My favourite users on Instagram

My addiction to Instagram is intensifying and I am constantly on the hunt for new IG users to follow for inspiration or just a little amusement. Here are my current favs!

♥ @hacth427

Dachshunds! Frollicking in fields! This user is from Japan and photographs their miniature dachshunds - Hatch is a boy who is 8 and Nico is a 3-month-old girl. I die a little of cuteness.

♥ @ayu0319

Another Japanese user who bakes and takes the most gorgeous pictures of her food. The styling is always so refined and elegant and constantly fills me with inspiration.

♥ @designlovefest

Bri from the amazing blog designlovefest fills her Instagram with cute hair and clothing ideas, inspiring design, travel snaps and more!

♥ @megan_morton

Megan Morton, stylist extraordinaire and founder of The School and The Studio posts cute craft projects, fabulous props and accessories and all things bright and colourful.

♥ @haruyonakano

Another amazing Japanese Instagrammer (can you see a trend here?) who takes stunning photos of food, desserts and everyday sights. Always simply styled and eye catching!

I really gotta step up my game with Instagram! Taking photos of my cat Bruce sniffing my finger just ain’t going to cut it anymore…

Who are your favourite Instagram users? Please share with us!

Planning a holiday?

I’m getting itchy feet again and am starting to plan my next holiday – once I finally decide on my destination of course! I’m thinking a few weeks in Reykjavík and New York. Heaven.

I thought I’d share with you some of my top travel tips to help you in planning your next escape.

Research and planning are always integral to a successful trip. My first step is always to investigate the climate in my destination(s) of choice. Knowing when to travel and how the seasons will affect your experience is super important. You don’t want to spend your beach holiday locked in your hotel room whilst a tropical cyclone rages!

Once you’ve settled on your time to go, start thinking about what sort of travel experience you want to enjoy on your next trip. Do you want to go on a group tour or embark on a solo adventure? Are you going to stay in a hotel, an apartment or a hostel?

Now that you’ve booked in all the components of your trip it’s time to start ticking things off your pre-departure checklist. Travel insurance, immunisation injections and visas need to be organised to ensure you stay safe and healthy during your holiday and don’t come back with any nasty bills or diseases!

Brush up on your long-haul flight survival skills and advice on how to stay healthy on a trip. But most importantly, relax and have an amazing time!

Once you’re finally home you will suffer the inevitable post-holiday blues - take time to appreciate what you have at home, then start fantasising about your next adventure!

For more travel advice check out my Travel Tips page.

Easter time = Chocolate Lovers Heaven

I love that Easter gives me an excuse to indulge (even more) in chocolate and I can somehow justify it. The past few weeks have seen a steady stream of dark chocolate eggs, choc chip hot cross buns and Lindt bunnies flow through our house.

I’m currently deciding what to bake for the Easter long weeekend celebrations and some of my recipes that have made the shortlist are:

♥ Fudgey Chocolate Brownies with White Choc Chips

♥ Super Easy Dark Chocolate Fudge

♥ Decadent Chocolate Devil’s Food Cupcakes

♥ Chewy chocolate chip cookies

♥ Intensely Rich Dark Chocolate Flourless Cake

♥ Spicy Chili Chocolate Cupakes

You may have noticed I have a major bias towards dark chocolate…. so just to mix it up a little here is a white chocolate option too.

♥ White Chocolate Cupakes

I hope these suggestions have given you some ideas for your Easter chocolate baking!

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!

Happy International Women’s Day!

Happy International Women’s Day everyone!

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of attending an AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) event entitled “Pink is the New Blue – Where the hell are all the women?”

I listed to Zoe Pollitt (Co-founder, Eskimo), Linda Jukic (Creative Director, Moon), Jacqueline Morony (Creative Director, Generation Alliance) and Yolanda Vega (Founder and CEO, Australian Womens’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) speak and was beyond inspired by these talented and successful women.

It was interesting listening to other people’s stories – one girl was recently told by her (female) teacher at uni that she would have a tough time finding a job when she graduates as she is of child bearing age (!!). I personally have been told by a few guys that they didn’t see me as a threat because when they are going for creative director roles, I will be off having babies. Nice.

I have touched on the subject of gender inequality in graphic design before in this post. I also have a Girls in Design category on my blog that currently features Jessica Hische and Gemma O’Brien - I have many, many more amazing and inspiring women to add to this section so stay tuned.

