Is anyone else obsessed with white home wares? I don’t know what it is, but I always come back to anything in perfect, stark white. Porcelain you say? I’m so there! If only my actual home were all white. Unfortunately, my housemates aren’t so keen on me spray painting all of our existing furniture. Go figure?
ONE / Like a delicate porcelain Christmas bauble, this bud vase from Tokyo Craft Studio is magical.
TWO / Joana Rutter‘s awesome minimalist Sterling Silver Pointer earrings will keep you going in the right direction!
THREE / I am totally crushing on everything in Chelsea Adams‘ store! Did someone say porcelain Dreamcatcher?
FOUR / I’m giddy about the clean lines and perfect folds on the Paper Sculptures made by The Vintage Vogue.
My local craft store had a bunch of little boxes marked down after a toddler with a marker rampaged through their gift wrapping aisle. A bargain for sure, but I obviously needed to make them a little more presentable before using them.
The easiest way to freshen up cardboard boxes is to cover them with some paper and washi tape. Its super quick and you can make a whole set of matching boxes without having to go out and purchase new ones when you already have perfectly good boxes in your home.
Head over to Drifter & The Gypsy to see the full instructions !
LINE ONE / These coins are so brilliant, I wish that normal currency were as colourful and fun as these painted pieces! “Tales You Lose” was conceived on Andre Levy’s (a.k.a. @zhion) Instagram, but now you can find all the pieces on his tumblr page.
LINE TWO / Kokeshi matches are so adorable that they almost keep you from wanting to use them! Each has a teeny little face, matching that of the box. I want a whole set of them - but then what would I do with them if I can’t light them?!
LINE THREE / While on one of my tumblr tangents I came across 19 year old Liz’s awesome collection of Tilt Shift photos. Made from stills from movies and TV shows like Supernatural, Sherlock and The Avengers, the tilt shift affect makes them look like perfect little models of towns.
LINE FOUR / American artist Amy Santoferraro creates quirky bonsai-esqe scenes assembled from thrift shopped bits n’ pieces. Growing bonsai’s seems hard, but with one of these, you would never have to worry about killing the poor plant!
You know what tomorrow is right? Only one of the best days of the year: Talk Like Pirate Day! (Yes - that’s a real thing! Google it if you don’t believe me!) I love Talk Like a Pirate Day, I use it to prepare for my birthday (which is the following day) by speaking only in Pirate slang all day. To make things even better, I’m unemployed this year, which means that I can deck myself out in a pirate costume if I so desire. No boring bosses to tell me I have to wear ‘corporate attire’…. psssh. Bosses. I’ll show them!
ONE /The first thing any self respecting Pirate is going to need is a good Compass; how else are you going to find that pirate booty?
TWO / Don’t let this awesome surprise Skull Mug scare you when the rum is finally gone (what kind of pirate is scared of skulls anyway?)
THREE / Speaking of skulls, isn’t this Skull Art piece is a little classier than your average Pirate Flag?
FOUR / Pirating is hard work, so how about a beautiful Vintage Deck Chair for relaxing on the job? You can recline in the sun while drinking out of your Skull Mug.
ONE / Oh. My God. Is it a coffee table birdcage or is it a bird cage coffee table? I’m not entirely sure, but either way I am SO smitten with the idea from Gregory Lafforest. Sure, you would have to clean it out every other day to keep it this beautiful, but c’mon - like you wouldn’t feel like a disney princess with little birds serenading you while you enjoyed your coffee.
TWO / When I was a child, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with pottery. I would make little clay animals kind of like these puppies by Berlin / Stockholm based artist Eleonor Boström. I love the quirky and raw finish on each piece, it invokes warm memories of my messy, clay filled, afternoons of my childhood.
THREE / It’s a well known fact that all photos look better in black and white, but French photographer Benoit Courti has taken this concept to a whole new level. The striking contrast between the bold light and dark in each image. You can follow his stunning photo series on Flickr, Tumblr, and on his website, definitely worth a close look!
