little treats

Thank you SO much for all the wonderful birthday wishes! I can't explain how much it means to me.

The day itself was a quiet one. Despite starting the day feeling old and under-achieving (terrible thoughts, I can't help it), there were pressies and treats - and a very awesome surprise at the end - that lifted my spirits. Not to mention, the lovely lovely lovely birthday wishes from family and friends... including every single comment in my last post.

Gifts and treats...

Lula!!!!!

Lenka

Vintage white cardi

Beautiful vintage buttons, which I got the day before at Camberwell Market. I bought faaaaar more than this - I may have gone overboard, but I LOVE them!
I made a large cocktail ring with one of them, amongst other rings too. I find the crafting process very wonderfully pleasant and soothing.
You must think I'm a weird button freak by now.

best part of the day: when I found out that I WON this gorgeous vintage camera from our.city.lights.!! I must have birthday luck! I cannot wait to get it. Thank you Diana!!

My brother bought me a cake today. Sure, my birthday was yesterday, but who cares? Someone told me that I should have a birthday week... and I think I will! So I'm extending the birthday sale on my Etsy shop till the end of this week. Just mention "Birthday Love" during checkout, and you've got yourself 25% off. Not bad, right?

xo

you know what?

Yes, I'm a birthday girl today...

To celebrate with you, I'm offering all my blog readers 25% off everything in my Etsy shop if you mention the code "Birthday Love" at checkout (in the "message to seller" box). Afterwards, just wait for a revised invoice from me*.

* Don't make a payment until you receive my invoice.

This offer is until tomorrow, 9 PM Melbourne Australia time. Extended until the end of this week. If you can see the code, then the sale is still on. I'll edit this post once it's over.


So there you go, if you've had an eye on something(s) in my shop, now is the good time to grab it. Even the stuff that's already on sale. Something might make a nice birthday present for someone else?



P.S. Argh...found out that Etsy decided to have site maintenance on my birthday! It's only for 4 hours, so hopefully it doesn't cause too much inconvenience. Just avoid that time when you do your shopping.

Giveaway winner

... and the winner of the giveaway is...
Tumbleweed Trails (who says she will invite her best friend to her tea party. How sweet!)
Congratulations! I'll be in touch with you shortly :)

THANK YOU to everyone who entered and everyone who mentioned me and/or posted my banner in their blogs. I appreciate it so much.

Don't feel bad if you didn't win, I'll be sure to have more giveaways in the future.
Plus, do come back on Monday (which may be Sunday night if you're in the northern hemisphere)... something special is on the way just for my readers (yes, you!).


Have a fantastic weekend!

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xo

just want to say...

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1. My necklace giveaway ends in 2 days. If you haven't, it's easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to enter. More chances to win if you blog about it and put my banner on your site. I'll love you that little bit more too ;)

2. Thank you for the positive comments on my postcards, and especially to those agreeing to do a swap (you know who you are)! A couple of the cards are already on their way. Hopefully they don't take very long to arrive.
If anyone else wants to swap too, just leave me a comment. It's fun.

3. If you like my Etsy shop, watch this space! I have something very special coming up within a matter of days.

4. You guys rock.

xo

send you a postcard

brown turtle-neck: vintage, black skirt: thrifted

I have these postcards of vintage advertisements, which I stick onto my mirror. Most are from Indonesia (despite some of them depicting western brands), but the ones on the left column are from France. I wonder what other countries make these vintage ad postcards. Do you have them where you live? If you do, I'd love to do a swap with you!

If you don't have any vintage ad postcards, but still want one of mine, we can still arrange a swap. I'd be happy with any pretty/cute/quirky postcard, and really... I just like getting mail! After all, postcards are meant to be written on and go into mail boxes.

See below for the postcards I'm willing to part with (all from Indonesia, I'm going to keep the French ones because they were gifts!). Click to enlarge. Just tell me which one you'd prefer.
Please note, the postcards themselves are not vintage, it simply shows vintage ad reprints.

show your heart

I was tagged by the Tea Drinking English Rose to do the "show your heart" tag. It's definitely one of the most interesting (and quite hard!) tag I've done.

The rules of the game is...with as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in: 1 picture, 1 poem, 1 song or piece of music, 1 phrase or quote, 1 piece of clothing, 1 place and (just for fun) 1 disney princess.

.picture.

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.poem.
this was the hardest, as I'm ashamed to admit that I rarely read poems and do not have a favourite. However, I do like this one that I stumbled on today...

Sometimes I want to run
until my thoughts can't catch up

until my flesh falls away
like soiled linen

so I can't scratch
and itch and rattle anymore

I want to run so fast
my feet forget
to be heavy

So objects don't
seem so stubborn

So I can remember
how to move them like magic
(LIKE I USED TO DO)
turn pillows to whispers
and doubt to something
less vain.

by Jewel Kilcher

.song.
because these days, mine is...


