high almighty for high tea

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday than High Tea with the ladies. And that's exactly what my wonderful friend Monique organised for her 30th this year. Nestled in the Barossa hills, our venue for the celebration was Lyndoch Hill, and the sunshine made it a fabulous day!
So we donned our Sunday best, and spent the afternoon eating delicate foods & drinking champagne. Amazing! (Unfortunately I was having too much fun to take many photos, but have found some great inspiration from my favourite image-sharing site Pinterest that might inspire your next High Tea event...)
xx

I love the Witches High Tea pic! And below a quick snap of me with the leftovers!

it's a baby world out there

It's raining babies this year. Almost every week there's either a pregnant friend, or a new mumma/dadda friend. My facebook page is filling up daily with new posts about babies... who's given birth, what the babies name is, photos of little one's who are only hours old. It's really hard to keep up, but at the same time it's really exciting!
So now I'm in the middle of buying gifts, and finding it a very competitive "market". There are some great gifts out there, but you have to be the first one to find it. Plus you want to make sure you buy something a little practical - I mean, a baby can only have so many teddies right?! And I also like the idea of buying something that they can keep and look back on when they're older and think "oh this is still so cute!!".
Here's some ideas I've found so far ....

1. Artwork - from one of my favourite sites Etsy. The Barking Bird Art shop is so adorable, all original artist prints!
2. Bibs - love these bibs from Funky Giraffe Bibs in the UK. Prices start from only $AU8, and shipping to Australia is only  6 pounds (around $12)!
3. Photography - something to last a lifetime, I just adore newborn photography, the whole Anne Geddes style! One of my favourite local photographers is Head In The Clouds from Adelaide who specialise in newborns (plur much more!)
4. Carseat Covers - our friends were telling us about their ugly hand-me down carseat the other day, and then I saw these car seat covers & thought they would be perfect! Just need to find somewhere that sells them in Australia!
4. Wall Decor - I love wall stickers! And these are just so cute, from another Etsy store Design by Maya.



markets are for me

So it has been a month between blogging. How lazy! But I have a good excuse - I have been super busy with Rammikin and that just makes me super happy! I found some pictures from a few months ago when Simon and I spent an afternoon at the Port Markets. We had a great day out, exploring all the tiny stores & mixing with the store owners (who looked like they hadn't left their store for 20 years, or brushed their hair, or cleaned their teeth, haha!).

The next time you have a few spare hours on a Sunday head down to the Port markets. It's located right on the harbour, next to the Lighthouse!

I will try and keep up with my blogging from now on, because there is so much amazing things out in the world that need to be shared, so I will promise to share!

baby let's catch up.

I just finished designing invitations for a...uh...before-baby-party/not-baby-shower! Friend's Sarah & Michael (so formal when we know them as Kenny & Trussell) have decided to ditch the corny baby shower idea, and instead host a party to catch up with everyone before little one takes up all their time.
So there will be no nappy cakes on this present table, or baby games played in the afternoon, or even any baby decorations. Instead just good friends, good food, good music & good times!
BUT it hasn't stopped me just looking at some party ideas...

city girl walking.

A dedication post to my friend Buzz. One of my favourite city girls, who together with the other darling Eclairs (a name created for a group of girls that lived for emails back in the day, but now just lives for regular outings & organic pizza!) keep this country girl's city heart alive!
So back to Buzz. Let's review her last 3 months. She quit her job for an adventure in the New Zealand snow fields of Queenstown, only to break her ankle 2 weeks in by running in the rain and slipping over on a footpath. With no hopes of finding a winter-job in a leg plaster, she hopped on the next plane home and has spent the last couple of months trying to recover without going insane from cabin fever.
I invited her up to our humble country abode last week to get her out of the house. So with moon-boot in tow, to Lala land she came. We started the day with pancakes & fresh orange juice for breakfast, also with a third guest Louise who dropped in for the morning. Then we headed for Tanunda, a beautiful little town in the Barossa Valley, and spent the afternoon discovering the antique shops & enjoying home-made scones (with jame & cream of course!). I picked up some great little treasures, & Buzz got out of the house. All in all a great day!

creative logos.

As a designer I get very envious of any unique and creative concept. In particular logos, and their concepts that really make you stop and look and think "how did they come up with that?". Linking the company name with a matching image is one of the best branding exercises around. When the company has more than one name in it's title, for instance the Australian band "The Cat Empire" which is one of my favourites. Their logo incorporates a cat's eye, with the crown of an empire. Genious! Here are some more examples I most admire of creative logo branding: