Spoonful
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  • January23rd

    2012, still pumped!

    This year has been great so far, don’t you think? I realise it differs from person to person, but for those of us chatting and reading each others’ blogs, you can feel a positive feeling coming out of January. I know there are serious things happening out there too and I don’t want to seem flighty, but I feel… we have recharged the batteries since this year started and I love it!

    Copyright Pakayla Biehn 2011

    This year I’m setting only 5 goals for new years resolutions, you know, ones that i really have to do. I’m not trying to down-size the resolutions but i’d rather set my mind fully on  those important ones rather than achieving none…  How about you? 

    July Sky Medium Print

    Solola Bag

     

     

    Linen Pouch

    2012 I dream of doing:
    More creative projects for the new home  -to start, I want to try some inspiring DIY projects that I’ve found…

    Alligator DIY pinata by OhHappyDay

    I have this project in mind for my friend’s party. I want to make one for my house too! & I also watched the documentary “EAMES: The Architect and The Painter” and I’m tempted to make this DIY hang-it-all coat rack by the ThompsonFamily blog it looks so easy and perfect, no?

    IMG_5952

    DIY By Thompson famil

    Tangerine candles by HonestlyWTF

     

    old-and-young:by Christian Coigny

    Swimming in the sea, drinking coconut water… taking lots and lots of film photos, I just can’t wait for Summer – its been a long time since my last Mexican beach visit (Yeah!) I’ll keep you updated.

    CAMERA- wild thing golden pendant

    By WildThingStudio


    _ _
    In these moments Visual Poetry, designer & traveller Sophi Flo (a.k.a. Jesophi ) seeks to inspire with surprises for your eyes and heart.

  • January18th

    Hello again wondrous Spoonful Readers!
    (hehe I know it’s rare to be here twice on one day for us, but heck why not?!)

    A few weeks ago, we received an email from a scrapbooking software company called My Memories whose latest scrapbook software (Suite V3) has just come out!
    Incase there were some scrapbookers out there (which we think there are, hello scrapbookers!) we agreed to run this giveaway which comes along with a discount to ALL our readers – yes! We like discounts & giveaways for spoondiful individuals!!

    To Win:
    Simply comment here about your passion for le scraps here OR send us a sample of a project you’re proud of.
    We will announce the winners on Monday so you have a bit of time to gather your creative forces and even make something :)

    For those who’d like a discount for being spoondiful:
    Our unique coupon code is: ?STMMMS46994
    This you enter into your cart during software purchase and it gives you $10 off.

    & voila!

    All for now lovelies, good luck to le passionate scrappers out there :) We hope you like this mini-tuesday :)

    thea.
    xx

  • January18th




    So we just received a delicious and gorgeous batch of photos of our latest issue from the very talented and lovely Emma Lamb and of course, we just had to share a few with you as it gives a beautiful glimpse into our latest issue for those who haven’t seen it yet. We thought we’d couple this with a few bits & bobs that are inspiring us today…

    TO WATCH:  Jane Fonda’s ‘Third Act’
    TO SEE: Ronald Searle’s magical drawings of love.
    TO HEAR: This American Life’s Poultry Slam (podcast)

    Oh & to RECEIVE we have a mini Tuesday-giveaway coming up, so watch this space :)
    Happy Tuesday Spoondiful Readers!!

    thea.
    xx

  • January10th


    image by beehive

    Some songs are needy. They insist that you listen to them and only them, and only intensely. There is something in them you know you need to hear, but you aren’t sure what it is.
    I first heard Joanna Newsom’s “Baby Birch,” in
    this YouTube video of a live performance that she gave in Amsterdam. If you’ve heard her before, you know that her songs are oceanic expanses of story and sound (often exceeding 7 or 8 minutes), built with intricate, surprising diction. What CAN’T she rhyme, folks?

    My first impressions of the song were of its enormous power (especially evident in her performance in the video). I caught snippets of lyrics that seemed to be about guilt, geese, the Titanic, closing doors, and a demonic barber. Uh-oh, I thought. I could feel myself switching into  obsessive-song-deciphering mode (anyone else have this setting in their brain? It’s true, I was born with a hyper-sensitive urge to decipher, and it has only worsened with time).

    So what is this song about?

    As a poet and writing instructor, I work to avoid all overly-simplifying readings of songs/poems/texts, e.g. “The goose in this song represents death,” or “The bunny in this song symbolizes God.” But I do want to understand and appreciate what I’m analyzing. I’m a disciple of the School of Figuring Out What the Hell Is Going On (Without Killing All the Mystery and Joy). And there is real stuff going on in this song, just as there is ambiguous, nebulous, paranormal activity. The song is haunted. It has a poltergeist in it, making all the real stuff explode and dance around.

