Our home... in Pop art

Yesterday I picked up my fancy new camera - an Olympus PEN EPL-1. It's a nice, happy medium between a compact point-and-shoot (which is what I had previously) and a full-blown DSLR (which I really have no need for). Amongst other advantages, it will no doubt make my blog photos 100 times better.

The camera has six built-in art filters, and due to the large amount of red in our home I've become a little obsessed with the Pop art feature. The following images were taken on a very gloomy, overcast day (which would have meant 'don't bother trying to take photos' in the past). I can't wait to see how photos look when the sun is out!

Ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop

On the weekend, I attended a ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop with my friend Irene. It was hosted by the Japanese Consulate in Australia, and included a lecture by the Director of the Ukiyo-e Museum, Kunio Sakai. We were also very lucky to witness the skills of one of only thirty ukiyo-e printmakers practising in Japan today, Tatsuya Ito. For a comprehensive account of our afternoon, check out Irene's post here.

After the demonstration, we were privileged enough to use Ito-san's woodblocks and print two colours of a print ourselves.

Thanks Irene for inviting me to come along!

Bicycle typogram print

Remember I made John a tasty pear and cinnamon upside-down cake for his birthday? Well he got a present too, in the form of this first-edition bicycle typogram print by Aaron Kuehn. Just today I've hung it in the hall near the back door.

Sew La Tea Do!

Last night we met my sister in the city for dinner (thanks to Irene for the Satay Club recommendation!), and then we stopped off at the book store before heading home. I stumbled across Pip's latest book, Sew La Tea Do, which is lovely! It even has a big fat pocket full of patterns.

Within its pages, I instantly found a treasure trove of goodies I'd like to make. The photographs are amazing, and I even spotted a big fat guinea pig! I would particularly love to make the sunny day and Miss Marlo dresses, as well as the super cute origami wallet.

This morning I had a little bit of time I my hands, so I decided to make some little zipper pouches from some spare fabric. They are a little smaller than Pip's (as I only had 15cm zips), but they are the perfect size for coins. Pretty soon, they'll be in the post to some unsuspecting friends. Hurrah!

Our home in wide angle!

Our friends Enis and Natsumi came to visit for dinner a few weeks ago, having recently moved back to Brisbane from Japan. While they were here, Enis took some wide-angle shots of the living room. This really makes me want a new camera...

Images: Drone Bot 

Pear and cinnamon upside-down cake

Baked in the searing heat this afternoon in preparation for John's birthday tomorrow...

Thank you: Peppermint magazine, Mina + Oli and Quiet Paws!

Over the past week or so lady luck has been smiling on my yet again. First off, I won this beautiful Mina + Oli wristlet from Peppermint magazine! The lovely Laura selected this blue number for me, which is made from a recycled leather jacket. I really, really love it!

Then, I was most excited (and amused!) to learn that I'd won a HUGE prize pool over at Tracey's blog Quiet Paws. Tracey has won a few Flying Ducks giveaways, so I guess what goes around comes around! I won all this awesome stuff (including the scarf, which is from Tracey's personal collection), plus a $25 donation in my name to the RSPCA flood appeal, which means an awful lot to me as an animal lover.

Image: Quiet Paws

I'm also very patiently awaiting the arrival of a Cocolo chocolate pack, courtesy of a Twitter giveaway from Fair Trade Australia. I am a big Cocolo fan, as I usually buy chocolate 'bricks' through Project 18 to help raise funds for an orphanage in Indonesia.

Clearly I'm a very lucky girl lately!