THE RANT

OK, FIRE HYDRANTS

2011-09-21T00:55:00.000-07:00

Alright, i love New York fire hydrants. They are awesome. Not as boring red as the German ones. And i don't even know how the Australian version looks like. Grey?!

Anyways, i took a couple of pics.

Some people say "The streets are made of gold in New York." I don't think so, but some of the fire hydrants certainly are. This one's even got a little fucking crown.

Pink! Awesome! And silver. I thook this near where the US Open are held. And there was this cop van on the other side of the street. And the cop set off his siren. And there is like a lot of police in New York, they are fucking everywhere, so i was already paranoid. So i was like "What do you want?!" And he is like "...snakes.." And me "What? Snakes?" And he is like "....snakes.. ..!" And me "What do you mean snakes? I can't see any snakes!" And he is like, finally leaning out of the window "That was a mistake!" And me, well it fucking better. Ha ha. The guy gave me a fucking fright!

This one is awesome. Nice and compact AND yellow. So cute!

And this one is for my blog readers. because you are so awesome! This was taken on a rainy day in Prospect Park before the storm.

If you go the New York or have any cool hydrants where you live, keep an eye out for them.
And send me your best picture!

STUFF YOU FIND...

2011-09-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

In New York you find all kinds of things.

It's not the clubs and rooftop bars and the shopping that i love about New York. I just love to walk around and take pictures of all the crazy people and the crazy shit you see in the streets.(ah yeah and the food, i love the food)

Go to some flea markets(this one is at the Brooklyn Flea market). I thought it was funny, "Bush Family Values" next to a skull+crossbones. Nice!!

"Hail Piggy!" or sumthing! I just found it funny what some people put in front of their restaurants. People seem to be obsessed with animals in uniform or clothes or whatever. Lucky this one isn't holding a bunch of sausages as they sometimes do..

And my favourite flea market find this year.. What are these?! Little fuck dolls or what? My opinion is still swaying between hilariously cute and kinda creepy! Btw, their pants were already pulled down. Great selling point, i get it!

I ♥ QUEENS

2011-09-18T03:04:00.000-07:00

Last year when i went to Queens i totally didn't like it. Just got off at a random stop and it obviously wasn't the right one.

So, this year we tried again..

And we ended up at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

It was fucking awesome!! I totally loved it!

You get to see all these remnants and ruins from the 1939-40 and 1964-65 New York World's Fairs. It's just totally amazing and space age.

Some space age observation towers.

This is pretty awesome! Time capsules!

"Buried alongside the 1938 capsule, this container holds an additional 50,000 microfilm pages, tranquilizers, one checkered bikini, credit cards, a fifty-star American flag, tektite, Beatles record "A Hard Day's Night" birth control pills, plastic wrap material from Echo II satellite, Kent filter cigarettes, detergent, freeze dried foods, irradiated seeds, a plastic heart valve, an electric toothbrush, and desalted Pacific Ocean water."

The New York Hall of Science.

Yeah, so overall i would really recommend this as a destination if you want to see something a bit different on your next trip to New York. I'll be back!

Melbourne Beach- For Fucks Sake Keep It Clean

2011-07-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

It's not difficult to make a beach beautiful, all you gotta do is just keep it clean.

Melbourne has such pretty beaches, but some of them are seriously spoiled! It's disgusting!

Melbourne might be on a bay, but that's no excuse.

People throw their rubbish around, the city pumps sewage or whatever it is in the sea(definitely smells like sewage sometimes).

Sure they drain storm water in the bay, but is this disgusting shit really necessary? I mean this water seriously looks like moulding jelly!

This thing is funny. I have no idea what it is. It reminds me of a clothes rack. It would be funny if someone would go up there and dry their clothes on it. It's pretty big too.

So, Keep it clean Melbourne. Your beaches are like one of the best things about this city. It's not that difficult.

A SALE AND NEW DESIGNS

2011-07-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Made a couple of leggings lately. What you reckon?

Platinum Leggings

This is the first pair i ever made, pretty awesome right?! I wear leggings every day in winter. Every. Day. Strict No Pant Rule. So yeah, dunno why it took me so long..

Cherry Blossom Night

One of my favourites, kind of subtle, but kind of not. Cute print too.

Bubblegum Scrunchy Leggings

And those ones, not so subtle, but still one of my favourites(you notice a theme here?)

They and everything else in my shop are on Sale at the moment, just put in coupon code: 'IWANTSUMMER' at checkout and receive 20%off(until Sunday).

Have a super awesome and lovely and sunny weekend.:)

WINTER SOLSTICE

2011-06-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.

They had a week of celebrations in Fed Square in Melbourne. We went one night, it was nice.
Lots of dances by different nationalities, pretty cool music and interesting performances.

The music was mostly trancy, which combined with the costumes nearly put me in some sort of hypnosis.

They built this pyramid thing a couple of weeks ago. Kids could decorate lanterns and then they put them up on the structure. For some reason they turned them off most of the time, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Of course it takes two supervisors to watch over a fire.

Nice fire pit. They could have thrown a couple of more logs on it.

Fiiire.. oops, just put me into a trance again..

Loved this woman from the Japanese performance. They did a dance to remember the people who died in the Japan earthquake. Sad.

Good Night! And lets hope summer comes sooon!!

LYPTIS UPDATE

2011-06-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the feature on Lyptis on Maddablings blog? It was pretty fun to answer some questions and take some pictures of my studio.

That's me in my studio

I'm planning on doing a Giveaway once i hit 300 likers on my facebook page. At the moment i got 100, give or take a few, but i just wanted to give you a heads up. The Giveaway has to run trough my blog though, because of Facebook's policies, which is kind of annoying, but that's how they roll.

Thinking about giving away one of these.

I might even do one when i hit 400 Etsy Sales. Watch this space and i'll also keep you updated on my Facebook page of course.

Other then that here are some new items.

Hoodie Cowl Jumper in Cherry Red

High Waisted Circle Skirt

Making some shrugs tomorrow which i'll list throughout the week. And i'm thinking about listing some fleece jumper dresses in white. What you think?

What Ya Doing At The Weekend?

2011-05-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

So, it's the weekend what are you up to?
I will tell you what i am doing.
That's where i am going tonight, a talk by Gail Dines and i'm so excited.

I just think this woman is amazing. You can check out one of her websites here. I watched a couple of her youtube videos and she's pretty awesome. If you are interested in this this is another great website www.antipornography.org, its got heaps of resources on it.

Last weekend i checked out the Handmade Show in Oakleigh, Melbourne, to see what my friends were up to there. Pretty cozy venue with a little stage and velvet curtains. I also got to take a picture of this ..rabbit. First i thought it had little boobs but we got corrected pretty quickly by the little artist herself. Those are paws of courz! Didn't you hate that when you were a kid and people didn't know what they were talking about? I sure did.

Cute!

Ok, a picture of my friend Kerri of Vintage Sew And So. I'm afraid she is gonna bite my head off when she sees it, coz she looks a bit angry in it. But she is really a nice lady. She brought her teenage daughter along too. Lucky for her her daughter is really sweet, at that age some girls are lying in a drug induced coma in the street gutter. I won't name any names..
Anyways, that's Kerri and her stall..(my camera is pretty crap with indoor lighting, so this is the only half decent picture).

Love those polka dotted buntings..

Yeah, normally i just loiter around the streets of Melbourne on my weekends.. Last time i ran into this guy.. Dunno, maybe that's what these Melbournians consider to be art/culture? It's fuckin scary!

So what you doing? Are there any things you'd like to see or try?

I Miss The Freaks

2011-05-08T02:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes i miss NYC. I wish i could just pack up my bags and go there now.
I like the freaks. And i miss them.

Sometimes i see people running around the streets there, shouting or wearing the craziest things or just doing really random shit. I love it. It's so entertaining.

Even the window displays in the shops are so fun! Old shops, weird shops, random shit. Whatever. I like to just walk around and check out the people and the buildings and all the shops.

Some of the shops look like they're stuck with a window display from like decades ago. Some look like the person doing the window is slightly disturbed.

Ah yeah, and one of the best times we had in NYC was at the Upper East Side at this deli and there were all these cookie old people and i just had such a great time(no photos though, i try to be polite). Man, if i was living there, this would be my local hangout.

Now i have to just scratch all the money together i can so i can go back there soon enough.

What are your favourite places? And why?

Picnics, Shooting, Easter Bunnies

2011-04-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Went to Perth over Easter, this year i was lucky, normally my Birthday is during the week, this year it was on a Saturday AND on the Easter weekend. I never work on my Birthday, it's the rule. And i also decided i'd like to go away for it. So last year we went to Tasmania and this year we went to Perth.

Lots of building going on in Perth, half the city is a construction site, no joke!

We have been wanting to go to Perth for Years. It's ridiculous! We even wanted to move here about 3 years ago, but then we didn't. I'm glad we didn't, i'm not a small town girl, small city.., same thing.

Anyways, i liked Perth, it's nice. It's a picnic city, it has lots of nice gardens and parks and the beaches aren't far and very beautiful. Busy with surfers though, which is ridiculous because the waves are really small and shitty and crash right at the beach, but whatever, they gotta know, pretty pathetic display though.

That's me playing around with the target

So we went to the local shooting range for a day. We wanted to do that for years too, finally crossed that off our list. We shot 2 different guns, shotgun and a 9mm semi-automatic, it was great fun but i was nearly shitting myself when i heard the guns go off the first couple of times. Fuckin scary!!

Guns are bolted in so you don't fucking shoot your head off by accident

Then we went to Fremantle, it was pretty shit, around the harbour/beach where they have the lookout thing it was quite nice. But all in all pretty fuckin boring! I got a nice ice cream though, Nutella and milk/cherry. So i was somewhat content.

Nice park at Fremantle/Harbour

Perth has a really nice, really wide river, which is much cleaner then the shitty, dirty Yarra river we got in Melbourne. It looks like a bay, that's how wide it is. Yeah, Perth is a cool chill city to relax and have picnics and even go out at night to some of the bars in the cooler parts of the town.

A disgusting weird thing that looked like it's been around for at least 500 million years that we found near Perth river

On my birthday we had a picnic(what else), a drive through the hip suburbs, a couple of walks and then went to one of my friend's houses, she invited me for dinner. That was really nice and it was great meeting people there, makes it more personal.

And some pretty crude Easter window decoration

We had a nice Easter, i hope you did too. What you do?

The internet is eating my life!

2011-04-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday i took a whole day off from the internet. It was awesome.
I'm on the internet so much, sometimes i feel like my eyes are going to pop out and afterwards i'm just quite confused and exhausted.

Slightly confused..

Everything is on the internet, my business, my friends, entertainment, education.. Watching movies, i even do that on the computer.

Sometimes i wish life would be more simpler, in every way. But i suppose you have to make it.

This is me after a whole day and night on the internet, i'm just not quite this happy.

When i'm not on the internet and i have a day off, those are the things i like doing,

going for a walk
reading classic, old English novels, i just rediscovered that
going to the library, same, i just rediscovered that too, i always loved libraries
baking, gotta do more of that
cleaning and tidying, yeah, i DON'T really like it, but i like the result
loitering about in the city, going out for breakfast
going for random drives
ah yeah and the beach, the beach is great.

This is me after a whole night on the internet. Check out my EYES!!

We actually went to the beach on Saturday, but it was fuck windy. Which means you are basically getting attacked by a sand storm and if you don't move for like 3 hrs i'm sure you would just disappear.

My eyes, my eyes, my brain is exploding! So many things to focus on!

So those are some of the things i like to do on a lazy internet free weekend. What are yours?

Picture credits:

1. spokis cornu by medusawolf(awesome shop)
2. Kenny Rainbows by berkleyillustration
3. ACEO illustration of the mysterious frabbit by scarableu
4. speku coron by medusawolf

Just a little bit disturbing or is it not?

2011-04-06T03:50:00.000-07:00

Got a couple of videos i found on my journey on Youtube last night.

First one is about Swansea Junkies, Swansea as in Wales. I always forget about Wales. Or that it is part of the U.K. I remember Ireland and Scotland of being somewhere around there. And i've even been there, to Cardiff to be exact, i liked it, probably coz i visited some of my friends there. No junkies, just a whole bunch of Queers.

