just what the doctor ordered

Still felt under the weather today, but getting wonderful mail sure does help make me feel better.

I was oooh-ing and aaaah-ing as I opened each little package...

like these cool postcards and notepad from Laura. There was a pretty keychain in there too, which is not pictured (oops). By the way, it's her birthday today. So why don't you go over there and wish her a good one!


and this beautiful package from Bibi, my swap partner for the Inspire April Project hosted by See Hear Say. It is filled with notes, photos, and gifts to inspire. Everything is so pretty. I'm dying to try out the chocolate bath! I'm glad it clearly says "NOT FOOD", or else I would've tried drinking it straight away.

You can see more pictures of this package as well as other people's contribution so far on SeeHearSay's flickr page.


This postcard wasn't from today, but I felt like showing it anyway. Isn't it so beautiful? It was sent all the way from France by Ambroisine, as part of my postcard swap.

where I'd rather stay all day

Images from the Sleep for Days series here.


If I could, I would.
Not feeling so well today.

so you think you can dance

I've always loved ballerina images. I'm attracted to their strong, yet graceful, postures and movements.


images from Vogue Girl Korea, February 2006

When I was in primary school, there was this popular Japanese comic book series about a young ballerina (to my Indonesian readers: inget serial Mari-Chan kan? :)). My besties and I were so obsessed with it, not so much for the story, but we'd spend hours after (and during) school copying the artwork and drawing our own little ballerinas.
I didn't actually expect to find this cover in google, and it really takes me back. Every little detail. Good times.


I don't draw much any more (although I'm suddenly inspired to see if I've still got it), and I certainly do NOT dance (not enough rhythm to save my life), but I was delighted to find some ballerina charms to make necklaces with. This one is available in my Etsy, and is now also available at Leeloo (yay!).

Leeloo has recently restocked their online shop with lots of lovely stuff, so be sure to check them out. All prices there are in Australian dollars, but they have a nifty currency converter on all the item pages.
Also, did you know that they're having a giveaway? Go to Daydream Lily to find out more and enter!

Happiness is...

♥... finding this Peanuts feel-good book at the op shop for a dollar. I ♥ Peanuts very very much!


♥... wearing my spotty tights.


♥ ....finding more stunning necklace pendants.
Remember the jar with the pretty lid I bought last week? Well, a few days later I found its siblings! It was a different charity/op shop, but the jars were exactly the same but with different lid styles. Just as pretty though. I've already made them into necklaces and listed 2 of them on my Etsy shop. There were actually 2 more that I didn't buy, but my limited budget made me limit by purchase :(


♥... getting this gorgeous award from 2 of my favourite bloggers, Ana B. and Diana
I choose to pass this on to these inspiring blogs:
Ambiguous Alliterative Abomination
The crème de la crop
Daisy Chain Dreams
Half-girl
just fashion.art.design
Thrift Candy

♥ What is your happiness?

get down from there

Today was one of those terribly unproductive and uninspiring days. Time seemed to crawl ever so slowly, but once it got to the end, so many things were left uncompleted. Even now, I'm not sure what to put in to this post. I just know I want to make a post. I did try to take some pictures today, but it didn't turn out well. So I'll leave you with other people's imaginative brilliance instead through these pictures.


images by Joe Bonomo.

love getting mail

Much of my time this week was spent anticipating mail. Every day I'd peak into my little mailbox, but for the first few days of the week I was sorely disappointed by it being empty... or worse, filled with bills instead (those never fail to come, do they?).
Finally, these last couple of days proved that the wait was well worth it.

I got this necklace today from a friend, Lauren. How cool is the postcard pendant? And what's that in the background? Postcards from my fellow bloggers, of course!

Top (L-R): from Young, Diana, Missa
Bottom (L-R): from Laura, Irma
Thank you girls!! I adore each and every one of them. I love reading all your handwritten notes, which is a refreshing change from the computer fonts in our blog comments :) There's something "warmer" about handwritten messages, isn't there?

There's actually a couple more postcards still on their way, but here's what I got so far. Most of them are from my postcard swap post a while back. The top left one is from Young of half-girl.org, who also had a postcard project. You might like to check it out. It's really generous of her to send all those cards. Also, if receiving random postcards from random people appeals to you (why wouldn't it?), Lauren suggested going to Postcrossing.