Go give your mum, sister, girlfriend or grandma a big hug and tell them they are awesome.

Delicious Desserts

My apartment is still in shambles – boxes everywhere, IKEA furniture semi-assembled, clothes stuffed in garbage bags…. And I can’t find my cupcake baking trays. Disaster! So as I can’t currently bake (and I am going a little stir crazy from baking withdrawls) I will have to satisfy my dessert obsession by looking at delightful baking images online (thank god for Pinterest).
 
♥ I want to get better at piping roses (good thing I am enrolled in a cupcake decorating course!)

Source: google.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ Loving these gorgeous heart shaped cookies. Great gift idea for a birthday or engagement.

Source: google.com.au via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ I need to make more desserts in jars! Looks sweet and is easily transportable. Win win :)

Source: babble.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ I must try and make a white chocolate cheesecake that hopefully looks half as good as this divine specimen

Source: translate.googleusercontent.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ HOMEMADE SNICKERS BAR. Need I say more?

Source: howsweeteats.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ Stunning layers of different shades of pink cake. Also loving the bunting decoration.

Source: call-me-cupcake.blogspot.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ Beautifully made and styled dessert table. I would be more than happy to have this at my next party!

Source: ruffledblog.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ Cupcakes baked in ice-cream cones – genius!

Source: theswellelife.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ And finally, quite possibly the most beautifully piped cookies I have ever seen.

Source: sweetsugarbelle.com via Swah on Pinterest

I am inspired and armed with a whole load of new recipes and techniques to test out. Keep an eye out for my results once the kitchen is officially up and running again!

Audrey Kawasaki

After lusting over Audrey Kawasaki’s work for years and seeing her exhibition back in 2010, I finally purchased my first print last night!

Where I Rest is still availale to purchase on Audrey’s site here

Audrey’s work is both innocent and erotic, combining the styles of Japanese manga and Art Noveau. She paints with oil paints directly onto wood, letting the pattern of the grain show through. The imagery she uses in her paintings is hauntingly beautiful and I can’t wait to add more to my collection!

For more examples of her work check out her site at www.audrey-kawasaki.com

Apartment Inspiration

After weeks and weeks of waking up early on Saturday mornings, dashing from inspection to inspection in the rain, filling in countless application forms and running ourselves ragged, my friend and I finally found our dream apartment. And our application was accepted Monday.

I can’t tell you how excited and relieved we were. Shrieking was involved. The apartment is beautiful – it has polished beechwood floors, THREE balconies, we each get our own bathroom, it has all the mod cons such as a dishwasher and air conditioning, it’s centrally located and even has a gym!

After getting the deposit, bond, moving arrangements and paperwork out of the way, my mind turned to decorating. I finally caved and got a Pinterest account and I am ADDICTED. Follow me on Pinterest here. I am currently suffering from inspiration overload!

♥ I want mismatched frames decorating my walls filled with art and photos

Source: alifeofblue.blogspot.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ Light filled rooms, piles of books and lots of WHITE

Source: juniperdesigns.typepad.com via Swah on Pinterest

Source: prettyplacesplease.tumblr.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ I want to create unique storage solutions for my home office

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ I want the world’s prettiest and most organised kitchen

Source: dashboard.bloglines.com via Swah on Pinterest

 

♥ And a thriving herb garden on my balcony

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via E on Pinterest

For more apartment inspiration check out my pinboard - I’ve only just started it but will be adding a lot more in coming days!

Why Should You Care About Typography?

I just stumbled across this beautiful infographic on typography recently and had to share. I wish I could properly credit the designer but all I can find out is that it was created by someone who only calls themselves “Noodlor”. I would have loved to refer to this when I started out studying design – such useful tips and hints. And I love the dig at Comic Sans ;)

And then of course….

Poster by Michael Ringor

Sweet Branding

Designing the visual identity for a sweets company would be my idea of a dream job, combining 2 of my greatest loves – design and food! Here are 2 great projects I stumbled upon recently.

CIOCCOLATO by Savvy Studio

This rebranding of Cioccolato, a pastry boutique, is colourful and fun whilst still retaining a high end feel for the store. Check out the rest of the images here

Sabadì by Happy Centro 

Beautiful packaging and logo design for chocolate company Sabadi. I love the warm colour palette and cheerful illustations. Check out the rest of the images here