flickr favourites

Photo Credits: 1. _MG_3499, 2. vases, 3. _MG_3434, 4. 70's Lace Ruffle Dress

new pretty on the block

After a quick visit to Magnation today I walked out with a new magazine that not long ago hit the shelves. Paid for ofcourse!

Uppercase is self described as a magazine for the creative and curious. Made with love from Canada, issue one includes treehouses, illustrators, crafters and umbrellas!

You can subscribe to Uppercase via their website with international subscriptions welcome.

I'm tempted to frame the front cover of issue one! The design throughout Uppercase is beautiful.

mittens

After spotting a knitting book of mittens on the Cinq website, I had to do some research to find out more about the pretty mittens found on the front cover.
Here is some of what I came across in my google searching!

Image 1: I stumbled across these beautifully made Squirrel Swedish Mittens made by Hello Yarn using a free pattern generously written by Elli from Elliphantom Knits.

Image 2: I spied this beautiful photo over tempting yarn here.

Image 3: 'The Book'... Stickmönster på Öland - Maria Leimar, ISBN: 9163087545.

Image 4: Mittens and gloves bought today at the Camberwell Markets!! Also purchased, a copy of the latest Melbourne Design Guide at the Coventry bookstore.

Image 5: Beautifully made and photographed herringbone mittens with poms by Elli. Elli has generously written a pattern to freely download from her blog.

I'm starting to think I want to undertake another new challenge!! Conquering these skills might take me sometime but I'm happy to show you my work in progress along the way!!

Now I'm off to learn knitting 101.

at swim-two-birds

Have you met At swim-two-birds? If not allow me to introduce you!

Photo credit: beautiful image from At swim-two-birds blog.

cinq

I was happy to accidentally stumble across Cinq when walking the streets of Kichijōji when in Tokyo, it houses so many cute treasures!

Once I find that spare time I've been looking for I hope to put together a PDF with maps of the special places I discovered.

Top image credit: Cinq.

salt and pepper

Salt and pepper shakers discovered here and purchased from here!

balancing act

I've always noticed the balancing of quirking objects on the head of models in Japanese crafts books so seeing the same in Japanese illustrations was a nice surprise!

Whenever Brooke and I get out with a camera you will often see us influenced by this style of portraiture!



P.S. (Apologies for my Japan-centric posts! I still have so much Japanese goodness to share)!!

tokyo snapshots

murphs morphs to mindy

There is no doubt I have caught the amigurumi bug!! I can't believe how easy I've found it, I've even gone as far as making my second attempt a bit free stylin', morphing some techniques learnt from Murphy. So, please let me introduce you to Mindy!! I've modeled her from a soft toy I bought in Japan : )

Murphs & Mindy are baby gifts for two of my friends, both have had little bundles of joys very recently!!

design:made:trade

Here is a glimpse at what I saw at the Design:Made:Trade show this week!

1. Wrapped by housemouse.
2. Foundry.
3. Lox + Savvy.
4. Makedo.
5. Boniko.

Enjoy!

P.S. (Murphs said a BIG thank you for all the lovely comments he received : )
P.P.S. (I'm very sorry that my Open blog hasn't been updated in a while, I'm fighting a crochet addiction. I hope to be posting over there again soon)!!

introducing murphy

Hello my name is Murphy! I was born today, lovingly crafted from my mumma's new crocheting skills. She said she made a few mistakes along the way like using the wrong sized crochet hook so I have large holes but I forgive her as that is what makes me, ME!

Signing off,
Murphs

Pattern Credits: Jess from the Meet me at Mikes book.
Warning: Amigurumi is highly addictive.

i owe you some craft books

Last week I promised a peek into some purchased Japanese crafts books with some ISBNs. From the top image:

**Girls Clothing** ISBN978-4-529-04437-0
**Unsure of book title** ISBN978-4-529-04526-1
**Kids: Happy homemade vol.2** ISBN978-4-579-11243-2
**My Style my Apron** ISBN978-4-579-11179-4
**Souleiado** ISBN978-4-579-11151-0
**Unsure of book title** ISBN978-4-529-04526-1

feels alot like winter

Feels alot like winter when your heater decides to stop working! Eeek! A good excuse to buy some new gloves and eat out in inspiring and warm cafes. I've been learning some crochet moves, the granny square and some tricky treble countin moves, the beginnings of my attempt to learn amigurumi!

clever nettle

Clever Nettle has the most amazing backdrop to her vintage clothes photo shoots. She is clever indeed! And not to mention she finds some amazing vintage wears too!

Photo credits: 1. 70's Lace Ruffle Dress, 2. 50's Easter Dress, 3. 70's Floral Ruffle Dress, 4. 60's Sky Blue Dress, 5. 1940's Green Plaid Skirt, 6. Polka Dot Ascot Dress, 7. 60's Violet Velvet Dress, 8. Embroidered Dirndl Dress, 9. Early 50's Junior's Dress

happy tape

Look at all these Japanese Happy Tape here! Or read about them here!

I found Happy Tape via Gini Helie's blog, she has some pretty cute photos!

mati rose

Newly discovered Mati Rose McDonough, you can visit here blog here!

Image Credits: Suspect Shoppe Etsy.

unexpected mail

I received an unexpected surprise in the mail this week, a postcard sent from Japan!

It reads...

Thank you very much for coming to the exhibition of "mori no kekkonshiki" at niji gallery in kichijoji, Japan.

Noguchi Mine.

my kind of day

On the weekend I meet with Brooke and Victoria at Kappaya for lunch to begin our day with the camera. With Brooke as our beautiful model, I played the part of photographer, Victoria as the stylist and Brooke got to play dress ups.

A selection of the photos taken will be displayed on Victoria's stand at Design:Made:Trade to showcase her very amazing jewellery label. Don't miss it!

Why can't every day be Kappaya, stylist, photographer and dress up day!!

roddy and ginger's

Today on twitter I followed a tweet from Anna to Blomma Finds blog who wrote about the very talented duo Able & Game, from Blomma Finds blog I went on to discover a link to Roddy and Ginger's who are the creators to the very lovable work above.

And I guess that's why they call it the inter-web!


My current favourite Able & Game card above!!