Julie Knoblock

Heck!

2009-12-03T13:06:00.002+11:00

Yes, heck, I am so sorry for disappearing with no explanation! Life is very, very busy and my poor little blog tends to be at the bottom of my to-do list. So, I'm thinking, even though I have already taken an unannounced break from it, I am officially announcing a blogging break just to focus on the little things in life, like raising a kid, cooking food, caring for my dogs and my chooks and with what little time I have left over, for crafting, relaxing with Jim with a glass (or two) of wine, or heck, maybe even sleeping.

I often think about this blog, and my future in the art & craft world, so I will be back one day in some shape or form. Even if I wanted to I could not escape the art world. Sometimes I think it would be a much more calmer and sane world in a way, but I am forever connected to it whether I like it of not.

I thank each and every reader for following me on my little blogging journey over the last few years. It has made my lonely days tucked away in my studio not seem so isolating. To be able to feel a connection with a creative collective locally and globally has been something very special. I feel though that I am "out of the loop" at the moment because I rarely have time to follow up on what has been happening or discovering new artisans, so I kind of gave up trying because I am just so time poor at the moment. I only just found out what twitter is! (Can you believe it!?) Now I know how the old folks feel. Feeling bad because you cannot find time to craft and look after a kid at the same time!? Feel bad no longer! I am with you! I ADMIT IT!

I make things here and there but you need that extra motivation and time to actually blog about it!

So thank you all, and I hope to see you again very soon, big hugs xxx

Modern Retro Textiles

2009-09-25T20:49:00.006+10:00

Danger, danger! High likelihood that I will be buying fabric and patterns from the online shop I am looking after for a couple of weeks! Heard of Modern Retro Textiles? I am taking over this online store for two weeks, so if you order anything during this time it's being packaged by my little hands and lovingly sent off to you!

Jim & I know the lady behind it (we live near her- her partner works with Jim), and I was pleased to find out that she sold fabrics and patterns that I love. It's not often you come across this type of coolness and quality merchandise out here in Gippsland, usually you'd have to venture further into town. Then she tells me she's going on holidays and would I like to take over the store for her? Um, yes thank you, I would love to pour over the fabrics and patterns. I feel like I have a mini fabric store in my very own house!

And what is making me feel like the world is a little smaller is that I have been blogging for a little while and feel I have come to acquire some "internet friends" including Kate from Never Enough Hours and Kristen Doran from Cheeky Beaks, and now I am selling their stuff from my house by internet-unrelated coincidence!

These are the products I have my eye on at the moment...

Such sweet Heather Ross unicorny fabric, ooahh..

Funky nappy cover pattern..

Kristen Doran stuff!

Gorgeous Colette pattern..

This skirt is way cute..

Japanese pattern books are always so calming to look through..

How awesome would this fabric look just as some simple cushions?

Oh, and this fabric is just beautiful. I really would like to make Stevie something with this. I am loving yellow shades at the moment (this is more like orange but it still fits in with the hue I am adoring of late)..

Lovely, lovely stuff. And cheap postage rates too for Aussies. I may not be able to sleep tonight because I will want to look at fabric & patterns instead. Joy.

Sewing & Knitting for Stevie

2009-09-02T16:10:00.004+10:00

I have been meaning to post these new creations for a while now. The first creation is a dress from a pattern from Ottobre magazine. The first is a picture of the dress in the magazine, but I kind of had different ideas for it, inspired by some cute fabric I had already in my stash. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to sewing clothes, so I do admit that I had some help from my Mum. Thanks Mum! Knit fabrics are not the best fabrics to sew as a novice so it really does help when you can take your mistakes to your Mum and she fixes 'em up on her industrial sewing machines ;)

So here is the dress after I decided on the different fabric choices. I did want a different ribbing colour, but Spotlight in Narre Warren is sadly a let down when it comes to fabric variety. If I had one wish for my home town it would be for a great big stocked to the rafters Spotlight store...

So after it was sewn up, I picked out one of the trees in the fabric and hand painted it with fabric paints onto the front. Now we just have to wait for some warmer weather to show it off! (Cute toy made by one of my buddies.)

I also made a little pants with attached skirt from the same mag with some fabric that I would've loved to make myself a skirt from, but I did not have enough. Then took about one million, give or take, photos trying to get a good one to post here. Babies are not good camera models, they do not stay still! I got her in the end!

And some booties knitted! My first efforts of two-colour knitting, I forget what the technical-proper term for it is. Do not look too closely to see the holes and uneven tension. I think I did alright for my first attempt. Booties are nice and quick to make too which is a bonus. (See Stevie is wearing them too in her photo shoot!?)

It looks like I have been busy but these projects probably took me more than a month all together. And they were done weeks ago and I have not really made anything since. My studio is unheated but now that the warmer weather is coming I am looking forward to doing some more stuff out there at night.

Well, I shall be off, I have been in rush mode writing this post as I have a slight underlying anxiousness that Stevie will wake soon... she is having one of her extremely rare long naps! And I'm thinking, quick get this done, get this done, finish it before she wakes, quick, quick, quick! Nearly there, nearly there!!! She's still asleep!!! Amazing. See ya soon.

Crafty Time: Patchwork Coasters

2009-08-02T10:02:00.002+10:00

Keeping within the sewing category that I have been dabbling in, I have been really drawn to patchwork lately, and thought making some coasters would fulfill this need quickly. (So I can quickly move onto the next project!) Totally inspired by the coasters that Malka from A Stitch in Dye makes, I thought I would try my own but in my own style and colours. (I love her stuff, she inspires me to one day make a big quilt of my own. She is also one of the talented contributors to the Quilts, Baby! book that I am also in.)

Making these coasters was a good way to use up some of my off cuts and scraps of material that I can't seem to be able to throw away. I keep anything that I think I may be able to use one day instead of sending to landfill... environmental, people!

Made a little too late though it seems, as a couple of days before they were finished I left a tea cup stain on one of our tables. Bugger. Anyway, here are the four of them:

Oh, and I received my Ottobre sewing mags! I have already made a dress from one of them, I will take a photo and post it here soon. I am so loving sewing lately. I am loving making personal crafty stuff with no pressure to keep my shop stocked. I do want to get back into that but I sometimes cave under pressure so think I will wait a little longer. I have so many ideas and motivation for the future though.

Next I want to make little pants and another cardie for the nugget, and I'm also thinking of knitting those booties I recently posted about. I'll be buggered if I can stick to my "one project at a time rule", what the hell was I thinking!?

Updating Our Kitchen Wall

2009-07-30T20:39:00.003+10:00

What do you do when you live in a place with a really "country" style wall freeze, but it's not actually your house? You make a temporary removable cover up freeze for it, that's what!

You can see why I felt the need to cover it up in this pic:

I found some different designs in flocked paper and stuck them to some foam core board with spray adhesive. For a bit more sturdiness, on the back the paper was stuck down with PVA glue. I then bought some of those nifty removable 3M tabs to stick them over the old freeze. (Here's hoping they do what they promise and come off with no marks later on.)

I randomly cut the boards as I didn't want a uniform appearance. Before:

After:

Before:

After!:

And to finish off the look and fill in the big blank wall I hung up a selection of artworks and prints I have been hoarding. Some are framed postcards and cards, there's nothing wrong with framing them, they are cheap and look just as good. Clockwise from top left we have art tile by Robert Ryan , card by Boy Girl Party, print by Yellena, another Boy Girl Party card (top), random card from a friend, old art by me, mlhh print, another Yellena print, an op shop plate and little toy from a mate, Yellena print again, and card from Ashley G. These are all stuck in place using the 3M tabs too.

Much better! Don't you think?

What's Old is New

2009-07-25T20:09:00.006+10:00

I got given some vintage knitting patterns by Jim's Mum. There are some real little gems in there. I love looking through old patterns and rethinking them for today in new & different colours. Here are some of my favourite picks from the stash...

I think these little overalls could look good in different colours, they're pretty funky.

There's a pattern book with a lot of little cardies in it, some are quite plain (ie. without lots of frilly bits) and would knit up well with a bit of imagination. I think this little collared cardie is quite cute, I could see it in a brown colour for a girl or boy. How cute would it be over a funky little dress?

Once again, cute but the colours need updating.

And this little funky retro top is great how it is. I love the colours and everything!

I also got a book of little booties. Many of them remind me of the pair I bought for Stevie from an op shop that I get comments about all the time. These would be super cute in many different colour combos- but lets loose the ribbons.

It is to be expected however, that within a stack of vintage patterns we are going to find some patterns that are downright shockers! Some of these made me laugh out loud.

A his and hers set perhaps? So stylish!

All I can say here is... noice.

Shenanigans in the library... hmmmm...

Ok, forget the daggy ones... Now I need to just imagine I actually have the time to sit down and knit all of the cute projects...

Now I Have the Sewing Bug

2009-07-21T09:59:00.004+10:00

Yes I do. Leslie has inspired me to sew. She has a bubba just a little older than Stevie and she is so damn prolific and crafty. She sews some really cute stuff, and she passed the bug onto me. So Stevie needed a new cardie, so I thought I'd try to make her one. I got an old cardie of hers and took a pattern off of it and cut up an old vest and used some other bits of material in my stash to make it. The red binding is also recycled fabric.

I tried to quickly take some shots before the little nugget drooled all over it, but alas, that drool comes out pretty fast. Here's what the vest looked like before I cut it up:

I also made her a beanie, albeit a bit big, but at least it will be good for next winter. Softie from Never Enough Hours.

Close up of beanie. I crocheted the flower and the hat bit is obviously knitted.

I am still longing to sew more stuff and also from Leslie's website I found out about Ottobre and have consequently ordered two copies of the mag! I cannot wait for them to arrive and have been eagerly checking the letterbox in anticipation.

And here's a random shot of my sewing companion. Good boy, Bendy.

In farm life news, we have some intruder chooks. We are chook sitting for Jim's boss. Some of them are quite tame and we can pick them up. I like having more chooks, there are something like 9 of them out there now, but you wouldn't know it. We are only collecting an average of one egg a day. Step up your game, chookies!

See you next time x

Mini Art Quilt Finished

2009-06-25T14:48:00.003+10:00

Yay for finished projects! I finished the mini art quilt I have been working on. I've taken some close shots so you can see some of the detail. I wanted to make the girl a scarf, and was originally going to knit a miniature one, but ended up making one from needlelace instead, which is a method of weaving a needle and thread inside a cotton wrapped wire shape. It's an old school technique for a modern piece.

There's something just so soothing about looking at stitching...

One more close up...

I'm happy it's finished. Next I'm finishing off a cushion cover that's been half finished for ages.

I'm slowly working through my collection of art projects here in my studio (which isn't really a studio, more like stuff spread over a couple of rooms at the moment) and deciding what to finish, what to sell and what to keep or store. I'd like to be all orgainsed when our house gets built and I finally have a real studio for all of my stuff. The house plans are coming along! I cannot wait to decorate my own house!

2009-06-20T21:33:00.002+10:00

Hi, remember me?

I'm not sure I even do- I have morphed into a baby-food making, nappy changing, baby entertaining machine. I'm quite good at it all now I reckon, because that is all I do. And being comfortable with that for the time being is making me happier, so some things have to give. Like blogging. Oh golly gosh I repeat myself a lot.

News and stuff:

- We snuck off to sunny Palm Cove (North of Cairns in sunny Queensland) for a week. Yay! It was very warm and lovely to not have to cook for a week. Stevie was a great traveler and she loves to swim and meet lots of new people. Smiles all around for everyone. Cheeky bub.

- Cluckers is looking very much all better. She has grown her feathers back and we are mighty pleased with this.

- Stevie is just about to crawl. She is terribly, terribly inquisitive, and I think once she gets going I will be following her around non stop pulling dangerous things out of her paws.

- Jim has gotten all crazy and obsessed about aquaponics. It's like hydropnics but with a fish tank to feed the plants. He is making a small practice one with a goldfish tank in our sunroom. I think it's all quite funny and a little cute. We bought some fish today for it.

- We are starting the ball rolling in getting OUR HOUSE BUILT! Very exciting and I have been on the lookout for different and unique things that I can get within oz. I have my heart set on hand painted tiles at the moment.

Now, some art!!!

Do you like my recent moleskine drawing/painting/collage? I feel like even though I haven't been drawing or painting for ages, that my style has been evolving internally anyway, and I got really excited when I started to draw again with all the possibilities and new directions I could take with my art. It's strange how it has changed (or it feels like it has) without me actually literally working on the evolution. Maybe it's because I have changed so much in the last 8 months from becoming a mother. I'm looking forward to getting back into it but I have also made an internal shift recently where I am ok with this break from my art and relaxing into my mothering role without resentment. I am taking time to "smell the roses" (or baby I should say), and not stressing myself out with personal expectations. Sweet!

I hope you have enjoyed my little update, it's been nice to check in :)

Odds & Ends

2009-05-16T15:28:00.003+10:00

It was my first Mum's day last week!! Jim, I mean Stevie, was really nice and bought me my favourite flowers, Aussie natives. I then got bacon and eggs cooked for me for brekkie. Nice. Eggs from our chooks of course. Well, chook.

It seems Pecky (a.k.a. bitch-face) has been pecking Cluckers. At first we thought a baby fox got into the pen, coz I accidentally left the door open all night one night. Did I feel terrible. Then we thought it was rats (there are a lot of rats out there at the moment- and on a quick google search I found that hens do get attacked by rats!! Yes: EW!!) but now we have seen that it is Pecky. We think we may have to separate them, but in the meantime I have been remembering to let them out and give them lots of scraps to peck at to alleviate boredom to see if that helps. Any tips or advice is most welcome! I also read on the internet that vinegar in their drinking water helps, but I could find no explanation on why this works. Dumb! Frustrating! Anyway, Pecky is still laying, but Cluckers has stopped out of distress I imagine. Poor little lady.

Today I read somewhere on Sally's blog that she has drawings from her little 6.5 month old. I thought, shit, why haven't I gotten Stevie to draw yet? It seems ridiculous that I haven't, me being an artist and all. So we went to my desk for a drawing lesson. Stevie was much more interested in trying to eat the pen and the paper, and then did some banana vomit which went all down her shirt. But I did manage to show her how to draw a weird cat-dog (what the hell is with that nose), a stick figure man (I thought with a drawing lesson this would be the best place to start), and some other little cute shapes. She managed some lines & a dot & some drool spots as she is thinking outside of the square and breaking all the rules already. She is a drawing rebel.

Went shopping yesterday with my Mum, my Auntie Di & my cousin Kez. I have wanted a watch for ages, and have been eyeing the one off that Bridget wears on Neighbours. I think it looks pretty cool. (Don't die Ringo! Actually, I don't care, you annoy me anyway...)

