behind-the-scenes with found n bound

visited the lovely lori of found n bound whose home is an amazing collection of vintage books, suitcases, tea towels and other amazing array of vintage collectables.

here she shares her craftswomenship...


1. chop the spine
2. sort through & decides which pages to keep eg. title pages, pictures...
3. chop to size and slot in the lined paper


4. punch the holes


5. pop in the spiral binding
6. clamp it close


7. ta-da! upcycled and ready for its new life!


...a glimpse into some of her beautiful collection of vintage suitcases and tea towels...

one super talented lady giving old books a new life! thank you lori for sharing it with us! found n bound journals are available at red hill market, mornington market, williamstown market and mulgrave market...plus select shops in VIC, QLD, SA & WA!

The Vintage and Handmade Bride Magazine

Oh hello!
The Vintage and Handmade Bride magazine has put a litle feature of my washi tape!
Yay! Thank you Mel :)

It's packed with ideas, advice, stories and lots of inspirational photos!
Issue 1 of The Vintage and Handmade Bride is available at all good newsagencies! ($13.95)

phase it write

with lucas grogan...phrase for the day "deal with it"...awesome motto!

sorry it's been awhile since my last post. i've tried to spend less time on the computer. although i have spent a bit of time on my iphone instead...

so the talented and friendly fella lucas ran his first class at harvest. btw, you all probably know that i'm addicted to harvest workshops! lol! anyways, super helpful with his 'hot tips' we created lucas-grogan-esq pieces. he told us his story of how he got to where he is today and checked out some his work, including pieces he's working on at the moment. then began our part - phrases were drawn from the urn, boards cut, painted and patterns created onto the pieces. we learnt to embrace the organic and handmade nature of our pieces and to just "deal with it" if we got a line out of place - or in my case, smudges. he even made a delish white choc cake and did our dishes! thank you lucas for such a fun day. you rock!

road trip to castlemaine

1. consulting the civic guide with kelly zarb...who had diligently copied out some of the highlights of castlemaine from peppermint magazine! you rock girl!
2. awesome knitted door at the library
3. continuing education, templeton st
4. yummy local ginger beer, green goes the grocer, templeton st
5. new store by benchmark collective (14 Templeton Street), next to habadash. lovely chat with the owner who said they've only been there for about 8 weeks! they stock lots of design items and paintings by her husband - their studio is out the back!
6. menu from old childcraft book at republic cafe - yummy quinoa salad but not a fan of their brioche...which i tried as the toppings sounded yum (prosciutto, egg salad, beetroot chutney) but it just didn't go together with the sweet brioche bread...i have never tried brioche bread before!
7. awww...a few stores were closed including this vintage store and the reclaimed room
8/9. street art of miyazaki's kodama (forest spirits)!
10. old letter box
11. florist display
12. keys & locks at schot's home emporium, mostyn st - lots of vintage items for a home renovator and decorator but also sections of new wares too...which was really weird!
13. lovely vintage door, schot's home emporium
14. beautiful window in alley way
15. we found wally!
16. campbell's creek
17. bells belles vintage - lovely store!
18. castlemain bus line...bye!

then as we were leaving castlemaine, we discovered salvos and vinnies! we had managed to hit up one of the local op shops in castlemaine with an extremely chatty lady - she even told kell how to take care of her vintage book that she had purchased and advised me on how to check that mugs are not chipped because that could spread disease and they wouldn't be able to sell it. lol! btw, my score was a 50 cent whale mug - made in japan. yet to instagram or blog!
anyways, we managed to drop into salvos 5 minutes before closing! btw, kell pointed out that i seem to have an uncanny sense to spot signs that say 'vintage', 'opp shop' or 'thrift shop'! hehe! anyway, we both managed to score some bargains with our quickly opp shop venture ever! kell got a handmade purple polka dot dress for $3 and i got a red/black pattern handmade dress $2 and a vintage purple pleats skirt $3!

what a lovely adventure! we're looking forward to our next road trip adventure...

summer lovin'...

hello 2013!

thank you 2012 and welcome 2013! to start the year off, i'd like to run a giveaway! up for grabs are two ephemera packs...

just leave a comment about what makes you smile and a means of contact - email address, your etsy name or swap-bot name :)


i have these ephemera packs on sale at my etsy store...

some feedback on them...
from shelleym: "Oh my GOODNESS.... wow, wow, wow!! What a delicious package of goodness you sent me. I've already pawed through everything twice, and now I'm going to go through it again and start picking out what's going in my art journal first. Thank you so much!!! "

from PinkArt300M: "WOW! What an awesome package! You did such a fantastic picking of epherema! You had in your collection such a wonderful reflection of the past. Thank you so much!"

so...what makes you smile? :)

happy new year!

have yourself a merrry pom pom christmas!