LETTER-PRESS

Wedding season is only a couple of months away, which means that invitations are in the works as we speak. I'm getting really busy with wedding invitations this year which is exciting, and I'm starting to learn so many new techniques for invitation design. One of my favourites - and quite an old tradition at that - is the Letterpress print. But how does it actually work? I know that it involves a really, really, really old machine (my printer lady uses a 1923 machine), and that the end result looks so classy and glamourous! But I want to know more. So I have done some research, and wanted to share, for any future brides out there considering this technique:

1. First, a metal or wood plate is made to copy the invitation design/wording etc. The plate is created through the process of etching and engraving. After the plate is made, ink is applied to parts of the plate that need to be printed onto the invite/paper...

2. After the ink is added to the plate, a sheet of paper is placed on top. The letterpress machine then uses a rolling wheel to move back-and-forth across the surface of the paper, leaving an impression

3. After the sheet is pressed, the paper is either hung or laid out to dry. And voila - your letterpress invitations are made!

WIN A SWIMSUIT

Okay so it's 10 degrees outside and the last thing you want to think about are bathers! But this little giveaway by American blogger Bleubird is just too special not to share (and international readers can enter). The amazing vintage swimsuits by Lime Ricki are like nothing you would find in Australian stores - well at least nothing that I could find last Summer. Bold, bright colours, and a mixture of beautiful vintage patterns, with 50's style cut-lines. Warning - these bathers are not for those who love to show off their assets, but instead for the chicks who love to promote the old-days look (how do you write that without saying "look like grandmas", haha I like to think the old-days is about showing off your body in a more classier style)... my favourite is the Stripe Ricki Swim Dress, so adorable! So go ahead and enter on the Bleubird blog if you want to win one of these beauties.

DAILY BITS

So today is the first day, of the first week, of my new at-home working hours. I am officially a full-time at-home employee! My 2 days a week office has closed & the company have moved the positions to their WA Head Office, but lucky me I get to continue as normal from home. (Plus I get a new Mac coming this week, excitement overload!!)...So to celebrate my new office hours, I'm going to share some of my "daily bits" of what keeps me busy day to day. Including the best part of my day - spending my weekday evenings with Simon & the felines! Enjoy x

9:00 (morning smoko)

10:00 (new product labels for my awesome customers)

11:00 (celery & peanut butter snacks)

12:00 (working on some mario invites for a friend)

13:00 (updating my photo frames)

14:00 (deliveries deliveries)

18:00 (my favourite wine + a free wine bag = happy Jess)

19:00 (this one keeps us busy at night, wanting to come in, then go out, in, then out! Drives us crazy!)

20:00 (chicken pot-pie for dinner, with a touch of love)

(perfect winter meal!)

Ciao x

GRAMPIANS

Last weekend Simon & I packed up the car & headed east! Ever since our failed camping trip over the Easter break (including such fails as purchasing a brand new $600 tent that broke into a heap within minutes after a few gushes of wind. Nothing like a tent made out of sticks, that mother nature will huff & she'll puff until she blows that tent down!!), we promised ourselves that we would give camping another go before the year ended.
So we left town at sunrise on Wednesday morning and drove 6 hours to the Grampians National Park, in Victoria. We decided to enter the park from one side and drive to the opposite side (only 15km but very windy, so took about an hour!), but the drive was amazing. I guess you'd describe it as a mountain range, with waterfalls, lakes, forests, deep cliffs and more. A hikers delight! We set up camp as soon as we arrived at the Plantation Camp Site (about 15minutes drive from Halls Gap - the main town centre of the Grampians). Lucky for us, the camp site was empty, thanks to us arriving mid week. After such a long drive, and the fact it had already got dark by the time we set up the tent, we spent the rest of the night eating our cheese platter for dinner, drinking port, and stoking the fire. It was blissful!
We woke to kookaburras, and a kangaroo scoping the camp site for some food. That day we got active! Walked to Mackenzie Falls, the Balconies Cliffs, the Grand Canyon, and then when we ran out of breath we headed back to our campsite and chilled out with a magazine & marshmallows for the rest of the arvo/night. Oh and we still had the whole campsite to ourselves that night apart from a small group that arrived just before we went to bed.
By Friday morning it was time to leave for our next leg of the road trip - Jan Juc (next to Torquay on the Great Ocean Road) to pay a visit to one of our SA friends Jo! Her other half had left for Italy a couple of weeks prior for some work, before she was meeting him over there in July. Well let's just say I think she enjoyed the company, going by our daily hangovers! We had an amazing time with the gang, as we always do!
Sunday came around and it was time to start the trip home (about 10 hours worth). We originally decided to drive along the Great Ocean Road and then take the highway from Port Fairy. Well, we did do that, but let's just say we weren't exactly in the best state to enjoy it! We drove straight past almost every tourist spot, including the Twelve Apostles, and the gloomy rainy day didn't help either. We stayed the night at the old historic Inn, called the Seacomb House, doubling as a Comfort Inn and a backpackers. It was a really nice place, but once again (& shamefully too) we were too hungover to fully enjoy it!
By Monday afternoon we were safe & sound back home on Old Pelham Street. The trip went way too quickly, as they always do, but gosh did we have fun!!

{grampians}

{birdseye view}

{jan juc}

{home jane!}