So... I bought one from fossil. On comparison it looks pretty similar, I reckon hers is a fossil watch too, and I think hers actually looks more manly. I was pretty happy with it and thought it was great until I got home and showed it to Jim whose comment was, "wow, you're really making a statement with that." Said in a not-so-enthusiastic manner. Now I have been scrutinising it and wondering if it does suit me. Another comment from the darling fiance of mine was, "it's something you'd expect to see on someone younger." So now I'm not so sure. It certainly is chunky and big and does make my wide chunky engagement ring look dainty! But I look at it and think I love it, but then from a different view or angle I think, do I really like it? Does it suit me? Bugger it, I think I do like it. What do you think? I love how you get a funky tin though, I like the one I got with this watch.)

I do feel I'm getting old though and liking different things and my Mum and I were joking about how we are looking at different shops now. My eye is being caught by the shops Mum used to shop in, and she is quite worried that the shops that my Nan used to shop in are catching her eye!! It is quite a feat going shopping with a baby too. Not much actual shopping time by the time you minus nappy changing/ feeding/ nursing time. But it was still a good day and I got myself a dressing gown, new jammies and some cute clothes for lil miss nugget.

I also got some Sarajo Frieden cards. I love this artist. I think I may frame these.

And sorry, once again, for the lack of posts!! I am always thinking of new posting ideas for my little blog, it's just finding the time that is a problem (I have blogged right through my dinner time tonight! It is now time to eat!)

See you soon :)

Stuff For Stevie

2009-04-29T19:54:00.002+10:00

I finished the cardie for Stevie! It's extra thick & warm which is just in time for winter. I finished with less than 30cm of wool left over, can you believe it? Lucky!!!

This thing took ages coz I am such a slow knitter. And all through this project I was thinking, why did I start this? I could have made a bunch of stuff in the time that it's taken me to make this. But even tonight I was tempted to go through the pattern book that this cardie came from and start something new. Ridiculous. I'm not going to though, I have other things floating around in my mind that I need to get out.

And check out the old-school type booties I got for her from an op shop recently. I love them. They have sheep skin sewn to the bottom of them.

I have been wanting to make Stevie some clothes and to quickly satisfy this urge I did some quick jazzing-up of some preexisting items. I got these orange pants from a second hand store too, and I thought they were a pretty good find until I took them to the counter and the woman said, "Oh, isn't that cute?" as she pointed to the little paddington bear emblem on the leg. I said (unenthusiastically) "yeahhhhhh..." thinking, "oh crap I didn't notice that before", so upon getting home I got out this cute fabric I have with toadstools on it and covered up the (gay) little bear!!

And I thought, what a quick way to make cute funky looking clothes, so I cut out a pic from another piece of fabric and stitched it to this plain target top. Awesome! She'll be the best dressed baby on the block in no time... if only she will stop vomiting/ drooling/ spilling food on to all of her clothes...

I've Caught the Knitting Bug

2009-04-06T15:08:00.002+10:00

I am naughty. I never finished my mini art quilt project before I started something else! I've already broken my new rule of "one project at a time". The quilt is nearly finished though, and I will not be starting anything new until it's done!
But I did recently finish knitting this nappy cover for my little nugget. It lay unfinished for yonks because I made a mistake, and mistakes that you need to fix often make you loose motivation to finish things. Right?
Anyway, so I finished it and then I had caught the knitting bug. So I started a little cardigan for Stevie from this lovely alpaca/ wool blend from my local wool shop. As you can see I'm a fan of the multi coloured wools.

So I will finish the quilt soon & show you when it's done. Promise!

In sleep news we have had a break through. Since introducing dinner to my little girl, she has slept thought the night twice. A full night's sleep is like heaven!

Let's finish up this post with a word from the little gal:

.; u vh n vb h b ,jm v f

Oh my Stevie, your typing skills have really gone downhill since your last post. (Yes, she typed that herself...)

Sleep? Sleep? What's that!?

2009-04-03T15:58:00.002+11:00

Hey there. My name's Stevie. The girl who has decided she does not like to sleep.

I'm setting out to annoy my Mum. I generally like to have really short naps and then spend the day cranky, unless of course, my Mother is right there in front of me entertaining me. I mean, who wants to sit happily in the stupid bouncer while Mum cleans the shower? Not me! Mum should do that boring stuff while I have my short naps, but she usually eats or naps too, the lazy woman.

Then there's the night time. Waking every two or three hours is my new trick. There's so much playing to be done, so who wants to sleep? So Mum thought I may be waking due to hunger and started me on solids. (I was getting extra hungry during the day, too.) I'm pretty good at eating, love the stuff. I have only had rice cereal and stewed apple so far, but I love it. At first it tasted weird and I spat it out, but it got better with each spoonful, so I gobbled up the whole lot.

Mum is confused about what to do about my sleeping. She's waiting to see if I will magically start sleeping better again at night, but I have news for her... he-he :) She's hoping that when my belly is fuller that I will sleep better. But hey, there's no hurry I reckon. In the meantime she's trying to ignore advice to let me "cry it out", "get rid of the dummy", and "How old is she? 5 months? Oh no, she doesn't need feeding at night." Thanks to sleep school for that last one. I like feeding at night!

So, just thought I'd pop in and say hello coz my Mum is slack when it comes to blogging so thought I'd better post something for you all. And tell you how smart I am, learning how to type already and all.

The Stitches & Craft Show- Melbourne

2009-03-15T13:47:00.004+11:00

Went to the Stitches & Craft show on Friday with Stevie & my Mum. Discovered some awesome work by crochet artist Luisa De Santi.

Went a bit nuts at the Amitie Textiles stand. I live a bit of a drive from the shop so thought that a good enough excuse to stock up on some cute fabrics. None of which match each other to use in the same project which means my project to-do list just got a little longer ;) I'm thinking either a skirt or decorative tea towels for the top fabric. Stevie will probably benefit from the other designs...

A cute hoodie for Stevie from Twiglet. Such nice individual earthy designs...

And a really cool book with heaps of skirts and bags in that I want to make right now. There are probably a dozen skirts in this book that I would wear which made the $31 price illegal to pass up. I also bought a copy of Mixed Tape zine which is a great read from what I have seen so far and I'm thinking of taking up a subscription. It gives me the same pleasure reading it as I get reading other like minded crafty people's blogs, only in tactile recycled paper form. Nice.

I also met Liz from Betty Jo who's stuff looks mighty awesome and funky online but even better in real life. I saw some other people too from blog-land but shyness came across me and I did not introduce myself! Bah, silly girl!

All in all it was a good day. Hot, but good. Got loads of inspiration and if funds had've allowed it I could've spent a bucket load... but I think I spent enough!

I did forget at one stage though amidst all the excitement that I am actually a mother and need to change nappies. Sorry Stevie..!

Parenting Thoughts

2009-03-07T16:49:00.004+11:00

It's true. I made a mini-me. Stevie is at the top, I'm in the next photo with my Great Grandmother.

My my how time is flying. It seems Stevie is doing something new everyday. Her newest thing is doing this movement with her right arm that I like to call "helicopter arm". Maybe she will be right handed? Not a molly duker like her Mum.

I am currently asking all Mum's I know why the heck they did not warn me how tough this job would be. I guess being a parent is hard to explain to someone who has never been there. Maybe that's why.

I have been through so many ups and downs. But where I am today is a good place.

I still stress out and feel completely overwhelmed at times and to be completely honest I did suffer from a bit of post natal depression. Before I had Stevie I wondered how one could suffer from depression at such an exciting time, but if parenting has taught me anything (and of course it has, it's taught me a lot) it's taught me that all preconceptions regarding parenting are going to be extremely challenged and most of the time far from how things really are.

I say I'm in a good place now, though I am still struggling. I am tired. My body hurts, I miss my art. I complain and then feel bad for being so ungrateful and not living up to my own expectations of being a "perfect" mother. One who does all she needs to do without ever whinging about it. But what is this facade we all try to put up and for who's benefit is it for anyway? Ours? For others? It doesn't help ourselves not to share with others how hard we are finding things at times. And it certainly doesn't help other Mum's when we lead them to believe we are doing just super and have it all together with a clean house and a home cooked meal on the dinner table at 6pm every night. It's our duty to other Mum's to leave our houses messy when they come over, and to share the fact that sometimes we just can't do it all and that we are not perfect human beings. Then maybe it will help them to not feel so bad when they can't keep their houses as clean as ours.

This is the hardest & most emotionally intense job I've ever had. And yes I admit, I'm a bit of a lazy person. But it's also the most rewarding. I complain, but I'm not looking for sympathy... I just don't want to pretend that everything is perfect and be all la-de-da here as that would only be telling half the story. I am happy, but I have my moments.

And so even though right now my back is aching, the little nugget is asleep in her cot & I am looking forward to holding her again when she next wakes. I am looking forward to the new milestones that the next week will bring. She is on the verge of rolling over and new sounds are gurgling out of her mouth frequently. I am excited about starting to introduce foods to her (we bought a pretty funky high chair today). Her smile is the most awesome thing in the world.

So I need to rest up and prepare myself for another day. Another day where I need to remind myself that this time will go fast so I need to enjoy the present and really enjoy Stevie as she is now. Not to care so much about a messy house- which is easier said than done. And remember that any great achievement usually takes a lot of hard work... and that I'm not alone coz there are a stack of other Mum's out there that are doing the exact same thing.

Mini Art Quilt Project

2009-03-03T12:38:00.005+11:00

Been working on a new project and proudly sticking to my new rule of one project at a time. I've been really drawn to sewing and stitching recently so I decided my latest project would be a mini quilt. I love creating a "painting" using fabric and thread as my paints and paint brushes. I get so obsessed about methods to the point where I think about them all the time. I've been really thinking about hand sewing & how I love it when pieces of fabric are sewn together by hand to form a nice tight join with rather naive stitching. As they get sewn together, the loose folds are pressed down to a new permanent form. I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it. Like this:

I think I have finished all I want to do for the main image. Oh, except I want to knit a little mini scarf for the gal. Then the next step will be to add some batting and some quilting stitches which is such a fun part. Kind of like adding varnish to a painting.

I love love love naive hand sewing and this album cover (Joanna Newsome- The Milk Eyed Mender) has been a favourite sewing piece for me for a long time. So inspiring and probably got a lot to do with the fact that I make so many sewing projects now.

I try to make my stitching naive but while my subject matter is on the naive side I think my stitching always ends up being a little too neat for my liking. I like looking at the stitching on the back of my projects as I like the messy look it has. I wonder if could make a sewing project from the reverse side? There I go again... jumping onto ideas for a new project. Focus girl, focus.

Nice Day For a Walk...

2009-02-27T15:41:00.002+11:00

Victoria's Bushfires

2009-02-13T18:52:00.005+11:00

No doubt everyone has heard of the devastating bushfires here in Victoria. I cannot believe that it has happened, and it probably wont ever actually sink in.

Last Saturday was forecast to be a scorcher of a day. Gale force winds and the heat made it extremely uncomfortable to be outside; and a day where fire risk was at an all time extreme high. I remember hearing about fires that had started and was concerned, but never in a million years did I think it would elevate to the devastation that evolved.

Our town & house here came under ember attack in the afternoon. I did not know what it was I should've been doing. I did laps around the house holding Stevie & looking out the windows while Jim was out in one of the farm utes patrolling the property incase any grass fires started. He put out one small one at the front of our house. He sent me a message to go down to the packing shed at his work to hide out with the dogs and Stevie.

This is a picture of the smoke coming from the Bunyip Ridge fire in Gippsland which was over the back of our property.

So I rushed around the house grabbing photos and the dogs and Stevie, and got into the car to drive down to the packing shed. I was quite frightened. And it was awful doing it all by myself. Outside was really windy and there was ash and embers flying through the air and getting in my eyes and the sun through the smoke was casting an eerie orange light onto everything.

Notice how I waited for Jim to tell me what to do? I just could not think straight and did not know what to do. Stevie was grumpy and crying and needed a feed and that on top of feelings of panic and confusion made it difficult to get organised.

The embers stopped flying over when we were in the packing shed, when the wind changed, and that night the wind dropped dramatically and we had a cool change which was desperately needed.

This is a piece of burnt bark that was found on our property afterwards. There's little bits of charcoal and black leaves around, but this was the biggest bit we found.

But what I went through was a walk in the park compared to so many others that have lost their homes and family. It is so devastating and I cannot believe how many people have died trying to escape the flames. I cannot stop thinking of their poor family members that have been left behind to grieve. The animals that have suffered. The babies and kids that were caught up in it. The feelings of terror that people must have felt. The wildlife.

One of the hardest hit areas was near where I grew up, making this tragedy a little too close to home for my liking. I can't believe areas that have been local to me are now making world news headlines. These towns are part of Australia's biggest natural disaster in recorded history.

One of my best friends lives out in Kinglake, which was one of the areas hardest hit by the fires. I am so thankful she and her husband and baby made it out and it is a big reminder to me of what the important things in life are... and they are not things, they are people.

I didn't know whether to write about my own personal story here as I don't want any feelings of sympathy at all... compared to what other people have gone through and are going through I feel kind of weird writing about my experience. Maybe also it has something to do with the fact that the whole situation is so terrible that I just want to forget about it all. Or that my experience is just not even comparable to what others have gone through.

Donations can be made to The Victorian bushfire appeal 2009 through The Red Cross. The 2009 Victorian bushfire Fund will assist individuals and communities affected by the bushfires in Victoria.

EEeeeeeeeewwwwww!!!!

2009-02-06T15:30:00.002+11:00

EEEEeeeeeewwwww!!!! EEEWW!! Get out of the house!!!!

Yuck yuck yuck!!!!

NOT ON THE DOG!!!!! Stay still Leela...

Eeeeeekkk!!!!!! Watch out Stevie!!!

Good acting skills Vee...

Yes, I knitted a redback spider for my Mum. Pattern from Hansigurumi. It tooks me ages! And with a baby to care for some days I only managed half a dozen stitches! Redback's are an aussie spider that hang out in sheds and garages and under rocks and lips of buckets and little nooks and crannies outside. I have never seen one inside anyway. Redbacks are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia. And thankfully... thankfully... they don't get this big!!

One project finished! My next project I think will be a mini art quilt taken from a little doodle I did on this page:

Which is how I come up with a lot of my ideas. Just doodling on scraps of paper. People often ask me how I come up with ideas. So now you know one way! I really do wish I was more organised and did them all in a place that keeps them all neat & tidy such as a sketch book, but hey, I'm just not that practical.

My new mantra at the moment is "one project at a time". It's hard to find time with bubs so I just want to plod away with each project from start to finish. I am happy that I knitted the spider from start to finish. You get a great sense of satisfaction from a project completed. Maybe I shall show progress shots of my next project?

--------------

Steve's & I visited the lovely Sal & Rub's yesterday in her lovely house in the bush and ate yummy cakes. (I am craving that cakey one with the purple centre today Sal.) Yes, we both ate cake coz I ate it and then it ended up in my milk so Stevie had some too! Haha! Check out some photos here :) Sal reckons we should get them best friends forever snap in half pendants. Oh yeah baby...

