Coast

A very special friend of mine jumped on a giant bird and flew to London on Friday...

I have been trying to cover up my poor-me-i'm-going-to-miss-her-so feelings with notions of joy and excitement for her grand adventure! Now that she has pocketed her farewell gift I thought I would share with you this special project that's been secret for some time.

I was inspired by a locket necklace I had seen with some sketchy trees on the inside, I thought maybe this could work as a ring too. I called on my amazing friend, who happens to be an amazing jeweler. She rescued a lovely looking locket, otherwise destined for the melting pot (just the type of craftyness I love). She did her fanciful thing, polished her up and attached her to a gorgeous band. What wonderful work!

For the inside surprise I sketched some ideas and thoughts of our days growing up on the Thames coast... and finished on some of my home made paper that I made a year or two ago and have kept for very special occasions like this.

A little pocket of home for Rhia to take with her off to Europa!

the little pouch I made with some offcuts of satin & corduroy

no gift is complete from me without a handmade card too

fantastico! it fits!

Good bye for now my darling sis xx

 I imagine Rhia will have some splendid antics to report on soon, I can't wait to read the tales.

Zaterday Zine Fest

I was lucky enough to pull my tired tired self out of bed on Saturday early enough for the (afternoon) Zinefest market in the city. I had so been looking forward to this, having circled, highlighted and bolded the event on all my calendars; work, home the lot.

Maneuvering through the tiny spaces between each ziney desktop was not for the fainthearted, nor the hungover. Luckily for all, St Kevins arcade is home to some very fun cafe's. Filled with mocha & re-found curiosity I dove into the crowd and smooshed my way through the line up. Here are my finds:

Bicycle photograph is in Prescence: How sweet to give out free copies.

Tiny & Shiny on the left: A collection of words strewn on some tiny pages of old envelopes 

with a title I couldn't resist: I'll be your toast hooker 

White lil number in the middle: I met the gorgeous Ya-wen of Potroast and had to have one of her cute purse size reads.  I also bought the most wonderful book (Mr Minty pictured above) that Ya-wen handcrafted herself.

Stumbling upon this minted covered suprise really sparked up such loving memories of my mum reading a chapter of Heidi (and all the sequels) to me every night before bed as a young girl. I would head off into dreamland of fields and adventures, and mostly of how wonderful it would be to sleep in a loft... Little did I know the latter could eventually come true...

You can check out more of the Zine Fest happening till the end of July and i'm definitely going to head off to see the new zine library at Alphabet City down on Mt Eden Road. I also found the local online hangout where all these Zinesters spread their word

we make zines

Bodie Size Ball for Birthday

Mr Oratia has a gorgeous little nephew, Bodie. His birthday falls around New Years Eve so we decided to celebrate his 18 month birthday this w/e alongside a little 4th July America Day celebration for his 1/2 Americano-ness. 

Seeing as I had no pumpkin pie or sweet potato casserole on my to-do list, I set to work on making a present for the birthday boy himself. As always my pressies start with sourcing resources from the Salvo's.

Polo shirts and pillowcases (not pictured) from the Salvo  - $4 and ready for cutting

Cut outs organised on my only available lay out space

Sewn together and stuffed full of dreamy clouds - walah!

Can he kick it? Yes he can!

Does he roll with it? Yes he can!

Happy Happy Birthday Bodie xx