First Comes Love

Today I have something very exciting to tell you about...the First Comes Love alternative bridal fair! As soon as I heard about this, I knew I had to jump on board. Angela Mitchell and Leah Dent of Studio Bomba and Mitchell & Dent have joined forces with Emma Bergmeier of All of the Above Creative and Dropstitch to bring together a whole pile of creative Perth people who are committed to creating beautiful, different weddings.

On the 18th and 19th of June, the lovely upstairs room at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville will be chock-full of everyone from florists, bakers and musicians to photographers, celebrants and stylists...and me! As the perfect place to create a wedding registry with a difference, Mr Sparrow had to be a part of it! You might already know about our wish list service (if not, you can read all about it here), but it's about to get even better! As we speak, I'm busily working on making it possible to create and manage a wish list online, and for your friends to make purchases from your list through the online store. Hopefully this will all come together before First Comes Love!

There will also be hair and make-up trials taking place on the day (keep an eye on the First Comes Love website for details), and there will be goodie bags packed full of lovely bits and pieces!

If you've got a wedding in the works, or even if you don't and you just want to get in on the fun, you won't want to miss this exciting event. There are still a few weeks to go, but don't worry, I'll make sure you get plenty of reminders!

In the mean time, you can "like" the First Comes Love facebook page to keep an eye on what's happening. Thanks, Angela and Leah, for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a fun and inspiring event!

Looks like: Toast

How about this for a way to wake up? Daymaker from Habitco Designs is a alarm clock and iphone charging dock. It pops up like a piece of toast when it's time to wake up and you can program it to play the song of your choice to make sure that you wake up in a good mood!

Happy Friday!...another birthday, and the winners!

Happy Friday! I picked this little rose this morning to serve alongside yummy pancakes with maple syrup and coconut sugar...because today is James's birthday! Yes, another birthday! And there's still one more to come this week - my sister's tomorrow. Madness. But good madness :)

So with all the birthday celebrations afoot, I have a fun-filled weekend ahead of me! I can't give away too many details, because there are a few surprises involved, but I can tell you that tonight we will be eating here - yum!

And now for the winners of Monday's Yoshii Towel giveaway! Thanks to everyone who left a comment. The three lucky winners are Katie G, Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String, and Clare. Hooray! Please send me an email to info[at]mrsparrow.com.au with your full name and address and I will get your packages out to you asap! I'm sure you're going to love, love, love these beautiful flannels.

Have a lovely weekend!

Palindrome

I love this Palindrome series of furniture by London-based designer Peter Marigold. If you're like me you'll think at first glance that these are just half-painted wood, but in fact each piece is half mould and half cast. A box mould is contstructed from timber, then the interior of the mould is cast into with a strong but lightweight material. When the mould is opened up, the cast has the texture of the wood. The wood pieces are then flipped inside-out and the two sides - which are now mirror images - are joined together. Each piece has a palindromic name (I don't think there's an Anna, but there is an Ana!), which is engraved into the wood, resulting in a raised word on the cast side. What a fantastic idea...and they look amazing to boot! I particularly love the stools and the tables - beautiful!

Peter also has a fantastic range called Flauna, which incorporates a single branch into shelving units.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on any one of these...


*All images by Peter Marigold; found via Trendland

Birthday

Today is a super-sized birthday! Eko is turning 30 and my nephew Andreas is turning the ripe old age of 2! Happy birthday to two very special people!

[Eko's present and card are decorated with stamps I made, and that great VersaCraft ink! I've been wanting to experiment with carving my own stamps for a while, so I recently bought a rubber block and played around. It was so much fun!]

All the colours of the rainbow

VersaCraft ink pads are now here...in 12 fantastic colours! These come courtesy of Kia Hing Fay, who also has a couple of snappy new bookplate stamps - that's the Graduate design in the last photo, but there is also a cute bird one!

I'll leave it to Kia to tell you about these fantastically fun ink pads!

"These cute little ink pads are from japanese company Tsukineko. Japan is the epicentre of all things kawaii & crafty. Agreed? Then it should come as no surprise to discover that on my last trip to Tokyo, I stuffed my bags with all sorts of lovely stamping & gocco supplies. VersaCraft inks from Tsukineko are a favourite find. I generally use them to print on paper & fabric, but they also work nicely on wood, leather & unglazed ceramics. Gosh...the possibilities!

