does anyone need help?

yesterday i saved a bad accident from happening at a busy intersection on lygon st.
it was extremely windy and a polystyrene box flew onto the road and was flying in front of cars and i road my bike out to a very dangerous position (as the lights had turned red) and picked up that box and took it out of the way... my heart was pumping so hard and a few cars beeped and waved their thank-yous.
it felt so good and i just wanted to help more people and right then a girl came up to me and asked directions... while i was in the middle of destroying the foam box and binning it. i felt an amazing rush as i kept riding. it was so windy but i felt like nothing could stop me and i could conquer the world! it just felt good to know i had helped when everyone else decided to sit back and wait for something to happen. it reminded me of my friend Hannah who stopped on the freeway to help a lost puppy once. i can now imagine the rush she must have also felt :)

the dirtiest designer habit of them all.

worse than spending ALL your rent money on a designer handbag is smoking.

smoking is just downright unhealthy. it smells bad and drains your money and makes you go outside alot (or just to rooftop bars).
but can i just say that (even though i will never take up this habit) when i see some one highly fashionable or european gracefully glide their hand and puff the most beautiful of clouds of smoke there is something about the style and look that makes me want to light up.

is smoking back in fashion?

i'm finding that all it takes is a packet of fads (candy shaped like cigarettes) and im pretending that my broken french is natural and that i own the world with my designer hand & mouth feature.

well i guess if i do a pack a day of fads i can always run it off around princes park...something i couldn't do if i'd stuffed up my lungs from actually smoking.

just a giant cupcake

big ol' fat rain

on thursday just past in melbourne, we had an absolute humdinger of a storm that brewed after a few very hot days... the rain was so imminent and almost looked like it wasn't going to come.... but then boy did it come!!!
it was the craziest downpour i had seen in a long time.. im talking about having to yell so someone can hear you talking!
anyway sitting on my computer and gazing out the widow at the H2O explosion outside i had an idea to draw a picture in watercolour penicls and put it outside so the colours would run and be cool although by the time i finished the picture the rain had slowed down to a drizzle :(
but i will upload the before's and after's anyway.. you can kind of see the difference.. didn't quite get the seeping colours effect i was after though.
ps the picture is of me in NY this coming christmas. pps. click to view enlarged image

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this is the before (below)


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and this is the after (below) the paper went a different texture and the colours brighter - not sure the scan show it up well though.

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was that a long black or a long mac?

so my housemates have decided (inspired by a project in the book below) that they want to make out back area of our backyard a bar/cafe one night a week a la the picture below. um wow ok guys this is pretty big.... i got a lot going on at the moment but as the little sister character ill just follow along... it actually would be pretty cool though cos we have a super cool laneway entrance and a sweet space for it and their idea is are to have a cover charge to cover costs and then give any profits to charity. oh im sorry i meant OUR idea. its really serious.... we even went on an excursion to section 8 to see how they did the crate thing.
anyway before you know it ill be getting up at the crack of dawn on a saturday morning serving poached eggs with dukkah and asking if you ordered a long mac or a long black.
see how this book is changing my life!!!!!!!!!!

im booked all week

my lovely friend recently bought me this lovely book full of how to make things out of household junk! it is so cool. it just arrived in the post.. i LOVE unexpected parcels too!

so many craft activities to do and so little time!

happy little vegemite

just continuing on the last of my posts on tasmaniac (as i like to refer to it as). i wanted to mention how happy i am to be an australian. i mean we live in a wild country and the people that settled here when it was first discovered must have been the most crazy adventurous people with amazing creativity and stamina. i imagine pulling up into the harbor at hobart and seeing the land in all it unique beauty and wondering what is out there. who lives there? how is it all going to work?
even though all my family migrated from Holland in the 40's and 50's i still think those migrants would have had a crazy adventurous personality and creative spirit to pack up and move to a huge island in the south pacific! quite frankly i am so happy to be part of a country with such exciting beginnings (and don't get me started on how adventurous the aboriginals were before English settlement).
even though i know australia is a bit far away from the world etc, i think we really do have something unique and very creative to offer the world :)

oh and whilst we are on the australianarama vibe, the other day i opened a fresh jar of vegemite (exciting i know) and it reminded me of when i was little, we used to fight over who got to open the lid of a new spread and who ever got to open it dug their knife deep into it making their initial in it. its crazy what kids will find to fight over. but i won this one. sorry tristan, this jar of vegemite is branded with an 'M'

typography i fell in love with

here are some lovely and well considered signs i saw when in hobart. the one that says ELIZABETH reminds me of my great friend elizabeth wilson who is just amazing you should see her stuff.

