Shelbyville

Nautical & nice - come sail away with me...

I've always loved sailboats, but over here in the Shelbyville household, there's been a particularly noticeable influx of nautical-inspired things lately.

It seemed to begin when we started a project that involved turning the abandoned fern-house (located in a corner of our backyard) into a 'beach shack cubby house' for the kiddo and his little friends to play in. All it needed was some nice wooden decking, a pavilion-style roof, some lashed bamboo for the back wall, and a few beachy props like a classic old life-saver ring, some fish netting, and a hammock, and we had a sweet little cubby space - hubby greatly impressed me with his new-found DIY skills!

And then the idea grew and extended into buying an old wooden rowboat, repainting it, and turning it into a funky kids' sandpit to sit alongside the beach shack cubby house, hopefully on a sea of smooth river-tumbled stones. Slowly, slowly, slowly it is coming together, but as it's a current work-in-progress, I'll wait until it's complete and will share some pics in a later blog post.

^ D's cute party invite

When Little D turned 2 recently, we planned that the beach shack and the rowboat sandpit would be his birthday present, and threw a suitably themed Hawaiian/nautically-inspired party for him. With a HUGE amount of wonderful help from a cakemaking-extraordinaire friend and fellow mum, Susan (My Food Obsession blog), we produced from scratch a couple of lifesaver-ring birthday cakes and a huge batch of royal-iced sailboat cookies, and a batch of chocolate dipped anchor cookies too. It's definitely the most creative I've ever had to be with baking in my entire life, and despite the rather steep learning curve, I was very pleased with our efforts :) Perhaps home-baking and decorating a special themed birthday cake for your child is a rite of passage that all mothers should experience at least once!... ;)

^ Fancy piped-buttercream-icing work by Susan. Fancy sugarpaste 'lifesaver-ring rope' work by Michelle. Royal-iced sugar cookies created in the late evening hours by both mummy and daddy of the birthday boy - such good fun!

^ Cake board composed of a glass sheet overlaid on a 'timber deck' I created from cardboard and strips cut from sheets of timber veneer samples (thanks to a recent find at Reverse Garbage - I love that place!), and then decorated with shells and starfish and bits of tumbled sea glass. And if you're wondering why on earth we made TWO cakes, it's because we essentially hosted two parties that day: one in the morning for friends with kids, and another in the afternoon for family. Big day!

^ I was pretty happy to find this wooden treasure chest in an op shop a few weeks before the party! - it worked great for presenting the sailboat/anchor cookies, and the drawers held chocolate coins.

^ Party table, with handmade paper flowers, pineapples galore, and lots of wooden tableware.

^ Even Iggle Piggle made an appearance, with his rowboat too of course! ;)

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So now I can say we've happily ticked the box on Little D's second birthday party, gobbled up all the nautically-inspired foods, packed away the toddler-sized Hawaiian shirts, and have had a couple of months to settle back into normal household life. But still the fascination with nautical nicities continues...

I blame Pinterest.

Have you seen how many pictures of gorgeous sailboat mobiles regularly pop up on people's boards for baby/kids/handmade stuff?! Maybe it's just me, but every time I scroll through my Pinterest feed, there are more and more lovely sailboat-y things to swoon over. Like all these for instance:

All those muted tones of blues and browns and greys and white, with just that little pop of red here and there. And just that right mix of subtle textures: timber, linen, and paper. Oh yes, I can see why I'm drawn to the sailboat motif, and why I'm leaning towards a similar colour & texture & motif palette for the nursery nook we're currently getting ready for our next little arrival..!

Sailboats, yes!

Oooh, I'm getting excited just thinking about the lovely little sailboat mobile I'd like to make for our new baby boy, and I know exactly the colours and materials I'd like to make it from...

But that'll take me some time, and another future blog post, no doubt.

In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, here's a few more sailboat mobiles I came across on Pinterest. Oh that Pinterest sure is a dangerous place to linger!

...come sail away with me.

Michelle
xx 

Eleven things...

