{ Ooooh Look! }

My blue, taupe & chocolate canvas blocks are featured over on the madeit.com.au blog along with some other chocolate brown lovelies.

{ THAT Dress }

Wedding on the weekend was devine. Mr M scrubbed up well {naturally}, weather was near perfect, great friends, good night had by all.

And the dress. Oh the dress. I went weak at the knees when my friend Carly walked into the church. Oh my. Words can not describe how much I was in love with it, nor do it justice, so here are the photos to prove the point...

Congratulations Carly & Matt! (and little Lialah)

I'm sorry I cried so much...during the ceremony...during the speeches...during the bridal waltz...during the father/daughter dance...it was all very beautiful!

But guess who caught the bouquet...I even have the bruises to prove it ;)

{ Photos by me with Mr M's bad camera, can't wait to see the professional ones }

Add on: Oh and here's a photo of me and Mr M looking rather dashing, wish I had taken my sunnies off.

{ Going To The Chapel }

This afternoon Mr M and I will be traveling home to Gippsland - tomorrow is the wedding of two of our friends from school. I am doing a reading at the ceremony and Mr M is a groomsman. The ceremony is in a cute little Catholic church and the reception at a very nice winery - can't wait! The bridal couple have a two year old little girl who I can't wait to see toddle down the aisle as a flowergirl. Too cute. Everyone loves a wedding! One problem - new dress I bought to wear still has security tag attached. Don't you hate that? May have to reassess wardrobe very quickly...

Hope you have a lovely weekend spent with friends and wine like mine will be xxx

{ Image from Once Wed }

{ Truth Be Told }

Roaming around on Made It I found these whimsical illustrations by Jess Hyde, a Melbourne designer. Her Made It shop Truth.Be.Told is full of designs inspired by fashion illustration, sewing and muted tones {I am loving the pink and grey}. Here are a few of my favourites...

Isn't the last one just too cute? I would really like this as a print in our bedroom. It would be a great wedding, anniversary or Valentines present too.

{All images from truth.be.told }

{ Buyster Lighting }

I have been on the hunt for a new light fixture for our bedroom. The one hanging in there at the moment is far too small for the space - it is a cheapy I picked up from Bunnings when we first moved to Yea and hung above our dining table in our old house. As much as I would love a big drum pendant or chandelier above our dining table in the cottage, there are just downlights throughout our open plan living area.

So, the hunt began...at the usual suspects (i.e. Beacon, Freedom) I was looking for something modern yet traditional, classy yet casual. Ideally I wanted a chandelier but Mr. M has drawn a firm line in the sand on that issue. No chandeliers. Hmph.

I had seen on other blogs the website Buyster.com.au - for furniture, rugs, kitchenware.. and LIGHTING! Sooo much to choose from, lots of stuff I liked, and at reasonable prices. Exceptionally handy also for me who doesn't get to the big smoke that often, they ship within 3-5 days. Great. Now which one? I finally settled on this beauty:

Can't wait for it to arrive - it will {hopefully} look amazing in our bedroom with it's crisp white and rustic brown touches. Yay for Buyster! I will let you know if it lives up to all my expectations, and of course post some photos of it in it's new home.

{ Tuesday's Object of Desire }

Last week I was late posting, this week I'm doing it at 7am...

This week's Object of Desire is again Christmas related - ho ho ho! I am starting to think about decking the cottage out in all the festive finery, but have made a bit of a pledge that I won't spend any money on Christmas decorations this year so will be recycling last years baubles, stockings and wreath.

But...if I were to splurge, this would be top of my list! Since the cottage has been painted (and yes I am aware I am yet to post photos) our front door is now 'Woodland Grey' and I think a white wreath on it would look fab. This one from Polli is traditional, yet modern - perfect for me. And it comes in my '2009 Christmas colours' red and white.

{ Little Miss IPHONE! }

Yes, I may be the last person on earth to get an iphone - but I am still beyond excited about it! Living an hour away from the nearest mobile phone retailer has forced me into getting one via the post though - and it should arrive tomorrow morning in my mailbox!

