ღ

I feel super stressed an a little lack-lustre about life right now. I think I just need some time away from the computer and escape into the country to rejuvenate my body and mind, as well as gain a little inspiration for design. So because I'm stressed and feeling really time-pressured, this will be a short but sweet post update. Basically, I've been getting a lot more sleep, trying to catch up on doing things other than uni work that I love and take in as much culture as possible this study break. I'm scared about my marketing exam result, but I tried really hard and studied so much, so hopefully I'll be right as rain. :)

These are my instagram updates of the things that have been going on in my life of late.

1. Free time left over to draw - it's actually such a relaxing thing for me to just sit down, empty my mind and draw freely.
2. Finished my latest little illustration, which can be viewed at a larger size in the Portfolio section on here.
3. Yummy breakfasts consisting of green tea + muesli with strawberries, almonds, chia seeds, LSA, blueberries, bananas, organic honey and Greek yoghurt - a great way to end my morning run!
4. I'd been eyeing off this necklace from Sportsgirl for some time now, was down to $4.95 so I bought it! The diamantes in the doorknocker ring are so amazingly sparkly in the light!
5. Playing around with Illustrator to create interesting selfies, haha!
6. Spring / Summer = fresh strawberry season. ❤



Until next time, have a listen to this 60's/70's summer inspired mix and keep on dreaming. ♥

Anywhere and Anything from bambisvalentine on 8tracks Radio.

✌

The last time I posted was over a month ago! i'm quite angry at myself for not being able to keep up with blogging, but I'm sure those of you who study can understand how difficult it is to find the time to blog and keep up with the amass of projects to meet deadlines for. I'm going to do a quick little update of where I am in life right now, and maybe find the time to post a longer entry in the near future. :)

I've been working on my projects for studio at the moment, still studying the history of the English language and deciphering different dialect and accent recordings of the British Isles. It's a bit job but I am closer to finishing after working on this project since March this year. I honestly cannot believe how quickly this year has gone! I thought 2012 was a fast year, but this has been crazy fast! Spring is now here and I've been craving the hot weather more that I ever have before this year! I'm excited for long hazy days spent with ice cream cones by the pool, reading my favourite magazines and novels. ♥ Despite this, the weather has been super up and down over the past few week, with dramatic bursts of rainfall one moment, to clear blue sunny skies the next! I'll never understand the weather around here, it makes it so hard to plan outfits for the day!

These are my instagram updates of the things that have been going on in my life of late.

1. You can probably tell I am in love with my jellybean shoes, but it's just because they're so cute and comfy, the fact that they are nostalgic is a bonus factor!
2. Part of my haul from the recent sample sale of Finders Keepers the Label, Keepsake the Label and Cameo the Label in my city - it was amazing and I picked up 10 designer pieces for only $100! These skirts are so beautiful and satisfy my craving for shiny clothing!
3. Model making out of regular ol' paper for uni. I am terrible with craft=related projects!
4. More model-making - my attempts at making some tissue papier-mâché egg decorations!
5. I've been living in these shorts by Finders Keepers the Label recently - they're such a flattering cut and the mint colour is beautiful!
6. Another part of my recent haul, these are the dresses. The teal dress is really lovely. ❤



Until next time, keep on dreaming. ♥

☆

So it has been quite a while since I posted something proper and meaningful on this little ol' blog! But as you may have read on my last update post, things have been incredibly hectic and I've felt so much stress, but I've somehow managed to push through it all and come out fighting fit! Except though, I have come down with a nasty winter cold, so I'll be trying to fight that battle now, with a healthy diet, plenty of exercise and lots of TV and film catch-up, such as Time Team and Poirot! I've also been meaning to see Farewell, My Queen for ages now, but alas time has escaped me! But now I'm on a bit of a break,I think I can reward myself with it. As you may have already discovered, I'm quite mad about anything related to Marie Antoinette, so this film looks right up my alley!

A few changes to my blog layout; I've removed the link to the following of my blog through blog reader (because as you have probably already known for months, it is about to become obsolete) so if you wish to follow me, I've updated the button to take you to my bloglovin' page. I would rather they have decided to keep blog reader alive, but you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

I've also been having serious cases of nostalgic hits (could be something to do with the shoes I just purchased...) and I've been drawing inspiration from my childhood, relating back to the certain toys I used to play with. One of the most prominent of those was the Polly Pocket franchise. I seriously miss these little opening and closing bundles of joy, they just were so amazing, so portable and so cute! I remember having quite a dew, including the mermaid storybook and the massive village! Did any of you, dear readers, own any of these wonderful toys when you were younger? Please share. ♡