Van Diemans Land

the docks


I recently went on a trip to hobart, tasmania. it was so lovely to be on holidays. i was pleasantly suprised by how much i enjoyed the city itself. as i consider myself a bit of a city girl, visiting hobart i wasn't sure if i should be prepared for a backward little town or a capital city. what i instead found was the best part about hobart was the history and the buildings and knowing they were built by convicts.
this strip of arty cafe's and gallery which used to be a jam factory and its right near where the docks are.
the brown building on the far left as a little gallery with some amazing sculptures... my favourite was a giant wooden clothes peg, carved out of australian hardwood. brilliant.
there was another gallery behind and through the courtyard. it was awesome my dad and i got lost is the awesomeness. it had some very highbrow pieces in it. some early settler beauties... the prices were high but with good reason.
i nearly bought a renoir... yes thats right... for $450. it was just a simple sketch he did of a face. what an addition to my collection already though! but i couldn't spend my rent money on art. thats just silly.

my beloved

how cool is my lil sis?
we had a lovely time in the city together when she finished her exams last year. she is exquisite, so caring and lovely and funny. she loves cuddles and warm fuzzies. she just got an offer to go to uni to be a primary school teacher and i think she will make the best teach ever. love you sb. xx

the wedding

here is a couple of pics from the wedding itself. kirsty made here own bouquet's... ingenious!
(and here's a little snap of me in my favourite yellow dress!)

oo la la lollipop

heloo friends! im back in 2010 after a little break from the world of blogging to share with you a sweet tale.
as you know i was recently in a wedding (the wedding where i needed a yellow bridesmaid dress)
the bride had a brilliant idea for the gift to give the guest and it was a lollipop but with the time constraints and being close to christmas her lollipop manufacturer pulled out and we had this great idea to make them ourselves... it worked... sort of.... it very hard but very fun.

you get blisters and sore arm muscles from stretching the candy and if you are lucky enough to have got the mixture off the stove to have not burnt the sugar but not undrdone the toffee then your sweet!

unfortunately my first batch was a tad burnt so they set well but tasted horrible! and the second batch was underdone, tasted great but melted because it wasn't quite snap toffee yet! and as i was determined to go for round three, my hands would not let me with the extremely painful blisters!!

- - P R E S E N T - T I M E - -

ok to all you out there who read this my christmas gift to you is some of my secrets...

#1 talcum power will make your blonde hair a great colour and make it look like it was just washed.

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#2 breathing through your nose when riding a bike through traffic filters the air more so its less pollution in your lungs. its the little hairs if you were wondering.

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#3 potato salad will cure your hunger for sure. and all in 15 mins. (give or take)(boil up some chopped potato's until they are just soft and boil an egg then chop it. add fresh dill and salt & pepper to taste. drizzle with a little olive oil too)

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#4 the 7-11 store on bourke street has coffe for $1 at the moment. and its not that bad either.
(i see you've noticed our hot to trot catty advent calender.)

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#5 people value a genuine smile and a hello. if you see someone on the street that you kind of know but don't want to talk to them take 30second to say hello, even if they pretend to ignore you when they see you.

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#6 wearing second-hand and cheap clothing the right way will deceive everybody.
this dress (wore it a different way to how it was meant to be worn) was $4 from the Bairnsdale op-shop, the belt was $5 from work and the headband was $3 from a $2 shop. every one thought i had a new outfit that night ;)

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#7 milk crates are the foundation of a lot of good furniture pieces.

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#8 dont drop an inkjet printer. it will drop you when you need to print something very important.

