^ So gorgeous. By The Ever Dazzling/blog.

Here are a cute bunch of giveaways that I've spotted lately and I thought I'd share;

- Genuine Incongruity's macaroon jewellery giveaway, (ends 8th May) here.
- Cerebral Exrement's blog birthday giveaway, (ends 9th May) here.
- Westervin's Summer Lapicitos necklace giveaway, (ends 9th May) here.
- Claudia Pearson's spring tote giveaway, (ends 10th May) here.
- Kirsten Hubbard's 'Hold Still' book and Moleskine giveaway, (ends May 10th) here.
- Lovely By M's For The Easily Distracted print giveaway, (ends 10th May) here.
- Rachie's Place's tiny giveaway, (ends 11th May) here.
- Much Love Anna's Beta Boutique giveaway, (ends 11th May), here.
- In The Next Room's graduation giveaway (ends 11th May), here.
- Uguisu's border masking tape giveaway, (ends 12th May) here.
- PaperJot's Petite Threla lip balm/glace giveaway, (ends 12th May) here.
- Ashley Reynolds' paper ephermera giveaway, (ends next week) here.
- Thompson Family Life's Emily Ann Designs giveaway, (ends 12th May) here.
- A Girl And Her Blog's Sex and the City NYC Tour, (ends 13th May) here.
- For The Easily Distracted's Polaroid themed giveaway, (ends 14th May) here.
- Dolce Vita Micaela's necklace and purse giveaway, (ends 14th May) here.
- That [Unreliable] Girl's Leeloo handbag giveaway, (ends 16th May) here.
- Low Flying Squid's Scrabble tile pendant giveaway, (ends 17th May) here.
- Bluebird Luxe's Built By Wendy dresses giveaway, (ends 19th May) here.
- I Fly Like A Bird's Secret Mystery giveaway, (ends 20th May) here.
- Art Is The Result Of Transformations' Alice In Wonderland giveaway, (ends 21st May) here.
- Leigh Shepherd's brooch giveaway, (ends 22nd May) here.

Phew! So many!

^ My lounge room Polaroided.

Wowee, a whole week between posts - that's probably the longest break I've had since starting this blawg! There has been no real reason for it except uni stress and a bung wrist so I hope that I can make up for it this week!





^ I received this gorgeously decorated little box from Rachel's swap, from a lovely lady called Blanca (it confused me to read her name the first few times). It contained so many amazing things, I feel very spoiled. I can't wait to write back. It was delivered by parcel post and the delivery man handed me a little machine with a pen attached to sign and I dropped the pen with a bit too much force and it flew back up and hit him in his glasses, we both laughed awkwardly.


^ Kati in Finland sent me this beautifully decorated envelope and an excellent mail-themed pencilcase/pouch. It's so perfect! I've already put it to use as a pencil case.


^ I love Linsey's mail art style - another fabulous envelope and letter. She sent me a little velum envelope full of vintage Australian stamps which I excitedly examined one by one. They're almost too special to use. I think I'll save them for special occasions.


^ Super sweet Carla sent me not only a great letter, but a bright red knitted headband bow that she made - I have pretty much been wearing every day since it arrived! I am envious of anyone who can knit, I have tried to learn and I am eternally no good at it.


^ A first and fabulous letter from Charlotte Lucy.


^ I received a lovely first letter from Melissa in Georgia. Thank you miss!


^ Sirpa's mail is always fabulous. I forgot to take a photo of the paper she wrote on so I'm borrowing an image from her blog to show you - it looks incredible. I'll have to try out using magazine pages as stationery;



I participated in Kittycat's mix cd swap and was partnered up with Liana. I sent off my mixes last week and I received hers this week and the whole package was wonderful;

^ Along with the two awesome mixes (our music tastes complemented wonderfully) and beautifully decorated packaging she included two decorated notes that said when I should listen to each mix;



After receiving my mixes she sent me another beautifully decorated letter - Rigby the cat thought it was cute too;


No outgoing to speak of! But it is only Saturday evening. I will report back at weekend's end.

