Wedding Bells

With all this hype about the royal wedding going on today (my work is even having a high tea with tiaras at the office), it's hard not to get even a little caught up in it all so I thought I'd jump on the horse and carriage (so to speak), and post something within that theme.

So, I consulted my favourite wedding site for inspiration: OnceWed, where I can spend more time than I'm willing to admit looking at all the beautiful photos and creative ideas, even though it's been over a year since my own wedding. This denim themed wedding is featured at the moment - and who would have thought a bridal party decked out in denim could look so stylish? (not a bad perm or puff paint decoration in sight!)

I also thought this Big Sur real wedding looked amazing! MrBenni and I were lucky to visit this beautiful part of the world when we were in the US in '09 and Big Sur was definitely a highlight. This brides dress was gorgeous and I absolutely love the colourful lanterns hanging from the trees. 

K x

*all images from www.oncewed.com

Under a Turquoise Sky

I've been feeling a teensy bit blue the last couple days with with the weather taking a cooler turn (I think we were spoilt with such perfect weather last weekend, of course Mother Nature had to realise that it's supposed to be Autumn and act accordingly).

So when I came across this photo by Songsoflight on Etsy the other day I got a little excited and ordered one. I think it will be just the thing to cheer me up when it feels like summer is so so far away. How appropriate that it's called "Summer Dream"? It makes me imagine warm and sweetly scented afternoons spent lying in the grass somewhere by the water.

I know it will look so pretty framed on my wall, perhaps above my desk where I can sit, stare up and wistfully dream of summer...
K x

Silver Chain

This is my completed silver chain that I have finally taken some photos of! I realise it's been quite a while since I wrote this promising to put them up soon. Oops! I've been having so much fun wearing it that I kept forgetting to take the photos.

I was quite happy with how it turned out and how the polishing seemed to hide the little solder joins that were visible prior to it being polished. The twisted links catch the light nicely and appear shinier and more sparkly than the plain links. Now that I've learnt the basic technique I'd love to try a more chunky version with round links.
K x

Down by the sea

*Sigh* Don't you just love when you have one of those little breaks that really feels like a holiday- no matter how short it may have been? I was fortunate enough to have had one such occasion in northern New South Wales over the long weekend- and I feel so much better for it. It had it all- perfect weather, a spot by the beach, good company and boardgames. Oh, and of course all the Easter chocolate! Bliss. I hope you all had an equally enjoyable weekend!
K x

A strong contender for the best pie I've ever eaten.
and hands down the largest!

I think the Pelicans missed the memo...

   *All happy snaps taken by me (well, the last couple were taken by MrBenni- but I did the playing around in Photoshop)

Hand Painted Easter Eggs

This time two years ago MrBenni and I were travelling around Europe (*sigh* feels like a lifetime ago now) and we found this fantastic shop on one of the main streets in Salzburg. Unfortunately I have no idea what the name was, or where it was even located but the entire shop was filled- packed really- with blown and hand painted eggs! I remember just being in awe of the place, and must admit I was a little worried about turning around too fast with my backpack on and breaking them. They were all so beautiful and there were so many different designs and patterns. It wasn't practical to buy any as we were only mid-way through our trip and didn't have much space or the luxury of transporting such delicate cargo. So the photos would have to do... Enjoy the holidays if you're having them!

K x

Eggs everywhere- the entire shop was like this

  

A personal favourite- the globe on an egg

I love the strawberries on the bottom left

Tick tock - on the hunt for a clock

It's been days since I've written and for the first time since starting our little blog I've been feeling rather uninspired. The weather has been pretty grim and there hasn't been much exciting happening in my little world over the last few days. I think everyone is in wind-down-for-Easter-holidays mode. Or it could be just me! Anyway the other night I decided to pursue the search for our new kitchen clock (because so far MrBenni and I can't seem to find one we both like) and was trawling through many creative and unique designs here when I came across these guys: husband and wife duo Uncommon. Their range of classic and modern designs using fibreboard and a variety of bright colours grabbed my attention. My only issue now is: what colour to choose?
K x

All images above courtesy of Uncommon's Etsy store

Surprises in the mail!

What a great day today has been. After work I came home to not one, but two surprises in my letter box! My beautiful Purple Kingman Turquoise from Cabbing Rough arrived from the US, and also waiting for me was this month's issue of Australian Home Beautiful (I was given a subscription for my last birthday and am always delighted to see the familiar bright, glossy cover jutting out from my mailbox once a month).

