With Legs Aquiver

Style Crush

Ramona from Scott Pilgrim VS The World. I watched this movie for the first time the other day, and got a few giggles, but the main high point for me was being introduced to the style of Ramona Flowers. And now I realise where I've been going wrong all of these years. Now on my shopping list: awesome boots, awesome tights, and an awesome sweater. Don't worry - I'm all over it.

Blog Crush(es)

The other day whilst doing some blog-hopping (a time consuming sport, characterised by procrastination and numerous cups of coffee) I came across the wonder that is The Beetle Shack. A bit crafty, a lot arty, funny, warm and a member of the cutest damn family you'll ever see, Emily is pretty awesome.

And of course, from her blog I hopped on over to Tim Coulson. Tim is a photographer over on the mainland, and his photography is just incredible. Not only that, but he's a fab writer too. He does the sweetest family photos. It just makes me want to steal a child and a man, so that I can have rad family portraits like that.

Artist Crush

Again, a result of site/blog-hopping. I stumbled across the ridiculously talented Courtney Brims. A Brisbane-girl, she holds more talent than it is surely healthy to. I've fallen head over heels for her artworks, and bought a set of her greeting cards so that I can hang them on my wall. My favourite artwork involves a rabbit, a flower, and a teacup. Honestly, is there any other way to combine so much coolness in one spot??

{Images from Courtney Brims}

Fictional Character Crush

Because every well-adjusted person gets a crush on a fictional character. Jon Marshall from the Nick Earls' novel Perfect Skin is just.... dreamy. Well-written, he's got a dry sense of humour, he's intelligent, he's complex (but not ridiculously so), and best of all - he looks however I want him to.

Liebster Award

The other day I was awarded the Liebster Award by the awesome Michelle.

The Liebster Award "is given to blogs by other bloggers who have fewer than 300 followers and who the blogger feels deserves a lot more recognition and following than what they currently get. Once you receive/accept the award the idea is to pass it on to other bloggers who you feel are also lacking in the recognition they deserve."

It made me go a little "aw shucks... who, me?" as I scuffed my foot in the dirt. A big thank you to Michelle for the shout out, and now to pay it forward.

Isismade - A Launceston blogger who has good words, good photos, and a rockin' sense of style.

Jaci from Avy Loves Ned - A fellow Made With Love market lady who makes the most incredible jewellery. I encourage you to buy her stuff, so that you can look awesome. I did it, and it totally works.

Thank you to everybody who drops by the read my blog as well. Blogging has been a great experience, and such an inspiring thing to do.

Thank you, cyber world!!


*throws down microphone and walks off stage*

In A Land Far, Far Away

"A land called Wynyard. We held a market. It was rad.


And they lived happily ever after.


The end."

Our June Made With Love Market Bazaar was last Saturday, and as always, it was a great day. The dress-up theme this month was Children's Storybook Characters. It was our eighth (!) Made With Love, and it just feels like we're growing in leaps and bounds. We're getting an incredible response from the community, and it's just the best feeling to be surrounded by so many crafty folks one day a month - I feel like I could burst from all the warm and fuzziness happening. But I won't - bursting is most unbecoming for a lady.

The other thing that has been great is to not only be a part of the markets, but to be part of the behind-the-scenes action. Yes, sometimes we get a bit cranky pants. Yes, sometimes we just want all of the admin work to go away. But really, it's just us networking with the aforementioned crafty folk, and you can't be cranky pants about that, can you?

It's also kind of novel to have to prepare yourself for a dress-up once a month. This month's preparation went something along these lines:

A month beforehand - Have idea to dress as Puss In Boots. Feel very smug with self that in order to dress as this character, I only need to buy ears and a tail.

2 weeks beforehand - Purchase ears and tail. Continue feeling smug with self.

4 days beforehand - Curse self for not thinking outfit through completely. All well and good to have ears, tail and boots, but general decency and social niceties require me to cover up the bits in between. Panic.

3 days beforehand - Call Mum late at night, requesting her to express post a shirt that I'm sure I left in a suitcase at her place. Or in the wardrobe. It's possibly in the set of drawers...

2 days beforehand - Curse stupid self.

Day of market - Sleep in. Realise have hit snooze button 3 too many times. Have shower. Realise that nose ring has fallen out during the night. Search bedding for nose ring. Curse stupid self. Find nose ring. Attempt to put back in nose. Have sneezing fit. Sit down for a minute to regain composure. Try again. Cue second sneezing fit. End up getting facial bling in. Hurriedly get dressed. Draw on crooked whiskers with liquid eyeliner. Run out door. Forget about attached tail when sitting in car. Awkward moment.

So, as you can see, being a marketing crafter is quite an involved business. It is not for the fainthearted.

And now that you've been educated, onto the photos...

Sweet Mia

Lorise from Clever Zebra Designs. Totally cute as Heidi.

