^ New desktop picture by Mispaq.

A couple of cute giveaways to share:
♡ Pugly Pixel & Much Love have teamed up for a cute sequin giveaway, here.
♡ The Ardent Sparrow is hosting a giveaway of a letterpress print by Sweet Harvey, here (28 Aug).
♡ Missive Maven is hosting a "Write the Right Words" book giveaway, here (30 Aug)
♡Oh Hello, Friend's giveaway this week includes a $50 Shanna Murray shop gift voucher, here
(30 Aug).
♡ My lovely penpal from Queenie and the Dew is running a cute stationery giveaway, here (5 Sept).

Ps. Bea just reminded me of the cute stationery giveaway she's having at her blog, here (until the 21st Sept).

^ eklektick (via mrypwrs - Mary curates the best pictures to her Tumblr). I used to make postcard collages out of stamps - I think I should start again!




^ Beatriz and I have been emailing each other for the past few weeks, hoping this little beauty would turn up. Bea sent it in June and it finally arrived after a stop off in quarantine where they took out the tea she'd included. Sad, but I'm glad it arrived in the end! Her drawings are so cute! She draws a much more accurate Australia than I do!


^ A beautiful first letter from Charlotte, full of pretty paper hearts.


^ Sirpa sent me such a great letter. It was an excellent read, she writes grand letters! And, she sent me this pretty knitted wrist warmer which smells just delish (she sprayed the letter with her perfume, yum!).


^ A very sweet letter from Ria. Last letter she included some New Mexican sand and this time she sent me some NM grass from her lawn!


^ A sweet postcard from Carrie Marie, who found my blog via Micaela.


^ This postcard came from a sweet lady in Spain, but the postmark has covered her name and I can't quite read it! I think it's Mariau! Thank you lady! Hope I spelled your name right!


^ My August BPS postcard from a lovely lady named Patty. I loved her calligraphy!


^ And a delicious first letter from Liz. Another wonderful read.



Sadly ew-nie werk has been weighing me and the letter output down. Hopefully next week, a week without any assignments, will be a fruitful letter week! These few envelopes are full of free postcards people have ordered - I still have lots to share - I'd love to send you some!

















Now I'm going to lie down, dose myself up on pain killers and heat up a wheat bag to put on my shoulder. I have done something very traumatic to my collar bone (C says it may be from bad bike riding posture) and for the last fortnight, every night it gets me. Ouuuuch.

A regular mail tag request I ask of people is to name their favourite red things. Red is my favourite colour and I've been overusing it for many years. I'm not sure what it is about red, it's just perfect to me. So, here are 12 of my favourite red things I own (if I wasn't just counting things I own I'd also include post boxes, chilli sauce, strawberries, etc).


^ Little red Moleskine gifted to me by my lovely penpal Wendy. I use it many times a day. The sticker on the front is from here.


^ The frilly red umbrella my little sister bought me for my birthday this year.


^ Favourite red coat - by A.joy. Desperately needs a wash but I can't afford the dry cleaning bill!


^ Warm gloves I thrifted at least five years ago. Very useful in Tasmania.


^ Dangerfield scarf my friend Paige gave me for my birthday a few years ago.


^ Favourite lipstick - Maybelline 'Are You Reddy?' (as worn atop post)


^ Fuller brush man letter opener. Best letter opener I could ask for, he seems unbreakable.


^ Sportsgirl houndstooth sneakers.


^ Leather Romeo Renato handbag. It goes everywhere.


^ The 'blogging' ring I won in Cathe of Just Something I Made's giveaway.


^ A good, sturdy red pen - micro-tip (0.5), Uniball eyes are my favourite. I have very particular pen taste.


^ The little red British post box key chain Laura sent to me.

C said that I should include him in this list, when he holds his breath and his face goes red :P

What's your favourite colour? Want to take photos of your favourite coloured things? I'd love to see them! :)

Listening to: Pink & Blue - Outkast (ironic that it's a song featuring colours)
Consuming: Brown creaming soda

C and I were riding our bikes a few nights ago and saw a cherry picker and a couple of men putting umbrellas in a tree, in the dark. It was too dark to take a picture, but we came back the following day to photograph it and they'd taken them all down and were putting them up in another tree. It was kind of amusing just watching these manly men in fluoro outfits tying brightly coloured pink and purple umbrellas to tree branches! I think it makes for a beautiful sight in the city - I hope they do it to other trees in that park too.



I've also noticed a lot of these around town lately, knitted around poles in the city;



I've also noticed the lack of graffiti in Launceston. Newcastle is covered in it. Here is one little bit of graffiti I spotted I thought was quite gorgeous;



I also thought I'd show you what C put in his hair the other day;


^ Bizarre and kind of creepy, but his hair looks beautiful and shiny and smells really good. It is made from animal placenta and apparently no harm is done to the animal in the process of getting it. We found it at the chemist a few weeks ago but he was only game enough to put it in his hair this week. Verdict: weird but effective!

Here are the mixes I made for my two partners for the Mix Share Swap, Samantha and Patsy. I couldn't help myself and ended up making two mixes for each. The covers were so much fun to make - fiddly and therapeutic collages.

I started by picking out some cardboard from my recycle bin (the top ones are made from flour boxes and the bottom ones are made from cat food boxes!). I taped it together to make the cd cases, then gleaned bits of paper from anywhere I could find it - I have a big box of miscellaneous paper I scrounge from (magazine cuttings, wrapping paper, envelopes, wrappers, stickers, receipts, labels, newspaper, paper doilies, etc) - then I pieced and glued all the bits together and put tape all over them. My printer prints onto discs, so it was fun being able to make the CDs a little pretty.

Need more ideas? Cut up postcards, doodle, print things out, forage for miscellaneous paper around the house, layer tapes, splatter paint, cut out of magazines and newspapers, use photos - use what you've got on hand :)


^ For Samantha.


^ For Patsy. Cerddoriaeth means 'music' and 'Alawon' means 'tunes' in Welsh.

This is the last week for people participating in the Mix Share Swap to finish off making and packaging up their mixes and send them out. Take your time and have fun! I've made a Flickr group for any pictures of the mixes made in the swap, here. Add as many as you like!