'Buy Nothing New Month' with the Salvos

Wow, I can't beleive it is going to be October tomorrow!  On the one hand I can't wait as it means we'll start to get warm sunny days and summer is finally on it's way, on the other hand I'm a bit freaked out we are coming to the end of 2010 already.  Where is this year going?!....

But maybe the best thing about October is this great inititive by The Salvos who are running a campaign throughout the month of October called Buy Nothing New Month - and I think its a great idea!

The idea isn't to not to buy anything for a month - but anything that isn't a necessity perhaps consider swapping, buying second-hand, or hunting down at your local garage sale instead.  The campaign is about getting people to think about sustainable shopping, the overall life-cycle of products, the impact shopping for 'stuff' has on the environment - and all the while helping to save a few $$$ by buying second-hand!  (What's not to love about that!!)

We all consume a huge amount of 'stuff', and as the Buy Nothing New Month website states 

 'Consumption today often involves buying things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like!'

With this in mind, the campaign is aimed to get us to spend our money more thoughtfully, to think a little more carefully about the purchases we make and why, and to understand the impact our desire to consume is having on our environment.

I definitely don't need another excuse to head to the local Salvo's for my next purchase - so I'll probably see you there!!

Head over to Buy Nothing New Month for more info....

What a surprise!.....

.....to open up the pages of the Herald Sun magazine on saturday and see my house starting back at me!!  It was very unexpected and a big surprise.

The Herald Sun are doing a great series of peoples homes in their Saturday magazine - often featuring local creative peoples homes and interior spaces.  I was interviewed a couple of months ago so I knew it would eventually be in the magazine - but I just didn't know when!

Sorry about the poor quality pictures which I've scanned in from the magazine....

The article was essentially about our house renovation - which wasn't supposed to be a renovation only our re-stumping caused complete chaos to the house and we ended up with a lot more work than expected!  I can just about look back and laugh about the experience without having a meltdown.

A big thanks to the Herald Sun for featuring my little house and making it look so lovely in the pictures - and it's definitely worth checking out their Saturday magazine if, like me, you like to have a sneek-peak into other peoples homes and interiors!

Me Old China - new cut plates

I had a bit of a rubbish week last week, and I was feeling a bit down in the dumps about my work and what I'm doing..... or rather what I'm not doing!  It resulted in a pretty un-productive week and I just couldn't find the enthusiasm to do very much at all. 

So, I thought I'd start the week off on a more positive vibe and finally get round to posting about the latest collection of Me Old China 'Polly Put The Kettle On' wall plates.

 

As usual the plates are all lovingly rescued from second-hand shops and markets - saved from a life of dusty shelves to be re-born as 'traditional' wall plates, with a quirky twist. 

Each plate features cut-out shapes of old-fashioned teapots, kettles, cuttlery and cups from the plate centres - and this new collection also trials 'feed me' and a 'dinner' plate!    

I'm having trouble finding suitable packaging for the plates though....  I need a box that is the size of a dinner plate, is strong and sturdy to take the weight of the plates, and is suitable to put in the post.  Plus, I only need a small quanity of boxes because the plates aren't mass-produced so I only make a few at a time. 

In true style I've managed to find a product where there are no box sizes for this shape, size or weight  - so I might have to make my own boxes from recycled fruit and veg packaging!  Not very professional I guess, but needs must!

These plates and others are all available from the Me Old China shop. 

Spring time gardening

Spring is finally here and it's time to start thinking about getting out into the garden!  It's been a long winter and I can't wait for some bright sunny days so I can go out and potter in the garden.  I'm definitely more of a 'potterer' than a gardener..... I don't ever have a grand plan for the garden, but just let it change and evolve depending on plants I buy, plants that die and random pots or containers I find that I think will make cute planters.

So, Spring got me thinking about one of my favourite garden books 'Planted Junk - Gardening with recycled containers' by Adam Caplin.    It's a fabulous book aimed at inspiring the use of found objects and unexpected containers for garden planting.

