Harry's Room

Over the weekend I spent some time sorting through a few things in Harry's bedroom. Wow, don't they collect a lot of things! I thought I was the hoarder in our family but it seems I may have bred another little one!! Harry seems to love collecting things...just like his mother!! He has snow domes which Brad & I always buy him when we go away to a new place, he has rocket ships, he has cars but I think one of his prized possessions is the photo of he and his father on a dirt bike which was taken down at our friends farm last year. After the clean through the room looked lovely again and I thought I'd take some photos to show you his little abode. I had the wardrobe custom built for him by my very talented cabinet maker when we moved into the house last year and his Antique bed and painting above the armchair were special things I purchased for him when he was a baby. I will pass on these two very special pieces to him when he has his own home one day...hopefully he will cherish them forever.

Blue & White Plate Collection

You all know how much I love Blue & White and I know so many of you out there love it too. I was recently excited to find this image of a Blue and White vintage plate collection displayed so beautifully in a kitchen by US designer Darryl Carter.

Kitchen Love...

Hello again! Hope you had a great weekend!!

Another kitchen in my files is this one which Elements of Style posted a while ago from a 2005 issue of House Beautiful. I love those pretty bar stools - so gorgeous and the monkey vase is a quirky piece don't you think??!!

New piece just listed a minute ago!

Check it out before it's snatched up in my shop.

New piece to be listed in my shop tomorrow!

In a never ending attempt to create new and original pieces, my mind is always running wild with ideas but I just never have the time to put those into tangible form. I won't give away too much, but come late summer or fall, I have a couple exciting collaborations with some amazingly talented artists/designers. I am sure you know who they are, but I'll keep it a secret for now. ;)
In preparation for these collaborations and to keep things fresh and innovative, I'll be creating some sneak peak pieces throughout the summer and posting to the public in my shop for all to enjoy and possibly snatch up. Not exactly sure of the official launch, but twigs & honey has been a learning experience from the beginning and by next summer, I'm hoping to have greater organization and more formal collections. Within a few weeks, twigs & honey will also become additionally available through some wonderful boutiques! Exciting! I'll keep you posted.
Here is a glimpse of the new piece to be listed in my shop tomorrow:

A bit of vintage decadence, a touch of modern charm, this piece is completely handmade and not for the faint of heart.

On deck orders :: Updated June 27th

Sorry for the delay in updating this list. It's been a bit wacky with my computer problems this week. Also, this is for orders that have completion dates through July 3rd only. There are some wonderfully patient brides among this list and I want to thank you so much for being so understanding! If your order is a few days behind, I'm hoping to finish within a week. Also, if you are among this list and have a wedding next weekend, you'll be shuffled around to ensure timely delivery! Thank you so much! Here goes!:

Currently on deck:
1. mannad11 (4)
2. mommynbaby (1)
3. kdorsens (1)
4. ClaudiaCamp (1)
5. awhalley (1)
6. tav79 (1)
7. CatNg (1)
8. Yourbrokenheart (1)
9. Nafadesigns (2)
10. abreaz (1)
11. megone (1)
12. lauralim (15)
13. patriciamasci (3)
14. sarahjeichberger (1)
15. weddingbliss09 (3)
16. lunarbonnet (8)
17. midorikoosen (1)
18. lenalevenson (4)
19. Silvia1927 (3)
20. danadaisys (1)
21. cookie01 (1)
22. badle126 (1)
23. Amandita8 (1)
24. mickeysue (1)
25. Rebecca929 (1)
26. Littleleafdesigns (14)
27. missmay12 (7)
28. zeuger (1)
29. jensen53 (1)
30. katiepie (2)
31. kristin1981 (1)
32. cuttlefish (1)
33. valleygirl818 (2)
34. baxterem (12)
35. kelli204 (1)
36. kthomps3 (1)
37. liquin (1)
38. nlew1983 (1)
39. lisandram (1)
40. alaud14 (1)

Boutique Orders on deck:
1. B.B.
2. R&C
3. S.B.

