Art & Craft for Easter

I want to start by saying I love chocolate. In my house it is considered a food group of its own.

So obvioulsy Easter is one of my favourite times of year because well, there is an abundance of chocloate. But this year I have been thinking of passing over those delicious chocloate bunnies and buying something that will last longer than the inevitable Easter sugar coma. 

So here are a couple of things I think would be super to pick up instead of a bunny (or in addition to it !)

Well Dressed Animals by Ryan Berkely 

I saw some of Ryan's prints from the Well Dressed Animal series at cute local shop Quirk & Co. (check it out if you are in Melbourne) and I was totally smitten. I love this series and Ryan does some pretty amazing other work too which you can check out here. Here are a couple of my faves which are available in his shop, I think are just as cute as those foil wrapped bunnies.

 

 Lady Rabbit by Ryan Berkeley available here

 

White Rabbit by Ryan Berkley available here

Wearables by So Little Time Co. 

Now I know this doesn't resemble a bunny or an egg but I promise you this sweet pendant watch (or wearable as they call them) by So Little Time Co. is a winning replacement for chocolate this Easter (or any time really). 

Made in Melbourne by the extremely lovely team of Kirsty, Josh and Jacinta,I gurantee that you will find something sweet over at So Little Time Co. I gave a friend the pendant below for her birthday and I swear she hasn't taken it off since. So check them out here and visit the shop too!

Wind Cloud Pendant available here Image: So Little Time Co. 

Recipe Box by Dawn Tan with Harvest Textiles

No doubt you will have heard of the super talented and super lovely Dawn Tan so I don't need to rabbit on (lame pun - sorry!). Anyway, recently Dawn did a residency at Harvest Workroom and produced a whole bunch of amazing products which you can buy in the shop online. I love everything but I think my favourite is the Recipe Box - and who doesn't want to cook up some yummy recipes over Easter?

 

Recipe Box by Dawn Tan with Harvest Textiles available over here

Stay tuned for some more Easter treats this week on the blog

Also I am having a little Easter sale in my store until Monday - enter EASTER20 at checkout to get 20% off any purchase - visit the store here:
http://www.truthbetolddesign.bigcartel.com/products

art - broomsticks -princesses

This week I have been taking advantage of still being on holidays from my day job and going and visiting all the places I love but never get to visit because I am at work, at a market or at home making something for one of these (the last two I love especially - I'm not complaining). 


So this week I packed a sketchbook, sunscreen (I am a pale human) and my beloved DSLR and went to Heide to see the Freehand exhibition which was amazingly inspiring. 


I also ventured into the city and visited Campbell Arcade on my way to ACMI for the Dreams Come True exhibition which I loved. I would highly recommend going along if you love all things Disney animation - they had stills and cels from all the 'princess' films and it was fantastic to see the concept layout outs and art work for the films I loved so much as a kid, especially for Sleeping Beauty which is still one of my favourite visual go to sources today.  


All Images by me - 1-7 at Heide  8-11 in Campbell Arcade


Oh and apologies for the image heavy post - I got over excited xx

DESIGN // Christmas Cards for Headspace

 

 

  

I love that I get the opportunity to design interesting and fun things for great people. Working with people to create something has become my favourite part of doing all of this - apart from the actual designing of course!

I just finished designing 3 different Christmas cards for headspace. This project was great not only because it was a pleasure to do but because it was for a great organisation. headspace is Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation. It provides support, information and advice to people aged 12 – 25 dealing with mental health related issues. For more information about the great work that headspace do check out the website

 

On the Wall!

On the Wall is being staged in conjunction with the Sydney Finders Keepers Market and will see 33 talented artists exhibiting work.

Check out all the artists involved below and if you are in Sydney on the 3rd + 4th of December head along to The Finders Keepers at Carriageworks Everleigh and check it out. 

Abby Seymour :: Alex Louisa  :: amy borrell
Amy Bortolazzo :: Anika Cook :: Bec Winnel
Bessie Nunes :: Brooke Holm :: Danielle Reck
Emma Leonard :: enyaj :: Erin Flannery
Genevieve Ryan :: Grace McKellar :: James Thomson
Jessica Hyde :: Jessica Singh :: Jordan Clarke
Kareem Rizk :: Kate McCarthy :: Kirbee Lawler
Lalita Lu :: Laura Carey :: Lauren Carney
Manuela Strano :: Matthew Roland :: Meeri Anneli
Moofus :: Natalie Perkins:: Nicholas R Eagar
Paula Mills :: Susan Simonini :: Terry Chisholm

And here is my piece Sweetheart which you can buy while you are there! 

help bring something amazing to life!