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sign of the times. i mean.....

oh and its the time of year again where everything gets christmassy and sounds a bit american.... well i must say i have had to watch a few christmas movies and listen to my christmas album by michael w smith to feel more into it but yesterday it really did it for me when my neighbours across from me, a little old italian couple, spent the whole morning with their grandkids setting up the christmas lights on their house. it really reconfirmed that this is a special time of the year. a tme when people begin to forget the bad things and remember the good and everyone stops and thinks about their life and their loves again.
all of this is lovely but combined with the fact that this is a time of celebrating christ and his birth makes this time of the year a very very special occasion. why would God give us his son... he must love us a lot.

a trip to the country

recently, a brilliant photographer friend called sayher took us along to a work trip of his to photograph some wakeboarding and a big, pretty boat. we stayed with a world champion waterskiier and wake boarder in his amazing house. it was tremendous fun and a lot of the fun was in the journey. hmm theres a pearl of wisdom there somewhere. someone should put it on an inspirational poster (a scenic photo with a big black border around it with white text) that could sit in a corporate office.
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n a v y - p r i s o n - s t r i p e s

lately when it comes to fashion i have been attracted to navy an white stripes. its crazy i am like a fly to flypaper. i have to stop myself and remember the other 13 navy striped items of clothing i have. it doesn't hep that it is in fashion now so every shop has a gorgeous variation on my little fave. (i write this whilst wearing a little stripey dress - navy and white horizontal)
as a tribute to my obsession, i decided to paint some to stick on my wall. the only paper that was suitable and in reach was in an old little journal that had ACTS 12:5 written at the top. i thought i might just photoshop it out later when i looked up the verse and it reads "5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him."

(i dont know if they wore prison clothes back in bible times but i like to think of Peter in a little navy and white number)
what a lovely reminder that while we may feel imprisoned sometimes, we have people around us that are praying for us...earnestly. if you are reading this and feel this way let me know so i can pray earnestly for you!

LOVELY JUVLY

one sunny afternoon with one gorgeous friend (who is a fiancé! :D) with one iced coffee and one orange juice and one blueberry muffin and one chocolate cookie and one cute as housewarming gift.

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plenty of words spoken.

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precious moments like these.
friends make life colourful like flowers make a garden colourful. love this girl.

M Y N A M E

Just to clarify.... artsnoob is my last name backwards. im not a snob or a snoob.

2 Tattoo or Not 2 Tattoo?

it seems to bea trend amongst my friends and my imagination this last few months to employ the idea of arting on myself. not farting, arting. with ink. that will last a long time. otherwise known as a tattoo.

Several pros and cons with this concept and im afraid the pros and con list may be too even enough for me to actually ever do one. Until then i will continue to search for the perfect tattoo and location and timing. on our recent roadtrip we made our own in the car. I really like my fist's but need a bit more time to listify it with pros and cons. or maybe it's just time?

watercolour paint. done with the windows down squished in the back of a car and 100km winds coming in from both sides. (these are also the conditions where i painted H O L L Y)
i gave this one to my friend. i didnt tell him what i was doing so that was a surpirse. what a LOVEly surprise.

H O L L Y

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i was recently at a very cool laneway party and i bumped into an old friend. when we were besties in grade 4 we picked up that our teacher had a crush on another teacher and we also made plans to become fashion designers one day and move to sydney.
its so great to see where she's at and how shes doing now. she is an amazing girl and inspired me so so so much only by talking to her for 20mins. i look forward to watching her amazing career unfold and saying to people... "see that gorgeous stylish girl? the designer, i went to primary school with her"
xx

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i sees the moment

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oh, yesterday i jumped in a lake. the 6 year old voice in my head told me to and i listened.
and enjoyed a lovely picnic with good friends. i am convinced the locals thought we were either drunk or from out of space. probably the latter.
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dont be a h8rrrr

my fabulous friend seb brown has created a blog called platehater and it is a collection of personalised number plates.
he is a genius artist and keep an eye on his website too. one day i will say that i went to uni with seb brown and people will go ooooOOO. (with rising intonation)
www.seb-brown.com