DIY Wedding Card Art (in the style of... Damien Hirst)

I'm a keeper.

And by that I mean, I tend to keep things. Useful things, pretty things, sentimental things. 

I'd been keeping all of our engagement and wedding cards from our friends and family in a big box in the cupboard, until one day I decided that they'd be put to better use in a craft project.

I'd always really loved Damien Hirst's LSD series, especially in the below shot from Elle.

via Elle

But since I don't have a lazy 7,500 GBP, and I also didn't want to paint my own and directly plagiarise his idea, I thought I'd utilise all the lovely graphics from our wedding cards instead.

I picked a glass the right size and traced the circumference on the front of each card. I cut a variety of different images, some deliberate, some abstract, with different textures and colours, and played around with the placement until I was happy with how it looked. I love that there's a chicken in there, and Mick Jagger's lips too.

You could obviously appropriate this idea with any cards from any occasion, ie a birthday, graduation, anniversary etc. It would even be great to use momentos and maps from travels.

I think it fits in well with alongside Mrs Wong and our indigenous art. I love how it just looks like an interesting print but to me it has so much more sentimental value. And best of all it didn't cost a cent.

Me? A Cosmo Bride?

I came across something a little exciting this week - our wedding was featured in the current edition of Cosmo Bride.

It was part of a piece on photography, and this little section was on using props (check out my homemade bunting!). I was glad to be able to give a shout out to our fantastic Wonderwall photobooth photographers Feather & Stone- be sure to check out their awesome blog here.

Vivid Sydney Light Projections

I was lucky enough to be in Sydney this weekend for the Sydney Film Festival and Vivid Sydney events.

My highlight of Vivid Sydney was the amazing 3D projections on Customs House.

It was totally gob-smacking to see in the flesh- and well worth waiting out in the cold Sydney weather! It's the last night tomorrow night for the Vivid Sydney festival.

This was the first video I've ever taken on my new iPhone - and now I know to rotate the camera next time...

DIY: How to Stretch Canvas Art

I had bought this gorgeous painting in Alice Springs in April but it's been languishing in it's tube since we returned.

When I finally got around to ringing the local framers and stretchers I was amazed at their quotes. I appreciate that a professionals time doesn't come cheap - but I knew that this was something that I could tackle myself.

I purchased two sets of 30 inch stretcher bars from Art Shed and borrowed a staple gun from my Dad. (thanks Dad!)

After butting the edges of the stretcher bars together to form a frame (they don't use screws, they just wedge together) I laid it over the flat canvas, face down.

And they pulled each side of the canvas as tight as I could and stapled into the middle of each stretcher bar.

And then folded each corner carefully and stapled, and the stretched each remaining side and put in a staple of either side of the centre staple.

Here's the detail of one of corners - I put the folds on the top and bottom of the artwork so you wouldn't see them on the sides. You can also see that I sacrificed maybe 3cm of the artwork to the side of the canvas, but none to the back. A few of the professionals that I had spoke to were adamant that I'd have to sacrifice 10cm of the artwork since there wasn't a sufficient border.

And here is how it looks now (as modelled by Mr Tchotchke). Not too bad for an amateur job. The stretchers cost me $30, so I saved myself about $80-$120.

Tretchikoff Green Lady Love

Our Tretchikoff print, Miss Wong, has a special spot in our living room - partly because she's so beguiling, and party because it's a miracle she's in one piece.

I spotted her in a ramshackle antique store in Glasgow, and after haggling with the gruff Scottish shop keeper we clung onto her through rush hour on their tiny subway system and then lugged her around the UK for another week before returning to Brisbane. I'm still amazed that the glass frame didn't shatter en route in Mr T's suitcase. 

And here she is - staring down her nose at me on the couch in my uggs watching 30 Rock. I'm pretty sure glamorous Miss Wong would never wear ugg boots.

I spotted another Miss Wong in the below bedroom on Anya Adores, along with a Green Lady. They're lovely with the blue and green linens, but I don't know how I'd feel about waking up to them each morning.

Liza Giles via Anya Adores

This even looks like the exact frame ours is in. And how great is that blue lamp base?

Casper James flickr

Here's a gallery wall full of retro female portraits. I think the large one on the left is a Sara Moon - my Mum used to have a print just like it - mm I wonder what she's done with it?

kimhas7cats flickr

And although the modern reproductions aren't nearly as fun - I'm loving these two murals.

Trailer Happiness via MrBaliHai

Maria Pateraki's Pinterest

Just because they're amongst the world's most popular prints doesn't mean they can't look unique.

Tchotchke Art

I loved these prints from Aled Lewis's Toy Stories series - they make me wonder what my little animals from this post have to say.

And on a somewhat related note - yesterday I found out that chickens are distant descendants of a T-Rex! Get out!

via Lost at E Minor

Indigenous Art

So I made a purchase whilst in Alice Springs..

For such a small town it was littered with art galleries - and although I was somewhat put off by the lack of indigenous staff in the showrooms I really liked this piece.

It's by Mary Pitjara from the Utopia region and it's called Bush Medicine Leaves.

Now I just need to get it stretched and find some wall space..