:: Treasure : Ghostpatrol vs Victoria Mason

Look! The cat is totally out of the bag on the Ghostpatrol and Victoria Mason Collaboration!  (They are my friends. Did you KNOW that?!  They are. And very nice ones too...)

You can get your very own GP vs VM piece, stowed snugly in a handmade Tailfeather pouch, complete with Limited Edition Ghostpatrol gocco print. Wowee.  Would you like Book Protect? Or maybe you would like Witchn? Or maybe both. Yes?!  There are only 99 of each.  Ms Mason and Mr Ghostpatrol worked closely together, with Victoria carving all but the faces (which Mr GP did!) Each face is unique.  They are cast in Sterling Silver and hang from a Sterling Silver chain, too.  They are amazing.  Read more and see more at Treasure Treasure.

Get one before they are all gone. Hurry!

xx Pip

:: From Blog to Block! :: The Design Files Open House :: A Look Inside

Today I was lucky enough to get an early peep inside The Design Files Open House!  Kirsty and I braved the rainy morning and headed to Little Napier St, just a block from my house to see Clever Lucy and The Project Agency's amazing showcase of awesome stuff.  You can wander about and get excited about Craft and Design... you can have a snack on the rooftop... you can make a wishlist of things you love... you can even BUY the things that are in the house and take them home with you, if you are so inclined!

I totally loved it and I can see all the hard work and love that has gone into this innovative project. BRAVO to everyone involved! It's chock full of good stuff, nice people and lovely things.  If you're not in Melbourne, there's an online incarnation here.

The Design Files Open House is open to the public from 1st December til the 4th December.  You can click here to get the full details.  I'm just showing you little snippets of goodness... I don't want to give it all away! Go see!

A gazillion more images after the JUMP (sorry, but I did not want you to have to load them all unless you wanted to!)

xx Pip

:: Shop Local or Indie or Both!

Hello!  I'm off to The Design Files Open House House Warming this morning (more about that later!)  I just wanted to quickly pop in to say SHOP LOCAL! SHOP INDIE!  We're making a list of independent Australian Retailers over here, just in time for Xmas shopping. Please come and add your favourite shop links (or your own!)

If you're not in Australia and you have an independent shop, that's cool too!  Add your link below so we can come and visit you, too!

I'll be back later today with some sneaky peeks at TDF Open House! I can't wait to see all the cleverness!

xx Pip

:: Good Stuff :: Issue 2 :: Your Friendly Guide :: Advertiser Call Out

Hello! WELL! Good Stuff came out on November 7th.  It's had 771 719 page views since then.  In 22 days! OMG.  I think we might hit ONE MILLION page views in a month. I do. Gawsh.  I had no idea it would be so popular!  How amazing. The success of Good Stuff has been built on the fantastic contributors and the fantastic online creative community. THANK YOU ALL!  Good Stuff Issue One will remain in the sidebar at the top of my blog until the end of February 2012.

Issue 2 of Good Stuff will come out in March 2012.  It will be even cuter than Issue One, I am convinced.  Our theme for this issue is 'Your Friendly Guide'. It'll be all about friendship, with stories, recipes, fashion, gift ideas, mixtapes and other surprises.  I'm booking all the ads now, so that we don't have to bother with it over the festive season and holidays.

Good Stuff Issue Two will be published as an online magazine via Issuu. It will be promoted via my blog (where it will remain embedded for 3 months in the side bar)  I am expecting it to reach the same dizzy traffic heights as Issue One. Its March publication make it great timing for both Easter and Mother's Day and Friendly promotions.  We are looking for corporates, small businesses, bloggers, crafters, musicians, food businesses... just people doing GOOD STUFF, as advertisers.  There are a limited number of ads, so please understand that we'll be choosing on a suitability and first in best dressed basis!

Good Stuff Ads
A4 full page : $120
A5 half page : $70
Blog/Crafter Directory (1/8 of an A4 page : 8 ads to a page) : $30
Ad format : Hi Res PDF or JPG is fine.

I'll be working out our contributor list in the next couple of weeks too. I'm hoping some of our Good Stuff Issue One peeps will resubmit, because I loved what they did! I'll be writing a lot of things. And I'll be approaching fresh contributors too, in the hope that they might give me a whirl!

To enquire about Ad Space : please email me at meetmeatmikes at gmail dot com with GOOD STUFF in the subject line.  Please detail what sort of ad you would like to book. I'll collate all these enquiries and contact successful advertisers in a week or two with confirmations etc.  Please be patient, because I am a one girl show! I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Wanna do some Good Stuff with me?!

xx Pip

:: Shop Local : Guest Post :: Pilgrim Lee

Today I am lucky enough to have rad-attack Draw Pilgrim visiting my blog!  She's the first in a Guest Blogger festive series : Shop Local! I'm going to profile some great Australians who I think you might like to shop with this Christmas!  Of course, you should TOTALLY check out my Holiday Guide, GOOD STUFF (featuring Ms Pilgrim too!)  for even more great Festive stuff!