    Where to begin. Well, always with what we know. In this song, we know that the speaker dedicates the song to “Baby Birch,” who is a she. So, a female baby tree, or someone or something like a baby….young, in need of protection. We also know that the speaker of the song is sad, really and truly rolling around in loss and pain and shame. Rueful, is the word. Newsom laments, “I wish we could take every path,/ could spend a hundred years adoring you…..I hated to close the door on you.”

    So this song is about a decision (or decisions) that Newsom (or the character she is voicing) has had to make. She had to close a door on some possibility, and she hated doing it…she sings the line again later in the song.

    Now what? Some listeners and critics have suggested that the song might be about abortion. While the song does indeed contain baby/decision-making/death/operation language, and while the song may gesture toward this, I don’t want to solve this song so easily. There’s more here for us.

    Part of the song’s complexity comes from the pronouns, and the confusing relationships they hint at. In the opening lyrics of the song, Newsom declares, “This is the song for Baby Birch/ though I will never know you.” Is “you” Baby Birch? She continues, “…and at the back of what we’ve done/ there is the knowledge of you.” Who is “we?” And that deliciously ambiguous “what we’ve done” tells us that something big and significant has happened, has been committed. And whatever was wrought, this had something to do with the Baby Birch character.

    Most of the song is directed to a “you,”—at times, the “you” is Baby Birch, the something that never happened or had to not happen because of something else. Other times, the “you” shifts. She’s singing about Baby Birch (this thing that could not be born) TO someone else. “If I should die before I wake,” she wonders, “Will you keep an eye on Baby Birch?/ Because I’d hate to see her make the same mistake.”

    The end of the song gets really crazy, in the best way possible. As you can see in the video, the rest of the band gets involved, there are other voices, the pace of the words changes and becomes more frantic. It’s a nightmarish scene that she describes: “There is a blacksmith/ and there is a shepherd/ and there is a butcher-boy,/ and there is a barber, who’s cutting and cutting away at my only joy.” So stuff is being forged, is being guided and killed and cut. And even worse, Newsom catches a “rabbit” that she sees, and skins her, “held her there, kicking and mewling/ upended unspooling, unsung and blue.” This is fantastically disturbing stuff, this. What a horrible, violent image.

    And the end, Newsom begs, “Be at peace, baby, and begone.” That “begone” is important; she doesn’t want to be haunted. That is what makes this song work so well, for me. Newsom is using this song (and all its imaginary characters) to talk to someone (possibly herself) about a painful decision, about wanting closure. That’s what good art does: it lets the artist talk to many people at the same time. And viewers (or listeners) get to witness an incredibly intimate moment that is and is not directed at them.

    To get at understanding this song, which is ultimately (for me) about looking ghosts squarely and lovingly in the eye and then letting them go, I recorded a version of it. It’s a dangerous thing, covering a Joanna Newsom song. I’m not trying to measure up to her; rather, recording this song helped to untangle some of its ambiguity (without killing all the mystery and joy). This song reminds me of “The Tennessee Waltz” and “Amazing Grace” (songs about loss and making peace with loss, gee, what do you know!), so I kept a country/folksy sound in mind while recording it.

    Click here to listen to Hannah’s Baby Birch

    What songs push your obsession-buttons?
    And am I right about “Baby Birch?” What other meanings have I missed?

    In these interludes, poet and singer-songwriter Hannah Stephenson invites you to eavesdrop on the music bouncing around her brain. She’d love to hear your thoughts, your inner soundtrack, and what band inspired that shrine in your bedroom.

  • January5th


    Yes we have entered a new year and as you, like so many others, whip out your notepads with hearts full of festive cheer and a renewed love for life; I want to remind you what it truly means to make a resolution. When we jot down points 1 to 10, are we thinking long term goals or the quick fixes that will see us through to March, leaving the rest of the year to transpire with little fulfilment?

    “To resolve something, is to come to a decision. A determination made to follow a course of action with purpose or intent”

    It sounds serious when explained within its basic rule; but do we really need the added pressure?

    As you journey into 2012, remind yourself that the goals you set won’t always mean as much in November as they did today. Many of us (self-confessed goal maker right here) will get hung up on the little things, we’ll tape that list to the back of a door or fold it neatly and put it in a ‘special place’ until the end of December creeps in again and then we’ll panic over the things unachieved and dreams not yet reached.

