Moving Out (Fran & Matt)

Moving out; a concept that was once so foreign to me but now seems to be slowly but surely creeping into reality. It won't be long before Ben and myself make that decision to leave home and it's terrifying but so bloody exciting. We've both decided that in the very near future our priorities will revolve around travel, travelling as much and as far as we can. But, moving into our own place or living with friends is definitely on the horizon. Even more so now that two of our favourite people have officially made that leap together! Yes-Fran and Matt are back on the blog (I do have other friends, I promise).

It's only been a few weeks in their new place, but Fran and Matt have moved in together and have already had to deal with adult things like locksmiths and washing machines! We visited their new place after they'd settled in and it was crazy to see two people's lives melded together within a small space. But I loved it! We played board games, went on a drive and ate butter chicken and it felt very grown-up (strangely).

Last week Fran, Matt and I went on a tiki tour in Matt's car to find some new and exciting photo spots in Wellington. This involved a lot of Fran and I squealing when we saw something we liked and Matt (the chauffeur) pulling over as fast as possible. It was interesting how many people looked at us strangely for simply taking photos in a suburban area. It's always been that way, but it's still funny to me that people found it so peculiar, it's 2019, c'mon!

We ended up stumbling across some incredible orange-tinted glass that we were practically drooling over and a couple of amazing little mid-century houses, one with an impressive succulent garden out front. I'm so pleased with how these photos turned out, I love the colours and the suburban feel of the houses and streets we were shooting. I never really have a plan for how my photos will turn out, especially when we're literally picking locations as we go. But after editing these images, I immediately got American suburbia vibes, or a young couple buying their first home?? Especially those photos of Fran and Matt outside the mid-century house, it looks like they've just been handed the keys!

If you follow me on Instagram (here), then you've probably seen my extensive photoshoots of Ben's waffles every time he makes them. I'm not usually a big fan of sweet breakfast foods like pancakes and waffles, but Ben does make a darn good one. For some reason, I find them so aesthetically pleasing and can't help but take hundreds of photos of them, super strange. But, I love how the waffle image melds with these shots in the final edit, it was a super random decision but I really like the way that the colours and unique texture complement the final images. I also love chopping things in Photoshop, such good fun!

As we're nearing December and the beginning of a new year, I find myself thinking more about what my future will look like. I truly can't wait for the day I have my own house (or pokey little apartment), for me, my space is my sanctuary and I'm bursting at the seams in my teenage bedroom, give me a kitchen to decorate!! But for now, I'll live vicariously through Fran and Matt's new exciting adult lives and hopefully learn a lot about paying bills and taking out the rubbish on time. Fran also took some super fun photos of me on this shoot, which I'll be posting soon...along with a very exciting announcement! Stay tuned!

See Fran here
See Matt here

Bella 🌼

Two Years With Ben

It's been two years (officially) with Ben and I want to include something on this blog as a memory/time capsule more than anything, but feel free to read on if you want! After meeting in year 11, Ben and I have been best pals and ~dating~ with a fairly low drama relationship for the most part. We've grown up together and made so many incredible memories that I'll take with me to my grave! I'm not one for publicly addressing this kinda thing, but this blog is a reflection of me and Ben is my other half.

For our two year anniversary on the 12th of November, we wanted to do something epic. Last year we basically re-created our first date and it was amazing and super romantic but left us with no idea how to top such a lovely day this year. Luckily, we were blessed with incredibly sunny weather (be it a little windy, but it's Wellington). So, we planned an epic date to top all epic dates, by cramming every single activity we could think of into one day, and we were exhausted.

Tuesday began with an exchanging of cards, where mine always appears way over the top, basically a scroll of tiny handwriting. Ben produced a beautiful watercolour picture he'd made of me, which subsequently made my store-bought card look significantly less impressive. He was also gifted with his very own extendable back scratcher (if you know, you know), and in turn, I received a fresh batch of biscuit fudge slice, something we bake a little too often. We then hopped on the scooter and zoomed off to our first activity of the day; The SPCA!

