Finders Keepers Spoils!

I'm guessing many of you out there in Melbourne based craft-blog-land would have made the trip to the wonderful Finders Keepers market this weekend. With so much fun to be had and so many pretty, colourful, shiny things to ogle at, who could resist!

I may have gone on a little bit of a spree. As much as I love Finders Keepers, it's not particularly great for the wallet...

I picked up a copy of the extra special issue 50 of frankie and oh my goodness, who else is madly in love with the embossed cover that looks like it's actually embroidered?! Happy 50th frankie!

On top of that, I also picked up three necklaces (I'm not sure what possessed me to buy so many necklaces, now I just have cute-accessory induced angst because I can't wear them all at once >:( ), and this adorable mini-colloage kit that I picked up from the Hello Polly stall.

These two little ceramic necklaces came from  Meow Girl. She has so many tiny uber-kitschtastic animals, it was *agonising* trying to pick! I could quite easily wear an entire zoo around my neck, but I couldn't go past the fox. 

And this ridiculously sweet little spool of thread, in my favourite, favourite colour came from Days of August, who was a super nice lady!

Other highlights included seeing Dawn Tan, Catherine Campbell, Cat Rabbit and Miss Foo, whose work is somewhat like if Beatrix Potter went to the circus and then went mad with sequins - in the most awesome way possible. Also had a brief chat with Emily Green, who, when I told her my chain on my own Emily Green necklace had broken didn't hesitate to say she'd me a new one, free of charge! She was so very lovely. It really was like the A-list of Melbourne crafters/designers/artists.  

Did you go to Finders Keepers and see all the fun and funky things? Do you ever get cute-accessory induced angst? 

Happy days!

Little Things Thursday

1. Cat Rabbit and Ghost Patrol have collaborated! This super rad exhibition is on at Craft (formerly Craft Victoria) and looks swell. I love collaborations. Collaborating is what art/creativity is all about!

2. I would like more seashells in my life.

3. Such incredible work from Erstwilder. What I wouldn't give for this chevron rhino!

4. There are so few things in the world that are better than foamy hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. 

5. I'm loving Julia Stone's cover of the National's Bloodbuzz Ohio

What little things have brightened your week?

Owl Know How

Of all the happy things that could happen, the incomparable Cat Rabbit and incredible Isabel Knowles have collaborated on a children's book called Owl Know How. There's a launch happening tomorrow at the Atrium in Fed Square where I'm hoping to pick up a copy of the book. To see more of their collaborative escapades, observe this beautiful video that featured at Cat Rabbit's solo exhibition last year.

Pastel Easter Egg Manicure Tutorial

Tomorrow's April 1st, which means it will be Easter faster than you can say 'hot cross buns', so how about an Easter Egg manicure tutorial? 

Step 1: Gather your colours and materials. I'm using Mellow Yellow by Sally Hansen, Shine On by Kit, and Sweet Pea by Australis. I thought pastels would look cute for Easter eggs (although the yellow might be a little bright to really be considered a pastel. I would also have liked a white to do some dots, but alas I didn't have one.) I've also got scotch tape, a Sally Hansen nail art pen, a tooth pick and a small paintbrush (although I imagine a nail striper would have been better, but alas again, I don't own one). 

 Step 2: Paint all your nails your chosen base colour and allow to dry (I'm so very messy with my nail polish, hehe). And do make sure that they are COMPLETELY dry, to avoid making the mistake that I made, and prematurely putting tape on my nail. What a mess that was!

Step 3: Take a piece of scotch tape and cut curved shape that roughly follows the curve of your nail, to create the stripes of the Easter egg. Place about a fifth of the way down your nail and press the edges firmly down so the second colour of polish won't seep underneath. 

Step 4: Paint on your second colour and gently peel off the tape. The next thing I did was flip the tape around so I could paint a second curved stripe at the top of my nail, as pictured above. 

 Step 5: More stripes and dots! I used a paintbrush to create this middle stripe, so it's not as neat, but you could definitely do it with tape if you had the patience, which I didn't, haha. Using my third colour, I then added in dots using a toothpick.

Step 6: Experiment! The great thing about Easter eggs is they come in all sorts of gorgeous colours and patterns, so I had a bit of fun varying the size of the stripes, and got my nail art pen involved to do some zigzags as well. 

 Step 7: Seal with a quick drying top coat and enjoy!

Apologies for the messiness of my nails. I tend to be incapable of painting my nails without also painting a good portion of my skin as well. Sadly, my supply of nail polish colours is fairly limited, so I'm not too sure about this result. I think some more delicate pastel shades such as pinks and blues might have looked more Eastery, so I'd love to see if anyone tries this out in different colours!