Next one is NOT for the faint hearted! There are some GRAPHIC IMAGES in there, so please if you are sensitive to such matters don't watch the video.
It's about the Body Farm, an anthropological research facility of the University of Tennessee. Basically they got a whole bunch of donated(by the people who died) bodies lying around there under all sorts of different conditions, so they can measure the decay.. well you get the picture..
I found it watching some German videos, but the only English one i could find was quite graphic, i still think it is really interesting.

I love the next trailer, it's from a German movie called "Zeit zu gehen"which means "Time To Go"(there are no words in the trailer). I haven't watched the movie, but it it shot in a hospice, which is basically a place where people go to die.

The film is made by Anita Natmeßnig who is a physiotherapist and coach and her website is quite appropriately titled "Time to live -now".
Which i completely agree with, we definitely should appreciate life more and accept death as a part of it.
I think the trailer is so extraordinarily sweet and touching. I think everyone should have to opportunity to die in peace and with people around who care.

Talking about junkies this one is just plain funny. Love that Little Britain character, not my favourite part of it, but nevertheless funny!

And this one is just a random clip about geeks and it is PRETTY AMAZING!!
Love it when people get really good at (random) shit!

Ok, that's it for today, if you got some crazy shit video leave it in the comments. Hope you enjoyed the post.

Random Rant

2011-03-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

Always good.

Why do some people jizz their pants over finding a microbe on mars, but have no respect for indigenous tribes they find in some rainforest.

We are always looking out in space for someone to give us the answer. But really if they are weaker then us we just gonna fuck them over, invade their planet and exploit their resources. That’s what we do on our own planet so why should we have respect for anyone elses?!

And if they are more intelligent then us, i almost, but not really, wish they would fuck us over, like the West has done it so many times with other cultures and countries.

Watch this film about the storage of nuclear waste. It's really good, kind of philosophical. I'm totally against nuclear energy it's unnecessary, corrupt and totally unevolved.

(EDIT: Just wanted to say that this film is really cool, one question it asks is how can we communicate to future generations in 1000's of years time how dangerous nuclear waste is and that it's disposal sites shud be left untouched. I can't find the whole feature in one youtube clip, but you can watch it in 5 parts here.)

This clip is very interesting, 2 weeks old, but ongoing issues. It's scary what so called democratic governments are up to.

Human beings think they are so smart and superior to anything else on the planet, but really we are the most self destructive and destructive in general, thus the most stupidest, because we got the resources and could be living the good life, but chose not to.

THE MIRROR

2011-03-16T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday i went to see the show for Hopeless Lingerie’s new range The Mirror. Inspired by the duality of good and evil it’s an all white collection made for honeymooning brides and of course everyone else.

The show was held at the Butterfly Club, a kinda kitschy/creepy cabaret bar in Melbourne’s South, which is just an extraordinary venue.

Anyways, the show was nice and Gaby was nice, we had only met over the internet previously so it was great meeting her in person and to have a bit of a chat to her.
We got there a bit early, but the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed and loungy, not at all as stressful and frantic as i expected.

Not being used to shoot pictures in dimly lit rooms i was fiddling around with my camera settings for half of the time, but i’m actually quite happy with how the pictures turned out.

My favourite piece

So i thought i would ask Gaby a couple of questions about the show and the range and she was so kind to answer them for me.

...

So first of all i wanna Congratulate you again on a successful show. It was really cool. Do you wanna tell us a bit about the people that were involved in organizing it?

I pretty much organized it all myself! I only had a week in which to do it, and thankfully two of my wonderful model friends were happy to help out. And also another friend who is a makeup artist was available to do that side of things at short notice. The venue is owned by a friend of a friend so that side of things was also very lucky!

How many shows have you done already? How are they different? What are you learning from them?

I have only been part of one other group show - and that was with 7 other brands - it was a very different experience and much more stressful, as I did not get to make any decisions about models, running order, timing or anything else. This was a much better experience as I could really do what I wanted to do, and could run things to my liking. Next time it would be great to have a little more time to invite guests and have a couple more models. Other than that there is not much I would do differently! I think the most important thing is to have a great venue, and then most of the work is already done for you.

How did you come up with using Tony from Terry Gilliam's Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus as an inspiration for the range?

I always base my ranges around a film. And I am a huge fan of Terry Gilliam - after watching the film I thought it would be best to take one element to use as inspiration, as there as so many visual elements I could have been distracted by. I like how Tony always wears a white suit, and you are never really sure if he is good or bad.

Gaby with her lovely models

What’s next for Hopeless?

I plan on doing 3 more small ranges this year (one for each season) and then another show at the end of the year!

---
Hopeless Lingerie’s on Etsy
Hopeless Lingerie on Facebook

RANDOM UPDATE

2011-03-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas we made some furniture for our new, much nicer house. Haven't gotten around to posting pictures til now, but here they are.
We built a towel ladder,

Then we built a seat for the lounge, here it is as work in progress, not sanded yet.

I'm especially proud of this one, key bench/coat rack thing,

I'm trying to use natural finishes as much as possible, here are some shellac flakes, before being dissolved in methylated spirits. The finish turns out really nice, golden and shiny, but is not resistant to heat at all.:( It seems pretty waterproof tho.

Not getting around to doing much since i have been working full-time/overtime after Christmas. Don't know how other people still have hobbies/a life besides their dayjob and keeping their house clean which is a priority for me.

Anyways, here are some messages for the like 5 people who read my blog sometimes,
Sandy, when you guys get some black (double) knit fabric in can you let me know? I have been looking my fuckin eyes out all over Melbourne and frankly I am pretty sick of it and thinking of migrating(not sure that would help though).

Soner, i know you asked me ages ago, but yeah, when you click the link on the left hand side with all the little pictures of my dresses on it, you get redirected to my website/shop. Depending on your browser settings it should open another window.

Snowbrush, Thanks for asking, I am ok, just really freaking busy! Anyways, yes i used to follow your blog, but not anymore coz you're always so mean to your lady. But don't take that too personal i don't really read blogs in general, almost never. And Yes the pet moved outside. I also blocked the door now, so there shouldn't be any new pets coming along. Hope you're well too.

Christian, Hi!:)

And Hi Louisa, I'm glad you like my blog. Leave a comment!:)

Love Coney Island

And Hello of course to all the other readers. Leave a comment and say Hello! Always nice to meet you guys!:)
You can follow my Facebook page, i set one up for my label,
http://www.facebook.com/lyptis
That would be awesome!
Its a bit bare coz i just set it up, but it won't be for long if you're leaving some nice comments and pictures(NICE pictures) on it.:)

SATAN AND OUR INVOLUNTARY PET

2010-12-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

We moved house over the weekend. Saturday was fairly stressful I thought it would be more fun, just shifting everything and the old house looked so depressing half empty, but the new one wasn’t quite set up yet.
I hate that part of the transition, when you’re kind of in the air.
Sunday was far more relaxed, setting up all the furniture, putting it into it’s place. Great. Love the new house, wooden floors, no carpet. But beige walls, i don’t know what’s up with that, but i have to adapt i suppose.

On my first day here i heard my neighbour call his dog, he sounds like Satan, has the most angriest, raspy, creepy voice i think i’ve ever heard. I assume he owns a German Shepard. He also has a very strong like for 70’s/80’s radio stations he listens too very loudly while playing with his power tools. Mmhh, ...fucking white trash.

The last tenants of our house must have been Chinese, this stuff hangs on three doors. I kinda like it, i wudn’t put it up myself, so it’s different. Also Chinese people seem to be quite superstitious in general. You know all this red and gold and number eights and cats and whatnot. I'll leave it up, maybe it brings good luck or something. I think i’m a bit superstitious myself.
If anyone can read it, let me know what it means.

Here is the breakfast we had on the first day, to keep us going.

Me with my favourite tool of the day.

Ah, and some other favourites of mine. How could you move in somewhere without those.

Clayton, where i live now, seems to be full of wildlife, it’s only one suburb up from where i used to live, but there is/was fucking Redback paradise in our garage, snails are like all over the place on the patio and slugs. And fucking spiders, mosquitoes, bug things wandering through the house like it's a fucking bug pilgrimage.

That’s also how we got our involuntary pet. I dubbed her Frieda(after one of my best friends baby daughter, it was the first name that came to mind, Christian this is for you:)
And Yes, Frieda crawled her way inside the house with a slug friends of hers.

What did you on the weekend? Do you have any little or big projects going?

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH MY LIFE

2010-12-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend we are moving into a new house. We were actually planning on moving (back) to Berlin in spring next year, in April, but then we postponed it for another year.
We have been doing this for probably the last 3 years and i'm feeling truly sorry for my 3 friends back home who i'm always telling i will be back soon.
I have been living in Australia for almost 5 years now and i'm not sure if it's life in the suburbs, Australian culture or my dead end jobs, but my brain feels like it has been soaked in fabric softener for too long and it's not a nice feeling.

But we decided to be sensible and stay another year, need to save up quite a bit of money to move there and not stress about it. But i REALLY wanted to move into a new house. The house we got now.. where do i start..?! We actually found a new one quite quickly this time, i loved it straight away, it's got floorboards, a nice kitchen and bathroom, it's fairly big and bright, it's got a patio and even partial solar power. Now, that is pretty cool.
So now it's all comparing fridges, carpet cleaners and electricity providers for me. Not too exciting, but i'm looking forward to getting it all organized and settling in.

My label has been on the back burner for a little while now, actually a year, since i started working full-time again. I'm getting a new studio, it's smaller, only one room, now i got 2, but i'm sure it's gonna be nice. So once i set it all up i might be able to focus on some new stuff.

I also booked a new craft class, just for me. It's an upholstery class and i'm pretty excited about it.

It's gonna be great to do up some old chairs i got around the house, i also wanna get myself some cool sanders for Christmas. Awesome. Stay tuned, because i am planning on putting up before/after pictures.

I also told all my twitter friends about my new upholstery obsession and my lovely friend Kerri decided to book the class with me. I'm so excited. Now we can drool over fabrics and power tools together.

So that's basically it, i'm staying here for now, got a new house, a new studio and hopefully some pretty upcycled furniture soon. And i also wanna do a dressmaking class, once i find one that fits my schedule.

You got any exciting new plans? Let me know, i'd love to hear about them.

I took the photos in New York. I Love NY. And i miss it. I call the pictures 'Studies in Steel', i love steel too.

NYC

2010-09-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

Went to NYC for 3 weeks, just came back a bit over a week ago, already seems like ages ago that i went, every day that passes it becomes more of a memory and less of a reality.

It's a shame, i really really like NYC. Living in the sticks(Melbourne suburbs) isn't exactly a natural habitat for me. Nevertheless..

I love NY coz it's got so many freaks and noise and cars and awesome buildings and all the cultural stuff and of course shopping. It's awesome.

Here are some pictures.
First one is LA, Santa Monica Beach, we flew over Auckland and LA.

Next one is the view of the park from our hotel room. Lovely isn't it?!

The common sight of some sort of steel bridge/building concoction. We did a cruise circling Manhattan, it took 3 hours, by the end of it i was really cranky and tired. But i took lots of pictures of bridges.

Love the park of course, what would Manhattan be without it?! Pretty ugly i reckon.

And another view from the water, nice buildings..

I will post some more soon, got a new computer now, so should be on here more often.

Bye then.

THINGS TO DO IN MELBOURNE-EUREKA TOWER

2010-06-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

The last weeks i have been feeling a bit uninspired with my blog. I can barely catch up with everything in my life, even without trying to deal with safari and its several disorders(on my computer my blog only runs on safari).

A while ago we went to the Eureka Tower in Melbourne. I guess it's one of the things to do here, highest building and all and good views and such things, it was quite nice, so i thought i show you some of the pictures.

This is Melbourne.

As you might be able to see, Melbourne is like an island. The CBD has some tallish buildings, but all around it are suburbs, which are basically ugly clusters of little houses.

That's the other side. We got quite a lot of beach here.

Looks like toy buildings.

I like this picture. It expresses my general mood quite well.

