Charley Harper

I came across some of Charley Harper's work recently when I was looking through some design books and fell in love with the bright and colourful, stylized illustrations of his.As a wildlife artist, the majority of hiswork is of animals and in particular birds.

I love the feeling of his work - it's all so playful and young, it's no wonder he illustrated a little golden book as well as other children's books.What I find fascinating is, the majority of his work is from the 60's when he was at the height of his career as an illustrator, his work seems kind of timeless to me in a way - It still seems so modern almost 50 years on which is a triumph for any designer. Some pieces have that retro feel with the patterns in those mustard and browns tones but then others are so bright, geometric and modern... there's just so much there to look at. I love looking at the way he's composed his pictures in shapes, it kind of fascinates me.

When asked to describe his style of illustrating his response was;

"When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures."

I love that and I think it so sums his work up in those few words!

It's got me thinking I need to get my little paws on some of his books... In the meantime i'll just enjoy his website.

Head on over to www.charleyharperprints.com to have a look at some of his other pieces (with some pieces up for sale which i might also add), I would love to post all of my favourites up but the list grew far too long!

Enjoy!

Danielle xx

Designasaurus

I love, love, love Australian jewellery brand Dinosaur Designs!

Cutting edge, eclectic, colourful, creative and funky they've got it nailed!

I think what I like most about their pieces are the slight imperfections and lack of straight lines - don't get me wrong though, their pieces are still highly beautiful and desirable but they've got that handcrafted almost child like appeal to them!

Dinosaur Designs stand alone with their highly unique resin pieces, they were amongst the first to play with this new material in terms of jewellery design and it led them to create endless colour combinations, shapes,designs and textures.

Dinosaur Designs right from the beginning gained the reputation for one of a kind, statement and ornate jewellery and still to this day has this distinct reputation to their credit.

Dinosaur Designs began solely in designing / making jewellery in 1986 and by 1990 they were swiftly moving into homeware pieces after finding that there was not much in the current market place to satisfy their wild design aesthetic. Serving spoons, one of a kind serving bowls and cups just to name a few of their bits and pieces. This move into homewares helped to expanded their clientele and spread the Dinosaur Designs image and message.

Dinosaur Designs is a now well established Australian and international brand with stores open in New York, as well as exporting to more than 20 countries worldwide.

The pieces might set you back in terms of moola, but these pieces are not to be missed! The colours are dizzying and the rustic, rough shapes and designs are tantalising!

If you've got the cash to splash, then there is no doubt a piece waiting to entice and capture you! They've branched into metals and woods as well now, so if resin isn't your thing they've got you covered.

Check out www.dinosaurdesigns.com.au for their latest collections.

Note that all pieces are still lovingly designed and manufactured in Australia! <3

Zara is coming!!

So i've obviously been living under a rock, but I only found out about 2 weeks ago that the Spanish mega brand Zara will be opening in Australia!! Even better, the first store will be in Sydney's brand new re-vamped Westfield in Pitt Street mall! Not only will it be amazing but it's going to be 3 levels of amazing, predicting to be one level for each women's, men's and kids stuff, with homewares hopefully crammed in there somewhere.

I jumped the gun a little and have been anticipating shopping expeditions at Zara before Christmas but was sadly disappointed to find out that Zara is expected to open in the second stage of the new Westfield due in April.

I'm sure that waiting an extra four Zara free months won't kill me but it sure does hurt walking past that giant 'Zara coming soon!" sign in the space where Zara will soon occupy.

For all of you unfamiliar with Zara, it's a little like Witchery with a dash of Country Road but so much cooler and loads more fashion forward. Classic, cool and cutting edge all at the time! Zara's design ethos is; runway to store floor in only 2 weeks! So it's all fresh new lines and pieces constantly, not to mention the affordability and quality of their clothing and accessories! Get excited, as i'm sure once Zara hits it will spread like wild fire - but you might just like it so much that you don't want to tell anyone, I understand!

You can start your love affair with Zara right now by jumping on the website and checking out the latest collection.

www.zara.com

On another note Hennes and Mauritz otherwise known as H&M is currently scouting for the perfect spot to launch H&M in Australia, I just knew it was on the cards!

H&M - I heart you!

