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!

Favourite things - Christmas gift guides

I don't want to be alarmist, but there are less than five weeks left until Christmas. *Insert horrified yell here.* If I have to even consider another one of those repackaged-to-look-vintage pointless office nicknacks and ye olde board games that they stack in dump bins around the entrances of department stores as gifts for the hard-to-buy-for friend, I may cry. So, as much for my sake as yours, I've gathered together today what I think are the best five gift guides floating around the Internet. In these you'll find unique, one-of-a-kind and affordable gifts, as well as gifts you can make and gifts you can bake, PLUS some discount codes. 1. Good stuff

Pip Lincoln's (of Meet Me at Mike's) fabulous 'good stuff' guide is out again, and it's chock full, with 125 pages of things to make and things to make and things to read.

2. IHOD holiday gift guide

Anna from In Honor of Design (IHOD) has scoured the Internet for affordable gift options and handmade ideas, and includes exclusive discount codes in her 2012 holiday gift guide.

3. For book lovers

This is a cute list of the season's best gifts for book lovers from Design Mom. It will be particularly useful if those book lovers are also foodies, crafters, teenagers, parents, little ones or artists.

4. Hip and handmade

Get your craft on with the girls from Craft Pack's digital book, A Hip, Handmade Holiday. It costs just $10 to download, and includes more than 18 projects and 100 printable stickers, patterns, gift tags and more.

5. Affordable art

Recently I published a little post about 20x200, a wonderful and ever-changing collection of affordable art for the masses. They've put together a little guide with art for everyone on your list, from geeks to wanderers, and sports fans to fashionistas.

ps. Here are some more great gift lists from Etsy:

* 25 gifts under $25 * Editor's picks * Gifts for difficult dads

Aaaaaaand more lists of five favourite things.

Favourite things - go green

Back after a six-month hiatus, I bring you: Favourite Things Friday, a themed collection of clever, inspiring and beautiful things seen around the Internet during the week. Ta da! Today's collection celebrates spring and all things green and growing. Have a wonderful weekend, dear friend. I'm off to pot some herbs.

1. Macramé memories

Everyone had macramé in their homes when I was growing up. Owls, plant-hangers and abstract patterns were all popular. We'd learn macramé for craft in school, carefully knotting the rope together and selecting wooden beads to decorate the tails that dangled down. I wonder how many mothers out there received macramé plant-hangers for Mothers Day. It must be millions.

Anyhoo, it's kind of nostalgic and nice to think they're coming back, don't you agree? I certainly wouldn't say no to any of these beautiful neon-hued hangers from Kitiya Palaskas in Sydney, first seen on the Etsy blog.

2. The greenhouse

I recently discovered the blog of fellow Melbourne mama Jody, Lemon Rhodes. Jody and I have seen one another around the traps, in blog forums on Facebook, on Instagram etc, and I met her briefly at a dinner the other night - just long enough to say "hello my name is" as I ran out the door to feed Madeleine - but didn't realise who she was until later. Her family and her blog are just beautiful. During the Melbourne Cup holiday, they all got planting in a greenhouse. This post made me wish all over again that I had more than a postage stamp's worth of space outside my house.

3. Colourful clay pots

I see DIY tutorials on the Internet all the time, and so often I think they look exactly right. Beautiful, nostalgic, handmade. Then I try them and they look like they were made by a three-year-old. Which would be really cute if they WERE made by a three-year-old, but not so cute from the hands of a grown-up. Still, I am rather tempted to try my hands at making these Polymer clay pot-holders. They are just so darned pretty and they would look so lovely hanging above the window in our bedroom. Alternatively, I could wait until Madeleine turns three...

4. Succulent shelves

Aren't these shelves beautiful? Given my general DIY-challenged state of being (see above), I'm not even going to consider making them. But I had to share them because they were so lovely. And maybe you have more crafty carpent-y skills than I do.

5. Botanical notebooks

I have a weakness for vintage botanical prints. There are vintage botanical prints in frames in our bedroom. More on cards and paper I have collected. I like to go to antique print stores and look through the original botanical prints (that I could never afford to buy). If I had botanical-printed notebooks like these, I would have to call them "field books" instead, and pretend I was an explorer. Jolly good, old chap.

ps. Go here for more favourite things collections

Favourite things - snap happy

The weekend is almost here! Time to pull out the camera and get creative... 1. Wearable photos Loving this DIY tutorial from Photojojo to print your memories onto fabric.

2. Instagram secrets Those cheeky Instagrammers! I've been wondering how on earth they manage such amazing photographs, even with the help of the Instagram filters. Then I read this how-to and discovered what goes on behind the scenes.

3. The still life stylist Still Life stylist Sonia Rentsch is guest blogging for the Design Files. I love her simple, quirky aesthetic. She says, "A fruit tree, so simple and evocative, is beautiful in and of itself – but how do I make it more? In a world saturated with imagery, how do I ask people to look again?"