Ben and I are both major animal lovers, he's a cat person, I'm very much a dog person. But we're both completely in our element when surrounded by tiny fluffy things that we can cuddle. Upon arrival at the SPCA, we met two gorgeous little grey kittens who were so playful and crawled all over us, it took a lot of will power to not adopt them on the spot. But, I don't think either of our family pets would've approved (especially Jock the schnauzer). We also met a beautiful little blind kitten and lots of puppies and dogs. It's always bittersweet going to a rescue place like the SPCA because, on one hand, it's amazing that these animals have been saved and are being looked after. But, it really sucks that they had to be so unhealthy/unhappy, to begin with. One dog, in particular, had clearly been mistreated and was howling in pain the entire time we were there. The only thing that makes me feel better is that most of the animals we saw had pending adoptions, so they'll soon be with a new family who will love and take care of them fully.

We then scooted off to the next location, not too far away; The Zoo! We first picked up a suitable Zoo picnic of strawberries and chocolate dipping sauce, budget croissants (to dip in the chocolate) and fancy cheese twists. Some of you may not know that I used to be vegan for about two years and during that time I completely refused to visit zoos of any kind. I still stick to many of those beliefs now and even though I couldn't continue with my veganism, it's still something I feel really connected to. So, this was the first time I had visited Wellington Zoo since I was in primary school. One thing I did notice was that it was seriously pricey, even for a student, but definitely well worth it.

Our picnic in the sun was delicious and gave us plenty of energy to stroll around The Zoo for almost two whole hours. Ben and I have a knack for really taking our time in places like a zoo and obsessing over the weirdest of creatures that we form connections to. For instance, we spent a good fifteen minutes sitting with an emu and a wallaby, who were both wandering free in the 'Australia Section'. We saw a tiger, three giraffes, a red panda and some seriously cool monkies too.

Next on the agenda was bowling, so we made it to Bowlerama in Newtown, where we found literally nobody else had decided to go bowling on a Tuesday afternoon, so we had the place to ourselves. I lost terribly, with barely any points, but Ben actually get a strike, which was quite impressive. I felt okay about it after absolutely smashing him at air hockey though. Which then led us to Timezone, an arcade on Courtenay Place that we'd only been to once before. We ended up spending almost $30 there, it was crazy addictive and there were so many cool games. We played Mario Kart, a zombie shooting type thing and then became completely obsessed with winning enough tickets to take home a mini connect four-game. Which we succeded in.

Dinner was at my all-time favourite Wellington restaurant and a spot we used to eat at so much back when I was vegan, Aunty Menas. If you're a Wellingtonian and you haven't been to Aunty Menas, what are you doing?! It's fully plant-based, with an amazing selection of soy meats and noodle dishes, plus lots of different curries and Asian fusion concoctions. We always opt for the classic Roti Canai and Curry Noodle, two dishes that go so well together and leave you full to bursting point. Despite not being fully vegan anymore, I still find so many plant-based options will be my go-to and Aunty Menas is just amazing.

By the end of the day, we were beyond exhausted, having done lots of walking, bowling, animal watching and (lots) of eating. I didn't think it would be easy to top our anniversary last year, but I think we did it. It was an incredible mash-up of every date idea we could think of and all the activities we enjoy as a couple. We often joke about how we've moulded into the same person over the last two years. But, I really couldn't ask for a better half than Ben.

Bella 🌼

Depop November Preview + The Retro Collection

It's November..it's nearly December and that is CRAZY. I've almost been doing this Depop thing for a whole year and it's been a whirlwind. I plan to post a huge overview next month with some stats on my earnings and pieces sold for those who would be interested. I've learnt a ton about running a business and working for myself this year and I feel like I have plenty of tips and tricks to share with you all. As always, I love including lil preview posts of items coming to the store in the next month and yes-this one is a bit late, but just look at some of these amazing pieces!!

Not only do I have pants, dresses, shirts, hats and more coming to my Depop, but another instalment of The Retro Collection! I received such a fantastic response from my first drop of The Retro Collection (see here) and I'm now officially making it a regular thing! I thrift a lot and I'm constantly feeding pieces from my own collection into the store too, so there will be plenty of vintage to get excited about. But, I do find it easier to group it all into one collection, making it more simple to shop from and the best way of detecting whether a piece is TRUE vintage.

So, you may have noticed those incredible, ultra dreamy white boots in the top row! Yes-they will be for sale soon and I'm obsessed. I actually own a really similar pair from the same brand; Pulp and constantly get questions on where they're from. So, when I managed to pick up an almost identical pair at the thrift store I was stoked. Can't wait to pass them onto a good home, who will treat them to many a mini dress or flared jeans/halter combo!

