golden

Today while shuffling my files around I have found the pictures of my delicious cardamom buns with cinnamon butter that I made earlier in the year.. so I thought I would share a few with you now just to show off!





Out of all the things I have ever baked I think that these are the most impressive, as they actually involved using yeast (which is something I have been a bit scared of for a long time after some failed attempts years ago..) The fact that my buns came out looking beautifully golden brown and oozing with cinnamon butter was not what I had realistically expected! I think I will have to try them again as soon as possible!

I have been baking today though, making a lemon cheesecake for tonight's dessert, so I should probably try to steer clear of the sweet treats for at least a few days after that!

On another note, I have recently been obssesively listening to You by Gold Panda. Quitters Raga has been one of my favourites for a while, and I decided the other day to give some of their other songs another listen.. and so the obsession began. I will probably keep listening to it non-stop for a week and then be so sick of it I never want to listen to it again! I am always ruining perfectly good songs for myself by doing that. Anyway, take a listen for yourselves..



xx Elly

books

I have always loved books, and as a small child I was practically obsessed with reading (my favourites were Enid Blyton and books about reptiles..) but since starting high school I have been reading less and less. Now that I am at university, I don't think I have read a single novel. I do, however, read quite a few design books at the library, to the extent to which you can call that reading..

Recently when doing my rounds of local op shops, I have been paying closer attention to the book selections as I live in hope of finding proper vintage (70's or earlier) picture books with sweet illustrations. Although so far I have been unsuccessful with this idea, I did find some great books the other day that I would like to share with you.

All of these three came from the same Salvo's store, I love the Salvo's because they are always cheaper than Vinnie's and they all have furniture..







So, the first one I found was this old atlas from 1986, complete with the U.S.S.R and East Germany. Of course there are probably a whole heap of changes other than that but I am painfully ignorant of general world history... Anyway, the reason that I bought it (other than the fifty cent price tag) clearly not the ugly front cover but the fact that I really love atlases. Hopefully will be used in some designing capacity in the future.






The second book is a book called Master Photography, so of course I picked it up straight away. Now I often find a lot of books on photography in op shops (probably because some of the information is no longer relevant with the advent of the "digital age" and all that) but this one actually convinced me to buy it because it has a lot of picture examples of the different techniques and settings that it talks about, not to mention that many of these photos are quite beautiful. I don't really understand why more people don't snap up these books because most of the information is still relevant for those who want to learn how to properly use their DSLRs off automatic setting (e.g. me..)










The last book I found on this particular journey was this book, entitled Maximalism, The Graphic Design of Decadence and Excess. Now, as I'm sure I have made clear already, I practically jump on any books that have anything to do with art or design. You can imagine my amazement to find this relatively new design book in amongst the reference section! (This is why I meticulously comb through every section of the op shop, things are never in the right section..) Some of the stuff is a bit dated (it was published in 2004) but most of it is pretty decent, especially when it will mostly be used as inspiration (where I will decide I like two of the colours that happened to be placed next to each other..)

Anyway, with all this talk of books I thought I would also share an interesting blog with you that I discovered yesterday. Awful Library Books is a blog, run by librarians Mary and Holly, that catalogues the books that are picked out during the constant process of weeding out the old and irrelevant. Many of the entries are submitted by other librarians, who offer up photos of some of the most bizarre books you have ever seen, along with some witty commentary from Mary or Holly. Who would have thought there was the need for a book called Your Three-Year-Old, Friend or Enemy?



I have to admit though, if I had a child that resembled the one on the cover I might be more easily convinced..


xx Elly

newcastle

Yes, finally, I have gotten my photos together so I can blabber on about my exciting newcastle trip. To be honest, it wasn't as fruitful as I had hoped it might be, but I am  trying to restrain myself  because my room is already too full of things I bought because I thought I might wear them once.