Next to be on deck:
1. mayalikesmonkeys (1)
2. lia567 (5)

Too lovely for words :: Real bride Alice

I have more real bride photos to post, but just thought I'd give you a sneak peak of a gorgeous twigs & honey bride, Alice, all the way in Ireland! Not too long ago, I made her a lovely and whimsical headband that she is wearing in the photo. And take a look at her decadent and gorgeous dress! Oh! Too pretty! Congratulations lovely lady and thank you so much!

A Weekend @ Home

Oh, look at this cool little dude!! I'm off to spend some time with my 5 year old...lots of reading, playing and chatting in store with him this weekend. He's on school holidays and I love nothing more than snuggling up with him on a Saturday morning in our bed with books and toast and a cup of tea!! Hope you have a great weekend too! See you next time!

Image - Delphine Chanet Photographer

Celerie Kemble For Schumacher

Hothouse Flowers

Betwixt Bear Ivory

A little while ago I mentioned I had dinner with Andrew Puschel from Schumacher. At this time he promised to send me a preview of a collection which is due for release in America late August by much publicised U.S. designer Celerie Kemble. Well, Andrew stuck to his promise and recently sent me these images of a couple of the fabrics which will feature in the collection. He also sent me a little blurb as below;

"Celerie's look is based on beautifully refined traditional design with a reinterpreted and updated approach that speaks to a new generation. Her collection for Schumacher combines classic looks with very modern details and geometric patterning, using unexpected metallic finishes, exotic touches such as ikats and embroidery, as well as glamorous moiré, silk and velvet all in a rich and sophisticated color palette of saturated hues and subtle neutrals."

This room above is one of my favourite Celerie Kemble rooms which I believe is in a house in Palm Beach - very classic and timeless.

Charlotte Street Hotel

Loving the pretty blue and white colour scheme chosen for this guest room at Charlotte Street Hotel in London!!

Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me

This one's for Jonathan! It was a toss up between this and MADNESS. Enjoy.

Drop In And Visit

I'd consider moving to Iowa to live in this Victorian beauty. I don't think I can do the 'no fence' thing though. I'd feel too exposed. My library complete with comfy old leather wing chair would reside in that amazing cuppola... aaah I can see me now.....

What A Night

It's been a long time between posts but I guess now I'm in my 40's you can't expect too much. On Saturday I felt fabulous, sprightly, alert and champing at the bit to get to my party. By Sunday afternoon I felt every single second of 40 years. I think I aged about a decade in 24 hours!

After a lovely brunch with the family at Gourmet On Gamon, I headed down to set up the venue. Lanterns were hung, table was set, the very helpful Surfer Boy lugged multiple tables and 20 chairs from our place to the Studio. He then scampered off with the kids to his Mum's and I had the house to myself to glam up.

The caterer arrived, everyone turned up looking fabulous and I had a fantastic night. There was a lot of food, drink, laughs, and some very dodgy but enthusiastic dancing. We wrapped up in the wee small hours and headed home for a few hours shut eye before the clean up began. Poor Surfer Boy, not only did he have to set up, he also had to lug everything home again and on top of forking out the cash for the big night, he didn't score an invite!! Even I think he was majorly ripped off. Might be time to reward the poor bugger!!

Hopefully my 20 wonderful girls also had a good night, because I'm way too old to throw another bash for quite a while. I have paved the way and now I'm looking forward to sitting back and watching everyone else hit 40.

Congrats all around :: Baby and a B-day!

Just a big and belated Happy Birthday to my older sister, Amy, who turned 1 year younger last week and graduated from college! Yipee! She's also tying the knot in February 2009!

Also, congratulations to my sister-in-law, Angie, for welcoming a new bundle of joy this past Monday. Matt and I were in Bend, OR all day for the birth and it was so exciting! Little Cheyenne is a happy and healthy 6lbs 11oz and a hair over 19 inches. Lovely!

On a totally separate note, my laptop finally decided that during the most busy time of the year, it was time to say goodbye and drift off into a long sleep. I suppose I saw the day coming as it put-putted along for the last couple months. R.I.P.
Actually, I am going to try to revive it at the local computer shop later in the week, but no rest for the weary as business calls. Matt and I got a new laptop today so I could get back to my orders. I apologize for not updating the progress post and taking so long to reply to convos. I'm still transferring files over (that I was fortunately able to scrap together off my old laptop right before it died) and installing software, but I hope to catch up soon!

