Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Watchful Eyes


A new bookmark series featuring some of our favourite writers and thinkers is now available in the shop. I've really enjoyed working on these, basically scouring through cool images of people I like! There are 27 bookmarks in total but I'm already scheming up more inspiring folks I'd like to include. There's a pretty even split between men and women, and I'm so happy to be promoting so many amazing lady writers.We're also open to custom orders, if you don't see your favourite writer on the list, although I'm in no hurry to do a Dan Brown edition...ahem.

Just so you know, our bookmarks make pretty great stocking stuffers and if you're looking to pick one or two up for Christmas our 'order by' dates are as follows:


New Zealand - Friday 16th December
Australia - Wednesday 7th December
USA, Canada, UK & Europe - Wednesday 30th November
Elsewhere - Friday 25th November



Have you liked our Facebook page yet? We'll be running a little giveaway over there later today to celebrate   the new bookmarks so be sure to head on over so you can enter!


In other news, Richard starts his first New Zealand job today! It's at our local health food store which is next to an amazing little bakery, and I'm pretty excited for some sweet (organic) treats. Sadly he'll be working a weekend day, but it's almost summer holidays for me so I'll be free as bird. Bring on ciders, beach hair and orange fruju's!



Sunday, November 6, 2011

Color Fields


My clever friend Jen has recently released her Fall/Winter collection, Color Fields and it is so beautiful. I've known Jen for a bit over a year online and watching her clothing line Hound develop has been really exciting. Not only does she make beautiful clothes, but her lookbooks are always styled in such an effortlessly beautiful way. I love how Jen really has her own point of view (can you tell I've been watching Project Runway non-stop?) and her collections aren't just more of the same of what else is out there. Also, that print at the top kills me. So good! Head over to Hound if you want to snap any of these pieces up for yourself, I love that they also work for our Southern Hemisphere upcoming summer.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Wellington and beyond.




A few iPhone snaps from our trip down to Wellington last weekend. For some reason I've always felt a little weird about using iPhone photos on here, but really the whole point of having a camera on your phone is to be able to capture things when you don't have your camera with you or the time/energy to pull it out. I love instagram and don't care what film snobs know it!

We went down to Wellington to take part in Craft 2.0 and I have to say it is one of the best markets we have ever done. Just being in a city that has such a focus on art and culture is so inspiring, and Craft 2.0 was beautifully put together (such a fantastic venue) and we were lucky enough to be neighbours with the lovely Colleen. Everyone was so lovely and friendly, we met lots of great people (including a few blog followers, hi hi!) and got some really great feedback about our new bookmark design which we'll show you soon, and some necklaces that are going in a bit of a new multi-wood direction. One of which has already been snapped up but I hope to have a fresh batch to reveal for Summer fairly soon!

Aside from the great market, we also got to spend a couple of nights in Featherston with our lovely hosts Emma and Tom. Featherston is a small little town about an hour north of Wellington, so we hopped the commuter train out there on Friday for a country mini-break. Emma was also selling at Craft 2.0, which was perfect since we had no car, but it was also just a real treat to be able to have a few nights in their lovely old villa, eating yummy food, laughing about crazy craft fair questions and borrowing all the things we'd naturally forgotten. We even were made a delicious packed lunch for our day at the fair, so sweet! 

A couple of heads up...

- We're going to be at Fruit Bowl Craft Jam at Hawkes Bay Opera House on the 3-4 December so if you're down that way please come along and say hi! There will be lots of great Christmas shopping I'm sure. 
- The Auckland Art & Craft Fair is also getting pretty close! It's on December 10th at the Aotea Center in Auckland and with how much fun we had at the one in the middle of the year, I'm sure the Christmas fair is going to be a blast.
- Lastly, if you're in New Zealand be sure to keep your eye on Shorties this Monday evening as you should be seeing a bit of a Bliss in a Teacup jewellery cameo! 

