Bitten by the Travel Bug.... again!

You guys, I had great plans to continue on my plant posts and show you some DIYs and planters.... but time got away and life got in the way (ooo, poetic?!)

Anyway... BIG news!
I'm headed to USA in a few days!!! Yipee...
Mr Peck and I get to participate in Summer Camps in Yosemite!

So excited to be leaving the miserable, cold Sydney behind and heading to summer days (I'm reading about excitedly on my favourite blogs). You better great us with warm sunny days LA!!!

This is my view from work - don't let that blue tinge fool you though, it's definitely storm blue!!

Anyway, so we'll have a spare couple days in LA before we head up to Yosemite.... Any recommendations?

I'll try and post a few updates from camp, but if not... Wishing you a lovely winter (for you Aussies). Can't say I'll be missing it!!!

You Are in Control!

Lately I've been really thinking about the direction of my life, and how I spend my time.
I think it's something that happens to most people as you get older and have more responsibilities and things that drain your time. I've read countless posts lately from bloggers realising social media and all this technology stuff really disconnects you from life and living.

Last week I turned 25.
I look around at my favourite bloggers, look at where they are in their life, what they've achieved... and I am shocked that I am older than some... and definitely not as accomplished.
I look around at the people that I follow on Instagram, that inspire me daily ... and am shocked at how creative people can be, and how they are living their dreams (or maybe, they are living my dreams!!)

Today, I was looking for design inspiration and came across this quote by Dave Gamache:

"Take a moment and realize you're in control of your own life. Odds are, no one is stopping you from doing what you want. Stop going through the motions every day and take control of your life. Waking up at 8AM, going to work, coming home at 6PM, watching TV for 2 hours and going to bed is fine routine, but shake it up and get out of your comfort zone more often."

Um... Hello. How did he know what was my daily routine? Except I wake up at 5:50AM, go to work, come home at 6:38PM, cook tea, watch a movie for 2 hours and go to bed. Sometimes I really want to shake things up - do the unexpected... But it's hard, and it's tiring and sometimes I'm lazy (no.. make that usually!)

But am I living? Am I excited to be alive, do I wake up with a smile? Can I look back at the last few months and say, I really lived the bananas out of February.  Nope. No I can't.

So this is me making a public declaration that I really want to change that!
I want to work on the ideas floating in my head, I want to take the time to be creative for my own sake (not because I get paid for it), I want to go to the beach after work and eat chips and a milkshake in the sand as the sun dips below the horizon, I want to go for an epic bike ride and come home exhausted but satisfied, I want to dress up in silly clothes and have a dance party, I want to bake lots of different cookies, make a huge mess in the kitchen, and eat them all (with icecream).... I want to do crazy things, and fun things... and scary things.

I want to make changes & follow through on plans ...

I want to be in control of my own life!

Naughty little blogger

Oh Hello. Yes, I've got to admit it.. I've been a naughty little blogger.

But I've been good else where.

You can find me on twitter & instagram these days.

Here's a catch up of what I've been doing.

I've also joined up for Send Something Good ... I participated last time in Gentri's Package Pals and I am so excited for this one!! I got assigned my secret blogger yesterday and I gotta say, I am pretty darn excited! I already know lots about them and have a fair idea of what I'm going to send in the package!!! Yay!

It's a hippy life!

Today if you visited my pinterest, you probably would have seen a lot of these images getting pinned! I am so excited to be working on getting Flashbox Creative's first ever collaboration shoot together.... It's in the super super early stages yet, but I am hoping for big things! All part of my plan to get our business  p u m p i n g.

//I've been a little discouraged lately... 

I'm searching for a job and am just not getting anywhere. I don't hear back from any of the jobs I'm applying for and it kind of makes me think that I am not very talented.  

//BUT... I'm trying not to let that get me down, and putting my efforts into my own little business. Life is very hard on only one measly little income... I'm not going to share how much Mr Peck & I are living on at the moment, but let's just say it's enough to cover rent and the food (as long as we don't eat too fancy!)

//POSITIVE THOUGHTS p l e a s e ! && If anyone would like to offer me a job, I'll take it! 

