Happy Friday...and a tune for your weekend!

Happy Friday!

These strawberries are growing in our backyard, in one of my favourite concrete pots inherited from my grandmother. Shortly after the photo the riper one was plucked and eaten! Yum! :)

Now for a tune for your weekend, thanks to James.

James: I'm really enjoying the new album, Ekstasis, by Los Angeles experimental pop artist Julia Holter. I particularly like the first song, "Marienbad", which I presume is named after the film Last Year at Marienbad, also a favourite of mine. I love the way her music is a combination of melodic and poppy at the same time as crazy and experimental - that's my favourite thing in the world!

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

New MT Tapes

I've just finished popping up these beautiful new tapes from MT into the online store. There are five new single designs and a beautiful new wide butterfly design. My favourite is the patchwork cherry & orange - those peachy colours with the gold stripes is such a perfect colour combination!

Also, there is an Easter DIY for these eggs over on my other blog, givemakewrap today if you're interested :)

*Images from Telegram

Gold Babuschkas

After a long wait, these gold Babuschkas have just arrived! I'm not normally a big gold person when it comes to accessories, but this is just the right amount of bling, I think :)

They fit an iPhone or iPod perfectly and are made from gold-coloured calf leather with an elastic band closure. They're $49 each (the same as the cognac leather version). I'll pop them up online asap, but in the mean time you can find them in the store...

*Image by dekoop

Easter at Mr Sparrow

I've set up a little Easter display at the shop. Everything seems to be sort of mini this year - I'm not sure why, it just happened! There are...

tiny birds...

hand-woven bird's nests...

rabbit ornaments from Have You Met Miss Jones...

 

cut-out rabbits and other animals from Have You Met Miss Jones...

 

cards from Elly Oak...

 

a cute vintage German Easter egg, and...

my tiniest-ever nest!

The larger hand-woven nests, tiny birds and some cards are also available online.

Also, I will be popping up a tutorial on how to make these speckedly eggs on givemakewrap tomorrow...

Birthday presents

Some of the beautiful things I received for my birthday...

• tulips from my love
• a very special print from Eko
• also from Eko...a cushion she made using nani IRO fabric (and she hadn't even seen this post!) - doesn't it look cute snuggling up to my castle penny round cushion?
• a beautiful antique apothecary bottle from Rick and roses from Dwellingup
• some other lovely gifts from special friends
• smiles from Otis and Henry

 It really was a perfect birthday!

Happy Friday...and a tune for your weekend!

Happy Friday!

Mr Sparrow is awash with colour today as I've just filled the window and all the little bottles and vases around the shop with beautiful peachy dahlias. It's feeling a bit like a jungle near the fishpond, with so much delicious greenery sitting and hanging at different heights...

Now for a tune for your weekend! James is back on board this week and he chose this song for me (woohoo!) because tomorrow's my birthday. This is his favourite birthday-themed song (although naturally we both also love this), the aptly-named Birthday by Björk's first band The Sugarcubes.

Enjoy!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever your plans. I'll be enjoying high tea here (yum!) before heading to Dwellingup for a birthday dinner with family and friends. I can't wait!

Easter on my mind

I love doing a spot of egg-dyeing at Easter, and with only two weeks to go I've started thinking about ways to work my current obsessions with dip-dyeing and all things gold into my eggs this year. Those neon dip-dyed eggs have me particularly excited!

P.S. There is a new (gold-themed!) :wrap: post on my other blog, givemakewrap today!

*Images by, from top: Oh Joy!, Oh Happy Day, Aunt Peaches

Dip dyed tablecloth

I've been doing a lot of dip-dyeing and tie-dyeing lately and am really loving the results! This tablecloth is one of my favourites. I was inspired by the Fold Unfold tablecloth from Hay, but wanted to give it a softer look with pastel colours and less obvious lines. I used an old sheer curtain from IKEA that we had lying around, as it was a really nice light cotton. I folded it up until it measured about 40cm x 20cm, then I prepared a tub of pink fabric dye and a tub of light blue. I dipped two of the sides in the pink (one long side and one short), leaving each one in the dye for about half an hour, and dipping only a few centimetres of the fabric into the dye. After letting those two sides dry, I then dipped the remaining two sides in the blue. As with any dip-dyeing, the colour crept up the fabric, so there was almost no gap left between the pink and blue sections once it was dry.

This was so easy to do and I was really happy with how it turned out - I just love looking at these pretty pastel colours! I plan to do some more soon, and the great thing about hand-dyeing is that you never get the same result twice so who knows what will happen next time!

I'll show you some more of my dip-dyeing and tie-dyeing efforts, soon, including some that will be for sale at Mr Sparrow...

Autumn Workshops

So here it is (finally!)...the Autumn Workshop announcement! 

After the success of our summer workshops, we've launched another round in terrarium- and kokedama-making. These will be held at the store on Sundays, and will include a delicious afternoon tea and a goodie bag for participants. The two workshops available are 'Make Your Own Kokedama' and 'Make Your Own Terrarium'. 

