Inspiration in more ways than one...

Happy weekend everyone!

Oh how I WAIT for these nowadays!Why you may ask? Well,2 weeks ago I started working full-time and after 4 years of uni/part-time its a BIG change!I'm still getting used to it and my mind,body and soul is slowly adjusting to early starts and 8 hous of work a day!

So that brings me back to the weekend!Yay!This is my first weekend afer starting work where I've actually gotten my act together and attemped something creative.

One of my to-do's for the year includes NOT missing out on doing fun creative stuff (because even though I work in design its not always about drawing and painting...is it?)

So,I promised myself I'd still do all the things I love such as-drawing,painting,getting messy with ink,gouache,spray adhesive etc.etc...

First up : re-vamp inspiration board

Secondly : clean out workspace (always very satisfying)

Thirdly: Inspiration need not always be a pretty picture it could also be something like this...

Be at Peace

A prayer by St. Frances de Sales
Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;

Rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise,

God, Whose very own you are,will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,God will carry you in His arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;

the same understanding Father who cares for you today

will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination

Time waits for no-one!!!!

I know I'm probably the last person in blogland to post my version of " the relfection on the past year" but here it is anyway...short and sweet :)

2010 = lots of learning , lots of joys , lots of sorrow , mistakes made , lessons learnt , love shared , love lost , new opportunities and much to be thankful for ...

2011 = BRING IT ON. Its going to be life changing in more ways than one...and cheers to making each day count :)


Happy NewYear everyone !!!

My new 2011 frankie journal :) love it...do you have one?

A little bit of cheer...

Nothing much today,just recovering from a marathon removal of my four wisdom teeth!!!So thought I'd cheer myself up with a blog post and some pretty photos of our tree!

We went for an ALL GOLD ornament collection for the tree this year:)

This pattern reminds me of chritmas trees!?!?!

I ordered some of it to be printed onto fabric,still waiting(very impatiently)for it to arrive in the mail...

In the meantime....

Some inspiration from marth stewart...

Thinking of doing a set of embroidery designs maybe of native ozi flora?birds...?

Also,I haven't said this in a while...but please leave comments if n when you stumble upon some of my rambles..I really do love reading them :)

The makeover.

The room...

A slightly wonky shot of the feature wall...
On the wall...

Gingko decals - Thanks Lara from Inkandspindle

Hand screen printed artwork - Experiments by your truly onto 300gsm watercolourpaper using textile dyes!It worked!

Bedhead - is just a large canvas bought for around $30 bucks from a place near me called " sam's warehouse". The plan is to layer it with some soft waddding and cover with some neutral fabric so its makes a nice and comfy head rest.

Splurged on some fancy-ish new curtains from good'ol spotlight.Found a colour that matched the wall perfectly.Also bought some matching tie-backs.

Thanks to dad for helping me install the new curtain rod and the tie-back hooks!

With the curtains closed-its like night during the day!Perfect for lazy summer afternoon siestas!

On the wall...

Handprinted artwork by moi...its an image of one of my favorite cathedrals in India

Just a simple mount card cut of of the letter T (from leftover scraps from uni projects!)

On the bedside table...

(managed to get two on special for $40.00 from my local " Warehouse")

Ipod/Radio Dock - featured with my acid green nano...

Assorted journals - one of them handmade/handbound from a little town called pondicherry in India

As blogged before...

Sunny yellow cushion - Handprinted scraps I've collected over the years and embroidery done to match the gingko leaves on the wall.Cool hey?

On the other bedside table...

My most favorite piece...

The poem was written for me by my sister Terryna and was a chrsitmas present from a few years ago.

Also in the picture our "dolly sister" - mine's the little one - LUCY and my sister called hers JULIE ! lol !

So far so good and I'm pretty pleased with how the room's looking :) I'm still on the hunt for some good fabric to cover the bedhead and I'm yet to put my new quilt cover on and I'mitching to get some euro pillows for the bed!

I'll put some photos up once I've done them.Also might put up a breakdown of how much it cost me.I'm just a student with a regualr part=time job so I had to work within quite a tight budget!

In the meantime thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed the process!yay!

Crafty summer...

Its funny,I never really saw myself as much of a crafter or maker but turns out I actually love the therapeutic effects of taking the time out to make something beautiful for yourself or for a loved one and its EVEN MORE exciting when you use your own designed and handprinted fabric!

So I present...

Featuring one of my favorite colours,some treasured handprinted bits and pieces AND some simple embroidery...a cute cushion for my NEW room :)

Also... Thanks to Jhonna's ruby doll freebie pattern I made ...

MY VERY OWN "LUCY "DOLL !

The fun part - choosing what fabrics to use!

Cute little embroidered face :)

Lucy and the cushion - looking good together don't you think?

*love*

last few days of print...

A few shots of the print process for my final project for the year.My challenge was to transalate a handpainted border design(see below) into a seamless repeat pattern and handprint a 2.5m length of fabric.
Technically the repeat was quite easy to do but the actual printing of it took a long time.I three screens to work with and about 8 colours in my design.Normally in industry you'll have one screen per colour!
So after a LOT of testing and failing and trying again and finally succeeding I used a combination of polychromatic printing (which is handpainting the screen using the dyes first and then printing with a clear paste to push the dye into the fabric) and direct screen printing to acheive a fairly good trnasaltion of my original design!The textile peeps reading this will feel my pain but for any non-textile geeks,hope you enjoy the photos!



Original handpainted design


One of the three screens,ready for printing


The painting begins.Handpainting using reactive dyes into the exposed part of the silk screen

Trying to achieve a watercolour effect through handpainting.VERY TIME CONSUMING!

And finally...the print onto ( 100% gorgeous silk habotai)

A view of the repeating design.I had to wash out my screen and re-paint after each print.Phew!exhausting but immesley satisfying.I absolutely LOVE what I do.

The background ombre on the fabric was also handpainted.Getting the colour gradation right was challenge #101!

Room renovation continued...

Remember the bedroom renovation that I mentioned earlyier this year?Well finally I've got the time to post up a few shots of the before and afters!


Inspiration from the wonderful realliving magazine!

THE WALL! The colour - Wattly paints,midnight seas (BEA U-TIFUL)

THE TOOLS FOR THE TRADE!

Amateur in action!

MORE IN THE NEXT POST ... Stay tuned!