Out of the blue, Shelbyville was recently nominated for the Liebster Award by a very lovely fellow mum and friend, Dani from Waiting for Banjo. Having never heard of the term before, Dani's blog informed me that 'liebster' is a German adjective meaning "dearest; cherished", and the 'award' was created as a way to show a little appreciation to fellow bloggers for their valuable contributions to the blogosphere. It is also a fabulous way of getting to know a bit more about the faces behind those awesome blogs you admire in your quiet moments...

   

How it works:

One:          Post 11 things about yourself.

Two:          Answer the 11 questions given to you by your nominator.

Three:       Nominate 11 bloggers & set 11 new questions for them to answer.

Four:         Stop by their blog & let them know they've been nominated.

Five:          No tag backs!

   

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Step One: 11 things about me (Shelbyville)

1. I began blogging in 2005 after my eventual-mother-in-law suggested that it might be something I could be interested in, especially since she knew I was into "arty/crafty" stuff. She used Loobylu as her key example of the potential of blogging. That evening I went home and promptly set up a blog and called it Shelbyville. And I have been blogging (allbeit sporadically at times) ever since. Actually, so has Loobylu I'm pretty sure.
2. I picked up the nickname Shelby while studying architecture at college, and so used it for the name of my blog, intending Shelbyville to mean 'the world and goings-on of Shelby'. It was only later that I came to realise that Shelbyville was also the fictional town next-door to Springfield in The Simpsons.
3. I am not especially an avid fan of The Simpsons. I appreciate its comic and cultural value and contribution to American society and all that, but in general I'm not really a TV watching person. Any correlation with the town of Shelbyville (both the fictional and the real) was merely an annoying coincidence...
4. I am very fond of vintage graphics / packaging / signage / games / books / fabrics. Especially typewriter ribbon tins.
5. As a young child I would sneak into my brother's bedroom when he was at school, and 'borrow' his beautifully organised colouring pencil set. He always found out, even though I was very careful about returning the pencils to their exact colour spectrum. Eventually I saved up $30 in pocket money (a HUGE amount of money at the time) and bought my very own set of 72 Derwent colouring pencils. I still have them!
6. My favourite smell in the whole world is of (old) Crayola crayons. They recently changed the recipe/composition of their crayons, so they no longer smell like they used to :(
7. When I was in Sydney, I lived in a converted warehouse apartment that used to be the old Cyclops Toy Factory. It still had the original diagonal wooden floorboards, heavy wooden ceiling beams, and the old tall windows. My loft studio space was lit by an angled bank of windows in the saw-tooth roof - it was divine. Funnily enough, I still receive emails from people desperately trying to find spare parts for their vintage Cyclops toys!
8. Like Dani, I also eat with my fork in my right hand & my knife in my left, even though I am right-handed. Guess I just used a fork more, so it got the 'precision' hand...
9. My travel wishlist is long and extensive, but my current top-3 dream destinations would be:
   1) a European sojourn that included Italy, Spain, France, Holland, and Scandinavia;
   2) New York;
   3) Japan 
10. I was born in Vancouver, and so I hold two passports: Australian and Canadian. With a British mother and a Dutch father, I could possibly get a third passport, but haven't tested the theory yet.
11. I am currently pregnant with my second son - only 50 days until his due delivery date!! Eeeek!

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Step Two: Answers to eleven questions:

1. Name a place you have visited or would love to visit that is a great inspiration to you.

Last year our little family embarked on a month-long roadtrip from LA to Vancouver, and our four-day stay in Portland (Oregon) was intensely inspirational - for a small city, it's an absolute epi-centre of creativity, and we loved it to bits! San Francisco was a very close second :) The Westcoast is amazing, and I recommend it to every creative soul I know.

  

2. Finish this sentence: I create because... 

...I have to, want to, need to. It's part and parcel of who I am.

