Winter; just say no!

I hate winter. Yuck. Yucky. OUCH! MY FINGERS ARE FROZEN! Why is there a hole in my sock? BECAUSE WINTER CRITTERS HAVE MADE IT THEIR HOME! Yuck, ouch, i hate winter.

Today it was still light at 5.45pm. I was so excited i started making a fun times summer play list which i imagine i will dance and sing and drink to all summer long. Mmm, hot stuff.

No playlist is ever complete without a number of hilarious, (un)related pictures. I love you summertime dancers!



Ahh, the old sexually ambiguous music person. I think i see boob... Suggestions? I think this photo can have my favourite summertime swooner Jens Lekman.

mp3: Jens Lekman: A Sweet Summers Night on Hammer Hill

Oh! Look at that grass go! I'm dreaming about summertime picnics, summertime crushes, summertime pimms with friends, and that sweet, sweet smell of the afternoon summertime breeze before a violent summertime storm. Mmm, delicious! As is this summertime gem. Play it at picnics on hot days or durring pretend summertime picnics inside.

mp3: Toquinho - Carolina Carol Bela (i found this song via the ever wonderful Motel De Moka)



Oh! What a fantastic summertime moon! According to this website (where the picture was taken from and gosh darn there are some lovely photo's there!), you can only see this sort of moon in the summertime. Not sure i believe that, but golly if it was summer it would be great to howl at!

Hhhhhhhhooooowwwweeeeelllllllllll! (i love Edward Cullen, not Jacob so much).

mp3: La Roux- Tigerlily (yes, i am still infatuated with their catchy, repetitive tunes).



Oh my god. Summer = nudity. Hells yeah! In my winter melancholy i almost forgot! Also, this summertime hottie is wearing a winter, sock eating critter as a hat.

Oh wait! She is startled! Why is she startled? AH! She's startled because she forgot how hot you look naked in summer. Mmmm.

I could do naughty things listening to this song, though only in summer...

mp3: Voxtrot - The Start of Something




Somewhere on an awesome street; it's summer...

Sister 1: Oh sis, i look so whack right now. Check it out; i'm doing the cheeky turkey!
Sister 2: Lady, shut up. Just shut up. My funky chicken kicks your cheeky turkey's arse.
Sister 1: Mmm, hmm. You ain't got no whistle, i've got a whistle, that's how cheeky my turkey is.
Sister 2: Oh biatch, don't go there.
Sister 1: Dude, you're sucking on a dummy.

This NEVER would have happened in winter.

mp3: Envelopes - Sister in Love


I would like to conclude this post with winter sucks, summer is awesome. Though, Vanessa did just remind me that i complain all summer about the heat. Well, to that i reply; WE SHALL SEE VANESSA, WE SHALL SEE!

xoxo

In five months, if all goes to plan...

... i will be here...

... have danced the night away here...




...have seen this...




...i will have caught up on sleep here....




...and I'll have nothing to think about for a whole 2 months. My life will be mine and i'll have a sweet tan.

Anyone want to come to Latin America with me?

xx

Fresh is most certainly the best

Hello chickens! Sorry I have been so neglectful recently, not that I am not always neglectful, but sometimes I like to apologise for it.

Just wanted to share with you a delightful trip I made to the Canberra Farmers Market this morning. It was quite an adventure, somehow I managed to get up before 9.00am on a Saturday morning! Now most of you probably already know about the Farmers Market and go every week so this won't be news to you. But, if you're anything like me you have probably meant to go every week, then slept in. The markets are only open until 11am and it is Saturday morning after all! For many, many weeks (months actually...) I have had the intention of going and it is only today that I have finally made it. The secret to getting up early, I have discovered, is to organise a friend to go with you (thank you George!). Then you'll feel guilty if you stand them up by sleeping in like the lazy soul you are (or I am, I didn't mean to imply that you guys were lazy).


Anyway, it was totally worth getting up. The markets were bustling with people eager to get a bargain on their fresh produce and sometimes it was a bit of a tussle to the tomatoes and a push and a shove to the potatoes. All part of the fun I thought and completely worth it when everything is so cheap and so fresh. I got home and all I wanted to do was cook! Needless to say I didn't.

I've included some pictures of the goodies I bought as well. Partly so there was something to look at and partly so I could play with Poladroid. I thought it pointless at first, but now I kind of dig it.


The Capital Region Farmers Markets are held every Saturday morning at Exhibition Park from 8 am to 11 am. Find out more here.

A new housey, a new home.

This is not our new housey-home. It is Brad and Kendra's housey-home home from Appartment Therapy.
It may serve as inspiration, however.

Last weekend I moved house again. AGAIN. Yep, it was a real crap time and I really thought I would dearly, dearly miss our old cottage with all its charming olde worldy charm. But then I cooked my first meal in the kitchen of the new house. At the first lighting of the gas stove I knew it was love sweet love. I literally felt a little weightless and dizzy in the head when the onions started sizzling instantaneously. Like, the moment they hit the pan, which was only a moment after I lit the stove. And when I roasted pumpkin in the oven and the underside didn't burn, all sentimental memories of the whitewashed house of my past evaporated. Then there was the dishwasher. And the bench space. The metres and metres of bench space. And the ducted gas heating. And the never ending hot water. And the 'secret garden'-style ivy fenced courtyard which our huge huge bedroom opens out onto, and its little stone barbecue. And the garden. And the birch trees. And the front deck the size of an olympic swimming pool.