Now this next one... is the one I had been waiting for the longest, and the one that was not the easiest to get my hands on because the post office made me go round in circles to get it. Long story short: thank goodness for tracking numbers! *phew*
So here it is... *drum roll* .... the vintage camera I won (on my birthday) from the wonderful Diana! It is so absolutely AWESOME!! Worth every minute of the wait and effort. Even the card and owl postit notes that she included is perfect.
The camera sits right next to my window now, but hopefully I'll get around to learning how to actually USE it (thanks for the links, Diana!). For now, I've mastered how to open and close it - which I think is pretty darn cool by itself! haha... I'm such a photography novice, but it really does amaze me so much.

it's dark outside

Just a quick post tonight before I go to bed.
This was last weekend's outfit. Vintage dress and thrifted belt.



These are my latest thrift finds. Spotty tights and a pretty jar. The tights are very sheer, so I better start wearing them before it gets too cold here. It sure was chilly today, but you never really know with Melbourne weather. I bought the jar simply for the interesting looking lid. Actually, I just wanted the lid. It has the potential to become a stunning necklace pendant (of course I would think that)!

Thank you for all your feedback on my drawer pull and keyhole necklaces! It gave me confidence to go ahead with the plan. I still need to find the right chain for the drawer pulls, but I've already listed one of the keyhole necklaces in my Etsy shop.

In case you haven't noticed the little bit of text above my Etsy mini (look on the sidebar... to the right... a bit towards the top... there you go...), I'm having a buy 1, get 1 half off (BOGO 1/2) sale in my shop for this week only.

OK. Bed time. Tomorrow's another day - which will involve seeing a Keane concert. Should be fun!

xo

show some blog love

I don't have anything of my own that is worthy of a blog post right now, but I want to share with you one of my latest blog discoveries: The creme de la crop.
Evita has got to be the most adorable fashion blogger I've seen in a long time. This Indonesian cutie has amazing photos, an envy-worthy glasses collection, and a sense of style that makes me wish they made those clothes in adult sizes. Oh, have I told you yet? She's 10. U-huh, just when you thought bloggers can't get any younger.


Much more over there.

xo

for the neck

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered some old (vintage?) drawer pulls and keyholes. Not that I have any furniture to mend, I just find them fascinating. Being a fan of quirky jewellery, when I see anything that I can attach a chain to, I see them as necklace pendants.

So that's what I'm planning to do - make them into necklaces and put them in my Etsy shop. What do you think? Is it something you would wear around your neck? Does the fact that they're made using recycled/upcycled objects appeal to you? Feedback is wanted and appreciated!

lemon twist

A few of you may remember these thrifted blue shoes. They originally had blue ribbon bows, which I always had the intention of replacing because 1) they were looking dirty, 2) it would be fun, and 3) they would no longer look exactly the same as the ones I saw on another girl (which I did see a few days after buying them)!
So I got some lemon-yellow ribbon, and voila! Them shoes got a cheerful makeover.



dress, cardigan - vintage
belt, shoes - thrifted
'Simply a Sweet Heart' necklace - Etsy
I think I've posted every piece of this outfit at some point, apart from the belt and necklace. I keep meaning to post something different, but I just keep going back to the same old items.

I just signed up to the Inspire April Project hosted by SeeHearSay. It sounds like a super fun and inspiring idea, don't you think? Come and join, you have several more hours to do so!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!
xo

family portrait

OK, so this is the second photography-find post in a row, but I just had to share these. How could I not have come across Akihiro Furuta's amazing family portraits before? I LOVE these!
One of the best things about his shots is seeing everyone's infectious smiles - especially the ones where they look like they're trying hard not to burst out laugh! I'm sure these photo shoots involved many family giggles.





I feel like buying a bunch of red balloons now.

Photos found from here, here, and his blog.
Go to his blog to see an extensive collection of his family portraits by date (use the calendar on the side menu), and to instantly warm your heart.

P.S. I've started twittering. Follow me if you're a fellow twit!

polaroid playtime

All images from Let'sExplode (Flickr)

PS. my internet speed looks like it's back to normal. Yippee!

big brother

This is my big brother, see?
(because he's bigger than me)


Do you like his tee?
I picked it out from a soon-to-be-closed shop called Genki.