small talk with a sweet voice: sui zhen

talk to us about my favourite tune of yours, Little Frog... this song is set in-and-about the suburbs my siblings and i called home a few years ago. each was within one kilometre of the other, yet mine was visited the least frequently because it was ‘a little too far'. simply, all these small scenes intertwine within the same locale. my sister calls this her song because it includes a moment when i visited her to help draw hundreds of geometric shapes for an architecture project that kept her up till the wee hours. any tips and tricks for knock-knees stage fright? whiskey. can you name something you have won? twenty pennies in the Melbourne Cup (when i was two). what did you blue-tac to your walls as a teen? mostly all things Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys and Garfield, as well as scholastic posters of cutsie animals. what about something you have made from scratch? well that's easy, the stop-motion video for Little Frog. is there anything particular you fancy learning? Marine Biology and Japanese. best cure for a sore throat? hot toddies with manuka honey, plus lots of rest and patience. bright lips or blushed cheeks? i do both, i didn’t realise i had to choose? do you have any up-and-coming gigs we can get tickets to ASAP? yes! yes! come along and have a bop at the launch of my new album, Two Seas. Diary dates can be found here. hoorah! or should i say, galoomp! galoomp!

sipping sprinkles

mason jars. paper straws. edible confetti. whether you're a choccie cake kind of girlie or more of a fluffy sponge fan, i am almost certain you'll be making slurping sounds over this Cake Batter Milkshake recipe. see the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll with the big bad devils food cake over at Elsie's blog, A Beautiful Mess. 

fill that cart.

 a 'in-my-basket' list, from need supply co.

oh, for the love of colour (and cake)

apricot jam, rose water, pinot noir... these are some of the cupcake frosting shades you will be able to dip your paint brush (butter knife) into with this handy-dandy icing colour chart. all you need is a friendship of red (r), yellow (y), blue (b) and green (g) food dye and you have yourself a rainbow of frosting opportunity. budding artists/bakers can get an itty-bit better of a look at the colour chart and DIY know-how over at a favourite of mine, Oh the Lovely Things. now to decide between mint chip: 3 drops (b), 1 drop (g) and blueberry yoghurt: 5 drops (b), 3 drops (r) as decorative deliciousness? isn't this chart the cherry on top?!

i am very particular so that doesn't help!

i can't go past a pair of nice clogs, especially not ones as nice-on-the-eyes as these from Loeffler Randall's spring collection. i'm seeing spots and soft shades of pink. hmmm... how very jessie!! 

she's leaving home (again).

don't think for a minnie i have forgotten about this little place we share together, oh no not at all! in fact my tummy has been in twists and knots since we last spoke just thinking about my lack of existence. turns out i've been rather tied up with lots of ric-rac these past few weeks. not an excuse but more of an explanation. time to spill the secret... so it seems she's leaving home (again). yep! it is so long, farewell Melbourne-town and how do you do Sydney? why oh why? well. i've found myself a small spot among the team of magazine Cosmopolitan Bride. think pretty veils and charming charms and baby-breath bouquets! i can't say i am not the tiniest bit overwhelmed. but i can promise to post more soon. pinkie swear. jessie xx

p.s. i still wait for you.

speaking in our secret code

creative Rebecca Coagan Scharlatt has been busily beading this dandy range of morse coded jewellery. using gold dots on silky cord to spell out love me do phrases such as 'all of me', 'wild horses' and the rest (here), dot. dot. dot... s is for swell!