Jikana Damaru

Fern's Nursery

When I bought my current home, sure I was looking for a garage; an ensuite; decent-sized pot drawers... but in my heart I was looking for somewhere to feather my nest. Almost immediately, I selected the room that would one day be our baby's... but it would be almost two years before my wish became a reality.

Once I did fall pregnant and found out it was a little girl (I simply couldn't wait to know) I went into that room almost for the first time and dared to dream of how I would turn this empty forlorn space into a beautiful nursery.

Throughout my pregnancy, I spent hours inside that room; rocking in the chair I would one day use to feed my baby; folding and refolding tiny outfits; hanging pictures on walls; trying to imagine who she was, this little girl growing inside of me. Sometimes I would come home from work and head for that room only to find my husband had beat me to it; sitting whimsically within that rocking chair with his own thoughts and dreams for our baby's future. Though he largely leaves the home decorating to me, he often came home with a gorgeous baby journal,a Peter Rabbit box-set, a brightly-coloured bib... I loved that he was as excited as I was and wanting to share preparing a special space for our baby.

Now that she is here with us Fern's nursery is an evolving work-in-progress, and I look forward to the day she can add to it her own stamp and personality... until then she is stuck with ours!

Here's a peek of what the nursery looks like this week:

The entrance to the nursery - I painted wooden letters found at Lincraft, and dreamcatcher purchased from Etsy

Bookcase from Ikea (does anyone not own this bookcase), vintage cane rocker from my own childhood

I 'borrowed' this design from something I saw in Real Living mag a while back... my mother in law painted it one afternoon while I sat with my bulbous feet in the air directing from the sidelines...

Cane rocker from Ikea, vintage dresser, giraffe cushion from Dwell Studio

More photos of Fern's nursery can be viewed here.

Her nursery was also featured on Spearmint Baby and Kenzie Poo.

Rice DK Autumn/Winter 2009

The Rice DK Autumn/Winter 2009 catalogue is now up on their website and is full of beautiful images like those above. Danish designer house Rice DK "specializes in fair trade homewares with a great strong design and social ethic. Rice is fair trade certified to SA8000 and works closely with the communities that produce and manufacture its products."

I just love the fabric picture frames on the pink fridge and I so want to get their pale pink rolling pin in the last pic to match my kitchen baking utensils.

Available in the UK from Nettle Green.

~ Blissful Photography ~

Last week I took the girls to get some professional photo's taken and I have just received a sneak peak of a few of the photos.

I am so excited as they are just devine.

I can't wait to see more and I can't believe how adorable my girls look.

If you are looking for a great photographer look no further than Chantelle Bliss from Forever Bliss Photography. Website here and blog here. Could not recommend her more highly. Enjoy!

Vintage Pink

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you a vintage pink, with a touch of gold, colour palette, with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

I love the colour and texture of the yarn against the gold lettering in Bubblegum Tweed Recycled Re-spun by Flutter by Fibres.
The gorgeous wallpaper in pretty in pink and blue at gcb by It's a chimmy simmy world
The adorable felt cookies in Crafting 365, day 173 - pink teacups by Bugsandfishes by Lupin
The beautiful texture in A . P L A C E by Miss K.B

Divinely Heavenly!!!

This is what I bought at the Magnolia Square Fair yesterday ..... you didn't think I would leave empty handed did you??

For Louise I got this gorgeous Heavenly Creatures tunic top in blue as I am constantly on the lookout for pretty girly things that aren't always pink. I love the detail in the pocket and she looks great in it.

For me I splurged with a brownie cupcake (lucky I went to the gym before) from the one and only Crabapple cupcake bakery and a gift card from Pip&maude (gift card collecting - another fetish). Her stock was simply special - This owl was my favourite but she had so many different cute little animals. I'm surprised I only came back with these two things as so many of the stalls had such beautiful items. My Poppet which is just in Glenhuntly Road - (for the locals) was a real find, i wonder why I have not stumbled on this store before. Cintia specialises in mixing vintage and new fabrics and turning them into wonderful items for children. Her shop offers an wonderful array of independent and australian made labels. I will be stopping in the first chance I get.
Well if you know my little family - you would know that cycling and everything there is to do with cycling is a large part of it (Not that I have any choice in the matter). So of course I was really excited to see the range at Jambolli - a balance bike for Lou is definitely at the top of our wish list once she is old enough to use one. These ones were the best i have seen by far and to be handcrafted in Oz makes them even better.

I would like to give a quick thank you to the hubby for having Lou the whole day on his day off from work so I could wander around the market pram free and it also gave me the time to pop into a few shops to chat about my hair clips too - so not all play.

Finally, I also wanted to thank the amazing Claire for helping me out with my new display cards for the lulufroufrou hair clips. With a gorgeous little bubs of her own, not to mention working as well she still found the time to help me out with the design and get them all ready for the printers. Thank you love they are wonderful!! What do you think.....?

~ House Update - Front Door ~

We have a front door! Hooray the house is now officially locked up. We are suitably impressed with our lovely door and it's big handle. We can't wait to welcome many a guest through this lovely door in the coming years.

Etsy...

If you have not yet disappeared into the cyber black-hole that is Etsy, do yourself a favour and check it out. Or don't. Because once you go there, it can be very dangerous...

Etsy is, for the artist, the ultimate stage in which to launch, display and sell your creative wares all over the world. It is also a meeting place and forum to share ideas, collaborate on projects and meet similar minded individuals.

For the consumer, Etsy is online shopping at its most addictive. Everything on the site is handmade or vintage, making your endless (and at times fruitless) search for the perfect original gift one click away! Best of all, your search is made easy by the advanced categorisation of products -- need a red cushion for the couch? Type in 'red cushion' and over 1000 results come up in about three seconds flat! In fact, I am yet to find a category that does not exist on Etsy.

Etsy pricing is listed in $US so you are at the mercy of the exchange rate, but most items are very reasonably priced even once you have done the conversion.

I can (and do) spend hours trawling through this site. After I found out I was pregnant and was having a little girl, I went a little Etsy mad. At first I tried to source things locally, but found it difficult to find anything for the nursery that was original and not in every chain of baby stores. Amongst my favorite purchases for Fern's room include:

This print (though it's hanging in my living room now):