Nutcracker costume by Rachel Papo

really inspires me and makes me feel happy... but at $600 a print... that's just something I'll have to enjoy onscreen and printed out on my home colour printer to stick onto my inspiration board.



Purchase Rachel Papo's print at ClampArt Gallery.

Brian from ClampArt kindly also referred me to a MUCH more affordable print by Rachel Papo at 20x200. Entitled Nastya Before Class, St. Petersburg, Russia for $20.



Thanks Brian

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! We're going to be busy clearing junk in our house for the council hard rubbish collection on Monday!

Ish and Chi Etsy store

Ya all have to go to Ish and Chi's brand spanking new Etsy store to see and grab some happy prints!

Love the pink one! Already have a spot picked out ;)





See more here. Well done, Viv!

Nicola by Shabner for sale.

This is now for sale. I thought I'd offer it here before eBay-ing it. Any takers? I can try to remove it from the frame and insert it into a mailing tube if preferred, since the frame is damaged at the bottom.

Measurements with frame are 60cm height, 50cm width.

Leave a comment or email me via my paperbean design website.

Match Blox

A great thanks goes out to Justina Selim of blog on my perch as she has posted about my silhouettes :) and posted a special one that I created with Hannah and her father. :)

She also wrote about Match Blox, wooden blocks that are created by Etsy artist Suzanna Anna



A cheaper version of Sid Dickens work posted previously! Fun, colour and WAY cheaper :) $28 each.

Sid Dickens: Memory Blocks

First Row: The Flower Rosette, The Swallow, The Butterfly, Musique, Sacred Heart Red, Unicorn, Rosette
Second Row: Club, Crown, Lemon, Morning Birds, Versailles Tulip, Wild Rose, Dahlia
Third Row: Embleme, Alabaster Roses, Guardian, Damask, Taj Flowers, Leaf Swirl, Spade.

{These are tiles from the retired collection.}

I love to start/have a collection of Sid Dicken Tiles.

Born Sidney Michael Dickens (1963), Dickens now lives in Vancouver where he first began his masterpieces, The Memory Blocks, a series of 6 by 8-inch decorative wall plaques. Memory Blocks are hand crafted plaster, 6" x 8" x 1 1/4", finished to a porcelain-like quality, cracked to create an aged look and feel.

Every few years, a collection of his tiles are retired. The retired pieces, a few shown above, would of course, fetch more and can only be bought at auctions and specialist dealers. But you can still get his current collection from his website, starting from US$90.


First Row: Concord, Epistle, Pentimento, Applique (Silver), Tree of Life (Silver), Perfume
Second Row: Naturlich, Coat of Arms, Tapestry, Storybook, The Clasp, Melody, P&A, Wing.

{These are tiles from the current collection.}

On his website, it is suggested that the best way to display these pieces of art is in a collection, a grouping.



I'd agree... I'd like to start with The Clasp.

My bamboo Kelly Wearstler cum Regency style mirror!

While selling futon and dresser a month or two ago, I broke our hallway mirror FRAME (whew! Not the mirror!). It was one I disliked anyway and got for $10 at a garage sale five years ago.



From my inspiration photo above, I wanted to consolidate my affinity with bamboo/cane furniture (I grew up in Malaysia: bamboo and cane furniture was EVERYWHERE) with the luscious Kelly Wearstler fun Regency style. Have you read her Modern Glamour?

With a small budget and big dreams, one has to settle for something less than the upwards of $500 tag at 1stbids, Anthropologie or Horchow. Or this one at Woodson and Rummerfields.

I'm so happy to have scored at eBay for only $29!



(Pardon the awful mess in that photo. I'd just unwrapped the 1km long bubble wrap and washed my hands. I turn around and I see Hannah STANDING ON THE MIRROR. So after my heart stopped beating hard and I'd calmed down, the photo was taken just propped up.)



After a coat of primer, and a couple of coats of bright yellow gloss...



Can't wait to hang it someplace in our new place!

Oksana Badrak

I want these two prints by Mr Oksana Badrak:


Coma 2: O $29.99


Lotus Tree $34.99

via Thumbtack Press

Alphabet posters ala Eames

Blue Ant Studio started designing a gorgeous alphabet poster for his son... and is as of today making these posters available for purchase!

Framed US$35. Printed on digital paper in matte finish and then glued to heavy stock black cardboard.

Letterpress wall art

I love love love letterpress and now and then scour the Internet for letterpress wall prints. So far I haven't bought any because well, we gotta save for other things.

Lisa Solomon's just released limited Blue Bed letterpress prints with her gorgeous stitching work (in conjunction with paper monkey press). Unframed $75.


My favourites is Rare Device's set of four letterpress print. I'd like a set for Christmas. $42.


I've been dying to finally purchase a letterpress wall art from Etsy seller Pressure. Bunny Bush is available in red or yellow. $16.


Another of my favourites is from porridge papers who have this glorious yellow and white letterpress background with a print of a bug. I haven't bought it because I'm not keen on the centipede. $25.