Bliss.

There is one small problem though. Our huge bedroom with the massive windows and secret garden-style courtyard has a flaw: a dusty, earthy red feature wall, reminiscent of Uluru or slightly congealed blood. If you knew me (which, let's be honest, you probably do), you'd know that dusty, earthy red isn't exactly the shade of my aura. Or a shade I would ordinarily associate myself with, or even like in any particular way, let alone allow to DOMINATE my bedroom. Even if, by virtue of my red hair, my season is supposedly 'Autumn'.

So, friends, some adjustment has to be made. I have to change the delicate shades of my decor to compete with this harsh colour of the earth. Or slightly rotting Autumn leaves. I realise that this comes across as a very very 'first world' problem. Ooh, poor Julia has to deal with a colour which does not complement her aura nor her bedsheets. Sad face. Which it is. Obviously. But the whole point of this post is to simply say, I now have a project, a channel for my creativity, something to daydream about while at work, and all kinds of fun DIY ideas to share. So watch this space, babies, because we gonna be giving that terracotta sheep's blood red wall a real slap in its obnoxious ruddy face.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

I also hope, even if you're just here from the hype machine, you enjoy embroidery and lamp shade ornamentation.

Maybe I should start a new blog. Am I getting off topic?

Any idea, perchance, what the 'topic' is, anyway?

DIY Sundays

xx


Welcome to a new, and probably very rare ditty I plan to introduce to Number One Millionaire: DIY Sundays. There is no more enjoyable, wholesome and all together warming way I can think of to spend a drizzly June Sunday than indoors with needle and thread in hand, quietly crafting. This particular project was begun, oh, last December and completed last weekend , conveniently two weeks before we move house (hence the dramatic difference between the natural summer light in some photographs, and the artificial indoor light of others). But creativity knows no schedule, and I've gotta say, I was pleasantly chuffed at how it all came together.

DIY Canvas Shadow Box

The idea for this project came about when I purchased a cheap canvas for a painting project and was struck by just how lovely the inside, unprimed side of the canvas was. So I decided to stitch some pretty pictures to it and use the bottom edge of the frame as a shelf for neglected nick-nacks and other treasures.

Step 1. Purchase a cheap canvas with a nice, textured, lightly flecked underside.



Step 2. Gather pretty pictures (the Yoshitomo Nara image I used is from an old Calendar), postcards (mine are from Japan), buttons, artworks, photographs, pretty pieces, of fabric feathers, acorns, small ornaments (or whatever takes your fancy) to hand, and lay them out inside the frame. I found it was useful to lightly mark the positions with a pencil so as not to forget them later.


Step 3. Using a thin needle, punch holes about half a centimetre apart around the corners of each image (for the postcards I just stitched used two diagonally opposite corners, but stitched all corners for the Yoshitomo image). This makes it easier to control the distance of the stitches, and also makes for much neater holes; I found that when stitching from the canvas, up through the card the holes came out rather messy.

Step 4. Carefully stitch through the holes, making sure you make a tight knot on the back (or technically the front) of the canvas. I also reinforced my knots with sticky tape, just to be sure.



Step 5. Stitch on your buttons, sequins or other bling in much the same way you would if you were stitching them onto ordinary fabric.


Step 6. Choose some lovely lace, and stick it around the frame using PVA or craft glue of so that it covers up the ugly staples.



Step 7. If you want to attach a bottle to use as a little vase, measure out another piece of lace and stitch a loop into the canvas above the bottom shelf to hold the bottle securely in place.


Step 8. Attach some wire to the back (front) of the canvas to hang it on the wall with. I ended up stapling it onto the side of the frame with a staple gun, which looked rather unsightly, but decided to cover it up with some nice ribbon. If you have a better idea, which really wouldn't be hard, please use it. I couldn't figure out a way which wouldn't be visible and ugly from the front.




Step 9. Hang your masterpiece on the wall, and place your little bird-friend and mouse-friend (or whichever friends you've chosen to use) on the bottom shelf (reinforcing with blue-tac if you think it necessary), and pop some pretty flowers into the bottle and the bottle into it's loop. I also attached a little haiku badge the boy made me because I felt it was seasonally appropriate, and he convinced me that my masterwork was 'missing something'.




Some other ideas:

• You could attach pretty hooks to the top of the frame and use it to hang, and frame, your favorite jewels.
• You could try painting the canvas or the wooden frame.
• You could embroider pretty designs onto the canvas.
• Try making a series of cute little ones using small canvases.
• You could use this as an affordable and unique method for framing individual artworks or prints.
  

Crush

So I have a new blog crush, Taghrid. I only discovered this blog today, so it may be a fleeting crush, but we'll see. She is giving me the much needed inspiration I am missing. Desperately missing actually.


Have you got any blog crushes you would like to share? I love new reasons to waste time!

Lazy Line Painter Jaimie

These Cat and Girl comics are probably my three favourite web comics of all time. I'm still crazy busy with uni and work, but promise to write a substantial post soon. I've been told to lift my game.

Enjoy, you crazy hipster's.