    I say we should let this year be a reverse of it all. Instead of focusing on what needs ‘fixing’, let’s reflect on the positive changes you made throughout 2011 and make a reverse resolution list. Why? Quite honestly, it’s more achievable. Before writing this article I read over my last attempts at life improvement, I had chosen 11 goals for the year, however seeing them now, and the realisation that I only knocked over 2 of these (and by default – I hadn’t looked at this list since) has led me to the idea.

    2011 was a big year here at Spoonful: new members, new direction, big loves and also losses. Each of us have gone through life-changing events and I, for one have learnt that change, although scary and sometimes the toughest thing you will live through, will afford you the most rewards. Why not pay homage to the progress we all made in twenty double one?

    So with the best intentions and for the purpose of not repeating mistakes, this year I encourage you to write a list of I don’t want to and Will not do’s  for 2012. Maybe it wasn’t such a great choice to dye your hair pink? Or eat in the restaurant that smelt like a meth lab*? Start making points, sometimes it’s ok to dwell on events that happened or choices that you made. It doesn’t matter whether they are personal growth statements or basic things you no longer wish to be doing, write them down. Or better yet, post them here and let other people see what you’ve chosen NOT to do in 2012.

    $10 Romantic will be back on January 15th for a lesson in gratitude and the importance of praise!

    *I have never actually eaten in such a restaurant but deciding to still dine in one that had creature droppings on the tableware was an equal act of stupidity never to be repeated!!

  • January4th

    A few left…

    Posted in: Spoonful


    As you guys know, inside our latest Issue of Spoonful, we’ve featured the Humming Bird as our Object of Affection. There are some truly glorious interpretations tucked away in its pages, and 1 of the yummy things we have been able to offer is a beautiful Print of a humming gem by the lovely Kareena Zerefos. We’ve got a few of these left for a number of Subscriptions, so, do sneak-in and get your subscription with some beautiful art in this beautiful new year. :) & a peek at Sydney fireworks too!

    *sigh enough yabbering and off to work…

    thea.
    xx

  • December31st


    image by J Foss

    To our wondrous readers, near & far,
    on this New Year’s Eve, we have some beautiful words to share. Not our own, we confess, but the wisdom of the remarkable Ralph Waldo Emerson, whom we so greatly admire. They feel both beautiful and potent at this near-end of 2011...

    May your New Years Eve explode with beautiful light, stolen kisses, and chewy brownie moments. May you feel the hope that it a new beginning, the wonder that is a clean slate, and the potential of tomorrow in the fold of your finger tips…

    We’re in it together, so let’s make tomorrow beautiful…

    thea. & the Spoonful team.
    xxx

  • December25th

    Just a teeny check-in on this Christmas, Chanukah and Silly Season day, my lovelies! I hope you are all eating faaaar to much deliscious food, drinking too much wine, giggling at terrible jokes, and wearing ridiculous hats!!!

    There is so much to catch up on with you lovelies! So many tales to tell! And so so many plans for the new year… All in good time…

    In the meantime, may we thank you for being the most warm, intelligent and magical readers in the universe. Your support this year has been remarkable and we want to hug and squeeze each and every one of you. I know we say it often, but without each individual reader, we wouldn’t be here, so thank you, thank you, thank you!

    Merry Christmika!!!! & warm cuddles…

    Thea & the spoonful team.
    xx

    Image by Warwickshire News

  • December5th

    So, Spoonful 6 is here!  …& here! …HOORAY!


    Fill your skies & home with the shimmer of the hummingbird’s wings

    (as they hover in our Objects of affection section) …bake fresh icing-coated Hummingbird cake (YES!!! We have a recipe made just for us by KatrinaM!) and craft some Kindness, care & attention with the magical Annet de Vries…

    This issue gives care to those we love and believes in a renaissance of wonder!
    Fill Christmas Stockings, New Year’s Resolutions and the post Xmas slumps with golden pages and soulful words…

    VERY HAPPILY, we can announce too that that first 5 Buyers and 15 Subscribers to this issue & Spoonful will be receiving the gift of this GORGEOUS Kareena Zerefos Hummingbird print * swoon * Isn’t it pretty???

    So hop in, oooh oooh and please note that as I, thea am getting married in 3 days, I have decided to practise what I preach and stop…. live in the moment and breathe it all in. This means that:

    DELIVERIES will begin from December 19th!

    All for now beautiful readers!!! (oh this one is sumptuous, trust me, it really is!)

    thea & the Spoonful team.
    Xx

    BUY ISSUE ^6

  • December5th

    They’re here!!!!!!!!!!Fresh & golden – sunlight in a box – tehehehehe

    Putting them online immediately!

    thea.
    xx

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