Well. I finally got some new batteries for my camera, so I'm finally putting up my recent purchases/finds. I've been doing some job searching, i got my car fixed and I've of course been working, so life's a bit boring at the moment! But I'm excited about a few job possibilities and i've been watching enough LA ink to keep me inspired and happy :)
As well as reading though every ones blogs... and thinking, hmm, should probably update mine! So hear we go...

Lot's of books!



This Readers digest atlas from the 60s (or maybe 50s?) was only $4 and has some great imagery.







I thought this bird migration map was pretty sweet :)



A very cute book on making dolls from the 70's.


Including some somewhat inappropriately stereotyped dolls! (Yes, it has a how-to on gollywogs too!)







I picked up some great bird guides and some old animal encyclopedias pretty cheap- one of them still had the original poster and framing guide :P




Awesome taschen book chockablock full of pinups :) Was $35 and will be a wonderful reference book for my art.













I was very excited when i saw this very cute cover on an old book- lo and behold it was fillllled with hilariously cutesy pictures of odd cats.


huggy kitty!


hidy kitty!


naughty kitty!


ponderful kitty!

...knickknacks



I rearranged my mantle to include my Beci Orpin pieces that i got in Melbourne last year...


This is my favourite one, with Mr fox, with some delightful S&P shakers my bfs mum gave me.


Beautiful card, I'm not sure who the designer is, but i bought it from William Top, who stock a lot of Melbourne designers. Also there is my new Bambi from eBay :)


I fell in love with this as soon as i saw it- an old pencil box. Also, it was the only thing i could afford from the antique store that i was at (go the bargain bin).



Yay for complete vintage spirograph kit! From the 70's, in great condition, it was $15 because i bought it from a vintage store, but well worth it, as i've wanted one for a verrrry long time.



I like to write lists. I also like to use this fact as a reason to buy unneccessary note books. I am clever! (DEERS, eek).


eee, squirrel. These earrings are a very cute addition to my bambi collection- although they are quite large and i'm not sure when i'll actually wear them- oh well!


Cheap cheap cups- i would like to have a stack with every colour of the rainbow. The sexy cup on the right was from my bfs gran- she's so sweet. I still have to get the back story on that one, i'm not quite sure how she came to own it!


Bang bang! This gun was pretty cheap, i think because it was attatched to a hair clip and it didn't really seem wearable. I turned it into a brooch. Shown atop of a delicously terrible bunny book.


Ho ho. I hate badges- from william topp. Mr bunny likes badges.


Beautiful tilly bloom necklace :)


cute piratey lego man brooch that my very sweet friend brought me back from melbourne... i like pirates.


Now, this photo looks a little funny. But i love my new vintage jacket, as it fits like a glove.

phew... i'm exhuasted.
xxx

inspiration

Photography and Set design: Ill Studio
for Jalouse magazine, 2007

Natasha Khan is beautiful and amazing.

I may have a crush on her.

tucked up in bed...

this weeks theme for words and pictures over at meet me at mikes is tucked up in bed...

I've been looking at a lot of little red riding hoods lately... there'll be more :)
xx

some pretty pictures

photos from my polaroid (i'm still working it out!).

dearie me

Hey guys. Long time no post... What can i say, I'm a slacker. Good news: Just got a new macbook, which is making posting a lot more pleasurable :) Thought it might be a good time to update this old thang with my new opshop finds...

I was a bit sad today, as I had been watching this baby on ebay and unfortunately it went for a bit too much for me to bid! Great though, don't you think? It's an ashtray, but i was going to use it for brooches or candy... mmm candy.

But some things i found today make up for the loss (as well as some more things i'm watching on ebay! Oh ebay, why must you be so addictive... and pretty... and oh my, my money has all but gone).

Here is part of my ever growing golden book collection, as well as a neat old book i splurged on a while ago (Creatures of the Night) with the most beautiful plates inside. Also there is my Observers Pocket series book of Wild Animals which has darling photos and some wonderfully... interesting? penguins that my mum bought me.

Inside "wild animals".

As you may have realised, i'm kind of obsessed with bambi. So I picked this book up, even though i already had the Friends of the forest golden book version- perhaps to use for craft. But it turns out it's a different cover to my older one, so that was a bonus.

Then I was absolutely elated when I found this set in a Save the Children i hadn't even realised was just around the corner from my house!

Eeek! So adorable... It's made in Japan, and i've been looking for some Japanese deer style merch for a while, especially since I saw the adorable box in this cute cute photo by one of my artistic heros Beci Orpin.

I know cameos like this are everywhere at the moment, and i know that it's highly unlikely to be very old, but it was still only $2, which beats paying $12 on Ebay. Also, check out the cute detail on the deer :)

I found three of these beautiful cherry-blossom and swallow plates about a month ago and had to buy them... i've since been raiding the local chinese grocery stores for bowls and plates with a similar theme. I thought these little dessert bowls were a cute match.

Hahaha. This was $1. I'm pretty sure i've explained that I like kitsch stuff before, because I think that as long as you recognise how ugly it is, it becomes fun. But the things that I buy still have to have character. This screamed character at me from behind the cheap dainty lady statues at my local salvos. It isn't marked, but i'm pretty sure it's an ashtray... if you know anything about it, please let me know!

I've been collecting penguin books, and this is todays hoard. My mum gave me these lovely (hehe) bookends that she made before i was born. That's skill, ma!

Now, these photos are poor quality, but i found these quite large cat prints today and knew they must be mine... everyone I love hates me for it, but I can't help my addiction for all things mass-produced and hideously kitsch! Plus, i thought these really did have character. I immediately thought of Jeff Koons when I saw them, so I was willing to pay $4 for the pair.

Last but not least, my cute donkey tea-towel from Ebay... You might recognise it from an old Frankie mag, where I think there was a similar one in somebody's kitsch tea-towel collection.

Ah Frankie.

Ah Kitsch.

Ah donkeys.

I love it all.

xxjen