renee-anne // art. love. food. life

hey, so guess who collaborated with the Mr Jason Grant on a range of stationery???  here is a sneaky peek.

I like it when awesomely creative people get in touch with me, wanting to share something awesome they have been working on.  it means I get to find lovely things I might not have otherwise, and it also means I have something exciting to share with you peeps here.

I am not going to lie, it has been a bit of a life long dream of mine to create a childrens book.  I still want to try, and I think I might.  you see, this new children’s book Parrot Carrot is pretty inspiring.  beautiful illustrations, simple words, an entertaining message, and look an iPhone app.  pretty much the fanciest new kids book around.

there is a little launch party for the book this Sunday the 30th October at Ariel Bookshop Paddington (NSW) at 4pm, so if you like Parrot, Carrots or both then you should definitely head along and grab yourself a copy (I also here there will be some delicious cupcakes on offer).  seriously.  how divine is that snail whale?? not to mention the beautiful colour choices throughout.

all hand illustrated by Jon Foye, sweetly written by Jol and Kate Temple and published by Allen and Unwin.  clever kids.

oh, so so excited to be back into the silly part of the year… then again it feels like the whole year has been a bit silly really! not long now till Brisbane Finders Keepers, the November markets are always a huge highlight of the year, especially since the near summer sun is usually at it’s prime.

however this post is actually about the submissions that are now open for the end of year exhibition On The Wall presented by Leeloo (that’s us!). once again it will be held in conjunction with the Sydney December Finders Keepers Markets (yay), and can I just say that submissions are already flying in. please keep them coming, having pretty things in my inbox is definitely a highlight of my day!

for ALL the details, please click here.

one of the many (many many many many many) highlights of the Hello Etsy conference in Berlin was the little Makers Lounge hosted by Marimekko and the wonderfully helpful ladies from Naehinstitut Moritzplatz.  while in Berlin, I was also super lucky to visit the amazing Marimekko store, however a whole blog post must be dedicated to the amazingness of this later….

after so so much amazing brain inspiration from all the speakers we had heard over the two day conference, it was so wonderful to be able to make something with my hands.  I am not really a sewer, but just sitting at the sewing machine made me so happy and excited to be creating.  then again I was surrounded by amazing rolls of Marimekko fabric, so perhaps that is what was causing the excitement!

we got to chose our own fabric, which was possibily the hardest decision of my life (kidding)  (sort of), and it was even harder again to cut into the fabric and attempt to make something without jamming the machine, or sewing my sleeve to the fabric.  but it was ok, because one of the many valubale lessons / reminders from the conference was that it is ok if things are not perfect, and that courage comes from being courageous, or at the very least trying!

anyway, in the end I managed to calm down at sew myself up a little Marimekko cushion!! I didn’t fill it as I knew I would have to fit it into my suitcase with all the many other things collected while in Paris and of course Berlin, so I am looking forward to giving it some cushion life and finding a special place for it at home.

// images by the clever Angela from Leeloo (for more Paris + Berlin photos click here)

some cactus plants. I love how everyone has little mini potted gardens on their balcony’s in Paris and Berlin. so inspired.

// illustration by me

while retro coffee pots and coffee are two of my most favourite things, I can’t say that I have had coffee from a coffee pot, retro style.  anyway, I drew this picture because of my love for those two things!

// image :: illustration by renee anne