Apparently you can also buy nazi paraphernalia in the souvenir shop. People might wanna check certain hate codes before printing merchandise, but hey, not everyone can know those things.
Still, who buys a jumper with the number of storey's of a tourist attraction printed on it. I mean seriously?

ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES

2010-06-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life feels like just ticking the boxes and filling in the blanks.
You go to school, get a job, get a partner, marry, have kids, get a car, a house, stuff and have the optional hobby and travel.
Not that its necessarily bad to live like that, but it would be good if there were some more options.

For example, of course, i can decide if i want to have kids or not, but as a woman, i feel I'm living in a society where its expected from me to become a mother at some point, otherwise my life is not seen as completely fulfilled.

It can be difficult at the best of times to go your own way in this society, but i think its important to stand up for the life you want to live and to be the person you truly feel you are.

I want to share with you some different ways of living, videos of different housing solutions people chose for their lives which i find interesting.

The first is about an eco village in Kew, where people occupied vacant land and built tents and huts from reclaimed material, started to grow their own food and live sustainably.
As far as i heard the Kew site has been evicted by now, but people are always on the lookout for new land and might actually have a new site already by now.

Then there is Coed Hills, an artist community living in the forests of South Wales.
I like the yurts. I like some of the ideas. Probably would hang out there for 2 or 3 weeks, but i like my hot shower and clean clothes(its a bit muddy).

And then there is my ABSOLUTE favourite way of building houses and living and that is the 'Earthships'!

The earthship concept got to be THE most sustainable way of building houses and its just so elegant and stylish.
I don't think living consciously and in harmony with nature can't also be amazingly beautiful and comfortable at the same time and it just makes so much sense.

Once i got money i surely will get one of these, might even build some of it myself.

If you wanna find out more about this subject, you might wanna watch 'Garbage Warrior'. Its a documentary about the founder of the earthships and explains the idea even better.
I cant find the movie online, but here is the trailer,

THINGS I USED TO DO

2010-05-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

(dragons)

Years ago i used to draw. I was quite obsessed with my own world and expressing it through pictures and photographs and i loved watching movies, still do.

(giraffe)

I have rather fond memories of it and when i come across my old markers and pictures i sometimes regret that i stopped doing it, most of my pictures i did 8-9 years ago. Sitting in my cold Berlin flat by myself.

(self portrait with dog)

Just being obsessed with cute things, things with eyes. I didn't take any drugs either, i just like colours. And i liked the texture of certain papers and the weight of it.

(teddy bear)

Now i sew. I like the more tactile aspect of working with fabric, it's not just visual. I like that fabric is more sturdy and that you can get it wet and it gets back into shape again.
Not that I've ever gotten my pictures wet.

(self portrait)

What things did you like to do that you are no longer doing? Do you resent them or think of them rather fondly? Why have you moved on?

REFLECTIONS ON PORT ARTHUR

2010-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last i went to Port Arthur, as a tourist, in case you don't know, I'm German and have been living in Australia for 4 years now.

Its quite difficult to say in a few words what i experienced there and what my thoughts have been since then.

History seems to be very selective at Port Arthur, which is one of Australia's major tourist sites, formerly being Australia's biggest industrial town built on convict labour.

The one history that people rather want to forget is, that it is also the site of Australia’s biggest shooting massacre by a single gunman.

Since i’ve been there and read more about it, i came across a lot of things regarding this case that didn't really make any sense, so i have a couple of questions, so many in fact i wont put them all up here.

One of the first things i found was this video of the witness account by Wendy Scurr, first of the staff members to enter the Broad Arrow Cafe and i found it very interesting what she had to say. I also think this woman is immensely strong and has a lot of courage.

I split up my questions into 3 segments to make them more concise.

THE VICTIMS

Why didn’t the police, on account of Wendy Scurr, want to know about her experience at the Broad Arrow Cafe when they were questioning her?

Why was there a cover up over a “broken”(not locked) fire escape door, through which at least 7 people from the gift shop area could have escaped?

Why did no politicians respond to or outright refuse the plea of the victims and witnesses for an inquiery, on the grounds of it being too painful for them(the victims) and being too expensive? The biggest massacre in Australian history and a coronial inquiery is too expensive, but the government had 50 million dollars to buy back guns after the incident?

Why was compensation never paid to the victims and their families?

THE TRIAL/THE CASE

The man convicted of the crimes, Martin Bryant, pleaded innocent for months after being arrested.

Why was he allowed to plead if he was deemed incapable of being able to file a plea due to his mental disability(he was on a disability pension and had an IQ of 66)and the only conclusion would have been a trial?

Why did his first lawyer David Gunson step aside and let John Avery do the defence?

Why did Bryant plead guilty after Avery took over his defence, his lawyer knew there would be no reduction of his sentence for a crime of that size and knew that pleading guilty would cost his client a trial, in fact Avery seemed rather determined to get that guilty plea.

If you look at the timeline and the complexity of the massacre, e.g. how evidences were destroyed through fire and explosion/damaging of guns, it quickly becomes clear that a mentally disabled, inexperienced person wouldn't be able to think of such things.

Why were there only a handful of police officers at the scene until the majority of police arrived more then 6 hours later, Hobart just being over an hour away, but ambulances were already there?

How come there was a 22 people hearse stationed in South Tasmania, when the murder rate in Tasmania before the incident was about 6 a year and that vehicle was the only one in the whole country.

THE MEDIA

"One indisputable fact is that the Australian news media shamelessly inflamed public opinion against Martin Bryant, thereby destroying what little chance he stood of having a fair trial, should he have decided to maintain his initial 'not guilty' plea."

http://candobetter.org/node/1931

This is just one clip of the manipulated video footage the public was presented. In this video you can clearly see there are 3 men standing casually on the terrace in the background and this guy was actually carrying blankets to victims at the bus area.

The media also published Bryant's photograph, without authorisation, all over the front pages 2 days after his arrest, rendering any sort of identifications or lineups with witnesses useless.

This documentary gives probably the best account of the events. The quality isn't great, but i think its very comprehensive.

Brigadier Ted Serong, who is an Australian Vietnam veteran makes it clear that Martin Bryant could not have been responsible for the mass murder at Port Arthur. "There was an almost satanic accuracy to that shooting performance" he says. "Whoever did it is better than I am, and there are not too many people around here better than I am".

NO TRIAL

NO INQUIERY

NO CORONIAL INQUEST

You got to be kidding me?

This case is such a huge injustice, not just to the person persecuted of these crimes, but also the victims, their loved ones and witnesses.

This whole subject gives me a whole new view on Australian politics. I'm actually disgusted and it makes me very sad!

That's not to say that i think its better in any other country..

Do you take everything the mainstream media tells you at face value?

Where do you get your information from?

What do you do when you feel the government isn't doing the right thing by the people?

There is also a facebook group demanding an inquiery, which i have joined,
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91420938632

Here are some links if want to read more(and there is a whole lot of stuff on the internet about it if you search Martin Bryant cover up/innocent),
http://candobetter.org/node/1931
http://www.whale.to/b/viallspam.html#MARTIN_BRYANT_-_THE_OTHER_STORY_
http://www.whale.to/b/wernerhoff.html

I really appreciate your comments on this subject, please keep them respectful otherwise i cannot publish them.

TEXTURES OF TASMANIA

2010-04-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

As i said in my last post, we had a little treat planned for my birthday.

So we went to Tasmania for 4 days, last weekend.

It was quite cold and raining a lot.

I wasnt impressed, but it was ok. And i quite liked getting out of here.

Tasmania is quite redneck, the towns are small and the nature is pretty and probably nicer to travel in summer.

We spent my birthday in Launceston, its very small and it was very rainy and windy.

The prettiest thing there is the Gorge, its worth going to, got lots of walking tracks and chair lifts and stuff. Thats where i took most of those pictures.

I only took pictures on the 1st day coz then my memory stick was full with 330 pictures and i cudnt buy a new one, no shops open on Sunday and no computer. So only one day.

I like Hobart and surroundings, very interesting historically, convicts and stuff and the day we went there it was really nice and sunny.(more about that later)

Lots of animals roaming around Tasmania, the streets and the sky. Lots of roadkill too. Sad.

Because of the weather my favourite pastime was checking out old candy stores and i scored quite some treats there.

Birthday/Deathday

2010-04-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

My 30th birthday is going to be on Friday.

The whole last year ive kept thinking that im 30 already.

I have been in a midlife crisis since i was 16. Seriously. Thoughts like, 'Oh, but im too old to start this/do something new.' constantly go through my mind.

I had my birthday outfit already picked out 3 weeks ago.

Normally i dont have parties, i just spend the day with my boyfriend. And i got a schedule for this year already,
-cake
-more cake
-and more cake

-go for a nice walk

-fish&chips by the pier

Pretty good ey?

If you ever get stuck with buying me a present, its really easy, pretty vintage screwback earrings will always do.

My boyfriend forgot my birthday last year. That made me really sad. But i compensated by making him my slave for 3 days after, which was kind of worth it.

I got a treat planned for us this time too, i will tell you about it later.

When i think about birthdays i also think about how life passes by, about life and death.

If i was Christian and i would believe in the paradise, id have a fucking party everytime somebody i loved died. Coz ure going to see them again, its like ure going for an awesome world roundtrip and they are just waiting for you in another country. No biggie right?!
So i reckon cemetaries are a too solemn place to celebrate such an occasion properly. They shud be full of streamers and party hats.
I also think headstones should tie in with the whole theme then, they should say things like "Well fuckin done mate, you've finally made it!" Its like an achievement.

Now im an atheist, but you can obviously believe whatever you want, except for my sister of curz(STOP IT ALREADY!).

Whenever i see or speak to the old people in my family i think, this might be the last time im going to do this. Next time they might be gone or completely senile.

Some people say, "Live every day like its your last." I think that is Bullshit. Id spend all my money, never go to work and eat probably tons of cake(and lets not forget about the crack cocain) and by the end of the day id probably end up in some sort of institution.
I think there shud be a balance, u shud appreciate the people in ur life and urself too. Do things that are fun instead of always having to achieve something or meet a schedule.

Instead of saying"Everybody is good at something or the best at something" why not say "Everybody has fun doing something it doesnt matter how good ure at it".:)

Enjoy yourselves.

(btw the pictures are from Tanunda Cemetary which is in the Barossa Valley SA, where we went over Easter see last post)

WEEKEND TRIP

2010-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Over Easter we went to Adelaide. It was very nice. Much better then i expected. But then i have lowered my expectations considerably. When it comes to travel and in general. But Adelaide was nice.

buildings near the river

We drove there. It was nice to see the country again, at least for the first 4 hours.

fountain on the river

Adelaide has a lot of food, especially around Gouger Street, where we stayed and ate out every night. Lots of Chinese restaurants but you can find other stuff too.

South Australian Museum

We went to the Adelaide Museum.

something scratching its back at the South Australian museum

And the Art Gallery.

the Big Mother/Art Gallery of South Australia

And to the Immigration Museum too.

kids clothing in the Immigration Museum

My feet hurt SO much by the end of the day, the first night i could barely stand up to go to dinner.

Interesting statement in the Immigration Museum

On Sunday we went to the Glenelg Beach, which was pretty nice, some shade and lots of families around having picnics. Not like St.Kilda Beach in Melbourne, which is mostly infested by junkies and backpackers.

Lion welcoming you at the South Australian Museum

Then we went to the Barossa Valley, where they got vineyards and tree lined country roads and stuff. Pretty. Lots of German immigration history there too. If you are into those sort of things, its the place to go.

weird mask at the South Australian Museum(imagine wearing that, urgh)

Ah, yeah, on the way to Adelaide, we also had a stopover in Hahndorf. Its some sort of Bavarian/German looking tourist village, where you can buy shit, like fancy sausages and gift baskets and eat pretzels. Well worth it.

random Hahndorf picture

Since i decided to limit my time in Australia now, i kinda wanna see it all before i leave. Its always a question of money and time tho. Next stop is Tasmania, that shud be nice too.

another random Hahndorf picture

Spammers, News and a Fashion Show

2010-02-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Yeah, i know, i havent posted anything for AGES! There never seem to be any time and the blogspot/safari/firefox combination is frequently spazzing out on me.
First of all, i enabled comment moderation now, so there will be a delay in comments showing up. Im sorry about that, i didnt want to do it, but i had my blog frequently attacked lately with stupid spammy mass comments. So yeah, it was necessary.

