the shop smells like lollies again!

mmmmmmmmmmmmm can you smell them?

More Doll Eyes soy wax candles have just been delivered.

Packs of six scrumptiously scented tea lights are still just $8.

They sell very quickly - make lovely little gifts for yourself or others! And they're exclusive to Blackbird Corner as Shana is so busy these days! Of late she's been preparing a photographic exhibition called "A Vintage Dream" with her friend Karen Kennedy.

It is to be held mid-September at our favourite

Newcastle Art Gallery ArtHive.

We're very fortunate to own some prints from her Faery Tale Series that form part of the exhibition, which I've shown you before.

xxx.

Street Art Walk

S.A.W (Street Art Walking) is a street art project & collective - run by the gorgeous Simone Sheridan - that creates (temporary and permanent) public art spaces. SAW wants the city to come alive with artworks dispersed throughout the streets, creating a public Art walk for all to enjoy - both Locals and tourists. The project is supported by The Octapod Association and Renew Newcastle.

The goal of S.A.W is to bring back a sense of pride within The Hunter Street Mall in particular, whilst showcasing artistic talent.

Simone is now also a freelance Arts Administrator & Business Broker - an intermediary between businesses & the creative industry. She's available for consultations so just head over to her Facebook page for more details!

Simone popped in last week to give us Blackbirds a lovely gift!

A beautiful polaroid shot of the "Darby St" wall on the side of Goldbergs. Sean just scanned it in so we could share it with you.

We think Simone is doing a tremendous job of liaising with the powers that be to have sanctioned Street Art popping up all over our town.

xxx

Eeeeek! I'm so thrilled!

We now stock a little range of gorgeous wares by

Beci Orpin.

You may already know how much I adore her Art from previous mentions in earlier blogs. Beci was in Newcastle recently for the LOOK HEAR events & she popped in briefly to check out Blackbird Corner. I'm afraid I was a bit in awe of her talent so she may think I'm a tad vague but nevertheless we arranged for me to become one of her stockists.

I could not be happier right this second.

xxx

Things are looking up...

Wowsers!

You know you've got a LOT of parcels when Brian the Courier uses a trolley AND struggles to get that trolley up over the doorstep!

As you can see the new Delilah Devine items have arrived!

Fresh new colours in her scrumptious limited run paper cuts...

Also some really really gorgeous Flying Ducks made from sustainable wood & Vintage Wallpapers. What makes these even more fantastic is that they use those removable tabs to attach to the walls - so you can have them even if you're renting!

I literally would like to keep ALL of them. Luckily for you Sean is the Voice of Reason & has told me that the two trios already installed in our little home are enough!

Oh and I've been so busy this morning that I am yet to open one BUT the latest Frankie has arrived (belatedly unfortunately) and it's the biggest issue ever!

xxx

PS If you are in this afternoon please excuse me if I'm reading it!

x

Extra! Extra!

Read all about it!

As these pretty pictures may have indicated -

the latest Extra Curricular has just arrived from

New Zealand!

It gets better every issue!!

Just divine.

xxx

We never sleep.

Two new size ranges of skirts are in stock today:

"The forest for the trees" - My Fascist Mother

"Mini Dragster" - Wayward Girl

I want one of each but I am resisting...for now!

I always try to leave the me sized ones in stock for a few weeks before even trying them on - to give others a chance first!

I do need some new skirts though...

xxx

Are you on The List?

Ms Pepper Puppy.

Pepper & her twin sister.

Very very soon, Ms Pepper Puppy will be moving in with us.

She is the daughter of a pure bred Toy Poodle & a pure bred Shih Tzu.

We've called her Ms Pepper as she's mostly black with flecks of brown. We are yet to meet her as she lives in Bathurst but her current owner Steph sends us weekly photos & updates!

At the moment we're busy trying to get her new home ready for her.

I'm a bit excited - can you tell?

I just had to share!

She'll hopefully be happy to hang out in the shop sometimes.

Maybe you'll get to meet her.

If you're lucky!

xxx

A little visitor...

Sean looked out of our kitchen window early this morning & spotted this gorgeous Australian Native bird trying to enter a hole in our neighbour's wall. It was a Crimson Rosella I do believe.

It pecked a lot of brick away but could still only manage to squeeze itself halfway in.

Then it flew around to perch in the "bath tree" outside our bedroom window and chirp at me. (It's called our "bath tree" because it was planted forever ago in an old bath in the back yard.) I adore it even though it is quite straggly. So do the birds apparently!

I wanted to stay and watch it all morning but Sean reminded me that we had to get on with the day!

We see so many native birds in Cooks Hill!

I just adore living here!

xxx

Can't complain.

Gosh we've been going through packaging quickly lately!

Which is great - don't get me wrong.

I spent hours (and hours) Gocco printing recycled paper bags yesterday. Today I get to put our exchange policy inside each one before putting them into bundles to cart into the shop and plough through again! It's a glamourous existence.

At least I get to watch Seinfeld while I do it.

Mustn't complain!

We could still be working for huge, soul eating National corporations and considering going postal.

xxx

The top of our world...

After breakfast at Frankies we decided to take a leisurely drive around Nobby's Beach then up to the obelisk with my Lomo Fisheye Compact. Obviously the photos I took with her are yet to be processed but I also took some Instagram shots - to share now.

