I have been holding a basket full of thank you’s for a month or more and it is now overflowing – it’s time to dish out.

I have only just learnt that my dashboard on wordpress actually tells me when another blog has mentioned me in one of their posts. wow! technology! It never ceases to amaze me. There have been many of you mentioning me lately and I can’t tell you how wonderful this makes me feel to hear that I inspire you. So to each of you first, I say…

I treasure my blogroll and I keep each of you there in sight to share with everyone as well as so I can come visit anytime I like for an inspiration hit. So to my new readers, please visit my blogroll regularly, each blog in there is special to me. I always strive to add to the blogroll when I am able to visit the blogs from new commenters, so it is worth checking my blogroll regularly, even if I haven’t had a chance to post about new blogs and new friends, no doubt there will always be someone new there to inspire you too.

Here are a few new friends I’ve made lately…

Loobylu. What a champ is the loobylu creator, Claire – she added me to her June links and wow, I received a whole heap of new readers thanks to her! So hi loobylu readers, thank you for stopping by! I do hope you like it here.

Check out Claire’s etsy shop, it’s packed with great things, she is one incredibly creative gal! Thanks Claire, you rock. Hope you are having a fabulous time in Canada.

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The Shutter Sisters: An incredible and inspiring photo blog, please go and have a look, it is fabulous.

Thank you girls for mentioning my blog and the My Heart Wanders project on your blog.

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Stylist Kim Gray from South Africa.

It is so rare to make friends with fellow stylists – just like in the movie Devil Wears Prada, this is not the most nurturing industry to be in. But I am lucky to have a few great stylist friends who are genuine, kind, and beautiful, scattered around the world – and Kim is now one of them. She has a great blog full of the things that inspire her, and it is choc full of her latest work. So go and check out her blog and say hi from me. Thanks Kim!

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All Things Bright and Beautiful and Liberty Post, thank you for your beautiful words recently. Both your posts were so touching.

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A Cup of Jo. Who not only inspires us everyday with her great finds and introduces us to her fabulous family, but has also included me a couple of times in her blog post round ups! It seems Joanna has fallen in love with le petit bateau, and also loves the soundscapes. Thanks for sharing my posts with your readers Joanna! xx

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And last but not least, is Sherrie from Frenchy Finds. Sherrie makes the most divine soap – she has an esty boutique called Birch Bark Soaps, and she recently featured me amongst her favourite blogs when she was an etsy featured seller. Not only that ,she sent me some soaps to try out and now I am hooked! I have just finished using the peppermint poppyseed soap and it is simply divine. Go and stock up your soaps at Birch Bark, i promise you will not be disappointed! Thanks Sherrie.

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Thanks everyone. For your comments. Your encouragment. and your friendship.

I have to get going to gather some props and check on a set, but I’ll be back very soon. à bientot xx

Remember when my friends – the dynamo couple photographer David Knight and illustrator + artist Michelle Verghis – were staying in the (blog)house guest quarters?

Perhaps this and this will jog your memories.

Well I’m proud to announce that a body of David’s incredible work, including this nude you see below, just one first place in the London Photographic Association competition called The Nude.

Three cheers for David! You go get ’em tiger.

It has been raining here all night and although it is very soothing to listen to the rain splash over the rooftop of this petit bateau, it’s 5am and I am wide awake. Perhaps I can’t blame the rain entirely – my mind has been racing with the amount of work I have on my plate at the moment. Will I get it all done? Will all my clients be happy with what I create? It’s funny that no matter how long I’ve been working in this field, anxieties about whether my work is good enough are still as strong as ever. But I remember one of my favourite photographers told me it never goes away. And another one told me that is the sign of a great artist – he said that it fuels one’s creativity and that the moment you become overly confident that everything you do is better than the rest, you might as well blow your creativity a goodbye kiss.

So I keep those wisdom’s close to me while I wipe the sweat from my brow.

Meanwhile, this fabulous umbrella design you see above just came into my inbox via a newsletter from one of my favourite stores in Sydney, Top 3 By Design. It’s called the stand up umbrella and it was designed in Japan by Hironao Tsuboi…

I love simple design that makes you wonder, why didn’t I think of that?

do you? today i’ve found some black and white lovelies for those of us with heavy leanings toward the monochromatic…

A carnation from photo graffiti on the left, and the vanilla truffle bag from morelle’s boutique on the right. Both = yum.

these gorgeous black beads are a little over a buck. just a buck! who finds something these days for so little? me, apparently. They can be found at Blue Lady Studios. And on the right, are you wondering what it is? It is a handcrafted porcelain magnet that looks just like a beautiful piece of coral. I love it. Its from New York ceramicist Kim Westad.

I adore this silk cushion from Pamela Tang. Oh it would look perfect on my sofa.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of…

well folks, this little sound project has been alot of fun. There is certainly something special about looking at still images and listening to sound, isn’t there? It’s quite different to watching a moving picture. While I’ve been making these posts, I’ve been thinking – how would this differ if I used a video camera? It just wouldn’t be the same. It has taken me back to my Uni days when I was studying time based art, although then my focus was making short films with the now vintage technology of 16mm, however I did experiment a little with still images in film-style sequences and I really enjoyed it – so here I am again it seems, rekindling an old flame.

If you have enjoyed this series do not fret, I will be back with more, albeit spontaneously, over the months to come – this week’s series was just a taste to see how you liked it & to see how it might work on the blog medium. And I think it is unanimous that we all love the idea, is that right? so I’ll be sure to keep it as a regular feature. I can think of so many wonderful soundscapes to capture – living in a foreign land, listening to foreign voices, befriending foreign water creatures… the creative possibilities are endless.

But today, on our series finale, I thought you might like to hear what life sounds like for me on the houseboat. While part one was a glimpse of life on the canal when it rains, this little piece captures the essence of my days here – I feel a bit like I am living on noah’s ark, except that instead of the animals living on the boat, they live around the boat and come to visit me regularly. Can you believe this is in the middle of a city? I cannot.

So come on in and follow me…

let’s open a window…

and have a listen. Enjoy…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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Thank you everyone for visiting. It is such a pleasure to share my creative endeavors with you on a daily basis. You have become my muse. Thanks to you, who knows what I shall create next…