YAY! No More Stinky Harness!

2009-01-31T09:02:00.002+11:00

It's OFF! Goodbye harness, hello freedom!
She still needs an x-ray in a couple of weeks just to make sure everything is as it should be, so fingers crossed that will be the end of it. She can now progress onto being a normal baby and learn to straighten out those little fidgety legs! She feels all floppy to me now, but I love cuddling her with no harness on, it's great.
Life is busy, the house is a mess, she is still waking up sometimes twice a night for feeds which is making me tired. But everything is getting easier. Routine is out the window. Stuff routines, I'm raising a free range baby.

Other business... what's with this crazy heat!? I like the heat but the last few days have been somewhat ridiculous. 43 degrees......!? (That's 109 Fahrenheit). We are in for another hot day today, 37 I hear which is a bit better than over 40. Phew!

Well, I am very rushed as we are going to the shops to pick up some dog food, chook food, human food etc etc before it gets too hot. See ya soon... :)

Red Bubble

2009-01-16T13:29:00.004+11:00

There needs to be lots more arty internetty things happening in Oz. Considering the dollar is extremely tragic, I am no longer buying arty & crafty stuff from abroad. I'm waiting. Patiently.
So, I decided to check out Red Bubble. It's an Aussie site that artists can join and then upload their work to be sold as prints, cards, t-shirts as well as doing other stuff that I wont go in to but you can zip on over there for a look yourself. The site reminds me of the type of thing that Cafe Press has going.

So I signed up myself out of curiosity and made myself a profile. I just uploaded one design to make into a card and I ordered some to check out what the quality was like. They are on quite thick stock and the surface is like a photo. The cool thing is, you can order your own products for a base price and sell them yourself. Or else other people can go to your Red Bubble page and order your products from there.

Here's the image I uploaded. It's a congrats card for a new baby, coz there's lots of 'em popping out lately!! Feel free to order yourself some cards. Who knows, I may even upload more designs in the future, once I get some sort of a life back!

Yes, a life. Raising babies is hard work. I am tired. And hungry. And frequently holding onto my bladder contents because looking after Stevie always comes first. Yes, even before toilet trips.

I should be eating right now, but how can I go on neglecting my blog?

I shall soon go and make myself some food that doesn't involve lots of time to make.

And Happy Birthday, Bender Madden. Me love you long time xxxxxxxx

He's the ripe old age of 7 today.

PS. How cool are old looking photos? I took this with a Polaroid Pack Film camera and 669 pack film. Awesome.

Routine is not a Four Letter Word & New Baby Quilt Book

2009-01-06T10:06:00.005+11:00

So, all have a good exy (xmas) and new year's? I hope! We got spoilt, well Stevie sure did! I felt like all the extra pressies were for me because I got to open them all and I love toys and kiddies books! Joy!

I have been leaving blogging till last on my priority list and have been putting Stevie and house chores first. I am attempting to put her into a routine for my own sanity, and the promise of a happier baby that doesn't cry much for her own sake. We have dealt with what I think is colic and feeding problems and my own anxieties of looking after a baby so this seems to be the right way to go for us. So right this very minute I am rocking her to sleep in my free arm which is a big no-no in the routine guide but we are just establishing her nap times so I'll deal with sleep issues later.

On to other things!

Thought I'd fulfill one of my promises and tell you about a new crafty book published by Lark Books that I am a part of. It's a modern craft book, of which there should be more of in the world. It's a book of modern baby quilts. I am very much looking forward to seeing who else was involved and what quilts they came up with. Apparently I'll get my gratis copy around mid year.

The book is called "Quilts, Baby!" Here's the link: Quilty Baby Book. Looks like it's already available for sale.
My quilt is called "for the love of nature". And below that piccie you can see the front cover, which my quilt is featured on! I was super happy to see that they chose mine to be on the front cover as it gave me a boost of confidence in my quilt designing skills at a stage where I was thinking that my quilt probably wasn't that great and maybe I could've done better! Ahhh, the ever self criticising artist I be!

So yes, I am still lurking here and I do have a new print waiting in the sidelines for the reopening of my shop. But I am leaving that until I feel capable of fitting more into my day as I'm trying not to pressure myself into doing one million-zillion things. I can be very hard on myself like that, so it's time to ease up. Though I am currently knitting a ghastly looking redback spider for my Mum. Urgh! Half an hour each evening after the nappies are washed and the dishes are done!

(I know of someone who got bitten by a redback. Urgh! He got bitten on his perineum and actually drove himself to hospital in excruciating pain!)

Seeya soon... :)

Stevie Photos

2008-12-13T12:48:00.002+11:00

See my last post where I talked about my Auntie Di who kindly knitted those sea creatures for me? Well, creativity runs in the family, as her daughter, my cousin Kez took some family photos for us. She usually takes band photos, and she said she didn't have much practice taking family shots like these, but I reckon she did a pretty good job!

This was still when Stevie was just home from the hospital... she has grown a little bit now. Almost two months old already! But I still wanted to show them here.

Here she is sleeping in her cot...

...and again... ooohhhhh :)

Lovey times...

Sweetie pie...

Big hands, little hands...

Us as proud parents...

Daddy & daughter...

And finally, the whole clan...

So there you go. I'll have to take some more recent shots soon.

I am finding this Mum gig a little hard at the moment, which is why I haven't been blogging (or creating) much. She has really been unsettled and crying lots so when I do get spare time I try to sleep, but really, I'm usually cleaning or washing.

Good news is... the specialist thinks Stevie's hips feel good so probably most likely only another 5 weeks in the harness! We are looking forward to the day that comes off :)

See ya soon... I can hear she is waking up...

Crafting Time- Finally!

2008-12-01T15:38:00.005+11:00

Have been managing to find some time for crafting, between the nappy changes and feeding. This is a mobile that my Auntie Di knitted the creatures for, and I turned it into a mobile for above Stevie's change table. She likes to look at this because it's got nice bright colours and contrast.
The patterns were from hansigurumi's etsy shop. There are some more awesome patterns there that I'd love such as these spiders that really do gross me out and make my skin crawl, but would be a perfect gift for my Mum, who I think is slightly evil as she loves spiders and horror movies. Check out the fangs on them! Urgh! I can't believe how out of control my spider fear is if I get goosebumps from knitted softie ones!
So I kinda took the idea of making the mobile up from this Blabla mobile. I liked the look of how the knitted theme was continued in the make up of the whole mobile.

The last photo is a works-in-progress shot of some purses that I have started making that will be eventually for sale in one of the places that you can find my stuff. Oh yeah, and one of these places, Georgie Love has a fantastical new website. It looks great, have a look and see so for yourself :)

Coming soon: more Stevie photos, a published crafty book announcement, and a new print for the reopening of my etsy shop.

Stuff

2008-11-22T19:33:00.004+11:00

And so, life is very busy. Amongst washing clothes with baby vomit on them and nappies, general house chores and looking after the little nugget (she's just found her screaming ability), not much else is getting done! I managed to sit down and half finish a drawing the other day, but that's about it! (I'd show you, but it's a design for someone who might see it here first.)

So to keep you in the loop, here's what's been happening. Appointments, appointments, appointments. And babies really do not know the meaning of keeping an appointment, as she always wants to be fed when it's time to go. Then she'll vomit on everything. Anywayz, some of our appointments have been with specialists and physio's for Stevie's hips. This thing she has on is called a wheaton harness. She has loose hip joints, with the ability to dislocate. She was at higher risk for this problem because she was 1. A breech baby, 2. My first baby, and 3. A girl. I was upset at first about it being put on (I nearly had to leave the room as I was a bit emotional when the physio was fitting it) but I am now ok with it. It's really not a major problem and it is quite common (apparently) so I am grateful that she didn't have any other problems. Makes nappy changes hard though. Especially at the moment as I think she has a case of the runs. Not good in a bub, and she has been checked by the doc (another appointment!) and she's doing ok. It's just now she has nappy rash because of it & I'm doing everything I can but it's still there and I am worried it is causing her pain. Will probably need another trip to the doctor's. Ho hum.

So the harness keeps her hip/leg joints in place until the bones grow and form some more where they will sort of lock-in and wont be able to dislocate anymore. That's my understanding of it anyway. She has to wear it for about 3 months and is only allowed out of it for 1/2 an hour each day when we give her a bath. So, we've already got one month out of the way. Fingers crossed only two more to go and that she wont need any more treatment. She doesn't seem to mind it, it's just a bother to me as it's hard to find clothes that fit her now!

Now to completely change the subject... this is a pic of our first egg from our chooks! And what an egg! Good one girls! We've had quite a few double-yokers since. We also found an egg without a shell in the pen, and I hear that they can lay these one's first off. Weird. Sorry I have no photo of that for you!! It looked pretty gross.

And back to Stevie again, here's Grandpa Steve (my Dad) with Stevie :) I love this photo.

My blog is becoming quite baby intense isn't it? Oh well, hope you don't mind. It's just my life is revolving around this little thing at the moment! I cannot wait to find some time for arting & crafting and blog about that stuff here.

Lastly, a big huge THANK YOU and lots of hugs & kisses from me to all of you who left me lovely congrats messages and comments regarding the birth of Stevie. I love comments. Can't get enough of them. I'm like a comment addict, the more I get, the more I want. Ha!

Oh God is that the time? Already!? Where did the day go?...

The Birth Story!

2008-11-10T15:44:00.005+11:00

I was going to give a shorter version of the birth story as I wasn't sure how much detail I wanted to go into here. But, I decided that it's ok to talk about these things openly, so I hope you enjoy the story that I would like to share with you. If you're up for a long read, that is!

My waters broke almost 3 weeks early on Monday night the 20th of October. I wasn't exactly sure if that's what it was, so I rang the hospital to ask them their advice. They told us to come in as they like women to come in once their waters have broken. We grabbed my hospital bag just in case and headed in there around 10.30pm. They hooked me up to a monitor that recorded the baby's heartbeat and contractions. I hadn't felt any at that stage, even though the machine said I was having them. I wanted to go home, but they said they'd like me to stay so they set us up in one of the birthing suites for the night. I felt confused as to what was happening. I didn't know what to expect. This wasn't how I envisaged the whole thing to start! I imagined getting contractions, timing them (like in the books) and then coming in when I thought I was ready.
They put us into one of the birthing suites for the night. I was having trouble getting to sleep, and they said if I had not fallen asleep by 1.30am that I should take some sleeping pills as I'd need my sleep and energy for the upcoming labour. Considering my aversion to medication, I tried meditating to relax and fall asleep, but ended up taking some sleeping pills at about 1.30am and then slept soundly until 4am. I had broken sleep from then on. My mind was too busy to sleep!
I was told in the morning that my doctor would be visiting me, and that she would probably want to induce me as it would have been 12 hours since my waters broke (and therefore the protective barrier surrounding the baby had broken and she was open to risk of infection). I was starting to get worried as I really did not want to be induced. My doctor turned up later on and I told her that I wasn't happy with the idea of induction, and that I was hoping to start labour naturally. I was torn between struggling with the warnings of the risk to the baby, and knowing that hospitals like to intervene when not absolutely necessary, coupled with my desire to avoid a cascade of intervention.
I don't remember exactly how, but we managed to talk the staff into letting us go home to see if the labour started up by itself. They said that if nothing had happened by the next morning then I would definitely be induced. That was a total of 36 hours they were willing to let me go, which is beyond their 12 hour policy. (The hospital up the road has a 72 hour policy!)
I had a time limit on my head. I was trying to will my body into action.
We went home, and went for a walk around the property to try and get things started. We also tried another method of natural induction which I found in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. (I highly recommend this book, by the way if anyone is wanting to research all they can about natural labour and birth. I found it fascinating and informative.)