FOUR / Wintervacht is small Dutch company that makes coats from old woolen blankets; how great is that?! I bet each coat is so lovely and cozy, like someone had pre-worn each one in for you before you purchased it.
I can’t believe it’s that time of year again already! My birthday is almost upon me and I am so not ready for it! You might remember from previous years, that I am a birthday lover. Even though I don’t love the getting older part, I do enjoy the spending time with friends and family- and if that comes with some gifts, well, I’m pretty okay with that too!
ONE / There is something just so chic and classic about this Silk Moth Scarf from FeverFew. I love that, depending on how you wear it, you get a totally different look and feel from what parts of the pattern are showing.
TWO / Even though this Vintage Buffalo Nickel Necklace from Rose & Anchor features vintage currency from another country, I am so smitten with the buffalo that doesn’t seem to matter to me. Simple and beautiful.
THREE / If we’re going to be honest, this Small Tabletop Forest probably isn’t my first pick from 2 of 2 Good’s collection (but it did look the nicest within this collection) - but, really, I am so in love with all of the whimsical houses, hand-carved forests and little geometric structures that I would be positively giddy to receive any one!
FOUR / We have a non-working fireplace in our house which I totally love (after coming from a tropical climate it’s still a novelty to have a fireplace) but a little part of me does wish that it actually worked. Just think how sweet it would be to have one of the 8-Bit Fireplace Artworks (by James Bit) in lieu of a real fire. Added Bonus: I’d never have to chop firewood!
Did you know that there are approximately 554 million Twitter user accounts are belting out an estimated 58 million tweets into the world every day! That’s a lot of people talking about what they had for lunch and last nights episode of Dancing with the Stars! Food and TV gossip aside, Twitter is often underestimated in how valuable it can be, hell, I did it myself! Before I started using Twitter, I didn’t really understand the appeal. I was pushed (kicking and screaming) into creating an account for this blog, but let me tell you, I never looked back!
It’s so important (and rewarding) to foster good relationships online. Twitter gives your readers/customers a way to connect with you like never before. It gives your brand a personal voice that people can engage with on a daily basis, whether they are speaking with you directly, or just reading your tweets. And the best part is; it’s so easy to use! I mean, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how to tweet or re-tweet, BUT I do have a few tricks I picked up in my travels….
1. Keyboard Shortcuts: First of all, did you know that there are keyboard shortcuts that you can use to get around at lightening speeds? Instead of clicking around with your mouse, you can operate Twitter by using your keyboard. Type a question mark when on the Twitter website to bring up a window with a list of the available keyboard commands. There are around 20 handy shortcuts for you to use, including “t” to retweet a post, or “g p” to go to your profile page, and my personal favourite - “.” to refresh your feed.
As an added bonus, there are a 2 commands not listed in the pop up list; Typing “s p” will bring up a search box that will only search for only tweets that include photos and typing “s v” will perform a similar search, this time including only tweets with videos.
2. Find Photos via Hashtags: You’ve probably noticed that Twitter creates a photo gallery for all your uploaded images. Another site, Hashalbum, groups Twitter users’ images into albums according to on any hashtags included in tweet. For example, hashalbum.com/icecream groups any images whose URLs were posted to Twitter with the hashtag #icecream. A nifty thing if you’re looking for pictures under a certain keyword!
3. Refine Your Searches: Twitter’s default search tool mostly returns tweets with that keyword from the last few hours, which often means that you are overloaded with too many results. If you are trying to find a specific tweet, take advantage of Twitter’s advanced search page where you can refine your search parameters, like specific usernames or hashtags or even place of origin.