Other news, ive got a new day job now. Yay! I mean *yay!* as far as it goes day job wise.
It pays well, i can sit down(well away from people) and yeah everyone seems to be nice. What more can i asked for?! Because it is quite time demanding i reduced the items in my Etsy shop now, but after i worked things out over here, i will hopefully be adding more again soon.

And yeah, the Slow Fashion Show im participating in is happening this Saturday(like tomorrow) in Melbourne. If you got time, its FREE. Yeah, so i will be there and there is the Sustainable Living Festival happening on Federation Square, could be a nice day out.

Ok, hopefully see you there and have an AWESOME weekend!:)

RAINBOWREVOLUTION-LEARN FROM THE BEST(DUST TEAM)

2009-10-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

Today im feeling very honoured to give you an interview with one of our best-selling shops from the DUST team(Down Under Street Team), Leanne from Rainbowrevolution.
Leanne makes colourful scarves and wraps and other beautiful rainbow items and i hope you will enjoy reading about her experiences as much as i do!

•How did you get into making scarves and dying?

I have been using dyes for quite a few years now…all sorts of things from bedspreads to clothing, curtains …anything that needed a bit of colour always went into a dye bath or got painted in some way. I remember first doing the classic tye dye styles when I was a kid at school. I enjoy doing scarves and wraps because I use a style of dyeing that is more like painting and I can get some really smooth blends between the colours which then creates new colours…I love seeing what colours appear between colours.

•What did you do before?

LOL I have done so many things but my work before creating this business was and still is to some extent as a Colour Therapist. I taught Colour Therapy subjects for some time in a Natural Therapies college in Sydney whilst working as a Colour Therapy Practitioner and Colour Consultant.

•Tell us a bit about your work as a Colour Therapy practitioner!

Well working as a Colour Therapist is quite fascinating. My main focus is to help people understand themselves through the colours that they choose and then work with that for personal growth. My main tool is Aura Soma which is one of the most beautiful forms of Colour Therapy that I have found. I have also worked with Coloured Light Therapy and have seen some amazing results. I find that colour therapy helps bring what is in the subconscious into consciousness and once this occurs we can work towards a life of greater happiness and peace within ourselves…clear away the layers that we don’t even realize might be holding us back from living as we are truly meant to live.

•When did you know you could do your business full-time? What kind planning did you do before the jump?

I have set out from the beginning to work in my business fulltime. I am a single mother of two teenage girls and feel very strongly about being ‘here’ for them as much as possible. The best way I could see to do that and to keep us all happy was to firstly do something I love doing and secondly do it from home.

•Where do you sell your products, what venues work best for you and why?

I sell my products all over the place now. I have wholesale customers all over the world as well as in Australia. Etsy has been fantastic for helping me get my products out there. All my international wholesale accounts have come via Etsy.
I also have a website which I think has been another good venue for getting myself known. For a long time in the early days I did a lot of markets and festivals which also gave me a lot of exposure.
I am finding now that online marketing is really shifting and social sites such as Facebook and Twitter are pushing me out there even further and more quickly.

•How did you hear about Etsy?

I actually don’t remember…I have a feeling it was while I was researching keywords and things for my website…I think it was truly a case of stumbling onto it.

•Worst business mistake you made? What improvements were the most helpful?

This has been the biggest learning curve of my life and many little mistakes have occurred along the way and I am sure there will be many more to come! One of the biggest mistakes would probably have to be with consignment. I will never do consignment again. I think in the early stages I was so happy that someone was interested in my work that I just said yes…very messy and challenging. Now I am much more discerning about who gets my stock..after all these are my babies..my creations….I want them to be loved and cared for. I like to be able to offer exclusivity to my customers so I don’t sell to two shops in the same area.

•What advice can you give people who just started or thinking about going full-time?

My advice is…HAVE PATIENCE! You have to allow at least three years to build your business. Don’t expect to set up your shop and then instantly have a full time wage. Be prepared to learn a lot and if you possibly can afford it hand out the jobs that you really can’t do to someone who can. I get an accountant to do my tax and I am about to get someone to do my bookwork. I get my mother to do my banking when needed. I also pay for ironing if I am totally overloaded. In the beginning it is very tempting to work very long days…be careful of burn out. You still want to keep loving your work!

•How do you get yourself through a creative/business slump?

Unfortunately this does happen…I think if it didn’t we would combust. I used to fight against it…kicking and screaming….but that never worked. Now I just let it be…If I have slumped I need to acknowledge that. I know it will pass and often a slump precedes a burst of creativity and energy. It is not in my nature to accept slumps gracefully and I do find it quite difficult to stop the creative cogs turning. To combat that I write every thing, every idea or design down in my big red book of ideas. That helps me relax because I know the idea will be there for me to come back to and not lost in the ethers somewhere!

•How does a usual day look like? How do you manage your time?

My usual day starts at about 6.30 am. I am up and I usually have a couple of hours on the computer attending to emails etc. The kids go off to school at about 8am and once they are gone I have my breakfast in peace! I am usually down in my workshop by about 9am. I try to have at least 3-4 days a week in production and 1 day a week to catch up on all the other bits and pieces. I usually finish my day by about 3.30pm when the kids get home. When orders are really coming in I do often work until about 6pm. It can be a long day but it is usually very fulfilling. Working at home presents challenges in itself. It is very tempting to look around your home and see all the things that need attending to but I have to say to myself that I am at work and the house work can wait until later. One thing that is on my list for the near future is to get a cleaner in regularly.

•What kind of dyes/dying processes do you use? How does it work?

I use fibre reactive dyes which are dyes that penetrate well into the fibre and not just sit on top. This makes them quite colourfast and fade resistant. Mostly I use a painting method to apply the dyes although I love to experiment with all sorts of processes. I recently started playing with making dyes from the flowers barks and leaves from my garden and surrounds.
This has been very exciting with some lovely results although the dyes are not quite as colourfast and I can’t get such a wide range of colours this way.
I usually paint one day and rinse and dry the next morning and then paint some more. I use natural fabrics such as cotton, hemp, silk, linen and bamboo.

•Random Question: At the moment i like the colour yellow, what does that mean?

Well…yellow is an interesting colour. It is a colour that a lot of people like but don’t feel comfortable wearing. It deals a lot with working with your fears and searching for happiness in life. It is a colour that helps us build self confidence and a bright outlook on life. Nervousness and day to day fears reside within yellow. Choosing it as a favourite colour can mean that you are wanting to look towards life more optimistically and positively and are feeling a bit more outgoing and happy.

--
Thanks Leanne for doing this interview with me, it has been very interesting and enjoyable!

Follow Leanne on twitter, http://twitter.com/rainbowrev
and her blog http://rainbowrevolution.blogspot.com
and check out her website and Etsy shop here,
http://rainbowrevolution.com.au
http://rainbowrevolution.etsy.com

1.ETSYVERSARY

2009-10-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yay, my first Etsyversary! Reason to celebrate.

So, i had my Etsy shop/business for 1 year now, i think i learned a lot and i met a lot of great people.

Last year around this time i quit my day job and 1 year later i got a new one, part time, im working in a biscuit factory now.

Yeah, very fun, its stupid work, and the biscuits are dry and really hard crackers really.

Have to pay the bills some time.

I started giving my shop a bit of an overhaul, im adding more ready made sizes and colours to save shipping time for my customers, but there are still custom options available.

I also wanna add more and more items, i dont really have a deadline but i wanna have like 100-150 items in my shop soon, work up some inventory, improve patterns and pictures and organization.

I have added some new Eskimo Dresses to my shop, here is one, and here is the other.

More coming soon.

I also added some new colours and new styles.

What do you reckon?

What styles would you like to see more in my shop?

I will definitely add some jumpers(sweaters) soon, more hoody/pocket stuff.

And there is still 10-20% off my whole store til the 9th of October(Etsy time).

Im also planning on doing my FIRST GIVEAWAY on my blog soon, so stay tuned!

Too Many Mutha Uckers Ucking With My Shi-

2009-09-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Finally i got my computer back, after 2 weeks!!!
Jeezus, well, im not saying its Apple's fault, but im definitely glad to have it back.

Its weird to not have your computer for 2 weeks, i used my man's, but thats not the same, all my links and shit is on my own. On the other hand it was a nice change, coz it made me wanna be even less on the internet and the man's computer is also uncluttered from my own shit, so i got a bit of a breather.

The last weeks have been quite weird, coz im still in transition mode, changing a lot of things and isnt it weird that sometimes in extremely stressful situations everything stops working?! I had to get a mechanic 3 times for my car before i got it fixed properly, had to got to the Apple shop i dont know how many times, and in the end a VIP(very important part) of my serger broke.Mmhh, i guess thats all not a big deal if you got lots or a bit of money to just get this shit fixed, but im almost always broke, well, anyways, what do yo do?! You just deal with it! Its all fixed now, so lets just hope it stays like that.Coz of all these issues i didnt feel like blogging either and i neglected my shop a bit, listing and editing pics was just too much hassle.I started to take my bachflowers again occasionally, if you've never tried them they are really quite great. Im taking single ones, but i think the best one to start with is the Rescue Remedy, which can get you thru stressful situations, like exams and just stress and stuff(you'd still have to learn tho). Here is a good list with all the bach flower remediesLast weeks i was listening to some funny music, especially 'Die Aerzte' and 'Flight of the Concords'. I like their lyrics, 'Die Aerzte' is german, so most of you wont understand the lyrics, but trust me on this one. They are suppose to be the 'Best Band in the World', well well, u might wanna argue that, but they are Definitely the best german band!This is their newest song, the video is a bit shit(and a bit gross too) and the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with it, they are about some parents giving their boy shit, like he shud get a job and basically clean up. Its quite fun.(And btw, random thought, give me a break with all these zombie and nazi movies, ive seen about fuckin enough of those.)I like bands that dont take themselves too serious, have fun and clever lyrics and a great sound.Yeah and FOTC, what can i say, they are kiwis(like my man, but thats not why i like them, no really, its not:P) anyways, love their shit.Here is the long version of the song from aboveAnd this is one of their most funniest songs, i think.:)Have a lovely week!

UHM, COMPUTER AND MY NEW FAVOURITE MUSIC CLIPS AND STUFF

2009-08-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, i hope everybody is well!:)

My computer nearly died a couple of days ago, now im very sad.:(

Coz i cant use it and have to sneak on my man's laptop whenever he leaves the house and i will prob have to buy a new one.

And my car played up again this week, but i got a pretty good mechanic and it wasnt Too expensive. What i also like about that guy is that he always tries to explain to me whats wrong and shows me the faulty parts, to me, who has no understanding of cars whatsoever apart from that u have to put water and petrol into them.

But im not stupid and things start making sense to me! ha ha

Anyways, computer issues in what form so ever shud be pretty familiar to all of us. Coz we rely a big deal on them. And i never *cough* do any backups or such things.

Thats why i wanna use my blog more for backups of my favourite youtube clips.

Nobody really seems to like my clip posts(apart from Alanna), which i cant really understand coz i LOVE funny/interesting/cool videos. But whatever, normally i bookmark them, but i cant bookmark anything on my man's computer or my head is going to explode from the messiness!

I came across some really nice new music lately by accident(dont we all love that), its all kindof modern folky, the first one is a bit punky too(And its my favourite; 'Low'(Monkey), this band is is so cool and they get a 100% for looking cool and a great video too)

Then we have Fleet Foxes(White Winter Hymnal) i think they are pretty popular right now, i watched a lot of clips of their tv appearances; and i think they are sweet, u dont get a lot of sweet bands anymore. So well done on them. Lovely video too, reminds of the stuff i used to watch as a kid.

Then we got 'Iron and Wine'(Boy with a Coin) i really like the sound of this one and i like the dancing, but not of the red lady, whats with that big skirt being in the way?:P

And then my alltime favourites in crazy stupidity 'Flight of the Conchords'(Ladies of the World) a kiwi band who is just funny.