Amazingly, within about 10 minutes we heard an audible 'pop' with some gushing of amniotic fluid and my first contraction! Joy! My body was doing what it was supposed to do, naturally.
We started timing the contractions. It was about 5pm at this stage. I had about an hour and a half of mild contractions, then at about 6.45 as I was getting changed into old clothes for the hospital I had a contraction that brought me to my knees. (This is the point that they time your labour from.) I had my first stop-me-in-my-tracks contraction. I declared to Jim that we had to hurry up and head to the hospital "NOW".
We had been organising stuff casually for the previous couple of hours (can you believe I had even done my hair!?) and then it was a mad rush to get every little last item I thought I'd need into the car, including ourselves. (I had no idea what I'd need or miss and had only finished packing my bag the night before. (Be prepared early just in case, ladies!)
We started off for the hospital, and my contractions lessened in intensity. I was worried that being taken out of my comfort zone my labour would regress, so I said that maybe we should go back home, (we were around the corner from the hospital by then- we live about 5mins away from it) and I couldn't remember if I'd turned the heater off anyway. So we turned around and came back home!
As soon as we got home I had some full-on contractions and Jim rushed inside, checked the heater and got me a big glass of water. We then headed straight back to the hospital. I was having some pretty intense contractions in the car, and we pulled up to the hospital and I got out, and immediately had another one outside the front doors. Luckily, no one was around! You should have seen me... dressed in a daggy paint-stained skirt, ankle slippers and a blanket wrapped around me.
As soon as we got inside I rushed up to the maternity ward, ignoring the check-in process, where a midwife was waiting for me. She took me straight into a birthing suite where I immediately had another contraction. They were close together already and pretty strong. We tried heat pads, but they felt terrible and I yelled at them to be removed. I somehow headed to the shower and had hot water directed on my lower back between contractions. I could not handle any heat there during them however.
It felt quite relentless, and after I got sick of the shower I headed to a mat on the floor where I continue to labour on my hands and knees.
It is really all quite a blur to me and I had no idea of how much time was passing and who was coming in and out of the room. Another midwife came in somewhere along the line, but I really was not aware of what was going on around me.
I was starting to get an intense urge to push at the end of some of my contractions. It felt good to push. Before going into labour, I was feeling self conscious of possible noises that I would make and who would be able to hear them, but I tell you, I did not care one little bit who heard or saw me. There could have been 100 people in the room with me and I wouldn't have cared in the slightest. And I was making some pretty loud noises!
The hospital here doesn't do internal examinations as a rule, plus considering my waters had broken early, there was a risk of infection by doing anything internal previously. There was also some other test that my doctor forgot to do the day before for some bacteria, which caused an extra bit of concern for the staff involved. I was pushing for a while, time was passing, and then they decided to do an internal examination as I'd been pushing for a while and things weren't progressing much and they wanted to check out what was happening in there.
So one of the midwife's did the examination, and then called the doctor on duty in to double check what she thought she had found out. The doctor did her own examination and then declared that the little girl was coming out bum first. (Yes, Sally! BUM FIRST!) When I was told I panicked and looked around the room asking, "WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?" expecting someone to give me some sort of reply that would make everything alright! There were then discussions amongst the staff, which Jim was trying intently to listen in on. They decided then to start to organise a caesar... forms were produced and signed, the risk factor of caesarians talk was given to me (who wants to hear about haemorrhaging and hysterectomies whilst in labour?), at which point I asked, "Am I specially at risk or is this your typical spiel?" The doctor told me it was their standard warning speech and I said something like, "Whatever, ok, do what you need to do."
Then I went through another few contractions and was told to go against my body's overwhelming urge to push! This was undoubtedly the hardest part of the whole labour, going against my bodies urge to push. I was thinking that the decision had been finalised for me to have a caesar, so I felt that the contractions were useless and causing me pain for no reason... so I kept asking when the epidural would be given to me.
Jim was with me the whole time putting on a confident face for me which alleviated my fears as I thought everything was under control. He did however tell me later that he felt there was a bit of panic in the room coming from the staff.
Somewhere along the line, my soon-to-be hero Dr Simon was called in to help with the situation. Theatre was being prepared, but he seemed to think that I was progressing well and that I could do it the natural way! He walked in and took complete command of the room. He said he'd give me 20 minutes to get her out. He wanted her out quickly, so Jim supported me from behind in the squatting position (which opens up the pelvis and gets gravity on your side to speed things up) and the doctor gave me a quick anaesthetic injection to do an episiotomy to make room for the head, that was to come out last. Between contractions I went completely limp, and Jim was shaking under the weight of holding me up, but apparently he was happy to have a job to do. Dr Simon got me to push as hard as I could with each contraction, and by oath I did. I pushed harder than I ever have put my strength into anything before, and I had the burst blood vessels in my eyes afterwards to show for it!!
We were nearing the end and Dr Simon was counting on one last contraction for her to come out, which she didn't as that one was less intense than the previous ones. But, she came out on the next with the help of his encouragement to "PUUUUUSHHHHHHHH!!!" His face was extremely calm and confident, like it was just another day in the office for him, and I cannot tell you how helpful and comforting that was to me at the time. I wasn't worried at all. This guy was in total control of the birth and Jim and I had complete faith in him. Then at 10.18pm, four hours from my first real contraction, she was born! She sort of flopped onto the floor and lay there for a bit, until she spluttered into action and took her first breath! Jim was still doing it tough behind me with the weight of my body, and the umbilical cord got wrapped around his foot! They whisked her to a nearby trolley and gave her some help with oxygen, it all seemed to be happening fast and Jim was pointing at her getting me to look at our baby! I whimpered with the sight of her, and I caught a glimpse of one of the midwives in the room looking a bit emotional too! There seemed to be a stack of people in the room but I have no idea who or how many. I think there were staff there witnessing a natural breech birth, as they had never seen one before.
This is around the point where they called another guy in to give me an epidural as I needed to be stitched up. So I had this after the labour and birth! I had had the episiotomy, but I had also acquired a third degree tear. Jim held our precious little baby while they started their work.
At some point, Jim got the baby onto my chest for a cuddle and to see if she would want a feed. It was a precious moment holding my baby for the first time. She felt so small and fragile.
I was exhausted but extremely happy that I had narrowly avoided a caesar, and that I'd managed to get through the whole labour and birth with no drugs. (I had asked for gas a couple of times but the midwife said I was doing great without it and that it would just be a distraction.) For the next two days I was thinking that the whole ordeal was pretty hard and that I'd have to think about having more kids, but it's true what they say... the memory of the pain fades very fast. The experience was also tough for Jim who had to watch me pretty helplessly, go through labour, but his presence there was all the help I needed from him.
I stayed in hospital until the Saturday (she was born the Tuesday night) as we had a bit of trouble with feeding and she also had slight jaundice. I felt like a bit of a celebrity on the ward as every midwife who came to see me talked about the breech birth and how, apparently, we had all handled it fantastically.

So yes, the whole experience was quite intense, but now when Jim and I think back to it all we only have good memories. It was a good day.

Introducing to you...

2008-10-27T19:59:00.008+11:00

Our little daughter, Stevie Nell Madden. And I must say, I am in love. Other than the ups and downs of learning how to look after a baby, and the fears of keeping this little thing alive and kicking, generally I am over the moon about our little bundle of joy. I cannot stop staring at her little face and giving her hundreds of kisses.

So, just over two and a half weeks early I went into labour on Tuesday night the 21st of October, and 4 hours later, Stevie was born. I have quite a birth story to tell you, and one of which I am very proud of and feel that it is my greatest achievement to date. I feel teary when I think about it and I have all the awesome staff at the Warragul hospital to thank for the way it all turned out. It was intense and painful, but also very amazing at the same time. The memory is already starting to fade, so when I get some more time I am going to write it down so I don't forget the details. It feels like it happened about six months ago already! For now I'll just show her off to you guys, and get into the nitty gritty later.

Here is Jim, me & Stevie at home. We came home on Saturday, after I spent a few days in hospital.

Here is Stevie doing what she does best, sleeping.

This is me with my little cocoon baby still in hospital.

Here is my labour-room hero and the little nugget.

Some more snaps at home in the backyard.

And a shot of us right after the birth in the birthing suite.

So I'll leave you with those photos for now, and few words but I promise I will be back soon with more. For now I need to go and regain some energy and do some chores before the little sweetheart starts demanding her next feed.

Hope you've enjoyed our photos :)

The Falling Dollar

2008-10-15T10:30:00.005+11:00

The really weak Aussie dollar has meant that for my overseas customers, prints in the shop are at reduced prices! Yay! (For you overseas peeps!) I can't believe how low the dollar has got. A good time for people buying from me from overseas, but not so much the other way around... :( For a while there I could order things from US Etsy sellers and not have to pay too much extra as our dollar was almost equal, but now things when converted are so much more expensive. Bugger!

Check out the shop for the new updated prices if you so wish.

I've got some more preggy shots to show you. We took some photos of us on the weekend, coz it really is nice to remember to take photos of us to look back on in the future. We don't do it that often and really should more. I reckon though with the baby coming we will be taking HEAPS of photos! We also invested in a video camera to catch all those moments in time of our baby growing. Fun!

And because I have no photos of anything arty or crafty that I have done recently (because there's not been much of that going on) I'm going to have to show you photos of us. All my time has been spent getting stuff ready for the baby. And taking it easy!

This is me at 36 weeks:

Me and Jimmy and the belly:

A dorky shot of us:

And here's Jimmy with our furbabies:

They, and we, are so happy when the sun is out. It's another cold and overcast day today. Bugger this weather and having to light the fire! Anyway, I really do go on a bit too much about the weather so I think I'll shut up about that and go and do some yoga.

See ya's soon :)

Mail Me Art Book

2008-10-10T09:51:00.007+11:00

How cool! The Mail Me Art project book is available for pre-order from Amazon. I'm pre-ordering my copy now. Mail Me Art was a project run by Darren Di Lieto who is the busy man behind the Little Chimp Society. He invited artists from all over the world to mail him art that was done on the package or envelope right there for posties around the world to see. I wonder what some of the posties thought, and if any went missing along the way... (to decorate a postal workers wall perhaps?) Below was my contribution, which I'm happy to say, was chosen to be included in the book. Check out Mail Me Art for more info.

Life update: Still waiting for our chickens to start laying eggs. I have however been talking to them as I'm sure they will want to give me eggs when they learn to like me :)

Due date for baby is getting closer. I am almost 36 weeks and pretty big. Baby is squashing my ribs. I don't know where my organs have gone as there seems to be no space left for them.

The sun is out and shining, which puts me in a good mood. I am so motivated I am even starting to organise xmas presents.

There is a crazy cow in one of the paddocks that is freaking me out. I am too scared to walk past him as it seems he wants to burst through the fence and play silly cow games with me. The only problem is, I am not playing kicking games with a 200kg + cow. The dogs are also scared of him.

Bye!

Having a Kid Means I'll Get To Watch Stuff Like This

2008-10-06T11:54:00.003+11:00

People keep telling me about this kids show. Soon I'll have an excuse to watch it. It looks pretty cool!

Some Things I Have Learnt From Being Pregnant

2008-10-06T11:29:00.002+11:00

-Belly rings are not the best body embellishment to have when your skin stretches so tight that the skin can't handle it.

-Band aids on a tight-skinned stomach can cause stretchmark like damage when you pull them off. A tip is to not use band aids on your stomach whilst pregnant!

-Most people think you're some sort of freakish deluded wanna-be-hero if you have plans for a natural drug free labour.

-Gravity suddenly becomes something that is a bother, and the floor seems like such a far, far away place.

-Socks are bothersome items of necessity.

-Shoe horns are frequently thought about and considered quite a nifty invention.

-Being somewhat of a person that doesn't usually go with mainstream trends and ways, I find it quite disheartening that mainstream ways of dealing with labour and birth is just another one of those bothersome things in life where I just have to be different. Roll eyes here. (Thankfully, my chosen hospital seems to be mostly in cohorts with my desires and beliefs- by sheer luck.)

-Most maternity clothes are overly expensive (for a short lived item of need) and designed for nobody in my age group.

-As Dr Phil would say: "Opinions are likes arses, everyone's got one."

-Moments of fleeting reality checks that something so profound is about to happen to my body are somewhat scary and exciting at the same time.

-Women that work up until they are due to pop are making people like me lolling about the house all tired and complain-y look really bad.

-Baby stuff is really cute. Some baby stuff is not so cute.

-Doctors are all individuals and do not know everything.

Here's me and my Mum. This is a shot from when I was 31 weeks. I am now 35 and a little bigger! :)

New Arty Crafty Stuff

2008-10-01T13:14:00.002+10:00

First of all, I thought I'd show you how I framed the painting I did recently, which is now hanging in Incube8r Gallery. I felt I didn't just want to throw it in a generic frame (which are wonderful most of the time) so I decorated the mat board with paint and fabric & stitching, and painted the outer wooden frame. I then hacked into the paint with a blade to give it that worn effect.

I'm trying to get a few more arty pieces together for Incube8r before the baby is born. Which is only about 5 weeks away!!! (Freak out!)

So these are some little mini art plaques I completed this morning. I intend to add to them some sort of little hangers and pop them into Incube8r as well. I made up names quickly & spontaneously for them. I am in a silly mood, hence the silly names. They are a mixture of collage, paint, felt and fabric & stitching on mini wooden plaques.

We have, Girl Thinking & Doing:

Bubble Dog:

and Squeezy Love Elephant:

And here they are all in a set. I think clusters of paintings look better together, and I think these are no exception :)

Hope you like!

I'll leave you today with a picture of our little ant in the sun. ("Little Ant" is just one of her many nicknames. Others include Peepee Deluxe, Deluxified, Piss Ant, Business Class, Piddle Pop, Brown Dog, Peepee... I'm sure I have probably told you some of her nicknames before but I love saying them so sorry if I'm repeating myself!)
Under the Oak tree out the front is one of the dogs favourite spots to laze about. And I can see them there from the kitchen window (this was taken from the kitchen) whilst I'm working away doing kitcheny stuff. I am loving that tree at the moment, especially with it's new bright green spring leaves & when the sun is out. I am soooo very thankful for the warmer weather that is slowly heading our way.

Well, I'm off now to weed a garden bed that will soon be filled with strawberry plants. Then I'll mulch it with pine needles, coz apparently that's what strawberries love. Adios Amigos!

Oh My God Japanese Kids Must Be Sooo Funky

2008-09-29T21:00:00.007+10:00

If only I could read Japanese, I'd be spending a small fortune at this online store!!! Absolutely!!! I cannot get over at how utterly cute and quirky these clothes are. And the salt and pepper shakers at the end would of course be just for myself. Cute!!! CUTE!!! I swear, I could start crying that I can't own this stuff. How is it possible that this kind of stuff exists? I just want to squeal with cuteness.. EEEeeeeEEeeeeeeeeeEEeEEEee!!!!!!! Ok, it's out of my system now. Ah. But you see what I mean, don't you?

Crafting For Baby

2008-09-22T11:16:00.002+10:00

I have been busy with lots of ideas, but not so busy with actually making things happen! I am generally busy everyday, lord knows where the time goes.

Mum has just gone home from staying with me for a couple of days. It's been fun as she is crafty and creative too like me, so we sometimes get together and do some girly sewing and stuff.
We went to a fabric shop and I chose some fabrics out so she can make squiggle nugget some clothes. It's so much fun choosing fabrics. There's so much cute stuff out there...

I chose the fabric for this little dress that Mum has already made up too. Cute, eh?

She's also been busy making some bibs with some cute little designs on them:

Her partner is now worried that all mending is going to be put aside because of all the sewing to do for the new grandkid! Well, one must get their priorities right!

So while Mum was up, she did a bit of crocheting (she always crochets in white cotton usually, I keep telling her I'm going to buy a stack of multi coloured threads for her to crochet up) & I embellished a little all-in-one suit for my future bubby. It's just a plain white organic cotton suit, and I hand stitched all the elements onto it.

Here's a close-up to show you some more detail:

So that's what I have been up to for the last few days. Entertaining my Mum, cooking food, (including banana cake, eggplant lasagne, and yummy mini sausage rolls- I'm crazy for pastry lately) & crafting.

Plus feeling quite tired. Seven extra kilos I discovered I am carrying around! I am 33 weeks preggers now. Getting bigger!

Mixed nuts Project

2008-09-15T22:09:00.004+10:00

A little while ago I partook, along with a bunch of other talented artists, in an exhibition organised by Kirsty from Lollibchie. Our task was to take a blank nut shape and basically do whatever the heck we wanted to with it!
So I came up with a piece that I called "Forest Memories". There's a couple more pics of him (and his accompanying mini 2d artwork) that you can find through this link. You can also see all of the other contributing artists through that link too. There are some familiar names in there that you'd probably want to check out!
The idea of my character I made was that he had gone for a walk through the forest and brought some things back with him. He literally brought things back with him, but usually you bring something special back with you from visits to nature such as peacefulness, a refreshed feeling... you know, that sort of thing. And if you let these things travel back with you it can make you a happier person. His horse however was already his mate and was just accompanying him on his little expedition :)

I had fun making him. Makes me want to make some more softies!

Creative Weekend

2008-09-08T15:05:00.005+10:00

First up, before I tell you about my weekend, I'd like to thank Ellen for nominating me for the "You like me, you really like me!" award. Awesome. I am so thrilled when people tell me that they love my blog, coz I'm such a sensitive person and wonder if my blog is really that interesting to others, so it really does make me happy when someone tells me they like it.

Thank you, Ellen :)

The rules are that I'm supposed to nominate 7 blogs that I love, but I'm going to wuss out on this bit. At the moment, the blog I really love reading is Sally's from Georgie Love coz she is such a good writer and makes life sound interesting and funny. I like her sense of humour and bits and pieces of herself remind me of myself. Is that ok? Can I just nominate one!?