Hampton's Weekender

I seem to be on a little bit of a roll this week with my 'Weekender' posts but here is another gorgeous house located in the Hamptons which I had to share with you. I absolutely love the round mirrored table with the shell chandelier above and the beach baskets below - so pretty! This house is featured in this month's Elle Decor and is by much talked about US based (expat Australian) designer Emma Jane Pilkington. To see more pictures click HERE...

Nappa Valley Weekender

Loving this white timber house in the Nappa Valley as featured in House Beautiful. Apparently the property boasts the original 1940's ranchers cottage (revamped, of course), a big barn house and two tent bungalows! Wow, sounds (and looks) fantastic!!

Straddie

Well it was a lovely weekend at Straddie. The weather was beautiful even though it was cold. We had a great lunch yesterday with our friends and my mum and dad on the back verandah. I thought I'd share some new photos of the house with you. Please email me anna@blackandspiro.com.au if you are interested in renting the house for a holiday and I can send you some information.

I like Target

There... I admitted it. ;)
Where else can you go to get your lazy summer days wardrobe for $30? My weekend splurge while I was out getting a few random biz supplies. A ruffled tank, the perfect length black leggings, and a total "artist's" oversized tissue tee. Love it. The cute birds are housewarming gifts from the sweet Tiffany and the jar is our wedding unity sand. Sweet everything. The birds are sitting there temporarily until I install my new shelf. Thank you Tiffany!

Featured :: Kim Hayes Photography

The wonderfully gifted, Kim Hayes of Kim Hayes Photography, has done a beautiful post on her blog featuring twigs & honey pieces! A little while ago, I worked with Eve, a sweet and gorgeous bride-to-be and recently featured a couple of her photos on the official twigs & honey website. I thought the photos were beautiful and so vibrant. I was so happy to get a note from her photographer, Kim, pointing me to her blog where I could view more stunning photos from the shoot. Thank you so much Kim and Eve for the support and beautiful work you two!

Photo credits: Kim Hayes Photography

Featured :: Web Gems

The very sweet Melissa over at Web Gems blog is having a week of wedding related items available through the web. This is such a handy dandy site and helps cut down the time needed for hunting and surfing the web. Twigs & honey is being featured today! Thank you Melissa!

Boutonnieres featured! :: Handcrafted: The Cure for the Common Wedding

Just a big thank you to Lynn from Handcrafted : The cure for the common wedding blog for the lovely post about twigs & honey! You must visit her blog if you are planning a wedding. There are oodles of lovely ideas and tips. I'm so excited to know about her blog! I can add to the blogs I visit daily that are about weddings. hahaha! Sometimes, I just can't let go of somethings. *wink* Thank you, Lynn!!!

Happy Weekend!!

I'm so glad this week is nearly over...it's been very full on!! I'm off to Straddie this afternoon for a few days with my boys and we have some friends coming over tomorrow with their two gorgeous boys. I'm having a big lunch at the house on Sunday which will be lovely as we've just had our Straddie house painted (white of course) and it's all looking really pretty. I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to having lots of great posts for you all next week!! xx Anna

Image - Delphine Chanet Photographer

Tackling the ribbon pile :: Organized!

I finally organized my ribbons.

A few months ago, before we moved, Matt and I purchased "Alex" from Ikea.

I loved it and it was a splurge, but I really needed it. Fast forward to our new place, and Matt finally built it over this past weekend and I filled it up already with all sorts of supplies. I was quite pleased with my ribbon drawer. The sad part though is that is just a fraction of all of it! The rest is on spools in my cabinets. I am not as proud of the drawer of feathers, but that's a whole other story.

Photo credits for Alex: Ikea

New York Metro

I was thrilled to be informed by a few of my New York readers about a little article New York Metro Newspaper did on me yesterday in their Blogarithms section. Wow, how exciting! Thanks for letting me know and thanks New York Metro for the mention!!

Got a few extra minutes? :: Pandora Radio

I think I probably just crawled out from under a rock, but I just discovered Pandora Radio.