Dont u just think that video is HOT?!:D

NON-RED PAINTINGS

2009-08-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

I havent blogged for ages, just about over 2 weeks to be precise.

I really wanted to catch up with all my Etsy orders and do some organizing and stuff.

Also, we(the man + i) started to have designated OFF-computer days now during the week, Yeah, see, thats where i come to now, "Im a fuckin internet addict!" Im serious!

I spend so much time on Etsy(checking my shop, preferably every 5 minutes), on Twitter, on the Dust thread, on fuckin whatnot, i barely was getting anything else done, its actually sad and i wasnt able to stop, neither was i really productive, so off it went(the computer i mean).

I did that already a while ago, but wasnt be able to stick to it, due to time management problems, but now its on. Sometimes i wish my life was simpler(im working on it) a bit like "in the old days", well kindof, i wish id rather spend my evenings with my man in the kitchen to cook or write something, read, paint or just talk, "Make/Do" something, instead of just consuming, like telly and internet and stuff..

The weekend before last(like 2 weeks ago) i thought that there were too many red paintings in the kitchen so i decided to paint some 'Non- Red Paintings', i still had some canvasses around and my acrylics and off i went. Now i havent painted for Aaaaages, but im quite satisfied with my non red paintings, they freshen up the place. The are quite gradient and soft.

Also, i find it incredibly stupid(?) maybe kindof sad is a better word, if people say 'they Cant paint' if u can hold a brush then im sure u can paint, its like walking. Maybe u cant 'paint a portrait with life-like features' but that isnt really the objective is it, i think if u enjoy doing things then u Can do them, and the outcome doesnt really matter so much, or maybe its even nice too, im sure it wud be.

Btw, that fish painting is 'a halfnhour fish', another one of my home improvement projects, i had a friend once come over and thought my kitchen looked a bit bare, so i decided to paint a fish.

What have ur latest creative projects been? I wanna see pictures!

WELCOME TO WORM WORLD

2009-08-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

GOOD WORM (Candy Dragon Worm)

BAD WORMS (also commonly know as serger worms; they tend to live and crawl out of ur sewing machine, the more u sew the more serger worms u get, if u dont vacuum them away regularly one day u will choke on them)

I adopted Snowball Worm, she made good friends with Brunhilde(in the middle) and sheep(well, that black sheep on the right). Now she spends her days with me in my cutting room, she is very content and quiet. Just lovely!

I also wanted to introduce u to The Worm Lady, but unfortunately i cudnt find a picture of her. This woman is a London poet who participates every second Tuesday in a poetry slam at the Foundry in Shoreditch.

Its crazy, all her poems are about worms, i can barely understand a word of it and shes got quite a following. I think her catch phrase is something like "..and they sway from siiide to siiide" with all her followers chanting along, its really quite a site to be seen and i highly recommend it if u ever get to East London on a particular Tuesday. The Foundry is nice for a drink too, aah the good ol' days!!

INTERVIEW WITH URESHII - LEARN FROM THE BEST

2009-07-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

Im feeling very privileged to have gotten the opportunity to interview one of Etsy's Top Sellers, Emily from Ureshii, one of my most favourite Etsy shops and a very lovely customer too.

The interview is pretty in depth, but i really wanted to find out how some of those successful shops do it, so you better grab yourself a drink and some snacks and i hope you enjoy this read!:)

---

•What does your shop name mean and how did you come up with it?

The shop name means "I'm glad" in Japanese, I spent grade 11 in Tokyo and still have a hazy grasp on the language. I began using Ureshii as a username in forums fairly consistently, and my at-the-time husband gave me the domain name www.ureshii.org for Christmas. The name has become a bit of a mantra, its the way I want to feel about my work, my life, and the way I want others to feel about my clothes.

•A while ago i read on your Etsy profile that you girls met while working in a sweatshop. A Canadian sweatshop? What is that and how did that happen?

You have to think of 'sweatshop' in the most literal sense, as in sweaty in summer, freezing in winter. It was an online organic cotton business run in a converted semi-trailer. And yes, it was as glamorous as it sounds. This crazy red-headed tattooed hippie girl was managing the place. Things run awry from there.

•What did you do before Ureshii?

Before Ureshii I was working on my Undergrad in Sociology, married, and spending every minute of free time experimenting with patterns, fit, and sewing. When I finished my undergrad we moved home to BC from Quebec, I started working in the organic cotton business in 2003, and started Ureshii in one of its many incarnations in 2004.

•How and when did you decide that you wanted to design and make your own clothing line?

When I started Ureshii, I really did want to work on Made-to-Measure, but I was much more interested in vinyl, corsetry, and tailoring at the time. I had no idea how to build a customer base for that business, didn't get very far, but did do a lot of valuable experimentation.

Around that time I won enrollment to a dance mediation course. During the course, I was inspired to make an outfit for the teacher. Later she did some training in Australia and was really inspired to work on a line of dance wear similar to something she had seen there. I worked with her on some designs and she began selling our clothes at various events. The partnership didn't last, but sourcing the fabrics and colours, and working with the movement of the clothes have definitely influenced my creations since.

I took a job as a sales clerk in a clothing store and continued to work on my product line selling consignment and wholesale. I found dealing with shop owners stressful, so it is incredibly lucky that I stumbled upon etsy as a sales medium.

•Your shop has been very successful since you opened in July last year. Did you have a business plan, what kind of preparations did you take beforehand?

Did you have business experience or experience with selling online?

Ok, This is not going to be pretty, but I am going to answer honestly. No one should take this as advice.

I became really frustrated with my work as a shop clerk through spring and summer of last year. I have never been one to stick around at a job, but I was trying to prove that I could be stable parent/responsible adult/good employee material. I was working part time and working on the clothing line part time. Amanda was working at the cafe where she still works, and as a florist.

Looking for another selling medium, my ex-husband suggested etsy. (Etsy had always crashed my laptop in the past, so I was dubious.) I opened shop in June and my laptop died that night while I was signing up for a Paypal account. We didn't have the money for a new computer, so that was that.

Later in the summer, I found one Saturday I could _not_ go to work. I didn't go and quit/was fired. No plan. Our house needed a new roof, so I spent a month re-roofing.

Amanda's bosses must have heard a story or two, because the cafe owners gave us their old mac, and the flower shop owner gave us an old digital camera. I started working on my etsy shop, and listed my first item on September 26.

The real breakthrough was in early November when I realized that I could use the timer on the camera to take pictures of myself in the clothes. Since I had a lot of time, this was a good way for me to experiment with what I like in a picture, and how to emphasize the lines of the clothes.

•When did you, Emily, decide it was time to get help for your business, work with Amanda together?

By late November Amanda had been working really hard for a long time, and seemed to have no choice but to keep it up. I was spending much more time on Ureshii and being less of a housemom. Before Christmas we did the math, and realized how well Ureshii was doing. I think this helped take some of the pressure off, and we started to look at Amanda cutting some of her hours once the Christmas rush was over.

In January she started taking over some of the office maven duties, answering convos and shipping. In February she started taking over some of the cutting. She has learned very quickly, and only makes me feel a little bit guilty about the sad state of some of my patterns. Now she does all but the most complicated custom cutting.

•Do you both do Ureshii full-time now?

Amanda stopped working as a Florist in March, but still works a day or two each week at the Cafe. We need the coffee discount, so she's not allowed to quit!

•How do you girls share the work?

Almost everything gets tag teamed.

Customer service: Usually Amanda, Emily if she's feeling social (rarely).

Design ideas: We talk these over constantly.

Design and drafting: Emily, though Amanda has started redrafting patterns that should have been redrafted ages ago.

Cutting: Amanda, Emily when there's major custom work, and when Amanda gets worn out.

Sewing: Emily, and sometimes Emily's Mom.

Packaging and Shipping: Amanda, Emily only helps if there is a rush for the Post Office deadline.

•Em, are you an easy boss to work for?

Probably not, I'm very much a Virgo, everything I do involves "holding your mouth right." I'm pretty quiet and hard for people to read, but I'm working on it in case I ever have to be an actual boss.

•How does a usual daily routine look like?

I usually get up around 7 to make breakfast, pack lunches, make coffee and preside over the eating of breakfast. Amanda gets up a little later and presides over the getting dressed and grooming (though its summer now and all hell has broken loose food and grooming-wise).

Our work day really depends on our order priorities. We try to cut garments grouped by colour, to minimize thread colour changes. Amanda will cut based on what coloured garments need to go out soonest. I sew as fast as I can till shipping deadline, she ships like the wind, and then the kids come home from school. We generally do more cutting and sewing after dinner till around 10, watch TMZ, drink hot water, and go to bed.

•Its so great you’re able to do your business full-time! Im sure a lot of people on Etsy wish they could do their businesses full-time, what do you think are the most common mistakes people make?

I'm not sure I can offer any other advice without sounding smug, I apologize in advance for any smugness.

We don't have a lot of things that others consider absolute necessities. We're designing a life for ourselves around the small things. I think much of our acquisition oriented society is based on 'making up' for uncomfortable work and therefore home lives. Finding a happy situation means needing less, needing less is good for us and the planet.

Also, I came to etsy with a well developed product line in hand, which was a huge advantage.

•What decisions regarding your own business did you find successful, which ones didn't turn out as good?

Its hard to look back at negative outcomes as bad because you always learn something from your experience. You build confidence with every decision you make. Don't be precious about your business or your life, you don't have time.

•How do you promote your business?

Twitter is the only consistent promotion we're doing. I have advertised on craftcult, used google adwords, and facebook. We have set up a facebook fanpage, and might try a facebook ad directing to our fanpage in the future.

•How do you conduct your marketing research for new pieces?

We test our patterns ourselves, we have very similar measurements, but very different bodies, which gives us some insight into how our patterns are fitting. We also have a local long-time customer who wears our clothes almost exclusively. She is really helpful in pointing out things about how the clothes wear that we might not think of otherwise. We try to pay attention to our customer feedback, and make adjustments wherever necessary.

•How would you describe your style?

I would describe my style as fairly simple, colourful and silhouette based. I mix fullness with body-conscious fits to play with my proportions. Fabulous coats, and lots of shoes. Amanda has an entirely different style, more bohemian, whimsical, and earthy.

•Why did you choose rayon jersey material to work with?

I chose the rayon because of the drape, and the breatheability, and colour range.

•You have 3 kids and 2 cats. How the hell do you manage your time?

We don't really.

•What are your plans for the future? Do you sell wholesale? Where do you want your brand to go?

I don't have a plan. I am really enjoying how this is working now, it is such a relief to have something going so well that I can't imagine anything else.

We have some wholesale customers, but we find them a little bit stressful. We prefer to work with our retail customers.

•What do you do when you're not working on your shop?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?

•Were you good at school?

I was home schooled through to grade 8, didn't do well in high school and eventually dropped out. I worked as a secretary and office assistant (under false pretenses) for a few years and went to college, and then University at 22. Once I was there I thoroughly enjoyed it.

•Do you listen to music when you're working, if yes what kind?

If we aren't watching TV, we listen to MountainFM a Whistler radio station geared toward those of us who were teenagers in the nineties.

•Do you dress your whole family in Ureshii apparel?

Except for the jeans I wear mostly Ureshii clothes. Amanda wears a few of the tops. We both have definite wish lists, but for some reason we don't always feel like sewing in our spare time. The kids have Ureshii exclusive Pjs, and we do a fair bit of altering thrift store finds to fit them.

•Whats up with the obsession with vintage plastic bowls?

We have no idea what you're talking about. *twitch*

•And last thing, Canada is known for being just like the United States but colder and more liberal, with the only sight being the Niagara Falls. Why should we visit?

Canadians aren't really 'must see' kind of people, we're in denial about the tourist situation. We like it here, but we can't think why. Boys can marry boys. I know a lot of people come here because of that...

---

Thanks so much to Emily and Amanda for answering my questions and for taking these awesome pictures for me!:) Check out their Etsy shop here and you can also follow them on twitter here.

WORM GALAXY

2009-07-28T04:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this new, fresh out of the oven, cute as pie little shop!

