The next N&B update will be going live on Monday June 1st. As well as some stationery items, buttons and magnets there will be one new amigurumi available. It’s a delightful wee panda, and possibly my favourite piece yet!

The update will be uploaded at 6pm Monday (New Zealand time), which is:
4pm Monday in Sydney
7am Monday in London
2am Monday in New York
11pm Sunday in Los Angeles
…or you can use timeanddate.com to find your local time.

Also, please note that Monday is a public holiday in New Zealand so any orders placed from now on will ship on Tuesday :)

#363 Bear and Salmon BFF

#362 Ghostly Waftings

Finally – finally! – we have bought a house!

It took two months, dozens of open home visits, three failed contracts, and endless emails and phone calls, but our fourth offer just went unconditional.

It’s the only house we saw that was more appealing in person than in the real estate photos, which may be why it was on the market for long enough for us to actually buy it! But here’s an idea of what it looks like (with the previous owner’s furnishings):

It is 60s era weatherboard and tile in a classic New Zealand style. This kind of house might not be modern, but I really like it. It has four bedrooms and a study, so there is lots of space – I will have a dedicated Nut and Bee room! The street is nice and quiet, with parks and handy shops near by, and the local schools are well regarded. We’re planning to stay there for quite some time.

Of course, we’ve already been making decoration and renovation plans. The interiors are very plain, which is nice, as we can concentrate on adding our own character rather than covering up eyesores. All the walls are white, except for one spot of 70s wooden panelling, and most of the house has polished wood floors. The bathroom has been recently renovated, and the only area that really needs some work is the kitchen. I think that should be manageable!

The section is well sized, about 1/5th of an acre, and it currently has an entertaining area with a deck, some mature trees, grassy bits for playing on, and a couple of garden beds. Like the rest of the house it’s well maintained and tidy as it is, and has the potential to be really nice with a little more landscaping work. Working on the grounds will probably be the last priority, but I can start making plans now :)

I’m definitely excited, but the primary emotion right now is relief. The buying process has been difficult, and it’s taken up so much of my time and energy lately. We still have to move, which will be another lot of work and stress and upheaval – and might involve temporary accommodation for a month or so, ugh – but at least now we know how it will all work out in the end.

And OH MY GOODNESS WE CAN GET SOME CATS!

I was still in a buttonny mood after drawing that first batch of doodles, so here are some more potential button designs. Again, I probably won’t use all of them, so leave a comment if there’s some you’d particularly like to see!

This time they are animals! There are a couple of favourites that often turn up in N&B, like the panda and jellyfish, but I also tackled some animals I don’t think I’ve ever drawn before, like the badger and armadillo. If you’ve placed an order with me you’ll know I ask at checkout for your favourite animal, and I browsed through some of the recent responses for inspiration :D

Instead of a regular Sketchbook Sweetie today, here’s a few doodles that might end up being buttons and magnets… I haven’t decided yet how many I will use, but some of them will be in the next update. Leave a comment if there’s one you’d particularly like to see :)

#361 Heron Garden

01) The Bunny Song will infect your ears, in a good way!

02) A cartoon field guide to the International Housewares Show 2009. Hee! Great artwork from Lunchbreath and Fueledbycoffee. Trade shows do tend to be a bit ludicrous, though I do need a new spatula, the handle keeps falling off mine…

03) Nut and Bee Friend Jonathan recently reminded me about the adorable flash games site Orisinal. All the games have lovely artwork and cute premises, such as catching bees in bubbles or making koalas slide into snails. Thanks Jonathan!

04) Typographica’s roundup of their favourite typefaces of 2008 makes me want to look at words all day. (via Tiny Showcase News)

05) Nifty vegetable planters made of guttering from the Juneau Empire. I’d love to run something like this around the edge of a deck!

06) Gennine from Gennine’s Art Blog made a video to demonstrate her stamp-carving process.

07) Lovely Package showcases the packaging of the flavoured chocolate squares from Meiji 100% Chocolate Cafe. We visited in Tokyo and tried several of them. The Royal Milk Tea and Lemon Salt flavours were particularly tasty but Cheese, not so much…

08) A super cute video of Courtney Woolsey singing Lollipop by The Chordettes – all four parts! (via Boing Boing)

09) I love Wilson Swain’s artwork, and can’t wait to see his new pop-up book The Castaway Pirates! The publisher’s page includes a printable PDF of a “Captain Runny Nose” dress-up paper doll… I love sheets of paper dolls so I’m going to frame it.

10) A “no-recipe recipe” from Vegan Yum Yum for Crash Hot Potatoes. This is now one of my favourite ways to prepare potatoes – lots of rosemary and a little salt, they’re so tasty!

#360 Slow Cooker