lecco trip

Eli and her man took a little day-trip up to Lecco. We were surrounded by beautiful mountains, the lake, boats and swans. We sat in the sun at an outdoor cafe and played Italian card games while drinking affogatos. A perfect day. Eli took some photos with her diana mini.

view master revival

When Eli was a little girl she owned a red View Master. She loved flicking through the 3D images of her favourite Disney cartoons. The first View Masters were created in the 1930s, and newer models are still available today. There have been a number of models throughout the years, each one distinctly original. Eli had Model G pictured above - so retro!

Today Eli went thrifting! She found a vintage packet of View Master Reels, which she just couldn't pass up! View Masters and View Master Reels might just be Eli's next big thirfting obsession.

photo 1 - photo 2 - photo 3

animals of the zoo

Eli went to the Zoo! Although she ended up taking more photos of carousel animals than the real animals.

analogue on the inside

Okay, so Eli did something a little bit naughty today. She spent her emergency 30 euros on a retro flip-clock. Remember, those clocks that have the flipy-paper to tell the time? The definition for a flip clock is like the epitome of Eli; analogue in the inside and digital on the outside!

"Flip Clock: An analogue clock with digital display." (wiki)

Eli has just loaded her baby with a battery and has been watching it for the past 10 minutes, getting very excited each time the minute flips. When the hour flips with the minutes, it will be...awesome. The image above isn't my clock, but another very nice one by Twemco. Image.

foto mercato di milano

On Sunday afternoon Eli made her way to something called a 'Foto Mercato' in Milan. It was a lovely market dedicated entirely to analogue cameras and accessories, to be admired (and bought). Eli had a lovely (albiet short) time walking around and poking about. Here are a couple of lovely Hasselblad cameras Eli loved, too expensive to buy, so a photo had to suffice:

*drumroll*...and here are the two beautiful polaroid cameras that Eli purchased, for a bargain! She is absolutely in love with them. Eli chose the Polaroid Impulse and Polaroid EE33 as her new best-camera-friends. They look right at home on Eli's bed-side-table.

circus monti

What's inspiring Eli and Toggle today? A gorgeous vintage circus poster from Circus Monti, found via design fckr. The little character on the poster almost looks like Toggle, don't you think?

If you're interested in vintage circus posters and tickets, check out here and here.

ephemera

"Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved." (wiki)

It can include anything from old bus tickets, flash cards, receipts, stamps and postcards. The Thriftypyg etsy shop has an amazing collection of vintage ephemera, that Eli and Toggle just adore!

singing bluebird

Eli and Toggle adore the artwork of Amy Blackwell. We've just been checking out her etsy shop now, and particularly adore The Singing Bluebird print and the Tea Time Badge Set. If we had enough money, we would be raiding her shop!

glow in the dark clock

Eli and Toggle have been enjoying scrolling through pages of vintage and antique items in the Blue Carrot Shop. Run by graphic designer Alexandra, the online shop is a place where she sells all of the vintage goodies she finds! If you ask her, she'll even keep an eye out for something you request. Eli and Toggle are loving the Glow in the Dark Clock and Letterpress Sets. We sooooo need to invest in a letter press

Eli and Toggle: A Business Plan

Eli and Toggle now have a business plan! Horray!

Eli is just bursting with ideas at the moment, with where she wants to go with Toggle! Being one of those girls who loves lists, Eli she sat down with pencil and paper tonight to construct a business plan. It includes... an Etsy shop by July 30th, fabric mushrooms, fabric bunting and most excitingly... Friends of Toggle!

Eli is just a bit nervous about this new adventure... Hopefully when she goes home to Australia she will have more time to get everything together for Eli and Toggle!

love.
eli. x.

linhof and hasselblad

More vintage camera manual goodness from here. We just love the retro designs! Below are the vintage manual covers for the Sweedish Hasselblad cameras and the German made Linhof Kameras

hurrah, a diana photo contest

Do you want to put your Diana camera skills to the test? ModCloth is hosting a competition on Flicker for Diana photographers! The competition is called Picture This! ModCloth's Diana Camera Contest. You can enter up to 5 photos into the competition...just head over to their Flickr Group. Thank you to Katrina from Pugly Pixel for letting us know about this contest!