If you need to get even more specific, try the website Topsy which indexes Twitter updates with additional information all of which can searched down to certain date ranges, filtering out specific keywords to find. For example, you can look for tweets that include the word “Direction” but excludes the word “One” - helpful to get rid of all the ‘Directioner’ tweets when you just want to know the best way to get to Starbucks…
4. Use Twitter Via Text: Of course, you have the Free Twitter app for your smartphone, meaning that you can update on the go. However, for those of you who are still rocking an old school Nokia, did you know you can also use Twitter through Text Messages?
Just create an account via text message by sending the word START to your Twitter ‘shortcode’. Shortcodes are phone numbers that are used by Twitter to help you access account via text. Different countries use different codes so check this list of selected carriers to find the right shortcode. Once set up you can text message your Tweet to your respective code/number and it will post to your Twitter profile. Easy!
5. Connect & Discover: Don’t forget about the two buttons that appear next to the Home button atop the page: ‘Connect’ and ‘Discover’. Connect will show you everyone who is interacting with you on the network - who has recently followed you, mentioned you, retweeted your posts or added one to their Favorites list. Discover is more a list of ‘suggested posts’ generated from your location, who you follow and what current topics. Kind of like how Facebook sorts your feed by ‘Top Stories’ in an attempt to guess which updates you most likely want to read. Discover can be a little hit and miss for this reason, but can also provide great finds here and there, so it’s worth not dismissing.
Speaking of Facebook, you can of course cross-post your tweets to your Facebook Wall on Facebook using Twitter Apps (as discussed in this post) If you cross post a lot, many apps have the option to assign a hashtag command, so that anytime you end a Tweet with #fb, the tweet will also be posted to your Facebook page.
LINE ONE / Ahh this is awesome! Illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks released a series of wonderful drawings where she illustrates the face and her 4-year-old daughter adds the body, with creative results.
LINE TWO / Ummm… hello there shiny lovelies! These Balenciaga leggings kind of look like sexy transformer legs and I’m totally into it! But at US$100,000 a pair, I think I’ll have to hope for some cheap re-productions!
LINE THREE / Brighton-based photographer, Joseph Ford joined forces with art director Stephanie Buisseret and stylist Mario Faundez and came up with this amazing photo series pairing aerial landscape photography and the detailed fashion photos creating a seamless single picture. These really have to be seen in their entirety to appreciate the full impact!
LINE FOUR / Titled ‘Segundas Pieles‘ (Second Skins), this series of animals by Miguel Vallinas takes the ol’ animals in clothes idea and adds a little extra something. Each animal’s styling and posture perfectly portrays a whole personality in a way I haven’t seen before. In short, I love them!
We all need a ‘go to’ recipe for unexpected sugar related emergencies. Something you can whip up with a moments notice. A quick glance over the recipe archives will show that I obviously have a few of these types of recipes up my sleeve, however, I would be remiss if I didn’t share this one with you.
This apple tart recipe really does take about 15 minutes to make and everything you need to make them can generally be found in your kitchen. Because the mixture is lovely and buttery, I always choose the double up the layers of puff-pastry to make sure you get the ultimate amount of flakey crunch in each tart. The finished product isn’t too rich, but sweet and filling enough to satisfy any unexpected guests (or even just a late night rumbly tummy)
What You Need:
2 red apples
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
80g of butter
3 - 4 sheets of pre-prepared puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
Icing sugar to serve
What You Do:
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius. Halve and core your apples and slice into thin pieces.
2. Place the apple slices, sugar, cinnamon and butter (melted) in a small bowl and mix to combine.
3. Take 1 sheet of puff pastry and fold in half, pressing down so that there are no air bubbles. Repeat with the remaining sheets Score a boarder around the sides about 1cm from the edge.
4. Layer with the apple slices along the inside the board you scored, making sure the whole area is covered. Drizzle over any left over butter mixture over the apples. Brush the pastry with the egg.
5. Transfer each apple tart onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and cook for 10–15 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffed.
6. Remove from the oven and top with a light layer of icing sugar. Serve immediately. Also goes brilliantly with whipped cream or ice-cream.
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