Tune Tuesday

Yet another super-rad-all-round-amazing video from OK Go. Who can say no to puppy dogs? If you aren't dazzled by their coordination and cleverness, then their hairy friends are sure get you on board.

Print is not Dead

A couple of videos for your Sunday! Stop motion is always fairly amazing, and I'm gearing up to work on something like these for my next Motion Graphics project. Fun Fun! These two videos are especially spectacular. I'm bookmarking them as 'research'.

I saw this one on Emily's blog yesterday, gearing up for Anthology magazines first issue.

And this one is just gorgeous. Advertising with heart? I never thought I'd see the day. So pretty!

Fancy

(via)

Wishing you a very fancy weekend - mostly because I'll be doing anything but being fancy. I'll be trying to be productive on the work front, and cleaning the house. All tasks that be done in pyjamas.
Also, if you haven't already I'd really love your vote on my Threadless shirt.

Macro

We took a nice trip out to a little town near my house on Wednesday. It's ridiculously quaint and hard to believe a place so close to home can feel so different. We visited a friends nursery and patted dogs named Steve who had lineage to 'the best behaved dog in Australia, 2006'. I gave Joshua a little present for his DSLR, so he was entertained playing with his new lense for the day. We stopped off at the oldest Presbyterian church in Australia (we're secretly history buffs) and I learnt from the above photo that it's time for me to colour my very-red-looking hair.
I also discovered my newest favourite beverage - McDonalds is now making a Coke float. Frozen coke, soft serve icecream, delicious.

Threadless

If you're feeling generous with your time, I've got a shirt on Threadless which is up for scoring.
You can click here to go straight to it and hopefully get me some extra dollars. Thanks, team!

Mix

Our lovely little car doesn't have a port for music players, so we've been making mix CD's to listen to on our travels. You know, kicking it old school. It makes the process a lot more selective, since you can't just lump everything into one playlist. Every song counts when you've only got 19 space I've really only made one CD so far, but I plan on making a wider assortment, since at the moment our driving collection consists of the CD pictured, The Drums, and a ghetto compilation that I was given by some B-boys sometime last year which I then gave to Joshua as a joke. Unfortunately for me, he loves it.
We've visiting with my family today, which usually results in a lot of coffee, too many snacks and several hours of driving. I know I'll come home humming dirty filthy rap lyrics, but hopefully this will be offset by nicer tunes of my own choosing.

Tune Tuesday

Finds

It had been a while since I'd been to a second-hand store and even longer since I'd found anything good. I feel a little jaded about Sydney opshops, given that my hometown has about 8 different opshops on the one street where you'd be hard pressed to find anything over $5. I guess this means when I do find things in Sydney, it's especially exciting!

I found this little treasure box for $2. We thought there was a problem with the lid because it sticks when it's shut. Turns out it's a secret panel that has to be slid to unlock it. Amazing.


And these lovely cards feature antique Alice in Wonderland illustrations. I'm not much of an Alice fan ordinarily, but these were irresistable. I also nabbed a calendar tea towel and an embroidered table runner which I plan on putting to good use at some stage in the future. Good haul!

Coordinated

I've been cleaning and sorting and tidying and colour arranging. Cleaning is usually the first thing I do when I've got a few spare hours. I blame my mother. The cleaning apple doesn't fall far from the cleaning tree. I find it weirdly cathartic. Now the contents of my wardrobes and drawers are arranged according to the rainbow and I finally got rid of the gnome shaped money box that has been housing my two-dollar coins for too-long. Getting rid of old stuff means a bit more space for new treasures - I'll show you those tomorrow! Happy Sunday!

Things to be Thankful For

• One of my very-besties returned from a faraway country safely and soundly. Pretty stoked to have her back and be able to spend some quality time with her tomorrow!
• Holidays. Enough said really. No lectures or classes for two weeks. This will hopefully result in increased productivity coupled with sleep ins. We'll see how it goes. Holidays also mean some much needed family catch-up time, a well deserved break from animation computer programs and endless possibilities for all the things I can get done!
• Op shop treasures. Finding things that make your heart sing, and make you wonder what crazy person would have discarded such wonderful items. Not to mention the prices so cheap it feels criminal. I'll show you my favourite thing I've discovered of late sometime in the next few days.
• New clothes. We're getting all sorts of fantastic things in at work at the moment, some of which I'm lucky enough to wear as my 'uniform' of sorts. Forced shopping is never a bad thing, really. We're also doing a fun new feature on the blog where each week someone new shares something they're loving right now. You can read mine here!

Motion

I've spent the last little while working on some rather large hand-ins - I'm sorry things have been a little lame on the blogging front. After the horrors of Flash last semester and my blatant disregard for the software, I knew that this semesters animation subject would be a little on the tricky side. After many sulking nights, a very calm acceptance of the loss of my USB with my work on it (look at me, I'm growing), and having to redo things multiple times just because computers are silly, I finally finished the Motion Graphics pieces. This means 60% of the subject down. To celebrate, I bought a neon pink replacement nerd stick. Doesn't get much wilder than that!

Good (Curses) Design Advice

This here little site is fairly amazing. I've been reloading and reclicking again and again just to see what I'll be told to do next.

I find their generous use of expletives to be a little extreme, but it's just so effing good I can't resist. The phrases are akin to what I imagine is thought in every university tutors head during a critique - lucky for my mild-mannered ears we're not usually sworn at during class.

Get some advice here.