Worm Galaxy is the cutest little new shop on the Dust Block!

Julie, whos other shop is BeadBubble, is offering everything for ur worming needs, with

all worms having their own little personality.

U can even have a worm customized to match one of ur friends personalities and give it as a cute gift!

All worms are completely one of a kind and lovingly made by hand.

Featured are,
1. Snowball Worm
2.Frazzle Worm

3.Leo Lion Worm

So cute, which one do u like best?:)

CHRISTMAS IN JULY SALE -NOW ON!!

2009-07-24T00:43:00.001-07:00

As part of the Dust Team 'Christmas in July' Sale I am offering 20% off all items in my store, only for this weekend, 24th-26th of July.

Please see my shop for more details: lyptis.etsy.com

This is one of my newest additions!

This cute elefant is from Susan's shop 'Beadles and Pins', she has 20% off storwide AND Free Worldwide shipping!

Check out her shop for the cutest knitted animals and creatures and knitted scarves.

Check out Lexa's shop 'juntei' for lovely coptic bound notebooks, greeting cards and other stationary items. Lexa has 20%off storewide and free shipping on single cards within Australia.

This beautiful necklace is from a fairly new shop, dspdavey, Deb who also makes beautiful earrings and hair accessories is offering free shipping for Australian buyers for purchases over 30USD and for International buyers over 40USD.

Happy Shopping and a Merrry Christmas in July!:)

CHRISTMAS IN JULY(CIJ) DUST TEAM SALE

2009-07-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

The DUST Team is having a HUGE CHRISTMAS IN JULY (CIJ) Sale this weekend from the 24th to the 26th of July.

Search on Etsy under DUST TEAM CIJ and you will find many shops participating, from clothing, jewellery, art prints, bags, to stationary and lots more.

There is also going to be a thread in the promos section on Etsy over the weekend, where you can post and win lot of fun prizes.

Happy Christmas Shopping!:)

RANDOM WEEKEND POST

2009-07-18T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for leaving all ur nice comments on my blog, while i was having a crazy time here, sewing and stuff..:)

But im back and kicking! I put up some new designs in my shop last week(check them out here www.lyptis.etsy.com).

And now i finally got some time again for staying in bed a whole day(like i did today;) and watching silly youtube videos. Here are some of my favourites!

AUSTRALIAN WEATHER REPORT

CRAZY TALKING BEAVER

FEMINIST CLASSIC

AND MY SOCIAL LIFE

Thanks for visiting my blog and speak to u soon!:)

NEW LINE-NEW PLANS

2009-06-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I shud have posted this earlier, but i just now found the time to actually do it!

My SALE last week was quite a success, Thanks to my lovely customers and all the supportive people in my team and on my blog and twitter!

Thanks so much!

Now im going to stay in my sewing cave for the next 2 weeks

and my ass is gonna be on fire from all the sewing!

After that, so in like 2/3 weeks time, im gonna put out my new range.

I got some awesome vintage materials im very looking forward to using, im going do a little 'woodlands range' with, and i bought the CUTEST yellow heart fabric today, im going to make into jumpers and dresses. Also stay tuned for some metallic looking knits, im looking forward to them too.

Ok, girls(and boys), see u on twitter and on the blogs, so long for now!:)

LITTLE HELPERS

2009-06-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

Today i want to introduce u to my little friends, my work colleagues, my companions.

First there is 'Sheep'. Sheep helps me by making my everyday meassuring tasks a pleasure, it is very hard working(but likes to take long leasure breaks) and very easy going. Its like 'Gadget Sheep', its right leg extending into a measurring tape, always has a cheery smile on its face too.

Then there is the iMice(speakers for my iBook), identical twins, my boyfriend bought them for me, they are right little entertainers, cud be singing away the whole day, if i wud let them.

I'd get a headache before they wud get a sore throat, thats for sure!!

Their favourite song is by Metallica. Why? No one knows.. Maybe coz they can feel really dark and mysterious while singing it. But really they just like THAT ONE song by them.

And thats their favourite band, it must be coz of their eyes, they have this slightly evil glint while singing these songs and when u stare at them for too long, u'll be hypnotized!

This is Brunhilde, my watch dog.

She takes good care of me since we met in the good old days in Berlin. I actually got her from a Free Shop. We were friends from the very first sight and since then she's been sitting on window sills and tables keeping watch for ghosts and crazy people.

At the moment she likes to sit guard on her watch tower made of stacked coasters.

The Free -Shop is NOT a charity shop, its a collective run by a bunch of funny people(theyre all commies) with a great concept. The rules are, u can bring stuff around which u dont need(useful stuff mind u, no rubbish) and leave it there and/or u can also pick things up u need or wud like to take. U dont pay money for them, u dont trade, there is a maximum of 3 items u can take and they got all sorts of stuff there, toys, kitchen stuff, clothes and shitloads of books.

Love the Free Shop, makes me all sentimental(i used to live above it).

Yep, thats where Brunhilde and I met and those are my friends and they and other people join me in my day, like every day!

Thanks for reading!:)

Who do u work with?

BLOODY INTERNET + FUNNY WOMEN

2009-06-10T01:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, i have to say its all Amy's fault, she has to take the blame!

To show me one of the funniest female comedians i have seen in.., well im not even sure WHEN ive seen one the last time!

Unfortunately, she showed us(our team) that clip in the morning and there was no going back to my "normal" "routine" after that; i had to click thru more then half of that women's videos.

Now, i put some funny videos of guys on this blog before(people never really seem to like videos on blogs; i got no ideas why, coz i freakin love them), but there dont seem to be many funny women out there, especially not many i know off that actually take the piss out of stupid gender stereotypes, in a very clever and entertaining way.

If u know any PLEASE LET ME KNOW, i got very low expectations, just try.

Alrighty, have a nice evening and day everyone!:)

SALE!! SALE!! SALE!!

2009-06-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, got a SALE on this week in my shop!

Kirrily made me this awesome ad for craftcult, its nice huh? My first one!

Its a BUY 2 - GET 3 - SALE! (Buy 2 items, get a 3rd for free, of equal or lower value).

Basically how it works, u either wait for a revised invoice or make full payment and i will refund you the price of the cheapest item.

Sale ends Sunday the 14th of June.

Those dresses are some of my favourites. Im wearing my Toasty Dresses now EVERY Day, coz its so bloody cold here!:P

PILLOWS AND A KITCHEN MAKEOVER

2009-06-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

The other day i decided to give our kitchen a makeover, before that, it had only a table 2 chairs and an armchair in it.

I decided to chuck the armchair out(local charity shop) and put the sofa in there.

Its much more cozier now, we dont have a living room, u see when u turn 3 of ur bedrooms into studios there isnt much space for one!

So now we can spend more time in the kitchen, one of us can cook while the other one sits on the computer or does sudoku(and its not me doing that).

The couch is quite small its a little 2-seater from ikea, nice tho.

Only problem is, the arm rests are made of wood, so fairly hard and uncomfortable.

Ive got LOADS of scraps left over from all my sewing ventures, its a shame throwing them away, but normally i cant use scraps of a certain size anymore(if i dont want to make my customers wear quilts), so i bagged them all up and chucked them into the storage room(i normally have them in bags too).

Now i finally decided to make something out of them. U see there were these 2 skirts i made and apparently they didnt want to be skirts and get send out into the big wide(sometimes scary world) they are quite homely and shy and like to stay comfy.

So when i made them into skirts i realized a bit too late that the fabric wasnt stretchy enough for the size i made them and i cudnt wear them AT ALL, so i thought i turn them into pillows, clever idea i thought, i'd stuff them with all these scraps i had left over. I knew it wud be a bit hard, but it wud do.

So now our new matching pillows live in our kitchen and keeping me company whilst typing stuff on my computer and protecting my bones getting hit by nasty wooden arm rests!

Great being resourceful and making things, isnt it?!:)

Have u turned something funny into something useful lately?

SALE SALE SALE(like soon)

2009-06-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

Im gonna have a Big SALE in my Etsy shop for one week, starting Monday, next week!

I will stock it with some more new items until then, so theres gonna be a nice variety!

Here are some of my new styles, i wanted to list those pencil skirts for Aaaages.

Also started playing around with different sleeve shapes.

The Sale is gonna be a BUY 2 GET 3 SALE, so u can put urself some lovely outfits together!;)

Ah, yeah, im gonna list some pants soon too, stay tuned!

What u reckon about my new items?

COLLAGE NR.1

2009-06-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show u what i used to do before i started sewing, which i just started like mid last year.

I used to do collages and drawings and photographs and i thought i show u some.

I did this HUGE collage we had hanging in our living room. But it fell off the wall a couple of times, coz no nails(bloody landlord).

Anyways, it stayed in our storage room for a while and i was playing around with it over the weekend..., some of the pictures i really like.., its more like a collection of strange and weird pictures then a "proper" collage.

Its fun.. I used to collect all sorts of crazy picture, paper clippings, cud sit on the floor for hours cutting up magazines, like Vice magazine and those culture magazines(Vice Australia sucks tho, thats all i can say to that).

These pics are just a selection of the pictures i like.

Ok, have fun and thanks for looking!

the names i gave the pictures:

1.Forest

2.China Garden

3.Gruene Woche(Green Week)

4.France/Berlin

5.London Chinatown

6.Balloons

FUCKING FRIDAY

2009-05-15T01:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, its time for another Fucking Friday post!!

I had a pretty stressful week (as i know some of u guys had too) and im glad its over now and i

get to have some time for myself again!

So i thought i wud post some funny videos i found to cheer us all up and get us into a friday night/weekend mood!

Enjoy!:)

Check those guys out, theyre Ace!

MY STUDIO AND I

2009-05-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a blog post on my studio for Aaaaages, but never got around to it timewise.

So here it finally is!

The picture above is a rack my boyfriend made for me for my serger thread spools.

Im so happy with it, so i dont have to have them in a nasty little basket anymore all over the place. Very nicely made, hes very talented.

Some fabrics..

This is the wall behind my sewing table, i added a fake window to it, to brighten it up!

As u can see its full of scrap paper sticked onto it about sizing, shipping prices, new designs, fabric shops, to do lists and little tags people send me.

These are the little piles i work with, i cut the fabric and pin it all together and then put it in little piles on my table, so i can sew them up in one go, they get fluffy sometimes from cutting so i have to brush them with a clothes brush when they are finished.

And this is me working! My boyfriend took this picture aswell as all the other pictures of me in my shop!

Next time i may show u a whole pic of the room, once i pimped it up a bit.

And ill also show u our cutting room, which im very proud and happy to have now!! Yay, it has a ginormous table!:)

Check out my friend Penny working, seeing her blog post yesterday finally gave me the kick up the arse i needed to do mine!

Thanks for looking and id like to see ur studio/workspace, so post ur links in the comments if u want!

FRIDAY FIT

2009-04-03T00:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Its Friday and i feel like having a fit! well not really, coz i cant even move, thats how tired i am, but i can move my fingers!

Im gonna have to call for the man soon, to bring me a glass of water, coz im so thirsty, i ate too many fruit&nut! he he..

Anyways, i thought i share some clips with u to get u in a friday mood!

They are sponsored by Natalia this week(not that she knows about that), those are the kind of clips she likes to post in the dust team thread! And i Love it!

Check out her shop here her jewellery is just as beautiful as her humor is crazy!

Ok, here we go!

I like this one!

And this is one of my most favourite clips ever!(atm) This has been my soundtrack of this week! ..or was it last? If u dont find this one funny i dont think anyone can help u anymore!!

ETSY FALL FASHION DOWN UNDER

2009-04-01T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, my 'Black Winter Dress' made it into the Competition for the Etsy's Fall Fashion Down Under!

How Awesome!!

Please vote for me here,
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=39
Etsy admin sent me a convo about it, saying 'The top favorite items will be featured in the Gift Guides and on the Etsy blog', so that wud be great!:)

101 SALES AND NEW BLOG LAYOUT

2009-03-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, i changed my blog around what do u reckon? I think its quite nice!

I went with one of Pennys suggestions, she said white makes an instant freshmaker, i was sceptical, but i thought i give it a try!