Here are the final 5 shots that Eli and Toggle decided to enter into this competition. All of these photos were taken by Eli on her Diana Mini. We decided to enter a mix of our favourite subjects - carnivals and children's playgrounds. What do you think?

etched, definitley

Eli feels like she is one of the luckiest girls ever! Today she won Janice of Little Miso's lovely etched Big LOVE necklace. Thank you so much Janice! She most generously gave Eli the choice between her 'etched' or 'cut through' love necklaces...and after much thought, we decided on etched. If you like cute, wearable, wooden creations then you should pop by her blog and etsy shop.


ps - Little Miso Peepo broaches and TEA pins are to die for!

know it all

Paper Pastries know-it-all pencil sets are just all too adorable! They're up for grabs again over at Paper Pastries.

wooden radio

A couple of months ago Eli was on the lookout for a great birthday present for her man (no, not Toggle). She wishes she had found the Magno Wooden Radio back then! Designed by Singgih Kartono, these wooden radios are aesthetically retro while still including modern-day functions (like being able to connect your ipod). The radios come in three different designs; large, medium and small. All well, maybe next year.

all that is delightful

Eli and Toggle simply adore this japanese masking tape set by Uguisu. Uguisu specialises in Japanese stationary and paper goods. Unfortunately, this product is out of stock at the moment, but we can still dream right?


We have also discovered the delights of the beautiful Japanese magazine, Fudge. Here are some images from the February 2010 issue, found via Mori Girl. The shots of the girls are so dreamy and quirky. We love them!

we won, we won

Eli and Toggle are just too excited to discover we won Ashley's giveaway of a gorgeous vintage paper pack from her blog A Catalog of Enchantments. We're so excited about the postman bringing us this lovely package. Thank you so much again Ashley!

you want more?

Okay, here's some more Diana mini goodness from Eli's adventures around the neighbourhood!

flowers flowers

You know what? Eli and Toggle usually despise photographs of flowers. Oh wow! Another photo of something that's prettier in real life than on film... it just seems like such a typical, boring thing to shoot. However, this time Eli may have got a bit carried away on her last diana mini film, taking photos of flowers. Its spring...so that's the excuse she's going to go with.

vintage camera manuals

Eli and Toggle just love old cameras...we've got a bit of a collection at home now! Those old cameras have a distinct retro style, and so do their accompanying manuals. There's some great artworks on the front covers of vintage camera manuals. If you're interested pop over to this site.

enchantments.

One of Eli and Toggle's favourite blogs A Catalog of Enchantments is having a giveaway of beautiful bits and bobs of stationary! It's a gorgeous pack which includes vintage bingo cards, yearbook pages, stickers and more. Also, we had a little peak at Ashley's etsy shop Vintage Renaissance, and love her upcycled collection of vintage goodies - especially the Haykeye Insamatic II Kodak Camera.

scout holiday

Here are some pretty necklaces by Scout Holiday. You can also check them out on their etsy and website. We just love the juxtaposition between the black and white images with the colourful fun necklace, to create an awesome ad for the product. Found (via).

thrifting in milan

Last week Eli and Toggle went thrifting in Milan! Here's some beautiful things we found on our adventure.

Ps: we really, really want that black vintage phone in the last photo!

we. love. macaroons.

Who loves macaroons? Everyone loves macarons! In celebration of the yummy-ness and colourful-ness that are macaroons, here are two lovely blogs that have some lovely macaroon goodness.

Firstly, Katrina at Pugly Pixle has made a beautiful French Macaroon Clip Art Set which she is generously offering free to download for personal use! She is a very talented lady, indeed.


Secondly, the lovely blog of Genuine Incongruity is having a giveaway of handmade macaroon jewelry. We just love the green-pastel macaroon earrings!

mean giants

We are enjoying the artwork of Kareena at the moment. Don't you just love the child-like innocence of her drawings? We certainly do! Kareena Zerefos also has a series of animal-inspired drawings on her site, which we just adore, so go and check them out!