Cart Before The Horse

These hand painted folk art dolls are the delightful and inspired work of Jo and Dylan of Cart Before The Horse. The dolls seem to have an other-worldliness and serene innocence about them. That little one with the mask is so adorable with her spotty little hat, stripey tights and monochromatic outfit. I want to take her home!


Visit the Cart Before The Horse website, Jo's blog, Dylan's blog and their ebay shop for more.
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iPAD: Fab Prefab

The iPAD is a stylish and versalite prefab kit home designed by kiwi architect Andre Hodgskin. Wouldn't it make a wonderful studio or holiday home?

The design is modular and has several versions: single, single with guest suite or double. The single has 50 square meters of interior living space, and the decks that surround it are about the same size.

Image Source: Clever Bastards

The iPAD is ecomonical, versatile, sustainable and beautifully designed. You can find out more about it at Clever Bastards.
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Gorgeous and Ghostly

I'm loving these images by Neal Oshima.

Found via the always wonderful dear ada.
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Monday Blogday: my love for you is a stampede of horses

In keeping with the visual nature of this lovely blog I'm keeping my words to a minimum.

great finds
lots to look at
must visit


Look some of the lovely things I found there...

Sarajo Frieden, here.

The New Math, here.

Anke Weckmann, here.

Melinda Josie, here.

All images via my love for you is a stampede of horses
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Children's Book Illustration: Butterflies in my Stomach

I'm enjoying visiting my daughter's school library with her and we usually borrow as many books for me as for her because so many are beautifully written and illustrated. Butterflies in my Stomach and Other School Hazards by Serge Bloch is one I borrowed last week. I admire artists who can draw with such economy of line, and the combination of simple illustrations and photos is gorgeous. On top of that, it's a funny book too - I'm hoping the images aren't too small and that you can read the text.



Edit: OK, so maybe you can't read the text (or it could just be my tired eyes). From top right going clockwise they read:
As I left the house Dad told me to put my best foot forward.
She said she could tell that school wasn't really my cup of tea.
And then he said he was all ears whenever I was ready to come out of my shell.
Too sweet huh?


I'm signing off for the weekend now. Have a wonderful weekend, see you Monday.
Lisa
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Craft in the News

Image Source: Meet me at Mike's

Crafting is on a roll these days, it's definitely cool and it's also defying the recession.

Pip Lincolne - the original Brown Owl, author of a new craft book, blogger and owner of Meet Me at Mike's, amongst many other things - was featured on the cover of The Age's Sunday magazine last weekend.

The article in 'M' begins:
Once the epitome of uncool, craft is making a comeback with a new generation. Rachelle Unreich threads up to find a burgeoning movement that is hip, political - and just a little divided.
And you can read the whole story here.

The second article, on msnbc, is titled Crafting: A Silver Lining in a Tough Economy. Check it out here.


'M' article found via Meet Me at Mike's blog.
msnbc article found via Cloud9.

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Inside Out Blog

Did you know that Inside Out, the beautiful interiors magazine has a new blog? It's not Monday Blogday, but I couldn't wait until then to share it with you. I'm sure it will be one to bookmark.

I'm loving this light installation that I found there.

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Beauty From Recycled Plastic Bottles

South African designer Heath Nash has designed some beautiful things using 'other people's garbage', which was the title of his 2005 lighting collection.

Heath has set up a factory of local people with traditional craft skills to take his designs from concept to reality. His aim is to design objects with a contemporary sensibility, made with traditional techniques and able to complete in the world market. I'd say he's ticking all those boxes, wouldn't you?



Heath's website is currently under construction, but you can read a great interview with him on ping mag.
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Inspiration: Papercuts and Claire Brewster

There seems to be a lot of papercut art happening at the moment. As a collector of paper ephemera and someone who is experimenting with this art myself, I love seeing the talent of people who have mastered it.

One of these talented artists is Claire Brewster. I really enjoy the extra dimension and splashes of colour and pattern that occur with Claire's papercuts which are made from found papers.

Image Source: Claire Brewster

If you're interested in papercuts a must-visit blog is The Heart of Papercuts. The uber-creative Elsita Mora does the most beautiful work, and her blog has many, many links to other artists, suppliers, tutorials and more. See my previous posts about Elsita here and here.

Image Source: Elsita Mora

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Antler: New Online Magazine

Today I'm loving fabulous new mag Antler... so fresh, inspirational and beautiful.

ANTLER is an online magazine which focuses on composing a collection of beautiful, inspiring ideas and designs from all aspects of life. We come in the body of a fashion magazine, but are more than just that. We look for ways to inspire through not only fashion, but art, design, literature, and culture. We strive to compile a new collection each month that meets this criteria. We publish online to help reduce our carbon footprint, but also to make ANTLER accessible to readers from all corners of the globe. We are interested in showcasing more than just a superficial layer of fashion. We want to feature innovation and how people are contributing to make the world a better place. ANTLER is not only for a source of amazing fashion, art, culture and beauty, but will enchant and inspire as well.



Found via decor8.
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yes, I've renovated my blog AGAIN!

I think as a graphic designer the hardest client to please is usually yourself.

When I won a blog redesign by the lovely Gisele back in December the busy and layered look I created with her was reflective of my headspace at the time. I really liked it, but as I looked at it everyday I came to the realisation that it wasn't my style at all.

So I spent some time thinking about what it was that I'd be happy with and I decided it was a simple design that would allow the content of the posts to take center stage. I'm so happy with it now, this is it - I'm not planning on changing the design again!

There are a couple of very minor things that are still being sorted today, thanks to the fabulous Brooke who has implemented my design for me. She is a talented designer herself, so if you need her help with your blog you can find her here, and visit her blog OhBrooke here.