Tune Tuesday

Mark Ronson & The Business INTL: "The Bike Song".
I can't help but feel like Mark Ronson is very cleverly cashing in on the retro-hipster-bike-riding phenomena. He just does it so very well with supermodel girlfriends, thieves, cute girls in sixties outfits, French references and a song that is so catchy I've been humming it for days. Watching the clip makes me feel like I've seen it dozens of times before - maybe because Kyle Falconer looks like Ben Kweller, and the animated bikes seem a little like Brum, but it could also be that I've watched it around a dozen times now.
I'll be singing it to Shirley next time I take her for a spin.

Well Suited

Today was rather momentous in that I finally found a swimsuit I love. I'm not the best at beach wear, and almost anyone I know can testify to this. My complexion is more suited to winter months, and my areas which are rarely exposed are so white they could glow in the dark. The running joke is that sunscreen application is particularly problematic because I can't tell when it's rubbed in. I'd look much more at home on one of those foreign pebbly beaches that don't really count as 'beach' but look great against skin tones like mine.
Today changed everything. Thank you, Seafolly.
While my thighs don't look anywhere near as wondrous as the models up top there, today was the first time I've tried on swimmers in a department store and not been on the edge of tears. A good sign? I thought so.

Things To Be Thankful For

• Homemade dip. In my mind, it qualifies as cooking. A dangerous slope, I know. I'm also a little embarrassed to admit that I've tricked myself into believing it constitutes a meal when there are vegetables and wholemeal crackers involved. My terrible dinner choices aside, the dip itself is delicious.
• This week's windy days. As much as the wind is a terror for the flowing-locks-and-wear-a-dress types like myself (I had to pre-plan my Officeworks walk along the highway and wear jeans this week), it has meant that my washing dries in one day, as opposed to the week long attempts of last week hoping for my clothes to dry in between rain showers.
• Headache tablets. This week has been a bit of a shocker and I've suffered from a few enormous headaches. The times when I can't just retire to bed and sleep it off, I've been super thankful for medicine to fix me up and carry on, good as new.
• Coffee breaks away from the computer. Sacred moments where there is actually, really, nothing you can be working on. I took this time to plan some more things I could work on at a later stage... Glutton for punishment, I swear.
• The Supremes. Babes, the lot of them. Also helpful for keeping spirits high late into the evening.

Moomah

Oh glory. Just one more reason that has me itching to live in New York. Delicious illustrated branding for Moomah, a creative arts cafe. Simple and intricate all at the same time - and no need for a logo on every item. Very clever. I've been thinking about that coffee cup for days. Spotted over on The Dieline and wonderfully designed by Apartment One.

Markets

I had a little market stall last week. It was a little on the disappointing side of things (I don't really think drunk gentleman who are cross about missing out on tickets to Cloud Control are particularly interested in buying my hand sewn treats) but I did get to spend my Friday evening with some fun people. Matt was right next to me and we were just behind our Finders Keepers stall buddy Frankie, so it was good for a bit of a natter. I'm hoping to update the ol' Etsy store one of these days now that I've got a few new things. Stay tuned!

Packaged

Finishing an assignment is usually something I enjoy a lot. At the moment though, it's scaring me - mostly because finishing one project means that another is looming closer. Illustration is out of the way for now though, hurrah! I've learnt that I was not meant to be a product photographer (stop judging my poorly assembled, half attempted white background) and that packaging is not something I feel particularly passionate about - however it was nice to be able to spend hours on end drawing different characters and call it work.

Tune Tuesday

Today is just a bit of a Kate Nash day. This usually ends up being the sort of day that makes me want to bring back my fringe, knit a love heart scarf and wear primary colours. She's just so adorable.
You can listen to more of her here.

Colours of Fun

I love a Monday morning surprise. I was watching the clip that Ebony made for Smarties, hoping inspiration would strike before I have to go to class today with a supposed-to-be-near-finished product that is far from what it should be. After being thoroughly delighted at her video, I pondered whether the other artists involved were familiar to me. I clicked through to 'Blue' and was suddenly looking at my tutor, Ray. Small world, huh? Here's hoping I can distract him with some fan-like behaviour and my sub-par work will be glossed over today.
Click through to see all of the Smarties 8 Colours of Fun videos. Maybe I just need a kid to help me out with my work?

Things to be Thankful For

I've been meaning to play along with Sophie for months and months, and then Saturday rolls around and I always forget or run out of time. I decided today was the day, albeit a day late - mostly as a reminder to myself to quit my sulking and be appreciative of the super good things I've got going on.

• My close proximity to Officeworks. I hate how often I have to go there, but I'm rather glad that I only live a five minute walk away. This makes all my printing feel a little more bearable.
• Letterbox surprises. I had a note from Australia Post telling me I had a package to pick up on Wednesday, which turned out to be a gorgeous Golden Book from my sweet mum. Best mail ever!
• Being a cafe regular. I think this is my new favourite thing. Coffee tastes so much better when the staff know you and greet you with a cheeky wink on the way in, and a cheerio on the way out. I am a little concerned that I'm building a caffeine addiction through all of my thinly veiled attention seeking, but I'm thankful for their friendliness and barista skills.
• University... I'm thankful for my education, I love the people that I learn with, and I love that I have to go to the aquarium this week for an excursion. I just need to remember that I do really love uni the next time I'm on the verge of tears during a Motion Graphics class. Heck, I can even just be thankful that I made it through this weeks class without crying.

Thanks for the nudge, Sophie. I'll be definitely trying to do this weekly.

x

Birthday Surprise

My good friend and neighbour Ashley turned 20 today. To celebrate, I created a wee surprise party for her last night.  Had I known in advance how long it would take me (sewing garlands and baking ridiculous white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes and the like), I probably would have worked a little harder on those nasty uni projects in anticipation of the lost time. Eeep. Back to the grind I guess.
Happy birthday, Ashley x