Happy New Year, hope 2012 is a good one for you and your loved one's xx

so tired

Winter just will not go away. The minute you think it's gone, it sneaks back LOL

While I was gone, I have 2 more grandchildren, one of each :) ermmm, 2 weeks apart [give or take a couple of days] Both Mums, Dads and bubs are doing well. One more great nephew to make an appearance and then that's it until next year at least. I entered all their info into the family tree straight away. heh. otherwise in 20 yrs time I'd be trying to remember what day they were born. [j/k]

We also got another kitten and Tera is getting on well with her since the 2nd day, she's called Khaos. Is a fluffy tortoiseshell. Both thunder race around the house playing then eat and go to sleep & repeat. Tera has finally stopped coming in at 3am and biting my feet trying to get me to play, so YAY, I no longer have to wear ugg boots to bed and wrapping the doonah around me like mummy wrappings!

The boy is home for a day as he was playing a kinect?? game with his sister chopping fruit and his arms hurt really badly ROFL ohhh, I mean poor kid, but it was funny, flailing arms all over the place.  He can't even lift his arms up at all.

That reminds me, I have misplaced my fabric pens :( so need to rummage around and find them so I can finish off the bootees I've made. They're very simple but look wonderful & would make easy gifts, so once I've finished, I'll post a pic & pattern info. I have no clue where they are *sigh*

I'm working on some test crochet pieces for a workshop I'll be doing at the Kangaroo Flat Art Space and will post more info once I have it. One will be Christmas themed, inexpensive and make a nice present for yourself or someone who appreciates handcrafted gifts. You can also find more info on workshops and other happenings here at Handmade by the Flat 

Plus, Chris Moule,  another local Bendigo artist is hosting a workshop this week & next for ink rendering, so I'm going to those :) more info can be found here at Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc

And, now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to have a Nana nap and might not wake up until tomorrow.

new blogger editor is interesting....

Oops. I had a post in draft that I've just managed to fling off into cyberspace. Anywaaaayyyyy....

So, you know how I make the doodlebutz buttons? No? if not, then Cyndi at Mixed Media Artist posted a tutorial on how to make the buttons, so, me being little Ms Helpful [ I know! right... I was surprised too! j/k :) ] sent her an email and shared some extra info that I had discovered. If you want to try it yourself, whip over there and have a go! Don't forget tohave a wander around her blog, she's been on my blogroll for ages as she always has heaps of great inspiration.
and, I've discovered she's a really nice person too. Sometimes you email bloggers and they're not so nice or ignore you. She also makes gorgeous jewellery & beaded jewellery that a couple of you should go drool over :)  Cyndi has made some great tutorials available as well.

You're back? So, onto the next news...
I have a joint exhibition from 17 Oct - Nov 1 with D3 but have decided to do something a little different than usual. Canvas is involved... eek! and acrylics rather than my favourite gouache. I don't even know if I can remember how to paint with acrylics...hee, just kidding. I'm also using my own concoction on the surface, so I'm hoping it works & makes the surface similiar to clayboard, if it does I'll post the recipe. I know it works with a board surface, just not sure if canvas has too much movement that it will end up cracking. Test piece in progress, keep your fingers crossed :)

Then, another one from 6 Feb - 20 Feb with 2 others [ not sure if they want me to say who at the moment] so I am flat out like a lizard. Luckily I've been researching both ideas, so really just had to flesh them out.
Possibly might look at another later next year that will be Illuminated manuscript based, depends on the weather over spring/summer.

Been concentrating on crocheting baby stuff as 2 daughters are almost at their due dates and I've been making some baby booties from material, which are so cute and tiny!  Hopefully everything will be done by the time they're born. Also, been making some more forged by fire flowers, some for someone in case she wants them for her wedding, so just in case, I've been making the bases ready to sew specific colour beads later aaaaand some to turn into brooches. Also, did another couple of crocheted necklaces.

Some of my handcrafted items and doodlebutz are available at Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc gallery shop and I should get moving and put some up on my facebook page as well.

Discovered that I can still move when required, LOL, running [ ok, waddling wildly!] from the end of the  platform Metro line at Southern Cross to the end of the platform VLine train home was interesting! 1 minute to switch trains saw both D3 and I thinking we should just catch the later train home, except for the fact it would have been crowded with football fans & race goers on their way home & probably standing room only. Luckily the wonderful lady conductor stood on the platform until we got on the train. Phew!