I have heard mixed reports - some can't live without it, some want to throw it off a bridge. But I'm hoping it will enable me to check my emails, run my websites {and my blog!} away from home. I will also be swapping from Telstra to Optus which means I will actually have service at the cottage! Yes, it's true - I have been living without mobile reception which means not receiving texts or calls until I go the five kilometres down the driveway or into town (Yea's 10km away).

But...I am quite paranoid about scratching or cracking the screen. Mr M's brother cracked his and it cost an arm and a leg to fix. The solution? A cool protective cover of course! I wanted one that covered the screen, I looked at a lot of magnetic flip cover ones, but I wanted one that opened from right to left, not bottom to top {hope that makes sense...} Of course I turned to etsy and this is what I found...

From etsy seller Debris Design . This is the style I really wanted - just like a wallet. Not sure if I am a tweed/turquoise kind of girl though...on with the search...

From etsy seller Blythe King . I debated getting a white iphone, but ended up going with the black as if {and when} it gets scratched dirt will sit in their and it won't stay white for long! So I thought a white cover would match my white mac, white keyboard, white mouse. But again, won't stay clean for very long I'm sure...

From etsy seller Yummy Pocket . Yummy Pocket indeed! I just love cupcake motifs and thought this would be so cute to run Little Miss Emma from - but I will also be running my photography business from it and not sure how professional pulling this out of my bag in front of clients looks!

From etsy seller tovicorrie . This is cool! I love hides, I really want to get one for either under our dining table or in front of our fireplace. This is made from leather too so extremely durable and sturdy, but was not the wallet style I wanted and was also a bit out of my price range I had set.

And so I turned to trusty ebay . I found my iphone case. Isn't it pretty? I'm hoping it will arrive in my mailbox tomorrow also so my new iphone can slip right in. I can use it as my wallet as well with the card slots - super handy. Super pink, which is always a bonus, and faux leather so I can wipe clean.

{ All images from respective etsy sellers and ebay }

{ I've Made It }

After much procrastination I have opened a shop on MadeIt.com.au - I guess what you would call the Australian version of Etsy. Little Miss Emma can be found at her new Aussie home here .

I am hoping this will bring a lot more local Aussies mums to discover Little Miss Emma. There are so many minky blanket sellers on Etsy - but most are in the US so have excessive shipping costs to us downunder. I make all my minky blankets right here in Victoria - and use the same type of minky they are using (either Benartex or Minky Delight).

So pop on over and be one of my first visitors... :)

{ Image by Little Miss Emma of black minky and Michael Miller Silly Circles blanket }

{ Good Hair Day }

Dear Hair-Gods - can my hair please look like this every day? It does today...and it's fabulous...but why not everyday Hair-Gods? Why not?!

{ Image found here }

Just for you Mindi, this is what my hair looks like... :)

{ Image taken by my mum of me with my two sisters and brother - the day Louise left for London }

{ Hot Pink & Dandy }

New hot pink pops on black and white dandy damask canvas...available here.

{ Images by me }

{ Have Door - Will Paint }

Does anybody else love brightly painted doors? Or a big black heavy oak door on a crisp white house? I would very much like to have a unique front door but a) we don't really have a front door, as I have described before, and b) who sees our front door? We have absolutley no street cred, our driveway is five kilometres long and is at the end of a dead end dirt road!

Anywho...I still love these doors. So there.

{1. Atelie Gaaya, 2. Found here, 3. Belle Maison }

{ Tuesday's Object of Desire }

Bit late today...but better late than never! These felt placemats from Hart and Heim I think would be great for a funky-fied Aussie Christmas table setting. This year I am all about a simple white Christmas with pops of bold red. Plus, these aren't 'too festive' - the love hearts can be used throughout the rest of the year, and aren't something like snowflakes which is ridiculous in a 40 degree Australian December!

{ Lawn Love }

Speaking of expansive lawn...I love this house, it's window panes and charcoal roof. I most of all love these puppies though - it's like having six of Tessa! She would have so much fun with them all - I'm sure she would be quite amused to see other dogs that look just like her, she usually spends her days playing rough and tumble with Mr M's border collie Lily, kelpie pup Pippa and kelie/collie Buddy - and probably wonders why she doesn't get to go and chase cows all day.

