Favourite things - Oh, sweetie!

Nothing too philosophical about today's collection of five favourite things. They are just all kind of sweet and lovely. I hope they make you think, "Oh, sweetie!" when you see them, just like I did. Have a wonderful weekend, friends. 1. Knitted NYC

I love these adorable knitted plush toys featuring New York icons, from Oeuf. I may need to order some from Madeleine, because it's never to early to culture a love of New York. Or maybe I'll keep them for myself! Image and inspiration from A Cup of Jo.

2. Fruity messages

How gorgeous would these be in a fruit basket gift for a friend? The friend thinks "Oh yay, fruit!" And then when they go to eat it, they discover special little messages, just for them! From Twig and Thistle, first seen on the Frankie blog.

3. Tea blending party

It just sounds special, doesn't it? A tea-blending party. I would LOVE one of these! Take a look at this post on Happiness Is for some wonderful photographs, and recipes.

4. Lizzy & Darcy

Adorable! Say no more. (But see more on the Mint Parcel Etsy shop)

5. Monogrammed biscuits

Now COME ON. I can't wait to do this for a kids' party. Wouldn't they make fantastic, edible game-props? I suppose one can buy alphabet cookie cutters somewhere, right? As seen on Oh, Joy!

Favourite things - everything old is new

In January we like to look forward. The year is given a fresh start, and we embrace it by making promises to ourselves, or others, or setting new plans, or accepting new challenges. But that doesn't mean that the old year (or the older years before that) have lost their value. Sometimes, it's nice to look backward as well as forward. 1. Vintage bikes

In a somewhat heart-breaking moment, I admitted to myself recently that as a new mum, I was not likely to be able to ride my much-loved early 70s canary yellow Speedwell bike any time soon (this bike is not the kind you can modify to include a child cart). It was gathering dirt and dust and looking decidedly neglected on our front porch. So last weekend we wheeled it out onto the pavement in case some passer-by wanted it. A minute later, it was gone. I hope it found a good and loving home. One day when Madeleine is old enough to ride her own bike, perhaps I will treat myself to one of these beautifully restored vintage bikes from Retrocykel, to replace Old Yeller. (Seen first on Frolic)

2. You are already successful

I rather like the sentiment in this post from Miss Modish. While keeping busy making resolutions and promises, it can be a healthy process (and a kindness to yourself) to take stock of the achievements you have already made, and the promises you have already kept. Yes, each of us is a work in progress. But guess what? You are already whole, my friend. Celebrate YOU today!

3. Old-school crafts

Watching people skilled at old-school crafts is like taking a little step sideways and backwards in time. Every time I come across a place like Shepherd's Bookbinders (as seen on Papermash), I think about the time and skill and patience that went into the making of the paper, the stitching of a book's cover, the way it feels in my hands and the way it smells. And it is good.

4. Ten green bottles

Or more. Twenty green bottles, perhaps, or even thirty? Actually, Shannon of Happiness Is is selling her collection of more than TWO HUNDRED assorted antique medicine bottles, German beer bottles and more. I'm not planning a wedding or party and I don't know what I'd do with them, but I must say it is lucky that I don't live anywhere nearby, or I'd be plonking my money down for these beauties, right this minute.

5. Ancient forests

Janee of Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard featured these stunning forest photographs by Jürgen Heckel on her blog earlier this week, and I fell a little bit more in wonder with each new image. I love the sense of mystery, of hidden stories, of so much that is unknown and beyond the photograph that he creates.

ps. Win tickets to see LEO in Melbourne here

Flowers for Ophelia

Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts. Laertes: A document in madness! Thoughts and remembrance fitted.

Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father died. They say he made a good end. [sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.

Words from Hamlet by Monsieur William Shakespeare. Beautiful flower girls by Irina Bordo for Fashion Gone Vogue (via Honestly WTF).

Favourite things - how to survive summer

It's 41 degrees outside today and to be honest I am struggling to find my joy. We live in an old house with no air conditioning, and the one living space is lit by a skylight that's half the size of the room, letting the heat pour in without even curtains to block it. My forehead is damp with sweat, poor baby has heat-rash, and Em has been lolling listlessly on the couch for hours. Yet we are stuck inside because outside is a lot worse, and a visit to the beach or pool would be a heat-stroke / sun-stroke / skin-cancer risk off the richter scale. I am using today's favourite things post to help me feel better about summer and survive this heat-wave. Anything else you suggest?

