Kitty says Meowww.....

and her little friend says Meoww right back!

Kali was kind enough to mail me the pattern for this cute kitty after I spotted hers on her flickr page. Thanks Kali!! (Check out her new Etsy shop - lovely things....)
Kitties were so easy to make, one is for a blog friend and the other for a swap.


Look what came in the mail today! A beautiful collage tile that I bought from Julie's etsy shop! I love it, such beautiful colours, layers and layers of prettiness! Love the suprise bugs and rain droplets too! Julie is inspired by nature all around us, a talented artist and a warm blogging friend!


Im also loving these books I got last week!
Anna Corba is so inspiring, her book
Vintage Paper Crafts is wonderful - cant wait to make some of the beautiful projects in the book!

The other book I bought ' French Inspired Home' is so lovely!! It makes me happy with all the vintage goodness, some cute projects too!!

Have a great day my friends!!!

Browsing around.......


Every now and then I love to have Saturday all to myself – I leave the kids at home with Andrew and just head out to the shops or markets, even grocery shopping is fun when solo!
On Saturday my sister and I drove up the road to Summer Hill (just like my favourite fragrance Summer Hill by Crabtree & Evelyn… try it if you get a chance - divine!!)

Peter, my 4year old upon hearing we were going somewhere special totally flipped out crying so I gave in and he came along too….
First we stopped at Babycakes by Renee where we had our mid morning coffee fix, Peter his babycinno and we all tried some cupcakes, delicious!
Their menu is ever so cute! Retro-inspired cupcake illustrations showing all their yummy varieties. The smell of the shop is amazing - vanilla, sugar and all things nice baking away in the ovens.

Our next stop was ‘Reclaim by Monica’, a gorgeous shop selling both new and old goodies – very shabby chic! Some things I loved - gorgeous pearl and bead wreaths, Italian almond milk soaps, ceramic coral jewellery holders, vintage ABC prints…lovely lovely stuff, such a delightful shop!!

Vanessa had such a great post about one of her favourite shops Bon, that I thought it would be cool to show you one of my favourite shops too so I took my camera along on the outing. Do you think I could do anything with Peter around…most of my time was spent saying ‘Be Careful’ , ‘Don’t touch’, ‘Watch out’…you get the drift. …
Some pretty pics on their website though!

After that we went to Reverse Garbage not far from my home…such a cool place to find odd bits and pieces….I scored some beautiful fabric scraps, aren’t they stunning?? They have huge bins full of stuff and you can normally fill a big bag for $6. The top piece is Ralph Lauren fabric which is very pricey in Australia and this large piece only cost me $1 … I love this vintage tin too, the cherubs are darling! It’s a little rusty inside but Im going to line it with pretty paper and it will make a new home for my threads!

So what did you get upto this weekend??

7 years!

This is what I was doing, 7 years ago today....

Happy Australia Day!!

Such a sunny day today - perfect, since its a celebration!

We headed to Cremorne Point for a great view of the Harbour as there is always lots of action on Australia Day! Ferry races, sailboats, helicopters ...food, wine and fresh air - what more can you ask for! Enjoy a glimpse of my city, Sydney!

Palm trees for shade

Sydney Harbour

Blue Skies, Patriotic dogs and calm warm waters......

Illustration Friday - Superhero

Whats a Superhero without a villain??

I was never really into superheroes but i did love 'Wonder Woman' as a child...oh and the 'Six Million Dollar man' was one of my favourite childhood shows.

click here to see the other entries...

Purrr

The Sweetest Escape........



Woo-hoo..Yeah-hoo...
I love the new Gwen Stefani song, 'The Sweetest Escape' ! Such a catchy, happy song...I love singing it really loud when Im in the car where no one but me can hear.

Where would your sweetest escape be??
Our world with endless possibilities and with so many cities to visit...
I think Id love to be in Japan right now. My friend Helen is over there for work and has promised to buy me lots of Japanese craft books! yeahh thanks Helen!!!

Another place Id love to visit one day is Morocco, the city of Fez is the pearl of the arab world. The ancient city and bazaar looks fascinating! beautiful old doorways, spices, gold and leather, sprinkles of pink and aqua.... i love medieval cities!!

I sketched my travel girl last night from a vintage 40's image - I love how woman dressed up to travel, gloves, hats and hard leather suitcases!

a little bit of me...

Its hot!! very very hot! I just cant handle the heat and Im so happy to be home today with the airconditioner blasting away in my cool little house.

I saw Ralph Fiennes last night in a play called 'First Love' and wow he was amazing....amazing!! it was a short performance that lasted 55mins but it was him alone on stage for the whole duration - what a fantastic actor and what a handsome man he is!!

Ive been tagged by Cindy to list 5 things about me you didnt know.....

1. I was named after my grandmother Anastasia who was also named after her grandmother. I have four girl cousins also named Anastasia and a boy cousin named Anastasios. That might sound like a lot but I have 24 first cousins from that side of the family ....

2. I am very flexible. I used to be able to lift my leg behind my neck but nowdays can only get it to touch my ear....I want to always have a supple body so I better get enroled into yoga class quick smart...Im so sluggish these days.

3. When I was 6mnths old my parents sent me with an Qantas air hostess to Cyprus to be with my grandparents and my sister. My parents struggled in Australia when they first arrived and had to work with no family support - difficult times. I didnt see my parents again until I was 3years old.

