Cute Poodle and Friends

I've had this cute poodle since I was young and even though her fur is a little discoloured she's in pretty good condition - for her age!!! The two old dogs below came from an Op Shop in New Zealand....

New Card Designs

I've been working on new card designs and love how inspiring old picture book illustrations can be!!! 

These two old racing cars are fabulous.......

Odd Vintage Wares

Thinking I might head to Collingwood on Saturday to check this out!!!

Stamp Collecting

When I was younger I used to collect stamps - not very seriously - and I came across my old stamp album on a recent trip home to New Zealand, which was nice to find.... some of the stamps on this page are pretty old and the top few rows are actually in pence rather than cents.....

Tin Soldiers

These tin Soldiers came from an Op Shop in Kati Kati (NZ) and stand nicely in front of an old record called "On Parade" by The Band of The H.M. Irish Guards. I came across "On Parade" along with another record "Champions on Parade" featuring The Preston Municipal Brass Band a few months ago now - the bottom drawing comes from part of the "Champions on Parade" cover.......Lovin the red and yellow colour combination  - and of course the tilt shift generator app!!

The Establishment Studios - Prop.d

Team up a great producer and a fabulous stylist and the results are truly inspiring!!!!  

Rachael Hart and Glen Proebstel created "prop.d" a fantastic prop hire company which has now evolved into The Establishment, a business providing studio hire, event styling and of course prop hire.

Red is one of my favourite colors, and I just love all these great red props...

The Establishment have such great stuff and I could spend hours getting lost in their prop room!!!!

The Establishment 

www.propd.com.au

23 Grattan Street

Prahran VIC  3181

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Lovin the dust jacket on this book - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ....... 

thinking it might even make a great card design !!!

Wreckers Yard Auckland

Not far from Flotsam and Jetsam in Grey Lynn (Auckland NZ) is a great Wreckers Yard which has some great stuff.....  Unfortunately the great old petrol pump and telephone exchange weren't going to fit into my suitcase so I had fun taking photos using the iphone tilt shift generator app instead!!

Burrell Demolition Yard

18 Westmoreland Street West, Grey Lynn, Auckland

Abigail Ahern Masterclass Melbourne

My favorite designer Abigail Ahern is coming to Melbourne and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!!  I'm booked into one of her Masterclasses in Melbourne and I'm really excited to have something so good to look forward to for the next 99 days !! I first came across Abigail Ahern on a show called Mary Queen of Shops and have been hooked ever since - Abigail Ahern's decorating style and use of color is so inspiring and I just love regularly checking out her blog.

Image Abigail Ahern

Savers Card

 I recently sorted through the ever increasing number of plastic cards in my wallet, and came across this Savers Card. I signed up because I've found some great bargains at Savers and thought why not join 

 "The Super Savers Club Program..... for loyal shoppers of Savers".  

Initially I received a 25% discount and get 20% off on my birthday, which is great, but apart from that I'm not sure what the card really has to offer... maybe thats enough, but points don't accumulate like the loyalty programs we are becoming accustomed to, and if a recycling shop is going down the loyalty program path to encourage shoppers maybe they need to offer something different....

So will I keep the card in my wallet ? not sure yet........

While still on the subject of Savers they offer Students a 20% saving on Sundays and Seniors 20% on Mondays, which is fabulous, but concession and health care card holders don't get a discount....this doesn't really seem fair - aren't they the people who need it most ? 

Savers do sell some great stuff and I always find great bargains so Super Savers Card or not, discount or not, I'll still check them out....especially the Frankston and Greensborough stores.....

http://www.savers.com.au

Old Postcards - Levin New Zealand

Levin, Manawatu, N.Z.

The Gardens, Levin, N.Z.

Horowhenua College, Levin, N.Z

I came across these old post-cards from Levin (a town in New Zealand) in Italy last year when I was given a pile of my Aunts old photo's, postcards, and mementos to sort through... my Aunt grew up in Levin, NZ before moving to London and later Italy where she lived for most of her life...

I'm not sure how old these postcards are but looking at the cars in street they would have to be from the 50's or 60's...On the back of one of the 3 postcards there is a sentence which reads  

"Sorry these are late. Am really waiting for others" 

The aren't dated and must have been sent to Italy in an envelope, unless my Aunt bought them to show her partner Gi Gi who only visited NZ a couple of times.

Christmas in July

Christmas in July has become an annual event for a lot of photographers and stylists working on Christmas catalogues, and once again I'm booked for the whole of July.......thats 22 working days of Christmas in July.... (24 days if you count the 2 prep days we did last week)

Although we have a wonderful festive time -  thankfully we don't spend the whole photo shoot listening to Christmas carols, because until Eminen or someone like Eminen comes up with a Christmas CD it would be a little too much... if I got a dollar every time someone walked past and said  "Are you working on Christmas already" I'd be able to produce my own CD of Christmas carols...

Then again if anyone has a record player we could give this classic a whirl - I found this copy of Bing Crosby's Merry Christmas in an Op Shop yesterday which features classics such as:

Silent Night

White Christmas

Jingle Bells

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Silver Bells & 

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

July Quote