And i think it looks AWESOME!! Thank you Penny!

The pic in the header in made by Maadin, my trusted personal photographer, more about Maadins works in this post!

So, I DID IT!! I cracked the bloody 100!! Ive been waiting for it for weeks and slowing things down in my shop at the moment just made me even more impatient!

But its done now, im very happy, a Big Fat Thank You to all my lovely customers, ure very sweet and special! Thanks for giving me such a great start on Etsy, im very touched! And Thanks so much to my team who always supported me, welcomed me so warm heartedly and who give me something to chatter and to laugh about every day!

A Big Thanks to u girls!:)

MONDAY PLAYLIST

2009-03-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls and Boys!

Good Morning, its a new week! Hope u packed it full of plans and high expectations!?:)

I wanna start a new series of blog posts, posting songs that start the new week in a nice and different way.

So if u got any songs(Yes, i DO need new music) please post some links to ur favourite clips in the comments!:)

I start!

This band is very nice!

This is a funny german hip hop video(give it some time) and one of my bf's favourite music clips!

This one was suggested by Gaby from hopelesshotel and i think its worth including!

Yeah, i did include it because of the dancers!:)

Have FUN, a Great Week to u and dont forget to leave us some clips in the comments!:)

MOO

2009-03-25T03:28:00.000-07:00

I ordered my first business cards about 2 weeks ago! I was so exited, to be getting even a bit more professional!:)

They arrived today and they are beautiful, im so happy with them!

I ordered Moo cards, u can order them directly over the net and upload ur pictures from ur etsy shop or flickr or whatnot, its so easy and they are so stylish and quite reasonable too, i got 50 standard sized ones for i dont know 26$? its like 22+postage!

The great thing about Moo cards is that u can have a different picture on EVERY card! Which makes them quite special and so cute, they come in a nice little box too, all made from recycled paper.. Its like playing with a set of childrens cards, i cant stop playing with them! They are AWESOME!!

What do u reckon?

FUCKING FRIDAY

2009-03-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Well, its Friday, Thank Fuck for that!

Right in the tradition of Wishlist Wednesday and Tightass Tuesday or whatever all those day features are called, i came up with my own one now and im calling it 'Fucking Friday'.

Everybody shud know by now that i like to fucking swear all the time and im sure were all fucking glad when its finally the end of the week!

Ok, i will start this series with clips of my 2 favourite comedians in the whole world,

those guys are just AWESOME, they are like gods to me, i wanna be like them!!

First the one and only George Carlin explaining religion.

And then we got one of my favourite Jew comedians Lewis Black.
That guy is just out of this world!

Ok that will be it for this week!
Enjoy ur fucking weekend!

STITCHES&CRAFT IN MELBOURNE

2009-03-15T04:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, went to the Stitches&Craft on friday.

It wasnt too bad, apart from me heatstroking and my car overheating..

They had some nice, kinda crafty, modern art displays there, that was kinda refreshing, the picture above is of one of them.

I didnt bring my camera so Anna from muchlove took the picture im posting.

I went there with her and Ruth from Twighlightspells, what funny girls!

This is me(im the one on the left) and Ruth with the icecream cone of two cheese please!

First when we got there i thought i ran into a giant old peoples home and of curz they were all women aswell..

The first shops we saw were all the 'modern' handmade shops, lots of people with shops on etsy.

My absolute favourite was oneredrobin, her plushies and creations are so cute and unusual and so detailed, i like them very much!

Then we saw people who are printing their own textiles, very interesting too.

I got shitloads of business cards and it was interesting to see some crafty people from Melbourne.

We also attended a talk by Bianca from ink&spindle on web-based businesses.

And watched 'handmade nation' an Awesome movie which i personally found quite inspiring, it showed a lot of interesting people doing some great stuff! *dreams*

Overall it was a nice day out, but im sure i dont have to go to another craft fair too soon, they are too granny and i dont know, kinda boring.. still nice tho..

TAGGIN

2009-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by two people in the last weeks so i felt really popular, the first person was estasketch
and then i got also tagged by Carley from vanilla pixie

so thats how it goes,
take the
6th picture of ur
6th photo folder
post it on ur blog and write about it!

Ooouh, i heard about this photo tagging thing before and i always wanted someone to photo tag me, i was actually curious to see what picture was the 6th in my 6th folder, but i must have forgotten to actually look.

Because i havent even got 6 folders. As in all areas of my life im trying to be a minimalist, so i only got 4!
So i thought i take the 4th picture in the 4th folder. and this is it

this isnt even a picture I took myself, its from when i was travelling thru Australia and uploaded all my friends pictures on my computer, so i think one of my german friends took it, it think it was Martin! And he is crazy!

But its a nice picture and im very pleased with it, all the other pictures of tagged people were so pretty, i thought already some might be cheating a little or helping with it, but i guess u dont have to do that!

So here are some more Martins creations, they are all his pictures. Hes quite a character that one and i also feel quite privileged to have such talented friends, ..they dont even know.. most of the time..

This is a picture of Martin, or as we call him Maadin,

hes really quite funny and as u can see he looks just as crazy as he is! Sorry Maadin, u know i dont mean it.. that bad -my english left me hereby for tonight and i blog with u later!:P

I tag Xenotees, Realisationcreation, Chrisy, Twilightspells, Raj and Paris.

MY SHOP UPDATE

2009-02-21T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I got a great SALE on in my etsy shop at the moment, check it out!

Its my beginning of the year sale and ALL my items are reduced and i think quite affordable!

This is one of my favourite dresses and it was 55$ before now it is 45$!

I also started adding some new items as well, i started making full-circle skirts, as suggested by some of my lovely team members and they have been quite successful so far.

This exact skirt is actually sold out now, but ill go to my suppliers tomorrow and look for more

of this fabric. I can also customize these skirts(same as my dresses) in colour, material, length and width of curz!

I also reduced my OOAK Vintage pieces, here is one of them,

I just love the material of this one and the feminine but casual look of it.

So if u like my shop and my items, now its the time to buy them, my sale is running til the 2nd of march!
Thanks for looking!:)

THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE AND HOW YOU CAN HELP!

2009-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

The fires we had in some parts of Victoria on saturday were totally devastating!

The death toll is up to 230 now and over 1000 houses were destroyed, let alone the damage done to nature and wildlife!

The DUST team(Down Under Street Team) on etsy set up the OzBushfireAppeal shop to raise money to donate to the Bushfire Appeal of the Redcross.

I want to Thank everyone who helped setting up this shop and is raising awareness about this issue and all the people who donated items and bought items from it! Thank You!

So far we raised about 5.000Aus$!

If u want u can go to the shop and purchase or donate something!

U can also donate directly to the red cross fire appeal,

to Wildlife Victoria , or to the RSPCA who are taking care of injured wildlife.

If u cant donate money, but want to help, u could donate

blood, clothes and toiletries

or offer ur time as a Volunteer.

But Please BEWARE OF SCAMS!!

Bushfires in Australia are fairly common and a great risk for people, wildlife, nature and infrastructure.

This year was especially bad, because of drought and days in a row of 45C(113F).

Then on saturday, we had high temperatures up to 47C(117F), and very strong winds, which is like a hair dryer in ur face basically and makes fires, once they are started, move very fast.

How do these fires get started? I guess it just takes a little bit of inconsideration from one person, the flick of a cigarette butt, a barbeque, or even an electric saw to make the sparks fly, if that wasnt enough some of these fires are lit DELIBERATLEY !! Which i find extremely sickening and id call mass murder, coz those people know the consequences of their actions!

But i DO think these people deserve a fair trial and the whole circumstances a thourough investigation to make sure to get the right people!

Im german and i have to say that here, to make clear i dont have enough information about the history of bushfires and the education about them!

BUT, i do think education about fires, prevention, escape plans and options shud be hammered into every childs brain in school.

The government has to put more effort in education And also plans for evacuation, like they do in california for example! It shudnt be optional and taken lightly in extreme cases like this, people shud be more aware of the consquences of staying and the possibilities for defending their homes!

There has to be a better early warning system!

I Do hope, something like this doesnt happen ever again, at least that people are more prepared and a death toll like can be prevented!

But with the change of climate and Australia getting hotter and sunrays becoming more cancerous every year, all we can do is take the BEST care of our environment we can, and be far more prepared and educated about situations like that!

Lets just take our thoughts to those people in need and do what we can to help them!

(picture courtesy of tredlightphotographs.etsy.com)

THE TEAM -DUST TEAM PART I

2009-02-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a feature on our Australian Etsy Team -the DUST team(down under street team) for quite a while now, so here it finally is!
We have LOOOTS of talented and great women in our team and im very happy to be part of it! Yay, thanks!

My first feature is going to be on Michelle and the name of her shop is thingomatic.

She makes beautiful, modern and elegant jewellery which has a very natural feel to it and her pieces look just like something a modern day mermaid would wear.
She uses such beautiful and natural materials as wood, quartz, crystal, freshwater pearls, hematite and glass, which make her pieces look like they got swept onto a beach and water, sand and driftwood come to mind.

I think she has a very good eye, for the mix of materials she uses and knows exactly which of them go best together so her pieces look very clean and have an interesting simplicity about them. They acctually remind me of the elements, air, water, fire, earth and wind.

Michelle is very new to the team, but her jewellery, the presentation and pictures of it are just outstanding in my opinion and besides that she is a very friendly and helpful person!

Thanks for being part of the team, Michelle!

And you please make sure to check out her shop to see more of her awesome work at thingomatic.etsy.com!:)

Thanks!

ADDITION TO MY LAST POST

2009-02-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

This is my front lawn, its a sad and pathetic joke! Its ridiculous really!

HOT AND BOTHERED

2009-01-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all my blogger friends for being so patient with me!!(coz update a bit late)

We had the heat wave here last week(45C/115F) -no fun at all, i can tell u!

Especially without AC!!

Anyways i survived, just about, by staying in my cave the whole day(which i do most of the time anyways).

Also, i had problems uploading some pictures onto my blog the other day and that wasnt funny at all, coz i was overheated and im never in a good mood when im put under pressure(heat) and tested like that(pictures).

But anyways, the pictures are from NZ(New Zealand) where we went a while ago and i think they are quite refreshing.

Here are a couple of facts/observations on the heat and me( and i guess people in general).

-There is not much u can think about when it hits 40C, its survival/cooling down mode
-blood pressure is high(thats what i think) and ur brain is like somebody is poking needles into it, u get very annoyed very quickly, luckily ure too lethargic to act on it tho, most of the time). i cud have smashed something when i cudnt upload my pictures onto my blog, but im not that stupid and crazy
-sewing, taking pictures in wool dresses, being locked out of ur house with no money, keys, sunscreen or anything and ur partner coming home in 13 hours is not a good idea(i didnt, but my imagination was working overtime!)
-Auto-pilot time

-everytime i got up i felt my temples pounding against my head and terribly dizzy
-we were in the german news -Yay, famous!
-why is it if the temperatue is 10C below our body temperature, we are comfortable, but if it acctually IS our body temperature, we are freaking out(most of us) let alone 5 degrees above it?

-in my home town it was 27 below 2 weeks ago, not sure if that was record, but here were about 45 degrees(and lets not talk outback here) than that makes about 70 degrees difference,
imagine experiencing a temperature difference like that in a second, that wud be crazy!!

Well im not doing too well in the heat, dishevelled wud describe my state pretty well, but i persevered.
This week i was/am tired, coz im getting up really early now, but thats good, more time to do stuff!

Thanks for reading!

The pictures are taken at the Huka Falls on the north island and Milford Sound on the bottom of the south island, the last picture is the fjord meeting the Tasman sea, quite amazing!:)

WATER, SNOW AND TEARS AND NZ

2009-01-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

Hey, welcome to my new followers and hello to everyone else of curz too!

I just came back from 2 weeks nz(new zealand), thats where my boyfriend is from and it was nice!

Pretty much like australia to me, culturally, and some great nature in some parts!

Took some holiday pictures, here are a few!
(Just if u are wondering 'Water, Snow and Tears' thats how i named the pictures, have a great day!)