Monday, October 24, 2011

Happenings


The school holidays are just about to draw to a close and I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for heading back into school tomorrow. Despite having had school work to do over the past couple of weeks, having time at home without a schedule is always such a welcome change. Aside from schoolwork I've been spending most of my time in our studio getting ready for upcoming fairs and working on some new jewellery designs. I feel so lucky to have that space down at the bottom of the stairs to close myself up in and hatch plans.

I must admit that I've been feeling a bit jealous of all the beautiful Autumn photos, tweets and updates from North America, it really was my favourite time in Vancouver. However, Spring has been pretty glorious here so far (if by glorious you count some intense rain storms!) and for that reason along with some Spring cleaning we've decided to have a bit of a sale over in the shop. You can read about it more here on our Facebook page. 

Off to bed for me, back to reality tomorrow! Hope you're well, friends. 
xo


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

mornings


I must confess that I am a terrible breakfast eater, despite generally really loving breakfast foods. I mostly eat breakfast at work these days because I have to get there so early that there is no way it's happening before I leave. So, on weekends I've come to really enjoy taking my time to sit down to a relaxed breakfast and potter around in the morning a bit before starting the day. At the moment my current breakfast fave is Vogels Cafe-Style in Light Berry. It's a perfect mix of fruit and grains, and I love the giant almonds. Perfect crunch! Now, if only I could find some non-crazy expensive almond milk over here I'd be a happy girl.

What's your favourite breakfast choice at the moment?

Sunday, October 2, 2011

first sun


Although you wouldn't know it if you were looking out my window this minute, Summer is on it's way. Being back in Auckland I now realise how much the seasons blur together here, and I guess that's why we're having a huge downpour despite me taking these photos above only last weekend - it's Spring, only I hadn't really noticed.

We're only a week out from school holidays (just a two week-er), and then it will only be a short seven week term before Summer break and we can all catch our breath a bit. I'm planning on embracing Summer a bit early though, with beach trips and more of that incredible ice cream (Richard had the lemon curd yogurt  and for the first time in my life I regretted choosing chocolate). This transition time is one of my favourite parts of the year, warm enough for bare feet and shoulders, putting in the veggie garden and evening walks, but still with days like today where I can watch the mist and rain roll over the harbour perched up here on the couch.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fresh Air



A few things that have been happening around here. Getting that work/life balance going, waiting for Spring. Bare feet on the rug, windows open and lemon cake. Feels good. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Holidaze


It's the second week of the school holidays here, and I can hardly begin to tell you how welcome the break has been. Richard came into school with me on the last Friday of school and we skipped out early to drive down home for a few days. I only teach the first three periods on a Friday, and my whole plan for the morning had been 'henna tattoos* and a shared lunch' so it was a pretty perfect end to the term. Driving the 6 hours out of the city was exactly what I needed, being able to both physically (hello, sleep!) and mentally check out once we got there.

It's been almost 7 months since we moved, past the magic 6 month mark (I remember being told, when you move cities to not visit home until you've been gone at least 6 months lest you never properly leave) and in lots of ways it feels like we've been away from Vancouver for much longer than that. Things have definitely taken longer to fall into place than we ever expected, and there have been many tears of frustration and doubt. However, after a term of teaching under my belt, having real furniture in the house and getting our workshop and studio almost all set up, I'm feeling pretty settled. In saying that, all it takes is a look through Jeannette's instagram feed or to think about the streets of Chinatown to feel quite a giant flood of homesickness. I am happy in the decision we made to move, but Vancouver still holds pretty tightly on to the part of my heart reserved for 'home'.

As I was driving about running errands yesterday, I noticed a store that looked like it was in the midst of getting ready to open, that had these beautiful Japanese textiles hanging from the ceiling and my heart leaped a little at the thought of going to check it out when it opens. Then I realised there were actually all these great Auckland (and beyond) places that I've been meaning to check out or places I've loved for a long time but should go back to and share them with you all here. So, this is my goal going into the next 10 weeks of school. I aim to pour all of my energy into my students and teaching while I'm at school, and then set aside time for exploring, documenting, friend-ing, making. A bit of balance. I think this will both help me be the best teacher that I can be (and have less mini-meltdowns in the staff room), and also give me room to celebrate what is really a pretty great place to live.

