Before I die...

One of the many charming men I have in my life brightened my day on Monday by alerting me to a rather spectacular community initiative. Before I Die is the work of Candy Chang, a public installation artist who has a strong social conscience and a desire to make her community a more livable place. Essentially, she's used a stencil to create an enormous blackboard on which people create a collective list documenting their hopes for their lives.

Her words to describe her work are thus:

"Before I Die transforms neglected spaces into constructive ones where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us."

Before

After

Once the board is full she documents the responses and wipes it clean. On the website they mention the possibility of collating them into a book.

Not only does this project help to clean up the community appearance, it brings people together and gets them thinking about what's really important to them. It's an exercise in refocusing and as a supporter of all things "social change" and "positive psychology", I think it's marvelous.

September

xx
Photograph from rummey bears

Not quite mad crush Monday I'm afraid. Perhaps mundane Thursday?

Things to eat, do, make in spring, glorious spring:

Go to Floriade and ride the ferris wheel.

Spend as much time as possible by the lake, picnicking, bike riding, eating Brodburger and generally frolicking.

Buy and dye silk for scarves.

Eat endless combination of pea, mint, parmesan, asparagus and leek dishes with smoked trout .

Climb mountains.

Eat at Podfood.

Be a committed, reliable, effective veggie gardener. Decimate the harlequin bugs. Produce 10 varieties of heirloom tomato.

Pin giant flowers in a high bun on my head.

Spend a weekend at Little Pig Creek in the Kangaroo Valley. Go horse riding through the lush green countryside.

Paint with watercolours.

Listen to the new Deerhunter album, 'Halycon Digest'

Make salads from Casa Moro.

Lie on grass, look at trees/sky.

Prepare the house for dreaded summer. Not as easy as preparing for winter, but may involve careful placement of fans, installation of flyscreens, purchase of a child's paddling pool.

Dye

This summer, I'm going to tie, scrunch, bleach and dip dye everything. T-shirts, skirts, scarves, tights, leggings, tote bags, pillows, temptingly white puppies... No surface will be safe from my crazed, psychedelia craving hands.

And this is why:








Top to bottom: Shabd, Wikstenmade, Design*Sponge, Shabd, Design*Sponge, Shabd

Get your zine on

Hey you guys!
Feeling sad that the long weekend is almost over? I know I am. Don't have a long weekend? That's balls. Well now you have something to look forward to, something to write in your diary and circle. Something to put into your iPhone as a reminder (does that exist on an iPhone? I don't have one). Something to tell your friends about so you appear hip and happening and maybe a little bit dangerous (not really, the only thing dangerous about paper is a paper cut. IN THE EYE! It happens).

Zine Fair! In Canberra! At CCAS! Come!

To my knowledge most of the stalls have been taken by eager zinesters, including (but not limited to) Sticky Institute all the way from Melbourne and local zine distro Little Beats. Which is great as that means CCAS will be overflowing with ziney goodness, so you should pop on by and check it out. I definitely will be (because I'll be helping out...but I would be there anyway! Promise).

The Queen's Birthday

Necklaces by Wiksten

Happy Friday, Millionaires! I hope those of you who reside in the eastern-states of Australia have all kinds of mangnificence planned for your long weekend. Inspired by some beautiful peices made by various crafty ladies, I plan to put my collection of broken jewelry and embroidery threads to smart use and make me some pretty laces for my neck. I also plan to shop for treasures at the second-hand clothes sale and St Ninian's church in Lyneham, see the Banksy movie at the National Gallery of Australia and make delicous gnocci. I live for long weekends...

By Sunken Treasure



By Kate Miss, For Me, For You

By Kate Miss, For Me, For You

10 pretty great things

1. Brian Ferry's amazing photographs of London on his blog the blue hour

2. Making lengthy lists of potential new years resolutions and marvelling at how virtuous I could be, if I really wanted to (very high on that list: blog more regularly).

3. Cucumber and orange juice. So refreshing. Soon I'll be making it from my own home grown cucumbers!



4. This cooler weather. Right now I'm drinking tea (hot tea!) and tomorrow I'm going to bake these pear and chocolate cup cakes.


5. Ladies who wear huge flowers in their hair. Especially hydrangeas. Number 12 on my new years resolutions list: wear more flowers in hair (image Emma Fremantle by via all the mountains)


6. Watching Seinfeld again. Classic.




7. The free DIYs and knitting patterns on Pickles. Especially this pom pom wreath. Totally all-year-round worthy.



8. Howl's Moving Castle. I'd forgotten how brilliantly enchanting it is.



9. Geraniums. I really do love them. They remind me of old ladies, Paris and the seventies combined (photo by our ultra-talented friend Nathan).



10. The Social Studio. We stumbled across this shop/space in Collingwood on our recent Melbourne trip. Young refugees recycle excess materials from the manufacturing industry and turn them in to unique, sometimes bizarre pieces of fashion. It's so inspiring when people manage turn our rampant consumerism into something empowering and socially and environmentally beneficial.

DIY Sundays: Skeletal Lamping

..

Another rainy Sunday, another perfect excuse for indoor crafting. And what better a winter project than one which promises to cast beautiful, warm, cozy light around your bedroom, perfect for reading or moodious snuggling?

I am aware of two ways of covering your own lampshades using a dashing fabric of your choice. My way, and the proper way.

For perfectionists, excellent instructions for the proper way can be found on the fantastic Melbourne craft blog kirin notebook. For this particular method, you will need to find a wire lampshade frame. I hear you can get them from good craft stores. I was unable to find one.

