feeling foxy

Foxes I drew for you because you know you're foxy! Ahuh.

x

road trip

It was a long weekend here in Australia and we had a little road trip to the country for a friend's wedding. The wedding was lovely.

locuts everywhere

The drive however was through a locust plague, the worst Victoria has seen in 40 years!

eewh locust guts!

There was a LOT of me saying, "EEWH!" and scrunching my face as we drove through thick patches.

ahh a nice clean car again : )

Needless to say our first stop, once home back in Melbourne was a car wash!

high-five friday

Five lovely places and objects I've come across recently that deserve high-fives and are absolutely worth sharing!

1. Defining Duo, a great place to stop by for a mix of stylish items recycled, re-used and re-purposed.

2. Knitting patterns available via 100 Rain, all making me wish the weather cooler and plenty of time to knit.

image from here

3. A gorgeous little turtle made by man hands from vintage and modern fabrics. Not only sweet but stuffed with eco-friendly kapok too!

image from here

4. Gretel know how to search the globe for home accessories that will make your heart sing.

images from here

5. Walk with happy feet in colourful, fair-trade shoes by Osborn Design.

Happy Friday!

x

lego patches

images from here

Have you seen these little lego patches by Dispatchwork?

Aren't they awesome?! I'm so glad they exist!

I hope you are having a super happy day Tuesday.

x

trash to treasure

photo by Matt Hurst

If you are in Melbourne and near Federation Square I suggest popping by The Atrium to check out 1,000 discarded kitchen utensils.

Really? I hear you say.

Why these are no ordinary kitchen utensils, I tell you!

Actually, they are. However these kitchen items have been thoughtfully collected from 'secondhand stores, sheds and flea markets' to be transformed into amazing, intergalactic looking sculptures by the very clever Donna Marcus, so you would never know.

Given their shiny surfaces, pretty colours and hanging nature they also remind me of vintage Christmas decorations! Don't you think?

I know some of you may have already seen this but I couldn't resist posting about Donna myself. I do love it when someone knows how to re-purpose an everyday item so beautifully and Donna has been up to this for years - check out her equally wonderful past exhibitions here.

Re-Entry by Donna Marcus, is a free exhibition on at The Atrium, Federation Square until 29 May.

a spot of yellow

Things that made me smile today.

How cute are his shoes and little fingers?!

Oh what lovely colours!

Great decal and a comfy spot to lie down - tea included. Super!

All found via the delightful German, CUT magazine site.

darbyland

You may remember me showing you Darby's work before, or not. Either way I thought you might be interested in his latest offering, Darbyland...

The mind that is Darby's intrigues. I'm not sure I'd like to meet my reputation and perhaps I'll now look twice at a lucky .5c on the ground!

a kidney shared

Hello! Some of you may have noticed I have been a bit absent from blogland over the past week. I wasn't sure if I should or would post about the reason for this absence but have decided to as it's a huge part of mine and my families life. Generally I keep this blog focused on positives and all things pretty and fun – that's the way I like it. My blog is my escape. A nice place to meet like minded people. This post wont be without its positives but just more on the 'real' stuff in life and the not so pretty 'fluffy' stuff.

I've posted about my brother before. I actually have two but this one is my oldest. He got sick back in October 2008, one week before my now fiance and I were about to head off on a 3 month trip overseas. Leaving was so hard and the trip had really tough moments knowing we were so far away. However my brother wanted us to go and knew we'd been saving for ages so he didn't want it any other way.

Initially my brother ended up in hospital one afternoon because he had lost most of his vision and had a strong sense of being unwell. It took many hours of questioning in the ER, that finally led to a decision at 3am to undergo surgery that would enable kidney function via a dialysis machine. Both of my brother's kidneys had failed. With little to no notice. It was too late for any preventative kidney failure treatment, he was immediately put on dialysis.

The road thus far has felt long. My younger brother, mum, and I have all been screened for a possible kidney match. While we weren't ruled out altogether, the good news is my dad was an excellent match and would be the one to donate a kidney! So just last Thursday my dad (who I am so, so proud of) gave my brother (who I am also extremely proud of) the gift of life - a new kidney!! To see the change in my brother already has been amazing. Both my dad and brother are doing extremely well post op. There is still a long way to go for my brother but things are certainly on the up.

waiting in hospital the day before their op

I think anyone who donates an organ, living or deceased to another person is amazing. And for the surgeons and nurses who make it all possible I have no words for. Except, thank you. For me, the past week been the most challenging week of my adult life and I know what I have gone through has been nothing compared to these two incredible men in my life.

x

pretty pillows

images from here and here

I'm loving these gorgeous pillows made from 100% recycled wool sweater.
Created by the talented Lindy over at PLYtextiles on Etsy.
Eco and modern, what more could you want?

yummy mistakes

I hope you enjoyed your Easter time.

This year we started a new tradition for us, making an Easter cake. Our attempt was disastrous to say the least however the process was lots of fun and the result was still yummy! I kid you not.

Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, extra chocolate and Easter eggs to decorate. A chocolate overload for sure!! After the cake got stuck in the tin, everything else pretty much went down hill from there. We weren't too worried though at least this left lots of room for improvement next year!

x

happy easter

The Bearded Blokes (the guys above are off to new homes over Easter) and I hope you have a lovely Easter break. We hope you get to spend lots of time with loved ones, eat choci for breakfast, lunch and tea (if you so wish) and have an all-round relaxing, fun time!

it's a wrap

Have you seen these blankets available over at Third Drawer Down? Well out of my wintry budget, but very cool all the same!
Hidden World As described on the Third Drawer Down website - 'This blanket is a dedication to those magical people and is meant to create space in the everyday life to connect with the hidden world.'

The Twosome Blanket

Shield of Wings I love the pose and expression on the bearded man!

SeaPelt
'In the Icelandic myths, seals are believed to be condemned by humans. One ancient story from the south of Iceland is about a farmer who early one morning finds a sealpelt lying on the beach. In a cave nearby, he hears vioces and music. He takes the sealpelt home and hides it in a woodenchest...', continue reading on the Third Drawer Down website here.