Remember to pre-wash your fabric before stamping, and finish with a warm iron to heat set the ink. Be gentle with your handiwork, and wash with an earth friendly detergent. This will help prevent fading. 

Artists & scrapbookers will rest happy in the knowledge that these inks are acid free and of archival quality."

Thanks, Kia! The ink pads and Kia's new stamps (as well as her old favourites) are all in the store now and hopefully I will get them online later in the week...

*All images by Kia Hing Fay

Oji & Design...and a giveaway!

Oji & Design has arrived! I am so, so excited to be stocking these beautiful pieces by Japanese designer Oji Masanori. Expertly-designed, perfectly-crafted and beautifully-packaged, these are very special pieces that you will keep forever. The Kami wooden mug, Crescent and Eclipse brass bottle openers, and Star brass trivet are now here, and the Sun trivet will be arriving soon. All current pieces will be available in the online store later this week, too. I just can't stop gazing at them...

And now...to celebrate this exciting arrival, I have three beautiful chambray face towels (flannels) from fellow Japanese designer, Yoshii Towel, to give away! These are made from the same incredibly soft "shankar 6" threads as the Yoshii hand towels and bath towels, only they are small, measuring 25cm x 25cm. If you've tried one of the Yoshii towels before, you will know just how amazing these are...and if you haven't, here's your chance! To enter, please leave a comment on this post (click here if you are in google reader) before 5pm Perth time this Thursday (26th). I will pick three winners and post the results here on Friday morning.

Good luck!

*First three images by Oji & Design

Happy Friday!...and now online

Happy Friday! I'm afraid I've failed to deliver a happy friday photo this week, but I do have these cute little berries in amber glass bottles, which are now in the online store! I've also just added some of the new Mosey range of cloches, creature hats and elf hats (modelled by the lovely Eko - thanks, Eck!), so check them all out in the New section. There are babies' and children's hats, plus scarves and wrist warmers still to come...just in time for the cooler weather!

Here's to a lovely, wintry weekend!

State Theatre Centre

Last night I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the shiny new State Theatre Centre. I absolutely love this building (designed by the award-winning Kerry Hill Architects) and it makes me so excited that we have such a "proper" theatre here in Perth! It's a real experience going there - crossing the psychadelically-lit walkway, entering through the amazing wood and gold foyer, even using the Aesop-appointed bathrooms! Although I've been to the State Theatre Centre before, this was my first time in the Heath Ledger (main) Theatre, and it was stunning. There is beautiful seating, wood from floor to ceiling and a stage that can make all sorts of fancy maneuvers. There are a number of exciting shows coming up (including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, featuring my cousin!) and already I can't wait to get back to this fantastic venue. Go Perth!

*Images 1, 2, 3 & 5 from 6pr, images 4, 6 & 7 from zimbio.

In the garden

This corner of our garden was always my least favourite. I hated the big, bare patch of wall and could never make anything look quite right there. Then Eko gave me this amazing galvanised steel planter by Joost for my birthday (yes, Joose of Greenhouse fame!) and the transformation began! I've planted it with Sunkisses, which in time should spill over the edges and merge into one big, beautiful cascading green wall...

 

Then on Sunday I found this brilliant antique plant stand at a store in Guildford, and realised straight away it had to go alongside the ultra-contemporary Joost. At the moment it's holding a few pots I already had sitting around, including one of my grandmother's beautiful old concrete pots, but I can see myself having a bit of a rotating display on here. The other big pots on the ground are actually broken antique ceramic jugs - one belonged to James's nonna and the other I think we picked up at a salvage yard. Now I just can't get enough of this happy little corner!

And meanwhile, elsewhere in my garden were some other happy sights this morning...

There's something about sturdy little green bulb shoots pushing their way out into the world that just makes me smile.

Mmm...vintage

These are just a few of the lovely vintage bits and pieces I picked up over the weekend that are now for sale in the shop. Included in the haul is a beautiful gold and white canister, some cute Royal Doulton dishes and what might just be the best teacup I've ever seen! There are also lots of vintage plates, some beautiful antique keys, a lovely set of ceramic bottles...and quite a few more bits and pieces.

Apart from the vintage shopping, I also spent part of my weekend working on a long-overdue project for our home, which I'm excited to show you soon!

Oh, and hello winter! It's cold and raining right now and I'm looking forward to getting home and into something warm :)