A belated welcome...

to the year Twenty Thirteen: Year of the Snake

cute calendar by one of my favourite designers,  Misako Mimoko

Ah,  it has been a rather busy year already, many a change is a foot.

At home, in the studio, in the garden. No time to dilly-dally. Onward

and upward and forward and in fact that's my new year's resolution. 

To  keep moving  forward. 

To stop looking backward. 

Like everyone, there are aspects of my life that I wish I could change, 

decisions I wish I could reverse, opportunities I wish I hadn't forgone... 

I spend a lot of time in this country of the past. It's a land of memories, 

but not all those memories are correct.  Over time our re-collection can 

become distorted by our emotions and by our present-day experiences. 

Looking back can be more of a visit to the imagination, than a trip back 

in time and it can hinder our journey forward if we choose to spend too

much time looking back. Wise words? They are words of Walt Disney.

"Around here,  however,  we 

don't look back for very long.

We keep moving forward,  opening new doors,
and doing new things,  because we're curious
and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

One of our favourite movies of recent times is 'Meet the Robinsons'.

Based on the book 'A Day with Wilbur Robinson' by William Joyce.

It tells us the sweet story of Lewis, an orphan, who dreams of seeing his

mother again... if only once. Subsequently, he is taken on a wild ride to 

the future, where he encounters a world beyond his wildest imaginings

and in the end he realises- all he has to do to bring that world to life is  

'keep moving forward'

... classic Disney stuff, but the message never grows old for me 

or for Ari, and whenever we watch it it brings tears to our eyes. 

xox

These are a few of my...

favourite things. 

 

Things that make me happy.

Things that I love.

Things that I'd love to own.

Things that I do own.

Things that I enjoy.

Things that I enjoy doing.

Things that resonate with my sense of aesthetics.

Beautiful kimonos circa 1930s-1950s via.

If you'd like to create a post about your favourite things,

feel free to link to it in the comments.  I'd love to know 

what lovely things inspire and motivate you to create... xo

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

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

The Mad Square

 available from Amazon

Ari + J gifted me this fabulous book for Christmas and 

I've been just swooning over it these past weeks.

I particularly love the wonderful textiles it includes.

The NGV is currently holding an exhibition on 

' Modernity in German Art from 1910-1937 '

The Mad Square  is on until 4 March,

we're hoping to visit next week... it looks brilliant!

... someone's been rather keen to get in on these photos

Hello Mister New Year

Wonderful 2012 calender by Misako Mimoko

It's already hanging on my studio wall.

Yep. I'm ready for a New Year. Bring it on :)

Here come the clowns... Part Two

Ari  'the sad little clown'

The school concert was really wonderful! Everyone did a great job.

Ari was practising his sad clown face and routine for weeks! 

I made ruffles, bow-ties and hats for the boys. They looked super cute 

but it was so very hot that night, that we had a hard time keeping them on. Ari, however, was so pleased with his costume and face-paint that I had a hard time getting them off and he ended up sleeping with the paint still on.

I think we may be looking into theatre classes in the New Year :)

MORE wonderful images from Messy Fish Dot Com
...this time fabulous card collections.

Love this shop.

L'Affiche Moderne

How wonderful are these prints?  LOVE THEM!

They're from L'Affiche Moderne

Visit Kickan & Conkers and enter the giveaway

and you might just win one.  We're sure hoping to!

Competion closes Wednesday 14 Dec 6pm (CET)

Ari has a print of La Lune by Joan Miro hanging in his bedroom ↓ 

The concept of Automatic Drawing 

fascinated me when I was at Art School

and Miro's work seems so childlike.

We often lie on Ari's bed and talk about this picture

How wonderful would these prints look together?

If we don't win the giveaway, I may have to think

about purchasing one for his bedroom wall.

Ari's room has built in robes from floor to ceiling and 

I've been thinking about painting them in these colours ↑ 

The doors have thin strips of panelling dividing them, 

so I was thinking about leaving it white and painting each 

door a different colour to create a sort of Mondrian effect,

but with our own wonderful gelati coloured palette.

↑ Egal Shelves found here

His room's all white but filled with colourful bits and bobs

...I think it would make the space fun and quirky!

If you like this, check out the great modernist interior I posted on

Welcome to the Dollhaus

Time For Fun

Well, aside from sniffles and stomach flu, and the dismal Melbourne weather (too cold for the seaside unfortunately) 

we have been thoroughly enjoying the Spring holidays.

1950s John and Betty Australian School Reader (from my collection)

We've visited local op-shops (and those a bit further afield), 

Ari's been to a couple of birthday parties and to the cinemas, 

we've caught up with friends and we spent Thursday with the 

dinosaurs at Scienceworks (Ari's favourite place on earth... so far).

Yesterday we did a HUGE food shop at the market and today 

was spent within the cosy confines of our home, nestled infront  

of the fire watching 'Walking with Monsters' and 'Dinotopia.'

1950s Janet and John American School Reader (from my collection)

The Royal Melbourne Show is on and I'm keen to visit the 

animals.  We're hoping to get a chook house up and going 

this year and there's no better place to check out different breeds.

We planted out our seeds for the vegie patches in our makeshift 

greenhouse (so far we've got three raised beds ready to go) and 

suddenly everything's beginning to shoot up. It's very exciting. 

1950s Janet and John British School Reader (from my collection)

Next week, I'm hoping to spend a few nights in the studio finishing off 

the lovely little creatures that have waited so patiently by my machine whilst I enjoy having Ari all to myself for two weeks!  I'm also hoping we might spend some time in town. I'm really enjoying life in the fresh air, but I do still miss the hustle and the bustle of the city and the coffee! But tomorrow we're off up the road to the visit The Tramway Museum.

I hope you've all enjoyed some fun times this week too! xo

Playing With Matches

aren't they just delightful?

Eastern European Matchboxes

via

 mid-century modern: sticker, label and stamp club