Vintage sewing tin

When I was at Inglewood several months ago, I bought this rather lovely vintage biscuit tin.  I was really taken by the oblong shape of the tin with its decorative geometric border, the sweet colour palette and the fairytale style triptych on the lid. 

The tin which originally housed Nestle's 'High Class "Miniature" Chocolate Assortment', has just been sitting on a shelf looking pretty for a while, but over the weekend I decided it would be perfect as a sewing tin!  So, I decanted all my sewing bits and pieces into the tin, and it's great I've found a use for it at last. 

Kitchen Table Memoirs - Illustrations

Pencil sketches and watercolour artworks for the Kitchen Table Memoirs book illustrations

 

A few weeks ago I blogged about a new book called Kitchen Table Memoirs, where I had the fantastic opportunity to illustrate the front and back cover for the book.  I thought I'd include some of the illustrations I produced for the book, and how I approached the project.

After being briefed by the publishing company and given a list of suggested objects for the cover, I initially produced some preliminary pencil sketches to show my interpretation of the objects and the vintage-esque feel.

Once the initial sketches were approved, I moved onto painting them using Watercolours and Arches Watercolour paper in a Medium finish, 300 gsm weight.  This is my preferred paper to paint onto - I like having a slight 'tooth' to the paper, and the Medium finish is perfect for being not too smooth nor not too rough.  I stretched the sheets of paper onto board so they wouldn't buckle, and sketched out the objects lightly in pencil before painting them.

The finished painted artworks were scanned into Photoshop at a high resolution, where I could tweak the odd colour and clean up the images.  Each individual painted object was then placed into Illustrator, allowing me to create and assemble different layout options for the front and back cover.

This was a great commissioned project to work on, and it was very exciting to see the finished illustrations on the front cover of a book :)

The colour of Autumn



It's been stunning around Kyneton and the Macedon Ranges over the last few weeks, with Autumn turning green leaves into claret and golden hues.  It's been lovely to get out for walks in the Botanic Gardens and make the most of the last rays of warm sunshine.  Already in the short space of time since I took these photographs, the leaves are falling off the tree's revealing bare branches in preparation for winter and the colder months ahead.    

 

Mr J loves helping to rake up the fallen leaves and put them into his wheelbarrow - or better still to just jump and play in them!   

Market day

This Saturday was market day in Kyneton.  It's one of my favourite days and a lovely way to kick-start the weekend, with a coffee (OK and a muffin) from a local cafe, followed by a stroll around the market.

The farmers market is held once a month and is full of lots of beautiful local produce, with a great selection of fruit, vegetables, olive oils, home-made dips, preserves, jams, freshly baked breads, farm eggs, beer, wine, chooks and plants.  The sellers at the market vary depending what is in season, but you always know it's locally made and produced.

The market has also spread further along Piper Street and into the local church, to incorporate the Makers Market.  Hand-made products and local arts and crafts are on offer, including stationary, gift cards, children's clothing, hats, knitted items, wooden toys, clothing and plants.

The fruit and veg looked particularly colourful against the Autumn leaf backdrop, and with my basket of goodies I've made a vegetable curry and a delicious vegetable and barley soup - yum!

Hand-made DIY indoor tent

It's been a while since I last had my sewing machine out, but a few weeks ago I came across some instructions for making a DIY A-frame tent.  It looked easy enough, and with winter just around the corner I thought it would be fun for Mr J to have a little indoor tent to play and hide in.

I found some second-hand fabric on Etsy (I bought a children's double bed sheet) and set about turning it into the tent.  There are some very glamorous kids indoor tents in the market place, but I thought a hand-made one would be just as fun - and little Mr J won't mind if it's not 100% perfect.

It's really easy to change and update the fabric as it isn't permanently attached to the wooden supports, and it also folds up flat for storage - handy!  I've updated the tent since I took these pictures, by punching eyelets into the fabric and adding ribbon to tie the ends of the fabric to the wooden supports - cute! 

The super-easy DIY tent instructions are found here on Cakies blog and there are also some rather cute play tents and teepee's for inspiration here on Etsy.

A lovely Autumn weekend

'Run the Rock' at Hanging Rock - with the local Kangaroos and a

hot chocolate being the star attraction

The Teddy Bears Picnic at the Kyneton Botanic Gardens

 

We had a lovely weekend last weekend with such perfect weather for Autumn.  The weekend kicked off on Saturday morning with Mr B doing a 10km fun run at Hanging Rock, raising money for Cancer Council Victoria.  The star attractions (other than the super-fit runners.....of which I certainly wasn't one of them!) was one of the local kangaroos clearly wanting to take part in the event, and best of all a hot chocolate to take away the early morning chill.

 

Then on Sunday we had the Teddy Bears Picnic, held amongst the trees and fallen leaves in the Kyneton Botanic Gardens.  It was great fun seeing all the children running around with their favourite teddy bears, dancing to the band, throwing leaves and taking part in games.  It was a beautiful setting in the botanic gardens, surrounded by the statuesque trees with their glorious coloured Autumnal leaves.   