Speaking of Good Stuff and good people, I hand my blog over to you, Ms Pilgrim Lee...

*****************

Thanks for inviting me onto your blog, Pip, its all nice and cozylike! Hi Mikes' readers, I'm Pilgrim Lee, and I have a site called drawpilgrim.com.  Over there I share my illustration and design work, my sources of inspiration, and my home life. I have some new, extra special prints I'd love to share with you all today and because you're all extremely good looking and well read I have an exclusive discount code for you, in case you'd like to own one of my products (including the new prints!). 

I've created a suite of 4 culturally inspired gicleé prints: Coppélia, The Musicians of Bremen, The Owl and the Pussycat and the Tortoise & the Hare. Each print is a gicleé from an edition of ONLY 25 (per design), and they're very lush: printed with archival inks on 100% cotton rag art paper. 

When I was little I loved reading, poetry and seeing ballet. My grandma took me to see Pineapple Poll when I was four and I was very impressed - my previous experiences with pineapples had only been the lurid photo of a pineapple upside down cake in my grandma's recipe book, and tinned fruit cocktail, so this ballet really addd a new dimension to my appreciation of pineapple (but more so the works of Gilbert and Sullivan). Four is probably a little too young for an introduction to ballet because all I remember of Pineapple Poll is some lady in nautical stripes, but my second excursion to the ballet with grandma made a bigger impression: Coppélia. Dolls coming to life is any little girls dream (or nightmare, possibly) and I've been itching to do a Coppélia inspired print for twenty years. But I couldn't stop there, and so followed all four prints! 

So if you like stories, or you know someone who does, why not pick up one of these prints? Go on, they're only small, and they're selling fast! Visit my store, enter PILGRIMLIKESMIKE upon check-out and receive 10% off your purchase of any product(s) - offer expires December 18th. 

❉ read me: http://www.drawpilgrim.com ❉
♥ follow me: http://twitter.com/pilgrim_lee ♥
✽ shop me: http://drawpilgrim.etsy.com ✽

:: Giveaway : Housewife Superstar

If anyone were to be crowned the Queen of Make Do & Mend, it would be Marjorie Bligh!  A crafter, cook, writer and all round domestic goddess, she's sort of like Mrs Beeton and Nigella Lawson rolled into one super creative, productive package.

Danielle Wood has written this rad book. It's called Housewife Superstar : The Very Best of Marjorie Bligh. It details the life and times of this Tasmanian (and National, as far as I am concerned) Treasure, and is packed with tips, tales, tricks and recipes for smart people about town (like US!)



I've got two copies to give away, courtesy of Text Publishing.  To be in the draw, just leave a comment between now and Friday noon!  Winner will be drawn at random, for this giveaway!

Thank you, Text! Thank you, Danielle!  Thank you, Marjorie!  (Buy this from Readings)

xx Pip

PS : Comment moderation is on and I'm popping in and out today. BUT comments will be approved in chronological order and the most recent of any duplicates will be deleted! If that makes sense! x

:: Kristian Schuller...

I found Kristian Schuller via Wolf and Willow.  Amazing, theatrical, beautiful photos, don't you think?  I am super loving the lovely light and shadows...  And the way the colours look in these shots...  What do you think?

Did you have a good weekend?  Whose idea was it to only have two days in the weekend? I think it is an outrage! I think we need three, as a rule. I am tired of the 5pm Sunday Sads, knowing that it's nearly back to the usual routine.  Would you be up for permanent 3 day weekends?  Who do we talk to about this!?!

xx Pip

PS :: Talking Seasonal Produce at JustB and Picnic at Hanging Rock (Sweet and Sour & Starstruck!) over on Facebook today!

:: Supercali...

I am super loving Edubarba's cheery, anti-depressive typographic prints. Phew. That's totally a tongue twister too, right?  Order yours here.

xx Pip

:: Life Now...!

How is your life, now?  I hope it's good. I'm glad you popped in to mine!

xx Pip

:: Crochet Tutorials : A List For Your Convenience

I thought it would be good to put these into one mini list. In case you want to make something!

Crochet a Ripple Blanket : The Cheery Wave Ripple
Crochet a Larksfoot Blanket :: The Larksfoot/Arcade Double Tutorial
Crochet a Granny Square :: Granny Squares 101
Crochet some Christmas Baubles :: Nanna Baubles
Crochet some Christmas Decorations : Snowmen and Hearts
Crochet some Slippers : Pippy Slippers
Crochet a Pot Holder : A Round One!
Crochet a Rug : For The Floor!