  

3. Tell us something interesting about where you live.

Our house dates back to the late 1800s, and was one of the original 'cottages' in West End when the township of Brisbane was being divvied up and settled. It's a quirky little home, with lots of hidden nooks and interesting spaces. Did I mention there's a secret cubby room in the attic...? Kids love it ;) 

  

4. What are you reading right now?

'Potty Training for Boys'. Yippee.

  

5. Finish this sentence: I couldn't live without...

My beloved family and friends, of course.
Obvious answer aside, I would also be very lost without the internet and all the devices I need to access it (iPhone, iPad, laptop). I'd also be quite lost without books and the local libraries I am utterly dependent on for the gazillions of books/magazines/CDs/audio books/DVDs I borrow - I am constantly maxing out both my own library card and my son's library card as well!

  

6. What do you like to do for laughs?

I like to go out adventuring with my toddler son - he and I have explored more corners of this city than most of its adult residents, I'm sure.

  

7. Finish this sentence: I can't wait until someone invents...

...A teleporter. Instant travel to anywhere in the world would be AWESOME! Can you imagine the possibilities?!

  

8. What do you love to cook?

New things all the time. I'm always borrowing different cookbooks from the library to try out new and tasty dishes. At the moment we are sampling a variety of vegetarian and raw-food recipes (must be the pregnancy health kick...).

  

9. Most fun you've ever had?

Living life large in Sydney for four years pre-motherhood. Early 30s, good incomes, lots of travelling, no hefty responsibilities, inner-city living, and a Vespa - what's not to enjoy about all that?!!

  

10. What do you look for in a friend?

Character, loyalty, thoughtfullness, connection, empathy, mutual respect, an appreciation for creativity.

  

11. Do you ever hand write letters and send them off in the ........wait for it........actual post?

Rarely. But they're pretty special when it does happen: handmade, creatively presented, full of little gifts, you know, that kind of thing.

  

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Step Three: Eleven questions for my chosen 11 bloggers:

1. Describe yourself in three words.

2. Your favourite band (yes, you have to narrow it down to one).

3. What are you passionate about?

4. Your favourite childhood memory.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?

6. Who would play you in the movie of your life?

7. Describe your style.

8. Finish this sentence: ‘I never leave home without…’

9. Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

10. Post one of your favourite images from this year.

11. If you could meet anyone (dead or alive) who would it be & why?

  

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Now for the lucky eleven lovelies I am nominating for the award:

1. Alisa of Ink Caravan

2. Joanna of little zine

3. Alarna of Alarna Zinn (the artist formerly known as Little Jane St)

4. Tara of Dudley Redhead

5. Sheryl of Two Spoonfuls of Sugar

6. Linda of Bubble & Sweet

7. Torunn of Herbert & Friends

8. Shannon of Rabbit and the Duck

9. Simmone of Your Organ Grinder

10. Phoebe of Simply Phoebe

11. Ashley of Ashley Oostdyck Photography 

  

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Wow, at the end of this blog post about the Liebster Award, I am happily amazed about one surprise outcome: I've just been re-aquainted with a whole lot of blogs that I've somehow fallen out of touch with in the last few busy years of being an active and busy mama. Who knew that this tiny prompt from Dani would have such effect?!

  

I've really enjoyed tonight's adventures back out into the blogosphere - it's been a wonderful chance to touch-base with some old friends, and to catch up on the goings-on of distant friends, and also just to drop a line to say 'hello, I'm thinking of you' :)

  

I hope the eleven special women mentioned above will also enjoy taking part and pass on the Liebster love ;)

  

Check them out - they're all awesome, and creating awesome things too!

  

Michelle
xx 

Shelbyville's happy 200th post! ...And a photo adventure at the Workshops Rail Museum...

Ooooh, a milestone!...Shelbyville has now just clocked up 200 posts!

200 posts!!

Good ol' Shelbyville - It's been sporadic, erratic, and for a few months now, completely static, but I eventually come through in the end, I promise ;) It's just been one of those years, you know, where everything huge and life-altering tends to happen all at once (or so it feels anyway) and your priorities are irrevocably altered, and your time/energy/motivation is somewhat unevenly divvied up between the little people and big people in your life, and all the other 'stuff' just has to get squished into the remaining gaps. Blogging is part of that 'stuff' and unfortunately it's been a little over-squished of late...

