Eat Drink Chic

So I only stumbled upon UNELEFANTE very recently and had to make note of it on le blog. I am completely in love with their art-inspired chocolate bars made in collaboration with Chef Jorge Llanderal. They also have a wonderful collection of other colourful Mexican made goodies to check out.

The chocolate bars would make such great treats for an art-themed party, doncha think? 

{ photos from UNELEFANTE website }

Just a random jumble of happy snaps to kick off the new year...

Organised Chaos- the state halfway between a complete mess and perfect order- is an acceptable place to reside... 

My 92 year old grandmother unexpectedly attended our Christmas family do. Still a twinkle in her eye...

Prep for a holiday 'Oh Happy Day' project shoot...

A rug for the wishlist. From Weylandts...

Christmas decorations for a family do at ours...

Organised Chaos...

A much needed post Xmas-day nap...

Tasty meal at the Weylandts Kitchen...

Organised Chaos...

Organised Chaos...

Our living room- still a work in progress...

Another event (Xmas) brings forth yet another Sundae Bar. Naturally...

Organised chaos. (Yes, I have a lot of stuff)...

Happy New Year! x

T2 have got me, yet again, with the swoon-worthy packaging for their latest collection "Curious".  This collection is packed with all things shiny and I LOVE how they've incorporated the recent irridescent trend in their loose leaf tea boxes.

How ace are these mega-shiny cannisters?!

Would make such pretty gifts for the upcoming holidays! *swoon*

So, it's occurred to me that I've never actually designed a Halloween freebie before. I guess it's because we rarely celebrate this holiday down here in Australia... When we moved from our inner-city apartment to our house in the 'burbs, a couple of years ago, we expected a sudden surge in trick-or-treaters knocking at our door but there have been absolutely ZILCH the entire time we've lived here! :(

Having said that, I think it's a pretty awesome holiday so this year I've designed (kinda last minute, I know) these candy bag toppers. I've abandoned the traditional orange and black with this project. Yep, it's pink and red again (I know, I know. Promise to give up on this colour scheme soon. I think). Warning: Lots of Happy Lab candy was devoured in the making of this project! :)

CONTINUE for instructions and to download your freebie!

Really loving this beautiful and oh-so-clever modular tableware. 

By Earnest Studio and Dana Cannam Design.

P.S. Make sure to watch the video to see it in action!

{ photos All of a Piece website }

Isn't this awesome? A silicone mould that creates a 2.5" slow-melting ice ball. So elegant! You can also create them in different colours to accompany your various drinks. Comes in a pack of 2. Grab it here!

I don't know about you but I'm not a huge fan of occasions overflowing with too much elegance and formality. My ideal party consists of mixing sophisticated elements with a whole lot of colour and whimsy... 

brass trivet | DIY surprise ball | tea glass | sparklers | DIY escort card | trolley bar | cocktail stirrers | decanters | crystal sticks

No doubt you've noticed the current trend of geometric shapes, pastel hues and gold accents...

Here are a couple of my favourites in this area:

These coasters by Rissa Sandman...

...and this unique wedding styling concept on 100 Layer Cake with Concept and Art direction by Indie Wed and Photography by Amanda Megan Miller Photography  (see post for full list of credits and pics)... so beautiful!

You've probably already deduced that my inspiration for this Party Mix is The Great Gatsby. I only just saw the movie recently and so my thoughts are flush with lavish and decadent soirees dripping with gilded decor, art deco motifs and free flowing confetti and cocktails...

balloon | card | pinata | tag | dress | cushion | stopper | champagne bucket | book | iphone | table

Here's a mid-week dose of colour and sparkle for you. Festive items that will brighten up your homes, your parties and your pretty selves! 

one | two | three

four | five | six | seven | eight

Thought sharing this might be a festive way to kick-off the week! Pretty wooden bunting by Cubbylove. Such a cute name too, doncha think?

See all their other colourful goodies in their shop.

{ photos from Cubbylove website }

I'm always on the lookout these days for interesting vessels for flowers or plants, so it was such a thrill to find this in my inbox! So many beautiful modern vases from Chive. Can you pick a favourite? I've found myself drawn to the wall dots - lots of pretty colours to choose from!

shoes | escort card | star dominoes | shades | tumbler | girl's dress | postcard | paperweight | vase

Don't these images put you in a party mood?

Top left: Loving these fashion editorial pics for the latest issue of Rue Magazine. (Photography by Lara Rossignol. Fashion styling by Kate Riney for Aim Artists. Props created and styled by Jess Hammer.)

Top right: The most adorable photo of a dog I have ever seen! ( via Creature Comforts )

Bottom left: Bonbon Balloons- these are simply awesome.

Bottom right: Neon fabric bonbons by Wholehearted Studio- A lovely blog, by the way.

For our Australia Day BBQ back in Jan, I put together this little Ice-Cream Sundae bar. (Yes, I am obsessed with Sundae bars.) It is now a permanent fixture in our home.