4. Women of WWII Take a look at this post and collection of archive photos from WWII on Hila Shachar's blog, le project d'amour. So moving, and thought-provoking.

5. Closeup worthy pink hair Temporary, damage-free, wash-out-able pink hair? I am so going to do this, thanks to this tutorial from The Beauty Department.

Favourite things - party time

I am off to Sydney today! It's just a very quick visit to say hello to my dear friends and family before the baby arrives, before I am too pregnant to fly. I simply can't wait to see everyone. It has been way too long. My friends have organised a little celebratory "baby is on the way" party for me for Saturday, although I've made them promise no games or presents, just the good company of people I love. How do you like your parties to go?

1. Party in a box How about adorable little "parties in a box" like those pictured here (Valentine's Day party, St Patrick's Day party; and Easter party)? These and other fab ideas and beautiful photography are all on You Are My Fave.

2. Potter party For ages now I've been planning to host a Harry Potter party for Emily. When I finally get around to it, she and her friends will sit down (ok lie down) for a marathon viewing of every one of the movies, and I am going to cook up a storm. At regular breaks in the movies we'll stop to eat...

There'll be acid pops, chocolates and more on the Hogwarts Express; pie, drumsticks, roast vegetables and more for the Hogwarts Great Hall feast; spiced hot chocolate and crumpets in the Griffindoor Common Room; cauldron cakes and butterbeer on a Hogsmeade visit; and I've even found recipes for Skiving Snackboxes, which I think I'll give to Em's friends as take-away gifts at the end. Somewhere during the marathon I'll also need to slip in these amazing Golden Snitch cake pops, because they are just gorgeous.

There's even more food planned (eek!) but it's too much to put on here. If you're looking for Harry Potter recipes, let me know in the comments and I can email you what I've gathered so far, with links to the recipes.

3. Free candy-stripe party favours box Wouldn't you like to give a box like this to your friends at your next party? I sure would! (So you should come to my next party). Amy from Eat Drink Chic designed these, and her instructions and design are FREE.

4. DIY bunting, badges & invitations I found these fabulous DIY tips and ideas on In Honor of Design last week.

5. Wild forest party One day when I throw a party just because, I will hold it in a beautiful forest. When you arrive at the edge of the forest, magical night-lights will guide you to the party, looking a little something like this photograph by Rune Guneriussen. At the end of the path, all of our friends will be waiting. We will warm our hands at a crackling bonfire. Festive music will play. Wine will flow. We will sing and dance until dawn.

Favourite things - love is all you need

Better late than never, in honour of Mr B's and my first anniversary two weeks ago, this post is all about love, love, love. Because, dear friend, love comes in all shapes and sizes. Ain't it grand? 1. Streethearts Good street art just melts this heart of mine. I adore the creativity, vulnerability and generosity of street artists, and I know I've gone on about this on my blog many times before. So you can imagine how wide my smile was when I came across this collection of "dead hearts" by bicycle-loving, anti-asphalt Canadian artist Roadsworth.

2. Love notes Danni of Oh, Hello Friend (one of my favourite blogs) made this book of notes, inspired by The Jolly Postman, a while back for her husband when he was having a tough week at work. She said there were about eight to nine notes in the book, with one even hidden in a tiny capsule. One day, I will do the same for someone I love. Isn't it adorable?

3. Wooden tiebreakers Whenever you disagree with your lover, just flip for the right to be right! This is genius. "Relationship management in a tin," says distributor Greer Chicago. Found, as so many good things are, on Happiness Is.

4. Pop-up book proposal When NYC student Chris decided to propose to his girlfriend Julia, he teamed up with paper artist Jackie Huang to make a pop-up book filled with moments from their relationship in which he would 'pop' the question. More from the book on Jackie's blog here. I have always loved pop-up books. In fact I think I want to be a paper artist when I grow up. (ps. Julia said yes.)

5. The glow I can't wait to experience this kind of love in just a few short months. This image is from The Glow, a site that calls itself "a glimpse into the world of inspiring and fashionable moms" and features gorgeous photography of mothers and their children. I don't expect to be either inspiring or fashionable, but I'm really looking forward to becoming a mum.

Favourite things - words & letters

Happy Friday, dear friend (brought to you by Thursday night since I will be up at the crack of dawn to attend DPCON12 tomorrow). Have a lovely one! 1. Words for strangers I am such a big, big fan of Hermine Van Dijck of journal de jours, I don't know how I missed this wonderful project of hers, Words for Strangers. Hermine says, "Sometimes people need a secret message. A word from a stranger." And she is so right! She hangs little messages for strangers wherever she goes. And now, through the magic of the world wide web, her words are being left all over the world. I think Melbourne could do with some words for strangers. It may be time for me to join in.

