Mad Hatters Tea Party

Alice In Wonderland is really popular at the moment. Today Sean and I went to a Mad Hatters Tea Party in the Botanical Gardens.

Some people got really dressed up and looked great! I was a bit boring, just wearing a floral op shop dress I'd just taken in, with a bow in my hair and a rabbit & watch necklace.

The clouds were threatening rain all afternoon but it held off until about 7pm which was great. On of the couples who were there even got engaged that arvo!

I never realised how pretty the Gardens really were until it was getting dark and the rain was coming down.

The Animalarium

theanimalarium.blogspot.com

"Animals as an endless source of creative inspiration. An exploration of the finest in art, illustration, crafts and design from around the world featuring animals, both real and fantastic."

Open for Business

My new Etsy store 'bramble and bear' is open for business.

brambleandbear.etsy.com

Duckies on Wheels

Moss

Floss

Direct from my heart to your neck... I'm almost ready to open up my Etsy store soon... exciting!

Pastel Cats

My mouth is slowing healing... and I've got one day left of sick leave.
So I'm making the most of it and relaxing. What better way to relax than looking at Pastel Cats.


Photo by Tim Walker

Etsy Hunt: Autumn

Autumn is here.. leaves are falling, and the days aren't as warm as they were. The following items give me extra reason to rejoice in this beautiful season!

Piano Tree Print by papersparrow

Autumn Garden Party silver ring by DaisyJaneDesigns

Cocoon Butterfly Hair comb by whichgoose
Cambridge Dreams Print by raceytay

Etsy Hunt: Fox

Fox tee by dandyrions


Silver fox felt brooch by theboxofbirdsshop


Biking Animals Coaster set by cricketpress

Fat Face Issue #1

On Monday I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. I had a general anaesthetic which was given through a needle. I felt a cold rush go up my arm and into my head, then before I knew it I was waking up in another room with a man taking cotton out of my mouth.

It is not hurting too badly at the moment.

Mum and Kelly came over today… and we played this Saddle Club game I bought at a garage sale for $4 on Saturday. Sick.

Lucky me I got some gifts too. My grandma gave me this ‘Supernal Tortoise’… wrapped up with the price sticker still on.

Slam Skater of the Year

On Saturday night we went to Slam Skater of the year party. It was smelly and most people there had greasy hair (sorry guys). Check out Gen posing with this awesome painting at the party.

Me, Sean Nick and Gen had a bit of a dance. Sean and I caught the night rider home then had a 45 minutes walk to get to our house. It was fun! I think I was appreciating things a bit more because of the operation I was to have on Monday.


Sunday arvo we met up with Nic and Gen again, it was relaxing... hanging out at Clifton Hill park with Herschel and a German named Karl. Then we went out to dinner in Brunswick and had the last proper meal I'll have in a while... eggplant parma... yum. :)

Saturday Crafternoon...

While Praying mantises were copulating on the lemon tree, I was hustling.

I love Beatrix Potter!! Some of her stories were actually dark and a bit creepy, but the drawings are gorgeous! Great inspiration.

It's Waspalicious

Last night when Sean and I were having dinner outside I saw a Praying Mantis on the lemon tree.
Then I saw a European Wasp land right near him on the tree. The Praying Mantis starting doing the 'I'm a leaf blowing in the breeze' walk and came right up behind the wasp and grabbed it. I was so excited; I thought the wasp might actually sting Mr. Mantis, but he won and ate him head first!!

Then after he'd finished eating and cleaning himself I picked him up and he was just looking at me. I love him. This morning I went out to the lemon tree and Mr. Mantis was still there so I said hello.

Meanwhile Ginny was just 'bok bok bok'-ing around and looking for a place to get comfy.

Best Film Clip Ever

The year was 1998. Britney Spears was 17... and just the bomb diggity.

I even had the doll of her wearing this outfit.

Half a car looking twice as good

I've never seen a car on blocks look this good. Actually, it's half a car.

This is one of the reasons why it's a good idea to take your camera with you everywhere. You never know what you'll see in Ormond on a Sunday morning...

New Friends...

I made some new friends for Teddy, Shani and I.

Hens Invites...

So I decided to plan Brit a hen's on the Gold Coast...

Activities will include a divine High Tea at 'Tea & Niceties' in the mountians and dressing in 80's wedding dresses then jumping into the ocean/mud/pool etc.

Here are the invites I made (with a Mad Hatters Tea Party Theme)

I just bought the supplies at Sams Warehouse, the little sticker photo frames are made out of black felt. I chanced upon these gorgeous sparkles at a newsagent. They even have little toadstools!!!

You wouldn't believe the mushies I've seen...

As the weather is getting a little chillier and the ground a little more damp in the mornings... Mushrooms are beginning to grow! Here are some of my favourites from the past few months...

I think Mushrooms and toadstools are good for a few things:
Stomping on (they make great noises when being squished)
Taking cute photos of

Living under (if you are small enough and there is no risk of being stood on)

Next time you see a mushy don't forget to stop and say hi!

