Blogs worth checking out

So I've been doing a lot of surfing on the information superhighway lately and have come across some fantastic new blogs. Due to my Internet Explorer Favourites getting to be a list as long as about 100 laptop screens, I've started writing them down in a notebook to refer back to. The only problem with this of course is I forget to check them for updates as they're not staring me in the face every lunch time when I sit down to have a sandwich and search the world wide web.


And so today I'm going to post a few blogs that are worth checking out - each one a little quirky, fun and different in their own kind of way.



Free Range Duck
First up is a hilarious website I found whilst looking for some vector images for a work project. I searched for stickers on Vecteezy. I found some. I also found some weird duck images that were totally unrelated but decided to download them anyway. I noticed the web address. Free Range Duck.


A cool project designed to get the cutest little duck image spread to every corner of the globe. I now have my own Free Range Duck on my partition wall at work and intend on taking him for a few escapades around Brisbane to send over to the crew at Free Range Duck. What fun. Completely pointless but fun. Tell me you're not laughing at the hilarious photos from the Secret Garden Party of ducks offering free hugs, right?!




Black Eiffel
I'm a sucker for all things design related - always wishing I'd actually gone to university after high school and studied it (instead of trying to fit in a college course part time while working at the age of 27). I'm also a sucker for a blog with beautiful photos and great links to websites that fill me with inspiration and ideas for things I can make (or design on the computer). I've just started drawing and creating images to start making my own cards for gifts and found a tonne of inspiration on a new blog I came across, Black Eiffel.


You can tell from the first image on the site that Rachel the writer is a graphic designer - her choice of images and words make you want to read through her posts for hours. I also love that she mixes her choice items to post - fashion, photography, music, design and more. One for the list.

How About Orange

So this was actually one of those "stumbled across it through a series of links and found a cool idea" type blogs. I haven't spent much time on the blog How About Orange itself but I noticed it had the BEST idea for crafty types who want to save money, like wrapping gifts creatively and love the adoration when someone comments on how lovely the present is (and they don't want to unwrap it). This is me in a nutshell by the way.

Have you ever wondered how the hell those big bows at the newsagent are made and never just took the time to pull one apart and work it out yourself? (I also can never find the ribbon they use anywhere - can you tell I've tried?). Well, fear not, here is the solution to your craft problems. Grab an old magazine, find a nicely coloured page, cut into strips as instructed, a few pieces of sticky tape and........ tah dah! You've got yourself the cheapest gift bow ever and you've recycled at the same time (ok, so the cost of the magazine may have been twice that of a bow from the newsagent but how many pages are there in the magazine you can make these from?).

Here are the instructions on how to make the bows yourself - and in case you don't have a ruler with inches, here is a quick inches to centimetres calculator.

In case you're wondering, yes I have attempted a bow already. And yes, I did intend on taking a photo and posting it but since it didn't look as nice as the one in the above pictures I decided I'd wait till I get better at it.

Design Mom

I also have to give a shout out to the wonderful Design Mom. I have mentioned her in a few post before but without a doubt, this is one of the coolest blogs I've come across since starting my own. Another designer by trade, the things Gabrielle creates for her kids and the parties she puts together are just wonderful. Should I ever have children, these are the sorts of things I've every intention of doing with them! (even though no doubt at the age of 3 years they are too young to appreciate a fully coloure coordinated get together).

You also have to admire her ability to do all this with 5 children (soon to be 6 as she recently announced she is pregnant again!). Some of the most wonderful images were for her daughters Maude's 10th birthday - a Young Einstein party, just delightful! What 10 year old wouldn't want to eat "brain" cupcakes and make cool science experiments? Not to mention the groovy gifts all the kids went home with (check out the covered clipboards - such a great idea).

I've loads more links to blogs and websites and the like but unfortunately, not enough time to list them so I hope you enjoy at least one of my pick from today. If you have a blog you think I should link to, feel free to comment or send me an email (over to the right is a link to my email address).

Till next time.....

d+s