The book is full of great ideas for finding different objects to use as garden containers and practical advise on matching suitable plants for certain pots - but best of all it's getting people to think creatively about recycling.  Finding planters for the garden doesn't have to be expensive - scour your local tip shop, second-hand shop and hard-rubbish day and put some throw-away items to good use!

It's a lovely book to flick through and inspire your next gardening project.

I love the use of brightly coloured cardboard boxes, woven bags - and even soy milk containers!

The San Pellegrino drink cans are ideal for smaller plants, and I just LOVE the use of retro patterened enamel, ceramic and tin cannisters.  Very cute!

Used tomato tins and even old childrens toys have been transformed into colourful garden accessories

I've blogged about my little garden before here and how I love to plant with unusual containers.  Above I've planted succulents and aloe plants into old teapots, and I also found some terracotta pipes at a salvage yard which I've used to plant two differett types of succulents.    

I'm always on the look out for old kitchen-related pots to use for planting, last year I found some tin teapots and a fab yellow saucepan!

Following on with the kitchen theme I've used old metal saucepans and a colander - and I've even got some plants housed in woks and steamers in a different part of the garden!

Planted Junk is available on-line here:

Painting my second-hand crockery

A while ago I started to paint some of my collection of found second-hand  vintage and retro crockery.  It's taken a while and I've not painted everything (far too many things to paint all of them!) but I've made a start at least.

I'd love to do something with the illustrations and maybe create some designs featuring the artwork - but for now it's just been fun to get the coffee pots, cups and plates out and paint some of the beautiful colours and patterns featured on the old pieces.

I thought I'd share some of the painting in progress and some of the finished artwork.....

All the illustrations were painted in watercolours; I only ever use Winsor & Newton watercolour paints (the tubes) and I personally prefer painting onto a 'cold-pressed' watercolour paper which has a textured surface, rather than painting onto a smooth 'hot-pressed paper'.  I used Arches medium 300gsm 100% cotton paper.

There is some good information about different watercolour papers on the Winsor & Newton website here: 

I always start by quickly sketching the object, and putting in some rough detail.  I then start to paint by building up layers of 'washes' of colour to get the basic outline, shape and shadows of the object.  When I'm happy with the overall body and shape of the mug or plate for example,  I'll move on to concentrate on the actual pattern.  Depending on whether I want a detailed or washy effect will depend on whether I allow the paint to dry, or work wet-on-wet.  If I allow the paint to dry in-between layers I can build up more detail, whereas wet-on-wet will give a more washy and free-flowing finished effect with less detail.      

Indigo Junction and Retro wallpaper

It's been a few weeks since I last managed a blog post as I've been busy, busy, busy with freelance work..... however, I managed to find time to spend some of my hard-earned income on some fabulous retro wallpaper from Indigo Junction!

Indigo Juntion is in East Brunswick in Melbourne and they specialise in vintage and retro furniture and collectibles.  Some of the items can be pretty pricey - but they select great pieces which are always in very good condition.  I made the fatal mistake of wandering in the other week whilst I was waiting to cross the road - and came out with two rolls of original french retro-styled wallpaper!!

I already had a couple of rolls of quite 'out there' retro wallpaper, so thought I'd add to my small collection and bought a roll of cute floral and a classic geo design.  The designs are great as sources of inspiration - and one day I hope to use them as intended and actually be brave enough to put them on a wall somewhere....

Treasured op-shop finds

I'm back working in-house for a few weeks for the textile company I design for, and it's great to visit some op-shops during my lunch break that I don't normally get the chance to visit!  I often go with a view to check out some of the clothing racks......but I'm always so easily distracted by the ceramics and homeware items.  How can one resist such  fabulous colours and patterns?!.....

I love it when I unexpectedly buy in colours - first came the retro orange bread-bin, and then the matching set of orange floral Staffordshire Potteries cups and saucers (on the left) and then the Ridgway 'Harvest Gold' yellow and orange floral cups and saucers. 

The vintage red rose floral plate didn't really fit in with the orange retro theme - but was just too lovely to leave on the dusty shelf.  I also found this old linen tea-towel showing off the 'birds of Fiji' and there was something quite appealing about this too!