It may appear to be intended for small children but no, it, in fact, catered for full-grown adults. All of the objects I've used to style it are part of my own collection because, basically, I am a large child. This table design is totally a manifestion of my colourful, eclectic and exceedingly infantile mind. 

And yes, perhaps including a pic of Audrey Hepburn these days is a tad cliché, but I don't care, she's awesome. (It was a toss up between her and Audrey Tautou.)

Oh and, by the way, if you ever plan to use plastic amber bottle dispensers for your toppings, don't get anything too thick- it will be a massive fail :(

I'm so in love with my test tube rack of colourful sprinkles! (I've re-used some old Happy Lab tubes.)

Confetti sprinkles are the bomb.

Happy Easter/Passover weekend everybody! :)

Things are finally starting to come together in our home, which I've been slowly and (sometimes) painfully working on for almost 2 years now. I love surrounding myself with lots of colour, texture, graphic and typographical items and my various collections of treasured objects- things that will constantly stimulate and inspire me.

The above photo is of my current workspace which is actually our dining room! It has become a weird hybrid of both work clutter and entertaining bits n' pieces. However, I have tidied the table specifically for these photos! Usually it is covered in a mass of paper bits, craft tools, props, breakfast leftovers and other random remnants of my project work. I'm currently hunting for some yellow industrial pendant lights to hang above the table. 

The 'Sugar' artwork is something I created in an effort to emulate this gorgeous piece from Dough Pizza in Perth. I ended up using coffee staining to create the textured background. I've used Gelato Script font for the lettering. Because the word was so big I had to print out the lettering over multiple A4 sheets, cut them out and stick them together in order to create a template. I then traced around the template onto the canvas and used hot pink acrylic paint to colour it in. It took some time but was a fun project to do.

We are currently preparing for our annual Australia Day BBQ and, in typical Amy fashion, I am going all out with the details. I'm thrilled to finally get to use my drink dispenser for my homemade lemonade with orange blossom water.

We bought this beautiful outdoor table almost a year ago and have never used it! I'm also looking forward to finally breaking it in this Saturday. Should be a lot of fun dressing it up!

{ photos by Amy Moss }

If you're anything like me, you've left all your holiday gifts and projects to the very last minute so for those in the same boat, here's a last minute freebie for you! 

A set of mini patterned bonbons in pretty colours which can be filled with candy and used as small holiday gifts or as festive table-setting favours. You may even choose to simply use them as decorations.

Read on to download your freebies and for instructions on how to construct your bonbons!

The weekend is almost upon us and the first project for me to tackle is catching up on some much-needed sleep! I've recently found myself trapped in a ridiculous little ritual. Each morning at some dark, god-forsaken hour, I wake to an onslaught of thoughts and project ideas for this blog and for our home.... It then takes me hours to get back to sleep.

Speaking of ideas, I recently came up with this cute and simple little DIY project... 

Believe me, nobody hates the idea of hacking up magazines more than I do but there is so much seriously beautiful photography going on in cooking mags these days (the rustic textures, the vibrant colours, the scrummy styling...) that I thought it would be great to turn fragments of these images into gift tags. Or, perhaps more fittingly, tags to attach to cutlery for table-setting decorations. 

Cut out some visually interesting segments from your magazine (in a uniform size), then stick them onto thick kraft card and cut to size. Punch a hole at the top and attach some twine. Voila.

I find the best mags are the ones that use thick, rough-textured, matte stock. Jamie Magazine is a great example.

Of course, If you're super lazy like me and don't mind spending a little extra money on the project, you can cheat and get these awesome heavy-weight kraft tags and just stick the magazine cuttings directly onto them.

Oh, and if you really hate the idea of hacking up your mag, just buy a second copy to keep!

There's a weekend project for ya.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Apart from catching up on sleep and tackling some decorating projects I'm also intent on spending some quality time with Sukie in our (newly tidied up) backyard. She has a new toy that has actually survived an entire week. It's still fully intact and functioning. We're so proud. 

Happy Friday! xo

{ photos by Amy Moss }

As promised, here it is, another "Bon Appetit" cutlery tag free download. Brighten up your table-setting with this summery floral pattern!

Continue to download your freebie!

So I promised you another 'Bon Appetit' cutlery tag freebie. However, I'm still awaiting those props I ordered. {Sigh}. Crossing my fingers and toes in the hope that they'll arrive next week. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd play around with watercolour paints...

These are just a bit of fun and super-easy to do. Using thick watercolour paper (not exceeding 280gsm) I've cut out tag shapes with a craft punch then basically just messed around to see what kinds of pretty and striking colour effects I can make with watercolour paints, (e.g, gradients, colour-blocking, etc.)  Nothing fancy, just keeping it simple. I've then used some mini alphabet stamps and coloured inks, to print some messages on them. Voila. Easy as pie.

You can use them to decorate gifts or to add a splash of colour to a table-setting!

Happy Friday! xo

{ images by Amy Moss }