Of course there are others that I really like and you can see a selection of those in my bloggy links section.

So, on to the weekend.

Saturday was gloriously sunny. Thank you Spring for finally coming, I have missed you. I have not however, missed the hay fever that goes along with it! Time to start using the netti pot!? Gross but it's worth a try. It's either that or carry around a semi trailer load of tissues with me everywhere. (Tell me supermarkets, why do you not stock recycled tissues anymore? Maybe time to venture back to hankies?)

Anywayz, I'm continuously being inspired by decorating efforts of others and am forever going to get around to decorating (in the limited way I can in a rental property) but am finally starting to do it. I had a busy creative weekend.

This first piccy is of our bedroom. Sorry for the blurriness of the picture, I am still trying to suss out the best ways of taking photos with our digital camera sometimes. The prints on the wall are of course Camilla's. The lamps were two daggy Ikea lamps that looked oh-so display home-ish, so I decided to paint them brown. An improvement, although I'm still not 100% sure I'm happy with them. I made the two big fluffy retro cushions on the bed, as Jimmy and I are getting old (30 going on 80) and like to sit up in bed and read, so we needed more pillows. The patchwork cushion & throw at the end of the bed were op shop finds, and the cute lil owl stuffie was made for me by one of my friends.

Here's a cushion I revamped. It used to be a skirt, with the embellishment on the front and the fur around the bottom hem. I have since grown out of the skirt but could never bring myself to get rid of it, so now it lives in the form of a cushion that I can see everyday, instead of tucked away in my wardrobe. I am fussy when it comes to making cushions too, they must have removable covers so as the covers can be washed easily. Unless, of course it's a baby cushion :) (The other two cushions were op shop finds.)

So sewing & decorating finished off with some knitting at night. Being pregnant and laying off the booze on weekends makes my weekends slightly nerdy as I'm knitting on Saturday night instead of partying it up. Healthier, and a different kind of fun.

We also hung a stack of pictures using these nifty little 3M removable tabs so we don't leave marks on the walls when we leave. I haven't taken a photo yet of the cluster of pics, as there's still more I want to do to that wall and area, so I will show you in due time. There's some stuff though in rental homes that are hard to cover up without major renovations, such a faux marble floor tiles (urgh). There's also floral curtains and daggy wall freezes to deal with (double urgh)! Though I'll try to do something about those things...

Hope you had as good a weekend as me (even if you were taking it easy- time needs to be put aside for that also!) See you soon :)

Feel Like Painting

2008-09-02T14:35:00.002+10:00

This statement needs to be sung to the tune of "I feel like dancing" by The Scissor Sisters. Coz that's how it's repeating in my head right now.

So I have been feeling like painting. I started this one a couple of weeks ago and just finished it today. It's called "Thinking Space". It's mixed media on paper- pencil, paint, collage and hand stitched cotton thread.

Both her and her cat are just thinking. Isn't it nice to have some spare time to just sit and think? I think that's why I am enjoying knitting lately- coz I just get to sit there and my brain can drift onto other thoughts and arty inspirations. It's like driving. I used to get lots of ideas whilst driving. Caffeine is another one of those things that gives me ideas, but considering I'm pregnant at the moment and it messes with my head and sleep and gives me the jitters, I think it's best to avoid that drug at the moment.

And although I'm getting lots of ideas lately it's taking a lot of self discipline to refrain from starting new projects. I really MUST finish off some already started ones first. I have a goal to become one of those organised neat people (especially when it comes to my art). I'm aiming high, coz if you've seen my crafty areas, you know that they take over the whole house. If there's an empty table, I'll fill it with crap.

Well, it's time for me to go and make some polenta so that it can cool before I make something out of it for dinner. Mmmmmm polenta. We have been consuming lots less meat in this house which is good for the ol' environment, which is a bonus, but mainly because I have completely gone off mince meat and certain dry textures of meat.

See ya's soon :)

Instantaneous Print

2008-08-26T10:42:00.005+10:00

Here's a new print that's available now in the shop. It's a limited edition of 22, and is a mixed media combination of a giclee print with fabric and machine-stitched embellishments. Here's the description that I wrote in the shop listing:

"This print is about the feeling of simply just liking someone when you first meet them. Often, I'll take my dog for a walk in the park and we come across another dog that he just likes. I'm not sure of the reason, there is just something there that makes him like that dog.
Sometimes you might meet someone (or an animal) that you just like straight away for no apparent reason."

I wonder why it is that this happens? Maybe on some deeper level we know who is just right for us.

:)

New Necklace Designs...

2008-08-25T15:23:00.003+10:00

These little designs I call "I Speak The Truth". See? The little horse is speaking about exactly what's inside of him. He has nothing to hide. He is a simple being that likes to talk about fun and happy things. Like polka dots! :)

You can find them hanging out in the shop as of now.

Chickens and other happy things...

2008-08-23T17:19:00.005+10:00

Introducing to you our chickens, Cluckers and Pecky! Cluckers is the light one and Pecky is the dark one. They have just started to venture out into the open air after about a week which gave me the opportunity to take a happy snap of them. I love having chickens.

I did a bit of gardening today. The gardens here at this property are HUGE and there is so much work to be done. Most of it is country style gardens, due to the people that lived here before us. But today I am showing you a couple of flowers of our own that we have in pots. Jim & I are both hardcore native plant fans, and one day dream for our gardens to be 100% native. Australia is the driest country on Earth, so it makes sense to have plants that don't require a stack of water. This first shot is of a native orchid that's in flower at the moment. I don't even look after it much, but it flowers every year. The flowers look so cute, I imagine they are individual characters coz they kind of look like funny heads with antennae.

Here's a Kangaroo Paw I bought recently which is having heaps of flowers. Yay! Aren't the colours beautiful? I don't have much success with Kangaroo Paws, but this one seems to be going strong. Lets hope it keeps it up. Everything seems to grow so well out where we are in West Gippsland.

And as I was going around taking photos today I decided to take one of this sculpture I made a couple of years ago out of recycled materials. I made him whilst Jimmy was watching the footy. I am no sports fan, let me tell you, and I can often be found sitting in a chair crafting like a little old granny while Jimmy watches sport on telly. We are such old people :)

Hope you like our chickens & other shots from around the place! Now I'm going to go and rest my big pregnant guts on the couch for a bit, I am buggered. 29 weeks tomorrow. Geez, where has the time gone?

New Lightbox & Necklace Design

2008-08-21T07:55:00.004+10:00

Finally got around to making (well, mostly Jim making) my new lightbox. I get an upgrade with each one. My last one was made from a cardboard box, and this time I thought I'd go for more sturdy wood. (And yes, I can use tools, but if there's someone else around who can too and is up for the job, I'll happily delegate jobs to them.) Basically it's just made from two square side frames with some semi-transparent plastic tacked onto them, and then attached by two horizontal pieces at the back, top & bottom. Then I just bull-dog clipped my paper in there, which makes it easy to change backgrounds if I need to. The lamps I have are not very strong, and I would love to upgrade them, but it'll do for now. I just have to do a little bit of stuffing around in photoshop (playing with the levels, brightness and contrast, etc) to get them looking decent. If you have any questions regarding the box, or any suggestions (even better!) for improvement I'd love to hear from you :)

So, I re-shot a firm old popular fave using my new lightbox and you can now find it in the shop.

This is a new design, which can be found here, and it is titled "Spring is Coming". And it is... on this side of the world. I'm looking forward to it.

ps. We got our chickens! I shall introduce you to them soon! They are young so will not start laying until about another month and a half, but that makes me happy... it should be easier to make them tame whilst young. I have also been veggie gardening. I am really going all country and environmental.

pps. In my recent knitting addiction, I needed a certain sized double pointed needle set, and was getting very frustrated at not being able to find them in the numerous shops I entered. Would you believe, I found the set I needed for 50 cents at my local op shop? Unreal, banana peel. Even more environmental..!

Have an awesomely awesome day, everyone.

It's Knitting Time

2008-08-15T10:46:00.002+10:00

My sewing machine doesn't like me. I killed my last sewing machine, and now this one has decided it doesn't want to stitch anything. Why!? My old one probably could've been fixed, but I think I took it to the wrong person. I got some weird guy to come and fix it, and it still was skipping stitches so I called him back and he had another look and told me nothing was wrong with it. 70 bucks down the drain. He really was quite a strange fella, Jim said he reckons he's got a collection of severed heads in his basement... (roll eyes here). Plus, he really overstayed his welcome so needless to say I was done with him and really didn't want him to fix my machine anymore anyway! I swear, he just went on and on about god knows what (I can't remember) and I was dishing up dinner and it just sat there on the table going cold screaming so obviously that it was time for sewing machine service men to bugger off so we could eat!
Anyway, I inherited this one from my Nan when she passed away, and it has worked fabulously, until recently.
So, screw you sewing machine. I'm going to knit instead!

This was from a pattern I bought off Illusion Yarns and this was my practise attempt. There are a few mistakes and I have no idea if I did it all right to the pattern, as I am a beginner, but I was still pretty proud of my efforts and am looking forward to making some more with the wool I bought in the next photo.

This wool is so soft and lovely to knit with. I just need to find a shop that sells the right sized needles. I have been into 3 different shops so far and no such luck. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find some soon.

Anyway, I'm off to do some crafty stuff and house-wifey stuff. (Cleaning.) I've got a new special limited edition print coming veeeerrrry soon, and I have completed some new necklace designs but am waiting until my new lightbox is finished before I upload them into the shop. That's on the list for this weekend. Also!! We are probably going to get some chickens!! I can't wait. Jimmy has been fixing the chicken coup that's here on the property and it's all ready to go.

Have a fab weekend everyone. I am praying for some sunshine. It has been cold and wet here ALL week. It's time for some sun!

Tassie Snaps!

2008-08-05T08:48:00.007+10:00

The holiday was awesome! I have good memories of that southern cold state we call Tasmania.
So I have some happy snaps for you! And unfortunately, some sad ones too about the destruction human beings have caused.

So, straight off the boat and into country, I was enthralled at the scenery. We drove for a little while to get to our first destination, and probably my favourite out of the whole trip, Cradle Mountain. And snow! We got to see snow, which I haven't seen in years. Jimmy was happy to see snow also, but in a typical boy kinda way he just wanted to throw snowballs at me and.. ahem.. write his name in the snow if you know what I mean. Males.
Anyway, I was literally crying with laughter at the sight of some dead snowmen on the side of the road. Jimmy decided to do some medical work on one and brought him back to life... crisis averted!!

Well done, doctor Jim.

This is another guy we came across. Ha ha ha! He's looking a bit sad... maybe coz he's so cold?

So this is me here at our cabin when we got to Cradle Mountain. Baby bump alert! This is me at 25 weeks.

This little guy, who apparently is called a Pandemelon was hanging out just outside our cabin. Very cute. We got to see a bit of wildlife, though we did see a lot of roadkill which is sad. Drive slower people! And avoid driving between dusk and dawn if you can!

So here is a pic of "The Enchanted Walk" which was right near our cabin. The scenery was magical, really. If we had our daughter with us already I would have been telling her that fairies definitely live here!

This is Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain. Such a beautiful area. We decided to go on walk that was described as "An easy walk around the lake suitable for all ages"...

...Except that is, for when it's snowing. But they don't tell you that, do they??? The boardwalk was covered in ice and snow and was extreeeeemely slippery!!! We had to walk at a snails pace shuffling along with extra precaution than normal due to me being pregnant and therefore having extra reason for not wanting to fall over. I was absolutely exhausted by the end and could hardly walk. I was tired and all emotional that I was exerting myself too much in my fragile state. God it was hard. "An easy walk around the lake suitable for all ages." Yeah... right!!! Are you picking up my sarcasm here!!?? My legs were sore for the next three days, even though I consider myself to be a relatively fit person. So, for the next three days, I swear to you, I was walking around like I had wooden legs.

But we still enjoyed parts of the walk! (This was before I absolutely fell apart!)

So then we left Cradle Mountain, and made the long journey down to Maydena (West of Hobart) seeing some sights along the way. This was a gorgeous lake we happened to find when Jimmy found a little dirt track and decided to drive down it.

This next shot is of Queenstown. Unfortunately, old mining practices devastated this area which was once filled with forests. The hills surrounding the town are completely dead and bare which is morbidly fascinating to see, and so sad at the same time to see what destruction humans are actually capable of doing. I read in a brochure that the locals like their "freak show" hills as a tourist attraction and want to stop the "greenies" from protecting the regenerative growth. I say that it is devastating enough to see the destruction done so far and am completely bewildered that people actually want to stop mother nature from doing her thing and letting it regenerate. I'm sure it would take hundreds of years to do so, but surely, wouldn't you want to let it start to regrow?? I say, if you want to see scenery like this, take a trip to Mongolia and let nature try to start fixing up what humans have ruined through stupidity.

Here's another beautiful view we saw along the way:

So I've ended one rant (about Queenstown) and now I begin another. We entered Maydena late one day which is a very small town on the edge of The Styx Valley of the Giants. (This was a cute photo opportunity that I took advantage of in the town.)

The next day we had a look around at some old growth forests.
Tourism and Forestry Tasmania don't publicize this area of Tassie, as they are logging it at the rate of approx 15,000 hectares per year. You can find info about this at The Wilderness Society along with some maps and guides. We managed to pick up a more current guide at one of the local shops in Maydena. The place has not been commercialised for tourism, so some of the tracks are hard to find and awkward to navigate, but that is because the good people at The Wilderness Society are the only ones who are seeking out the beautiful areas to see. (And pro-loggers keep removing their markers to help you find the tracks.) There is however a good walking track at "The Big Tree" which you can see Jimmy standing against in the next pic. The tree was so big at the base I found it hard to fit into the frame. I highly recommend visiting The Styx to see again an example what we humans are doing to some extraordinary natural wonders. Some of the trees are just massive, and the scenery, including huge tree ferns, luscious mosses and many other plants and animals makes this a fascinating and memorable place to visit.
Here's a direct link to some more info on Tassie's forests.

And here's evidence of what they're doing. We had to walk past a locked gate to get to this area. You can see some of the scope of what is happening (with little Jimmy standing there) but it's hard to capture on film and what we saw was just a snippet of what's going on all over the place in this area.

I've got so many more photos and stories of our trip, but I think that'll do it, I think I've already gone overboard! We just crammed so much into a week and I really loved it. I'll finish off with a daggy photo of me being granny-like on the balcony of a cabin we stayed in.

Hope you enjoyed my holiday snaps and stories. Now I'm going to go and read on The Wilderness Society's website if there's anything I can do to help stop the forest destruction. Feel free to join me & enjoy the rest of your week... :)

We're off!

2008-07-23T20:55:00.003+10:00

Going on a short holiday to Tassie! Funny how I was whinging about the cold and here I am just about to go further down south. I'll be sure to pack the woollies! Brrrrrrr! Wonder if we'll get to see some snow.