Anne Chovie

I wrote about Anne Harwell's fantastic watercolour depiction of real rooms circulating the design blogworld a while ago and keep going back to see what else has honoured Ms Harwell's easel.

I love the Vespa and Style Court's newly upholstered French chair. Most prints for $19 each. Quite reasonable, I think! She also welcomes commissions!!

Another GREAT DIY inspiration

Julie at Another Shade of Grey has DIYed some ugly gilt photo frames with a BRIGHT YELLOW GLOSS.

So many possibilities, thanks for some inspiration!

Picture Rails

Last weekend, we inspected an "older-style" 3 bedroom, single storey house for rent. It had been updated and the master bedroom boasted THREE sets of French doors and a courtyard. I was sold. So the application went in on Monday, I bought a rug for planned daughter's room on Tuesday and found out yesterday (Wed) we didn't get it... so the rug had to be returned. I am disappointed.. didn't realise how much until the agent called with the bad news.

Anyway. This inspection got me thinking about picture rails (it was everywhere). Most rentals in Australia don't allow tenants to paint (or hang pictures). This place had light coloured walls from the 80s and dark brown stained picture rails. So they stand out a mile.



'Course, if you owned such a place, you could do one of a few things. Nicole of Making it Lovely demonstrated a few options with paint/wallpaper above and under the rails different colours.

So I trawled through my files, magazines, blogs-on-left-menu and Flickr for inspiration. I didn't find many! Here's what I found:

Nicole from Making it Lovely evidently has picture rails in many rooms too and she has varied her method for hanging, which is nice:


Martha Stewart makes the fishing line/string an architectural feature:


Softening the look by ribbons ala Martha Stewart:


Ignoring the picture rails (using it purely as architecture detail) and playing with paints and wallpaper:



I still find them to be messy... maybe we can convince owners to allow us to paint. (Or maybe not.)
Any other ideas/pics?

Etsy artist Atwhim

I love these two prints (of out many other beautiful works) from Etsy seller Atwhim.

Maude. US$15.


Wabi Sabi. US$15.

DIY - Bathroom wall project

Eric over at Modern Self has been showcasing his great bathroom makeover project. His fabulous apartment was featured as part of Apartment Therapy's recent Smallest, Coolest contest. In this post, he showcases the amazing one of a kind striped walls in the bathroom. Thanks for sharing, Eric!

DIY - Bathroom wall project

Eric over at Modern Self has been showcasing his great bathroom makeover project. His fabulous apartment was featured as part of Apartment Therapy's recent Smallest, Coolest contest. In this post, he showcases the amazing one of a kind striped walls in the bathroom. Thanks for sharing, Eric!

Pink brown and white

What about this above the lounge? Too intimate??? I love it though, so bold, so elemental! Suzanne Clements from Etsy does a great great job at rendering something simple, yet sensual.

Art hunt!

We had our garage sale today. We net-profited about $200 from selling 50 cents, $1, $2 and $5 items so I think we did okay! Most importantly I have now gotten rid of items we didn't like/need to make way for things I do like/need. The throw-out corner of the home (kitchen) is now clean and bare (albeit rental-ugly).

Now I have mula to start buying funky art! Will show you later what I acquire! Off to Etsy I go!

Audrey Art

Audrey Hepburn has always been the eternal style icon for me. Always wanted an Audrey Hepburn art collection but thought it was far too tacky since that's my name too!

But maybe I shouldn't care and go with collecting what I love nonetheless! I was reinspired by Desire to Inspire's recent blog entry about Venetian mirrors... caught sight of an Audrey Hepburn print hanging on one of the bedroom walls and I was again reminded of this art collection dream.

Some pickings from Flickr:

flora in metal

man i SO love these things. i saw them about 8 months ago and just need to revisit them now. shelves in flowers and leaves... outdoor wallpaper in garden walls! Susan Bradley really knows how to create beauty from nature in steel. man.

i heart.

What you can do to add pizazz above you!

I really love what someone in Montreal, Canada did to her bathroom ceiling. Adds so much of a POP to the space!

Might just do a great wall decal on the top! Often we leave out the ceilings in ignorance (or budget!) but once you add a touch of something special to your ceiling it can be so unique, make your cookie cutter home totally yours.

What about a painting a mural like the above-mentioned interior designer and fellow-blogger?


via Flickr

Or perhaps play with moldings like interior designer Tommy Smythe on design inc. did with a lush bedroom makeover? You can just see it at the top right hand corner of the room.


(Can't get a great close up of the ceiling but I found this other one, via Flickr in Chicago. The episode above was of a master bedroom, looks amazing!)


Or paint the ceiling a contrasting colour.

Or stick glow in the dark little stars on the ceiling. My hubby did that as a child and it still looks rather surreal! For children's rooms it's a real joy to switch off the lights at night and see the stars "light up"!

Or put objects on the ceiling, like Red 8, a Wynn restaurant who's put up place settings on his ceiling! via Flickr


Or for the over-the-top look, copy what the Library at the Empress did!

Tea room at Empress


Whatever you do, don't go painting clouds on the ceiling, looks real tacky!