Hand(may)de #4

And so we come to the end of May, and to the end of my self set challenge to only buy recycled or handmade items. I have to say I feel pretty proud of myself, I only slipped up once (and that was to buy a Zooey Deschanel T shirt from teefury, but don't judge until to see how awesome it is).

In a fitting end to Hand(may)de, Lovely and I went to MarkIT designers market at Fed Square; I would describe it as the little sister of Finders Keepers, and although they had some great stuff, there was lot less of it and a lot more crowded, whereas FK is more towards the opposite. There was a lot of stuff I had seen before, but I did get to buy a beautiful print from When You Escape, which I was and still am psyched about (I fell in love with her work at Finders Keepers earlier this year, but was sadly lacking in funds for pretty things).

Go check out more of her stuff, it's dreamy stunning.

I had a lovely Sunday today wandering around markets, eating little danish pancakes, looking at paintings and just enjoying his company. Makes me realise what I was missing by working on a Sunday for all those years.

Jungle Wolf

Patrick is back to his best! I love everything about this, the crumbling house, his whimsical cheekiness, the suits, the jungle aesthetic, the animals, the lyrics, the music AND the subtle Thomas Hardy reference(I'm not sure if it really is or not, but he seems like a well read type of guy who would appreciate the beautiful dichotomy of pastoral vs industrial England that Hardy explored in his books).

Anyway, enough chatter, feast your eyes and ears!


I cannot WAIT for this album to drop. I decided to research Lupercalia out of curiosity (thankyou Wiki), and this is what I found.
"Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility."
See. He totally got what Hardy was talking about.

Seeker Lover Keeper

This makes me so excited about music :)

Hand(may)de #3

As we near the end of May and the end of one of my favourite seasons, its time for another entry for my handmade and second hand month challenge :)
This beautiful necklace was designed and made by the very talented Janella of J-line designs. She has a gorgeous collection of unique abstract pieces that incorporate crystals, bullet cases, bottles and butterfly wings, and as soon as I found her I had to have one for myself.

To peruse and purchase her designs, go to her tumblr, her blog, or look her up on Facebook

An in the spirit of handmade, look what my lovely made me :)

I call her Jezabel, as birds are rather promiscuous in nature, and she is very beautiful. I'm not one for frequently gushing over the internet, but I have the best boyfriend ever :3

Matt Walters and Gypsy and the Cat

Last weekend, Lovely and I went to another couple of gigs that will finish our off our run for the time being (although there are some great ones in the pipeline for later in the year)
Matt Walters played at the Northcote Social Club, which is fast becoming one of my favourite venues for two reasons; one because the stage is raised pretty high, so I can see, and two because there is a bookshop just up the road that is open until 11:30 at night.
Anyways, he was a charmingly awkward performer (he opened his set by tripping up the stage on his entrance), he kind of reminds me of Andy Bull in the way interacts with the audience, except more stoned. Andy Bull is that overexcited guy at the party who has had too much to drink and is having heated debates about the meaning of life with just about anyone who will listen, while Matt Walters is just sitting in the corner smoking a joint, talking outloud to himself and not realising that other people around him are listening in. I love them equally, and in different ways.

I hadn't really listened to all his songs properly before the gig, but I was kind of glad about that because his live voice and the backing band completely transformed the songs into almost seperate entities. I like muscians that have something knew to offer at a live show, it's not like just listening to the cd really loudly, cos I can do that at home for a lot cheaper. And when I'm listening to music on my ipod, I often have so much other stuff going on around me and in my head, I'm not really listening to the songs at all, it's just background music.

Live, his voice penetrates the whole room so you cannot hear or think about anything else. It made me really listen to the lyrics, and realise that his songs have a beautiful darkness to them, and vast emotional depth; as he told us himself, he is rather interested in the concept of hell. And although Lovely decided that he kinda looked like Rob Pattinson (nooo), I am going with he looks more like Noel Fielding, if he was more folky and chilled out and less into Root Booster and glittery jumpsuits. That's probably not a very good analogy, but it's better than RPatz. Yuk. Highlights were hard to differentiate, although the duet with Bertie Blackman for "I would die for you" was pretty damn special.

What made this an even more magical night was that on the way home, we stopped into the book store, and I found an adorable travel copy of Wuthering Heights, a book of Thomas Hardy's poetry and "the unabareable lightness of being", which I bought on a whim and currently reading. I have fallen in love with it, I never want it to end, and when it does I think I will read it again.

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Then on Saturday night, we went to see Gypsy and the Cat. They're the kind of band that has just exploded in the last year, and the fact that they pretty much went from being unknown to selling out the Palace is a good indication of that. It's been a while since we'd been to a gig with a full on choreographed light show, but it was a really fun gig,they didn't take themselves too seriously but at the same time were really stoked to be playing in front of so many people. You could really tell that they were so excited to be there :) I love it when bands have the fresh, "oh my god people are actually singing along to our songs" sheen on them. Highlights included Gilgamesh, their new songs, Time to Wander, and The Piper's Song, which still reminds me of Africa by Toto. I not so secretly love Toto, but I love Gypsy too.