For my lazy method, you will need a pre-existing lampshade, which is made of a fairly sturdy plastic interior, over which fabric has been glued (I just bought some ugly shades which were on sale at a lighting store). You will also need some spray-adhesive which you can buy at an art store for around $10, and which will soon become your new best friend. Not only does the aerosol make you feel a fun kind of giddy, but the glue itself is all kinds of useful for neat, sticky application of one surface to another. Think of the possibilities! You will also need to acquire some pretty fabric of your choice, and probably more than you think you need. I'd go with cotton or linen or some other kind of non-stretch material. Quilting fabric is perfect. I would also recommend a pattern with at least a little bit of white, because this enables some beautiful pure light to shine through. (For Canberra readers, I have four words: Addicted to Fabric, Phillip. Best fabric shop on the south, or I'd imagine, any side of our humble town.)


Method:

1. This slightly dodgy process (which I completed so quickly that I took no photographs, apologies) requires you to rip the existing fabric off the plastic interior of your lampshade. I found this fairly simple with the shade I purchased: I simply made an incision on the top of the shade using scissors, and cut and tore it off in sections. If your shade is too flimsy it is likely that chunks of plastic will come off with the fabric, which is why I recommend a fairly robust product.

2. Measure and cut your fabric to shape, making sure you leave at least two centimetres overhang for both the top and bottom of the shade.

3. Spray both the shade and fabric with spray adhesive. Wait for the glue to feel tacky, then carefully stick the fabric over the shade, as if applying contact to school books. The spray adhesive should make this step remarkably easy, messy and wrinkle free. Make sure you leave a few centimetres overlap at the back of the frame, and stick these together firmly.

4. For a neat top and bottom, you want to fold the fabric over the top of the shade, then hook it under the wire that runs around the top of the frame. So measure and cut the overhang so that when folded inside the shade the edge will tuck neatly underneath the wire. Apply a little spray adhesive to the wire, then use your fingernails to glue the fabric securely underneath it. Repeat for the base of the frame (detailed diagrams of this step can be found at kirin notebook).

5. Screw your shade onto your lamp base, and add a globe which will cast a nice, gentle, warm light.

NB. I bought my two mismatching milk glass bases at an antique store for a fairly decent price. They were pretty dusty and disgusting at the time, but cleaned up real nice and fresh. I recommend you hunt around for some pretty and unique ones, otherwise you can pick up fairly plain metal bases at furniture stores like IKEA and Freedom.

The Spoils of Underemployment

..

For the past few weeks I've been a touch underemployed.

But it hasn't been so bad. It's left me with plenty of time to:

Go on spontaneous holidays to the beautiful Blue Mountains with a rather charming man.



Cook delicious meals {sweet potato chips with basil aoili and sauteed silver beet with marjoram and Bulgarian feta).




Craft lampshades



Paint



And appreciate the first peaks of Spring.

Yes. In fact I'd say it's been quite grand.

{stay tuned for recipes and DIY lamp instructions in the coming days}

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.
  

To knit away the afternoon

I've been trying my dang hardest to take advantage of this sharp and beautiful temperature drop and my current (and hopefully short lived) state of unemployment. After weeks of temperatures in the highest of thirties (or forties for our poor unfortunate friends in Victoria*), it is such a relief to be able to sleep, cook and think again. For the past four days I've been practically permanently latched onto the boy like some kind of cuddle-addicted limpet (much to his frustration and slight alarm - some people simply do not appreciate the romantic value of cold weather), and am unlikely to emerge from beneath my beloved doona until at least11am unless forcibly wrenched.

Cold weather is also perfect for my second favorite leisure activity: eating. Right now I've got two half eaten roasted chicken carcasses defrosting in the sink (what a beautiful image, no?) in preparation for what should be a glorious chicken, leek and noodle soup, and the ingredients for a moorish chocolate gingerbread in the cupboard. If I could, I'd bring quaint little lunch packs wrapped in brown paper and twine round to each and every one of you, but instead I think I'll just post recipes. It's the least I can do.

I've also been craving snugly woolen jumpers, so you can imagine my joy and delight when I stumbled upon this, the best knitting pattern (hah, I almost wrote recipe) I think I've ever seen. It's lucky my mum is pretty much a knitting professional, because I think I'm going to be asking for this for my birthday.

It's called Owls, and you can find it on a stunning blog called needled.


Just...yum.

* I'm sure everyone is still reeling from the shock of the devistating Victoria bush fires, but if you would like to donate a metaphorical knitted jumper to someone who has none, please click here.

DIY high fashion

Hello darling ones! Sorry to have been so slack recently but I think I was a little overwhelmed with the excitement that was 80's week and haven't been able to post anything NOT 80's related. To celebrate my return to blogging I am doing something a bit new, some DIY fashion. It's fun project time! Hurrah. This is a first for the blog and a first for me as well. As much as I talk about altering things and creating my own fashion masterpieces I usually cave and never actually do it.


As I have been perusing this months magazines I have seen this Dries Van Noten bangle necklace featured a lot and so I got to thinking, I can totally make that myself! And as it turns out, I totally did. Finally a use for the incredibly ridiculous amount of bangles my mother and I have between us.




To create this runway replica you will need:

1. A length of thick ribbon.
I used a belt as ribbon wasn't quite strong enough to hold all the bangles
2. Copious amounts of bangles.
Though, of course you can use as many or as few as you like as it is all
your own creation!
3. The balls to actually wear it out of the house

So I am yet to actually wear this anywhere and to be honest I don't know if I will. Making it was a lot of fun though and has given me the warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment for today, which I should really have achieved by finishing my essay.