Make Your Own Kokedama:

Do you love all things green, growing and mossy and find joy in bringing a bit of greenery indoors? Do you love Mr Sparrow's beautiful hanging kokedama and want to create your own versions? Then this is the class for you! In this hands-on two-hour class you will learn how to create kokedama, Japanese-style growing moss balls. You will be provided with all the materials needed to create your own kokedama on the day, including special soil mixes, moss, a variety of plants and several options for displaying your kokedama. You will leave with your own beautiful kokedama and the skills to make many more! After the workshop is finished, you will be served a delicious afternoon tea and receive a Mr Sparrow goodie bag to take home (all included in the workshop price).

Price: $65

Date: Sunday, 15th April 2012

Time: 10am – 12pm (class #1) OR 1pm - 3pm (class #2) (please specify which class you would prefer)

Where: Mr Sparrow, Shop 3, 223 Bagot Road, Subiaco WA

Make Your Own Terrarium:

Do you love all things green, growing and mossy and long to create little worlds of your own? Do you love Mr Sparrow's cute moss terrariums and want to create your own versions? Then this is the class for you! In this hands-on two-hour class you will learn how to create terrariums incorporating moss and small plants. You will be provided with all the materials needed to create your own terrarium on the day, including a variety of vintage and new glass vessels, different types of moss and plants, pebbles and sweet little hand-made miniatures to dress up your terrarium. You will leave with your own beautiful terrarium and the skills to make many more! After the workshop is finished, you will be served a delicious afternoon tea and receive a Mr Sparrow goodie bag to take home (all included in the workshop price).  Please note, due to the cost of materials involved, we have had to increase the price of our terrarium workshops slightly.

Price: $75

Date: Sunday, 29th April 2012

Time: 10am – 12pm (class #1) OR 1pm - 3pm (class #2) (please specify which class you would prefer)

Where: Mr Sparrow, Shop 3, 223 Bagot Road, Subiaco WA

Sign up on the website, or email me at info[at]mrsparrow.com.au (if emailing, please make sure you specify which class you would like). Bookings are essential and spaces are very limited (I can only fit 8 people in a class and there are only 4 classes, so that's a total of 16 people for terrariums and 16 for kokedama!).

Please note: if you missed out on the last round of workshops and have registered your interest for this round, I will not automatically hold a place for you (as I don't know which class you would prefer). You still need to sign up on the website, or email me as soon as possible to book your place.

Please visit our facebook page for more photos from our last round of workshops.

Happy Friday...and a tune for your weekend!

Happy Friday!

I got a nice surprise recently when these pretty pink flowers appeared on some grasses I planted in our front garden about a year ago (I think they are liriope spicata). The colour is just beautiful, so I've been picking them and keeping a few in my OtchiPotchi wall vase.

Now for a tune for your weekend! Apart from Grimes, the other album I've had on heavy rotation lately is Tom Tom Club's self-titled 1981 debut. This is another band that James introduced me to, and I just can't get enough of their upbeat tunes! I hope you enjoy this track, Genius of Love.

Have a great weekend!

New from Claystone

How sweet are these new products from Claystone Pottery? The "Cosy Cups" were designed by Chris for a Christmas exhibition - you might remember he mentioned them in my interview with him back here. They're cute little egg cups with lids to keep your boiled eggs warm - such a lovely idea!

He's also now making his mini milk jugs in larger sizes - a "midi" size (80ml) and a "maxi" size (130ml). A bit more practical to use as a milk jug for a number of people, or they'd be perfect to serve sauces. And like the mini ones, they'd make very sweet little vases, too!


These are now in the store and I'll pop them up online very soon! We've also now got a big range of colours back in stock in the mini milk jugs and egg boats, and bird teapots in all three colours.

So pretty...

Grey and green

A little while ago I did a lot of experimenting with concrete. This pot was one of my earlier experiments (hence the chunks missing from the side!), but I rediscovered it on the weekend when looking through the shed. When Eko and Rick moved into their new place last year I made them a similar planter and potted it with succulents as a housewarming present, and I decided this one, while a bit battered, would still look pretty nice in a similar set-up.

I really, really love concrete. I love its smooth but imperfect surface and its natural, unobtrusive appearance. And there's something about the combination of the mottley grey of the concrete and the sagey green of the succulents that just gives me a good feeling :)

I'm working on some latex moulds at the moment and have worked out a concrete mix that works a treat so I'm looking forward to making some more planters soon...and maybe even some for Mr Sparrow!

On my wishlist...

Since I have a birthday coming up (hint, hint!), I thought it might be a good time to update my wishlist! Here's what I'm wishing for at the moment...

• a bead necklace from IISWASANDWILLBE
• Indian wooden block stamps from ta ta
• beautiful Japanese fabrics from Kicoli
• a silk scarf from Scout & Catalogue
• a leather wedge bag from Scabby Robot
• pyjamas from ALAS (I'll take the whole catalogue, thanks!)