Moleskine & 5 things

Newsflash! I got a moleskine sketch book! I wondered if these little journals would live up to all the hoo-ha surrounding them, so I decided to lash out (really, it was lash out, these little buggers are expensive) and buy myself one.
It came in the mail last week (which is how I'm buying everything these days- through mail order) and I was really excited to get it. I can definitely say that it really has lived up to all expectations. The quality of the paper is great, and I love the rounded corners. I am also a fan of drawing & painting on smooth surfaces so the paper is perfect for me. Plus I LOVE how the pages open up flat so you can draw over both pages, and even have detail in the centre of the book.
Wow, what an advertisement!

Now, I've been tagged again! Thanks Lara!

Here's the rules:
1. someone tags you,
2. you post five things about yourself that you haven’t already mentioned on your blog,
3. you tag people you’d like to know more about.

So, here goes...

1. Vegemite. I'm one of those people that likes a smidge of it on my toast. This is spurred from the conversation I heard on triple j the other week about the "nine dots" rule. Apparently there is a whole following of people out there that adhere to nine dots of vegemite. Strange. I don't do nine dots but I do put it on in a precise manner.

2. The fingernail on my third finger on my left hand had been flattened on the side from years and years of writing & drawing. Does anyone else have this?

3. I like the funny weird feeling you get when you're walking down stairs and you think there's another one but there isn't.

4. When I was a kid I thought adults were stupid because they had the option to eat sweets and lollies for each meal everyday but they didn't. I also came to the conclusion that the food in the cupboards must've been free as we weren't allowed to get lunch orders because we "couldn't afford it" so we had to take stuff from home. Kind of smart in a dumb kind of way! (Yes?)

5. I don't believe in astrology. Mainly for the fact that I'm supposed to be a gemini which means that I am supposed to be loud and outgoing and always wanting to be the centre of attention. That couldn't be further from the truth. I can be loud when I'm around people I know well though & I'm not as quiet as I used to be. I was a painfully shy kid. Sometimes people tell me they thought I was a snob before they got to know me. At least they found out I'm not!

Who can I tag? Tiel from tsk tsk, that's who!

Now for some some linky love in this post:
I found another crafter working from Melbourne and it's Leslie from onegirldesignwrks. Her designs and crafty items are calming and beautiful. Love the sweet toys.
I did find another aussie blog in my net surfing a few weeks back and really wanted to add it to my list, but do you think I can remember it? I should've added it to my bookmarks. I did leave a comment on her blog saying that I wanted to add her, and from memory I think she had an etsy shop too. She also said she was a lurker and reads blogs but hardly ever comments on them. Do you know who I'm talking about?

New items in the shop

I just added the "You're awesome" gocco print into the shop. The first handful came out really well so I'll only be selling a small selection of these. I'll be keeping a good one for myself too as it's quite special to me now being my first gocco print.

I've got a new print in the shop now too. Everyone is loving birds at the moment- including me! Have a look at the listing if you'd like to know the details on this piece.

I've also got a new bag design in there called "Horsin' around." The bag and purse are sold separately. Check out the mummy, daddy and baby horse! Ahhhhh.. so sweet!

Gocco fun with Dad

The finished print and the process! I am no longer a gocco virgin! Dad is on holidays and he came up for a couple of days for ping pong, darts and gocco madness.
So I put him to work. Dad's good at mixing colours- he's a printer by trade so he's well experienced with all this kind of stuff. Lucky him got the messy job! See I had the manual all set out in front of me making sure we knew exactly what to do. I always like to read a manual a few times so I really know what I'm doing. I'm a manual studying freak.
Get back to work!!
Here goes nothing...
Woohoo! It was so exciting to see the print worked. It was also interesting to see the problems we had and the things I'd do differently for my next design. Our colours ended up bleeding into each other where I couldn't put the ink blockout stuff. (For anyone that's familiar with gocco printing.)
Here they are drying in the racks. I am glad I finally got to use this little contraption.. I kept waking up all night thinking of what I'm going to do with it next.. now that I am more familiar with the whole process. We had a great time. Dad loves printing and all that sort of stuff so it was fun for the whole family. Thanks for your help Dad!

When I woke thismorning I had TWO packages in the mail- oh joy! I love mail! Especially when it's from people like Apak and Ashley G. It was nice to see Apak's gocco prints close-up since I've just done my own... and Ashley's buttons are to die for.
'Til next time...

Illustration Friday: Buzz Buzz

There was a time when I kept up with regular Illustration Friday topics, but not recently. I have however done this weeks, yay! This was a pen drawing which was scanned into corel paint and then coloured digitally. I have 11 days left on my trial version of this program and still am unsure of purchasing it. Nothing beats real paint and I'm still a bit vague on how to customise the brushes. I could spend more time.. but who has that? Does anyone have some spare time they could give me? :P

On the front page..

..of etsy today! What an honour!
I've got some other things to post about soon so I'll do that in the next couple of days. I have an urgent job to do today so I've got to run. Just to pretty up this post here's a pic of a new fawn in the shop.