Whiskers on kittens....

Right, so I may have received my boxes (finally!) but I’m yet to set my studio up because it is currently acting as a guest room.  (The poor boy is surrounded by piles of fabric and boxes of craft).  To keep you interested in the meantime, I’m going to introduce you to some of my favourite shops around town!  (Does the obscure title make any more sense now?).

Keith + Lottie is a brilliant little shop in Northbridge (Perth, W.Australia) which sells an eclectic mix of goodies. Clothing, magazines, jewellery, shoes, books, stationary.  But wait! There's more! - beyond the shop is a small gallery with regular high calibre exhibitions.  And still there's more! - beyond the gallery is The Butcher Shop, a funky little space selling clothing, art supplies and other stuff.  Still want more? - head upstairs to Whitegoods where you'll find blank products crying out to be customised - tees, canvases, skate decks, vintl toys, babushka dolls!  Want more?! - Well now you're just being greedy.  :)

The best thing about this group of businesses (apart from the fact that they seem to be at the helm of the movement to reinvigorate this part of the city) is the oh-so-gorgeous Frank, seen in the image above.  He is so super adorable and can often be found in store.  But want a piece of him to take home?  (Not literally of course, though i guess The Butcher Shop would be the place to go).  Well take a look at these tees from The Butcher Shop!

(psst! - sale alert! - up to 50% off stuff right now! I know I sound like a spruiker, but I assure you I'm in no way affiliated with Keith + Lottie.  I just have a crush....).  I'll share another store tomorrow....

Love love....

Handmade Esther Diamond Typography designed by Martin Poppelwell and made by House of Aroha.

You may remember Aroha Lamour (House of Aroha) from my anonymous postcard drop (a project I’m thinking of starting again now that I’ve relocated – stay tuned).  Rakai Karaitiana of House of Aroha is a super talented typeface designer (among other things) and has produced some beautiful fonts.

This font specifically resulted from a collaboration between Esther Diamond, Martin Poppelwell and House of Aroha -  be sure to check out the results here.

Thank you Skinny laMinx....

I can't recall the last time I won something, which makes winning something even more exciting! And it's not just something - it's a Skinny laMinx teatowel!!

Having just moved to Perth (Australia) from Napier (New Zealand) I'm in the process of re-aquiring SO many things, teatowels being one of them. Alas, the teatowels I do own are STILL in transit with the rest of my things (including all my crafty goodness). Fingers crossed for an arrival this week. So this prize is beautiful AND practical!

Thank you so much to Heather for hosting this Valentine's giveaway and to Paul for plucking me from the heart shaped box. Of course, I'll probably find it's just too lovely to use for drying dishes. But that's just fine too....

(psst! - if you'd like a tea towel like this one, you can head to Heather's shop!)

Photo 6....

I've been tagged by Shannon at Rabbit and the Duck to take part in a photo game! Here's the deal: "Open the 6th picture folder on your computer, open the 6th photo and blog it. Write something about it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same."

Like Shannon, my photo filing is a bit haywire, but surprisingly, I did have a 6th folder with a 6th photo. Most unexpected, but not any sort of indication of organisation on my part.

The strange part is that my photo is earily similar to a subsequent post of Shannon's about the bushfires in Victoria, Australia. Fortunately, the amazing sky in my photo isn't the result of bushfires. It was taken from outside my home one evening a couple of years ago as the sun went down over the sea. Having lived on a west coast for most of my life, I'm so used to sunsets over water. It seems strange to me that it should be any other way.

The fires in Victoria are so hard to fathom. Hundreds are dead and thousands are homeless. It's hard to believe it's really happened, and it's not over yet. If anyone would like to donate, please head to the Australian Red Cross and/or to RSPCA Victoria. I'm donating 1 hour pay to each and hope you can too, but anything you can give will of course help. If you can't afford a cash donation, there are other ways you can help. If you're in Australia, donate blood. Take a look at Meet Me At Mike's for a heap of ways your craftyness can help too.

Hmm, ok, tagging 6 bloggers is tricky as I'm a bit out of touch with things!

• Firstly, I'll tag Jen at painted fish studio who you may know from the recent friday letter collaboration we did.
• Secondly, Jesse from Jezze, just because she makes cool stuff and is generous with her helpful advice!
• Next is Megan from Little Breeze who takes beautiful photos, so I can't wait to see what her 6th photo is!
• And finally (for now) is Ceci from migamiga. I found Ceci because people seemed to find me from her blog. Embarassingly, it took me a few visits before I realsied that her blog is in Spanish AND English! (I had only noticed the Spanish so was just looking at the pictures). Plus, she has a beautiful ginger cat (I'm a dog preson but have a soft spot for ginger cats).

That's a good mix of nationalities too - American, South African, Australian and Spanish. The pressure's on for the next 2 tags now! If only I knew bloggers in South America and Asia....

Here's looking at you, kid....

Last night my mum and I went to see Casablanca on the big screen. It was showing as part of the Summerset Festival which is run by the City of Stirling here in Perth, W. Australia. More specifically, it was part of the Cafe Culture 3 day festival just around the corner from home (oh, how I've missed inner-city living!).