I'm going to work on a ZigZag Crochet Tute next. And one showing you how to do the Granny Squares with the flowers in the middle.  So there you go!  Adding those to my Teux Deux as we speak!

What have you been making?

xx Pip

PS : the shoes were second hand via Etsy! xx

:: Guest Playlist : Michele B : Frankly Feisty

Playlist Title :: 14 Tracks For A Cleaning/Tidying/Folding Kinda Day

Michele says :: Whenever I am having a big "clean the house, guests are coming" day and being that cleaning and I, are not good chums, it means I am going to need plenty of motivational music to keep me MOVING and on track. I can't allow my sneaky brain to come up with a dose of procrastinitis Bigtimus when I have to get things done. Here's a lovely bunch of faves, oldies but goodies, mostly drawn from our amazing OZ talent pool. TURN THEM UP LOUD!

Michele's Playlist...

Underground Lovers :  Your Eyes  : 1993 Melbourne : Leaves Me Blind album.
A very certain place and time for me and 'The Undies' sure do have a particularly THEM and wonderful, kind of a sound.

MGMT :  Time to Pretend  : USA 2007 : Oracular Spectacular album.
Such a gloriously youthful, anthemic song.

Gotye :  Learnalilgivinanlovin : 2006  : Like Drawing Blood album.
I dare you not to have Phil Collins flashbacks and a little boogie to this one

Sarah Blasko : Don't you Eva : 2004 : The Overture and The Underscore album.

That crisp yet honeyed, huskiness just gets me mesmerised

The Avalanches :  Frontier Psychiatrist : 2000  : Since I Left You album.

Our family frequently uses the "crazy in the coconut" line

Wicked Beat Sound System : The Church of Al Green : Sydney 2000 : Inna Styles album.
What's not to love? A totally groovalicious song about the Reverend Al Green.

Sia : The Fight : 2010 : We Are Born album.
From Adelaide, Sia just makes my heart sing and my body move and has ever since her epic and haunting "Breathe" played us out of "Six Feet Under" for the final time.

Sally Seltman : On the Borderline : 2010  : Heart That's Pounding album.
She used to be "New Buffalo" and she wrote "1234" for Feist and I just adore her purity and edgy sweetness.

Epicure : Armies Against Me : Ballarat boys 2004 : Goodbye Girl album.
I hear a touch of Free and Bad Company from back-in-the-day in there...I do!

The Clouds : Wichita Lineman : 90's
Sydney's Jodi Phyllis & Trisha Young. Gorgeous girls with perfect harmonies covering A Jimmy Webb classic, such a poignantly lovely song.

Architecture in Helsinki : One Heavy February : 2003 

Happy happy joy joy from this band of Melbourne out-there, arty, instrumentalists.

Temper Trap : Love Lost : 2009 Conditions album.
Seriously talented Melbourne lads and one of my fav clips of 2009

Sisters Underground : In the Neighbourhood : NZ 1994.

This track was on high rotation at our place when it first came out...

Lemon Heads : Into Your Arms : 1993
Nic Dalton was from OZ and Evan was dreamy AND this song is such a perfect, forever lovey dovey track about feeling safe and secure.

Thanks Michele!!  I really like the tracks you chose! Michele's blog is called Frankly Feisty, in case you would like to pop over!

xx Pip

PS : I wrote a letter to Jackie O (of the radio show, not the Kennedy clan!) you can read it here and chat about it here, if you would like to!

:: How To Crochet A Larksfoot Blanket or An Arcade Blanket! (VERY Image Heavy!)

You might remember this blanket that I made a little while ago? It's Kit's Arcade Blanket, and it's based on the Larksfoot stitch. About 400 people registered to get this emailed out to them, and then my email program would not let me bulk email. So I'm putting it here right now, with apologies to the early birds that the email system (or I) did not work out!

Anyhoo,  I'm going to show you how to Larksfoot... and how to turn your Larksfoot into an Arcade block or blanket!  Let's go!

I'm using Australian/UK terminology.  If you'd like to try this and you are a US terminology crochet type, you will need to convert to US terms.

Let's start with Larksfoot. Larksfoot is the basis for the Arcade blanket. You need to know how to do this to make an Arcade blankie!  Start crocheting now and I'll tell you what to do for both!

I'm using cream as my base colour.  In the blanket above I used black. It's important to choose one base colour to give your OTHER colours some contrast and impact.

Foundation Chain :: I used a 4.5mm hook and regular DK yarn.  Make a slip knot.  For a blanket about 100cm wide (like mine!)  you need to chain 120 stitches PLUS 2 extra chain stitches.  If you are making something bigger or smaller, chain a multiple of 4 PLUS 2 extra chain stitches.

