My blog goal for the next month or two is to share something arty each week – art that I’m working on, art that inspires me, art that I would one day like to own. Being able to fill my house with art when I moved out of home was definitely one of the things I was really looking forward to. If the art gallery is one of my favourite places, why not make my home a gallery?

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Printstagram and ordered a set of mini prints. Last Friday they arrived!

Printstagram connects to your Instagram feed and let’s you print out your favourite photos. The Mini Prints set includes 48 photos (or less if you want doubles) – $12 to print and $12 to ship. They are business card size and the card feels really nice in your hand. I think they’re wonderful.

I mainly use Camera+ for iPhone photos these days, so I went through some old photos and instagrammed them before I jumped online. I’d love to do a set of these with photos from our wedding or honeymoon – it’s really lovely to have something tangible to hold in your hand or stick in your diary.

I first saw printed Instas on A Beautiful Mess, and when PostalPix starts shipping to Australia, I want to get some 4″x4″ squares printed. Apparently you can also print to magnets – using sites such as Pinhole Press or StickyGram (who offers free shipping!). And have you heard of Stitchagram? Instas onto cushion covers – they’d make a very special gift.

Free your photos, I say. An iPhone gallery is no place for these special moments to stay.

It’s perfect for our recipe list, little love notes and a sketch of our favourite place to be. Now to find a wonderful frame like Ros did!

So last week I gave myself a little kick in the bottom (metaphorically) and made a mental list of why I am grateful for my job. It took me a moment to get started, but then I couldn’t stop.

If someone asked me what I’d like to be doing five year out of uni, I would have said something like, “Oh, perhaps something overseas, somewhere in Asia or Africa, or working with refugees, or maybe in the HIV/AIDS sector, but I’d love to be able to write and be creative, but also work with and support people, to learn about culture, be using those community development theories I studied, but also getting management skills, evaluation skills, training skills etc. etc.“

The crazy thing I realised is that, just one year out of uni, I have a job that combines everything I’ve listed and more. Sure, I’m not overseas, but here I am in my beloved Brisbane, working with people and communities from various nations (my team alone speaks over 20 languages between them).

I have a job that is so perfect for me right now that it’s kind of unbelievable. Yes, there are challenges, but I am learning so much and really am so grateful for this opportunity.

Plus I get to sit across from CONDOMAN, and who doesn’t love a superhero office buddy?!

But back to the wedding cake… I thought a cupcake each might be a sweet treat at the wedding (in case we needed any extra sugar!). I saw hundreds of cake toppers on wedding blogs, but it wasn’t until I saw a pair of little lego people that I knew what we should have.

I painted Lego Man Will to match real man groom, right down to the blue tie and yellow Billy Button button hole. As for Lego Woman Laura, I had no idea how to make a lego wedding dress, until I found a semi-dried up bottle of pearly fabric paint that was sticky enough to stick together (and to lego lady), but dried out enough to be moulded into a rough replica of my dress. Oh and the bouquet is a peachy earring I had sitting in my jewelry box.

As for hair, well I had no idea how to replicate my wedding hair on a teeny tiny lego person – so bare heads it was!

And now for the hilarious kicker, we completely forgot about the cupcakes at the wedding reception, despite the fact they were sitting right in front of us! Ooops I hope someone got to nibble on them when everything was packed up!

It’s quirky and fun and about 4 times more than we’d want to spend on a lamp.

From Hart and Heim

Then we did some sleuthing and found out that it’s actually a replica of this, a life size horse lamp from Moooi. Which is even quirkier and at least 100 times our price range (i.e. $5500!!).

So instead, we opted for a rabbit. He’s not a lamp but he’s just as sweet. Though apparently he’s been scaring a few of our male guests lately!

P.S. – Notice our bookshelf? I have a new theory that 99% of book covers are either blue, white or orangey red. Or black. But one day, we’ll own enough books to do this!

If you want a great personalised stamp but don’t have a father-in-law quite as talented as mine, head to Etsy. I found this little shop months ago and was seriously considering placing an order just before I received our special W+L stamp.

And lastly, let’s bring back hand-written (and hand-stamped!) mail. Isn’t it the best?

Our vase of supermarket sunflowers lasted all week, and we’ve had lemons sitting on the table for ages. The tablecloth is a beautiful tais I bought when I was in East Timor, but never knew where I’d be able to use it. And the mosaic fruit bowl was a 21st gift from a girlfriend and one of my favourite things in our house!

But enough of getting inspired and seeing great ideas, right? Time to get my hands dirty!

I started with this pom pom cowl scarf, from The Purl Bee. I bought my supplies at Spotlight before I read the tutorial, so in hindsight, I should have bought a slightly longer piece of fabric, and a fabric that was a little more lightweight. But it all worked out well in the end!

Simple! Cut fabric into a long rectangle, pin pom pom trim down the long sides, sew on trim, sew short sides together and voila! Nothing like a bit of colour and pom-pom to brighten up a simple outfit.