One destination will be Tasmania's old growth forests. "Tasmania is home to the tallest hardwood forests on Earth, with trees reaching nearly 100 metres and living for over 400 years. It is also home to Australia’s greatest tract of temperate rainforest. " - from The Wilderness Society.
It's a national shame that they're logging this section of our Earth. And also a shame that visitors aren't encouraged by mainstream tourism to check out this part of Tassie. Well, we will be. We've got our map and a guide book all ready to go.

So I'll see you in about a week! The shop will also be closed too, but will reopen as soon as possible.

You Have All The Treasure

2008-07-22T10:50:00.002+10:00

Yes, there are some people who seem to have all the treasure. Are you one of them? Or are you one of those that looks on to others holding all the treasures?
I'm rich in treasures... family and friends and a lifestyle that I like. Treasure doesn't have to be monetary.
You can find this in the form of a new print here.

Now I'm off today to do some knitting for squiggle nugget (I am learning)... I am venturing into circular knitting, and to finish off those necklaces I was talking about. It's been tooooo cold for resin so I must warm the room and get them done. Have an awesome day, whatever you're doing.

I'm So Over Winter!

2008-07-21T15:05:00.002+10:00

You must rug up to keep warm...

Even though winter brings with it some lovely frosty views, I'm over it and I'm really looking forward to the warm sun and weather again. We have two wood fires here and my fire lighting skills are tragic. I swear, I will have to give up any aspirations of becoming an arsonist, as I cannot even burn paper.
I also wonder whether the cows get cold...?

The wet cold weather totally sucked extra hard today because I went out to my art-supplies-storage-bungalow to get something and slipped over and fell right into the mud. I had to come inside and change my clothes, and I was spewing as I had my favourite cozy warm tracksuit pants on and they were just clean and fresh today and now I have to wash them again! Urgh!

So, what makes one feel better after a clumsy spill right into the mud? A piece of lemon bakewell tart with cream, that's what.

ps. For anyone concerned, I did not fall onto my baby belly, thank god. But now my whole left arm & hand is killing me... and I am left handed! Plus, lemon bakewell tart was strawberry in the recipe, but it had to be converted for my recent cravings of lemony flavoured foodstuffs. I was pretty proud of my baking effort. :)

Sketch Book Snippet

2008-07-17T16:35:00.003+10:00

I did a little sketch in my moleskine sketchbook this week. Done with bits of fancy paper, paint, pencil and pen. I have such fun doing doodles and sketches that are destined for nothing and no one. "No pressure" art is what I call it.

I've been having lots of inspiration lately, but finding it hard to find the time to make art. I swear I can fill up days with menial tasks and cleaning the house and shopping for food and cooking. Plus I'm still getting my arty stuff in order from moving, so I start a project and get side tracked by sorting through a drawer or a box. But! I did finish off two little felt deer today so I was happy with that. I've got to make myself another light box to photograph them. Jim's pretty handy with tools so I may be able to con him into making me a strong one that is not going to break and be crushed like my last cardboard box attempt.

Anyway, I'll photograph them when that gets made and pop them in the shop.

Plus I have some new necklace designs coming out! I intend on finishing them tomorrow. It's been a while since I added some new designs to my range.

I'll be back soon with some arty goodness to share.

And maybe a belly bump picture! I'm 23 weeks along! Kick kick! Squiggle nugget is getting quite active! (Yes, we have dubbed her "squiggle nugget"...)

Organisation Time

2008-07-04T10:39:00.006+10:00

Well, what have I been up to? Clearing clutter, organising, cleaning and all that sort of stuff. I have a hard time with clutter, and I have sooooo much stuff to go through. I find it hard to throw things out and have been trying to be ruthless. I was reading an article recently in a magazine whilst in the doctors waiting room which was exaclty about clearing clutter. I know all the advice such as "have you used it in the past year?" but a new sentence that grabbed me and I'm trying to keep in mind throughout this task is "will I miss it?" Which I think is a good one. And when I finally DO bite the bullet and throw stuff out that I really don't need it makes way for some decorating efforts. Here is a corner of our bedroom that I have been working on... the baby's corner!

I am still working on the bedroom and have got new cushions to sew up and I also just bought a heap of fancy storage boxes from Ikea so that our stuff can be stored stylishly. And for the bed, I think I want to make a patchwork quilt. Or I could just buy this one that I have fallen in love with! Can someone please tell me why we don't have an awesome store like Anthropologie here in oz? And is anyone willing to buy this Anna Paisley Hothouse bedding and ship it over to me? Thanks in advance. I get so disheartened at the bland impersonal decorating choices we have out here. There's just no character. You really do have to hunt the good stuff down because it's certainly not in the big popular stores.

Anyways, I'll soon have to work my way in to the bungalow which at the moment is being used as a storage room for all my art supplies. I think it's good to have somewhere that you can put the junk and slowly go through it a bit at a time and bring in what you want and chuck the rest. Plus I don't really have a studio in this house so I need somewhere to store my excess supplies (ie. crap). I really miss having a studio, but for now it's desks in corners of certain rooms where they'll fit.

So, not a lot of art going on, although I have been sketching in my trusty moleskine sketchbook and have some new inspiration for paintings and am also working on some new pendant designs. I think it's time now to give the cleaning a break and get into the art, yes?

I'll leave you with this little snapshot that I took recently. It has been so wet and rainy here, but it makes for some beautiful views, especially when the sun pops out just after a shower. And the camera really never does quite catch it.

It's a...

2008-06-20T14:23:00.006+10:00

Well, we had our 19 week ultrasound and all seems to be good and normal and healthy. The ultrasound guy kept saying things like "excellent", "fantastic" & "beautiful" all throughout the scan which are exactly the words you want to hear during an ultrasound!

So here's a pic so far. And below that is a pic of her little hand. We were happy to see she has all her fingers :)

So I think this is going to make shopping easier, and crafting, as I can now add things like cute little strawberries and stuff to her outfits. Yay! In celebration I spoilt myself (really the shopping is all about me at this stage!) by buying these things from Baby's Got Style. I figured I deserved a bit of a splurge. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy the cd as much as bub will too. And I guess the funny looking green giraffe will be my first official gift to my daughter. "My daughter." Wow.

I'd like to officially congratulate Sally on her recent finding-out news too who has been sharing her journey with me via the internet as we are basically both due at the same time! It's been awesome to have someone to email about all the little things that are going on, so thanks for putting up with me Sal, and I'm glad you got all impatient and jealous and rescheduled your ultrasound... if not she'd still be waiting now!

Sally, of course, is the owner of the online shop Georgie Love where you can find some of my arty and crafty stuff including these brand new birdy themed items. The direct link to my Georgie Love page is here.

So I shall leave you with that lot for today. I'm glad it's Friday. We've got my brother's birthday to go to on the weekend and he'll be turning the ripe old age of 26. I'm thinking of making him a white chocolate birthday cake (as he has this weird opposition against the normal brown milk chocolate variety desserts) but at this stage, thinking is as far as I've got. Hopefully I wont run out of time to do it. Have a great weekend all!

New Print- Happiness

2008-06-12T09:56:00.002+10:00

God I'm so happy lately it's enough to make one sick. It's even coming through in my art. It must be due to pregnancy hormones and the fresh country air. And maybe just a little bit of madness too.

A new print in the shop, finally! Now that I HAVE finished all my illustration work I am keeping my promise to do some more arty stuff, and it's starting up again with this piece. About... happiness. I hope this brightens your day. It's about being happy with what you've got, and these are sometimes simple things. So take heed. What's something simple you have that makes you happy? At the moment mine is a garden... I got out in it yesterday and repotted some plants and tidied some things up and it felt fantastic.

There is a green or pink version of this print, I couldn't decide which one I liked better. I liked the green one a touch more I think, but Jim was smitten with the pink one. So I thought I'd list both. Simple. So, pink:

Or green:

Baby update: I've been feeling little taps coming from inside of me... baby is still alive! It so weird to be pregnant. I'm so sorry if I ramble on about it but truly it's the biggest thing that's ever happened to me. I was never a baby person before, but I'm fast becoming one. It's so strange that it's now my turn to be pregnant. I mean, astronauts fly into space all the time, and I think, bah.. no big deal.. but when it actually happens to you it's really quite amazing and just as scary and new as flying into space!

I've got another ultrasound on Monday so hopefully we'll be finding out if it's a boy or a girl... I can't wait.

Enjoying Life

2008-06-04T11:23:00.004+10:00

So living out in the country has been relaxing. Even though I have a terribly long list of things I want to get done. I have now officially cut back on my illustration work (I'll only be doing a handful of jobs before the baby is due) so this gives me time to focus on crafting, my Etsy shop (which has been severely neglected), and getting this house in order, or should I say "nesting". I have had a little break from creating and just been living the house-wifey dream (who wants to work!?) but now feel the urge to get busy again as I have had a bout of inspiration that just began yesterday! I shall keep you informed of new stuff that I make.
But for now it's life shots again. Here is Jimbo collecting some field mushies from the paddocks around our house. He ate some- I was too nervous being pregnant and all, but he's still alive today so all is well. He did however ingest a lot of little bugs that were hiding in the mushrooms! And Leela made herself sick by gorging on sheep poo. Up all night she was with crook guts. Will that girl ever stop being so stupid??

Leela has a new collar! Isn't it cute? The guy in the shop pointed out a big mean looking chunky collar with rows of studs when I told him I was looking for a new collar for my doberman. I laughed and proceeded to check out the cute collar section with all the flowers and diamonties! Definitely more her style!

And as I mentioned this property has some beautiful views especially in the morning and evening. This is the view we had one morning last week. It's been so foggy lately.

See ya soon ;)

Movin' to the country...

2008-05-20T17:59:00.007+10:00

...gonna eat a lot of peaches...

The presidents of the United States of America rocked us with that hit, and it's oh so fitting to sing when one actually does move to the country. Love that cd by the way, I still play it to this day. It never gets old!

But thankfully there are no ninja's here. None that I know of anyway. They can be quite stealthy, you know. Luckily, though, I found this little number that I could put on bub to scare any potential ninja threats away. How funny is it!? This is where I found it.

As promised, pics of our new abode that we are living in until the next stage which will be our very own house on top of a hill... One day. A couple of years away perhaps.

It's really lovely being out here and sometimes if I get up early enough we get to see the most beautiful views. Sunrises and sunsets are awesome on a property with a view. If only I could sit on the porch and sip some wine and watch, but for now, it'll have to be soda water. Or some other non-alcoholic beverage.

This is the first view of the property that you get from the start of the driveway..

The front of the house..

The side.. (isn't that a glorious shade tree just perfect for summer? I have images of myself and baby sitting under that tree in the warmer months on a picnic blanket!)

The view from the front porch.. (I have requested some really comfy cane lounge seats for this area for my birthday. Shhh, it's coming up on Friday!)

This is up the back looking out over the hill..

It's really great for the dogs here as they love to run and I just take them for walks around the empty paddocks. They just go wild. Although Leela did keep us up the other night because she made herself sick from eating too much sheep poo and got the runs. We wont be walking around that paddock again in a hurry.

So there you have it. The new Jim and Jules hideout.

And thank you so much to everyone that left comments re our baby news! I love getting comments and get so excited by each and every one of them. It makes it all the more special being able to share our happy news with others :)

Announcement!

2008-05-02T08:30:00.007+10:00

Introducing to you a little mini version of Jimbo and me! The time has come for the "public" announcement, even though most of my family, friends and pets and their families and friends and pets know about it. I found it hard to keep my mouth shut about such a huge thing so I basically blabbed the news to many people!
We have hit the 12 week mark and the little munchkin is due on the 9th of November.
A big fat congratulations to Sally from Georgie Love too for her news and can you believe it, we are due at the same time!!? Plus, I even bought this tile that she wants, I thought that was an extra funny little coincidence! (It's awesome in real life, by the way- and from misterrob.)

Back to the baby news!! We had our ultrasound yesterday and I giggled through the whole thing. We've got a dvd of it and so far I have watched it numerous times. Every time I woke up last night I thought about how bizarre it was that I have this little thing living and kicking around inside me! It truly is going to take a while for my brain to wrap it's self around this fact. And you know when you find a new hobby or something you really had fun doing and you wake up the next day and think, yes, I'm going to do that again today and you're all excited? Well, that's how I felt about watching the dvd again.

So this is why I've moved back to the country, and also why I have made up my mind to really focus on my own art and craftiness for the next 6 months instead of doing heaps of illustration work. I am so excited about taking some time to really find my own inspiration again and follow through my artistic urges (which are taken over at the moment by illustration work) and also make some baby clothes, toys and quilts. Not to mention the fact that I'm dying to get into the garden and grow some veggies but I just haven't had the time.

And blogging! More blogging!

Links and Tagging

2008-04-26T08:44:00.008+10:00

Before I start this post I'd like to apologise once again for being a very slack blogger. My plan is to finish up all the crazy amount of illustration work I have on at the moment then really get back into my blog and etsy shop. (Illustration work will be tying up at the end of May.) I have not had time to do much personal arty stuff at all. But here is something I made recently for my mate's 30th birthday. When she opened the present I told her she had to name it, and she said "Oh-Clinkett!" It was such a funny response as it was so quick, it was like she didn't even have to think of a name. It just came out. She is a funny girl.
So here is "Clinkett":

Following are some links that I meant to post a while ago, but better late than never.

The first one for you to look at if you're interested includes a snippet of my own work! Indie Art & Design has written a fab article about the awesome magical pink world that is In.cube8r Gallery. And look, whoa, there's my stuff! And just look at that colourful necklace at the end of the post with the white hand holding it up. I can't take my eyes off it. It's beautiful.

A good link you might want to add to add to your bookmarks list is the list of 100 great Etsy artists. A Thing of Beauty has compiled a list of 100 artists that all sell through Etsy. I'm thrilled and humbled to be a part of this great list. The post explains the aim of the list and promises more lists to come focussing on different areas of creativeness. (This list is of painters & illustrators, in other words the 2D kind of art.)

I can't get over the amount of great stuff out there! I know I say that all the time, but heck, it just blows me away every time I do a little browsing around on the net. I really feel out of the loop with what's going on because of the lack of internet browsing time I've had lately.

So, on to the tagging. I got tagged by Georgie Love AND Kim Bagwill. Extra pressure to do the task!

The Rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

I know I have done this before, maybe more than once, so I hope I don't repeat myself which I have a tendency to do. I'm too lazy to go back and check my previous answers!

Ok.

1. I am totally against spray air fresheners of any sort. Probably the worst would be those plug into your wall types. Not only have I recently heard that air fresheners can cause house fires, but I hate the thought of breathing in all that chemically crap that goes in to making these things.

2. This one is not about myself, but my Dad. You know when you get a loaf of bread in a plastic bag and after you take out what you need and go to tie the bag back up again you get air trapped in there? Well, my Dad puts his mouth to this opening and sucks the air out. It really is quite amusing if you see him do it for the first time as it's totally unexpected.