I'd never seen it before and was completely unprepared for how funny it is! The writing is very clever and the minor characters are brilliant. I see a Casablanca themed project popping up in the future for sure! If you haven't seen it be sure to check it out, and enjoy these few snippets:

Ugarte: You despise me, don't you?
Rick: If I gave you any thought I probably would.

Yvonne: Where were you last night?
Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

We watched it in The Astor cinema, a very beautiful Art Deco cinema which is now unfortunately only used for special events. Behind us was a guy in his 70's who sweetly sung "As Time Goes By" each time Sam played it. When the lights came on he had the biggest smile on his face. So sweet.

In other news, my crafty boxes should be arriving next week from NZ so I should be able to get back into creatve stuff and stop boring you with my random stories!!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Blue blanket....

I've only recently discovered the wonderful blanket magazine (where have I been?!) thanks to a link on Erin's Design for Mankind blog a while back. I've just downloaded the new issue, and oh my!, it's wonderful! There's so much content and it's all so great. This issue's theme is Blue. I particularly like the article on songs with blue in the title. You should head on over to the website and download a copy for yourself! They have a blog too (it's here).

Excitingly, they accept submissions from pretty much anyone (me even?) so I might just see if I can come up with a super idea for the next issue - the theme is Communication.

Thank you!....

Any regular readers of Shannon's Rabbit and the Duck blog may have seen a post from last week featuring some fantastic trims, in particular the tape measure trim. I had to know where Shannon got it from - I adore yellow and love numbers (yes, in a geeknerd kind of way) so it's exactly my kind of thing. Anyhoo, the lovely Shannon was kind enough to send me some!

Apologies for the slight blur - I must've been too excited to hold the camera still. I'm really excited to put it to use. Now, if only my boxes of crafty goodness would turn up from NZ....

Thanks Shannon!

The friday letter finale....part 2

Ah, finally things are calming down and I'm getting on top of things. I think I'd forgotten how all encompasing moving house (on top of moving country!) can be. We're currently sitting on matresses on the floor as we're yet to buy a lounge, but at least we have a new bed. Now I just have to wait for all my crafty bits to arrive from NZ! If only the shipping company could tell me where my boxes are....

Anyway, I'm babbling. Behold! My finished friday letter collaboration! I'm annoyed that I didn't get it posted last Friday when Jen posted her finished piece, but better late than never, right? (Not that never was an option!). Like I've said already, this was lots of fun and I'm happy with the end result. I held off putting all the letters together until I got to the 'd' in 'studio', and then could barely wait to get the final letters to finish it off. I thought it might be interesting to see where these letters came from, so take a look!

The friday letter finale....part 1

Alas, I have really let the team down this week. I moved house this weekend and therefore have no internet at my new home. And in the moving process I've managed to misplace my thumb drive with my finished piece to upload here at work. But!- to keep you at bay, here's Jen's final piece!!

(Ok, it would help if my blog background was white). And so my collaboration with Jen from painted fish studio has drawn to a close. It was lots of fun finding a letter each week, and it's been super getting to know Jen in the process. I'm still on the scout for letters because it's become part of my way of thinking (and having just moved to a new area, there's plenty for the taking!). With this in mind, you might see the odd letter pop up here, just so I get my fix.

I hope you've enjoyed. :) And if anyone is interested in a collaboration, drop me a line! (I'll be more timely now that I'm not in transit - I promise!!)

Hello Stuart....

I'd like you all to meet Stuart. He turned up in my mum's front garden about 10 days ago. Somehow I managed to catch him (ok, it was a 3 man operation, but I came out with the bunny) and we bought him inside where he swiftly made himself at home.

I've never had a rabbit before and am amazed at the size of their personality. He was such a cool house guest. He was toilet trained, only doing his business in the laundry and spending the rest of the time lounging around the house wherever he liked (our cardboard barricades were no match for his cunning). And he had no qualms with the dog (though at 17 years old, Jimmy wasn't much of a threat). Ok, there were a couple of toilet incidents and he did try to hump my leg occasionally, maybe because it was hairy (or hare-y, haha) but he was lovely.

The happy ending is that after about a week and a few false claims of ownership later (there seem to be a lot of missing bunnies in the area!!) his real owners spotted our sign out the front of the house and an emotional reunion ensued. Turns out his name is Benji (short for Benjamin I think). No wonder he wasn't coming when I called him.

The friday letter....O....

Oh my, late again! (but backdated - you know what I'm like). I'm sorry for my tardiness (again!). I'd give you the usual excuses (own computer not set up, me not set up, etc) but you've heard them all before so I'll just get on with it.

Now, I'm not too sure what this week's letter is all about. It's on a weird "thing" down near the fishing boat harbour in Fremantle. The letters spell something out around the "thing" but do you think I stopped to figure it out? Nope. I'm sure the intrigue will be too much to take and I'll head down there to take another look.

Speaking of intrigue, this is my last letter for Jen in out Friday letter collaboration, so next week we will reveal all the letters and the inspiration behind chosing them. How exciting! Though I am sad that it's come to an end as behind the scenes, Jen and I have been trading emails heaps. Not that that's going to stop. Speaking of Jen, pop on over to check out her 'T'!