But I'm working on a new strategy.

I'm thinking smaller/quicker/simpler posts that will be easier for me to knock up in less time. I'm just simply not able to manage the long and extensive posts I used to spend hours putting together. From now on, Shelbyville posts will (hopefully) be more frequent, but less flouncy!

That's the strategy anyway.

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And now to continue with the latter half of this post:  today's impromptu photo adventure!

Sometimes fate is kind, and your child naps even longer than you were anticipating, and you suddenly find yourself gifted with the chance to adventure around a cool location with your camera (allbeit your iPhone camera and a bit of Instagram glam) and snap a few piccies just like you used to in your pre-motherhood days.

Today was such a day, and the location was the Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich.

Truth be told, I was there mostly for D's benefit, since:
a) he is a totally train-obsessed kiddo at the moment,
b) the Workshops are currently holding an event called Toy Express all about vintage toys and other old-fashioned playthings, and that sounded like loads of interesting fun,
and
c) I bought D an annual pass for the place, so we get out there as much as we can..!

But as you can see in the pic above, a little someone had a VERY good sleep in his pram, and so mama walked about snapping lots of photos of random, industrial, textural, typographic, graphicky things like this:

God I love old train yards! I truly do.
And yes yes yes, here's to planning more photography adventures in old industrial locations!  

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And to wrap up, here's a pic I hope to use in approx a year's time - a photo to mark my 250th post on Shelbyville - that would mean roughly one blog post per week...! That should be achievable with both a toddler and a soon-to-be-newborn, right..??! ;) hehehe

Optimistic much!

Michelle
xx 

Golden things + airplane wings = wedding rings

Some design projects only come along once in a lifetime...

And recently I've been privvy to one such project of rare opportunity - creating our very own set of engagement and wedding rings - all highly symbolic and stylised and special. And handmade for us re-using the diamond and gold from a vintage piece of my mother's own jewellery, and teaming these with very contemporary titanium.

Admittedly it took a few slow years of research and incubation, and even a few false starts with a variety of jewellery makers. But when I happened to stumble across the work of jeweller Cass Partington in the Melbourne Design Guide, I knew instantly that we'd found the perfect fit, and happily it all came together in a matter of months.

^ Cass Partington's website

Cass Partington's work has been described as 'designed to be worn and interpreted, simple forms that are minimally decorated and make reference to signs, code and the urban landscape. The multiple or 'stack' rings that can be personalised through their selection and arrangement is a favourite of this Melbourne lass.'  Simple? Minimal? Signs, code and urban landscapes? - I'm a graphic designer, are you kidding, I like all those things! She's perfect for us, I immediately thought, and we were thrilled with the results.

The design I created for the rings started with two key items:

Firstly, a plain white-gold band that DD had proposed to me with - in our 'courting days' we'd picked it out during a weekend away in Byron Bay, and inside the ring he'd secretly had it engraved with the words, 'Will you marry me?'. This 4mm-high band became the unit of measure I used for the subsequent engagement & wedding bands.

Secondly, my mother gifted me with a nostalgic piece of jewellery - a gold nugget & diamond pendant that my father had given her when they were courting (back in the 60s!), but one that she never actually wore because she thought it was kind of ugly. She suggested I "rework" it into our new rings, and in the end I used the diamond in the engagement ring, and the gold was melted down and remade into my wedding band.

In Cass Partington's signature style, my rings were created as a 'stacking' set - the engagement ring a simple 4mm band of titanium with the diamond set flush into it, and the wedding ring a 2mm band of gold 'coded' with lines that represent a special date. And inside the engagement ring I had engraved the words 'yes, yes, definitely', my exact answer to DD when he proposed to me.