Fimo - The Dungeon

As I am just having my (early) lunch of left over Sweet & Sour chicken... (YUM!) I thought I'd tell ya'll about my Fimo!

I've been using Fimo to make pendants for jewellery and have just been playing around with it in general; it's fun! So far I've made a few animals, flowers and other weird shapes. I'm so lucky because my uncle gave me a whole box for free including many different colours and even marbled Fimo.

This is where my best work gets done, at home in 'The Dungeon'.

I added this little one to my collection last night... Nutmeg. I wore him around my neck today at work.

More to come soon....

Stormy Storm Storm Storm

So in Melbourne there was a massive hail storm on Saturday in Melbourne.

“Where were you when the storm hit?”

I was watching Seinfield.

Then I ran to the train in the rain as I was meant to go to Laurens. But the train only took me one station. I was stranded at Caulfield with hundreds of other people due to power outages and floods. Sweet. You could be forgiven for mistaking the tunnel under the station for a sewer. But this crazy Chinese woman and her soon to be pet pigeon didn’t seem to mind… She kept chasing this poor pidgeon around! I think it might been a potential pigeon soup!

I decided to try and walk back home then catch a tram or drive in from there. But Lauren kindly offered to pick me up in her new car… Little did she know how bad the traffic would be! It took her an hour to get from Parkville to Richmond and all up she spent 4 hours in the car!! So many roads were blocked off. On the plus side we did have a dance party in the car.

When we finally got home at 9.30 we cracked open a bottle of red, watched Night at the Roxbury and played with Shani and Vaughan’s bunnies, Nougat and Gus.

Not very cute...

On Sunday night some peeps came over to mine for an indoor Moonlight Cinema experience. We watched Fantastic Mr. Fox & Aladdin.
My favourite lines from Fantastic Mr. Fox are “Divide that by 9 please.” and “…and these apples look fake, but, at least they have stars on them.”

I’ve seen that movie 3 times :) Love it love it love it!

Teddy Girls

The other day I lashed out and bought the Feb/March issue of Oyster Magazine…

I Fell in love with a photo shoot called ‘Teddy Girls’. It is a reference to the Teddy Boy subculture of the 1950’s.

Early 1950’s England made way for the first groups of teenagers who wanted to be differentiated from adults and children. As it was a few years after the war incomes were beginning to increase and some middle and upper class teenagers wanted to rebel against society, and show they cared about the way they dressed when going out. Thus they spent a lot of money on tailored Edwardian style jackets, shirts and pants. The name Teddy is short for Edward, referring to the time when King Edward reigned from 1901 – 1910. Thus the Edwardian revival was born. Some of these groups formed gangs and were involved in violence against rival gangs.

In my opinion there is nothing more beautiful than wavy fringes showing defined eyebrows!~~~

I dunno about you but it makes me want to go out and buy a million more pairs of brogues!

Skaterrrzzzzz

Last night I went out on a shoot with Sean.

There were 4 skaters, 2 from Melbourne, 1 from Canadia(as Sean says it) and one from Venice.

We met at the city Library, then after getting kicked off grounds by the security guard went to a spot at a car park in West Melbourne. To get there we had to drive between some student accommodation buildings where we waited for uni students having bbq’s and drinking around a pool to get out of our way. It was like “Are we really meant to drive through here?”

After that we went to the Lucky Coq on Chapel Street for $4 pizzas. I had pumpkin, pine nut & soy cheese… so yum but so naughty!! (I’m not meant to eat wheat)

Christian, Alex & Ethan waiting for their pizzas

Walking along the footpath on the way back to the car someone saw a dead bird. So Ethan from Canada took a photo of it. Then he showed us another photo of a dead rat on his camera. Its was squashed on the concrete with its tongue hanging out.

One of the stories Ethan told last night went as follows… (you’ll have to imagine the accent)

“I swear to God, this one time I saw a dead cat... Four legs, a tail, ears, that’s it......No whiskers.”

“No torso?”

“No torso, no head. And smoking a cigarette.”


Genius.

'All my friends are getting married...'

“Well all my friends are getting married,

Yes they’re all growing old

They’re all staying home on the weekends

They’re all doing what they’re told.” – All My Friends Are Getting Married, Skyhooks

The words to this song have never been so true for my husband Sean and I! This year so far we have attended 2 weddings of our close friends. They had very different but beautiful weddings in their own right. Here are my favourite personal touches from each.

Shane and Tyra’s cake… Made by Myf, a girl who had never set out to tackle anything like this before.

Just stunning!

I loved Nic & Gen’s picnic rugs, with hydrangeas in vases, candles and trays personalised with photographs from when they got engaged in Paris.

Too cute!

Congratulations also to my friend who Brittany just got engaged to her boyfriend Tim. Staying true to the promise she made when she was 14 years old, she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids.

Looks like this theme of weddings will continue throughout the year… not that I mind :)