Here's my month (or so) in images:

1. Getting through hours of study is made easier with a tasty breakfast such as this! Muesli with Greek yoghurt, raw almonds, bananas, strawberries, natural honey and chia - mmm!
2. Saw The Great Gatsby, which I have been wanting to see for over a year now and it luckily it did not disappoint me! Baz Lurhmann is a genius!
3. My (growing) collection of my most prized lip product - Revlon lip butters! Such amazing pigmentation with great moisture, no wonder everyone is obsessed with them!
4. Break is here, time to settle into days of drinking milky tea whilst fawning over the wonderful smelling pages of the new Frankie magazine.
5. I was so excited to receive these in the mail last week. I had been umhing and ahhing over whether to get them or not (although there was never any doubt that I would be getting them in the clear with glitter), but I caved and decided I must have them if I am able to properly show-off my sock collection with pride! As you can see, they are the cutest things ever. Even that synthetic plastic smell makes me all nostalgic for my youth! If you're dying for a pair to relive your childhood memories like I once was, you can head over to Jbeans and snag yourself a pair for $34.99.
6. I have been practicing my sewing skills for a project looking into British accents and dialects. I'm quite a terrible sewer so I'll need a lot more practice!

Well that's all I've got for now, ta-ta! ♡

Ailurophile

I have been working dilligently this week on my projects and luckily things have gone well and the fruits of my labor have not been in vain! I' m glad that I am being constantly pushed and challenged because it encourages and motivates me to put my all into my work, as well as

Here's my week in images:

1. This was my Good Friday dinner - i'd never cooked Atlantic fresh salmon before and I'd read it was a bit tricky to cook, so I was super apprehensive about messing it up, but luckily it came out perfect. I then just threw together a quick salad bed for it and it was amazing, salmon is probably one of the only seafoods I can bear to eat!
2. Thursday's outfit details - a glittery cat brooch + collar tips + my 80's electric blue jumper.
3. Pretty flowers I picked up from the Botanic Gardens - don't worry I didn't rip them off the actual plant (I would never do that) they were partially dried on the ground and I thought they would be interesting to study in my technical drawings.
4. Went for another exploration through the Botanic Gardens during the week - it is so beautifully tranquil to sit amongst the roses in the rose garden and just read and breathe in the fresh air.
5.Decided to try out a hair rat tutorial (created from a hair donut) and create a faux 40's style fringe, this is super messy but with more practice I think my technique will improve! I really like how it dramatically changes my look and adding flower hair clips to it just makes it even more interesting.
6. Little purchases on the side (study motivation!) - Faith and Lola scalloped pink drop-waist dress (so cute!) + Sportsgirl socks, I especially love the little pink frilly floral ones!

☁ I'm dreaming of fluffy clouds on a cool Spring day spent in the gardens, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a floating chiffon dress that nips in at the waist. I am still firmly attached to Summer although Winter is calling out to me, tugging me back towards itself. I feel like eating cherry pie whilst curled up with a Jane Austen novel and brewing some English Breakfast tea to be sweetened with milk. I wish to pet a deer in the middle of a cool emerald green forest while various native butterflies flit through the air like softened darts. ☁

I've created a playlist which is a tribute to my absolute favourite magazine, Lula. Every time I pick a copy up to read, I am completely immersed within the pages full of dream-like editorials and beautiful typography and can just stare at it for hours without tiring, it is a truly wonderful publication.

Waltzing through Lula-land from bambisvalentine on 8tracks Radio.

☁ Remember, every cloud has a silver lining. ☁

Strawberry Shortcake

I've been working hard at uni so I struggle to find the time to update my blog, but I must keep it up in order to remain relevant! Also, I see this blog as my little slice of cherry pie in the internet world, so it is my hideout and thought-collection jar, as well as my source of constant inspiration and personal expression. This week has been super intense for me, but if I'm honest, I am loving it. I love that the Masters degree is far more self-directed and client-orientated, and the focus is on the process as much as the final outcome. It feels much more real than 3rd year of the Bachelor's degree did. Plus, the Masters studio is so much better than the studios undergrads use! (The perks of post-grad life are noticeable :3).

Anyway, here's my week in images:

1. Yummny homemade lunch, featuring a salad base of fetta, spinach, cherry tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, lebanese cucumber and carrot with a Hungarian salami, cheese and dill toastie sandwich.
2. GRADUATION DAY!!!
3. T2 is my new heaven on earth - a lovely store entirely dedicated to the art of drinking tea, these are my kind of people.
4. Discovered Stella magazine by chance at my little local newsagent, decided I needed it and I don;t regret purchasing it, it is an amazing little publication filled with beautiful things.
5. My graduation presents, consisting of OWLS! I am sure you are all well aware of my owl-loving ways, they're so lovely and majestic.
6. This was the owl that came into my parents backyard recently, so beautiful and so rare as all my years of living at home and seeing the multitude of outback wildlife, I never once encountered an owl perched on my gate!