Meanwhile, does anyone have any cures for an incessant barker? Tessa kept us up half the night barking at wombats and foxes last night - I swear we might as well have a baby, she is making me get out of bed every 3-4 hours! Help Dr Harry!

{ You Are My Sunshine }

I have a confession. I am a super cheesy, super dorky girlfriend of a super dorky, super cheesy Mr M. We always sing 'You are my sunshine' to each other. So these lovely finds I am liking at the moment...and because the sun is shining in my corner of the globe today.

{ Top to bottom: Style Me Pretty, unknown, Urban Outfitters, SunnyLIFE, Rockett St George }

{ Etsy Christmas Card Wrap-Up }

Tis the season...for me to start my hunt for the perfect Christmas cards. You might remember I had my heart set on the sage cards - alas I couldn't get them in time as they had to mill more paper. I did some further research into seeded paper but then turned to the trusty etsy and oh boy look what I found! Here is just a selection of my favourites...which ones would you choose? All of them? Me too!

{ Top row: ErinRuth and studioflowerpower - 2nd row: dippylulu and siskastudio - 3rd row: luckybeepress and loveliette - Bottom row: rachelink and thepaperpeony }

But what did I finally decide on? These letterpress beauties from rubypress - and because I still couldn't decide I got 8 of the Joy cards and 8 of the Noel cards. Last year I did a photo with our four dogs and us on the motorbike with a whole spiel about the year of 2008 at our new home Ythanbrae. But this year I am keeping it simple.

And this beauty is the one Mr M wanted...and I almost agreed with him. Almost. There are enough cattle/farming references in our lives thank-you very much.

{ Above from greenporchlights }

{ Tuesday's Object of Desire }

You may have seen this floating around blogland lately - so it's not the most original Tuesday's Object of Desire I'm sorry, but I loved this idea of broken pieces of crockery doubling as pieces of jewellery. I have quite a fondness for blue and white china {who doesn't?} and have been thinking about displaying some on my kitchen walls, but am afraid my walls are becoming too busy and cluttered for such a tiny space. So, to alleviate my yearning for some willow print I might as well wear some around my neck!

All pieces are from Yarborough - they have earrings, rings and cufflinks as well.

{ Mmmminky! }

FINALLY - new minky blankets are up and for sale in my etsy shop . They are bright, and cuddly and perfect gifts for newborns, baby showers or stockings stuffers for little bubbas with too many toys. No more baby pink and pastel blues either! Hurrah!

New designs will be coming soon - this is just the beginning of what I have coming up to Christmas. So many colours, so many patterns, oh my! Am trying to do some unisex colour schemes so you can buy the blankets prior to baby's arrival, especially for friends that might not know the sex of the baby even if the expecting parents do.

{ Images by me }

{ Market Flower Find }

I wasn't much in the mood for jam on Saturday at the market - far too hot in this November heat wave for the thought of toast or scones. I did however find this cute little flowering pot of magenta, for $4 - bargain! I honestly have no idea what it is though - can anyone help???

Oh and P.S.  - you get a quick glimpse of our lovely expansive lawn, freshly mown by the lovely Mr M on the weekend ;)

{ Images by me }

{ Happy Friday }

Have a splendid weekend. What are your plans? I am planning to go to the little market in Yea tomorrow morning. It is new and improved apparently, new location and new stall holders so we shall see how that goes. I hope well, for a little community a market seems essential. It is now held at the old railway station which is a beauitful building and it looks like it's going to be nice spring weather. Perhaps I will find a cute pot of jam like this?

Then I plan to help Mr M with some cattle work {we are very busy at the moment at Ythanbrae coming up to embryo transplant time}, give the cottage a once over with my magic cleaning wand {pffft I wish} and I may even have a furniture transformation in store for you next week. Stay tuned!

{ Image by Marina Oliphant and styled by Caroline Velik }

{ Mirror Mirror }

Hey I know that mirror...I believe it is propped up on my mantlepiece right now. And before that it was leaning on my bedroom wall. I wonder where else it will pop up? Holly from decor8 seems to be a fan, and I love how it was used in this Martha Stewart apartment makeover to make the room appear larger and the ceilings higher.

{ Top image found here, bottom image found here }