THE NEW YEAR

2008-12-31T22:18:00.000-08:00

Time for high expectations, i guess, for some people.

I hear lots about De-cluttering! seems like our lifes are all cluttered up with all sorts of things and sometimes we lose the focus of the things most important to us.

We have no space in our houses or heads, to breathe, to let new things in..

Also we are too hard with ourselves, i suppose.

Making all these demands, well the usual.., be more organised, stop bad habits, really finally start doing what we always wanted..

Usually it works for a couple of days or we can change a little, too little..?

Anyways, i learned you can make a lot happening by listened to yourself, be true to yourself and making a precise statement about what do you want to do.

Know your limits is a big one, get to know yourself.

What is the best way to that? Thats what id like to know!

But i made my lists for this year, quite a few of them, im pushing myself, im having fun challenging myself, as long as its not too stressful and i Love learning new things!

My Goal for this year is to build my little business, which i just started a couple of months ago, into a giant corporation,... just kidding!

No, but i wanna live of the money it makes me and i want to live well and i think i deserve this for myself!

I think the biggest problem with (new years) resolutions is, we are trying to do too much in too short of a time frame.

If we make a mistake or cant keep it up for one day, we tend to get discouraged or angry and frustrated with ourselves.

Just keep going, keep your destination in mind, be kind to yourself, but still keep challenging yourself.

Like an athlete, building up muscles, they arent there over night either!

I wish You a Lovely Successful Fulfilling New Year, you deserve it!:)

And let me know about the best way to get to know yourself, im quite curious!

(the pictures are from some lovely shops i found on etsy)

SPIDER CHECK

2008-12-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

i hate spiders, snakes, generally all creepy crawlies.. i go into the water just with my legs, ..i got a shark paranoia now too, ..jellyfish and the water and the beach arent the cleanest anyways.

everytime i drive my car i do a spider check, it saved my life before..

one day i had a huntsman spider sitting Right inside my door frame.

if i wudnt have checked it, it cud have killed me, theyre not poisenous, but having a big spider crawling up on my shoulder while im driving 80km, well a lot of hyperventilating and breathing difficulties dont really help with ur road safety.

(of curz i wudnt put pictures of these spiders on my blogs; are u kidding, check them out here)

when i go to sleep i do a spider check now, one woman i know told me she found a spider once, under her duvet. Great, another thing to worry about!

one night i switched the light on for some reason and there was a big spider right next to the lamp, Next To My Headboard!

usually i scream and demand for them to be taken away, ..by my boyfriend, i bought some spider sprays, so i feel a bit safer again.

we have to sleep with open windows now, coz of the heat.. well no comment necessary..

one time i went walking with my boyfriend and we saw a brown snake,

'The Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis), often referred to as the Brown Snake, is an elapid snake native to Australia. It is one of the world's deadliest snakes.' from wikipedia

of curz he had to get close to take pictures of it! That is the snake. i think he is crazy, sometimes..

im not 100% sure if it was a brown snake or not, but it was a big snake and it was brown and im german, so i dont know it better, but that is ALL i need to know.

well, what can i say i wanna go back to europe, but its soo cold there! damn it!

NEW POST

2008-12-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

Fuck, i feel like i have to post something new, but i never remember what, when im actually on the web!
I found this amazing cake website yesterday on twitter and i have to say these cakes are truly amazing!
http://englishrussia.com/?p=851

Also i started doing a new line in my shop, i have two dress lines now, one is more casual, sporty, elegant dresses, i havent got an actual name for it yet and the other one is called 'LOST WORLD COLLECTION' and i use predominantly vintage fabrics in this one. Thats also were the name comes from, from past times, lost memories, certain colours and prints people used to wear..
which i find quite interesting and dramatic in some way.

The dress in the first picture is called 'MIDNIGHT MOON'

And this is my '70's GARDEN PARTY DRESS' and it was a already featured on etsy's frontpage and a blog!:) Yeah! Great to know when people like my stuff!

Thanks for looking!

THE STORY OF STUFF

2008-12-07T02:40:00.000-08:00

Hi!
So i was talking to a couple of people and posted in the etsy forums about business ethics and over-consumption and i got quite interesting responses from people.
Quite a few of them send me a link of a little video clip called "The Story Of Stuff" and they seem to rather like it, i watched it and i think its quite informative and gives an overview of the consumption situation in todays society.
SO, i thought i put it on my blog!

Here it is, enjoy!

My first real rant-fucking sweatshop labour

2008-11-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Definition of sweatshops from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'A sweatshop is a working environment with very difficult or dangerous conditions, usually where the workers have few rights or ways to address their situation. This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers are often forced to work long hours for little or no pay, regardless of any laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labor laws may also be violated.'

i watched this documentary on google video yesterday, after my boyfriend showed it to me
and i think it shows the horrible and difficult situations of people working and living(!) in these kind of environments pretty well.
its a shocking subject and its close to my heart, it goes hand in hand with the exploitation of big coorporations of just fuckin
everything on this planet, let it be people, animals or the environment.
its very sad and i wish more people wud wake up to this and make better and more conscious choices with their purchases, because that is where their power is. maybe stop buying your children those 50 fucking plastic toys made by other children in poorer countries, which break til next christmas anyways, so u can buy new ones and keep trapped in the consumer cycle. and maybe buy them one or two nice ones, made environmentally friendly and handmade by a person, making a living from doing what they love!
as its stated in this documentary, people dont wanna pay the price for socially and environmentally responsibly produced items. now why is that? as i said before wudnt u feel better, by just buying a couple of things, but buying them right?
i made the handmade pledge and im pretty aware of what im buying(and thats not just coz i hate malls!)
im sure most of us cant avoid buying 'sweatshop made' 100%, but just starting and making some thoughtful choices is already a start and very helpful!

its just so wrong! especially around christmas, the time of giving! Yea, right i wonder for whom!? and its not just toys, i mean as everyone SHUD be aware off, most things we consume, let it be clothes, electronics or whatever appliances, is made in china under horrendous circumstances!

im just trying, with this article and by posting this interesting video, to make more people aware of the situation! dont feel helpless or just blame politicians for the state of the world! the world is run like it is, coz most people LET it be run like it is! do something, live ur life more liberated and make some right choices this holiday!

a bit of fry and jay z

2008-11-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

This is just so bloody hilarious, you have to check it out!

a bit of fry and jay z from defyingdarwin on Vimeo.

CRAZY SHIT

2008-11-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

watch this!
it might be a bit hard on ur nerves!

MY INTERVIEW

2008-11-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Hi people!

My really good friend Maisy Brown(MaisyBrownReproRetro.etsy.com), who i got to know thru etsy, posted this interview of me(interviewing myself) on her blog. She made a really cute post of it and i felt really flattered.

Etsy-the website where we sell our clothes on, has a featured seller on the frontpage who changes every couple of days. Its a great exposure and its just a great way for people to get to know ur shop and your person.

I was quite frustrated today and cudnt get myself to get up in the morning so i came up with this instead.

http://maisybrownreproretro.blogspot.com/2008/11/mice-are-nice-lyptis.html

Yes this is me and Yes I AM OUT THERE!!

new work stuff!

2008-10-29T05:43:00.001-07:00

i try to post every day, but sometimes i just slip, busy and stuff.

anyways, heres what i did today

going on a trip!

and this one!

German Music

2008-10-26T01:21:00.000-07:00

yea, i know i have to post some more stuff about my work. ill do that tomorrow be patient!:)

Creepy Weird!

2008-10-26T01:12:00.000-07:00

i found her in the abyss of youtube

they are amongst us!

DAY-OUT

2008-10-25T05:19:00.001-07:00

today i went on a day out with my boyfriend. we drove somewhere nice and green and i took some pictures. first there is that one. i dont know what it is!

it says 'do not disturb', but i dont know what! bees, spiders... what is it?!
any ideas?

i took some more extra nice ones.

and that one.

i hope u enjoy them as much as i do! i like walking around in the green stuff. fresh air, quiet, not many people, wide open
spaces.
well who wudnt like that?!

hey, what about this guy?

2008-10-25T05:01:00.001-07:00

TECHNO VIKING
Give it some time he is really worth watching! i watched it like 12 times and i totally crack up everytime!!!

My Work

2008-10-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

Hey,
yea yea, i know i wanted to post more today, especially pictures of my work. but because im working on them the whole day and then i have to photograph them in daylight, it gets tricky sometimes!
here is anyways a picture of something i made yesterday

i hope u like it!
i do a lot of animal stuff, animal embroidery, brooches. i got a definite hedgehog thing goin too!
i made a t-shirt, which turned out nice, but after i washed it and dried it, coz i use disolvable stabilizer to trace my designs and stabilize the material, its usually about to get dark. well, the pictures turned out crap. so were just gonna take them again tomorrow!
here is the hedgehog pin i made yesterday too!

okay, have fun, i write more tomorrow!:)

Pink Floyd

2008-10-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

I love Pink Floyd, i know they are old 70's rockers, but hey, they made good music and their lyrics are acctual really good and quite critical, like 'The Wall', i mean what band writes a song about how crap and traumatising the school system is?!!
i hated school, 12 years down the fuckin drain! and what do i get for it?! those idiots cud have tought me how to fucking read and write and some basic maths in bloody 3 years!!
i wud have rather learned something productive, like how to deal with difficult people, how to run a business and how to find the fucking meaning of life!
Well, im on my own now. Well, almost:)
okay,
i absolutely terribly love this one! when i was 16 years old i bought myself some guitars and tried to learn it. it fucking didnt work out! its so difficult, i think i figured out the feeling of the song better then the technique.. and i had the worst fucking guitar teacher ever, who really got stuck with me on this one..
and i still love it!

this one is lovely too,
i like the lyrics of so many of there songs!

this one is nice too,
look at the setting! its awesome, out of this world!

hey i tried to upload o playlist here, how wud i do that??
its part one of 4 they are all awesome, ive got them running in the backround while im working!!
i have to go now. do some work!:) post it later!
Thanks!

setting up my blog

2008-10-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hey i figured it!
Thats great! So i have to go(from the blog window) to 'new post', then to 'edit posts' then click on the one i wanna edit and then on 'edit' and then shuffle the html around?
is that how u do it?!

hey if u explain something to me u have to talk retard speak, like step by step, think 3 year old child! seriously, in the beginning anyways;)

hey new post

2008-10-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hey thanks to my great new friends raj and cajo, im figuring my way around here! Thanks guys! Ure great!

So i managed to put up a utube video, but how the fuck do i put that in the text?

there are so many different windows!!

wud i do it in the window, like here, where im writing my posts or do i have to do it in the arrange window?

heeeeeeh, i dont get it, in the arrange window it looks like they are all in one big chunk(the posts)!

Damn! Anyone can explain those different windows to me anyway?

Like u got profile and the acctual blog...??

Jee, a lot of questions i know! once i figured it im gonna be ace!;)

Totally confused-and still new

2008-10-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,

i still feel like a granny writing her first email here. fuck knows what this blog thing is all about.

if i try to post a picture later, it probably just gonna bloody appear on the top of the writing, even if i want it somewhere completely different!! gooood!

so why do people write blogs? is it some self-promoting, narcissistic, everyone wants to be their own little celebrity-kinda thing???

I dont really get it yet!

but hey i might get totally fuckin into it!!

i wanna show u, what i did today, yes those mice!!

Hey if anyone knows how to put the picture acctually in the text, i wud be grateful to know!

Today i was listening to a lot of pink floyd, hey i had to work! and they are nice!

Hey how wud i put a utube video in my post???

IMPORTANT QUESTION! Please let me know!

i got a couple of good ones!:)

2008-10-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

what do u do with a blog??? anyone out there who can explain it to me?! seems a bit messy, all these dates and posts, they are all over the place. aah, yea..

jesus, why doesnt it let me write something above the picture? it was working before! that sucks! how does this work???

2008-10-18T05:31:00.000-07:00

i can write up here now too! but why is it underlined? Damn!

i really have no clue how this works.

im tired. that is a flower. it was supposed to be between the lines, but now it turned up there!

well, what can u do!!

2008-10-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

hey people! im new to this so im just trying it out!

hey my first blog entry!

what do i write...