Small gift for a friend's baby: a reversible bib

Not sure it is very practical but I think it is cute...

A photo album for my brother

I was looking through old things and found quite a few photos of my brother when he was little. And some embarrassing teenager ones (terrible hair cuts and outfits). So I thought it would only be fair to send them to him. But, instead of just posting the photos, I thought I better put them in an album, because it is way nicer to look at them that way.

I only had one old album from the 80s, with tacky palm trees. So I whipped up a quick album cover whilst I watched some podcasts. I often craft with podcasts from TED or Etsy. This way I feel like I have an excuse to spend my free time in a productive way.

A photo of my gorgeous mum taken by my dad and my favourite needle case (used to be a matches case from a fancy bar in London), the Japanese mouse pad, some embroidery work that I need to frame and those MEN/WOMAN signs my brother sent me and I haven't hung up yet due to earthquakes.

Super quick job, all you need is pinking scissors, embroidery floss & needle, nice felt and a strip of... how do you call this in English? I can never remember... 

Detail of the embroidery, nothing fancy but it represents 'roots' (as this album is to help my brother remember his roots, with photos of childhood)

Love this photo at the bottom, my brother is dressed as a tooth brush and I am the gift pack. At the school fair... we usually always had really funky outfits and won a few prices but this one was super improvised, last minute before heading to school. I love the tooth brush idea!

Thrifting

In our recent road trip to Dunedin we visited numerous second hand shops and in a couple of them (incidentally one in Oamaru and the other one in a small town on the way), we got this fruit dish, which is super funky and matches perfectly with our table (and the spices set I took from y parents house in my recent visit, plus the retro coasters). I love it! It is in perfect condition and I love the winter fruits on it.

And I also got a couple of music books that had awesome prints in them. I am thinking that I would love to frame them and one day I hope to hang it by a piano (that I plan to buy at some point).

Gifts for someone special

Trip to Dunedin

In search for a "quake break" we took off for a couple of wonderful days towards the south. Stopped at Oamaru, a very quaint little Victorian town, famous for its heritage buildings and that has a great deal of arts and crafts. They have been nominated one of the capitals for the "Steampunk" movement, born in the 80s, a mix of punk with a Victorian touch...

After that we went to check out the Moeraki Boulders, a crazy group of very rounded stones that I find hard to believe that they are not man made!

And then the lovely town of Dunedin, which welcomed us with lovely people, lovely food and fantastic weather! If only we didn't have a fight with a traffic warden... @#~!!!

There are lots of Art Deco buildings in NZ

French toast with banana and bacon by the seaside

 

So many retro/vintage shops!

This shop was like a fantasy world.. upstairs in an old building

A table I fell in love with

Dress made with film

One doesn't see often a Penguin crossing sign!

Bizarre collection of salt and pepper shakers!

Oamaru Steampunk

Nice sunset from Oamaru

I [heart] old fonts

Victorian candy shop

Once a year there is a Victorian festival where the entire town is dressed like this 

Wonderful small puppet theatre

A cute little craft market

Victorian streets at Oamaru

A "Wedding" themed cafe, with a Steampunk wedding dress

Apparently lots of locals bring their old wedding photos