.quote.
"You can survive with a good dose of humour"
(I wrote this down in my diary one day when I heard someone say it in a TV documentary. Unfortunately I can't remember who it was or what it was about... but it's true.)

.piece of clothing.
This is the very first vintage dress I bought. I got it last year as my birthday treat.
It is sweet. It is comfy. It has a pocket, floral patterns, and a cute zip pendant (the white diamond-shaped plastic on the chest). It cheers me up. It is perfect...


.place.
home...


.disney princess.
I've always liked how Belle can get lost in her books...

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and while searching for Belle pictures, I found this one. Love it.

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I now tag Ana B, Blue Ring, Diane, and anyone else who wants to play along!

P.S. If you haven't already, do check out my necklace giveaway in the last post.

giveaway! (ended)

*COMPETITION HAS ENDED*
Thank you for all the entries!

About time, right? :)

I will be giving away this "Garden Tea Party" necklace from my Etsy shop.
You can have upto 3 entries to this competition.

To enter:

1) Comment on this post and answer the question:
"Who would you invite to your tea party?" (1 entry point)

*the following steps are optional, but will give you extra entry points*

2) Put this banner in your blog's sidebar, then comment here to tell me. (+1 entry point)

Copy and paste this code:
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5165585" target="_blank"><img src="http://anna-p.com/muchlove-ad.gif" /></a>
The banner must stay on your blog at least until the competition ends.
If you'd like the banner to be a different size or using a different colour to match your blog, just let me know and I'll make it for you!

3) Blog about this competition, then comment here to tell me. (+1 entry point)
You can either dedicate a whole post to it, or simply mention it anywhere. Just make sure you visibly link back to this post.

Important
For all comments: Please leave your blog link and/or email so I can contact you if you win!

Competition ends on 27 March 2009, at 11 PM Melbourne, Australia time (here's a Time Zone Converter to know what time that is in other places). I will randomly select one winner soon after.

Good luck!

*COMPETITION HAS ENDED*
Thank you for all the entries! The winner has been announced.

matchbox labels

I'm feeling a bit blue. I also seem to be blending into the sofa.

Skirt - custom made by Lyptis; Top - Indonesia; Tights - Big W, Flats - Rubi,
"Twist me a Bow" vintage brass necklace - my Etsy
Ring - made by me, using a poker chip (?) I bought at an op shop

My latest thrifting find is this book on the history of mathbox labels.

It was very hard narrowing down which images to share with you - there's just so many! Hope you like these ones.







Which one is your favourite?

I might post some more next time (if you like!)

xo

black&white bliss

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Just a short post tonight, but hope you like it.
Have a blissful weekend.
xo

what can I say

Anyone who is bilingual/multilingual would understand that there are words that comfortably roll of your tongue in one languange, but once you do a translation it sounds so odd. Mohon doa restu translates to something along the lines of may I have your blessing. It's the kind of thing people say all the time in Indonesia. I guess it's different in the west, where other people's blessing/approval doesn't matter as much (or at all). This was outside an art gallery in Melbourne. Shame it was closed.
Dress: vintage, and has been posted before. Sorry for the repeat, but I promise new vintage stuff are just around the corner. I scored a stack of vintage goodies a little while back, and I can't wait to show you!

In other news, due to the poor Aussie dollar, I decided to cut most of my Etsy shipping price. It's basically everything except for rings - since those need extra careful packaging.
To Australia is now US $1.45. Everywhere else is down to US $2.25.




For Australian buyers, check out my madeit shop. Some stuff are slightly cheaper there. I do try to keep it fair between both shops, but it's hard to keep up with the currency.


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Oh, and btw, I'm going to have another giveaway this month! Can't say exactly when, but it's coming... watch this space!

P.S. It just started raining... I love the sound.

quiet as a mouse

Are mice really so quiet? Maybe they're shy. Or they just can't think of anything interesting to say. Or when they do, we're just too busy to listen.


Thanks to you lovely readers who pointed out that the boot embroidery on my dress is actually sweet and should not be covered up after all. Today was warm enough to not wear a cardigan, but cool enough that I could wear those yellow tights for the first time despite having them for months.



















dress - thrifted
belt - Victoria Market (summer's night market)
"quiet as a mouse" necklace - my Etsy
silver heart ring - my Etsy (one of my earliest designs that I'm bringing back)
yellow button ring - made by me, not sure where it's going yet
















I've recently received this fabulous award from the lovely tis serendipity and on dressing up (thank you girls!)
I'm passing this on to some of my newer blog discoveries:
Babalisme
Ambroisine
Fawned
Bizuteria

A big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on my blog! If you'd like me to add you on my blog roll, just let me know :) I'd love to exchange links.

PS. If you're a Bloglovin' lover, you can also follow me there.
Just click this:

amelia

I just got the latest and final issue of Amelia's Magazine.
Here are just a few of the pages that captured me.




"Everything is Connected" illustrations


You can also see some pages on their website.

Another magazine I'm digging is N.E.E.T.
You can flick through it here.