2. Hand-drawn letters These letters just pop with personality, don't you think? I want to drink tea and toast crumpets with them. By Mary Kate McDevitt via Parcel Post.

3. Masterful understatements from literature "I realize now that there's a lot to be said for travelling if you want to see something new." Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days

4. The Note Swap I was alerted to this adorable Note Swap project by Brandi of Not Your Average Ordinary but the time differences between us meant that by the time I woke up and clicked through, the project was full. If like me you missed out, you can always join up with Katie of Letters from Strangers.

5. Sent well And finally, if all these posts on words and letters inspire you to get back to hand-writing letters to friends (or strangers for that matter) but you simply lack the time, Sent-Well is your answer. It's pretty simple: choose a card from the website, give them your message, and they will hand-write the message and post it to your friend for you. It's the personal touch, without the hand-cramps! Nifty, huh?

Favourite things - for the child and childlike

Author George MacDonald once said, "I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." Isn't that a lovely statement? As a person who is closer to fifty than five but clearly still rather immature, it is nice to know MacDonald was writing for me. I have been trying not to flood this blog with overkill about the pending arrival of Baby B. But, today, I have indulged in some treats. Not for children, necessarily, but for the childlike among us. Happy Friday.

1. Yarn trail Jordan from Oh Happy Day made this yarn trail for a children's party, an idea I totally plan to copy for Baby B in a few years' time. But I think it has the potential for so many other lovely applications. Like a path to a romantic dinner. Or an interactive art installation in a park. Or a surprise party for a friend. What would you do?

2. Flying people Pretty much every child I know would love to imagine themselves gently sailing skyward clinging to a big balloon. So this is another idea I'll chalk up for future birthday parties. But the original idea was from a wedding, and I can imagine it working for so many other occasions. I first saw it on Happiness Is, then followed the link to this tutorial.

3. Edible crayons Behold: crayons that draw just like normal crayons, but are completely safe and edible. The base is made from ingredients like freeze-dried corn, peanuts, bee pollen and dried bananas. A mixture of healthy nuts, seeds, dried vegetables and fruits is used to create the different colours. I'm ready to place my order. Dear Luxirare, I wish to order one for baby, and a couple of boxes for the grownup pantry. Seen first on this fab blog.

4. Bedroom decor When I saw this post on Etsy I had an "Oh, swoon" moment. It's a "get the look" shoot like the ones you usually see in fashion magazines. (You know, those Celebrity-X-was-seen-walking-through-Tribeca-looking-glamorous-and-if-you-just-buy-this-list-of-items-from-Target-you-can-look-the-same pages?) I don't like those. But this is altogether different. It's a guide to decorating children's bedrooms to reflect their personalities. Though I confess I look at these and think, what about my bedroom? (The two shown here are "The artist" on the left and "The bookworm" on the right.)

5. Puffed pancakes Growing up, special treat breakfasts in our family were always croissants (warm from the oven and sweetened with jam), and French crepes (smothered in lemon juice, sprinkled with sugar, then rolled up). Both of these foods still say "celebration" to me. I'll definitely be keeping this tradition going for Baby B, but I'm also putting these puffed pancakes on the party list. They just look like a celebration, don't you think?

Favourite things - toothache sweeties

Presenting: five things so sweet they'll give you toothache. 1. The pillbox love-advent Once I lived in a very old lady's house. She had to go into care, but wasn't sure if it would be permanent. So I lived there rent-free, among all her things (overstuffed couches, plastic pillboxes, Charles & Di commemorative plates, unused jaffle-makers) to make sure they were safe. I remember bringing home a new boyfriend for the first time. He picked up one of the pillboxes (marked for each day of the week and each meal of the day) and said "Woah!" Now, at last, I have found something cool about pillboxes. I first saw this on Happiness Is as a Valentine's Day idea. I think I'm going to steal it for the lead-up to Mr B's and my first anniversary.

2. The cat cocoon You have got to be kidding me. A soft, wool, hand-felted little bed for the cat. Could pet supplies get any cuter?

3. The book invitations I adore this idea. Specially selected old books. A custom-made stamp and hand-printed wrap on the front. The full invitation details on a bookplate inside. I can't wait to throw a party so I can make this happen.

4. The confetti wrapping paper This looks so easy, so festive, so special. Beware, friends with birthdays coming up. You are likely to receive confetti paper-wrapped presents!

5. The do-gooder Pip Lincoln makes things, sews things, writes books, writes for Frankie magazine, maintains a blog, and until recently ran a shop. She's also a mum and a wife and a person with a life. Phew! Recently Pip launched the Year of Good Things campaign. The premise is simple: "Do a Good Thing. Every day. For someone you know. Or someone you don't know at all! Document one Good Thing a day, if you can! If you can't document daily that's okay too. Just do your best." It's kind of like those "I'm grateful" posts that so many people are blogging these days. Except, "This is not a gratitude project," Pip says, "it's about making MORE good things happen."