I think this will be perfect for a  large pendant on a long chain

As always I'm looking forward to leafing through the mag with a nice cup of tea. It never fails to leave me feeling inspired and full of wonderful decorating ideas.
K x

There's a chair in there

Check out these awesome retro chairs I picked up yesterday from Lifeline for a song! I was so excited to find them I could hardly wait to cram them into my little hatch-back car and get them home. The vinyl is a bit ripped and worn so I'm on the hunt for some bright, colourful fabric to re-cover them in. Does anyone know of anything that would work well?

hmm... I wonder if these gorgeous Florence Broadhurst fabrics from Signature Prints would lend themselves to this style of chair. Though something tells me I should stick with simple plain or geometric patterns to go with with the sharp lines better. Either way, It's going to be lots of fun searching!
K x

Habitus

Good evening lovely readers,
What a hectic week it has been for me. Sorry I have been out of touch for a couple of days, lucky Krystal is an organised chicken and has kept you in the loop about various happenings. Assessment has been non-stop, and I have been rushing between University and work like a crazy person.
At the end of my shift today I decided to go to Grilld to get a snack burger + corona and just chill out before coming back home to hit the books. (yaaay...) As if I wasn't already happy enough, I found a copy of Habitus Magazine. What a brilliant piece of reading material. So many pretty, interesting and clever pieces of furniture were featured, as well as beautifully documented articles of various designers and artists homes, with a clear focus on what inspires their living spaces. I was happy to see The Selby's, Todd Selby mentioned. Not that he needs any more praise, having photographed the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Alexander Wang in their homes. Todd Selby goes deeper than a photograph, he reveals the philosophies behind individuals and their living spaces, something that I am interested in and would like to learn more about. I just wanted to include a couple of images from his photography series from the Bondi Beach home of Emma Balfour: an outstanding poet, model, mother and environment co-ordinator at Bondi Public School.
Photos credit to Todd Selby :) I hope everyone's week is off to a positive start.
Sarah xx

Okay... I couldn't resist posting some images of Dan Martensen (photographer) + Shannan Click (Model + Artist) in their home in New York State. Soooo adorable.

Okay just ONE more... Alexander Wang in his Manhattan home. Stunning right?!

P.S Pick yourself up a copy of Habitus Magazine - you will be impressed, inspired and insanely distracted from whatever you were doing beforehand ;)

Pin board project

My desk has been seriously lacking character since we moved into our place almost a year ago (a year! how did that happen?), and I felt I needed an inspiring space from which to work and potter. So, after googling a few how-to's on making fabric-covered pin boards, I settled on one based around an artist's canvas, fabric, buttons and ribbon.

Now, I picked a bright lime coloured polka-dot fabric, but being the perfectionist that I (sometimes) can be, had difficulty lining up the ribbon in a criss cross formation (see here for an example of what I was initially going for) to be perfect. So I decided to embrace the spots, and go with a more random approach, where I sewed buttons onto some of the spots and used twine to "join the dots" which I think works quite well. I do plan on adding some more buttons and string as it still looks a little sparse- just need to buy some more of the same buttons.

I now have a colourful place to display all the little bits and pieces that are close to my heart or inspirational or just plain funny (like these greeting cards from Able and Game). I'm thinking now I need to get some of those cute little wooden pegs to hang along the string... what do you think?

K x

(I only *slightly* tidied up my desk, promise!)

Setting Stones

A little while ago I posted about my Silversmithing course and I thought I'd give a little update. So since completing the ring and the earrings, I started (and have now finished) a chain. I get to pick it up tomorrow as it had to go in the burnisher to be polished overnight and I haven't been back since last week's class. I'm very excited to see the finished product, and I wish I'd taken more progressive photos of the process but I always think of that after the fact! That's something I need to get better at and hopefully as this blog develops so will that skill. I'll put photos of the finished chain up very soon!

I've been given my next project though and I can't wait to start as it's a cabochon setting- the first type of setting I get to learn. I chose a stone (Azurit) in class last week and since then have discovered this awesome etsy shop that sells wonderful hand-cut cabachons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/cabbingrough (see images below)

Oooh I imagine I could make so many pretty things with a stone like this....

Or this...

Or this...

Which is good because I've purchased the last one. It's turquoise that has been dyed and bronzed and the result is this gorgeous purple colour- I've never seen anything like it. So stay tuned because sometime soon I will be showing off a unique ring or pendant using this lovely stone.

K x

The (not so) little herb patch

Isn't it funny how when you don't pay attention to something for a little while things always seem to happen so fast?  It's why they came up with that old saying "a watched pot never boils" I suppose. Last night MrBenni was whipping up one of his amazing risottos and I went out into the yard to pick some herbs for him to put in it. Oh my, they've grown since I last went a-pickin'- the Thyme is almost out of control and even the slow-growing Rosemary has really taken off. I might have to trade in the old laundry tub for an actual garden pretty soon I think!

My little herb garden- almost out of control!

A work in progress... nothing beats
fresh herbs straight from the garden!!

 K x

Hedi Slimane

Check it out HERE. 

(All images courtesy of Hedi Slimane)