//PS. You can find me on Instagram (under tinkerfinca), Facebook, Pinterest && Twitter too!

Living + Loving

I feel like I'm on such a role lately! After having a serious reflection and discussion with analysis queen (mum) about my life and attitude towards things, I'm feeling super happy and inspired to make and do .. and live (please don't take that to mean I was suicidal... I mean actually really live life to the fullest)!

Today I finished off a pretty little present for my bestie and sent it... I am pretty happy with how it turned out and can't wait for her to see it! If you want a look see, make sure you stop by my facebook or pinterest! And also, I regularly update my accounts over at twitter and  facebook.. so if you want to keep up with my day to day life, make sure you head over and like/follow..

Aaaand... I think I finally came up with a new blog name!!!! I know you guys have been voting over there --> and I am so grateful, but after letting the names sink in and hearing some of your suggestions, I put the two together and came up with a new one that I'm absolutely loving! Yay! Because I said I would do a little give away if you guys came up with a new name for me that I loved more, I will still give you until the 1st of April at 9:00pm to get any suggestions in, but I'll take down the poll.

So if you think you have a fantastic name that I would absolutely love, head over to this post for the details and leave a comment with your suggestion.

Something else I've been working on today... can you guess what it is? Come back tomorrow to find out!

A list of Currents....

Doing/ procrastinating

Wearing/ purple track pants, red t shirt, towel on head (trying out a camomile tea hair tonic)

Smelling/ camomile tea 

Feeling/ guilty for not having started my to do list for today

Seeing/ citrus coloured fingernails

Hearing/ the whir of the computer fan and my fingers across the keyboard

Thinking/ about the things I need to do today, and about renaming this blog

Wishing/ I could magically make money from the things I love

Want to join in?

Watch me!

I'm now the proud owner of this fantastically yellow amazing watch! Thanks husband, you are the bomb diggity!

I have sooo much to share with you guys... but so little time right now :( 

I'll give you a brief list:

1/ My birthday was on the 7th... I got totally spoilt like you wouldn't believe!

2/ I am working 2-3 times a week (hence the lack of blog time!)

3/ I finally bit the bullet and bought a few beauty things I've been wanting (thanks again husband!!)

4/ I've got a list of great movies I want to share with you!

5/ I am contributing to a brand new blog, launching in a few weeks

So, watch out brussel sprout, a few blog posts (and photos) coming your way over the weekend! 

home sweet home.

Yes, that's right... I'm finally home! Yay! Oh the joy. It feels kind of weird. Like I'm on holidays now... although that's starting to wear off now with the realisation that I have to cook tea each night, and the house needs cleaning, and all the suitcases need unpacking, and there's lots of washing to be done, and I have to find a job, and ... the list goes on ..

The jet lag hasn't been too bad and I only woke up at 4am the first morning. I've been keeping pretty busy with trips to the doctor for Mr Peck's knee (he injured it while snowboarding) and trying to add more to my portfolio. It's slowly getting there... 

Here's a little something I designed for Valentine's Day.... 

I've got a few projects planned for Valentine's Day, but because Mr Peck reads this blog, and I want to surprise him, you guys will have to wait! hehe. I'm pretty excited about it though.. 

Well, back to work I go.. just wanted to stop in and say hi :)

The. List.

{via}

I just added a page.

It is a List.

A list of 50 things I want to do. Well, 50 until I think of more.

I haven't given myself a time frame because some of the things are not achievable in the near future.

Some are.

I wish there were more things that were achievable right now, but there aren't!

Most of them require a lot of hard work and some time.

But it's actually quite a good activity to do. Helps you get some perspective on exactly where you want to be as opposed to where you are.

And... to give myself something achievable to do right now, here is my Friday to do list:

1. Clean the house 
• Kitchen = wash dishes
• Bedroom = fold clothes & put away
• Bathroom = scrub everything
• General = Vacuum 
2. Work 
• Banners
• Website
• Logo, Business cards & Bookmarks
3. College
• Knit

I'm not sure I will get through all of that but I will start by turning off the computer. And by turning off, I don't just mean stepping away from it, I mean powering down. ... Removing temptation..... .