And come back next week for the big reveal!

The friday letter....I....

Oh my, my first post for the year, and I'm running late! (But, due to my obsessive compulsive nature, I've backdated this post to friday - I couldn't handle seeing a friday letter on a saturday!).

This letter comes to you from a clothing store in Fremantle! The town (city actually) where I spent my formative teenage years. It's a great place full of great friends and it's nice to be back. We flew in on NYE and didn't even see midnight - too tired. But we're slowly aclimatising to the hot weather (it's nearing 40 degrees celsius!).

You must head over to Jen's blog to see her 'c' for this week. It's marvelous!
I hope you're all enjoying the promise that a new year brings.

The friday letter....D....

Does anyone else find it hard to remember what day of the week it is at this time of year? I know I do, especially as I finished work a good 7 (or is it 8?) weeks ago. But, having checked, I found out that today is Friday and therefore it's time to post this week's Friday letter!This lovely 'd' was on a butcher's window. Being vegetarian (or more accurately, a vegaquarian), I haven't been into a butchers shop in years, but had the misfortune of doing so last week. My god, I don't know how you meateating types handle that smell!

Having said that, the smell of a roasting turkey yesterday was enough to make my mouth water - I felt so guilty! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day with family and friends and over indulged to just the right amount. Pop on over to Jen's blog to see her Friday letter! (Not up yet, but I'm sure it won't be long).

Oh, this is my last firday letter from NZ! It's so strange to think that this time next week we will have relocated to Australia. I still don't think it's quite sunk in....

Closed for business....

But only temporarily!Yes, my boxes were collected for shipping this morning. They're going by sea so they won't arrive in Perth until mid-February or so. All my stock had to go in the boxes as we already have so much to take on the plane (including 2 bikes! eek! excess baggage!).

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say a big thank you to those of you who have admired (and bought!) my things. In the 3 months my shop was up and running, I made 12 sales to happy customers, which isn't too bad a start for a complete beginner I think.

For those of you who have admired my plate set, don't fret! I intend to re-release the collection once I am settled and have played around with firing. Oh, and I have some exciting new ceramic designs for next year so be sure to stay tuned!

If I don't find a moment to blog again before Christmas, have a wonderful day! :)
a. x.

The friday letter....U....

Ooh, look at me! Posting on time for a change!I'd been spending the week scouting for a 'U' and when I saw this one, I knew my search was over. It's the sign for a cafe called Circus Circus which is in Mt Eden, Auckland. We've been enjoying the cafes that a city has to offer (though truth be told, we were sitting across the road in a bar when I spotted this letter).

Be sure to pop over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter!

Thank you Aotearoa....Queenstown....

Oh, Queenstown. This was my first time in proper snow. Sure, I'd seen the stuff when living in London, and I've seen photos of me playing in snow as a kid, but this was taking things to a whole new level! This photo just doesn't quite capture what it was really like....

I was determined to give snowboarding a go, and lo and behold, I was actually pretty good at it! It is highly addictive and I can't wait to give it a go again, though with the imminent move to Perth (west coast Australia), that's not going to happen in a hurry.

So thank you Queenstown, for a totally radical holiday, dude!! (Ok, my snowboarding lingo could use some work).

The friday letter....T....

Late again, yes. How many times can I beg your forgiveness?
What I like about this 't' is that it is undeniably a 't'. Does that make sense? It's not mucking about with some fancy font. But more beautiful is Jen's 'o'! Be sure to check it out.

Things are slowly getting organised here for the move from Aotearoa to Western Australia. With any luck I'll finish packing boxes today so I can forget about them, and I'm hoping we sell the car before Christmas. Flights are booked for New Year's Eve so things are falling into place!

This is my 3rd country relocation, so I guess I'm getting good at it!

Finally the friday letter....S....

Finally, here's my Friday letter. Late, but better late than never, right? Be sure to head over to painted fish studio to check out Jen's letter from last Friday!

No NZ report today, as I'm really snowed under with making arrangements to move to Australia in about 3 weeks. Between packing, shipping, selling cars, booking flights, etc, etc, things are pretty hectic so bear with me for the coming weeks. Things should be back to normal in 2009 - which isn't far away at all!

Sorry....

My friday letter is on its way.... Honestly!
I'm frantically in the midst of moving country so I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack.

Thank you Aotearoa....Whangamata....

Sorry for my absence (and hence the late 'Thank you Aotearoa' post). An impromptu trip up to Whangamata was in order. We're lucky enough to have a family bach (kiwi for holiday house) in the Coromandel, and after the stress of my partner's exams it was brilliant to get away. This photo is from Whangamata, but taken a couple of years ago. At the time, the cows on the property could come up and say hi to us on the deck. It was pretty cool as they're such beautiful beasts. We nicknamed this one 'Fiddy'.

For interest's sake, the town is pronounces 'fong-ah-mah-TAH' which makes sense in NZ but not to me when I first arrived from Australia.

Thank you Whangamata, for the memories to date, and those to come in the future.