Dear Internet, please help me find nice cushions

Hello Internet! I was wondering if I could have some help. My housemate and I purchased a lovely couch recently, it’s name is Frenchie (Freedom named it, not us).

I love it’s retro design and beautiful dark grey colour. However it is looking a little lonely in our living room without some fabulous cushions to brighten it up. I have been cushion-hunting for over a month now and everything is either too blergh or too pricey! All I want is some brightly coloured cushions in bold patterns, I am thinking mustard or teal in stripes, chevron or polka dots.

I would prefer to keep my money in Australia but am am open to online abroad, and ideally want to get 2-3 pillows for under $150. I have been eyeing off these gorgeous Swedish cushions however even the cheapest cushion is over $100AUD! I have trawled various Domayne and Freedom type shops at the Supa Centa (yes, that’s how it is spelt) and checked out the stores along Crown St with no luck (too pricey once again).

If you have any suggestions I would be more than grateful. If all else fails I might design my own fabric at Spoonflower and sew them myself!

Pinterest Baking Inspiration

Pinterest has always been a huge source for inspiration of design and interior ideas, and lately I been discovering awesome baking ideas including glow in the dark cupcakes (omg) and piñata cupcakes (genius).

These Glow in the Dark Cupcakes by Recipe Snobs are brilliant. They are achieved by incorporating tonic water into the icing. The quinine in the tonic water causes it to glow under a black light which is a great idea for a kids party or Halloween festivities.

These Piñata Cupcakes by La Receta de la Felicidad are a great interactive way to make eating cupcakes even more exciting. By encasing the tops of the cupcakes in chocolate shells and filling the insides with candy, young and old would have a great time cracking these open!

This Neapolitan Rose Cake by I Am Baker is ingenious - not only do I love the Neapolitan cake flavour idea, but icing the cake in an abundance of piped roses is stunning. I regularly use the rose technique when piping my cupcakes so I think I can pull this trick off.  And finally this amazing Ruffle Cake from Belle the Magazine incorporates ruffled fondant icing and silver cachous (which you can buy from any supermarket) to create a cake inspired by fashion.

I hope these photos have you given some new and exciting ideas for your baking – what ingenious ideas have you discovered lately on Pinterest?

Obsessed with Ombre

ombré noun – From the French word ombrer (to shade). Having colours or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the colour is graduated from light to dark.

I have recently become obsessed ombre and first discovered this trend through cake. I loved the effect of tinting layers of cake a different shade.

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I next noticed the ombre trend incorporated into interiors and furniture. My plain white IKEA desk is begging to be painted in peach ombre!

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1. Ombre Chair by Design Sponge

2. Ombre Stairs by Design Sponge

3. Ombre Desk by Vintage Revivals

4. Ombre Curtains by Sketch 42

And I love love love this ombre nail idea from The Beauty Department

Stay tuned for an ombre inspired dessert coming soon! And possibly some DIY home decorating attempts….

Vivid Sydney Festival 2012

Vivid Sydney is a festival that takes over the city after dark from 25 May – 11 June this year and transforms Sydney into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas. I attended last year and was blown away by the light sculptures and projections and thoroughly enjoyed a performance by Bat For Lashes in the Sydney Opera House. This year my expectations were exceeded – the light sculptures were just as impressive but they really stepped it up a notch with the projections onto the MCA, Customs House and the Opera House. Amazing. My week was topped off by a performance of Karen O’s “psycho opera” Stop The Virgens at the Opera House.

Vivid Light Sculptures and Projections

The MCA was amazing this year with an ever changing kaleidoscope of colours projected onto its facade.

There were many other light sculptures dotted along the water from the Opera House to Walsh Bay.

The projection onto the Opera House by Urbanscreen, a German design collective, was truly breathtaking. Utilising the techniques of light projection, video mapping and motion graphics, they have incorporated pattern and writhing human forms that complement the unique design and shape of the Opera House.