Maybe I should do this:

PS. I'm excited to say, I've got my first guest poster lined up!!! Yay! Stay tuned for that one :)

a list of currents.

currants via

current state of stomach: empty

current mood: content bordering on inspired

current state of house: messy. hmph.

current state of husband: asleep on the bed.

current outfit: jeans, shirt, singlet. 

current wish: to buy more makeup

current hair-do: messy up

current stress: design work that I always procrastinate on

current obsession: shirts. i want more.

currently craving: mango

current favourite colour: still yellow. 

currently smelling: clean shirt smell :)

Play along!

familiar. captured.

I didn't want to include any words... but I am a girl who likes to talk, so that is a difficult task for me! We had a weekend away for mum's birthday. I love my family very much.

excursion

For the last 2 days I was on an excursion to Sydney.

We visited the art gallery of NSW. and saw the mad square exhibition and the exhibition of some pre-raphaelite drawing.. both interesting, but nothing reallly caught my attention.

But I got sketching in and that was fun. Here are some pictures..  

day 1 & day 2.... 

breakfast and lunch....

the second image is from a book - they are knitted slipper things.... i want to make them!

good intentions

After getting home from college I was inspired to start compiling a scrap book of all the things that I find along life's journey that inspire me. I was inspired to be inspiring... ? Anyway. I sorted through a bunch of magazines, found a bunch of cool things, felt pretty inspired.... and that's where it ended.

I have to say, I'm not really enjoying having the internet back. It's so much nicer without it. I wanted to get some work done for my studio. .. I wanted to get some design work done... I wanted to do something, make something.. but instead I played Age of Empires online and browsed pinterest. I need to learn self control when it comes to internet! I really wish I had a lock for it! hehe

Anyway, before my creativeness wasted away, I drew this picture of Mr Peck (which doesn't look that much like him) and stuck these pictures in my inspiration journal.

my brand.

Do you guys have a brand that you swear by for body & face care products? I never have. I always steered towards Clean&Clear because it worked well enough for me in my teens. I tried a few others like Neutrogena but it reacts with my skin. I never want to pay a lot either and usually get whatever is on sale or cheapest at the supermarket....! I'm a stinge, I'll admit it! 

But lately my skin has changed. It's becoming difficult! Maybe it's age, I'm not sure... Winter probably doesn't help either.  I have started to get dry skin on my face and a super sensitive scalp (and a few wrinkles!!) Noooooo! It's really annoying and for someone who never pays much attention or money to beauty products it's been a long winter searching for something that works. Add to that my new found fear of chemicals like Sulphates (which are found in de-greasers), Parabens (which apparently cause cancer!!!!) and other fun things like that.

I haven't found a favourite face moisteriser and cleanser yet (but I have some options to try - keep reading)... which is unfortunate because my face is so dry, no matter what I put on it :( ... but I think I have found a shampoo that is gentle enough but works, annnd that is free from all that yucky stuff. 

Enter Sukin. I was first introduced to the brand earlier this year when I won some hand cream from my friend over at Like A Vegan. It is excellent! It smells amazing, soaks in so well, doesn't leave you greasy (the worst in hand cream) and makes your hands so so soft.  I have been looking at the products on the website for a while but because they don't sell from their website, I've never gotten any further. 

But on Thursday we went to the shops and we found this amazing little shop full of organic products and super cute baby toys and other things. And they had a whole Sukin section. I think Sukin can also be found in David Jones and Myer but this is the first time I'd seen it in a shop, so I was excited :) 

I bought the Protein Shampoo and really like it! Just like the hand cream, it smells great. It doesn't lather into a huge frothy mass (which I usually like) but I actually think I like this better, knowing that what makes the lather is chemicals! It doesn't hurt my scalp (I've used it twice now and my head hasn't been itchy yet) and when my hair dries - soft and manageable. I only got the shampoo this time because I find with my short hair I don't really need conditioner. It was semi expensive at $12.95 for 500ml but so so worth it (and not a bad price to pay for organic shampoo that works)

Now I want to get all the products! Face moisteriser, Face scrub, lip cream, Night cream, Wrinkle cream.. And when I do, hopefully I can say that I have found a favourite in them as well.