Mixies

 'Mixies' card game from the mid 1950's

 

     Mixies colourful characters in thier 'correct' bodies (above) or a little mixed up (below)

I've been collecting a few second-hand and vintage children's bits and pieces recently, and one of my recent purchases is this fantastic set of 'Mixies' playing cards.  The cards are from about 1956 and is a puzzle-style card game where you can 'mix colourful heads, bodies and legs to make thousands of the zaniest, funniest circus figures!'

I'm loving the crazy circus theme, and of course the fabulous 1950's graphic-style stylised illustrations.  The cards are reminiscent of a non-digital era - pre-computer games, i-pads, Nintendo's, Wii and Angry Birds!      

Kitchen Table Memoirs

        'Kitchen Table Memoirs' book featuring my watercolour vintage-esque illustrations

I've been very excited about a project I've been working on over the last few months, and I can finally reveal what I've been working on...... my first commission for a book illustration!

The book is called 'Kitchen Table Memoirs' and features my vintage-style kitchenalia illustrations on the front and back cover. The book, published by HarperCollins, features stories and shared personal memories by various Australian writers and foodies, including Helen Garner, Valli Little, Stefano De Pieri and Denise Scott.

'Whether it is oak, pine, Laminex, varnished, recycled or modernist glass - in the domestic geography of our daily lives, the kitchen table is a constant. A silent witness to sustenance and solace, deliberation and argument, consolation and celebration. What other piece of furniture has witnessed so much and revealed so little?'

It's been a real treat for me to work on a book illustration, and of course the kitchen-themed subject matter was right up my alley! I loved creating and painting all the vintage style motifs for the book jacket, and working with HarperCollins to create the design for the final cover.

Kitchen Table Memoirs also supports a great charity, with a percentage of royalties from each book being donated to Foodbank - Australia's largest food relief agency. So, with Mother's Day coming up this book is an ideal gift, whilst also helping to put food on other people's tables.

Vintage teacup trio's

 

I'm loving this Autumn weather we're having, cool mornings and evenings but with beautiful warm sunny days. The tree's and shrubbery here in Kyneton is changing and every evening the garden is full of fallen crunchy leaves.  All around the town green leaves are changing daily into golden yellows and firey reds.

The change of seasons reminded me of these vintage teacup trio's I picked up a while ago from our local Salvo's.  They have an Autumnal air to them with decorative red roses, deep teal leaves, and bronzed leaf patterns.  Perfect for drinking endless cups of earl-grey tea.          

Easter weekend

Mr J enjoys a babycino at The Collingwood Children's Farm Cafe

 

 

 Architectural details of Abbotsford Convent

We've just enjoyed a lovely Easter long weekend, with one of the days spent visiting the Collingwood Children's Farm.  I've been to the farm once or twice before, but it is certainly a very different experience visiting the farm through the eyes of a toddler.

Our 20 month old beautiful boy was just so excited to see chooks running around, cows being milked, farm cats lazing about, sheep shading under tree's and happy to be stroked prodded, guinea pigs to pet, and goats to be fed.  Combine this with lots of space to run around, pigeons to chase AND a babycino and muffin at The Farm Cafe - and he was one happy little boy.

Abbotsford Convent is right next door and is always worth a visit to admire its imposing structure.  The Children's Farm and Convent are fabulous places to visit, and a perfect mini escape for a few hours.  They feel a million miles from the city, despite being just a few kms from the heart of Melbourne town.

Penguin vintage classics wallpaper

I received my latest copy of UK Elle Decoration magazine (my most favourite magazine ever) and inside I spied this fabulous new wallpaper by Osborne and Little.

Osborne & Little have teamed up with Penguin to produce this vintage classics 'Library' wallpaper - the collage style design features literary classics by Orwell, the Bronte sisters and DH Lawrence.  Love, love, love!!

Update:  This wallpaper reminds me of the fabulous papered door at Lark, made from collaged vintage 'Ladybird books'.  (see original post here) Such a cute idea!    

  

Animal Farm

 'Animal Farm' children's bedlinen design

The last time I sat down to write a blog post it was the end of summer, and it was hot.  And now in a few short weeks Autumn has well and truly arrived here in Kyneton.  The leaves are turning yellow and dropping from the tree's, mornings are cooler, and my hoodie has made it out from the back of the wardrobe for snuggly evening comfort.

I've been flat out working on some freelance projects, and overseas visitors have also arrived to visit us the grandson, so we have been out-and-about visiting local shops and cafes, markets, and seeing the sights of the Macedon Ranges. 

At one local market we visited, a lady was selling some children's clothes and toys that her son had grown out of.  As I walked passed I spotted some fabric I recognised - it was a children's bedlinen design I created about 3 years ago.  The design is called 'Animal Farm' and not surprisingly given the title, depicts some little farm animals.....cows, sheep, a hen and her chicks, a doggy, cat, duck and some piggies! 

I picked the quilt cover up for little Mr J, I'm not sure whether to save it for when he's a little older and in a big bed, or make him something out of the fabric.  Either way, it's nice for me to have one of my designs that I can use for him - and he might think he has a clever mummy one day!