And these are some of the things which have been keeping me inspired this week.

Okay, I shall leave you all now, in order to read the latest Lula magazine and drink many cups of English Breakfast tea! ♡

Flowery Language

❀ hover your pointer over the image to reveal the message. ❀

Flowery. Address, balderdash, big talk, bombast, composition, discourse, elocution, eloquence, flowery language , fustian, grandiloquence, hot air, hyperbole, magniloquence, oration, oratory, pomposity, rant, verbosity.
Flowery - flow·er·y (flou-r)
adj. flow·er·i·er, flow·er·i·est
1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of flowers: a flowery perfume.
2. Abounding in or covered with flowers.
3. Full of ornate or grandiloquent expressions; highly embellished: a flowery speech.
4. abounding in flowers
5. decorated with flowers or floral patterns
6. like or suggestive of flowers a flowery scent
7. (Literature / Rhetoric) (of language or style) elaborate; ornate
flower·i·ness n.
[ˈflaʊərɪ]

I am a habitual user of flowery language, I just can't help it. I adore the English language in all its complexities and finesse, like an intricately woven silk fabric that gleams white gold in the brightest rays of sunlight. I love flowers too, every single type of flower is beautiful in its way and I love visiting Botanic Gardens just to see the vast array of flower species that inhabit the terrain. Something I'd like to start is flower pressing, because I think the permanence of the flower as retained in a book or in a special album is much like creating a tactile memory that encompasses different senses, particularly scent.

English has evolved and reemerged as a new and improved butterfly of expression, speech, writing and thought throughout the history of its existence; each new century words are added and changed, continuing the metamorphosis of the language as a whole into a complex and overbearing conglomeration of letters.

Reading and writing letters is a lovely past-time, which I also wish to take up again. I once regularly kept correspondence with childhood friends when I had moved interstate. It was a wonderful and exciting feeling that gives you butterflies when you hear a letter has arrived in the mailbox for you. I quite miss that feeling. I might even consider taking up pen pals, as this is something I've been thinking of trying when I was younger too, but never quite got around to doing anything about it. Even if there are mistakes in the letter writing or it is messy, blotchy and hurried in some areas, I think this adds to the charm and thought put into the letter; the person has considered how they fill the page with the particular words they choose to group together, the heady scent of the ink can still be smelled on the paper from the writing and the paper may smell of a specific scent that is used to associate with that person - it's so personal. There's something just so tactile and evocative about reading letters - the pen used, the paper and envelopes written on and sealed carefully and well as the stamps chosen - there's obviously a great deal more love and effort put into them, which is why I really miss this old fashioned way of communication in the 21st century (however, I cannot deny my love of the digital age and everything it has offered me, either).

When I think of words, I never really consider them as just random letters organised in such a fashion that create something with meaning. When I peruse the Oxford Dictionary for a particular English word, I sometimes like to imagine the words as part of a giant alphabet soup and I am fishing for the right combination of letters as I flick through the pages, looking for each corresponding letter in the word as each letter follows the last. Sometimes I just enjoy throwing the book gently into the air and seeing which page it lands on, whereupon I read through the various meanings and pronunciations of each word on that spread page. I love reading, I love writing, I love letters, I love thesauruses and dictionaries and I love words. I love the English language.

1. Feeling nostalgic over looking through childhood photographs of myself. I had style!
2. A self portrait, for my future website which I am in the process of building.
3. Summer fruits combined with Greek yogurt and natural organic honey make for a nice dinner. Fruit salad, yummy yummy!
4. Drawing lovely looking male models with perfect hair and perfect clothing. I wish all boys dressed lovely like this regularly, instead of in jeans hanging off their posteriors.
5. Beautiful, beautiful wedges I purchased online for only $30 + free shipping! They sparkle like golden fragments of citrine gemstones in the bright light and feel like I am walking on light fluffy marshmallows.
6. A lovely little visitor happened upon my doorstep in his mother's cozy pouch - a little joey kangaroo.

Also, here is another playlist for you all to enjoy while you day-dream, drink cups of tea, study or eat cake. It is focused on the beauty of the English countryside and being an anglophile. There are many instrumental pieces from period films which I just adore the scores of. ♡

Anglophilic Tendencies from bambisvalentine on 8tracks Radio.

Until next post my lovelies,