It's lovely to be treasured

Hi Everyone

I'll start off today's blog entry with a couple of curated lists, the first one has great significance with the "Road Trip" poster as our lad has today gone on a School Road Trip west to the Goldfields with the entire year 5. I'm sure they will all have the most awesome time with the crisp winter air, frosty mornings, scenic railway trips and gold panning to look forward to. It will be a really wonderful experience away from home with all his mates for a couple of days. Sure to return exhausted most likely on Wednesday night.

Take a look here at this Red Black and White treasury where my Road trip VW combo poster print is pictured.

Some like it Hot and Fresh is curated by SunSanJewelry on etsy.

Circles of Light is curated by Debbie of maplemist on etsy, where my iPhone cover in pink yellow green and orange with beetles is featured.

Have a great week ahead.

Michelle Hinckley of 4Men1Lady.com on TV

Inspirational interior design blogger Michelle Hinckley, who bought my Code Flags for her bathroom makeover a while back, has been featured again on TV. She's been on The Nate Berkus show, and recognized in numerous blogs including Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge.

With great courage and conviction using, amongst others, the wonderful decorating techniques of stencilling, painting and chalkboard writing she has single handedly created an incredibly chic home.

On the video she explains how to get the best results for painting stripes and achieving a standout feature wall with stencils, plus how to get that chalkboard looking sharp.

Take a look.

More of the magnificent household of Heidi Middleton

It's so lovely to have a sun terrace off your living room that gets the winter sun.

An excellent reminder of the fabulous bathroom outlook. Its always been my man's dream to overlook nature or water from our bathroom.

 Juxtaposition...

 Fancy folly in the girls room for all their fave bracelets, necklaces and baubles.

What would you introduce to your home?

House of Heidi Middleton of Sass & Bide

Heidi has views from Palm Beach's peninsula out over Pittwater towards The Basin all part of Kuringai National Park and an incredible naturally preserved native bush environment. 

Setting up for a late lunch...

 An altar table with votives...

Clever kitchen with floor to ceiling fittings along one wall, note the lack of kitchen bench, a massive refectory table doubles up to this function.

African low table which you would kneel at, can double up as a seat.

This is such a pretty vista, we often spend a weekend on the water here.

 Lunch al fresco...

Bless him.

Enjoy your week.

Home of Sass & Bide CD: Heidi Middleton

A short distance from my home on the pointy end of this Northern Beaches peninsula is the home roost of Sass & Bide co designer Heide Middleton. And if there ever was a style eclectic, this is it.

Enjoying the westerly afternoon sun Heidi's Palm Beach home is an historic monument to Palmie's flambouyant past set with Italianate ballustrading and crazed flooring. 

The designer label of Sass & Bide evolved from two jeans stall sellers in Portobello Markets way back in 1999. Heidi Middleton and Sara-Jane Clarke. What a place to start... I recall Richard Branson also held a stall in the very same market in the early 1970's.

Finds from all over the world adorn the whitewashed walls of Heidi's home.

 Woven cloth shawls, table runners, skirts from Peru, Guatemala and India.

 Sass and Bide's design style embraces organic influences where their feature pieces include feather, shells, rattan and even teeth.

Alabaster bust and a feather head dress.

 Moroccan light fitting in the sun filled bathroom.

Source

Delights picked up from world travels, what a treasure chest of textiles, I love it. More photos to come.

Sharing some love

Here are a few of the treasuries and mentions my new iphone ipod covers, cases and such like have received recently.

The two hemispheres ipod / iphone cover gets some great exposure set amongst stunning companions.

For mother's day this floral collection is a pretty treasury.

Off to Palm Beach Market tomorrow.

Cheers

A Revolution in the Shop Front

Hi everyone

I guess you've been wondering what the reason has been for the long break. Having broken loose from the ties of full time employ, I've been busy enjoying the end of the summer here on the Northern Beaches of Sydney with my family and seeking inspiration for the creation of something new and unique.

For years I've been looking for really decent leather accessories, like handbags, clutches, purses, wallets, that are made from real leather, every time I pick up a handbag to see whether it's real leather, I'm let down by shabby imports made of artificial or mock leather.

I remember a time when all my shoes were leather and suede. Here in Australia you can't find Italian, Spanish or German leather footwear without the price tag being extortionate. With these thoughts I've gone about creating my own leather atelier. I'm starting off with iPhone, iPod touch and smart phone covers.

I've spent weeks perfecting the designs and the results speak for themselves. Here are some of the first styles out now in my etsy store. The teal, blue and aqua geometric design is available here.

Some of my other designs are below:

This kaleidoscope of beetles on a pink paisley background is here:

I really love the luxury of the colours in this design I made featuring white paisley on a black background with the dark green beetle striding across the phone cover. I have a thing for the beautifully bejewelled beetles that inhabit the Australian bush, they are spectacular and I've used their detailed forms as inspiration. You can find this smart phone cover here:

A lot of care and attention has gone into the cutting, printing, sewing and finishing of these smart phone covers, so you know they will be a good protection for your new phone technology. They all have a cotton lining that is both soft and reinforced to keep your phone snug and protected from scratching, bumping and impact.

So if you know someone who really likes high fashion leather accessories and needs to keep their phone safe, consider one of these covers as a great gift for them.

The floodgates are open

Hi Everyone

I must apologise for the two month or 9 week delay in submitting a blog post.

It's been all due to the fact I have been in full time work that required keen deadlines. I created a website and online shop dedicated to promoting Australian grown and produced delectable foods for a multi millionaire Australian icon.

I sweated to deadlines that required 250 products photographed, copywritten and mapped for an online general store, giving exposure to the dedicated providores of delicious homemade, homegrown, unique savoury and sweet products.

I undertook this job with every ounce of my being committed to a company and their rules. Only they didn't play by the rules, they didn't honour their job advertisement, they didn't honour their work contract and they didn't honour their word of giving me the opportunity to tell the world about this wonderful concept shop on television.

This work contract was demanding, meant being at work from 7.30am in the mornings to 6pm evenings - leaving my son in before and after school care and school more than 45 hours a week. He was on school premises longer than I was at work.

The online store was ready to open and I was given the heave ho! You might think that's life. Or get some ombudsman to look at the case. Quite frankly I didn't fancy going up against a multi millionaire icon in court just to get a job back. This person it still trying to get his bread buttered with a prototype spread. Well that just about says it all. I have never met a more disorganised, unprepared and inept team than his.

In the meantime, I have undertaken a new venture where I've decided to create a product that is both desirable and necessary. Its still currently in the pipeline and will shortly be debuting in my shop, on my blog and website.

So I hope to see you all soon and thanks for bearing with me.

Any comments from you about your job loss would be appreciated.