Customs House has been covered with animation sequences by The Electric Canvas

I made some animated GIFS :D

A few more light sculpture shots from my Instagram:

After walking around in the dark and cold for hours it was 10pm and I was feeling peckish. Knowing my only food prospects at this time of night were McDonalds or Burger King, I sullenly walked back to the station. But lo and behold I stumbled across the Cantina Mobil parked outside Customs House – my first food truck spotting!

I got a soft taco with slow roasted chipotle beef and red cayenne chilli sauce for only $4.50! It was absolutely delicious and exactly what I needed at that time of night. To find out where the Cantina truck is next check out their Twitter.

Karen O in Stop the Virgens

A few nights later I returned to the Opera House to take in Karen O’s new project – Stop the Virgens. From the Vivid Live website: Seven years in the making and featuring over fifty artists onstage, Karen O’s STOP THE VIRGENS is Vivid LIVE’s most ambitious undertaking yet. Created by Karen O, the frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in collaboration with KK Barrett, production designer behind Being John Malkovich and Lost In Translation, and indie theatre/film director Adam Rapp (Red Light Winter, In Treatment) the self described ‘Psycho Opera’ transcends the traditional boundaries of popular music, theatre and performance.

The performance was visually and aurally stunning – the costumes and stage backdrops were amazing. Unfortunately there are no cameras allowed in the Opera House, these are photos by Prudence Upton and Daniel Boud.

The Karen O opera is now finished but you can still check out the light sculptures and projections until 11 June from 6pm-12am. Don’t miss out!!

iPhone cases

My beloved mint green encased iPhone has been possessed lately. It’s been ringing random people from my contacts list at all times of the day and night (including multiple calls to the UK) and driving me a little crazy (and confused).

After speaking to a girl with the same cover I discovered her phone was also randomly dialling people. It turns out the big novelty grey button is easily pressed when in my handbag and voice control is activated, which then decides to phone my friends in the middle of the night and they sit and listen to me discussing tacos with someone. So now I am in the market for a new iPhone case! After some internet browsing I have settled on 8 designs.

Iconemesis teams up with various artists to produce gorgeously designed iPhone cases – it was so hard narrowing it down to just 4! Clockwise from top left we have:

♥ Cupcake by Fifi Lapin

♥ Lolly by Pete Harrison

♥ Teacup by Fifi Lapin

♥ Feathers by Cat Sims

And ofcourse the wonderful Kate Spade has numerous brightly coloured and patterened cases to choose from!

♥ Graffiti Spade

♥ Le Pavillion

♥ Diagonal Stripe (they didn’t even try with that name, did they?)

♥ All in a Day’s Work

Which one do you think guys? I am leaning towards the Fifi Lapin teacup case. I love the muted colour palette!

MCA Zine Fair 2012

On Sunday I attended the Zine Fair at the Museum of Contemporary Art – a fun afternoon of browsing and purchasing cute handmade zines (and a DIY mobile!)

Love this paper spoon garland!

Each year The Rizzeria has a great stand with posters, tea towels, bags etc. I’ve printed with them before – I love The Rizz!

Some cute polaroids.

A whole stand of cat-related zines! YES!

Kitiya Palaskas had a bright and colourful stand. I bought her Kitten Club zine.

My Kitten Club zine I purchased (left) and the colourful and quirky stand by Mechelle B (right) – there were lots of fun badges I was oooing and aaahing over.

My friend bought this origami game – I used to play with it all the time when I was young.

This stand had the most beautiful watercolour works! I spent so long hovering around trying to decide what to purchase.

I finally decided on buying this DIY mobile. You buy them flat and cut out and and assemble yourself. I can’t wait to hang it up in my room!

It was yet another fun day at the MCA Zine Fair – and guess who will be exhibiting next year? :)

Herb garden and succulent inspiration

I spoke a while ago about my Dad collecting gorgeous Wedgwood Orange Pekoe tea tins and I have finally put them to good use – as plant holders for my succulent plants which have certainly brightened up my balcony.