We can see the obelisk from our new lounge room window and so, naturally, I could see our building from up there. I love living back in Cooks Hill where I've lived so many times in so many stages of my life. The suburb has changed in many ways over the years. Unfortunately due to some shortsighted right wing councillors it may soon change a lot more. And not for the better. But I have to keep hoping for a miracle - hope that the Laman Street figs withstand the current stupidity as they have withstood many storms and gale force winds since the ugly fences were erected. Ooops sorry - went off on a tangent there - it's in the forefront of my mind today though as I've had some time to actually relax and look around.

I'll stop now. I know I go to extremes - not blogging for days then blogging a few times all at once! Never been one for "rules".

xxx

Monday morning at Frankies Place...

We finally made it to Frankies Place.

It was just as exquisite as we'd imagined; after hearing such rave reviews from our lovely Customers. The lovely staff gave me permission to take a few photos, we were there very early this morning so had the second floor all to ourselves.

The atmosphere is right up our alley and the food is of the same high quality as the aesthetic, presented in a no nonsense, elegant style.

I'm no cafe reviewer (obviously!) but I do recommend you give it a try next time you're on Darby Street - if you can get a table.

I hear they can get quite busy in peak times.

Always a good sign!

Just a hop, skip & a jump up Darby Street from our little store:

133 Darby Street

Mondays - Thursdays: 7:00am - 5:30pm

Fridays - Saturdays: 7:00am - 10:30pm

Sundays: 7:00am - 5:30pm

xxx

PS No I don't have a vested interest in their business!

I just like to share things we like with you guys.

I thought it was a secret?

But, as I've seen it plastered online virtually everywhere -

I'm jumping on the bandwagon too!

Frankie is soon to release a new publication named Smith Journal - a slightly more guy friendly mag. I know I'll be getting a copy though as I'm sure, like Frankie itself, it won't be exclusively for one gender. We've ordered a reasonable amount of them as the first Issue is Limited Edition and we don't want our Customers to miss out!

Want more info?

Head to the Frankie website why don't you!

xxx

Busy and happy

We've been busy beavers!

Yesterday was our "day off" together.

hee hee hee

We spent it screen printing Anorak Tees for grown ups + Anorak Tees for babies & kiddies + Anorak Teatowels + gocco printing Anorak Cahiers + making badge sets & greeting cards.

Oh yes, then we heat set everything we'd printed.

And you know what? It was really satisfying & enjoyable & lovely.

This morning we popped in nice and early to squeeze it all into stock. Ahhhh satisfaction.

And.... totally off the subject.

This is my new cuckoo clock. I bought it online from ETSY.

ETSY is my downfall I'm afraid.

Usually I buy handmade goodies from there but a Customer suggested I look up clocks in the vintage section and, before you knew it, it was in my basket. Very dangerous - shopping online in your PJs - if you have no self control. Sean hung it in our little kitchen for me this morning. It's one loud ticker!

We had to hang it as far from our bedroom as possible.

Our little apartment is starting to feel more like home everyday.

xxx

PS We keep discussing opening an online store but we're just not sure we have the time to give it the attention it'd deserve and demand.

There are only enough hours to go around now....

Happiest Birthday ever!

It's my Birthday today!

And guess what!

I'm (well we are) getting a shoodle!

A Toy Poodle cross Shih Tzu!

She's almost black and she was only born around ten days ago and we're not bringing her home until nearly the end of September and (can you tell I'm excited?) we're trying to think of what her name will be! She is one of the gorgeous tiny eensy weensy creatures in the above photo. Awwwwwwwwwww you may get to meet her one day as I hope she'll want to hang out in our shop sometimes.

I can just tell that today is going to be the best Birthday ever!

Already!

xxx

PS. Sean made me caramel slice (from Afternoon Tea Cookbook) and had my favourite silver "Giddy Up" bracelet repaired and my Sister Jen bought me the most beautiful perfume by Anna Sui.

I am spoiled rotten aren't I.

And it's only 8 in the morning.

NEWS FLASH!

This just in:

Until the end of August we will be offering a massive

20% OFF

the marked prices of all of the lovely Sheeps Clothing hand knit Scarflettes & Beanies in store!

"Bring your truck!

Bring your trailer!

Bring your wife!

And save!"

Remember that ad?

Ingenius.

xxx

New VIVA Handmade has just flown in!

These sell pretty darn fassssst! Probably because they are gorgeous AND practical. These new Viva Handmade vintage wool phone/gadget cases - as pictured above - are on the shelves right now.

We still have a few (literally) iPhone cases and a similar amount of iPad sleeves designed & hand made by the clever (and lovely) Leanne in stock too.

We love handmade.

xxx

My sister Jen

My sister Jen loves sewing.

That being said, she gets bored easily.

This means that she creates mostly one-off pieces for her two labels Hexsix(6) and Songbird.

This means that you need to like a piece AND have it be the right size for you. Fantastic when it works out that way, as you walk away with a unique creation that none else will be wearing.

Very recently she created three, one-off, "Lolita" style frocks.

The detail is just divine on these delicious dresses.

You may have seen the one pictured below in the window display last week? It was my favourite.

I wasn't alone.

It sold on Tuesday to a very lovely (and beautiful) Artist friend.

Sean told me that it looked just perfect on her too.

She loved it so much that she took a photo of it when she got it home. I pretty much emotionally manipulated her into allowing me to use her photo on my blog, to share with you.

Hey that's what friends are for!

Isn't it just scrumptious?

xxx

PS. I think you can tell which photo was shot by an Artist.

hee hee