So money makes the world go around, I get that. But sometimes it would be nice for money to make lovely special things happen like help awesome artists get cool projects off the ground. 

So often we creative types have amazing ideas and dreams but they never become reality because the money needed to make it happen is out of control! It is sad really.

You are probably wondering what my point is, well this is it:

The amazingly talented Jordan Clarke has created a tarot deck which is completely gorgeous. No really, check it out here

Anyway, in order to make it all happen Jordan's amazing project a reality, she is asking for us to help her out by pledging donations to the project. If she reaches her target she can then get the cards printed and we can all have amazing cards to gaze at in awe (because they are that gorgeous!) 

So if you would like to help a fellow creative lass out, have a look over at Jordans pledge site at IndieGoGo for all the details!

NEW FOR CHRISTMAS 2010

So I LOVE the holiday season. Everything about it is super. 
I love decorating the tree, watching White Christmas for the 1,000 time and eating (non-stop). 


I also love that each year I get to design new cards and gift tags for the holidays. And this year was no exception. Have a peek at the 4 new designs below, inspired by all the things I love about Christmas (apart from the eating non-stop thing).

All the new designs will be available in store and at the markets from now until the big day. 

i love leeloo + frankie

So my all time favourite peeps from Leeloo have put together an ENORMOUS  giveaway for Frankie Magazine prize pack full to the brim with goodies made by some of the unreal designers you can pick goodies up from on Leeloo. The bounty includes stuff by Sarah McNeil, The Dusty Caravan, Candy Bandit, truth.be.told, Whiskers Lane and Pear Shaped, just to name a few.


You might notice my Juliet print up there in the back. Its also available in the Leeloo store you know too. 


So check out the giveaway here 

counting down the hours

until I could get home and finish this:

until I could dance around the house to this: 

until it is finally the weekend and I can do more of the same

oh and ps you can follow my blog on bloglovin too Follow my blog with bloglovin

Fully Six exhibition tonight!

Just a wee little reminder that Fully Six kicks off from 6pm tonight at Guildford Lane Gallery (20-24 Guildford Lane, Melbourne)!  Come by and say hi if you are in town, or if not it is on until the 17th.

Oh and the artists in this one will be :

Jake Rolfe

Amelia Lackman and Georgie Seccull

Simon Noynay

Dawn Tan  (of Hand Made Love) 

Jessica Hyde (thats me!)

Tom Blatchford

For more details check out the Facebook event page here. 

And here is a peek at one of my works on display:

p-shop-palooza

new discovery for the day: making a playlist with annoying pop from your childhood (re anything hanson) is pretty motivational. just in case you need motivation like i do to finish of my p-shop-palooza fun time this evening. above is one of the products for said p-shop festival. more to come xx

did someone say special offer?

Did someone say special offer? Heck yes they did!!  The truly ace ladies of Leeloo  are offering a very limited 15% off artworks currently on show in Melbourne. Everything is packing up and heading home this Sunday, so you only have until Saturday 28th August to take up this offer. How do you get such a deal I hear you ask? Well, simply mention this blog post, its that easy.  


Tomorrow is also the last day you can catch the exhibition in its Melbourne showing so make sure you stop by the gallery if you are in town between 11-5. I think I will be there for most of  the day so say hi! 


And thank you to all the lovely people who came to the opening - seriously it was a super fun night indeed!


And here are my 3 pieces - I am really super happy with these, I had a lot of fun drawing them and for once they actually turned out how they looked in my head! so rare

blackbird - on sale 

i'm looking right through you - on sale

i want to hold your hand - sold

got it in black?

Working in Architecture has its funny moments.

 photos by me

comedic genius provided by  Kelami Ata - work colleague/friend/actor/model/dolphin lover/superhero

DISBAND time!

Ok so I know you are probably tired of me telling you about Disband but I am SO EXCITED!!! So if you are in Melbourne come on down (as Larry would say!) and check it out. The exhibition is open daily 11-6 at No Vacancy Gallery 34-40 Jane Bell Lane at QV (enter the Lane off Russell Street). AND come down to Opening night too - thats on Thursday 26th August 6-9pm. It should be fun indeed. 


And below is my last sneaky peek - this piece is called 'i want to hold your hand' and was inspired by the song and the simple (and sometimes painful desire) to just want to hold someone's hand. 

Disband: Sneak Peek 2

Only ONE WEEK to go until Disband opens in Melbourne at No Vacancy. 