1. Make ice cream

My Dad had an ice-cream maker when I was growing up. It was a plastic, battery-driven contraption that kept on stirring the ice-cream while it was in the freezer. We'd try all different kinds of flavours, and marshmallow was a favourite of us kids. But how about this one folks: toasted marshmallow coconut milk ice cream! Oh my! Get the recipe from How Sweet It Is. (Via B for Bel)

2. Reimagine summer

Reimagine summer as a time that is warm but not stifling; coastal, floral, and dreamy. Like this video of a pretty little slumber party, which is quite lovely, but also reminds me eerily of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

3. Plan a winter picnic

Supposedly, looking forward to a holiday releases all these good endorphins that help fight depression. So I figure, looking forward to winter and the cooler weather may do the same thing for me. I'm dreaming of a white... picnic. We don't get snow here in Melbourne in winter, but I do still like the idea of a fresh winter picnic, like this one. I think it could be quite lovely.

4. Drink lemonade

Litres and litres of the stuff. I don't think there is anything more refreshing on a hot day. This is my recipe:

1 cup fresh lemon juice 1 cup water 1 cup caster sugar 1 bottle soda water (the 1.25L kind)

Squeeze the lemons. Dissolve the caster sugar in the water in a saucepan on medium heat. Combine the lemon juice and sugar-water in a two-litre container, then top it up with the soda water, adjusting how much you add according to the strength you want. I often like to add some shredded mint leaves for extra freshness.

5. Start a good, old-fashioned water fight

This photo was taken in Madeleine's Nanna's back yard a year ago, while Mr B chased the cousins around with a bucket and hose. "Hey! I've got five dollars for each of you. Line up," he called. And the little cuties fell for it, each lining up and holding out their hands. "AHA!" yelled Mr B, and pulled the hose out from behind his back and squirted them all. They ran away squealing with delight. All except Livvy, then four years old, who closed her eyes and braced herself as she took the full force of the hose in her face without running away. When Mr B finally turned the hose off she wiped the water out of her eyes and held out her hand again, demanding, "Where's my five dollars?"

Why do we lose simple pleasures like these when we grow up? We've got a couple of friends coming over to join us for fish and chips for tea tonight. I think I might lure them into the back courtyard for an after-dinner water attack of my own.

Walking in the air

It's Christmas Eve. All is calm, all is bright. Or is it? Are you a fan of this time of year? Or does all the expectation and commercialism weigh you down? I think I fluctuate wildly from one of these categories to the other at least six or seven times a day throughout December.

So whether it helps to enhance your mood or manages to bring a little magic back into your busy day, I wanted to share with you this truly beautiful moment of flight from the stunning and almost-wordless animated film The Snowman, based on the book by Raymond Briggs.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeVUnGQOIk]

I have to thank Jesse of Head Butler for alerting me to this beautiful clip. I used to read Raymond Briggs books (graphic novels?) as a child, but I'd never come across this film.

Favourite things - surprise!

Do you know what day it is today? Today is the day that will forever be known as the We Survived the Mayan Apocalypse day. Surprise! You are still alive! The future is ours. Let's appreciate each and every day and make them GREAT. 1. The old-book vending machine

This bookstore in Toronto had a dearth of old and unusual books cluttering up the storage spaces. So the owner came up with a novel (sic!) idea: he built an old-timey-looking vending machine that dispensed old books for $2 a pop. You don't know what book you'll be getting until it's in your hands. Now the machine has become so popular that the shop's owner is having trouble finding books he's willing to part with for $2. (First seen on Fast Company).

2. Mail, but not as you know it

I've been decorating more mail packages, sending my book Airmail out to you lovely folk all over the world. Here are some of the latest decorated packages, on English Muse. Did you get yours yet? I'm a bit behind because of all the Christmas chaos, but I promise that if you've subscribed and asked for a book, I'll write to you as soon as possible. (Also a special message to Annie: I LOVED your email! I've sent you a book but I will write back properly, soon. xo)

UPDATE 5 July 2014: as of today I have run out of copies of Airmail to send you. However I would still love to send you something nice by snail-mail to say thank you for reading this blog, and I will still do my best to make it look pretty. If you have subscribed to this blog (or you want to), simply fill in your postal details on this page. And if you’re still keen to read Airmail, there’s a list of stockists here.

3. Miniature green worlds

I put out some fairly strong hints that I'd like a terrarium for Christmas. But given that I was recently asked "which item of clothing do you like most, jeans or shirts?" in a nonchalant manner while out shopping together, I won't hold my breath. In my old home town, Sydney, the Council has teamed up with Etsy to create a cute little tutorial on making a terrarium. So maybe I'll get brave and create my own. (Photo credit: incredible artsy terrarium with the house from Beetlejuice, by Face of the Earth on Etsy).