Plants in tea tins look cute and have motivated me to start planting more flowers and succulent plants in other random vessels. A quick browse of the interwebz has me brimming with inspiration.

First up is this gorgeous faceted glass hanging terrarium from Wit & Whistle. This is stunning! I noticed Urban Outfitters have a similar idea on sale here - I wonder if I can get it shipped to Australia safely without it breaking…

I love the idea of putting flowers in test tubes on my window sill – this is also from Urban Outfitters. And the porcelain skull that you can crack and plant is another great idea!

Clockwise from top left: Gorgeous off-white lace pot plants and hanging pots from IKEA, summer succulent garden from Oh Hello Friend and a tea cup succulent garden from Epheriell Designs.

Collaboration with Litographs.com

When I am not babbling on about travel or baking delicious treats, I am designing. I was recently approached by Danny from Litographs.com to collaborate together on some designs for his Litograph posters - prints that are created from the text of classic books.

He had spotted my Penguin book designs online and loved the contrast of the silhouette against the vintage wallpaper.

We ended up converting my design for Little Women to Emma by Jane Austen which suited it perfectly.

The finished product is available in colour and black and white and in 18″ x 24″ and 24″ x 36″ sizes.

The entire image is made up of text from Emma – here is a close up of the Emma print:

The black and white version:

Not only do Litographs produce great posters, but with each print you purchase, you send one book to a community in need through their partner, the IBB (The International Book Bank). Litographs helps provide books to international communities in need by upcycling excess books at home.

Purchase a copy of the Emma poster here. My Secret Garden design is coming out on 8 May and Mary Poppins not long after so stay tuned!

For more of my design work check out my Behance profile here or my personal portfolio site here.

Branching Out – Pantone, Hello Kitty and Ladurée

There is an emerging trend with brands including Pantone, Hello Kitty and Ladurée beginning to branch out into different areas.

♥ Pantone Makeup

Pantone is a serial repeat offender when it comes to “branching out” with Pantone flower pots, mugs, scales and peppermills to name a few! Now they have added a beauty line to their empire after teaming up with Sephora to create a makeup line based on Tangerine Tango, the 2012 Pantone Colour of the Year. The collection includes blush, eyeshadow, nail polish, false eyelashes and accessories all inspired by the colour tangerine.

♥ Hello Kitty x Ladurée

Possibly one of the cutest collaborations around, French macaron gods Ladurée have teamed up with Hello Kitty to create “a new chocolate, a collection of gift-boxes, and a collection of little accessories.” Unfortunately no cat shaped macarons *pout*

♥ Ladurée Makeup

Ladurée have collaborated with Albion Cosmetics to launch a beautiful makeup line in Japan (coming to Europe and the USA later in the year). The collection includes 20 different blush colors in the form of cameos as well as liquid foundation and lip color. The packaging is divine!

A colourful home

A lovely friend recently introduced me to the credit-card draining website Beautiful Spaces. A lot of ooohing and aaaahing soon commenced and I honestly don’t know where to start! So many colourful objects to brighten up your home. Should I buy the Pantone pots for my blossoming herb garden? The delicate bird shaped sugar cubes for my tea? Or the coloured sugar for my baking decorations?

This coloured sugar will surely brighten up the dreariest of afternoons – a spoonful of fushia sugar stirred through your tea or sprinkled on a vanilla cupcake.

These sugar hearts are almost too cute to use! But would be perfect for a special occasion like a high tea or engagement party.

And still on the topic of sugar we have these stunning bird, Eiffel Tower and cherry shaped sugar cubes. And some even hang off the edge of your teacup! Cuteness overload!

Continuing my love for all things Pantone - there are now Pantone pots! I need a rainbow of pots for my herb garden on my balcony that’s for sure.

And beautiful Solifleur vases

And finally we have Pantone breakfast sets and dinner sets. Meal time has never looked so fabulous!