PhD what is it good for ... huh ... absolutely nothing

Say it again now. No kidding, we need smart people who study things like dragonfly larva, the behaviour of house cats and relativity, we really do. I have a friend who is in the last deathly throws of her PhD on some kind of toxicology thingo (after 4 years of listening to her talk about it I am still not 100% on the details). She is holed-up writing furiously, her only friends are the kettle and a doona she pulls over her to keep the cold at bay. To cheer her up I am flooding her mail box with little letters. I have posted instant scratch-its, tiny bars of Lindt chocolate, print-outs of Kanye West tweets etc.

From here

From here

If you too would like to let a little love in, send me a letter and I will forward it on. Little drawings, love letters, bird feathers, tea bags ... anything you can fit into an envelope send my way. Getting things in the mail is always fun. If you like the idea of 'beautiful post' check out this blog for some inspiration. Now get writing! Post your letters to;

The PhD Project

78 Coolibah street

Bardon 4065

From here

From here

From the Goodnight Little Spoon blog ...

Oh, you're a hoot ...

The Crafty Mum has been hard at it, and has a new design for the wee kids bags for my market. Owls are 'in' apparently, so she's done some little hooters up. They are not your regular big breasted Hooters, but the avian type. These bags will be at my market on 4 September, the BiDM.

Tomorrow when it's light I'll take some better snaps and pop them up on Etsy. Now to more important things like winning! The winner of the wee babushka bag comes all the way from Finland! My Mum will be pleased, as she's a Finn. The winner is ompeluseurakunta and she is from the land of excessively long words. Finland is such a beautiful place, I was only there fleetingly but my family live there. I get Facebook induced nostalgia at this time of year when the weather is so gorgeous.

Thirsty? From here

Here are some owls I would love to take home ... See you next post for another giveaway.

From here ...

From we heart it here ...

Knick knacks and stuff

I am looking for a vintage ceramic kookaburra. My Mum decided to collect kitsch kookaburras. Do you think I can find a nice one on Etsy or Ebay? I keep my eyes peeled at op-shops and still no luck. I like the silly little deers you find about the place. I have a few cluttering up the house. I know I don't need any more crap ... but cute crap is so hard to pass up. So if anyone out there sees a kitsch, cute ceramic kookaburra figurine ... let me know!

If you would like to win a little babushka bag comment on this post to win, or re-tweet. I will be picking a winner next week. These bags will be at my next market, the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market.

Choo choo, that's a long way bro ... win a babushka

Now I'm a train person. I used to catch the bus into work and sample people's underarm deodorant each day. Now I get a seat, I get to read my book and I am entertained by the delightful sounds of 'sad train driver' and 'homey-G train man'. Saddest train driver announced each station as if he might just get off at that one and thrown himself under an oncoming train. I stared adding dialogue to his spiel "Wilston, Wilston station. This is a Roma street train stopping all stations to Roma street. I'm going to end it all, at Roma, Roma street station." Then we have the b-boy, who sounds like he should be sniffing solvents and tagging stuff under a bridge somewhere. "Fortitude Valley, dis is Fortitude Valley station. Anyone who wants to buy some weed, this is the best for you bro."

From here

On a train theme, I have a babushka doll bag to give away to one lucky reader! (It's a little bag ... for a kid) I took a very, very long train trip in 2008. With my two best friends I travelled almost 8000km through Russia, Mongolia and into China. Boxed wine and instant soup all the way.

Lots of railway sleepers

In a little town called Sergiyev Posad we bought little babushka dolls. Beautifully painted and signed by the artist. Much nicer (and cheaper) than the ones in the main drag in Moscow.

Sergiyev Posad ... taken with my Lomo

Same town, as we walked back to catch the train back to Moscow

Riding the train back to the joyous city of Moscow (Lomo photos)

So to win this little bag (for a kiddo) just leave me a comment or retweet this post. I will draw a winner next week ... so get commenting and tweeting. Toot Toot.

Cupcake for me, cupcake for you, cupcake for the puppy

It was RSPCA Cupcake Day today and I went ape in the kitchen late on Sunday night making lemon cupcakes. Then, at 6am this morning I was was up to say 'good morning' to my delightful KitchenAid and I whipped up a batch of fluffy frosting. My Mum sent me a copy of the Woman's Weekly Cupcakes By Colour book. Oh how trivial and silly, but oh so nice. I wore my vintage Japanese polka-dot dress (picked out by my Mum). Apparently I looked like a housewife zapped straight out of the 50s. Although I'm allowed to vote.

I sold another of the little babushka bags on Etsy ... this one's going to Paris. Ohh la la, baguette, Jacques Cousteau! These and more will be at the BiDM on 4 September .... If you're in Brisbane please come and see us!

When you're smiling ...

This beautiful locket will be at the next BrisStyle market. Mrs Smiley's lockets is just one of the many talented artists that will be at the BrisStyle indie Designers Market on 4 September. I'll be there with my babushka bags and a bunch of new brooches.

These are some old photos we took one night after a few wines. The pretty redhead (pretending to smoke) was on a flying visit from LA. The weirdo in the background is me. I like these photos, they make me smile.b

That's not a moose, this is a moose

This lovely pear shaped pillow will be at the next Bris-Style market. The pillow is from Moose and Bird, check her shop out here.

A moose ... from here

A bird from here ...

They came, they saw, they ate a Dagwood Dog

The caliber of bogans riding the choo choo home from the EKKA is remarkable. Riding the train home from Roma street is like being in some sort of anthropological study. Where do they come from with their tight stonewashed jeans and large felt hats?

From www.weheartit.com ... here

Anyway enough with the freaks ... here are some freakishly cute bags made by my very clever Mum for my next market. They are also available on my Etsy shop.

Twilight wrap ... where's this made?

The BrisStyle Twilight Indie Market was a smash hit, even with the hoards of Brisbane peeps at Woodford for Splendour we had a good crowd. The ambient light was excellent so my lighting worries were soon abated. I forgot my camera so I have nicked a photo taken by Wicked Child!

Everything at the BrisStyle market is handmade locally, I love being a part of something like this. So many markets have stall holders flogging cheap imports. Our markets are real Brisbane craft, sold by Brisbane locals. I think the tourists that come by our markets appreciate a memento that's not made in Indonesia.

Handmade in Brisbane!

I did have one guy pick up of of my softie dolls and ask 'where's this made?' ... I said 'by me!' He seemed a bit surprised that it was handmade. He ended up buying it though!

Not made in China!

I got myself a gorgeous one-off cup from Spun Mud. It's a birthday present for a friend that drinks gallons of tea at work. I also scored a cute little Alice in Wonderland brooch from Hungry Designs.

Spun Mud ... cute as cup

This will be coming to work with me Monday!
Hungry Designs

See you soon ...