I Love you just the way I am

by Able and Game (see it here, buy it here).

Also, their 2013 Calendar, just in time for the New Year.

The Cat Scan

To continue my cat-themed, Christmas week, I thought I would post a few photos from The Cat Scan. Kitten toes are so cute!

Pattern Wednesday #8

Happy Boxing Day!

Harriet Gray has long been one of my favourite illustrators (you can find her here, here and here). Her pattern work is quite mesmerising and I really love the hand-drawn aesthetic. She also includes kittens and pugs in her patterns, how could you go wrong?

Kitty cushion cover

Geometic cushion cover

Pug cushion cover

Merry Christmas

More cat lovin, this time with 'Simon's Cat' at Christmas time.

Cat vs Dog

A fun video for Christmas Eve.  I love the part where the cat slaps the man to wake him up, so true to life :)

Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Friday viewing with the great Neil deGrasse Tyson.  StarTalk is such a great show, I'm so glad they turned it into a YouTube series!

If Fonts Were Cats

So I know this has done the rounds a few times but I love it.  A few of my favourites are below but you can find all of them here.

Pattern Wednesday #7

So I've found a new supply of pattern resources (and how to guides) over at Pattern People.  They have a whole range of downloadable patterns here including illustrator versions but I had a hard time trying to find us usage age terms & conditions.

I love the random & repeatable nature of their 'Crystal Web' pattern but my favourite would be the 'Cross Stitch' Pattern.  Images via Pattern People, Enjoy!

Architecture for Dogs

Have a look at this awesome site featuring architectural plans for dogs that you can print out and make yourself.
My favourites are the Pug (by Kengo Kuma), the Beagle (by MVRDV) and the Dachshound (by Atelier Bow-Wow).

White Sangria Popsicles

The Olé tapas bar in Southbank serves the most amazing white sangria which is perfect for this time of year but you know what's even better?  White Sangria Popsicles.  Recipe can be found here over at The Weekend Edition (which I highly recommend subscribing to for a what's what in Brisbane).

Image via The Weekend Edition.

Kitty-Cats

I am a self-confessed crazy-cat-lady but as long as I'm not at home, for the most part, I try to keep it under wraps.  That said, it does seem that the role of crazy-cat-lady is becoming less crazy and more lady.  I have also noticed an increased trend in cat paraphernalia (probably as cats have taken over the internet).  Inspired by this post on frankie, here are my crazy-cat-lady picks.

You're A Tabby And You Know It Tee from Mod Cloth

A Cat's Life by Gemma Correll

(also see my favourite - Nom nom nom illustration by Gemma Correll)

The Runaway Kitten by Enid Blyton, Illustrations by Eileen Soper

I Could Pee on This book of cat poetry by Francesco Marciuliano

Print by Ashley Goldberg

Cat Monster Calendar by Kate Funk

Picasso Cat Scarf by Leah Goren

and lastly, an inflatable unicorn horn for cats

You want more?
Gemma Correll's cat illustration blogposts
More Kitty Tees from Mod Cloth
Other Cat themed goodies from Mod Cloth
Kitty Gift Guide on the Mod Cloth Blog
The many cat-themed items on Jessica Hische's Svpply
Simon's Cat

Pattern Wednesday #6

A busy week full of Christmas parties and Astronomy study hasn't left much time for pattern making but I did manage to make one.  It is based on a Japanese fabric design and feels a little Christmasy to me :)

Christmas DIY Cards

Finally, a non-clichéd DIY Christmas card tutorial, from frankie magazine.

Image via frankie.

Our observable universe

While I have always been fascinated with astronomy, I find that reading astronomy facts is quite different from experiencing them.  For example, the Sun is approximately 150 million km from Earth; I know what the Sun looks and feels like to me on a daily basis, but that number, 150 million km, doesn't mean much.  Similarly, the fact that we are on a planet orbiting a star, in a solar system which exists as a tiny part of a galaxy, is something I know intellectually.  As much as I experience what life is like for me on my piece of Earth, I don't really know what it feels like to be hurtling through space as part of my planet/solar system/galaxy/universe.

