Home, sweet swinging home

Oh how I wish it was possible to get Urban Outfitters furniture sent to Australia. I would come home to my converted warehouse apartment with exposed brick walls and original floor boards, mix myself a martini and sit on my mid-century rocking chair with J D Salinger book. How neat!

This post is brought to you by the letter...

Love these letters from Urban Outfitters (who now ship to Australia!) - particularly the red one with the lights!

Because I'm a girl who lives with a boy.. (ii)

Here is yet another item that my boyfriend doesn't understand. A geisha matryoshka set purchased from a market in Kyoto. So cute I had to buy two sets and give one to my fellow girl called e. Their smiling little faces and rosy cheeks make me happy everyday.

Because I'm a girl who lives with a boy..

... all of my cute little homewares are wasted on him. So from now on I'm going to post about random things that live in my cupboards that I feel aren't getting the love that they deserve. First post is this strawberry jar from a shop in Narita airport, purchased because I was trying to squeeze every last bit of shopping out of my Japan holiday. Too small to be useful but very pretty.

Hot cross buns

As Easter approaches why not try to make your own hot cross buns? Mozi have been kind enough to make this limited edition tea towel that is both recipe and practical kitchen companion, not to mention cute.

A light bulb moment

Don't you think this is such a cute idea. I first spotted this cute little vase on Star Redesigns Etsy page but then I noticed that she takes you through the process of making one on her blog, which is very nice of her to do considering she is also selling them. If I had the time, patience and some tools to make this then I totally would, but at the bargain price of $10 I think it might just be easier for me to buy one.

Not just for bored housewives and hoarders

Shop Til You Drop magazine put me onto this one. Extolling the virtues of the TV Shopping Network in the March issue, they convinced me to go and check out the website TVSN.com.au. It’s quite fun! Here are some of my favourite things and of course they’re the most expensive things on there.

Extasia Bracelet

Timmy Woods Purses

Royal Albert Sandwich Tray

Modern Warfare

No, these aren't the tools of an amateur militia- these are some of the weapon inspired home wares at hart&heim. Why eat round eggs when you can mix it up with this unexpected shape? Tea light holders can look so generic but this one is da bomb, as is this grenade shaped screw driver set. I'm very much anticipating spicing up my next cocktail party with shot gun casing shot glasses and bullet shaped ice. Well a hangover feels like you've been shot in the head anyway so it's actually quite appropriate. Harbouring childhood dreams of being a ninja? Hang your coat on Ninja stars! But ultimately make love not war- so nicely expressed with the traditional symbol of romance being displayed in this ultra cool gun vase and a throwback to the days of flower power.

Home is wherever I'm with you...

My very lovely man friend (he hates me calling him that, hence why I continue to do so) has a not so secret crush on one Marieke Hardy, formally of the Triple J breakfast team. I'm surprisingly okay with it - if he's going to like someone other than myself, it may as well be someone with a lot of spunk (not that kind, no...), who is equal parts cute and feisty.

He currently resides in a shoebox somewhere in the inner west with the bleakest of walls. I'm a giant nag with a need for nesting, so I searched the internet for a cheapie way to inject some personality in a room that contains nothing but a single bed and milk crates. Success! Meet the Rasterbator (say that five times fast).

Because I'm too lazy to paraphrase... "The Rasterbator creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. Upload an image, print the resulting multi-page pdf file and assemble the pages into extremely cool looking poster up to 20 meters in size."

So while that terrible quality picture above might not look all that big, it's actually 16 A4 sheets of paper assembled together to make a creepy homage to Marieke.

Not convinced? Well... here is said man-friend taking the level of creepiness one step further. (And no I don't have his permission to post this... so expect to see a blank space here in a week when he finally gets around to reading my blog)

The worst bit? I only put this up two weeks ago...and now he is moving (to the land of $5 thai food, so it's not all bad). Who will adorn the walls of the new house? Only time will tell...

Another yarn...

Inspired by Elsie's gorgeous yarn wreath over at A Beautiful Mess, I set out to make my own. I know, I'm like a broken record, but seriously it's hard to get your hands on styrofoam wreaths here in Australia. Hello Spotlight, where I found not only styrofoam wreaths but enough other crap to total $150. What can I say? It's like my Mecca.

So without further ado here is my yarn wreath with little buttony, foam stars added to the bottom. I'm pretty happy with out how it turned out. Just don't look at the back.. it's a touch messy!

