Memories from the 90s!

 The Babysitters Club book series had a large impact. I had a similarly large collection, and it's what prompted me to start babysitting as a 10 year old. I got many hours of joy out of this series!

 Vintage barbies. They were perfectly modern in their time, and I had the middle one pictured.

 Cabbage patch kids. These are so cute, although I preferred my Baby Born doll!

 Captain Planet was my favourite TV series for ages. I pretended to be Liza (the blond 'wind' girl) because we shared a similar name. In prep, and years one and two we would play Captain Planet in the school playground. I remember really wanting a toy ring like the Planeteers wore, but not being allowed one because it cost around $10 for a tiny plastic ring.

At around the same time that Captain Planet was a craze, I also loved 'Widget the World Watcher'.

 Dunkaroos, a favourite snack!

 Kids pretending to smoke was no big deal!

Goosebumps! I certainly bought into this craze. It was one of the few that both boys and girls were into.

 My Little Pony dolls. You could brush their hair and not do much else, and I remember some being 'scented'.

Oddbodz! These came free in Smiths chips. I remember nagging my Mum to buy chips just to get a card... until they got banned from the school canteen, due to parent complaints. All of our collection items got banned eventually - Oddbodz, marbles, yo-yos...

 Polly pockets! I think I still have these somewhere, they are so sweet.

 Power Rangers were more for boys than girls but the pink ranger filled a void to some extent. We played this in the playground, but it often got rough and so the teachers banned it in year one!

 Push pops (which are still available today) were a mega treat for me, I think I would have had a total of five in my whole childhood but I remember them well!

 I had a pair of rollerskates exactly like these which my parents picked up at a garage sale. I even went to rollerskating lessons!

 Rugrats was my favourite show for many years. I had a 'Tommy' doll, as he was my favourite character. My love of children was fostered from a very young age!

 Spice Girls became an obsession at around year 5. I still remember the lyrics to their most popular songs, I must have sung them that many times!

 STICKER BOOKS! We spent hours trading these and looking through each others collections. The 'serious collectors' kept the stickers on their paper backings.

Trolls. I never much understood these, although they are cute and being the spoilt child I was, I had several!

Twinpoles! Like many, I often had to share one of these with my little sister but wanted a whole one to myself!

Last but not least, Carebears. I watched and enjoyed the TV show for many years...

Artist focus: Adam Bogusz

I was browsing eBay when I came across this fabulous and very affordable Gold Coast artist - Adam Bogusz. His father is the well known artist Richard Bogusz, but Adam is very talented in his own right.

I ended up purchasing this diptych:

Adam paints in a few different styles. He has done numerous 'busy city' type paintings like the ones I bought, which are abstract and colourful.

He also does less chaotic paintings which feature Brisbane, water and people enjoying it:

His other distinctive style is in my opinion reminiscent of chaos, fear and decay:

I like paintings that make me feel happy, so I prefer his lighter styles. My favourite are probably his water scenes, and hopefully I'll be able to afford to buy some before his prices go up!

If you want to have a look at Adam's work, and buy some of your own, check out his eBay store or website (both also featuring work by his father Richard Bogusz).

Op Shopped

This is a table at the op shop, someone has donated their little bird collection! I love finding things like this...

 I couldn't resist taking some home (between 50c and $2 each), and a nice Stoneware plate too (50c)

  A new vintage linen pattern - a little bit pricey at $6, but it's double sized and in perfect condition

 The collection is slowly growing :)

 Books for $1 each, I couldn't resist jumping on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon for that price!

This piece of 'artwork' will be a joke gift, part of my boy's 30th birthday present. It was marked $3, but the little old lady at the counter was so horrified by it that she discounted it to $1. I think it's fantastic (although a dust gatherer)

Kikki K wine journal (new in packaging, 50c), over the shoulder bag ($1 - my thinking is it will be a great 'cash' bag when I sell at the markets), vintage leather belt (50c).

Country Road floppy summer hat $6

 Jeans - not brand name or anything, but for $2 each I'm not complaining. I actually like jeans that have been worn in a little, the denim is so much softer.

 Vallen silk dress, $4

Desigual? or similar branded top, $4. This is intended for my Mum as it's very much her style, but if she doesn't love it, it looked great on me too :)

Portmans cream trench coat, $5.50

Sculptures by the Sea 2013

This is a belated post, as Sculptures by the Sea was held in March this year. I absolutely love this yearly event which is held at Cottesloe beach in Perth. It is such a lovely day out, especially when combined with brunch at one of Cott's great beachfront cafes.

Here are my favourite offerings from 2013:

Look This Way by Ken Unsworth. Sydneysiders might recognise this guy from the Sculptures in the Sea held at Bondi in 2011, where it won the Children's Choice Award.

Ghost Net Crocodile 2011 by GhostNets Australia. It is made out of 'ghost nets', abandoned fishing nets which pose a risk to sealife. GhostNets Australia is an alliance of over 22 indigenous communities from coastal northern Australia across the three states of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.  Since its inception, the programme has supported Indigenous Rangers to remove over 7,500 ghost nets of varying sizes.

Menang (memory) by Cave Urban. Cave Urban is a design collective of architects and musicians with a focus on sustainable living systems. Modelled on bird-scaring devices in Balinese rice paddies, each pole was carefully tuned to the chord D-minor sustained, and made an eerie but beautiful sound as the wind passed through. It won the People's Choice Prize in Perth this year.

Hard Rain Landscape 1 by Hugh McLachlan. According to the artist, "The steel frames focus the viewer and landscape, while the structure itself reflects aspects of landscape through form, texture and light."

The Optimist by Stephen Marr. I can imagine this guy as public art, he would make a wonderful addition to any communal space. About this sculpture, the artist states "It is in direct response to the political, economic, social pessimism that seems to be currently dominating world culture. For the brief time that I hold a persons attention with this work I wanted to make them see what a wonderful place (state of mind) this is."

Happy Floating Dream Cloud by Kathy Allam. A mobile made of hundreds of bright plastic kids toys! It's no wonder that it won the Kids' Choice Prize in Perth. I heard one little boy pointing at it and screaming "Look, we have that toy at daycare!"

Pot Luck by Lewis Horne. Mr Horne is an artist from Nannup in WA, and his sculpture is a tribute to the western rock lobster and the dwindling art of pot-making (I'm not entirely sure what 'pot-making' actually is).

A view over the beach with some statues (including a red chilli) in sight.