4. Sidewalk secrets

In pursuit of... what? Click here to find out.

5. On mothers and honey

Earlier this year, two of my favourite writers on the Internet, Gill Harrison and Karen Charlton, took stock of their own blogs, creative writing and families, and decided to team up and write together on Karen's reworked blog, Rhythm & Method. If you like wise words beautifully put, this is the place to visit.

Looking in the mirror the other day, I touched the fine lines that were appearing all-too-readily around my eyes (hastened, no doubt, by months on end of broken sleep). I winced at the pimples that had appeared a couple of weeks ago, another fun postpartum hormonal symptom. I poked at my jiggly arms and belly and legs, none of which represented the toned and trim me I still imagine I am in my head (until I look in a mirror or try to zip up my jeans). Overcome with self-loathing, I wondered if Madeleine would find me beautiful when she was older, or if I would embarrass her.

It was in such a mood that I read this post on Reclaiming the beauty in motherhood, by Gill. Thank you, Gill, this was exactly what I needed to hear.

Writers' houses

Can you guess which lonely trio of literary sisters lived among these foxes in the snow? Or who the bookish baby is in the window of the house below? (Answers at the end of this post.) British artist Amanda White is working on a series of paintings and paper-collages that illustrate writers' houses. Through a process of research and imagination, she recreates little vignettes of the home-lives of some of our most beloved authors.

I think a framed set of these would be an amazing addition to a home library, office or reading room, wouldn't you agree?

Amanda has a shop on Etsy that is closed for Christmas, but I'm definitely going to visit in the New Year! If you want to see more of Amanda's work or contact her before then, you can find her on her blog and her website.

All images in this post are reproduced with kind permission from Amanda White. From top to bottom, these are the once homes of the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Vanessa Bell, Vita & Harold Sissinghurst, Derek Jarman, John Keats and Virginia Woolf.

Favourite things - itchy feet

This time of year smells like school holidays. Long stretches of hot, sunny days spent jousting on Pool Ponies in the backyard swimming pool; nursing grass-burns from the muddy puddles that form at the bottom of the slip 'n slide; jumping up and down on the neighbour's trampoline while the hose creates an ankle-deep lake. Cartwheeling through the sprinkler. That was pretty much every summer of my childhood. We had never heard of water restrictions. Often we'd all pile into the car and take a week or two's holiday on the coast, visiting my Grandpa in Queensland. Every day we'd leap through ocean waves, collect seashells, beg for ice cream. Every night we'd fall asleep with salt crusted in our hair.

Family holidays today seem to be so much more sophisticated. Before she was officially a teenager, Emily Rose had already been to India, America, Europe, New Zealand, and had accumulated so many domestic travel miles that she was a Silver Frequent Flyer with Virgin while still an unaccompanied minor. Next year, she will be off to Italy for an excursion with her public school.

Part of me longs for the nostalgia of my own childhood. Of the pure joy we found in the simple things. But at the same time, I am positively itching to get back on a plane myself. And I can't tell you what it would mean to see New York and Paris again, this time through Madeleine's eyes.

So to somewhat ease my itchy feet, this is a rather long and roundabout way of letting you know that today's collection of five favourite things are all about the journey. Have a lovely weekend!

1. La Maisonnette du Coteau

I am devastated that I missed out on entering the competition to win a week's holiday in this stunningly renovated holiday home in the French countryside. After three years of work, Stephanie Brubaker of Stephmodo and her family finally finished renovating "La Maisonnette," and very generously offered a week long vacation for a lucky reader! Can you imagine a more beautiful place for a getaway? Here is the full story of the renovation.

2. The travelling notebooks

This is a project after my own heart. Three travelling notebooks are winding their way around the world. One is being filled with recipes, another with photographs, and a third with favourite things. You sign up for one of the notebooks. When it arrives you find a couple of free pages and add your own entry, then send it off to the next person on the list. I first saw this on Rosalilium and you can see her entry in the recipe book here.

3. The globetrotter gift guide

Plenty of ideas in this lovely gift guide from Honestly WTF for what to get for the globetrotter in your life. Or for the wishes-she-was-a-globetrotter. I'm just sayin'.