3. Celebrity magazines annoy me. I don't understand the fascination with wanting to read about these people where all the stories are probably either made up or embellished and exaggerated. I also don't understand why the magazines pretend that they really admire the celebrities and pretend to be affiliated with them in some kind of friendly way but then make all this fake stuff up about them and talk badly about them when it suits. Not that I loose sleep over celebrities and their problems, but anyway, just thought I'd give you my point of view on these. (Which doesn't mean to say I don't occasionally flick through them when I'm at my Mum's house and catch up on what seems to be going on with Tom and Katie..)

4. I love watching Dr Phil. I always have my lunch ready by 12 noon for when it comes on and use that as a timer for my lunch break. Sometimes I really get into it and even explain episodes to Jim when he gets home. (I'm sure he is grateful of this!!) I think some of the stuff he says makes a lot of sense. I especially love it when he comes down hard on drink drivers. Go Dr Phil! I'm NOT going to be embarrassed of this!

Hmmm. Seven is a lot isn't it?

5. Today I didn't get out of my pyjamas until about 1.30pm. I started work at 7.30am but just got too busy and getting dressed just kept getting put aside. I'm happy that I'm clothed now. Even if it is only in extra daggy tracksuit pants.

6. I have lived in 14 different houses in my life. You may remember I moved closer to the city? Well, it didn't last. I am back in the country again. I will take some photos and explain my crazy self very soon!

7. Last one! Ummmm. I am struggling! I hate the wind! It sucks big time! I would rather snow rain or hail than wind. It blows my cobwebby hair in my face and annoys me! It messes things up and blows rubbish around. I'm sure it has it's benefits and I wouldn't get rid of it if I had super powers, but I dislike it all the same. What a lame seventh answer!

Now I am tagging Lollie b chie, My Folk Lover, Lino Forest and Two Little Banshees. Four will do wont it?

The Rotten Possum

2008-03-19T09:03:00.002+11:00

"Pwoooahhh, what's that smell?" Jim says whilst we were sitting out in the backyard enjoying a nice sunny day. "Smells like a dead animal!"
"No idea" I reply. I have a quick look around the area, to no avail. "Can't see anything."

A couple of days pass and my Mum comes over to visit. Strolling around the backyard she announces to me, "do you realise you've got a rotten possum over here?"

"Eeeeeewwww!" I say. "The dogs obviously aren't interested in it otherwise they would have got to it by now." I cover it up with a thin layer of sawdust to try and lock away the smell.

Later that night whilst working on an illustration job with a tight deadline one of the dogs comes in my studio to say hello. Uuuurrgh!!! The smell!!! What the hell is that smell!!?? "Urgh! You guys STINK!!!!"

Dogs get locked in a room for the night to lock away the stink. The next morning it's dog bath time, dog bed washing time, and picking up pieces of dead rotten possum with a shovel from every corner of the backyard. Dead possum goes in box.

Box goes on fire.

Possum burns.

A job well done Jimmy.

"I wish I was still chewing on rotten possum jaw bone."

"Don't my master's know that dead possum makes a waaaay better perfume than dog shampoo? I spent so much time just getting the right amount of aroma on my fur."

A few days later, the dogs locate another dead leathery mummified animal on Jimmy's farm....

-----------------
Good work mutt-bags!

So there's my little story of the rotten possum. So sorry I have seemed to have fallen off the face of the Earth recently with an unannounced blogging break! I have been thinking of you, my blog readers and have been meaning to write. Lots of illustration work going on and other projects that I'm working on that probably can't get much of a mention until certain books get published. So general life stuff & happenings for now it is.

I promise I've got news coming up. It's been an exciting year so far, even if it seems I've been quiet and unproductive.

I'll be back soon :)

New Print, New Blog & Death By Chocolate

2008-02-14T14:36:00.005+11:00

Geez! It's been a while since I added a new print to the shop! Anyway, this print is from an artwork by me that I call "Falling".

This is part of the description that I wrote for it in it's listing:

"I hope you get some sort of nice feeling as I do when I look at this picture. It's got a carefree, fun and blissful feel to it I think. When I made this artwork I was trying to capture a feeling of enjoying the simple things in life, such as fun, love, the beauty of nature... you know, all those things we sometimes need to tune into in a childlike way and forget our day-to-day responsibilities for a while. "

This can be found here in my shop.

Need some more arty internet goodness? Head on over to the new art and illustration blog Pikaland for some eye pleasing images. This new blog really looks promising and is a portal to the huge world of modern art and illustration that's going on out there. Amy, the lady behind it has already been digging up some really nice stuff. I see some old friends in there already and some new stuff that I haven't seen before but am excited to discover.

Thank you Amy, I'll be enjoying that one.

Off to stuff my gob with Mexican food tonight with my brothers and Bell (my brother Russell's girlfriend). It's Valentine's day today, so happy Valentine's day to all of you. Who celebrate it. Jim didn't even know it was Valentine's day today, the old hopeless romantic. We never do anything for it really. So I'm going to go out with my brothers and maybe just because it is a chocolatey indulgent kind of day I'll have to order the "death by chocolate" for dessert...? I really can't see that I have any other option. I'll try to remember to take the camera along for some photos to tease you all with the food. I LOVE Mexican food. Can't wait.

Wednesday Art

2008-02-13T16:44:00.004+11:00

I think it's been a while since I've shown any drawings or paintings just for the heck of it here on my blog. So here's one today. My Mum likes this one because she reckons she says that all the time. A common phrase for me would be, "Oh for f&*^s sake!" I can't help it, I'm addicted to it. Naughty words. I'm a bit of a swearer I'm afraid to admit!
Anyway, this pic is on smooth water colour paper, my absolute favourite of water colour papers. I get annoyed with texture on papers, boards & canvasses and much prefer to make my own texture using paints. So I used paints, a bit of coloured pencil and some pen. The pen ink seeped just a tad into the paper which was a happy surprise as it gave it an aged look which I liked.

I am working on some special top secret projects at the moment, which will involve some of my craft & art work being in books. I'm quite excited about this, as normally I do illustrations for publications to what other people specify; I can't remember having much of my own personal work in publications. Especially my craft work, so that will be a first. My lips are sealed tightly at the moment, though don't hold your breath! I'm not sure when these things will eventuate, but when they do, I'll be sure to blog about them here.

So now I'm off to do some more crafting for these projects... I'm in a positive motivated frame of mind today which must be taken advantage of!

Tuesday Ramblings

2008-01-29T11:31:00.002+11:00

These little buggers are driving me crazy. My new house has a possum problem!! They don't make much noise- the problem is my dogs barking at them. My dogs are usually well behaved- but I have never lived in a house with possums before. I did some research about getting rid of them, but came to the conclusion that I can't do anything about them. Apparently catching them and relocating them is a no-no as research has found that they do not survive in a new environment. The tip is to make sure all gaps in your roof are blocked and to put up possum boxes in the trees for them to live in. Well, that ain't going to stop my dogs from barking.
One of my neighbours has informed me that my dogs are barking quite a lot when I'm not at home, which is causing great stress and concern for me!
My neighbour also mentioned that she hates possums, as she sees them as a pest. This has got me thinking (again- not the first time I have thought about this subject) about what we really consider pests to be. The possum is a native animal and rightly so is protected. We are the ones who have moved into and destroyed their habitats, and yet we are the ones projecting hate onto these creatures. The same goes for kangaroos (considered a pest by farmers) and wombats (I often hear people talk about people shooting wombats because of the damage they cause to their houses). I don't know or understand why the common wombat is not protected.
I agree with the philosophy of The Australian Conservation Foundation that "Wildlife populations have rights of their own to exist and flourish independently of human needs".
I'll also extend this outlook to the much hated snake. It just doesn't sit well with me that we can destroy native animals habitats, use the land for our own purposes and then label the animals as pests when they disrupt our lives.

Looks like I'll be having some more nights of broken sleep with dogs running around the house whining and barking. I think I'd like to look into some other possible alternatives such as training them not to bark at the possums. Or just not go out at night when they're here with me and not with Jim.

Any suggestions!?

Here, my lovely bloggy readers, are some new necklaces that I have dubbed the "Sweet Home" range. There's one each available in the shop as of now. I think they are sweet and homely. I took these photos outside because my light box was one of the casualties of moving. I think I might set up a corner somewhere in the house especially for taking photos. Better add it to my ever growing and non relenting list of things to do!

Sea Change

2008-01-17T14:30:00.000+11:00

A sea change... to the city!
I recently moved from Warragul to be closer to my friends and family, and all the action the city has to offer. I've moved into a really old house with a huge backyard, by suburban standards. My Dad seemed to think upon inspection that the house was a bit of a "dump", though I am quite fond of it and think it holds a lot of character and personality. Perfect for creating artwork in! I find brand new houses to be devoid of any life. Their walls know no history, and they, alot of the time, haven't had the same efforts put into their construction. Ornate ceilings and hardwood trimmings and shelves... that kind of thing.
Anyway, with a new house comes new favourite areas. Things you see that make you happy. I'll share some of these things with you now.
Some have nothing really to do with the new house; they are just items of mine that I feel fit in quite nicely. I especially am fond of the old peeling-away-in-parts green textured wallpaper. It matches so well with hanging pictures. When I'm painting I like to really texture & grunge up backgrounds and subject matter. Same as with old & grungy houses, I think it gives them age and character.
So lets start at the front door. The first small favourite of mine.

Then we venture into the loungeroom to find some extra daggy and almost kitch wallpaper, with a perfect little wall-nook for some of my softies.

A corner of the loungeroom that I set up. I was quite pleased with my efforts, and although it's not a great photo hopefully you still appreciate my design efforts! Now you may be wanting a close-up of a couple of pearls in this photo... yes?

This I thought was quite a find at a local (to Warragul) antique store for $18 smackers. I'm not sure how much it's really worth (the antique shop is usually pricey) but I just love it. I bought it as a home warming present to myself that I wasn't allowed to open from the protective packaging until I moved.

And this! This is such a happy little bonus that I get in this house! There are 3 of these here, they are the air vents. Gorgeous!! I love them with as much bird-love there is to be had. And isn't there alot of that around lately?

I think that was the highlight, and smart people usually finish with the highlights, but not me. So what am I saying? That I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed? Sometimes I think that's the case!
This is a Christmas card I got from a mate this year that was so damn cute I just had to frame it. I like the way it clashes against the cheesy wallpaper in my room.

And check out these tiles in the bathroom cupboard. Possibly my favourite colour at the moment. And what a bonus! The job is possibly one of the crappiest tiling efforts I have seen for a while. There are quite a few, ok, stacks of things in this house that have been bunged together in a hurry or not having the right tools or supplies available. They are, at the least, good conversation topics when people come over and amuse themselves by bagging out certain areas that could've done with a bit more tlc. Laugh away visitors, laugh away!

So there you go. A sneak peak preview of my place. Not that you really know what it looks like as I've only provided little bits here and there.

Now, can someone tell me why I'm not doing the work I should be? It's taken a while to get started today. It seems whenever I start something, something else pops up first that needs to be taken care of. Can you believe, when I was trying to get my printer to work (my everyday invoice printing printer) that not only was this setting me back and I was performing numerous head cleans and print tests... that the curtains just fell down right behind me. So then I spent the next hour or so fixing the curtain rail.

Ok, so my house is old and there are many half-arsed rush jobs. You have my permission to laugh at that one.

Bits n Bobs

2008-01-13T21:28:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year!

I hope we've all had a good break? I enjoyed mine. Lots of food, drink, friends and family. I've got some happy snaps to share! The first one is Gazz, myself and Russ. The three siblings hanging out at St Andrews pub. The next photo is Russ' girlfriend Bell and me. This was actually on Jimbo's birthday. I think he was inside whilst we were taking these. Oops.

This is Dad in his shed on Christmas day. I was liking all of the colours of the number plates and the fridge. A real Aussie bloke in his shed. This one might just be a framer. Although I'm not very happy about the squirty bottle on top of the fridge. Ah well, what can you do? I am no photographer!

Next we have Jimbo and Gazz in the shed, still on xmas day.

Now for the first crafty goodness for the year. This is a one off original purse titled "Displaced". It's more pricey than my usual purses, but that is because it's an original and a lot more work has gone into it. Not too thrilled about the photo, the light was doing tricky things on that day, plus my camera was going flat so it was a bit of a rush job. This purse is now sitting in my cube at Incube8r Gallery. With the start of the year I have decided to take out extra space in the form of a partition in the gallery from which I am able to sell some art and prints. Check out my board layout that I set up on Saturday. I already made a sale before I had completed setting it up! I hope that's a sign of things to come.
A little birdie tells me that there are a few vacancies at the moment within the gallery. You can check the website to get all the info on how this funky little place works.

I've got plans for new art and prints and necklace designs. You may be familiar with the prints and art here on show, so I think it's time to really get to work and come up with some fresh new stuff. I'm hoping this to be one extremely productive and creative year. I have a bit more time on my hands this year so let's hope I don't spend it all partying. Maybe just a bit of partying and the rest creating.

Merry Christmas and all that..

2007-12-14T16:49:00.000+11:00

I have decided to lighten my load for a while over the festive period and give myself a little break. I've got a few illustration jobs to tie up, and then hopefully I can have a little bit of a holiday. After all, everyone else seems to be doing it! So, I probably wont be blogging here until the new year, and I just wanted to pop in here and wish all my blog readers a merry and safe Christmas.
I've got lots of crafty and arty plans for 2008 and I hope you'll be here to share them with me. I feel it's going to be a good year for creating.
So, see you soon in a fresh new year!

Welcome, Stella

2007-12-04T15:37:00.000+11:00

A new baby girl has arrived in the world named Stella. She is my niece! I have only seen her for a little bit but cannot wait to visit her at home and play with her. It's such a happy time for my sister-in-law Chantelle and her other half Dave and the whole family. She'll make a great Mum.

I bought this little organic cotton hat and stitched a lil elephant blowing coloured bubbles onto it for her. And me being not too familiar with babies had no idea that she's not going to grow into this till she's about 50. Well, maybe not that long, but her little head is too small for it now. But that's ok, it's summer here. I was too scared to hold her (I thought I might break her.) I'm planning on using her to get over my fear of babies. Once that fear is over I'm sure I'll be holding all the babies offered to me for a cuddle!

Just a quick photograph addition to end this post. I was requested to show what the latest necklace looks like on. This was just a quick shot I took of myself. It's quite hard to take photos of yourself and show what you need to show. I tried taking a photo the other day of myself with one of my bags and necklaces and thought it turned out ok, only to see a skanky old dog bone lying next to me on the grass. I am such a rush-head that I sometimes forget the little details.

Anyway, this'll do for now. Rock on.