So, I'm excited to say - I've finally found my brand! At least in shampoo for now!

moving & shaking... sans the shaking

Man, I have been trying to make this post for hmm... about a week now but having no internet makes it a bit hard.. and to make it worse, college internet doesn't let me post?! Grr annoying!

Right now I am in Melbourne on a surprise visit to Mr Peck's family.  Ahh I love surprising people :) So fun!

So, we've officially moved into our new place. We finnnnallly moved all those last little bits of stuff that you have absolutely no idea what to do with, use them occassionally, but not enough to have a place for. We finnnnallly cleaned the old place, and we have allllllmost found a place for everything in our new house.

We even took a trip to IKEA yesterday and got a few pieces that make the place look pretty orgaised and nice :) Yay!

Annnyway.. so here is the last few days according to our phones...

A surprisingly delicious baked potato mexican style - lunch when we went to Ikea (It tasted soooo much better than it looks. Probably the best potato I've ever had!!)

I don't know why this loaded on the side? It is normal way up everywhere else hehe.

Anyway, this is beginning of setting up our Ikea purchases... The part before it got annoying and we were excited ;)

Annnd, that would be my first video appearance on here... true blue aussie style. It was after during a walk near our house... Yup... I haven't really watched it back before posting, so I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate and I'm sure it's embarrassing. I just felt showing you a video ;)

jumble jumblebees

Hi. 

This is gunna be a bit of a jumbled post. .. We are in the process of moving house so that pretty much sums up the reason for the weird combo you're about to witness..... 

We have been packing for about a week. And throwing soooo so much stuff out and what we are left with fills about half of one of the rooms in our house. Don't you think that it's weird that the whole contents of your house can fit into half a room? I thought so! (That's excluding most furniture mind you).... But I am so happy that we have managed to cut down on a lot of the clutter and junk because it means when we move into our smaller house, we won't be struggling to fit it! Yay!

On to our next topic - Cake. Mmmm cake.. Glorious chocolatey goodness. So, I really didn't feel like going to the shops today and seeing as we are trying to move, filling up the pantry didn't sound like a good idea anyway. So I decided to make do with what we had in the pantry & fridge. Which wasn't much. The list of what was in the pantry (& fridge) went something like this:

Fridge/freezer: 

• Bag of carrots
• Multiple jars of half finished jam, some may or may not contain mold
• Half a carton of soy milk
• 2 eggs (date of purchase - unknown)
• Unsalted butter - 250g
• Wilted celery (I'm always too lazy to cut it up and store it in water)
• Apples (2 or 3)
• Frozen peas & corn
• Half a loaf of frozen bread (date of purchase - unknown)

And that about sums up the fridge/freezer... not a whole lot to work with ey?! 

Pantry (abbreviated version):

• 1 bag raw sugar
• Small amount of brown sugar
• Flour - self raising, plain and wholemeal plain
• Dried apricots
• Packet of dates x 2 (I never eat these, why do I have two packets?!)
• Cereal - Half eaten and likely not the be eaten coz for some reason there are 2 half eaten biscuits inside the bag?! I don't even have children... I guess I have a husband though... and I am mildly weird.
• Herbal Tea
• Black eye Beans (not peas) - dried version
• Cocoa powder
• Yeast
• Lots and Lots and lots of plastic bags
• Golden Syrup
• Rice (small amount)
• Cous Cous
• A small amount of pasta (not enough for anything but too much to throw out -  I am a self confessed hoarder.. which is why we had so much junk to throw out)
• Unopened bottle of tomato cooking sauce
• Can of Nutolene
• 2 containers with a very small amount of nuts from who knows when (mostly crumbs)
• Bread crumbs

And that about covers it.

I seriously could not think of anything to make with all that... well, at least anything that didn't take ages, or that was remotely edible. So, what did I make? Yup... you guessed it - Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding.... 

Was pretty decent and I was able to make it with the utensils and dishes I hadn't packed away yet! Bonus! By the way, I should mention that Mr Peck packed away all the pots and pans so cooking anything in a pot was out of the question.... 

So, we had a totally healthy and satisfying dinner (I write this as my stomach is beginning to grumble).

