Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I have an addiction....

to BLOGS!
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It's almost 2am and i can't seem to pull myself away from the comp due to the discovery of one awesome blog after another. ARGHHHHH! In the background i can hear my dear hubby snoring away and though my eyes are getting droopier with every word i read i need to feed my addiction.
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This all started with me telling myself that i'm doing the responsible thing of educating myself on all things etsy, which lead me to visit about a million stores and whenever i stumbled on a seller i was particularly impressed with and discovered they had a blog.. well i just had to pay em a visit, didnt i? and now i'm hooked!
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And its not like i just scroll through them aimlessly, i seriously find myself reading every entry as if somehow i will find the hidden secrets to their talent and then glory will be mine *insert evil laugh* muahahaha!
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At least we know one thing... the world is filled with an amazing range of creative souls and knowing im one of them (or tryin to be) makes me all warm inside.
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What i should be doing!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Olive & Lollie

Before i get too ahead of myself let me tell you the story of how i even got here. Back in my Tafe days i met this gorgeous girl Laura who i clicked with automatically. She and i worked on assignments together and pretty soon started to catch up regularly after school hours. To say the least i absolutely believe that we are soul mates. In my opinion soul mates don't necessary need to have all that 'love' connotations attach to it. Soul mates can be two people who connect on a spiritual or soul level.

We've been besties for years now and have dreamt/talked about opening our own label one day. We came up with the name Olive & Lollie and had the ambition of creating beautiful girly designs but as usual work, family, loved ones kept us busy and so we only dabble in Olive&Lollie casually. Well lately we've been itchy like mad to get creative and have decided to design a girly clothing range that is separate from Olive Farm and her upcoming store Lolliette.

Today she popped over and we started making gorgeous roses from different ribbons and handsewed them on a singlet finished off with some lace. It's just a trial run to get the mojo happening but already we were squeeling with delight over the results.


close up of the roses
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I can hear all the girly girls just sigh
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Gorgeous Laura modelling

Thanks babes for being you =)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Meet Ella

Ella is a new addition to Olive Farm. She was accidently created while i was working on a few sketches. I love giving backgrounds to all my fictional characters, it brings them to life and makes them easier to market (well i think anyways). So here are a few things you didn't know about Ella -

She enjoys eating paddle pops, collects the sticks and uses them to make birdcages.
Her favourite colour is red and she can't leave the house without accessories in her hair.
She doesn't watch much tv but can spend countless hours reading in bed, especially on a rainy day.
Ella is still searching for her soul mate and singing love songs out loud helps her hold on to that hope.

I've also changed the style of font for my name. Its alot easier to stitch and looks cute on her bottom =) i think im going to work on a few more diva's (her nickname) before creating her a boyfriend.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Rainbows at Stereo Sonic

Music festivals, gigs, or dance raves have always been a fave of mine. Forget the music for a second (tho some of the performances have been out of this world eg Daft Punk) and focus on the people. I adore seeing what cool outfits ppl come up with, the event is usually a visual overload of a million colours and i love it! My friends and i always pick a colour for the event and wear matching singlets with our lil logos sewed on or some other design to make us stand out from the crowd, thus easier to find eachother in a tent of like 300+.

Stereo Sonic Music festival is less than 2 weeks away and we've decided on Orange as the colour of choice. Eddee and i plan on doing something alil different (will update later) and thinking about the day inspired me to create this ultra girly rainbow headband which i will wear on that Sunday.



I'm also thinking of creating more for my upcoming etsy store and will probably experiment with different colour arrangments.

To all the Perthians going to Stereo... keep your eyes open for rainbows =) I've also decided to take photos of randoms wearing standout outfits, so be prepared to be snapped haha

My Weekend

Aren’t weekends meant for relaxing and taking it easy?

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Well not for me!!

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Just this weekend I went to a craft fair, spotlight for supplies, ikea for a new work bench, the beach, watched dvd’s, went out for dinner with friends, and reorganised my entire studio… not to mention the hours I spent putting finishing touches onto my flower brooches. pheeeewww! I’m exhausted from just writing it all down.