I came across these photos by Knate Myers and then this video.  It is one of the most amazing astronomy videos I have ever seen; the images of the Milky Way are breathtaking.  It is so incredible, I feel like spamming everyone I know saying: "YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!"  It allowed me to experience those facts that I have learnt about, to see what it looks like to spin on a planetary axis in space, and to feel like I'm a part of this galaxy.


Skylights - Timelapse Film from Knate Myers on Vimeo.

APT7

The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) is back for it's 7th installment at QAGOMA, APT7. APT is one of my favourite exhibitions and I hang out for it every 3 years.  There is an opening 'up late' night this Saturday, 8th December, which I am so looking forward too.  More details here.

Australian PM address for the End of the World

Loving the commitment to the message. Who knew the Mayans (and that awful '2012' movie) were right?

Introduction to Astronomy

I've started a Coursera course in Introductory Astronomy last week and so far I am thoroughly enjoying it.  Some of the images shown in the first lecture were absolutely amazing, but it soon descended into a lot of math (which I'm actually enjoying).

Andromeda Galaxy (M31) by R Gendler

Pattern Wednesday #5

Last wednesday I posted some patterns that I had done as part of a Nicole's Classes, Making A Pattern class.  For the second week of the class, I produced some more interesting and complicated patterns.  For these patterns, I used the Dovera Pictura book 'Islamic Design' for inspiration.  

The first pattern I tried I ended up re-doing about 3 times as it was really hard to make it symmetrical but I figured it out eventually after much cursing at the computer.  For the second pattern I chose a slightly simpler design to give my eyes and frustration level a break!

Pattern #1

Pattern #2

Stylish Brisbane

Loving this photo blog, The Stylish Image, featuring snaps of the stylish people of Brisbane & also love recognising all these places in our city .  Who knew we had so many good looking people?

All images via The Stylish Image.

Eat Drink Awards 2012

The EAT/DRINK awards for Brisbane were announced last week on The Weekend Edition.  So many of my favourites were acknowledged.  Congratulations to The Scratch, Southside Tea Room and all the other winners.  I'm always looking for a new place to have breakfast so I will have to try out Willow & Spoon!

Astronomy

I'm obsessing over Astronomy at the moment, in particular artistic representations, especially old ones. One of my favourite things to do is to see the Saturday night live show at the Brisbane Planetarium (incidentally Brisbane was named for Sir Thomas Brisbane who was a keen astronomer and built Australia's first observatory).
Here are some of my current favourite finds.

Lunar Calendar, Full Moon Poster, Tromp L'Oeil Floor Mat, and Moon Phase Pillows, all from Urban Outfitters.

Bad Astronomy Blog

19th Century Astronomy Illustrations from Web Odysseum:

Illustration of our solar system from the Chandra X-ray Observatory:

Navigating by the stars tattoo:

And finally, I checked out some books from the Library, 'Observing the Heavens' by Peter Hood from 1951 and 'Atlas of the Universe' by BR Ernst and TJE de Vries from 1961.

Dumb Ways To Die

Loving this black-humour, train-safety campaign from Metro Trains in Melbourne.  It's very catchy (and hopefully effective)!

Pattern Wednesday #4

I'm currently doing a Making A Pattern class over at Nicole's Classes for a bit of fun and it brush up on my Illustrator skills. This is the random repeat pattern I created for Week 1:

I used the 'How to Draw a Pug' tutorial from Gemma Correll.

This is the geometrical pattern I created for Week 2:

Next pattern challenge will be a damask, eek!

Photos of Women in War

I found this lovely photo blog post from Lark About featuring photos of women in WWII.  I love looking at photos from another time, there always seems to be so much story behind them.

Bookplates

A while ago Benign Objects posted some links to free bookplates, both from their site and also from Besotted Brand.  Make sure you also check out the other free downloads listed on the Benign Objects site.

via How About Orange

Pana Chocolate Design

Following yesterday's post about Pana Chocolate, I've found a lovely review of the design/packaging here.  The design is by Porsha Marais and the rest of her portfolio can be found here.

PANA CHOCOLATE

I have recently begun the transition from being a vegetarian to vegan and while shopping at my local Mrs Flannerys, I came across Pana Chocolate.  It has the most amazing texture, really creamy and the packaging is just beautiful.  The attention to detail is really fantastic, from the silver embossing on the  box to the motifs imprinted on the chocolate itself.