I went to the westerstraat markets last Monday and found all these lovely vintage buttons that for some reason, were calling out my name. I have been getting the craft bug back of late. I think it is the change in weather, autumn does that to you doesn’t it. I’m thinking these buttons would make great eyes for some little creatures, but what do you think, any crafty suggestions?

How gorgeous is this dupioni silk dress? It’s poetic, its romantic, and it’s something I would most likely never wear unless someone was throwing a Tess of the D’Urbervilles party of sorts. (which, by the way I am hooked on right now. Hooked. )

The dress is from the very cool Makool. I must also add that the photography is sensational don’t you agree? Check out the etsy boutique here, and the Makool blog here.

Be Happy Now’s tiny books are a bit of finger-tingling gorgeousness too. And guess what? This next image will give you a clue…

This beautiful artwork from Jose Lampreia is appropriately titled rainy days. Yep, it’s raining in Amsterdam. Aren’t we all surprised. Not. Meanwhile, I’m told it’s sunny and 30C in Sydney right now. Pfff. I shouldn’t be too green as just as I wrote that, I looked out the window to see a horse and carriage clopping along my street. In Amsterdam, anything and everything goes – I probably could get away with wearing that dress after all.

You’ve just read another installment of…

…self-watering pots designed by Claus Jensen and Henrik Holbµk for Eva Solo. Perfect for indoor herbs don’t you think?…

Available at Top 3 By Design.

That is actually the title of a book, published in the ’50’s, written by Lorna Hill. My mother passed it on to me when I was a young girl… a beautiful book I recall it to be… old, and interesting looking, and well, I never read it. And in my growing wisdom and hindsight I know why – this would be a girl I could never relate to.

So patience is not one of my virtues. But I am hoping it is one of yours…My Heart Wanders feels like it has been and gone right? Wrong. It is still in it’s baby phase. My dear, patient readers, I’m here to confess that my workload, and all those little unexpected life changing scenarios that have occurred over past months took precedent over my gathering of all your beautiful images. And, well, another bit of wisdom I found is that I can’t write two books at once. Who knew. So, while my other yet-to-be-revealed book is now in the hands of my publisher, and my life seems to have calmed for the moment, I am going to pick up where I left off and gather the images together for the My Heart Wanders judges. I want this book to be fabulous, just in case you didn’t already know that. And fabulous things take a while to create, even though I want everything done yesterday. And as you will see from the above picture, this project has been in the works for quite some time! I did this drawing over a year ago, well before I even knew I would have my very own blog, or before I knew that each of you would be such an integral part of my wandering heart journey. This piece is sitting near the piano at my parent’s place, and when I was there I walked past it a number of times each day – a nice reminder of our journey together.

…………………………………..

Some My Heart Wanders news to tell you: As from my time back in Sydney, I made a little decision: to bring on board a special guest as one of the judges. With the other judges all in accord, without further delay I would like to announce that the new guest judge is… my Mum! So, welcome aboard Mum, thanks for accepting the invitation, and I do hope you will enjoy the journey with us.

…………………………………..

So, this weekend, it’s either dedicating my time to catching up on my accounting or My Heart Wanders – hmm, which should I choose?

xx

PS yes there is a heart in that rambling tree, it might take you all weekend to find it though, perhaps if you fuzz your eyes it will stand out more – let me know if you find it!

PPS how about a song to launch us into the weekend? I pick this one, from one of my all-time favourite female singer/songwriters/poets. Enjoy.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review and I’ve been buying a few books lately, so I will strive to review them all for you as I read them. This one I’m very happy to finally receive – it’s Esti’s self-published book called My Drawings: wolf men, girl skaters, three women, black skies and other stories…

I have always adored Esti’s drawings on her blog since we discovered each other, and was honoured to be amongst the set of hands in her Hand Project XV. But having a hand held book of her work is something quite different – while her blog gives me a glimpse of what she is up to, the book whisks me straight into her world where I find inspiration in the way she captures simple moments and invents little stories about skater girls, black skies and fantasy forests…

Esti’s drawings are whimsical, intimate and thought-provoking. Inspired by our very own My Heart Wanders, she submitted this drawing below for the project, it is one of my favourites…

I can’t wait to see what else she creates in the time to come.

…………………………………………..

You can purchase Esti’s book here.