Back soon with a "real" post...
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Twitter :: Do you Tweet?

All of a sudden Twitter is coming at me from every direction. So many of the blogs I read have all of a sudden got a Twitter link in their sidebar, and over the weekend there were articles in both Saturday and Sunday's paper about it.

Image Source: YiYing Lu

You may have read about this illustration which was picked up on istock by one of Twitter's founders and used when there were service outages on the network. It was dubbed 'Fail Whale' and has become hugely popular, even spawning it's own fansite, T shirts and other merchandise. YiYing Yu is the Sydney designer and illustrator behind the accidental icon, originally called Lifting up a Dreamer, which she created as an e-card for a friend.

If you want to know more the What is Fail Whale site has all sorts of links to everything Fail Whale related.

Do you use Twitter? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. I'm afraid I just can't get into this mini-blogging and social networking tool, and I have to admit that I don't do Facebook either. [cue audible gasp from readers] I have enough trouble keeping up with blogging, work, family, and friends in the real world without adding another thing that demands my time!

Update (about 14 hours after I posted this morning): So I'm in the hairdresser's today reading lots of magazines, as you do, and the editorial columns of two of those magazines were devoted to Twitter. Then... I just got my FeedBlitz update from design*sponge and Grace posted saying that she joined Twitter today. Tweeting is taking over the world!
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Monday BlogDay: Kiss the Paper

I am so late blogging today that I've nearly missed Monday entirely... unless of course if you're in the northern hemisphere where I'm actually early. So let's pretend that I am my usual punctual self and I am in fact blogging from the northern hemisphere today.

Kiss the Paper is one of those blogs that is so visually beautiful and so emotionally pure that it gives me goosebumps when I visit.

sisters.
kate + molly.
born in months that begin with A.
10 years apart.
both 5 ft 2, both size 6 shoe.
born into a family of artists.
raised on a commune with red barn doors.
one brunette. one blonde.
they have gathered stories together + separately in italy, argentina + brooklyn (+ some other good places).

It's a weekly blog by two sisters who live in different cities. The blog posts are beautiful, very visual, responses to a question posed each Tuesday.


I love that Kate and Molly have such a close and wonderful relationship, of the kind you could only dream of and wish for with a sibling. The sad reality is that having a sister is often no guarantee of having a connection, or even a relationship, so the friendship and love between Molly and Kate is inspiring to witness.
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Painted Bunnies

A follow up on my last post about my Chalkboard Eggs...

I have had a number of requests for the little 'love bunny' on eggs, which made me think that I should offer another option. If you would like a bunny permanently painted on your Chalkboard Egg I can do that at no additional cost. So one side of the egg will still be blank for you do your own thing in chalk. What do you think?

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Easter doesn't have to mean chocolate calories

Now, I love chocolate as much as the next chocoholic, but really, I'd rather not be given a year's supply at Easter. Which got me thinking about other Easter gifts, and there doesn't seem to be much around that appeals to me.

So... I'd like to introduce you to The Red Thread Chalkboard Eggs. They are a fun and quirky gift for Easter, or any time really. I have one on my desk and I am constantly doodling on it. How sweet would it be to write little notes to your par amour on one of these? The chalk just washes off so you can have unlimited fun writing and drawing on your egg.


My Chalkboard Eggs are real ostrich eggs that sit on little nests which I have handmade. They are much stronger than your everyday chicken's egg - they're about as strong as a ceramic piece. And the nests have been treated so they are solid and sturdy. The height of the eggs varies between 13 and 17cm (about 5 to 7.5 inches).

Easter is only 3 weeks away, so if you'd like to order one of these great gifts get cracking and send me an email: hello [at] theredthread [dot] com [dot] au. Or go to my website. As with all my work, I will ship internationally... the clock is ticking...

And if you mention you're a reader of my blog when you order I'll draw a little love bunny on your egg if you like. :)

I'm hoping next year to have a range of my handpainted eggs for sale! This year I am taking special orders for them, so email me if you're interested.


Have a great weekend, see you Monday.

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Laikonik for Your Walls

Do you remember the Laikonik paper that I used for my Christmas wreath and advent calendar? Kasia has now created a range of wall hangings using the beautiful design from her paper. She hand screen prints the motif, which is inspired by Polish folk art, onto natural and chocolate hemp canvas. I love the simple and striking colour combinations, especially my current obsession: white on a natural background.

Find out more and buy online on the Laikonik website.

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Girls' Day Out: Gallery > Lunch > Bookshop

My friend Donna and I had a great girls' day out yesterday. First stop was the Art Gallery of NSW to see the Archibald Prize (Portrait), Wynne Prize (Landscape), and Sulman Prize (Subject, Genre or Mural), exhibitions. They were fantastic. The photos were taken surreptitiously on my iphone.

The gigantic red crocheted work above reminded me of the work of Emily Barletta, which I blogged about yesterday.

After the gallery we enjoyed Japanese ramen and tofu for lunch (it looks a bit disgusting and oily in the photo, but it wasn't at all). Delicious! And then on to the fabulous Kinokuniya bookshop for a browse. And all this in the company of a gorgeous friend and kindrid spirit.

Taking some time out from the stress and frantic pace of everyday life is such a nice thing to do for yourself every once in a while. It was such a treat. After my day out I feel like I've had a week off.

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More Art Inspiration

When looking at Emily's blog (see my previous post) I came across the work of a couple of artists that I wanted to share with you.

Ethan Hayes-Chute makes these dream-like mini landscape sculptures. They are teeny - usually less than 5 inches wide. I love their simplicity and the naive feel.


And for something completely different, some absolutely sublime ethereal works by Lisa Keller. I could get lost in these.

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