So there was a serious lack of updates here for the past 4 months, my apologies - I was just having the time of my life driving all over Europe with my Danny in a little Peugeot 207 named Claudia - Seeing amazing things, eating delicious new foods, shopping in new stores, meeting friends both new and old - it was all too good to be true! And while I wish that it could have lasted the rest of my lifetime - here I am back in Sydney back to my boring old life, suffering from post holiday depression. Every now and then I have these flashbacks ... riding my bike through little backstreets in Paris, riding a camel named Shareef through the Saharan desert in Morocco, eating ice-cream on a pier in Barcelona - the list goes on.

However one of my favourite memories in Europe is falling head over heels in love with H&M, now for those of you who are unfamiliar with H&M. It is a Swedish clothing store that caters to men, women and children. They have all the latest styles and pieces at amazingly cheap prices! Think the wonderfulness of Ikea but relate it all to fashion.

I quite literally couldn't resist slipping into H&M where ever I happened to be, it didn't help my credit card that H&M has shops in almost every country in Europe either, but what's a girl to do? And at such reasonable prices, my baggage seemed to be growing at an alarming rate every with city I visited.

So not only do they have amazingly up to date fashion at very reasonable prices, they are sure to kit you out starting from your underwear right through to finishing touches like the shoes bags and accessories, they really haven't missed a beat!

But wait, I haven't even mentioned the best part, with H&M reaching such a large market of women and men all over the world top designers are literally fighting to design tweaked and affordable collections that are ready and good to go. Need names? Try Karl Lagerfeld, Jimmy Choo, Stella McCartney, Viktor and Rolf just to name a few.

But why am I rubbing this in? With H&M in over 37 countries and rapidly expanding - there's bound to be one in the works for Australia along the line somewhere - so get excited!

They are currently updating the website and have just introduced online shopping, however only shipping to the UK (big sad face!) but I can only imagine that it will soon spread and hopefully down under to our corner of the world -fingers crossed!

In the meantime go and check out their latest collection online!

www.hm.com

Enjoy!

DIY Candy Wrappers

I simply can't resist beautiful handmade bits and bobs so when I saw this little DIY project I just couldn't say no. I just wish I had seen it about 3 weeks ago so I could have made my mummy a sweet little personalized candy bar for Mother's Day :)

Although I can't speak from experience, as I have not yet had a go at this project, it looks pretty straight forward. Plus the step by step photo's surely help!


You will need:

-Chocolate candy bars (either 2.6 oz or 5 oz sizes)
-A Colour Printer (or a friend with one)
-Standard printer paper (white, color, or patterned will work) or self-adhesive paper
-Decorative Paper (be creative... you could use: graph paper, contact paper, vellum, magazine pages, etc.)
-Scissors
-Glue or double-sided tape
-Pens or Pencils for addressing your labels

1. Buy your favorite candy bars 2.6 oz. or 5 oz. (for this project you will need to select bars that come foil-wrapped with a removable paper label).
2. Carefully remove the paper labels from your candy bars. If stuck, use a dull instrument to gently loosen label.
3. Print the PDF files (above) and cut around each one.
4. Select a decorative paper of your choosing.
5. Cut to size (6" x 5.25" for 2.6 oz bars and 6.75" x 8.25" for 5 oz bars). Wrap each candy bar, securing in back with glue or double-sided tape.
6. Adhere your decorative labels to the front of the candy bars and address them as you wish.
Labels can be downloaded here in big or small

This tutorial came from the wonderful and fun Creature Comforts Blog by Ez.
Be sure to check it out for lots of other goodies and tricks.

www.creaturecomfortsblog.com

I'll be sure to post some photos up when I get round to completing mine!

Apartment Therapy

For all you sticky beaks, much like myself here's a website you may want to check out -
If not for the sheer enjoyment of looking inside other people's homes then definitely for some interior decoration/ styling or design inspiration.



Apartment Therapy takes you on a tour in and around the homes of people all over the world with all different styles, colour schemes and tastes.
Their mission is to help people create more organised and beautiful homes by simply showing them a plethora of other homes decorated and organised in any - and just about every way and style you've ever dreamed of.



They also have all kinds of great articles on DIY for all you budding little creators as well as many specialized articles for those who know their design all too well. If you like reclaimed timber then they've got an article waiting just for you!



So if you're looking for something to inspire and help get you off your butt to complete your home or room or whatever it is you've been dreaming about, then this may just be it, or it may juat help you along the way.



Enjoy, although I can't say you won't get carried away with ideas and themes and most of all the time like I did.

Happy browsing!!
www.apartmenttherapy.com



xx


P.S
I'll have to admit the hardest part of this post was choosing my favourite pics to match!
As you can tell - for me there can never be enough white in one room!