:: Breakfast For One...?

click for image source!

I am going to start a new routine. It's a bit about a tray of tea and toast. And I'm going to alternate it with tea and porridge. I'm going to make it a bit fancy.  There may be floral cups, embroidered napkins, doyleys even.  Yes?

There's something about breakfast on a tray that is sort of decadent and spoil-y.  I like the special-ness of it. I like the ceremony. I"m going to dress my tray every day, and I'm going to wander away from The Fray, as they leaf through the depressing newspaper, spill Weetbix and drip milk on their novels (true!)

I'm going to find a quiet spot and have a bit of tray service just for me.  I think it's going to be a tiny clutch at a calm start to the day. A clutch worth reaching for!  Are you in?

xx Pip

:: Winner! Winner! Winner! Wooh!

Different by Rose Wintergreen

Here's the winning entry for the Jellybean Bike and Pip Books Giveaway!  It's ROSE WINTERGREEN!  It was really hard to pick a winner, but look how much trouble Rose went to. I think she's ace.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  HUGEST ever thanks to Jellybean Bikes for their generosity, wheelie spirit and support.  And super huge thanks to Hardie Grant for the book part of this giveaway!  Yay for you ROSE! You win a free beautiful bespoke bike! WOW! And a copy of each of my books! YAY!

I think we might do a similar giveaway early next year.  Vintage bike, anyone?

xx Pip

:: Hello. I Love You...

Look at these prints! They are really beautiful, aren't they? Yes. Beautiful they really are!
Found via Words and Eggs, where you will find plenty more excellent things. Go there quick!

xx pip

:: Five Not Naff Christmas Gifts...

ONE :: A gift card from Kiva.  Kiva is an amazingly great organisation which makes micro loans to people all over the world, but mostly in third world countries.  Their mission is to connect people and alleviate poverty.  In doing that they provide opportunities and a big dose of hope for people like me (that you really can make a difference!) and for people who have big dreams of improving their lives for themselves and their families.   You can spend as little as $25 on your gift card (or make a loan yourself!) and the recipient can head to Kiva, look through the loan requests and make their loan.  It's the gift that keeps on giving because once the funds are paid back, you can re-loan them to another person/family/group. I've made 16 Kiva loans so far and I think it's an amazing initiative. I've loaned to embroidery collectives, weavers, farmers, shop-keepers, tailors, a cobbler and lots of others too!  So buy your pal a Kiva Card and start them on the road to micro-financing!

TWO :: Buy a duck. Or a chicken. Or a pile of poo. OXFAM have a great gift card campaign here.  You can pop over and choose between all kinds of things : Support a women's circle, literacy program or sporting package for indigenous Australians, give the gift of a rice bank in Laos, gift a canoe or a chicken or a goat couple to a community that could really do with some support.  I'm quite partial to the duck ::

'Ducks provide families in Mozambique with eggs that they can eat and sell at the market. These eggs can turn into more ducks, which in turn produce more eggs! Many of the people who receive a duck are carers for family members, orphans or vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS. The gift of a duck really makes a huge difference to the entire family. ' 

That's a completely great result for a $20 purchase, don't you think?  Buy someone a duck here.

THREE :: Adopt a Panda... or a Black Cockatoo... or a Polar Bear or a Rhino!  For $50 you can help the World Wildlife Fund with their conservation efforts.  Sadly there are a whole lot of animals struggling for survival as habitats are destroyed and hunters lurk.  You can choose over here.  The recipient will be sent an adoption pack with info about 'their' animal and a helpful, happy feeling is part of the package.  

FOUR :: Care Australia has a whole lot of gift cards to choose from.  You can buy a bike for a birth attendant, a safe baby delivery kit, condoms to keep loved up people safe and sound, blankets, clean water, meals for hungry people... the list goes on.  If you are on a tight budget, you could start with a teensy $10 to buy school books for children (in their own native language!)  Super important that everyone can read, methinks.  See all the gifts here and take that shopping cart out for a spin!

FIVE :: At Unicef, $25 can immunise TWO HUNDRED children against polio.  Amazing. Other gifts include 500 pencils (that's one each for FIVE HUNDRED kids!) for a tiny $10 or a football for kids living in a refugee camp. You can also gift anti malaria medication and scales to weigh  hungry babies with.  How will you choose?!

Do you buy gifts to benefit charities sometimes?  Are there any we should add to our list?  What do you fancy from the list above?

xx Pip

:: The New Feist Video...

I really love the bangles she's wearing, do you?  And how about the hair swooshing about in the ferns?!  It looks pretty amazing, I think.

x Pip

:: A Bit More Behind The Scenes...!

 

xx Pip