Oh, and time will also be made for sitting in a striped lounger on the deck with a book when the sun comes out. That's essential.


*Our art unit for the term was based around the idea of tattoo as symbolism and expression, so that wasn't a completely crazy idea.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Technical difficulties


Just a quick note to say that we've had a few issues with getting the new jewellery photographed over the past week, including a crazy half blackout last night, so the shop update will now be happening this Friday. Today is the winter solstice, so hopefully we'll be getting a few more glimpses of sunlight as the days go on. I'll be sipping a glass or two of wine tonight to ring in the change of seasons!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Geodesic


Just a quick note to show you something we've been working on lately, and to let you know that after making a small debut at the Auckland Art & Craft Fair last weekend, our new jewellery line will be released this Monday 20th, June. It will include the above wooden rings (and hopefully a few more) that I am really excited about. I think my dreams of a geodesic dome (and hello, I've found one!!) were playing heavily on my mind when I made these. Each ring is totally unique as I'm not big on following set patterns (read: I am not patient enough), and while there will be similar shapes and lines, I like that they are all one of a kind pieces. We're still figuring out the sizing, but are more than open to creating custom rings in a particular style if your size isn't available.

Speaking of the Auckland Art & Craft Fair, we had the best time there and thank you so much to all of you who stopped by and said hello! Annoyingly, I forgot my camera but you can take a look at some here. I particularly like this one of Richard working on new necklaces that sold as fast as he could hang them up!

A few things:

- This child is incredible.
- Too Much Success, and interesting and important conversation being started over on Poppytalk.
- Incredible sleepwear in perfect colours with the comfiest looking fabric by Poplin
- A song I keep going back to, and back to at the moment. The beautiful Sandy Denny.

Hope you're all well, friends.
xo

Monday, May 30, 2011

Spring Winter


We've been busy getting our new jewellery collection together over the past few weeks, which will hopefully be up in the shop fairly soon. When I first started collecting images as inspiration I accidentally titled our pin board 'Spring Winter', thinking of the Spring/Autumn opposite seasons for northern and southern hemispheres (obviously I was planning to have this finished much sooner than we have!), but I really love the sound of those two words together so I think I might keep it for now.


As both of us really love mid-century Modernist design, we always seem to be influenced by that so the shapes in this collection have come from looking at a lot of incredible architecture. There's some similar motifs to last time, and lots of prisms and raw gemstone type shapes. I think that the pull between my hippy, cosmic loving tastes and Richard's love of clean, more defined lines has found a really happy medium in the warm wood pieces. I hope you like them!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Settling in


Hmm, so posting here more regularly doesn't seem to have happened quite as I would have liked. I'm sorry about that, being back at work has been a little overwhelming and I have become quite the hermit. I do have things stored up to show and tell though, beginning with our new house. I'm feeling pretty lucky to have these beautiful roses blooming outside our bedroom window at the moment, and despite the fact that I am currently sitting amongst piles of boxes due to our stuff from Vancouver having just arrived, I am in love with this new house of ours.


Our bedroom gets the most amazing light during the day, and walking through the house in the morning I can look out the windows to the mangroves and harbour, watching chimney smoke waft up into the sky. We have a backyard that stretches out for quite a ways, and that is inhabited by a few fruit trees and a family of pukeko, which you can look out over from the little sun-room off the dining room (through the brick archway). We've been slowly unpacking all our boxes from Canada, which just makes it all that much better to come home to after a day of teenagers jumping through windows and playing basketball during health class.*

I'll be sure to keep the photos coming, we've got lots of plans for the place. A veggie garden and chickens out the back, music room in the basement, workshop in the garage and lots of plants and rugs everywhere.


*I wish I was joking.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Warm Welcome


As we've been in New Zealand for almost 3 months now, it's probably high time I fill you in with what's been going on. Despite a few hiccups, and feelings of surreality with things feeling so very normal and not at all normal at the same time, it has been really good being home. 