The Lazy Girl's Banoffee Pie

So when the two girls called e get together for a baking day it's safe to say that one of us (infalliably me) will be running late. It's also safe to say that we'll be a little disorganised, forget to read the recipe and need to take a shortcut or improvise in some way or another.
We were faced with two issues for our Banoffee Pie adventure...
1. We didn't have a food processor, nor the patience required to make shortcrust pastry.
2. We didn't have the required three hours to boil up our condensed milk into the luscious dulce de leche.
So what's a girl to do? Create the Lazy Girl's Banoffee Pie of course!

A+ for BigW

I really must make a trip to BigW soon. I keep spotting their outdoor products in all the mags and a visit to their website shows that they have got a lot of really cute stuff to offer.

Their outdoor accessories, like candles, gnomes, pots and ornaments, are quite lovely, but I think the best thing I've seen are these glowing white bird lights which would make a garden party that much more special.

Happy December!

Clockwise from top left:
Summer Flower set from Ruby Star Trader
German oak tree from Design For Use
Beach umbrellas from Sunny Life
Bird and Eggs from Bride and Wolfe

Not just paper.. CREATIVE paper!

Pulp Creative Paper has captured my heart. Their Christmas items are gorgeous, like these beautiful little paper angels and the little snowflake card. All their other stock is amazing too. Wrapping, lighting, journals, gifts galore. Coveting this set of pink heart doilies.

Good things come to those who whinge

I think I've ranted and raved more than enough about the limitations of living in Australia, also known as the other end of the world...where Martha Stewart is an unknown quantity and flavoured Kit Kats cost $6 a pop.

Look, ultimately the good outweighs the bad but when I saw that Target in the US had an entire range of Orla Kiely homewares I was more than a little jealous. I searched high and low for a way to get my hands on some, but short of paying with my first-yet-to-be-born child, it just wasn't going to happen. Fast forward one year and what do you know? Myer is stocking a (very limited) range of Orla Kiely!

I nabbed myself the queen quilt set and matching pillows... check out how cute the packaging is!

So moral of the story is this - good things come to those who whinge.

December baby...

The month of December is almost upon us, and it's extra special for the two girls called e - we're both December babies. Adding to that, we're both Christmas freaks - so December is by and large THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR.
We're getting a little anxious to get baking and crafting for the silly season and I think this gum-drop wreath by Alicia Paulson will have to be added to our to-do list. Anything made out of sugar is going to be a winner in my book, but it's darn pretty to boot! And all it takes is some jube-y looking lollies, a styrofoam wreath and some toothpicks. But word to the wise - buy an extra pack of jubes if you're anything like me!

Stick em up!

Planning on having lots of bbq's with friends this summer? I know I am (just as soon as I buy a bbq).

Proving that you can make the most mundane object quirky and interesting, the Condiment Gun makes that old glass sauce bottle just look plain sad.

Aside from the obvious risks of putting this in the hands of a male (especially on a day when you're wearing your prettiest white cotton summer dress), I think it is too fun to resist.

Buy it at Opus Design.

Run, run, fast as you can, can't catch me...

I spotted these little cardboard Gingerbread Men in the Christmas issue of Real Living (be still my beating heart). They are just so adorable and they look really easy to make too.

They're made from supplies from Eckersley's Art and Craft and the "recipe" can be found here. I want garlands of them all over my house!

And we'll collect the moments one by one...

This is pretty darn close to my dream home - nothing like organised clutter! This fabulous apartment belongs to Melia Mardern and Frank Sisti Jnr and was photographed so sublimely by The Selby. So many great colours and pieces - I'm pretty sure if I lived here I'd be happy every single day (hear that one Oh?)... I like her shoes and skirt too.
Check out The Selby for other inspiring houses that make you go "Oh...I wish I'd thought of that"

Towelling off...

I have a special friend who, most days, sends me a little bit of happiness in the form of a cheery email and some fun links.

Today's offering is the irrestitably named To Dry For - a website full of delightful tea-towels... the kind that make your partner think less of you because you want to spend $100 on "rags that are used to dry plates". Sometimes they just don't get it.
I'm particularly fond of these three...


And on another note, the other half of "e" is jet-setting to Dubai for two weeks... which means you're stuck with me, just me!, until her return. Bon Voyage!