Retro-look glasses

Having broken almost all of the glasses given to me waaaaaaay back for my 18th birthday, it was time to buy ourselves some new ones. I'm not an advocate of expensive glassware for someone as clumsy as myself, so we went off to Target for something cheap but semi-attractive.

Now, Target homewares in this country are generally not as good as they are reported to be overseas, but nevertheless I've managed to find some excellent items there in the past (plus, their annoying new TV campaign strongly suggests that they're increasing the homewares focus in Australia). The day we visited Target had a sale of 30 per cent off glassware, which meant that a set of four of these fabulous-looking glasses was only $5.50! Now that's a bargain and a half! We decided to go crazy and buy two sets - one in red and one in black.

I'm really happy to have these in my home. I know they're not really vintage, but they look cute nevertheless. For a peek at a collection of real vintage juice glasses that are totally adorable, get hold of the previous issue of Frankie magazine (issue 34, March-April).

I think our new glasses are a good match with our Spirograph-inspired coffee mugs, coincidentally also from Taget, albeit four or five years ago. From memory they were about $2.50 for a set of two.

Selling my bikes :(

I know that selling my wares is totally not the intention of this blog (apologies in advance!), but I figured it may help my to find new owners who will love these bikes (particularly the first one) as much as I have. Both of these are regretful sales, and it's taken me a long time to finally decide to sell.

The first is the 2006 Giant Areva 24-inch ladies 7-speed cruiser. I love this bike to death. It's been kept indoors for its entire life, so the paintwork is excellent. The tyres have to be seen to be believed, and the seat is SUPER comfy. The frame is alloy, so it's very sturdy. The only reason for the sale is that I've ordered a shiny new red bike, and we've got no room in our garage for any more! It even comes with a mobile phone holder and the cutest basket in the world! The bike was $520 brand new, but I'll part with it for $300.

The second bike is a vintage ladies Raleigh Cameo. I bought this on eBay only a few months ago, but haven't given it the justice it deserves so want it to go to a better home. The paintwork does have fading and rust spots consistent with age, but overall I think it's in great condition and is perfect for riding around the neighbourhood, to the train station or down to the supermarket. It has 10-speed gears, a relatively new seat, and would look adorable with a basket. The rear brake rubs on the rims a little bit, but this could be easily fixed with a little bit of tinkering. I'll part with it for around the same price I paid for it - $100.

If there is no interest beforehand, I'll be putting both bikes on eBay this weekend. If anyone in Brisbane is interested in either of them, please send me an email - I'm more than happy for someone to go for a test ride.

New stuff in the Flying Ducks house

Last week was very busy, as we decided to repaint the bathroom before John returned to work this week. This involved sanding most of the walls right back (well, my husband did that part), painstakingly preparing the surface, and then painting in a room with very little ventilation (which means longer drying time). There's still some work to do, like finishing the edges and installing towel rails, so I won't post pictures until it's completed.

In other news, I completely lied about my previous post being the last one about our wedding, because we received another awesome gift! On Saturday night our friend JB dropped around for a surprise visit with this stunning frame from Abode & Bod in Wilston (a place which I have never heard of before, so I must pay them a visit!). It's an apple picture made from hundreds of pieces of Japanese tape. I've been wanting a picture to put on the wall leading into the kitchen, and now we have one!

On the weekend we also visited my favourite Brisbane store, Nook. There are far too many things there that I want to buy for myself, so I always spend quite a while there deciding what I want. Much to John's dismay, another item for the home decided it wanted to live with us - this pouffy little owl. It's come to my realisation that I have quite a collection of birdy things now, so I figure another one won't hurt. Mr Owl lives above another Mr Owl (the framed owl fabric I bought last year from Sivad Designs in Nundah), and I hope he'll be very happy there. 

Speaking of Nook, Michelle has now opened an online store. That's right, now I don't even need to leave the house to buy things. Very, very dangerous indeed. The really good news is that people who aren't in Brisbane can now enjoy shopping at Nook too. Check it out here. 

Post-wedding overview

I wanted to show off some of the lovely aspects of our wedding, held on 10 April. I’m not going to show off my favourite photos — most of the super-cute shots include my husband, who is a very private person and won’t want his image splashed all over the internet. (If anyone’s really keen to see some shoot me an email.) I will, however, do my best to give you an overview of many of the elements of our wedding.

All photography (except for the table shot, which was taken by Riini) is by our very talented friend Natasha Harth.

The lovely ring pillow was made by my mum, with rings made by Maple XO (John) and Bentley De Lisle (me). The butterfly bouquet was made by myself and my mum using feather butterflies from Floral Trims, based on one featured on the Martha Stewart website. The 1950s handbag is from Vintage Rose in my local neighbourhood, and the shoes are by Camper (of course).

My hairpiece was purchased online (like most other things for the wedding!) from fascinators.net. My 1960s dress came from eBay (a steal at $30), and was altered to fit perfectly by PQ Fashions in Brisbane (they also expertly altered John’s vintage suit jacket).

The car was an old Dodge that’s been in John’s family for several generations. It was also used as the wedding car for his parents, as well as his grandparents. It was brought from Toowoomba to Brisbane for the weekend, which was a real treat for us.

Our reception dinner was held at the Grove Establishment in Ashgrove. In addition to the wonderful food, I was drawn to this place because of the black and gold Japanese Floral wallpaper by Florence Broadhurst. The table settings were very simple, using cheap Ikea vases with orange and black sticks. The table numbers were simply folded cardboard with number stickers, with clip-on feather butterflies from Floral Trims.

The fabulous and extremely delicious cake was made by Vanessa Franklin. It was organic gluten-free organge and poppyseed cake with Green and Blacks white chocolate ganache, served with a yummy lemon curd. Oh, and it also had candied oranges on it! If anyone in Brisbane would like Vanessa's details, please let me know.

I think it's fair to say that we had a lovely, relatively stress-free day. It was nice to see so many of our friends and family, and we even got to eat (amazing, I know!). This was very much a DIY wedding (with a bit of help from our creative friends), and I think it turned out pretty well.

Beautiful wedding gifts

Apologies for the hiatus - I was off getting hitched. :)

In addition to the charity donations, honeymoon contributions and gift cards we received for our wedding, we also received some very special gifts. I am still in awe at some of them, as they show just how much thought our friends put into giving us something that we'd truly love now and into the future.

My best friend Rebecca bought us this absolutely stunning Dinosaur Designs vase. It's the perfect colour for us, and I think I've found it a home where I'm not likely to knock it over (I hope!). 

Our friends Angelina and Michael got us this Alessi Firenze clock, designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. The Castiglioni brothers designed the Arco lamp that I want so badly. Even though I know I'll never afford a real one (only a replica), at least now I can say that we own a Castiglioni clock!

The lovely Terese at designed to a T knows how much I love Florence Broadhurst designs, and she made us some wall panels using the red Circles and Squares wallpaper design. My jaw almost hit the floor when I opened this gift! I've placed the panels above our reading chair in the bedroom.

Another gift that has made it's way into the bedroom is from Fiona and Ryan at Studio Pounce. They went and bought us a limited-edition Maiden Voyage pillowcase set designed by Sarajo Frieden from Third Drawer Down. Purdy.

And, finally, we got some very stylish gifts for the kitchen as well. The Maxwell & Williams casserole dish is from our neighbours, Merv and Margaret. The very cool (and very sharp) Tramontina knife block was bought by my sister Kristy, her fiance Jason, and Jason's mother Iris.