Alphabet posters

It's Saturday morning, the sun is shining, had a bad night of sleep cos of Hannah's inability to fall asleep by herself again... so the family is rewarding me with a thrifting spree that starts in 15 mins. But I did want to rush here to wish you:

Have a great weekend!! Blessings!!

Any alphabet/ABC poster discussion has to begin with a poster I have been dying to own: BlueAntStudio's fantastic mod chairs poster which I blogged about back in October 2007. We never had an ABC poster growing up that I remember... I have to have it.



Hannah's just turned three... it's time for her to start reading. So I've been looking at ABC posters on Etsy:

Etsy seller StephanieFizer

Etsy seller CreativeNeesh

Etsy seller and well known graphic illustrator Kerry Beary

Etsy seller calobee

Etsy seller monkeypowered (limited edition posters)

Etsy seller englishmuffinshop

Etsy seller catherine08

Etsy seller AlphabetLove

But I do have some problems with them, only in relation to the fact that Hannah is only three years and 2 weeks old:

1. Shipping to Australia from US/UK/Canada for me is so prohibitive!

2. Some of the pictures for the letters do not help. For instance, "G for Gift"... when she knows the picture as "Present". Or "A for Armadillo" when she has never seen that animal (not in Australia). Or "V for violin" when she insists the picture is "Guitar".

3. The lower case and upper case mix up of the letters is not consistent and really confuses the poor child's brain. I studied education at uni and we were taught to teach lower case before upper case first.

4. Different fonts... simple and clearly recognised/read ones are best. Not that I don't appreciate different fonts myself... I am a fontaholic with a collection of over 2000 fonts.

This one is best for Hannah:

I love this one from Etsy seller oliveryaphe

I'll just oversticker
"R for Rooster" with a picture of a "Ring" (Cos she sees it as "chicken". She is only JUST turned three!)
"I for Iguana" with a picture of an "Ice cream"
and "Q for Quail" with a picture of a "Queen" or "Quiche".

I think I'll have to get her a yo-yo, to introduce this iconic growing up toy of the 80s to a baby of the 21st century!

Just thought I'd add a letterpress alphabet poster by Etsy seller sycamorestreetpress sinceI am madly in love with letterpress products. (Pity all the gorgeous letterpress stuff on Etsy are also in US/UK.) So I love this poster but I do think it's an adult version one (not enough pictures!)



I am looking to design my own... or cave in and get that one from oliveryaphe...

Update: Jacqueline Kennedy: the White House years

Woo heee!!!! I just received a heads up from J.Mette letting me know that the Jacqueline Kennedy poster has been reprinted and is on sale again at the Field Museum at Chicago!

I discovered it way back in Jan 2008. Thanks J.Mette!



Get yours today!

Nutcracker costume by Rachel Papo

really inspires me and makes me feel happy... but at $600 a print... that's just something I'll have to enjoy onscreen and printed out on my home colour printer to stick onto my inspiration board.



Purchase Rachel Papo's print at ClampArt Gallery.

Brian from ClampArt kindly also referred me to a MUCH more affordable print by Rachel Papo at 20x200. Entitled Nastya Before Class, St. Petersburg, Russia for $20.



Thanks Brian

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! We're going to be busy clearing junk in our house for the council hard rubbish collection on Monday!

Queenscliff's Ashby House

There's something visceral about owning something a genuine antique from another culture, another land. Especially when you know the provenance of said antique. I have no desire to own a Malaysian/Balinese antique, but to own a French or Swedish antique would be divine. I love to have just a few choice pieces of French/Swedish antiques in the home (rather than fill it will the same style -one would wonder if it was all repro!). I always remember the living area of Something's Gotta Give with the one Swedish horloge comptoise.



I really enjoyed the long weekend two weekends ago when husband, Hannah and I went to Geelong district in Victoria. I love the houses there and the sea air. Of course, I visited my favourite haunts in Geelong... but we also did some exploring.

We went to Queenscliff, about 40 mins on from Geelong, a lovely touristy seaside town. Whilst sharing a raspberry gelato, we discovered Ashby House, a gorgeous French shoppe, selling antiques, homewares and linens.



