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

sew pretty.

Working away the wintery days in my studio.

The pretty colours remind me of spring flowers.

Let's Weave!

I've been loving all the Bauhaus textiles that have been flooding pattern
 Pin Boards of Pinterest lately. It's had me contemplating the fine art of

A tapestry by Max Pfeiffer Watenphul, 1921

...weaving!

I've not done much weaving before. And what I have done, has always
been done on make-shift, homemade contraptions. Well, last week I
happened upon a large free-standing tapestry loom, just sitting
by the side of the road... like it was waiting for me!

It's been pretty dismal and grey here lately. The kind of weather that's
pretty much perfect for a bit of finger-warming craftwork.
Oh, I can't wait to try my new loom out! 

Do you fancy a spot of weaving? Do you have a loom?

There's a wonderful tutorial here for a DIY tapestry loom ↓

D.I.Y Tapestry Loom by kristin Roach

So okay... let's weave!

A doll for Amelia

I rediscovered this dolly when sifting through some photos today...

Please excuse the poor image quality... I was new to digital then.

I made this little lady as a first birthday gift.

The little girl's Mama has a thing for those 

big-eyed children of 1960s-1970s era prints.

So, I tried my best to capture the 'mod' look in Amelia's doll.

I like that you don't really notice the fabric says I LOVE YOU
until you've taken off her coat and scarf... like opening a card.

The party's theme was 'I heart Amelia!'

What do you think of this little dolly, I wonder? 

I am quite envious of her 'modish' outfit. I can just imagine her go-go
dancing, in Amelia's room, in the middle of the night... can't you? ;)


I only wish, I'd thought to make her mouth a little love heart,
and, perhaps, heart-shaped pockets too... ♥

Happy (belated) Mother's Day

...to all the beautiful mothers of this world.

Thank-you for being the strong, loving, 

wise and inspiring women that you are.

Image: photographed by Eric Lafforgue  here

Mumuhuila mother with her albino baby. Angola.

Shinro Ohtake and Misaki Kawai

Shinro Ohtake and Misaki Kawai collaborated on these fabulous 

artworks for gallery Take Ninagawa's installation at fiac in 2010.

Although I've long been a fan of Shinro Ohtake's beautiful art,

I've not come across Misaki Kawai's work before. A true delight!

More fabulous colour and patterns here on Pinterest... 

(Yes, it's become quite an addiction for me. So much to wonder at!)

Toys of the Avant-Garde

I have had my eye on this fantastic book for a while...

My birthday is coming up in a couple of months

and it's at the top of my wish-list along with this.

I only wish that I could have visited the exhibition.

Images above found via this wonderful post on mondo 

somewhere in dreamland

Ari looked so beautiful sleeping tonight that 

I just had to take a picture of him...

...and just as I snapped it, he smiled in his sleep!

This camera doesn't take the best photos in really low light

but I didn't want to turn on the overhead and risk waking him up.

I think images are often beautiful simply for what they evoke.

Speaking of imaging, I've been spending WAY too much time 

pinning beautiful things here the past few days... take a peek. x

love & clutter

Perhaps you have noticed some changes around here?

The link lists that were expanding down either side of my blog are now 

situated (in a tidy fashion) as individual pages beneath the blog header.

Ever the work in progress, A Modern Fable turns 1 this month (one!)... 

A tiny, prettily cluttered corner of Dark Horse Studios

...so I thought perhaps it was time for a, well, a... de-cluttering.  Of sorts. 

Of course everything that had a place on this blog still has a place here. 

I find it near impossible to throw anything lovely away... ever!  

Also, I've set up a Pininterest account. And I made a Facebook page for
Raised by the Wolves.  Visit me there sometime, if you're so inclined. x

BOIS & CHARBONS

The other day, Ari and I took a lovely walk around the Collingwood 

Children's Farm & the Abbotsford Convent. We stopped to shoot some 

pictures of each other in front of the old Bois & Charbons Coke Shop.

Would you believe, it was Ari's first time using the camera?

Aren't they great! I love that beautiful old facade so much. 

The weather has been just perfect these past couple of weeks.

Aside from a cold and a bout of stomach flu, we've thoroughly 

enjoyed the school holidays. But school started back again today.

I'm always sad when my Ari has to go back to the classroom.
He's such a sweetheart and I so love spending time together.

It is great to be back in the studio and able to focus on work though.
I am very inspired right now. The work table's piled high with projects

and patterns and fabric and books and trims and I can't wait to finally
get my Etsy shops up and running.  It's all coming together so nicely!

A new button!

Wondering where the link to my other blog's gone?

Scroll down and on the right of the screen you'll find my 

lovely new button. Just click on it to connect to the site.

If you haven't visited there before, I hope you like my other 

little world of fashion, art and more theatrical attractions... xo

shop love

How wonderful are these designs 

from teenytiny's new collection?

Swwoooon.  I'm in love!

happy bunny day!

Funny Little Bunnies: A Walt Disney Silly Symphony 1934