4. Whilst on holiday in London in my early twentys I was stopped by police and asked to be part of a criminal line up as I had similar looks as the accused. I got paid 20 pounds for my time and I even met another Sydney girl also in the line up whose parents lived in the next street from me.

5. About 10 years ago I got a psychic reading and she told me I would marry a man whose name would start with the letter A. She said the same thing to my friend so we were both skeptical but I married an Andrew and she married an Anthony....

I found these pictures the other day, they are of my high school art project - 6 poster sized pastel drawings in total and it took me 8mnths to finish.
They were in my parents garden shed for many years after that but eventually got wet so we threw them out. The school kept one for display so maybe they still have it stored away - maybe I should ask for it? No scanners in those days, gosh the internet was unheard of! how strange, a life without internet....
even stranger is that since that project Ive never experimented with pastels again...maybe I should go buy me some!!

What are Little Girls made of.....

Sugar and spice and all things nice!!

I find it very amusing that my sister, a tomboy growing up is now a mum to two gorgeous girls and me, the one off with the fairies, doll loving girly girl had two boys but Im so grateful to have my two nieces in my life...perfect excuse to make cute girly gifts for them!

I made these crochet headbands and I think they quite like them!

I found the pattern in The Australian women's weekly and they were really simple to make. I sewed some beads on the edges for a little princess sparkle.

Here is the pattern if you want to try.

I saw this advertisment last week and I loved it so much I had to share it with you.

Its promoting tourism for Melbourne, Australia a stunning city which I love to get lost in....as there is so much to see and do! Hmmm maybe I need a holiday! Have a look here

Illustration Friday - 80's

I was a teen during the 80's so can remember everything in great detail. What a laugh we had!

My Illustration this week is a gym junkie because we all loved to go to aerobics class in the 80's especially step aerobics, that was the latest craze.

'Feel the burn! Can you feel it??'....our instructor would shriek at us!

Some other 80's moments I incorporated....Madonna Clones, Stiff teased fringe, the higher the better. Boofy big hair - hairspray was the most popular hair styling product. Lots of faux bijoux especially crucifix earrings, lacey fingerless gloves, Reebox or L.A Gear sport shoes oh and Raybans....they were so cool!

A Little Romance ....

I completed 3 Valentine ATCs for a swap that Lia so kindly invited me to join in over at Flickr

One more ATC to complete ...that will be tonight's little project, I have something sweet in mind ....

I love going through my craft supplies and papers and I have folders of favourite magazine clippings that I love to pour over and get inspired by all over again!
There is nothing more exciting as getting new craft goodies - Ive been eyeing Ruby St Designs and their Ephemera collections sure look tempting!


' Summer Love'












'Always On my Mind'

















'Your Tender Touch'


There is a new Vintage Valentine
photo group on Flickr. Ive added some of my vintage cards and plan to add more! Check it out as everyones cards are so adorable!!

Edited to add ATC No.4

'A Lover's Song'

Thankyou Risa......

A Big thanks to Risa for organising the tea party.
It brought our big beautiful world a little closer for 24hours - I had lots of fun party hopping and met many new bloggers! Our love of tea bought us all together!

Just a couple more 'Tea Loves' I
had to share....

A cute Tea set brooch by Melbourne Designer Kitty Fisher
actually her whole tea set jewellry range is super sweet.

This beautiful handprinted lithograph is by Lulu of Rosieposie. Lulu has been really busy lately and sadly doesnt post often - I miss her beautiful watercolours and amazing illustrations.

A Morning Tea Party....

Welcome everyone to my house!

Come in sit down and get cosy.
How do you take your tea?

We have some delicious polka dot flavoured tea (actually its Tetley's, ) and a warm, moist citrus butter cake.
We love savoury as much as sweet in my house so I made some Chedder cheese biscuits just for you, try them you will be addicted!


As the rabbit said ' Oh dear Im late Im late....' I almost didnt make it on time!! My internet server was down, the phone and TV also died on me - thank goodness I just made it!
Off to visit everyone's tea party! Will you come too??

EDM Challenge #40 - Draw Something with Folds

I drew these from a picture in an old Lucky magazine, whilst watching the Tennis on TV last night

One of my goals this year was to draw more often and so far I havn't had much time but hey there's lots of days ahead...

Fun Happenings.....

Cant wait to join in on the fun at Risa's virtual Tea Party this Friday (Saturday for us aussies)!

I hope you can come too....

The Victoria Room in Sydney does beautiful high tea, I'll have to go sometime and take lots of pictures to share with you all.

I wonder what blend of tea Alice and her friends are enjoying??

Illustration Friday - Buzz

Mr and Mrs Buzz were estatic that their batch of Honey won first prize at this years fair!

For more Buzz entries click here

Junk Mail ATCs

I finished my Junk Mail ATCs for a swap.
I really enjoyed creating them and with all the Janauary sales and advertising inserted in my mail box, I came up with these.

I plan to do more ATCs this year - lots of fun!!!

When Two become One


Catch a Falling Star


Monkey in the Garden

Tea Time Mum!!!

What big Teeth you have......

My little boy Peter is fascinated by the story 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I read it to him all the time.
I read it in English and in Greek, sometimes we cuddle up and I just tell him the story and the part he loves the most is ....What big teeth you have.....

It was always a favourite of mine too. I found some vintage images of Little Red Riding hood online, arent they wonderful images!?


This adorable drinking cup is by D-Bros, a Japanese homewares design group
Add water and the wolf appears larger!! how clever!