Yesterday I had a lady date with my friend Min who has been visiting Newcastle from Queensland this week. We went to my favourite cafe, wandered around the streets and had drinks at my favourite pub. She's like my Mexican twin. Sweet lady;



I made my first Modcloth purchase last week, despite their exorbitant international shipping, and bought their Peanut Butter and Jam wallet (for the aforementioned lady's birthday), and a pair of faux-nerd glasses - I don't think I will ever seriously wear them out, but they are a fun prop (even if they are very Myspace circa 2006). Sadly, I have 20/20 vision;


^ Also modelling Carla's fabulous bow.

Just in time for Polaroid week (I've been loving Rhianne's documentation of it) - the camera I impulse purchased late one night on Ebay arrived - a pretty red Polaroid Cool Cam, with three exposures left in it;



^ The latter two pictures are thanks to Poladroid. I have already used up two of the shots, and I have no idea when/if I'll ever be able to afford film for it when I finally take that last shot. Boo :(

Last week, upon opening a rather hefty letter, my letter opener broke in two! It was only a very cheap plastic one, but it was sad nonetheless. C surprised me with a very cute new one on Friday, checkit;



I had an assignment due this week that involved making a double A4 page spread of a nursery rhyme (as if you've opened it in a book). Here are some quick shots of my effort (I sat it on that window sill and the sun heated up the glue and it all buckled, bad move!) The illustrations were done the morning it was due so promise not to laugh :D;


^ Good riddance Queen of Hearts.


^ Min's PB&J wallet, two polaroids, my morning hot chocolate and my new letter opener.

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend! I'm going to clean my whole house and then write letters!

^ Unknown.

With a new edition of Frankie magazine comes a new calendar page, and rearranging my corkboard to accommodate it. This is what my corkboard looked like at the start of March;



And this is what it looks like today;


^ It's covered in bits and pieces of things that have arrived in letters. See anything you've sent?

Last night C and I went to see The Bedroom Philosopher. I can't seem to find a Youtube video that does his show justice, but you should find a way to check him out. Hilarious man (I'm big on my musical-comedy). The place was packed (we only found out about the show that day so we thought it was badly promoted and no one might show), we finally found a place to stand, I spotted an empty chair and after sitting in it for a few minutes a woman at a table nearby told me "someone is sitting there" and I was like "oh" and gave her the chair and had to stand against a wall with the Bedroom Philosopher entirely obscured by a pole for the duration (while she and her friends talked through and didn't watch the show). The night got better when I found a fiver on the ground as we left and we started walking home and bought some sweets, but evened out when we were comically puddle splashed by a wayward taxi and walked soppingly home. Anyhow, the show was great. I wore this while wandering around Beaumont Street yesterday;



I finally put together and sent off my package for Rachel of Delete The Adjectives' 'These are a few of my favourite things' swap. I didn't photograph everything I included, but here are a couple things I put in. Hope she likes! (Swaps make me nervous);


^ Frankie magazine, a bundle of my favourite Australian zines, miscellaneous postcards and handmade envelopes (as well as a mix cd of Australian musicians, bits and pieces of stationery, tea, etc).


^ The man at the post office joked that for the amount I spend on international postage, I could move to the USA.

C bought me this stationery as a surprise yesterday and it wasn't until afterward that we realised it is made from elephant dung! Awesome!;


^ Great diagram.

I have two big uni assignments due next week and I have no idea how I'm going to put them together. I am starting to miss the simple displeasure of writing an essay, preferable to the time huge consuming visual projects I'm struggling to get done in time. I was meant to go to a party tonight but had to decline for uni's sake. Boo uni. Here's a self portrait I made of myself last week for an assignment (we had to use only type/font/words), haha;



Now to research David Ogilvy and make a mobile that demonstrates his creative process! (Swap you for whatever you're doing?) Hope you're having a very pleasant weekend!

I'm forever modifying and trying to improve my creative space. I think that a lot of the time where you are creative can be irrelevant, but making the most of space, feeling inspired by things around you and having all of your tools and materials organised and easily accessible can make a big difference. Here are some creative spaces I found inspiring (credited wherever possible);


+ (via)


+ How to turn a closet into an office.


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


^ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via) + (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via) + (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via) + (via)


+ (via)


+ (via)


+ (via) + (via)

I'd love to add a bunch more, but it's the second last day of our internet month and trying to do anything with shaped internet is painful; reminiscent of the hard days of dial-up internet, circa 2003. Hope these images inspired you as they did me - they sure made me want to clean my desk!