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Collection Collage

I've realised of late that I've got a lot of things; little things that have no real use, but to me they mean alot through sentimentality. My life is full of collages, because really I am a collage myself. And I'm bit of a hoader

Hand(may)de #2 sort of...

So even though this is the second official post I've made for my handmade challenge, technically all of these go into the second hand category :P So far, it has been surprisingly easy (maybe that says something about my taste in clothes accesories and general paraphanelia)
Anyway, the first addition to my wardrobe was aquired on the same day as the Savage Garden Adventure I had with Ruby two Fridays ago. It was sold as a slip to cover a hideous mother-of-the-bride type dress, but I just disposed of that to the bag of clothes that are going back to the op shop, and now wear this over the top of a simple black dress or sheer black slip (as demostrated). And now I love it.



The second two garments came to me courtesy of my lovely grandmother, who has decided, like me, that she has too many clothes in her wardrobe, and, unlike me, is ready to give them away. She originally bought them over for my mum, but seeing that she didn't want them, I decided to give them a new home.





It's so cold in Melbourne at the moment I've already worn these a number of times, they're so comfy, and they make me look like I should persue a career as a Librarian, which, for me, is not at all a bad thing. In fact, perhaps I should take these as an omen to do just that!

And last, but certainly not least, Lovely and I went to the May Market at the local church on Blackburn Road (I'm not really religious, but people who attend church fairs tend to have the best collection of knick knacks)




For the silver branch detail ring and the camera ring I paid $5 dollars for both, while the gold plated bird broach came from a lovely old lady with what I imagined to be Russian accent and a beautiful collection of vintage jewels. I love church markets, it's just like an op shop minus the rummaging.

Washington Deez

Best.Ever

Photo from Washington's Facebook Page, or possibly my ideal universe

Hand(may)de #1

To continue with the Hand(may)de challenge (yes, I did come up with that all by myself :3), I just bought a gorgeous print from Berkley Illustrations. The extremely talented Portland illustrators Ryan and Lucy have perfected the art of animal anthropomorphisation with this very suave and sophisticated collection of animals that seem to have nothing wild about them whatsover.



I'm also thinking of buying this sloth one, just cos, well sloths are the best animals ever.



Click here for an etsy interview and here to peruse their prints for sale. You're sure to be charmed by one of these delightful creatures.

My one wish is to come back as Darwin Deez's Jumper

Last weekend, lovely and I had an amazing amount of gigs lined up to go see, purely by coincidence (and thanks to a little festival called groovin the moo. Thankyou for bringing Darwin Deez to Australia!!!!)
First off was Washington. In case you're not aware that I have the biggest girl crush on her, and she certainly did not dissapoint. The atmosphere was a little different to last time, as we could only get tickets to the underage show - there was lots of squealing, and parents, and I think she was a little nervous because the majority of the audience was not getting progressively wasted, but she put on a great show, her voice just keeps on getting better and she had a new sparkly costume this time, which was just rad :) unfortunatly we missed the support, Lissie, cos I was working, which would have been awesome, but its alright cos we're gonna go see her solo show instead. Yay!

Second of all was Darwin Deez.

The only way I can convey the brilliance of this concert is by this video (not taken by me, unfortunatly)



This was one of the most purely fun gigs I've ever been to. If you ever get the chance to, YOU MUST experience this. There are no words that can substitute.

Last, but certainly not least, we went to see Hungry Kids of Hungary. This was total value for money, with not one but thre supports (although we did sneak out of the chemist for some cheeky dumplings. om nom nom). Daniel Lee Kendall was adorable, he's a very honest and awkward performer, and even had his own little dance break at the end (ala Darwin Deez :) ). Following him was Andy Bull, who is such a fun performer, apart from having a beautiful yet slightly femeine voice, his banter is almost better than his music. He's freakin hilarious. He was also selling kisses as part of his merch, and was tempted to spend 5 dollars to aquire one (with boyfriends approval of course).
And of course Hungry Kids, who were a lot more powerful than I expected, they kinda blew me away. My highlight was 'Let You Down', 'Wristwatch', 'Last Waltz' which was done as a duet with Andy Bull (he looked so chuffed to be performing with a band), and the cover of one of my favourite ever Smashing Pumpkins song, '1979'. There's really not enough good SP covers in the world *sigh* They're songs are unbelievable.
The only lowlight was a tall jerk standing in front of me and blatently starring at girls and their boobs right in front of his girlfriend. Asshole.

I made a mix of these awesome bands,(including Lissie, cos I will eventually get to see her), feel free to listen and share the love.