I would love to know what you would have made instead!!! Tell me.., Tell me!!! Let's make it fun.. I would also love to know what you make for dinner when your cupboard and fridge are decidedly empty and you don't want to leave the house. Best answer wins something... like a free thing. Maybe a recipe or something food related? Sound good? I think so.. I might send you a cookie, in the mail... and then you can eat it (or you could save it for next time you can't be bothered cooking)

And finally, I just wanted to say that I love this girl and everything she makes and I wish I was this cool ... I'm pretty sure I have shared her stuff before... but what the heck, it is that good I'm gunna share it again. It's my blog, so deal with it. .. . . .. ... .(eep, a tad feisty no? Sorry... I'm in an odd mood... can you tell?!)

limitless sunshine

Today was nice. It was one of those winter days, after a week of rain, where the sun comes out and it feels so good. It was warm enough to wear short sleeves! So I took the opportunity to snap some shots on the jetty about 5 houses down from ours... Gunna miss this place.

We are moving in about a week to be closer to college. It's great for a lot of reasons, but also sucky for others. But, mostly awesome. 

So this week is gunna be hectic. Packing. Moving. Editing. Designing. Masters. Weddings. ... Just a whole heap of work really! 

jeans - jeans west, t-shirt - roxy, beanie - super dry, shoes - converse

Sleep deprivation...?

My feature posts are all out of whack and on different days and that pretty much reflects my head right now! I am all over the place. Not much sleep and excessive amounts of stress and work does that to a person.

So today I am feeling really crafty and I was all ready to get some craft on when reality struck and I realised that I actually have just as many assignments to do this week as last, even though they were due this week. And the reason? I managed to wrangle myself some extensions. That doesn't mean I can slack off though, just means I actually have to do them this time! 

But to satisfy my crafting urge I'm just going to share a few pictures and various things so make this an eclectic and almost crafty post. 

First up:

This is a painting I starting and finished yesterday to help out Mr Peck. He had to film an advertisement for College and needed someone to represent the art department and get arty. That was me! Yay... His ad could get selected for actual use by College so here's hoping..

The other reason I did this painting was for my painting and drawing class which is something that was due this week... and which I got an extension for. It is representative of water and a rock pool and that sort of thing... 

Next up:

I found this tutorial and it looks fun. So on that far away day when I finish my assignments (it's not actually too far away, only about 2 weeks at most.. it just feeeeels like forever!) I might give it a wazz... Because let's face it, you can never have enough bags, and this one is just so cute, even though it's labelled as a Poopy clutch it could be so much more!

And then:

Right now, the weather is downright depressing so here's a cheerful photo and colour palette to enjoy.

{photo via}

And finally:

Here's a little bit of writing for you. Care of me. It's pretty random. I wrote it to Mr Peck. I know it's strange but it was 2am and I was super tired and sleep deprived. 

So on this glooomy day where all I want to do is craft, but my list of To Dos is epic, you can help cheer me up by sending some lovely comments my way! ♥

I'm baaaack

Hello-eeee!

I am finally back! 3 out of 7 assignments are done and dusted and I now have a little bit of down time before the next lot are due... but I still have work to do so regular posts are still off for the moment as I'm not sure how much spare time I will find to post.

I am having a Monday moment and look very similar to this -

{via}

Current mood: Grumpy

Current temperature: warm, with cold feet

Current state of stomach: empty

Current face: smudged with mascara from last night

Reason: I know, I know - it's really bad to sleep with your makeup on but in my defense I kinda forgot I was wearing any aaand I fell into bed last night already asleep (well, almost)

Current thoughts: I have to do a lot today.. I wish I had more followers, am I not interesting enough? How do I get more followers? Argh screw it. I have so much to do today. 

Current occupation: Wasting time, thinking about how much I have to do today.

Current annoyance: I am waiting for boots to arrive which I ordered from Windsor & Smith. I ordered them 2 weeks ago. I can't wait any longer!! Just get here already! They look like this -

appologies

{via}

Hey ...
Just want to apologise and say that if you stop by this blog over the next week or so there will be little to no action and regular posting will be cancelled....

why?

assignments

:(