I made one last week and it was surprisingly easy after I found all the materials but beware, unless you have foam on [...]]]> I’ve been collecting a few rad tutorials and how-tos lately and I thought I’d post about them because you might want to do them too!

A photo of a black and white patterned padded headboard against a dark grey wall behind a bed with white bed linen.

Make a padded headboard.

I made one last week and it was surprisingly easy after I found all the materials but beware, unless you have foam on hand it can be expensive and I couldn’t find flush mounts anywhere! The bedhead pictured is by aimlesslyhome.

Two photos of someone wearing a white singlet dress with white lace trim down the front and sherbert orange yarn fringe.

Make a Leyendecker-inspired dress.

I don’t like the sherbert orange fringe (even though it’s a cool colour!) but I love the ideas in this. You could revamp t-shirts in lots of different ways with these ideas.

A photo of a hand with rainbow stripes and stars on each nail and a unicorn painted on the thumb.

Paint a unicorn on your thumb.

I don’t know if my nails are long enough for this but maybe I could paint a tiny unicorn? Watch the video to see what kinds of tools are used (a skewer!) for your future nail art experiments.

A photo of a small black and silver dog wearing a blue patterned harness.

Make a small dog harness.

We bought Miffy a harness but it keeps coming loose and it isn’t very awesome looking. I’m going to make her all kinds of cute harnesses now!

A photo of a necklace made of box braided tan leather with washers braided into half of it.

Braid a necklace.

This is a nice project for gifts or for doing on a lovely crafternoon with your friends. Honestly WTF also has tutorials for a wrap bracelet and braided hex nut bracelet. Make a bunch and mix them together on your wrist, it looks great.

Image - a pale green frame with a tiny vertical garden of succulents planted inside it.

Make a framed garden.

I’ve loved vertical gardens for so long, and this project is an awesome small scale idea that you can hang on a wall. I want to scour op shops for frames of all sizes so I can make lots of framed gardens to hang on the fence in the backyard.

If you’re sad you missed out on a necklace, don’t even worry about it – I’ve opened up pre-orders! You’ve got until next Monday (October 18) to place an order for the colour of your choice. Horah!

Place your order over at the shop right now to avoid disappointment :D

The shop has been restocked with fat necklaces, 19 of! They come in four colours now – shiny red, frosted cupcake pink, frosted white and the original shiny black. Make sure you’re quick – last time I sold out in half an hour.

Don’t worry if you miss out [...]]]>

The shop has been restocked with fat necklaces, 19 of! They come in four colours now – shiny red, frosted cupcake pink, frosted white and the original shiny black. Make sure you’re quick – last time I sold out in half an hour.

Don’t worry if you miss out this time, I aim to order more and more with the profits from each issue of the necklaces. I also hope to get different colours each time! My favourite out of this lot is the frosted white, it reminds me of ice and snowflakes (even though I’ve never seen snow, cough).

Go buy a necklace now :)

I’m [...]]]>
When you saw this pretty piggy did you clasp your hands together and squeal?! That’s what I did. Apparently this is part of a jewellery spread for Vogue Russia featuring Cartier and Chopard. There are some more photos over at fashionologie! (I just hope those earrings are clip-ons…)

I’m pretty sure watermelons have the best colour scheme in all of nature AND they taste awesome. I’ve been flat out for the last few weeks, and I’m still yet to do the September desktop, but as soon as I saw this photo I had to bookmark it as a colour inspiration. Perhaps for next month’s design? Time will tell…!

I might be one of the only people in the world who doesn’t read Boing Boing so if you’ve already seen this gorgeous Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Film Test, I apologise! Totally fancy. To read up on one of the earliest surviving pieces of colour film, wander over to Kodak’s A Thousand Words blog post.

Hel Looks released another batch of street style shots during the week, and when I scrolled down to Jussi’s outfit I was in love. I love people who don’t dress to conform, thumbing their nose at the conventions of flattering and gendered dressing. Horah Jussi and Hel Looks!

This photo exemplifies the whimsical fance photography genre, and even though I tire of it, I really love this image. The colours are great, I would love this to be my bedroom. Unfortunately it’s not my bedroom, it’s Lauren Treece’s! Check out Lauren’s flickr for a bunch of great photographs.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone who entered. Thank you for sharing your story. So much of the time in the fat-o-sphere, and indeed in general every day life, it feels like we are reacting to the pervasive and hurtful body policing that puts [...]]]> It’s time to announce the winner of the fat necklace giveaway!

Firstly, I want to thank everyone who entered. Thank you for sharing your story. So much of the time in the fat-o-sphere, and indeed in general every day life, it feels like we are reacting to the pervasive and hurtful body policing that puts us down and shames us for living in bodies that sit outside an arbitrary norm. I wanted to create a space where we could share our stories of self acceptance, where we can fluff ourselves up and take up space instead of minimising ourselves and hiding.