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my pretty brooches


However I am glad that I utilised the free time with Ed as I definitely would have had difficulties loading the furniture from Ikea into the car. I loveee my new workspace and will post up pics as soon as I tidy it up a bit. I secretly really enjoy seeing pictures of other people’s studios because in my opinion it says a lot about the person. I’ve viewed some who are really super duper organised (almost too clinical) and there are those who have crazy splashes of colour everywhere. I believe it’s important to work in an environment that you love and that will automatically transfer onto your what your doing.

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Also I had a fabulous time at dinner with friends at Italian restaurant Giardini in Leederville. We were all there to celebrate beautiful Anh’s birthday. The best part of the night for me was when we went for coffee and cake down the road to this new cafĂ© Greens&co. The interiors blew me away! Practically everything was from Ikea (as you can see I have a shameless love affair with Ikea) and the space was hugeeee, with the walls covered in music posters. I can’t wait to go back again.

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dinner at Giardini

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Greens & Co

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Maybe I’ll take it easy next weekend… hmmm.


Thursday, November 13, 2008

Home is where the heart is...

My husband and I live in an adorable villa, in a block with 6 other houses. From day one I’ve spent all my energy turning the empty shell into what is now a comfortable home. The house is small enough for just us two but has enough space so it doesn’t feel crowded and we each have our own areas. I’ve taken over the spare bedroom and turned it into my studio and Ed has completely dominated the living space in front of the TV since getting a PS3 for his birthday.

My desk faces the window and I like to open up the curtains and let fresh light and air in as I do my work, as well as play music from the laptop. Across from us there is a family comprising of 3 people, mum, dad and a little boy about the age of 3. They’re a little shy but everyday mum and little boy go for a walk and I can always hear him shrieking in fits of laughter reminding me of my nephew Xavier.

If I’m not running around picking up supplies I can pretty much sit in my studio all day working. I tune out when I’m in the zone and so I try to get as much housework out of the way as possible so I can focus on Olive Farm.
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Yesterday afternoon I created these cute little houses which I’ve decided to turn into key rings.

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*no place like home*

Aside from finishing one of my pieces, my best part of the day is when I look up from what I’m in the middle of to see my husband walking past the window from his day of work and know that in a few minutes I’m going to get a kiss hello.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Big Reveal

I have to say that this blog has been sitting in cyber space untouched for at least a week and if it wasn’t for the unconditional support and encouragement from my husband I probably would have left it there for much longer.

The truth is I felt a little silly writing about
something I haven’t even done. I kept telling myself once I opened my etsy store I would start blogging and then I realized after reading a lot of other blogs from etsy users, that the best parts of their stories were about their journey, creative thought process and the inspiration behind their work.

There was also another part of me that said ‘%$#* it! I don’t need to justify why, just do it Liv!’ but I’ve only limited her to 1 red bull a day and she’s calmed down heaps since then haha

Well as you now know I am the creator/designer of the accessories label ‘Olive Farm’.

Previous to this venture I was and still actually consider myself a visual merchandiser. I studied Interior Decoration in Central Tafe, Perth WA and like most artists before me arts and crafts seemed to followed me for as long as I can remember ( in fact I’m surprised I didn’t come out of my mum with a sketch pad and lead pencil). As a little girl I would draw on everything, including my legs when I couldn’t find anything else and once my dad found out he spoilt my sisters and I by making us thick books out of butchers paper, which he stole from his fish & chips shop. I also recall me drawing lovely pictures on the wrapping of peoples orders which was discouraged by my dad when he caught me, though I seriously believed, at the time, my art was appreciated by the customers.

It came to no big surprise when I told my husband, family and close friends about my desire to create Olive Farm as the artistic juices were practically spilling from my head. The only thing I kept wondering was ‘why in goodness name didn’t I do this ageeessssss ago?’ however i've let that go and im now concentrating on the future.

Anyways I hope you tune in once in a while to see how things progress. For now I’m working late into the night most days, trying to create as many different pieces I can to showcase a variety of delicious little bits and pieces for when I finally DO open my store.

Wish me luck =)