There will, of course, be hats (lots of hats) and belts, funky graphic tees, button-up shirts, maxi dresses, Summer shorts and a plethora of truly unique clothing for groovy guys and gals! So, keep your eyes peeled for some of these epic drops coming to the store soon, and make sure to follow my Depop Insta for exclusive sales and drops over the next few weeks...

Depop Store
Instagram

Bella 🌼

Snowqueen of Texas - Garage Sale

Welcome to my latest spin on the colour study; Garage Sale! One of my favourite things to do is edit photos and have fun mucking around on Photoshop and my monthly Colour Study series is the best way to do that. If you're at all familiar with this blog I'm sure you'll know what I'm referring to, but if not click here to see my latest Colour Study piece!

As I feel like my style and creative work is constantly evolving, I want to make sure that my blog doesn't get left behind. After all, I'm only seventeen and everything I'm doing now is new, exciting and different. Change is inevitable. One of my goals for 2020 is to really hone in on my graphic design and photo editing skills, something that I've been exploring and experimenting with a lot this year. If you've been following my journey I'm sure you can see just how much these skills have evolved already. So, as a branch off of the monthly Colour Study, Garage Sale is a way for me to play around with editing to a new level, taking more risks and just generally experimenting.

My Colour Studies tend to be more of a discussion about life happenings and more personal topics around my career, friends, freelancing etc. Whereas, Garage Sale will be more focused on art and art-making practices. So, if that sounds even remotely interesting to you then read on!

In terms of photo editing, I tend to always use Lightroom, I'm not sure why as I know some other creatives swear by Photoshop. I'll always bring all of my images through Lightroom first, just to touch them up, enhance colours and get rid of darker shadows / blue tones (yuck). I then mock up my first designs in Photoshop. This process is always pretty random and spontaneous and really just involves following my natural instinct and pairing colours, subject matter and contrasting scales together. I tend to establish a general colour scheme early on and then try my best to stick to that, with some leniency here and there.

Recently I've had a lot of fun taking photos of groovy retro pottery or Tupperware in op shops and using those as graphics for my designs. I am by no means a professional at this and Ben will often sigh as I take the hardest, longest route to cut and paste in Photoshop. But, hey, it works for me! I'll begin chopping and changing these graphics around, playing with scale and rotation until I'm happy (this will sometimes take hours). My favourite way to create this look is by using graphics almost like miniatures.

Since I was old enough to crawl I've always had a strong interest and liking for miniatures. I played with Lego as a kid (and sometimes even now) and had an extensive collection of Sylvanian Families. I just adored anything miniature, mini food, animals, furniture, clothing. My mum would even make me miniature sandwiches because I would eat anything if it was "dainty". She also treated me to a trip to a real-life miniatures festival once, which was incredible. I definitely still have that love for little things, so creating images that emulate that feeling of miniature food and homewares is so satisfying. That's where I just love the sixth image down, it took a long time to perfectly cut out those crazy cool retro cylinders, but I just love the way they look as a repetitive pattern/graphic with that child-like collage feel.

Colours are obviously super important to any composition and that's always where my art begins and ends. Every image has a distinct colour palette and the perfectionist inside me won't let a single element be out of place. That's where Photoshop skills are so handy, having that ability to change an image by removing a certain colour or element will always result in a more cohesive and eye-catching piece of art. An example of this would be the eighth image down, where the colours match in an incredibly satisfying way. This came from a lot of editing, cropping, rearranging and just straight up photo manipulation, I love it! Photoshop allows you to create these compositions that only exist in your mind, from real-life images and textures.

My overall favourite would have to be the twelfth image from the top, I love the retro thermos graphic, paired with the iconic Kiwi image of rural sheep. To me, this image just screams rural New Zealand and reminds me of a funky retro postcard design or something. Playing around with the repetition in the thermos and the well known Kiwi symbols in this composition create such a unique image that is at the same time recognisable.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this new series and hopefully, it's given at least one of you some ideas or inspiration to go and create some art! As always, I appreciate any feedback and discussion, stay tuned for the next Garage Sale photo series coming soon...

Bella 🌼