DD's wedding band is a single ring of contrasting white-gold and titanium that exactly aligns with mine in height and design. His ring also features 6 tiny rivets of white-gold to hold the two metals together, and for a bit of extra masculinity... ;)

One other nostalgic thing my mother kindly gave to me were the two little leather pouches that my parents' wedding rings originally came in when they were married in the late 60s. We used the vintage pouches to hold our own wedding bands when we eloped to Canada in June and they perfectly suited the vintage style of my dress and accessories. Thanks mum!

Huge thanks also to Cass Partington, of course, whose wonderful graphic style inspired the design and whose skilled hands created our set of rings. Cass, when I get the go-ahead for my eternity ring, I'll be in touch... ;)

Michelle
x 

I am now a Mrs...!

We have finally done the deed, tied the knot, exchanged rings, and vowed to honour, respect and love each other for as long as we both shall live. After almost 7 years of engagement, DD and I are now officially wed!

We always planned to elope to Canada, and now we've finally realised that long-held dream, with a tiny wedding ceremony in a park on the edge of gritty post-industrial Granville Island - my favourite place in all of Vancouver, and now a location loaded with a whole new set of lifelong memories.

It was just me and DD and Little D (so handsome in his black & white outfit, complete with tiny suspenders and baby Converse sneakers!), a handful of Vancouver-based family and friends, and my dear friend Ashley Oostdyck who travelled with us to Canada to photograph our special day - and did she ever do a beautiful job of it! I am constantly in awe of this lady's spectacular talent for photography, and I couldn't imagine anyone else so perfect to capture our day in pictures. Allow me to share a few of them with you now. Ash's photos tell the story much more eloquently than my words alone can do...

We began the day doing something our little family often delights in: breakfast out at a cool cafe. A bit of a hipster hangout, The Red Wagon was DD's choice, the perfect spot for our morning lattes and a hearty breakfast.

Back at our downtown Vancouver apartment it was time to get ourselves ready for the special event. Amid the hustle and bustle of dressing and grooming, there were still motherly duties to attend to...

And then it was time to go...

The short ferry ride across the water to Granville Island had Little D captivated - he loves boats!

And a quick moment of Instagramming. I can hear my mother-in-law rolling her eyes from here... ;) 

A small detour into the Granville Island Market was required for the purpose of selecting some flowers for the bouquet... and so I perused the blossoms available and picked out 3 fat yellow roses to brighten an otherwise silver-grey day, classic Vancouver weather.

At Bridges, a restaurant by the water, we met everyone for drinks and lunch prior to the afternoon ceremony. Keeping the little man's white shirt clean was a feat in itself (!) and some time out on the jetty boat-spotting was required to keep his attention span in check.

From the markets I'd also bought tiny bouquets of lily-of-the-valley for all the ladies - their sweet smell forever reminds me of my maternal grandmother who passed away many years ago.

Thanks son, if you don't mind fixing up the bill for us... just don't forget to tip...

After finishing our boisterous lunch of tapas and drinks, it was time to wander to the other end of Granville Island where the most verdantly green grass awaited us. Ron Basford Park is a tiny pocket of a park - an elevated mound of the most intense green - that looks back toward the Vancouver skyline, with the mountains as a backdrop. A most splendid location for a teeny tiny wedding like ours.

The now gently falling rain led us to hold the ceremony halfway up the park's hillside, beneath the somewhat protective canopy of maple trees.

My wedding band slid on just nicely, but the same couldn't be said about DD's band. It took a little coercion (and some spit!) but I got it on there in the end!...

A few final photos of a very tired Little D before he crashed out for a nap in his pram.

The ceremony complete, we found ourselves back at the Granville Island Market in search of cake... New York-style baked cheesecake had been an unfulfilled item on my North American roadtrip 'treasure hunt' list, so today was as good a day as any to tick it off. Soooo delicious!

Forever surprising me, DD unexpectedly grabbed my hands and we used a plastic spoon to "cut the cake". Bless him and his quick wit.

