Romance Rewound - Steampunk Jewellery

September 22, 2012/ Chloe

I have to admit, last weekend was pretty fun. I've been volunteering at The Cuckoo's Nest - an ethical boutique in Dunedin that sells vintage, fairtrade and handmade clothing and accessories - and last weekend I helped Susan (one of the owners) at a craft market.

We were selling Romance Rewound, Susan and Annika's jewellery line. They create beautiful one of a kind pieces out of vintage clockwork (they even give each piece it's own unique name)! The pieces are sourced from Eastern Europe; they have a contact in the Ukraine who travels around finding broken old watches and watch parts. There's so much history in them!

My favourite thing about Romance Rewound is how intricate each little piece of jewellery is - each time I looked at one I noticed something new about it that I hadn't noticed before.

Here are some photos of the weekend::

Precious Lady Necklace // Jewel of Juliet Necklace

Have a good weekend!

Flowers & Art for a Rainy Day

September 11, 2012/ Chloe

Today it's snowing, hailing, and raining. It's supposed to be Spring, but clearly Dunedin misplaced that memo. I had a feeling last week that this nice weather was too good to last!

Weather like this makes me a little bit more lazy restful, and so I've been spending a bit of time on Pinterest. This site is a major guilty pleasure of mine. There's just so many lovely things to look at! So while I was browsing one of my favourite boards All Things Floral I was reminded of this art series that I pinned a while back called Exploded Flowers, by artist Qi Wei. They're just so beautiful, I had to share.

"Flowers are indeed one of the most beautiful and complex structures found in nature, specifically designed to achieve the purpose of reproduction."

"The act of disassembly... lays bare the various shapes and textures of the flowers, and what is interesting to me is how much more expanded some flowers can get when they are disassembled – the relative surface area to size of a rose is so much greater compared to a larger flower like the sunflower."

"As a medium that captures a moment in time – which was made clear when I noticed dried gerbera petals after only a single night – the use of photography captures the beauty and intricacies of nature’s flowers in the moment of full bloom, and at the same time let you have a different appreciation of their beauty"

Lovely, right?

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? Leave me your link in the comments so I can check out your boards!

New Season - New Plans

September 07, 2012/ Chloe

Do More Be More print from JSGD

The start of a new season is a great time for goal-setting and planning. Personally, I only get this urge around the start of Spring (Winter just makes me want to sleep more).

I made a list a few days ago called 24 before 24, which is essentially 24 things I want to get done before my next birthday. It has a variety of goals, from large (pay off $5,000 of my student loan) to small (bake an apple pie); work-orientated goals (have a stall at a craft market) and home-focused ones (start a small herb garden). It is just a list of things that would be cool to do, and that way when I turn 24 I can look back and see what I've accomplished and experienced in the past year.

I'm a big-time planner. I have a billion to do lists - daily, weekly, monthly as well as itemised to do lists for special projects, which I put in a scheduled timeline format. But I always try to look at the bigger picture - I don't want to get wrapped up in the little details of my to do lists, and forget why I'm trying to do these things.

I draw a lot of inspiration from Jess Lively's Design Your Life series and that's something that I want to work on for this new season. I want to make intentions around my work, health, faith, and relationships. I want to start rising early in the mornings and enjoy the sunshine. I want to push forward with my work, making the most of new opportunities and doing what I can with what I have. I want to spend more time with friends, and laugh more with my husband.

For me it's important to pair these bigger intentions with my to do list. Life isn't about crossing things off a list and I want to take more note of that. If a day comes where I don't cross a single thing off my to do list, but I've sat in the sunshine, said yes to something new, and held hands with my husband, then to me that's a day well-spent.

Birthday Girl

September 03, 2012/ Chloe

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend.

Yesterday was my birthday (I turned 23, in case you were curious) and I had a nice relaxing day. I kept it pretty low key this year. In the morning I woke up to a lovely surprise from my friend Shahirah! She's so sweet - her birthday is a few days after mine so we're Virgo Birthday Buddies. I spent the day chilling out with my husband - we went out for brunch, walked around town for a bit, talked, and spent some quality time together. In the evening I caught up with a friend for a slice of birthday cake. I spent most of the day on a sugar high, as you'll see from the photos!

My husband borrowed my friend Amina's DSLR, so he documented the whole day for me. On a side note, apparently I am a terrible model: "Chloe, can you stop moving? Stay still for 5 seconds. Turn to your left. No, that's your right, Chloe." Ha!

Anyway, here's some photos of my day:

That my friends, is Jaffa Pancakes. Pancakes with orange and chocolate sauce, fruit, and chopped Jaffas on top. That's a lot of sugar, and it was also a super happy way to start my day! My husband went for his standard favourite breakfast - Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon.

// Scarf: a gift // Dress: Dotti // Cardigan: Glassons // Bracelet: Handmade by me (details to follow) // Jeans: Jeans West // Shoes: Kmart //

To celebrate the start of Spring (which is my favourite season) I bought a bunch of daffodils (my favourite flower!). Daffodils always make me smile. And after a whole winter of dark colours, it was nice to dress up in something colourful and light. I'm definitely looking forward to the warmer weather!

The bracelet is handmade by me. They're hand-beaded, stitched onto satin ribbon, with a felt backing. I'll be opening up an Etsy shop soon, where I'll be selling these in a range of colours, plus a few other designs as well. I'll keep you all updated!