SA Weekend Magazine

This is my entry into the SA Weekend Magazine Youth Cover competition that I entered last month. This illustration was so super fun to put together. The big reveal was last Friday night at the Advertiser building, my entry didn't win, but I was very proud to be runner up.

"Adelaide reminds me of a big kids’ playground; its safe, clean, its accessible and its fun. I love that I can easily walk to and from any of the five squares and along the way be sure to find find fantastic food, architecture, art, coffee and of course a beloved frog cake."

Building a Fence

I want to share with you our new and beautiful fence along the front of our block.We were so lucky to have the other three sides of our block already fenced in when we bought it, but with little Molly and little chickens running around we really needed the front fenced in too. I definately didn't want a packet type fence along the front; i wanted something we could make ourselves and most preferably from recycled materials. We were so lucky to source 16 thick cowrie posts and plenty of second-hand corrugated sheets from which we built it. Yes!

The view from the balcony.

 Haha, happy Graham in Bunnings with the farm gate and cement.

  So much achieved in one day! ;)

Once the first post hole was measured out, the rest came together easily.

Graham just loves digging holes...

   The gate sits in a bit from the road.

 This cute neighbourhood hen comes by to visit the block from time to time.

Lining the drive-way with aggies.

And there you have it! I've since started scattering various succulents like hardy aloe vera along the council strip, and we'll finally get rid of that awful concrete stump next weekend..its just so damn heavy! Just look at the gorgeous colour of the wood, we love it :)

Winter Drinks Mini Series

I've been having lots of fun lately working on a series of Winter drinks illustrations. It's a personal project that I began at the start of winter; an illustrative breakdown of various drink ingredients. I love playing with the colour and composition of all the little fiddly bits required to make the perfect cuppa, stuff we don't really think about as being beautiful or significant in the process. I've got many more ideas on my list that I want to draw, but in the mean time I had these two printed and they look pretty damn cute hanging in my kitchen.

Lemon-honey Tea

Glühwein

Easter Weekend

My Oma is over from Germany at the moment and has been living with Mum and Dad for the past 12 weeks or so. It has been just so lovely having her with us again. Aside from doing lots of relaxing and taking Molly on the longest beach walks ever, she has also been baking the most delicious cakes and biscuits. We couldn't let these delicacies be enjoyed just by us, so last weekend we made this little shop for her at our garage sale. Her bickies were a hit and she almost managed to finish knitting that sock too ;) We love you Oma. xxxxx

Happy Clouds Pillow

Hi friends!
Oh my gosh, Ive been so looking forward to the arrival of this little parcel! Last week I sent a super cute pattern of mine off to Melbourne to get printed onto a pillow case. Well, look what the postie dropped off today! For the past year or so, i've been thinking about printing onto fabric, well, the day has finally come and I'm really excited to share this first idea with you. I'm not really sure where this will go, but i've got plenty more ideas i want to test out, so stay tuned!
I'm gonna sleep so well tonight, I only ordered one for now so this one will be living on my side of the bed for sure ;)

Hello, Kitchen!

Hello! 

It always takes me a good few months to get into the rhythm of a new year and I think I'm (finally) starting to feel the love for 2014. Last year was just the best year ever and I guess I didn't think 2014 could top it, anyway, that's all changed now and i've finally come around to the idea of it. I've set some big PipDesign goals this week that I'm going to get stuck into next month. Graham is in Melbourne this weekend and I've just driven down to Normy. Instead of working on the house this weekend, I wanted to just sit back and appreciate how far we have come. The kitchen space has experienced the most change in this place, if you're interested in some photos of what we've been up to, please enjoy this photographic journey!

Photo from the open inspection. The one that obviously won us over! ;)

Kitchen and stair pannels....OUT!!! We lit the biggest fire ever that night. Turns out, old shitty kitchens burn real well!

The very first thing we did after the kitchen came out was get the floors resurfaced. We chose a matte clear finish and man they came up gooooood! Then we embarked on the biggest painting job of our lives. It might not look like much but those bricks are thirsty buggers and the stinky cigarette stained beams needed a lot of work too. How good does it look though,right..right!?

Next time you're in the city and use a lift, or you're at the airport, take note of the incredibly hardy industrial rubber flooring you're standing on, because thats what we used for the kitchen floor. Its pretty much a flat car tire! It was ordered in from Germany through a guy in Mount Barker. Pretty cool hey! 

Ok, onto the island bench! It's hard to capture the beauty of the wood as it's forever changing colour depending on the light. Dad was driving past a local farm when he spotted a huge pile of these naturally weathered planks and wine crates in a paddock (spot the Petaluma!). He got chatting to the owner about our kitchen dream and next thing you know the guy just gave him the lot!

 

So, there you have it! Our kitchen :)
See ya! x

Housey Update

Hello long lost friends and family! Thought I would touch base for a second with a little housey update! Hopefully this will give you a better idea of where we have been for the past couple months.

We just added the finishing touches to our new balcony and it looks sooo good, I love it! I like to think it was a team effort...but who am I kidding...It was basically 99.9% Dad who made it, with me and graham working around him with our paint brushes and wood putty stuff...i am so impressed i can't belive it, i just love it.

The living area down stairs is all painted too and new lights installed. We also put in a kitchen over the summer and now I can't decide on a bench top. Anyway, we're having a ball and look forward to showing you more photos after the weekend. See ya!