Our initial plan had been to move down to Christchurch after visiting friends and family, but as I'm sure most of you know a major earthquake hit the city in late February, devastating much of the city and was pretty much centred right in the little town of Lyttelton that we were hoping to move to. Thankfully our friends down there were ok, but many people weren't and it has been heart wrenching watching it all unfold from afar. We debated still going down, but with the need for work and accommodation amongst the people of Christchurch so great it just didn't feel right. We still hope to get there in the future (and in the near future for a visit, for sure) but for now we've decided to stay put in Auckland for the rest of the year. I must admit I was pretty anti -Auckland at first, I'm not sure why, going back to the too familiar perhaps? And living in the expensive city that it is while looking for work and an apartment hasn't been done the best job of endearing it to me (three months with no pay cheque!). But being here with Richard has made me see the city with new eyes, and despite being fairly broke we've been out exploring it's many diverse little pockets, visiting friends, cuddling new babies and driving along winding roads to wild west coast beaches which has given me the chance to fall back in love with this place a little (a lot). 

Also, good news is that I now have a job! Starting next week, I'll be teaching again making me both nervous and excited. It's been a good few years since I've been in the classroom, and this time 'round I'll be teaching high school which is new for me. I plan on channeling a bit of this lady (joking.....only half) and being thankful that high school works in blocks of time not full days. My best friend works at the same school, and having her there is going to be pretty great as she is easily one of the funniest people I know - perfect for post crazy class debriefs. I am actually looking forward to it, and the stationary shopping. Natch. We also have a house to move into this Friday! We've been very lucky to have had the use of my Dad's vacation rental property while we've been getting ourselves sorted, but I am looking forward to setting up house and really feeling like we're settling in here. The 'all coming together' feeling is very much welcomed by us both at the moment!

That feeling also means I intend to start posting here a bit more regularly again, and also keeping our Facebook page up to date so you can be sure you'll be hearing from me again soon. Sorry for all the radio silence lately!  Hope you're well friends. I'd love to hear how you're doing. xo


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Fond Farewell



I had always intended to write this post before we left Vancouver, but it just never quite felt like the right time. I'm not sure if there ever really is one right time to do things, but after my first real bout of missing Vancouver yesterday and sprucing up the blog a bit I figured now was as good as ever. So, Hello! Good to be back.

We were really lucky to be able to do a few trips around B.C. before we left Canada, and looking through my photos of the Gulf Islands and moody Francois Lake mountains has both made my heart ache and made me feel really, really lucky that I got to call that spectacular country home for awhile. There is something special about the Pacific Northwest, with it's thick forests and mossy, damp smell that lingers even into the summer months. It gets under your skin.

I love that our last couple of months in and around Vancouver were full of exploring, spending time with friends and a whole lot of joy. Leaving was always in the back of my mind, but I never felt really sad because each place we went was so beautiful, and each meal shared so full of laughs. It wasn't until flying out of Vancouver airport and peering out the window, mesmerized once again by the Coast Mountains that it really hit me, and I cried and cried. I think I found myself in Vancouver in just that perfect time in my life that made not just my growing up but the city itself have a really strong impact on the person I am. Does that sound a bit dramatic? In some ways I don't feel like I've changed hugely in the last 5 years, but in so many ways I have and whenever I catch a glimpse of those dang mountains I'm reminded of a place where I really felt free to be and grow into the person I wanted to be. Vancouver, with your crazy weather, hippies, large amount of active-wear and pot smell, you still have my heart.

So, it has been a bit of a tough transition. There have been a few hiccups along the way which I'll go into in a later post, but we have been lucky enough to come home to a New Zealand summer, which is just about one of the best things in the world. Watching the sun set over Lake Taupo with my Dad on our first night home, eating fish (really, potato fritter) and chips out of newspaper with a cold beer, helped me feel like we had made a good decision. Spending time with family, catching up with old friends and dipping my toes into the ocean at wild, west coast, black sand beach was pretty great, too.

I'm really happy to be back in this space, to share with you what we've been up to and to hear how you all are. Kia ora, from our new (old) home.