Rock My Roll

This particular dress-up gave us great scope to make a lot of jokes, bad puns, and misquote things. And when I say we, I mean me. But you knew that.

Sandra from Grace of Autumn & Wendy

Lisa from Lisaloo

We ended up having a Red Riding Hood (Michelle - Rock My Roll), Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (Naomi, our awesome photo taker lady), Pippi Longstockings (Sandra - Grace of Autumn), Heidi (Lorise - Clever Zebra Designs), and the best surprise of all - a customer dressed as our fairy godmother. Bless her cotton magical socks.

Grace of Autumn goodies

Puss in Boots getting all swordy on Red Riding Hood

Naomi as Dorothy

To see more of the awesome shots that Naomi got, check out our facebook page. And a big thank you to Naomi for the photos, and everybody who supports our lovely little crafty day. We hope to see y'all next time!

Under The Weather

Every time I feel a wee bit unwell (at the moment I have a bad case of the sniffles) I feel homesick. I miss my Mum, I miss my cat, I miss my friends, I miss Krispy Kreme... the list goes on. Until I remember that Krispy Kreme not only hurts my wallet, but my waistline. Then I just miss everything else.

To add insult to injury, when I moved here from New South Wales, I didn't have enough room in my car to bring my photo albums down. So I can't even have a proper sad attack whilst flipping through some oldies. I can only go through the more recent photos on my external hard drive.

To that end, I thought that I'd do a bit of a flashback here; being that really annoying lady who shows you the slides from their holidays, and expects you to stay awake through the whole thing. I'm watching you... eyes open! Now, this is when Roger and I....

+ A road trip in the Blue Mountains that involved a look out, Dr Pepper, and soluble Panadol. My car was never quite as clean afterwards, but it was so damned funny at the time that I had to do an emergency park on the side of the highway to laugh. And then try and clean up the Dr Pepper.

+ Newtown, Sydney. I've spent a few days traipsing around Newtown, photographing all of the street art there. Down every side street and alley is more awesome graf, and really inspiring art.

+ Tim Rogers at the White Album gig at the Sydney Opera House. The first time I'd ever stepped foot in the Opera House, the first time I'd ever seen Tim Rogers, Chris Cheney, Phil Jamieson or Josh Pyke, and the first time I'd ever used a hotel vault. Brilliant.

 + The day that my housemate, Mitch, and I palette-wrapped our other housemates car for his birthday.

+ My cousin's pug, Harper, as a little fella. This was probably the only moment that he wasn't excitedly clambering over everybody, and biting any exposed skin. 

+ Giving a drunken speech at my friend's farewell party. It went something along the lines of, "Now, we all know that Monica is awesome, and she's awesome... yeah, YOU'RE awesome!" *break down into tears*

+ Cruising behind a road train on a road trip from Darwin to Sydney. It's one thing to know about the existence of road trains. It's another thing to actually see a road train. It's another thing, yet again, to overtake a road train. That's when shit gets real.

+ A photo shoot that Mitch and I had to prove for once and all that we weren't a couple. This came shortly after being spotted in a shopping centre by my friend's sister, bickering about the colour of a throw rug we'd just bought. I was adamant that I wasn't having that colour blue in my house.

+ One of my only (successful) attempts at domesticity - some biscuits for Halloween. I made sure that I made extra for my housemates, so that they wouldn't touch the good ones.

+ My Aunty Colleen and Mum at my Uncle's birthday do. No amusing anecdote... I just really heart this pic.

So, THEN Roger ate the clams, and he was crook in the stomach all the way back. I tell you, never buy clams from the boot of a car...

Say Yes To Mediocrity

Last night I couldn’t get to sleep so, for the first time in years, I propped myself up in bed and drew. Drawing used to be one of my big hobbies – my fingers would itch to document things to paper, and whilst I wasn’t great at the whole shading thing, I gave it a damn good crack. I loved it, and it was a big part of me for a long time.

Last night I recaptured some of that feeling. I was excited about what I was doing, and was so lost in what I was doing that my face started hurting because I was doing my concentration face (it involves pouting) for so long. I acted like a pro with my pencil, I used my little paintbrush with a flourish, and I smudged things to my heart’s content.

Don’t get me wrong – it turned out pretty shit. I was never very good at drawing, and I’m rusty. I never had a chance of churning out a masterpiece. That’s not my point.

My point is – how often do we set out to do something, not because we’re good at it, or even when we know we’re pretty bad at it, but we do it just because we like it? It’s too easy to get caught up striving to be the best at what we do. There’s nothing wrong with that – there’s a lot to be said for ambition. But how about just every now and then, letting your hair down, and doing a dodgy job of something? Go bake that lopsided cake, do that DIY work that will fall apart in a week, and do a painting that doesn't actually resemble anything in particular, and love every moment of it.

PS. This blog post does not mean that I’m encouraging doily splat. I’m not. Stop it.