Off to eat my dinner before the cat does, chicken salad wraps.....YUM! chicken,celery,lettuce,tomato,cucumber,all chopped, add mayo, mix well, slap into wrap and roll...eat.

oops...

oh dear, it seems as I am neglecting my blog. I don't mean to, but life just gets in the way of actually sitting down and typing plus the effort of loading photo's via bluetooth which obviously has the irrits with me.

So, I joined Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc and we had our official opening on 1st July, our members exhibition is there for 4 weeks. We were opened by the Bendigo Mayor, Rod Ffyfe and we were also well supported by local business and community groups such as Rajmahal , Men in Sheds and Kangaroo Flat Community Centre.

I've started researching a new theme for another exhibition later this year and it's really interesting, so I keep going down the internet rabbit hole, finding so much good stuff to read and look at. I really need to go to Canberaa though to see some stuff in person. Hopefully I'll be able to wander down to Melbourne to check out some stuff at the galleries too. We are limited to bus travel while they repair the train line atm, so that will have to wait until the trains are running again.

I also signed up for pinterest, to help keep track of the reference material I've found. I love pinterest and have spent many hours looking at boards :)

I tore a ribcage muscle a couple of weeks ago and spent the time painfully resting in bed zonked out of my brains on painkillers, it's slowly getting better though and the level of the *argghhhh* as I sit up or move or breathe is finally going down the scale. I have been crocheting in short bursts, I'm working on new baby blankets as D1 is due 15th Sept and then D2 has her first in early October.

Oh, btw, I decided one day to sneak out of the house to get sugar, only got down the road when the car made a huge bang, started losing power, then kangaroo hopped & shuddered and finally shut down. Luckily I managed to pull off to the side of the road.

 So, I'm sitting there thinking that hubby was going to yell at me for being out of bed, let alone out of the house :D and that I really did need to ring him because the car wouldn't start and there was no way in hell I was going to be able to walk home. After making my distress call, I got out to lean on the car as sitting was too painful, a car pulls up behind me, so I walk around the back and look down...

there's about 3 ft of what appears to be blonde/white hair trailing from the exhaust. Fleeting thoughts of Barbie dolls shoved up the exhaust by kids or shrunken heads and wigs as I stood there and pondered this strange happening. Fortunately my sanity was saved by the guy who'd pulled up who explained that the hair was in fact sound deadening fibreglass material from the exhaust. Ahhh, that explains the mini explosion I heard just prior to the car croaking it! Luckily he knew, because I have never seen that happen before.

Car is in the sick bay, awaiting a new exhaust system when it stops being so cold, rainy or hubby is not on call. In the meantime if I want to go anywhere I get to drive the manual beast, which means my travels are severely curtailed as holy crap it hurts to turn the steering wheel!

The only other things I've been doing is watching DWTS..happy Manu won! Amazing Race...sad the Big W ladies left so early, watching Australia's got talent..freaked out at the old guy aerialist...OMG! and watching the Tour de France and wondering how many are going to be left at the end! so many serious injuries already, I really hope they all recover quickly.

Woohoo! Great Aussie band Chocolate Starfish are back!

Chocolate Starfish are performing on
Saturday 16 July @ Corner Hotel, Richmond
Tickets: $25+booking fee available online via
www.cornerhotel.com

and I haven't even yelled or anything yet.

 Yesterday hubby accidentally knocked a cup of coffee over my open laptop. We don't know if we can salvage it yet, so I'm on his, which altho is the same is not :( Luckily I backed up 2 days ago but not my new music

OTOH the youngest had his surgery yesterday and is recovering well with minimal pain. He kept telling us he felt like he'd been in a bar fight, which as he's never been in either a bar or a fight in his life was pretty funny. He was even more entertaining while he was high as a kite in recovery and kept asking us the same questions each time he woke up.

The nurses were lovely and he was well looked after with lemonade, jelly & icecream, although it was the longest I'd ever seen him take to eat it LOL . Stitches out next week and hopefully we won't have any more problems with teeth. 4 extractions, 3 fillings and a sealing.

