Light and Bright dining

In the depths of winter on a miserable rainy day I'm swooning over these light and bright summery dining rooms - very diverse in their styling, but all lovely.

Image source: Red online

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Craft + Technology = Love

Embroider your own iPhone case! Use the patterns supplied or create your own design. Love it.

Available from connect design.


Found via Cafe Cartolina, via Unplugged.

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Kids' Crafternoon

Earlier this year I was asked to contribute some craft projects for a new series of books called Kids' Crafternoon. The first two books in the series are Papercraft and Sewing, and I was excited to receive copies of them in the mail last week. The other two titles - Felting and Beading - will be out in November.

My shadow box project.

My papier mache animals project

My illustrated softy brooches project

The books are full of fun projects for school aged children and require minimal or no supervision. They can be completed in an afternoon or less. Perfect for when you hear that familiar cry "I'm bored!". (When Roxy says this I tell her that only boring people get bored. Which is always met with the response "Oh Muuuumm!!") These books would be perfect to pull out during winter school holidays, rainy weekends and for quiet time after a big day at school.

The design and photography are lovely, the instructions are clear and there are templates in the front of the book. If you'd like to win a copy stay tuned... next week I will have one copy of each book to give away as part of the Kids' Crafternoon Blog Tour.

Edit: The kids' Crafternoon books are available at good bookshops, including Readings and Booktopia.
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Giveaway Winner

Just where has this week gone?! I actually thought it was Wednesday today, but I just realised that I'm a day late announcing the winner of the giveaway. School holidays as a single mum means no time for work, blogging, or me. But it has been so enjoyable... if a little stressful because of things not getting done. Not even a photo to accompany this post. I did love hearing what you've all been up to in the comments on the giveaway post, so thanks.

So. The winner. I consulted random.org and the winning number is comment 50.

Josefina Hatara said she's been out taking pictures with her new lomographic camera. Congrats Josephina the Oh My Deer! will be heading your way. (I've emailed you to get your postal details)

School goes back on Tuesday, so I'm hoping to be hanging out here more often then. And all going to plan, there may be some work getting done too.
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Affordable Wall Art

Now that the Design Files post is up I'll show you some more corners of my home over the next few weeks. One of the things that I enjoy doing is utilising inexpensive and unexpected things as "art". It's fantastic to have wonderful art on your walls but often you need a more affordable alternative.

Two of the things I have around my home pretending to be art are tea towels and vintage board games.

The tea towel above is from Able & Game. I love it so much. I glued a narrow piece of white cardboard to the top edge at the back of the tea towel and when it was dry I simply added Blu-Tac to attach it to the wall. A couple of small pieces of Blu-Tac hold the bottom corners in place.

Below is a typographic tea towel from Yardage Design. The great thing is that if you get sick of them as art you can always use the tea towels in your kitchen.

Vintage board games also make fun and graphic artworks. I picked up both the Bingo and Video Village games at markets for a couple of dollars each. You can also find them on eBay and Etsy, but usually for a higher price. I always keep my eyes open at garage sales, fetes, markets etc for vintage ephemera. You never know what you might find.

There are so many designers printing lovely things on tea towels these days. These examples by Leah Duncan would look gorgeous in any room.

 I'll follow up with a second instalment of ideas for affordable wall art next week.
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