's never

enjoyed the experience of listening to records play before!

I have bit of a collection of kid's recordings, though none 

quite so wonderful as the records pictured here. Perhaps we'll 

have to start a collection of 1940s and 1950s kid's records.

Some of the records pictured here come from this great site.

The sweet collectors there have uploaded their collection for
your free personal enjoyment. So lovely! Take a peek. x

lei li la loo

Today, I turn Thirty-five!  WOW.  Ha?
It's a rather grey and gloomy sort of birthday day.
Typical for early June (and the beginning of Winter).

We're planning to brave the miserable cold front

and take a little trip into town, though. Yay!

I thought I'd write about this lovely maker's blog today,

my very first Etsy discovery and my birthday gift to you... 

The white rabbit, or rather... very cute and colourful bunny...

that I followed into the wonderland of Etsy.

You can visit the LeiLiLaLoo shop here.

A beautiful place to find inspiration

and glimpse an artist and mother at work.

If you're feeling grey, visiting this blog

is just like dancing in a rainbow ♥

High Five

Sneaky is more like a tiger cub than a house cat. 

And she thinks Ari is a tiger cub too, I think. 

The two of them spend hours playing together.

Ari's double bed is a beautiful old deco piece I picked up for a 

song, many years ago. My first bed when I moved out of home.

His sheets are from Ikea. The print is a graphic version of Ikat.

'Orange Pussycats' is an old work of mine from art school days.

whirligig.

I love these eclectic creations by Hutch Studios

 I have a wee bit of a thing for whirligigs and the like.

A bit of whimsy like this would look lovely amongst 

the wild strawberries & winter blooms in our garden.

'Artist and designer Chris Theiss repurposes old junk to hand 

make extraordinarily fun and whimsical creations.Every fence post 

in front of Hutch spins with one of these clever contraptions.'

...in the artists own words

It would be fun to attend one of these workshops and 

La Conner looks like a very pretty little town to visit.

If only I wasn't half the world away here in Australia.

xox