If you’ve not yet seen all the amazing stories submitted for the giveaway, I suggest having a read. For me, blogging is as much about finding myself as it is about finding a place to fully express myself and encouraging others to do the same. But when I started blogging about difficult things, like self acceptance and fat acceptance, I didn’t realise how significant community would be. I have been so touched and encouraged by feedback I’ve received from so many people telling me that through my visibility, they’ve been encouraged to advocate for their own visibility (whether that be through commenting on blogs, writing on blogs and advocacy offline). That’s powerful. That’s something that is passed on – something that can not be stopped easily, because we share it like a meme. The notion of acceptance and rejection of body policing starts replicating in the minds of everyone we talk to when we start the conversation. Of course it’s often met with resistance, but it’s like Inception. It’s a seed of an idea that is planted.

I don’t see blogging about fat acceptance as slacktivism. For many fat people standing up to offline shame and bigotry is difficult so having a space for thought and writing is important and precious. We can learn self advocacy skills to take with us in to offline situations so the next time someone treats us poorly we can reject that bigotry with a little more confidence. And it might not even be a confrontation situation, it might be something as simple as turning the channel over when weight loss products are spruiked, or deciding not to buy magazines that promote body shame. Blogging is a part of effective activism because through talking and sharing we make ourselves and our stories visible. In a world where fat bodies are made to feel invisible, this is a powerful thing. And um, if there is a supposed omgbesity epidemic, it seems silly that a purported majority is so invisible and uncatered for! If we’re all SO GODDAMNED FAT, why haven’t airplane seats been made wider? Why aren’t there more options for clothing fat bodies? Why does the weight loss product industry get more and more lucrative? (Could it have something to do with a 90% failure rate!?)

Before I step off this soapbox to get lunch (after that you can bet I’ll be right back!) I need to announce the winner. It was tough. Every story was touching and powerful. What was my criteria when every story answered the question? It became apparent to me that the winner couldn’t be chosen for having the most best story, because they all were. Also, due to blogging giveaway rules, I could not draw the winner out of a hat. So, I chose a story that spoke to the first tentative steps into self acceptance. Those steps are big steps, and they should be encouraged.

So, the winner is… Catie.

I’ll be sending you an email shortly!

And Catie said:
entering this contest is one of the biggest things i have ever done to reclaim the word “fat”. this may not be the best story, but for me just clicking on this comment box was a big first step in accepting my fucking fabulous fat. i am learning to love my body in new & radical ways, no matter what my friends or family say.

Congratulations Catie, and I don’t just mean about winning a necklace ;) I hope you wear this and feel radical. If it’s in public or in private, it doesn’t really matter, because you’re reclaiming a word that is as descriptive as it is powerful. When you reclaim fat, you can move on. You can listen to your body instead of denying it or minimising it in harmful ways.

The fat necklace is now up in my shop, but please be aware that I have only five on chains. I’ll be sourcing more chain for the other two pieces that I have, and if demand is high I’ll be cutting more! It seems like the Big Cartel software won’t stop you from purchasing if I run out of stock, and while I’ll try to be around to take down the necklace if they sell out, I’ll definitely refund your money (or hold it as a pre-order if you so choose) if I run out of stock and your order goes through.

You’re all super rad people. Thanks for being part of this.
<3

I love Elsa Mora, and her [...]]]>
Love these beaded rosettes! I am pretty inspired to see if I can make myself something similar. Lots of something similar, and cover myself in them! This is from a photoshoot done for Numéro #112, and found via Amy Uhrich‘s blog.

I love Elsa Mora, and her work. I don’t know if I’ve adequately expressed how influential she is on me, but let me say… she produces the most lovely work, and radiates with the most lovely niceness of any person on earth. Not only did she create the papercut in this pendant, but she also sculpted the frame and had it cast in brass. I love the objects she makes, they echo the notion of giving and loving that I am concerned with in my own work.

I caught the work of stylist Anita Kaushal on decor8 and was furiously right click and saving this image within minutes! My Mum and Dad are moving into a new house soon and I know Mum loves these foil wallpapers, so I thought I’d dedicate this to her.

Another gorgeous image via decor8, I can’t help it! These objects are by Ferry Staverman, who possesses a sense of shape that I really envy. Go check out his site and revel in the playful lines.

While I understand the gloriousness of the cephalopod, I don’t tend to go crazy for octapus stuff but when I saw this Adam Wallacavage chandelier on Jo’s tumblr I thought it was pretty freaking awesome. I think it’s a combination of the excellent form of the tentacles, the functionality and fanciness of a chandelier as well as the gorgeous colour scheme that makes this so brilliant.