To get to Newcastle, we had to leave at eight (too early for a sleepyhead like me), and after two and a half hours driving, we arrived in Wallsend. This was probably one of the best areas we visited, with four charity shops on the main street and two others near by. While on this stop I bought this gorgeous brown bag for $2 !! I had wanted a brown bag in a satchel-style for a while so I was amazed by my luck.

my lovely new bag, with red silk scarf from my package partner Jasmine :)

Next stop was Mayfield, where there was a Vinnie's and a Salvo's store to check out. As usual, the Salvo's was huge and filled with some pretty good stuff but as I said previously I was in no mood for frivolous purchasing as I am broke and running out of wardrobe space!

In Mayfield we stopped for lunch in and exotic restaurant called Subway, and while walking in my bag broke. I was completely devestated as this was my absolute favourite bag that I used every single day! Mourning my loss, I swapped all my belongings into my new brown bag.

After lunch we drove on to Islington, where we made a brief stop at a Vinnie's we were driving past. There was heaps of cool stuff in this Vinnie's, mostly because unlike most other Vinnie's there was a whole room full of furniture! I love love looovvvveee second hand furniture so I had to be forcibly dragged away. However, I did manage to snag a $1 brown belt to match my new bag.

We then made our way on to the centre of Newcastle, where I was surprised to find it was much more city-like than I had expected. Having been on exciting road trips with my family stopping in practically every town in NSW at some point or another, it is shocking that I can't ever remember seeing the city of Newcastle (probably due to the relatively new highway by-pass..) In the city we stopped at an amazingly cute little retro shop, similar to those you might find in Newtown except about half the price for most things! I was really tempted by so many things in this shop, particularly a large collection of beautiful vintage bags. Luckily, I restrained myself and only bought one, a $5 woven beauty.

New woven bag, the gold oval says made in Italy (v. fancy)

Around this point, my companion/driver started to get a bit cranky because he hadn't gotten enough sleep, so we ducked into one last Vinnie's in Hamilton (unsuccessfully) before heading home for a longggg sleep.

After a couple of days of using my brown bag and having not go with half my clothes, I realised that I couldn't go on without a replacement for my favourite black bag. I knew what I had to do. The following Saturday I raced to my favourite local op shop to rummage through their enormous crates of bags and managed to find TWO perfect replacements, and of course I had to get them both as they were only six dollars each! Now I can sleep soundly knowing that even if one of my replacements dies, even they can be easily replaced haha.

Two newer bags on the left, sad broken bag on the right :'(

So yes, that concludes the end of my Newcastle story and further adventures.. I think that basically what I have learned from my trip is that Newcastle op-shops aren't really any better or cheaper than Sydney's ones so next time I will not waste the five hours it took to go there and back! However, it was a good experience and with the exception of my companion getting all irritated towards the end of the day it was still fun. Next time I think I will try some smaller towns as I have heard good things about those...

Until then I will have to just keep my faith in the power of my local op shops to conveniently bring me what I want!


xx Elly

renewal

Woo! finally finished the new layout for the blog after starting yesterday afternoon !!

I have noticed for a veryyy long time (as in since I started the blog) that it has been embarrassingly ugly, especially for a student studying Design! But alas in my unlimited laziness it has taken me this long to get around to it. It took me far longer than I thought it would, but then again I am very out of practice when it comes to coding. I used to be a coding whiz back when I used to make my own geocities websites making pixel dolls (yes I really am that cool.)

No other news to report, Newcastle post still in the making...
Hope all of your eyes are a bit less sore now :)

xx Elly

comfort

Hello there,

As I was saying in one of my previous posts, it is very cold at the moment by Sydney standards. This has led to me, like most people I assume, craving comfort foods and sitting around inside like a blob.. so last night I made one of my favourite warm, winter comfort foods ever: lentils!

I don't know how enthusiastic about lentils other people are, but I got the idea about a week ago after browsing 101 cookbooks and coming across a lovely-looking recipe for lentil soup.


