The Pineneedle Collective

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

I'm back!

Whew! I went nearly two whole weeks without posting a thing here. I hope you haven't all forgotten about me. But I am happy to announce that I have officially completed my second year of university!

Lessons learnt while being a study hermit - my hair is naturally curly! I can't believe that I haven't let my hair to be its natural self in more than 2 years, always blowdrying my hair straight after my shower every single day, whether or not I was going out that day. Which sounds crazy, but I guess it was just part of my normal morning routine. However, one day, in the middle of some intense studying I actually wasn't bothered to blowdry my hair for once and that's when I discovered that my hair was wildly curly. It wasn't always this curly when I was younger, and I'm not sure what's made it go this curly now but I'm sure not going to complain, because now I don't have to put any effort into doing my hair, haha.

I thrifted this blouse and hat yesterday to reward myself for finishing my studies for the year. Aren't they pretty? I was so lucky to find them. A tip for any aspiring thrifters - get out of the city. I went more than an hour out of the city into the western suburbs to find this stuff. When you try to op-shop right in the middle of the city, all the good stuff is either gone or way overpriced (though I have a few secret favourites in Sydney - and no, I'm not going to share because then they'll be raided for all their good clothes ;) ).

Regular posting shall now be resumed. I hope you're all doing really well, I've missed you guys!

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Bambi and a Baby Panda

cardigan is Thrifted, skirt is c/o Sheinside, bag is DIY, top is c/o Choies, shoes are c/o Yeswalker

Photos by Ashley Dy.

I can't remember if I have ever posted my DIY panda backpack on this blog before! But anyway, here it is. I was kind of distraught about having to cut his brains open to make him into a bag, but I sewed him up real good and now he can fit a phone and a wallet!

No science post today - I'm too busy studying it instead (in fact, I'm posting this from the library at uni which I went to today to force myself to study. Oops). But I wanted to post this outfit up at least! I don't like going days and days without blogging something - I feel all disconnected from the world, haha.

I hope that you're all super well! And thank you for your kind comments on yesterday's post :)

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Take a Step Outside

"Go on, take a step outside. It's a whole other world out there."

The second illustration from the "Annika is totally learning how to draw" series, haha. Today I was sick, so I ditched study and spent the day working on this instead. I wish that I could just transfer my ideas straight from my brain to a computer without the intermediate of my hand/drawing tablet, but this one happened to turn out pretty much as I imagined it in my head, so I was happy!

Sunday, 10 November 2013

High-Waisted Genes

Top is c/o Choies | Jeans from Dotti | shoes from Dotti

Photos by Ashley Dy

It's a rarity to see me wearing pants of any kind on my blog! These photos were actually taken last August when Ashley Dy came to visit. I still love this combination, though, and this outfit is actually more practical then it was at the time we took these photos - it's actually almost summer now - proper crop top weather, instead of the middle of winter!

Because I'm currently studying genetics like a mad lady and have probably lost my mind, here is a genetics joke. Oh dear. (Scientists have the worst jokes).

(But this actually made me laugh a lot when I first saw it.)

Back to studying I go. Hope you're having a great day,

Saturday, 9 November 2013

The Kawaii Lizard Lady

I have wanted to save up for a digital drawing tablet for ages now, mainly for the purposes of doing cutesy hand-writing on blog photos. But recently, I've also been really inspired by my favourite artists to learn how to do digital illustration as well.

So, I don't know where this is going, but my blog is where I share my creative pursuits (such as my first ever sewing attempt - and I got better at that, too!) so behold: My first ever illustration, that I did today to try out the tablet.

She is the Kawaii Lizard Lady (idk why either).

If you take a look at my favourite illustrators, you'll see that I'm very into surreal, cartoon-like illustrations of hipster girls with some element of japanese culture thrown into the mix (pop-surrealism is what you would call it, I guess) - so this is basically a direct emulation of that.

Anyway, I'm fairly happy with it for some kind of first-attempt-ever at illustration, because I have never been able to draw, yet I free-handed this lovely lady! I think the ability to "ctrl-Z" any lines that I've drawn wrong, and to copy and paste certain elements (like the eyes and bows), has stopped me from having such a fear of drawing! Still, baby-steps while it still looks like something drawn in paint, haha.

Are there any other digital illustrators out there? I'd love to see your work! (And any tips or learn-how-to-draw sources for someone with literally no knowledge of drawing wouldn't go astray, either).

I hope you're all very well,

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Who Stole The Milk Maid's Outfit? + New Human Body Parts

dress - c/o Romwe (way back) | socks - Clear It | blouse - thrifted | shoes - JuJu Shoes

So I'm justifying all my recent clothing purchases by "but it was on my ethical store directory! I should proooobably review it if I haven't already bought stuff from that store!"

The latest item to succumb to this "justification": these Juju Jellies. I thought that they were great (and looked amazing) until I tried to walk the 15 minutes uphill from the train station to my parents house last night whilst wearing them - where my choice of shoes inadvertently turned that short walk into an excruciating 35-minute hobble. This is because while the heel isn't so steep, the slight decline causes my pinkie toe to be wedged into a very uncomfortable position into that last cut-out before the toe-cap of the shoes. I thought my pinkie toenails were going to be black and bruised by the time I got the shoes off. Maybe I just have weird feet, or tiny pinkies, and I'll try to remedy the situation with some kind of soft foam on the insides of my shoes. Because while they're uncomfortable to walk in they're also BEAUTIFUL and I don't want to have to part ways with them! I think that these would probably be more comfortable.

So did you guys know that we're still discovering body parts?? As mad as it sounds, we are still learning about the basic anatomy of the human body, and finding things that we didn't already know existed. This new human body part is called the "anterolateral ligment" and is a ligament in the knee. People have suspected its existence in the past, but it's never been defined or definitively said to exist (meaning, it hasn't been something knee surgeons are taught about) until now.

That's like knowing there is a vague large mushy shape in the chest that beats occasionally, but not knowing that it's a heart (and having chest surgeons argue for years that it doesn't exist). Alright so it's not as important as a heart for life, but allow me this analogy.

I might be popping in here less frequently over the next 2 weeks while I finish off my exams and write up my giant scary research report! Wish me luck!