What sets them apart from the other French-style furniture stores is that Ashby House is full of GENUINE French antiques. Michael and Julie Melican visit France twice a year (what bliss, husband and I would love that life) to buy for their shop. They come home with containers full of the best things!



Like this giant Spanish antique armoire, from the 17th century. I don't know if you can see from the perspectives of the room, but this armoire is huge. It barely misses the ceiling!



There was also a unique armoire ... with two side sections with shelves but a glassed middle section with four wide, deep shelves... I loved it.



Michael and Julie treated us to a special stay-past-closing-hour-to-yak! I loved this French antique grandfather's clock and mentioned it to Julie, who was keen to share more about it. Turns out Michael and Julie pick these up, broken or not... and brings them home. Michael's taught himself to repair these great things. Apparently these are not "grandfather clocks"... these are "horloge comptoise", or clocks meant for the working folk, the unique thing is not the look, but the strikes. It strikes on the hour once, ringing out the hours, but then in 30 seconds it repeats itself. This is because people who are working in the fields, barns, stables etc don't often know the exact time, but hear it ring... and then they know in 30 secs they will get to hear and count the strikes again. Fascinating! (for me).



But this is my favourite piece. A small ceiling lamp ($1200)... Perfect to hang above the my "dressing table" area in our bedroom.



People, it's worth a visit. Queenscliff, Geelong and especially Ashby House. Check out their fine white linen, their antique silverware and silver compotes, their large French antique furniture, their gorgeously selected artwork, their clothes and even garden settings.

45 Hesse Street
Queenscliff VIC 3225
Australia
+61 3 52581907

A Dollhouse Inspired: Barbie & Me

I can't afford my favourite dollhouse ever.

The Bozart Kaleidoscope House

Or the M112 Pod, my second favourite dollhouse, ever.

The M112 Pod, via Mini Modern

But I did pick up this Barbie dollhouse for Hannah for $8.50 at the local Salvos about a year or two ago. It's got almost no furniture left, stickers are in the wrong spot and the front door and fold out counter is missing. No Barbie doll either. (But the phone and microwave work...)



I didn't think I could make this into something designer-esque, although I have been dying to get my own modern dollhouse (adult only!).

But mazzie22 has shown me the error of my ways! I found her Flickr set this morning and am particular inspired by how she's changed hers.

Look, look look!









I'm so inspired. Watch this space as I steal this underused Barbie house to designer-esque it up!

Speaking of ultra inspiration to Barbie homes, check out Haute Doll's photographer Michael Williams a.k.a. mawphoto's EXCELLENT Jonathan Adler-esque Barbie home!















And of course, to celebrate Barbie's 50th Anniversary, he was invited to the Barbie House, designed and decorated by extraordinaire designer, Jonathan Adler! And here are photos of the Barbie house:


You can't see this here... but that sunburst mirror above the fireplace is made from Barbie dolls!


And those chandeliers are made from Barbie hair!

Barbie & Jonathan Adler photos by Michael Williams/Haute Doll Magazine

Glitzy home... or...?

Isn't this the best home? At night, bathed in light, surrounded by glass walls... imagine it in the daytime!

I just saw it on my rounds in the 'hood... felt so voyeuristic! But just fell in love with the house!













Gorgeous huh? No, No I haven't become a peeping Tom, skulking around with a camera, spying on people living in glass houses at night :)

This is the fantastic work of Aburahouses, on his freaking-tastic dollhouse!







Want one? Contact Aburahouses here.

Ananda Khalsa

I am madly in want of a piece of Ananda Khalsa's jewelry.
They are so fine!
So whimsical, so precious, so unique, so Christmas/anniversary appropriate :)



Ms Khalsa creates these heirloom-worthy pieces out of Asian art, natural forms, and the cool sleekness of metal. She hand paints each piece on paper and then sets them behind hand-ground glass in fine and sterling silver. Then she accents her pieces with 22k gold. (Which is so good to hear since Asian gold is 24k and that is what I've always grown up with.)



Ms Khalsa even accepts Paypal! heh!

Any of the below will do quite nicely.