Delicious lentils with yoghurt..

Of course I made my own alterations to the recipe, namely using green/brown lentils because my dad couldn't find the right ones and adding heaps of Worcestershire sauce (I had to look that up to spell it properly..) because I always remember my mum making lentils with Worcestershire sauce when I was little, which adds to the comfort-factor.


I also made an exciting discovery in my bookshelf a few days ago, a set of three rather large folders filled with information on sewing. Apart from the hilarious eighties-style pictures, it looks amazingly helpful as it includes different stitching types and when to use them, how to sew with different fabrics, attaching zippers and buttons, as well as many far more complicated tips that go way over my less-than-basic sewing knowledge. For instance, one folder is filled entirely with tips on how to get the perfect fit from your garment, and when they say perfect they mean perfect. In fact the fit in some of those photos looks so extremely perfect that it is probably not at all comfortable, and the people were probably sewn into the garments and couldn't sit down..

There are tips on how to fit for every single not-exactly-average measurement that your body might have, including a wide back (who knows how big their back is?) and narrow thighs (sorry, but if I had narrow thighs I don't think I would be worrying very much about "disguising the problem" !!)


a similar eighties-style sewing pattern (showing off the crazy-close fit) from vintagegifts4sale on etsy


Anyway, having flipped through these folders I have been inspired to try harder to make some actual clothes and expand my sewing experience, starting with a black velvet skirt because I have wanted one for months yet can't find one that is the right length because I am too tall.. (I have a couple of skirts that I hardly ever wear because I am constantly paranoid about them flying up an inch or to and revealing far more than it necessary to the general public! 6 ft is not a height you should ever aspire to..)  


So I guess that's all the exciting reporting I have for today, I have a post about my Newcastle trip lined up but I need to take a couple of photos of my exciting loot first..


xx Elly

post

Hello there,

Shockingly I have actually been doing some things in the last two weeks, not to mention that the 29th of June was my nineteenth (weird looking word..) birthday

My birthday was actually quite uneventful, but I got to see a close friend I haven't seen in ages and she even made me a really delicious pear and almond cake. I didn't ask for much in the way of gifts either, but I did get a few nice things:

my gorgeous glockenspiel <3

- a cute angel glockenspiel from urban outfitters, fulfilling a small part of my earlier wishes. I have no idea what I will actually do with it, but so far I have learnt to play Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, which is clearly a good enough reason to own it. 

- a new sims 3 expansion pack, ambitions. luckily I am now on break and have time to play!

- some money from my mother, aunty and grandmother, so now I feel slightly less like a poor hobo

- fancy nail polishes, which are my new obsession. I got a nice dark grey, light minty green, baby blue, the most beautiful lilac and two botttles of china glaze "matte magic" which is a topcoat that will give any colour an amazing matte finish. I am so in love with this right now, I can't stop looking at my fingers.

-----


The glockenspiel and nail polishes were especially exciting because they came through the post, which are a great novelty to me. I think getting something in a package makes it a bit more special though, because you have to wait for it. Even if it is a surprise, it is nice to think that the objects contained come from someplace far away.

I also received another package this week. A few months ago I mentioned and eventually signed up for the package project, which is a project organised by cupcake couture. People all over the world have emailed a few of their details (myself included), and have been paired up with another person and each pair must then send a package full of little treats to one another!

Now I sent my package off a couple of weeks ago, and I actually wish I had taken some photos of it because I went a bit crazy with it and made little labels and everything (what I get for being a bored designer..) My package arrived a few days ago, and I recieved a few lovely things including a pretty vintage red silk scarf, little pouch featuring Blythe (a great coincidence as I own two) and a mix C.D. featuring some of her songs as she is a singer/songwriter (and a talented one at that!).

As for the rest of my holidays, I have hardly any plans. One thing I do really want to get around to is a trip to Newcastle to visit some op shops that are far beyond my usual circuit and find some amazing bargains.

xx Elly