Jeepers! I am well and truly excited. I have 3 new artworks for you and I'm kind of pretty stoked with them.

And here is a little sneak peek of one of these newbies as a work in progress. 

I'm also excited because in addition to these new artworks I have been helping out as a kind of woman on the ground helping the fabulous Angela and Renee by finding furniture and other loveliness to use in the installation. And it has been fun, except now I have extreme retro furniture envy. Really. So here are some of the goodies that I picked up but to see what the lovely ladies whip them into you will just have to come by the gallery and see! 

Oh and don't forget to come to opening night my dears!! Thursday 26th August 6-9pm!!! 

spring market dates

a spring day in LA - photo by me!

I love spring. Every year I am instantly happier the second September rolls around. Spring is all about flowers, sunshine and picnics for me. Oh and markets. I will be spending many a weekend at the markets this spring and I am quite looking forward to it. 

So if you are in Melbourne and looking for something fun to do on one of the glorious spring weekend we have ahead (and maybe sneak in some (dare i say it!) Christmas shopping) then drop by the Rose Street Artists Market and say hi! A list of full dates check out the MARKETS tab above or just click right here

And if you can't make it down to the market - never fear! - I am in the process of restocking my store so take a peak over the next week for some goodies

heartFELT

You might remember a while back I told you about the super heartfelt project I was lucky enough to be involved in? well if you don't - heartFELT is the newest project by talented brooch crafter Gemma of Candy Bandit .

The project involves 25 artists, who each submitted a design according to how they interpreted the theme heartFELT. Gemma then worked her magic and turned each design into an incredibly detailed handmade felt brooch using repurposed materials to keep things sustainable. And another great part - all proceeds from the sale of the brooches will be donated to a charity of the artists choosing.  AND they are all available at my fave online store Leeloo. Neat hey? Oh and you can pick up mine here

image by pete de bruyn

disband: an exhibition coming to Melbourne!

well peeps i have some exciting news - remember that rad exhibition DIsband presented by the super talented and lovely due Angela of Leeloo and Renee- Anne that I was part of back in May? Well its coming to Melbourne at the end of August. Exciting right? You bet!

Even more exciting (and scary) is that in addition to 3 brand spanking new artworks, I am also helping to gather all the goodies to go into the installation. Yes, as my family and friends have pointed out I am a crazy woman. 

This is actually my first exhibition ever in Melbourne so it is doubly exciting to be exhibiting in my hometown so my peeps will actually believe that I do this stuff! Obviously it will be super fun so if you are in Melbourne please come along to opening night on the 26th August and tell all your friends to come too, it should be a fun night indeed. For more information about the opening check out the facebook event  

And in the mean time here is a little sneak peek of one of my new artworks - I'm going for a slightly different more collaged style for these pieces so fingers crossed they turn out how I l hoped. I will share some more shots over the next few weeks!

rainy days

sweet ignorance

beneath what you see 

living in melbourne i see my fair share of rainy days, well gloomy finger freezing days anyway. and how does one occupy themselves in this completely lame weather? well, i like to stay inside and drinks cups of tea by the jug full (no jokes - 8 cups today and counting.) oh and sometimes i make pretty things. like the pieces above i just finished for the rainy days exhibition taking place down in Tassie starting July 14 at Cube Art & Design. The are tiny - 10x10cm in fact - and are a little bit of collage, little bit of drawing and a little bit of pastel too. I wish I could go down for opening night but alas I am frozen to my chair. I wish I was kidding

But if you happen to find yourself in fair Tassie, stop by and take a look and even pick up these little gems if you like. 

rainy days exhibition  - cube art + design - Shop 8, Salamanca Arts Centre 77 Salamanca Place Hobart

opening 14 july - 27 july 

i love lists

Do you ever have those times where you kind of swamp yourself with your own expectations? Well I do, all the time it seems.I blame my love of list making. Anyway, my point is (and there is a point) I am currently working through my list which includes lots of new designs, even some new products (brooches anyone?!) and a big shop update which hopefully will be done by the end of the week. 

So until I actually can show you something more finished than my list I thought you might like to listen to my new fave dreamy song by Matt Corby

paris i love you

my director at work asked me to make something for him today for his wife's birthday. he is planning on taking her to paris later in the year (i know - so jealous). and he is going to surprise her with this news and wanted a sweet card to do so. so being the hopeless romantic i am, this is what i made. i was going for subtle & chic and a little bit wistful. i think i might make a few more like this, i love collage as much as i imagine i would love paris