4. Babes on a plane!

I have bookmarked this post called Traveling Abroad with Littles from Rockstar Diaries, as well as this one on flying, for the day when I actually am brave enough to take to the skies with Miss Madeleine. I am so excited to show her the world. And so afraid of taking her on a plane, with no escape, and all those other people who also have no escape!

5. An unexpected journey

The long-expected release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is scheduled for Boxing Day in Australia. I'm really looking forward to this movie. I liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy but didn't love it. Kind of how I felt about the books, too. But as a child, I LOVED The Hobbit. I still remember my father giving me the book to read, when I was quite young. His version had a picture of the dragon on the front and, for the first few pages, I was quite confused because I thought a hobbit was a dragon. What do you think? Will you be going to see this?

Favourite things - hidden messages

If you've been reading this blog for even just five minutes, you probably know that I love the idea of secret notes, hidden messages, surprises and unexpected joys. Your first clue may have been that I called my blog "messages in bottles." Here are five hidden messages that have been making me smile lately.

1. The Burt's Bees mail

Picture this, if you will. "Oh my," you think to yourself, "my lips are deplorably dry. Whatever shall I do?" Then you open your letterbox and, "What ho! Burt's Bees for me? Happy day! Tra la la." This is one of many, many cute mail ideas on AmberLee's blog GiversLog, which I discovered via oh, hello friend.

2. The gratitude rolls

Elizabeth on 8Balloons baked these message-filled 'gratitude rolls' as a cute twist on fortune cookies for Thanksgiving. But my mind is a-buzz with about a zillion different ways I could surprise friends with this lovely idea.

3. The balloons in the phone booth

I so want Jordan from Oh Happy Day to plan all my parties for me, forever. This brilliant idea was hers. She said, "I’ve always wanted to fill a phone booth with balloons and then send someone on a treasure hunt to the booth and have the phone ring so the person has to open it to answer the phone and the balloons come out." More here.

4. The punchy advent

I have bookmarked this "punch the days" advent calendar tutorial from You Are My Fave for when Madeleine is older. I think it will be so much fun! First seen on Meet Me At Mikes.

5.The sugar graffiti

Street artist Shelley Miller creates pictures, murals and surprise street-art out of... wait for it... cake icing! So now we know who the witch in Hansel and Gretel commissioned to make her enticing sugar house. But how lovely and transient Shelley's art must be to see. Visit Shelley's project blog to see more. Thanks Frankie mag for the tip-off!

That's it for Friday, dear friend. But don't forget to pop back tomorrow morning for your chance to win a Target gift voucher (very handy before Christmas!) or a special little gift in the mail if you live outside of Australia.

ps. Get your snail mail here!

The curious case of the Yuletide yarn-bomber

Something strange has happened to the oak trees on Rathdowne Street. It started on Sunday: we were eating lunch in a cafe after the Color Run and noticed a woman who seemed to be winding a giant red scarf around a tree. Soon, the scarf looked more like a sweater. By the following day, six trees in a row proudly wore six scarlet sweaters like six warm cuddles. It didn't stop there. On Wednesday when I returned to Rathdowne Street, gorgeous yarn baubles hung from the branches; and sweet crocheted snow-flakes, Santas and Christmas trees proudly perched in rows around the red trunks.

This here folks is a yarn bomb of magnificent proportions and, if you live anywhere near Melbourne, you've got to come out to Carlton North and take a look. It is stunning. I took some photographs for you this morning, before the heat drove me back indoors (it's forecast to reach 38 degrees today. Blech!).

The yarn bomb is the handiwork of Yarn Corner, a Melbourne-based collective of 'yarn artists' who make up one of the biggest yarn-bombing groups in the world.

I contacted Yarn Corner's founder and director Bali this morning to ask her a bit more about this beautiful Christmas installation. She told me it involved 30 people and they had spent the past three months working on the hanging decorations for the trees, as well as similar Christmas yarn-bombs that are planned for nearby Richmond and Fitzroy.

But the wraps for the trees weren't made ahead of time, they were all created on site. "We had lots of lovely feedback from the Carlton residents when we were doing the trees there," Bali told me. "We even saw one girl riding her bike with her dad, but she was so in awe of what we were doing that she almost crashed into a parked car."

You know what else is kind of nice? This entire 'bomb' was actually commissioned by the local Council. Yay for bureaucrats supporting and celebrating the arts! They wanted something a little different and a little more artistic than the usual Christmas decorations you see around town at this time of year, so they turned to Yarn Corner with a brief and said "go for it." Mission accomplished, I say. Deck the halls with balls of yarn!