Time then to explore some of Granville Island's quirkier corners and spaces in search of locations for a few romantic wedding photos, picking up on the urban textures and details we love so much.

And what's a wedding without a bit of bubbly?...

The day was reaching its conclusion and it was time to farewell the island and head home.

Traditionally, they say it's a lucky sign when rain falls on your wedding day. My uncle even joked that in Vancouver they refer to it as 'liquid sunshine'.

But to any bride-to-be out there who wonders if rain will ruin their perfect day, I can say this much - when you're standing before your friends and family, face to face and holding hands with your life partner, repeating your vows and exchanging rings, the rain is truly the last thing on your mind. I could barely wipe the silly smile off my face as I savoured the moment of something I had been imagining and dreaming about for so long, and in my mind I was thinking, "ahhh, so THIS is what it's like to be wed...!"

Michelle
x 

P.S. Hugest thanks to our dear friend Ash - more of her stunning photography work can be seen over at her website http://www.ashleyoostdyck.com

Good reasons for the blogerly absence

Oh poor neglected blog...

So much has happened in the last two months that it's difficult to know where to begin. The buying of our new house? The long-anticipated USA/Canada holiday we just arrived home from? Our very recent elopement/wedding in Vancouver? Seriously, how many more life events can one family cram into a space of 6 weeks...?!

If I wasn't knee-deep in a house full of unpacked cardboard boxes right now I'd say I might be breathing a sigh of relief that we've survived our whirlwind June!

I am however expecting the remainder of 2012 to be a wee bit less manic (if I'm lucky!). There may even be some time for regular blogging, once we get an internet connection setup at home (I'm doing this on my iPhone out of sheer desperation at the moment).

*** insert optimistic plans for weekly blog posts here soon ***
;)

Ok, back to unpacking the household contents. More blogging (and pictures) again shortly, I hope.

Michelle
xx

Little D's first birthday party

Last month was our little man's first birthday (can you believe it?!), and to celebrate this milestone, we planned a nice small party down at our favourite local park. 

The party was robot-themed of course, decked out in red, blue and silver, with stripey tape and dangly robots and big paper pompoms and extra-special robot-inspired bunting (because it's just not a party without bunting...).

To make the bunting, I bought a handful of circuit boards from Reverse Garbage for $1 a piece, spelt out 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL' with plastic letters attached with a little blu-tac, and strung them up with red stripey string. Hey presto, 'robotic' bunting for a teeny $7.

 

The robot theme was initially inspired by this cute little guy, which we dangled centre stage over the table. He was created especially for Daniel (just after he was born) by my dear friend Tara from Dudley Redhead, lovingly handstitched from soft felt and beautifully detailed with tiny dials and other robot-y things. Little D loves him.

The paper pompoms are the handywork of my sister-in-law, Terri. String a couple of these babies up and you've got instant party pizzazz!

And then there was the robot cake - an absolute show stopper!! It was created by my other sister-in-law, Linda, whose blog Bubble and Sweet documents her amazing and tasty adventures in cake-craft and sweet things on sticks.

I sent Linda a few pics of our little red robot buddy, and she came back with this awesome, steampunked, metallic-fondant-iced, chocolate mudcake on a metallicised baseplate adorned with fondant 'washers' and 'cog cookies'. Oh wow..!

Oh yeh, it was good!

It rained... and it poured... but still we had fun.

Rain. Family. Friends. Laughter. Cake. Drinks... And then finally the sunshine! 
What a day to remember.

My warmest heartfelt thanks must go to Ashley Oostdyck for all her amazing photography of our little guy's 1st birthday party. Her stunning photos perfectly captured so many special moments of the day :)

All the photos featured in this post (except the Instagram ones) are Ashley's beautiful camera-work, and you can see more of Ash's photographic storytelling over at her website www.ashleyoostdyck.com.

Thank you Ash, and also huge thanks to those who helped pull the party together, and to everyone who came along to celebrate Little D's first remarkable year.

This motherhood thing sure is funnnnnnnn..!!!

Michelle
x