Oh, btw, 2 of my 3 daughters are pregnant, both due 2 weeks apart. One knows what she's having, the other doesn't want to :) They've both had some big scares so I didn't want to say anything until they were past that and everything going well again. One's due mid to late Sept, the other early Oct.

Today I am just going to finish reading my book The Devil's Diadem by Sara Douglass. It's excellent! but I saved it for those excruciating waiting hours while the surgery/recovery was happening but didn't end up reading much of it.

Rolling my life away...

have been busy nuno felting :D Good excercise for the arms & shoulders! Very tiring but I will have a beeeyoootiful scarf. Pics to come later.

finally...

after 6 months?? [ not sure now, but  seems like forever!] my vision finally unblurred 2 days ago. I waited to make sure I didn't jinx myself though :) but finally I can finish off work that has sat untouched mocking me.

I can read books again too & my computer screen is now back to normal size. Even with it set to the highest zoom, it was still painful after about 10 minutes to even look at.  Some people asked if I had a short attention span when I posted on facebook or twitter because my replies were frequently hours apart :) Well, yes, I do have the attention span of a gnat...oooh, pretty shiny things!... but not that bad :)

Funnily enough, I haven't had the urge to be online as much as I used to be though. Surprised me, because I thought I'd be on the instant I could but I went out and bought 3 books to read instead & have some dvds I want to watch. I have lots of weird scribbles in my art journal so am going through them trying to remember what I was thinking at the time :D

Sullivan Street - Away From Me (Available on iTunes now!)

Animal lover rises above disaster - People - News - Westside News

Animal lover rises above disaster - People - News - Westside News

helping hands

A member of my extended family, Emily Telfer lost her florist business in the floods even though they had comprehensive insurance she was one of the unlucky one's who are not covered specifically for the type of flooding that occurred. She needs help getting going again, so if you are looking for a way to help, we'd appreciate it :D She's also a wildlife carer, so also needs some help with items she needs for the extra animals she's caring for.

Her contact information is at the bottom of this post.  Thanks :D

 

Immediately Needed :
• The services of a Scissor Sharpener to attempt to salvage my floristry tools.
• Heat Packs (to keep baby animals snugly and warm)
• Animal cages of at least 1x1m in size.
• Baskets (think picnic) with lids (lined if possible) to put baby animals in.
• Fruit and Vegetables (that are a little over ripe is fine) to feed to animals (we need these every 2 – 3 days but not too much only 1 small box).
• Native Foliage and Flowers for lorikeets and possums to munch on! We need this daily but not too much (1 bucket)
Soon’ish
• Banner Signs (the type that pull up) that we can get our printers to do up signs to go in.
• Bridal Magazines, new or used from 2010.
• A 3 Door (Glass Front) Display Fridge
• Shabby Chic furniture (for props in retail store) – eg set of drawers, hat stand, coat stand, single seat etc.
• Split System Air Conditioner to cool retail space up to 50m2
• POS (point of sale) Software System
• Garden Shed (preferable size 3 x 3m or larger) to help accommodate animals and care items etc.
• Assistance from a retail designer/interior decorator to assist us with the design of the new shop.

or if you prefer, you can help by ordering flowers

If you would like to place an order for delivery anywhere in Australia or Overseas you can:
1) Phone us on 1300 927 917
2) Go to www.quickneasyflowers.com.au
3) Or visit us at 33 Diosma Street, Bellbowrie, Monday – Friday 9am – 2pm 
a. (Please phone first for the next few days just to ensure I am not in appointments with my accountant etc).
All orders go a long way to helping us rebuild our business and in turn care for native animals in need and we thank you!

Paloma Faith - New York OFFICIAL VIDEO - Out 13/9/09

Kitten

Finally finished most of my site and reloaded it, still working on a visual portfolio though but it should be done by the end of the week hopefully. Redid profiles on Twitter & YouTube but still working on my facebook page.  Working on some stuff to be loaded up into my shop, then I'll do a giveaway to celebrate.

So, hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We got a new family member a couple of weeks ago, she still has no name :D 

Jumps around like a lunatic! and loves my wool & to help me crochet but is still a bit freaked at noise [cars] as she came from a farm. Doesn't like outside at all at the moment,so is quite happy to sit on everyone and sleep when she's not eating or playing.