I was needing to get into a rhythm with building pieces and thought that some music would help. I googled "free radio" and after navigating through some more complex sites, I stumbled onto Pandora. Don't ask why, but I was in the mood for 80s alternative... the funkier, the better. When you go to Pandora, it asks you to type in an artist (other options too) and I typed Depeche Mode and poof! It built my own continuous play customized radio station for me to listen to, with everything in the same genre as Depeche Mode! No commercials! Seriously! So far, it is free and I am sure there has to be a catch because this is just way too cool. Try it out for yourself. Probably on your home and not work computer. ;) You'll be surprised. I promise. I am sure I'm the last to discover it as I've been a hermit, but hey, I know about it now.

Kitchen Love...

Some more kitchens to add to the Kitchen Love files above! I love the pretty celadon green and white china collection in the cabinets in the first image and the little vintage painting leaning against the splash back and I also love the little bench seat breakfast nook in the last image - so gorgeous!!

Image 1 - Ellen McDermott via Desire to Inspire

Image 2 - via Atticmag

Image 3 - via Domino

P.S. I Love You

Another great movie I recently saw was P.S. I Love You starring Hillary Swank & Gerard Butler. I absolutely adored their small yet gorgeous New York apartment. I always love to see the houses and apartments used in movies and the way they have been decorated. In this movie I particularly loved the brick walls which were painted white and then rubbed back to give an aged appearance...so gorgeous and I just loved her mismatch of furniture and accessories. She also dressed in some fabulous outfits. It is a tear jurker so do be prepared with a big box of tissues...definitely a good one to watch at home!!

Image via Movie Web

On deck orders :: Updated for June 16th

Here is the next week in orders. I know, there is a ton, so I'll likely take longer to respond to convos as I build, build, build. This is tentatively through Sunday, but things will shift here and there and I want to thank everyone for their patience! Also, for more tight turnaround orders, I'll be sure to finish your piece in time for your wedding, but want to say on the whole that most turnaround times are best guesses and I try my very hardest to stay on schedule, but things may fluctuate by a few days. I haven't slept much and probably won't for this week, but I thank everyone so much for working with me and waiting so patiently for their piece(s). I'm also putting approximate number of pieces still due by the names. In my blog, these might be off so don't panic, but are here just for a general idea. Also, I really can't accommodate any rush orders for a while as this week is how most of my weeks will look until the end of August. I'll keep everyone posted on when I may be able to squeeze in more orders. Thank you!!!

Currently on deck:
1. mannad11 (4)
2. muffinpuffin (1)
3. Joscelin (2)
4. psychcuddles (1)
5. Samdramm1 (7)
6. ggriffith81 (8)
7. mpowles (1)
8. kdorsens (1)
9. jordanamo (1)
10. Jenklugh (3)
11. Tarakay (1)
12. ClaudiaCamp (1)
13. awhalley (1)
14. Valbables (1)
15. Bittybride (1)
16. Maggiemoops (1)
17. BCblush812 (1)
18. ldunaway (2)
19. tav79 (1)
20. redpepper74 (1)
21. hallc07 (1)

Next orders to be on deck
1. Cathyz (1)
2. CatNg (1)
3. Yourbrokenheart (1)
4. Nafadesigns (2)
5. alereaz (1)
6. megone (1)
7. lauralim (15)
8. patriciamasci (3)
9. sarahjeichberger (1)
10. weddingbliss09 (3)
11. lunarbonnet (8)
12. midorikoosen (1)
13. lenalevenson (4)
14. Silvia1927 (3)
15. danadaisys (1)
16. cookie01 (1)
17. badle126 (1)
18. Amandita8 (1)
19. Loverlypound (5)
20. mickeysue (1)
21. nevergirl (1)
22. Rebecca929 (1)
23. Littleleafdesigns (14)
24. missmay12 (7)
25. zeuger (1)
26. jensen53 (1)

Whew!

Random photo of the day :: Conversations

When Ann Wood Handmade birds and Fernanimal meet.

Fernanimal is feeling oddly outnumbered.

You will have to forgive my obsession for cute creatures. ;)