here comes the sun

 I couldn't resist purchasing this lovely thing today... 

It's a 1940s romper/2 pce swimsuit by Catalina. 

The tag reads- 'styled for the stars of Hollywood'. 

Ooh la la!!! 

I can't wait to wear it to the beach this Summer...

the weather's already warming up. Almost Springtime!

There's a cute pattern here to sew your own vintage style 

2 pce suit if you're interested.  It would look lovely in floral.

Pop Pop Portraits

A lovely little letter arrived in the mail for me this week and

it was written on the back of these super sweet illustrations...

The work of the very talented Helena Randall.

I have known Helena for many, many years and have watched her 

work develop and change, as she has explored different styles and 

mediums. Her art has a wonderful sense of fun and whimsy about it

and her colour choice and line work are just exquisite.

With Pop Pop Portraits Helena has given the art of portraiture a
new and contemporary twist, creating custom portraits of clients 

(and often their pets or kids) in her own unique style of illustration.

Her work was recently featured in Frankie Magazine.  So exciting!

But, as far as creative talents go, portraiture is just the tip of the iceberg

for this clever lady!  I can't wait to see what future projects lie ahead...

You can visit her blog/s here or take a peek at her shop here.

xoxox

project bunny girl

Super cute PDF bunny pattern from 

the ever whimsical Lieschen Muller 

Чебура́шка!

Also known as Cheburashka or Topple in English Translations.

Here's an episode. It's in two parts.

At the start, the crocodile is singing about what a great

pity it is, that birthdays only happen once a year.

one...

two...

I love the strangeness of these old claymation films and would love 

to have a go at making one of my own.  The colours in this one are 

particularly lovely I think and the characters and sets are very cute! 

It would be a fantastic holiday project to work on with older kids...

Jess Quinn

A rather lovely new watercolour by Jess Quinn.

I do so love her work and blog.

read a little about my winter days here

Collage LOVE

While selecting artwork to include in my portfolio, I sifted through a 

vast collection of artworks, sketchbooks and inspiration, that I've held 

onto.  Some of it dated back to my own childhood.  It was so lovely to 

be able to look back and see how my art has developed over my life. 

© Mama and Ari ;)

I've been archiving Ari's artwork too. He's an avid artist, so there's a lot!

Ari and I made this collage back in 2009 and it's one of my favourites.

He really loves that we have kept his works and enjoys looking at them.

And he knows, that we think they are too precious to throw away... xox

Ribambelles

The beautiful work of Nathalie Parain has a timeless quality to it.

I love the simplicity of these designs and the beautiful shades of

blue and red against the parchment used in this 1932 craft book.

You can view all images from this book here (and many other 

wonderful vintage french illustrations) and you can read more

about Nathalie and her designs here (link will need translating).

a winter wedding

We've just returned from a mid-winter hiatus in Van Diemens Land,

where we attended a wonderful wedding in a lovely winter garden.

It was a really lovely wedding.  All homegrown and handmade.

Guests were asked to bring plates of food rather than gifts and a 

most delectable feast of homemade goodies was bestowed upon 

tables decorated with vintage cloths, tea cup candles and jars of

 dried hydrangea flowers, gathered from the garden last summer
and arranged with brilliant bursts of turquoise peacock feathers.

The pegola had been purpose-built for the occasion by the groom and 

hand-stitched bunting, lovingly crafted (from old books, blankets and

sheets) by the bride and her mother-in-law, was strewn from it's eaves.

The bridal bouquets were made from old buttons and the couple's 

garden was dotted with lace and coloured hand-crocheted flowers.

The bridesmaid dyed her hair turquoise to match the colour theme. 

I had the pleasure of creating the bride's elaborate hairpiece...

my past occupation being costumery and theatrical millinery. 

An Opera Singer... the bride treated us all to a surprise performance 

mid-ceremony when she sang a beautiful love song to the groom and

during the reception a mother/daughter duo belted out old time tunes 

 on a most whimsical hand-crafted electric piano and an old washboard.

Ari, J and I danced up a storm in the beautifully decorated hallway. 

It was one beautiful day in one very beautiful corner of the world.
You can take a closer peek at the hairpiece on my other blog. xox

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