New Necklace & Light Box

2007-11-28T16:10:00.000+11:00

This one's called "Content Being Me" and you can find this little sweetie for sale here. She's happy being herself, despite the fact that society thinks she is abnormal. She is beautiful in her own way! If only we could all take a leaf out of her book. Maybe if I did I'd throw out my cellulite cream? Useless stuff anyway!

I got so frustrated with trying to take photos of this necklace outside today (which is how I usually do it), waiting for the sun to decide if it wants to go behind or come out from the clouds, battling with my shadows hovering over the necklace, and then the wind. Darn the wind! So, I did a bit of research and came across this light box tutorial. Ok, so it's a macro-photo-studio tutorial, but 'light box' is now stuck in my head and there it's going to stay.

So, introducing to you possibly the most crappiest light-box known to man. And woman. There's even a high-tech device at the top of the box in the form of a hole cut by a serrated knife that the camera's viewfinder can see through. The sides are covered with tissue paper, and that's a bloody bright 500 watt light that I brought in from the garage. Complete with it's own little unwanted hitchhiker. Now that I have seen this spider today, I feel all creepy and my hair keeps tingling as if there's spiders in it. He's still in the little tub now that I put over him. Still trying to work up the courage to take him outside. Not a fan of spiders at all!

Anyway, I think the photos came out ok with a bit of photoshopping. I could still make some changes and improvements to my crappy little light box, but at least it's an improvement from taking photos outside. If you have any criticisms or tips for me regarding photographing crafty stuff, I'd love to hear from you. Or you could just tell me that they look fabulous already. I'd be happy either way... !

I'll Help You Grow

2007-11-26T12:38:00.000+11:00

Here's a new limited edition print that will soon be available through Georgie Love and a new gallery in Brisbane QLD called The Servo which can be found at 78 Latrobe Terrace Paddington.
There'll even be a couple available at tummyache ;)
They come unframed, though I have made them to fit into an A4 frame. The frame pictured here is the Ikea Ribba 30 x 40cm frame, which is an affordable framing option for this print.
Each print comes numbered, titled and signed and is printed on archival paper with archival inks.
I think everyone has had a person like this at some time in their lives. It's such a nice sentiment. In a world where we are often suppressed or put down by others, sometimes rare gems come along that encourage us and help us to grow. I hope you have someone like this in your life :)

Snuggets

2007-11-20T17:19:00.000+11:00

I'd like to be blogging more than I am lately. Usually I plod along working through the days and I'll get some idea of what I'd like to write about, or I'll have new work I'd like to show. I just seem to be a bit blank when it comes to blogging at the moment. Everything seems to be in half-finished states, and I'm doing ALOT of illustration work too. It will be nice when the blogging part of my brain switches back into gear so that it comes more naturally.

I don't often show my illustration work here, but to pretty up this post I thought I'd show you an illustration I did recently for G Mag here in oz. It's a relatively new environmental mag, I think the issue that this pic is in is still on the shelves.

I have a new necklace/ choker design I'm working on this week, as well as a limited edition print that will be available through some other shops and galleries. More about those little nuggets soon..

And who stole the lovely hot sunny days we were having!? Typical to Melbourne, we have an extremely hot summery day- then the next day it's cold and raining... rain that I got caught in this morning whilst walking the dogs I might add. I was laughing as I was walking along with rain dripping off the end of my nose and water getting in my eyes. A drenched, delirious girl walking with two extremely wet dogs! And I'm not ashamed to admit that I like the smell of wet dog (I think I've mentioned that before), and I'm also not ashamed of starting my sentences with 'and'. I like it, I don't care if it's a grammatical faux-par.

So, the weekend is looming and we have the big election coming up. And it really is reminding me of that Simpson's episode (or was it Futurama?) where they had to vote between Jack Johnson or John Jackson. (Who were really aliens in disguise.) I really am undecided. Jack Johnson or John Jackson. Hmmmmm.

One more snugget of news from my ever-so-boring-and-typical-life at the moment is I am completely hooked on a new UK comedy. I am a push over for UK comedy, I think English comedians are legends, and have a similar comedic style to Aussie humour. (By the way, snugget is a new word I just thought up which is a cross breed of nugget & snippet.) I say boring and typical because the most exciting thing in my life at the moment is a tv show! Not that I'm saying anything less of the show.. anyway, if you've ever seen Darkplace and liked that I'm pretty confident that you'd like this one too. It's the first part of the first episode from "Man to Man with Dean Learner". It's set up like a cheesy talk show and the Garth Marenghi guy plays all of the different guests.

Legends.

Hello Soldiers

2007-11-08T12:57:00.000+11:00

I've had my BEST MONTH ever at in.cube8r! It's so very motivating that people like my stuff and then actually buy it. I'm sure that one day soon I'm going to spot someone around town wearing one of my necklaces or parading around with one of my bags. And when that day comes I will be a happy little girl indeed. If you haven't checked the in.cube8r gallery out yet you'll find it on Smith St Fitzroy near the corner of Johnston St. (VIC). A good place to do some Christmas shopping for your funky friends!

This morning saw me making a purchase from Greyhound Crafts for one of their life-size greyhound crochet patterns. Not that I can crochet, but my Mum can. I'm hoping to sweet talk her into making one of them for me in the colours of Leela. She's not a greyhound; but the pattern definitely reminds me of her. I think that maybe the greyhound shape is like an exaggerated caricaturised version of her. Perfect! Maybe I'll buy all the wool and ask Mum to pretty, pretty please make it for me. The pattern was a bargain after all! If she wont make it maybe I'll have to revisit the "how to crochet" books and give it a go myself. I've given you comparison photos so you can see what I mean. The crochet dog really does make me laugh, it looks just as lazy as leela is. And the heart coming out of Leela's butt really wasn't intentional.

Recent Happenings

2007-11-01T10:15:00.000+11:00

So, the 9x5 exhibition went well. It's so much fun to watch artwork go up for auction. Even more fun when it's your own and it sells :)

I really haven't had the enthusiasm for blogging much lately. Sorry! I've just got too many things to do and it is all a bit overwhelming. I feel like I have a million different jobs on and I have no idea how to sort them all out and where to start. Plus I haven't been in a very good head-space lately, going through a bit of personal crap which kind of gets in the way of work, life and the creative process.

Something to cheer me up yesterday though, was a package from Camilla! We recently did a swap, and she generously sent me a set of prints, her new calendar, some lovely art cards and a hand written note. I sent her this, this, this and this little original artwork called "for the love of nature":

In other life news, Jim has been trying his hand at making some frames. We just get the local framer to cut out the matt board for us, then we route and cut the wood then assemble the frame ready for staining and varnishing. The local glazier cuts glass for us while we wait, and they always give us a bit of a discount ;)
I think he's doing a pretty good job, and considering all of the prints I have been buying lately, it's going to save us a heck of a lot of cash! Cash that can be better spent buying more art prints!
If you've been hiding under a rock, these are both by Ashley. (You really should get out more.) The housey one is hanging above our bed, and I just love the cute homely feel it gives me when I look at it. Perfect for above the bed :) I haven't found a proper home for the other one, but in the meantime it's feeling quite comfortable amongst those colourful characters.

Illustrators Australia 9x5 Exhibition

2007-10-19T09:49:00.000+10:00

I'm happy to once again be a part of the annual Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition. This is my piece called "A Part Of Me". It's mixed media (pen, pencil, paint) that was originally done on paper then mounted onto the provided 9x5 wood panel & sealed.
The opening night is on the 25th of October from 6pm onwards, held at Space 39, Level 2, 39 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. Come check it out if you can. All pieces will be up for auction on the night, there is also an online bidding system for people that can't physically be there. As with ebay, you can put in your maximum price to see if you can score the piece you are interested in. Check this link for more info and to see all of the art available.
Ooh, there's a few pieces in there I'd like to see hanging on my walls!

p.s. I was driving home from my Dad's the other day and saw something I love to see. And my after thought was, "Is there anything more gorgeous than seeing two ducks with a trail of baby ducks waddling along behind them?"

Happy Birthday to an Ace Friend!

2007-10-16T15:40:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday Yenski!
She will be getting this card very soon, I liked how it looked so thought I'd post it here. I don't think she'll look at my blog before she gets it, coz she's only got dial-up the poor chicken. I think I would wither and die without my kind-of-fast internet!

Here she is rocking out like she does best. So talented. Can draw, paint, sew, sing, play musical instruments, make humour, drink beer with me and make the best damn vegie lasagne I've ever eaten. She also did a good job of turning 30. I'm right behind you lovey!

Shop Update

2007-10-15T16:41:00.000+10:00

Four new originals are now listed in the shop. We have "Maybe Next Time":

"Impending":

"At The Corner":

and "Closed Eyes, Red Socks".

There's a decent description of each piece in their separate listings. They are all done using a variety of techniques including pen, biro, coloured pencil, & acrylic paint. I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them :)

I Was Just There

2007-10-12T08:25:00.000+10:00

That's the name of this new print now available in the shop. It's about time I added a new print! I am happy with how this has turned out. It started off as a drawing in my moleskine sketch book, then kept evolving with more work, scanning it into the computer then working on it some more.
Some of you may be pleased to know that I have been working on a few originals that I hope to get into the shop very soon. I shall be blogging about that when the time comes.
But for now kiddies I am off to start stressing about my upcoming dentist appointment. When I come back I shall be two teeth lighter. Ugh. Not really how I want to spend my Friday!

A Typical Laser Beacon & Bizarro World

2007-10-04T10:52:00.000+10:00

Yes, yes it is.
There are so many reasons why I find this pic funny. Hilarious. So hilarious in fact that I have had this picture for years, and I always laugh when I see it. It's from one of Jim's old computer games from when he was a kid. I was looking through the instruction book and came across this little beauty. I have been meaning to put it onto a t-shirt for years, but thought I'd share this with you all first.
Some funny things get old. This is not one of those things. I'm going to be laughing at this pic until the day I die.

Yesterday I found something which made me feel I was living in bizarro world. First look at my dogs. Doberman & Rotti cross. Then look at this.
B-I-Z-A-R-R-O W-O-R-L-D!

Blog Updating

2007-10-03T08:37:00.000+10:00

If you're coming over for a visit, please excuse the mess! I'm updating my blog template and at the moment things are looking a little terrible! I'll have it all sorted out soon ;)

Ahhhh. Much better. One thing that's bugging me is the writing looks different in my post with the youtube video in it. Computers eh? Annoying!

Sarah Giufre- Umbrellas are Useless

2007-09-28T13:52:00.000+10:00

I'm mighty proud to say that this is my long-time-buddy Sarah Giufre & her beautiful new clip to her song "Umbrellas are Useless". This music video was directed by TRAITOR/Thomas Pullar, and is a contender in the 2007 Music Oz awards!! If you are an Aussie with a mobile phone it would be FANTASTIC if you can head over to The 2007 Music Oz Awards to get the simple details on how to vote. I know I will be and getting everyone I know to do it too! I have first hand information directly from Sarah that she is willing to kiss the feet of anyone who votes!
By the way, take a special look at the plant/flower/piano thingy at the start. I wonder who drew this? *Grins cheekily* The necklace she's wearing also looks mighty familiar, though I'll have to confirm on that one..

Sarah and I are planning and scheming a creative project together at the moment. If all comes to fruition you may hear about that later on down the track. But my lips are sealed for now!

Great job on the clip guys! Beautiful!

Weekend Happenings

2007-09-24T12:31:00.000+10:00

Saturday doodling. The fish creature was inspired by some glass art I saw in Melbourne on Saturday. Freaky little glass creatures hanging from the roof in a gallery. They were cute, weird & colourful all at once.

Then we headed over and saw Hung By The Sticky Bits which is an exhibition on now off Flinders Lane in Melbourne featuring a variety of artists including fellow illustrator Beck Wheeler. Check out the bit of street art she did outside the gallery.

Inside there were painted walls all up the staircase, and inside the gallery. I loved the art, such a variety. I was in awe of the effort Beck went into setting up the whole thing.
Walking into the alley where the gallery is situated was like walking into another world.

It's so inspiring going to check out exhibitions, though because of where I live I don't really get out to do it that much. Must make more of an effort in the future. I also need to keep in the loop of what is out there. If I did keep myself in the loop I definitely would've gone to see this. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I just love discovering new artists whose work excites me, and these guys do just that.

New Pendants

2007-09-20T11:12:00.000+10:00

So, here are the pendants I've been working on all finished! I'm busy adding them to my etsy shop now. I tell you they look really cool on, I wore one one night and got numerous comments on it. It's always good to be able to reply to the question of where I got it: "I made it!"
They're nearly all added, though right now my stomach's crying out for attention. Must be lunch time!

The First Necklace Hits The Shelves..

2007-09-19T13:53:00.000+10:00

So, this is an example of the necklaces I have been making recently. The process uses resin. I have been having good and bad times with resin. I always get scared using products that have a finality about them. For instance, once it's poured on, you can't make a mistake or else it's ruined. Anyway, I'm getting to know how the resin works, and practise makes perfect.
I made a batch recently that I entirely botched. It ended up with me being completely frustrated, my hands covered in resin (and I couldn't find anything to get it off), and the whole batch went into the bin! Live and learn! So, I went and got a tool that helped with the resin process. A nifty little butane torch that you glide over the top and it pops all of the little bubbles. Brilliant!

Above is the "Wandering Horse" design. You can find it in the shop here.

Here's a sneak preview of some other designs in the making on my messy desk. This is before I add the resin to them. The resin is now added and they'll be finished off tomorrow.

Horse Stack

2007-09-18T14:47:00.000+10:00

Everyone needs a horse stack. What kind of sub human being would you be without one? I finished this one off today and is in the form of a print over at tummyache as of now.

You can also find an interview with me on Indie/Pretty/Perfect if you feel like a bit of a read. Why the hell not, you say?

I've also been doing some refurbishment over at Creative Aussie Links which you may be interested to see. I'm dedicated to finding the best damn art & craft supplies out there, and have many more up my sleeve to feature. I'm still interested to hear suggestions from my readers, too. And if you're an Aussie with a blog or Etsy shop, shoot me an email and I'll pop you in the links list. It's a free-for-all lovey-dovey links list!

Well, that's it for today googley-eggs. Enjoy the rest of your day/evening/night wherever you are. x

Yael Fran & Her Etsy Artist Pins

2007-09-14T12:53:00.000+10:00

Yael Frankel who resides in Buenos Aires has started making pins from other Etsy artists work. Find this one of mine here. She has some more of my designs so you may find some newbies in her shop soon.
She's got alot of other cute stylish pins in her shop, one of my favourites being these little guys. Although they are supposed to be racoons, they do remind me of koalas... :)

The Slack Blogger Is Back

2007-09-12T14:17:00.000+10:00

Juggling illustration, shop orders, prints, art, dogs, and general life can sometimes get chaotic, as I'm sure you're all aware! Which doesn't leave much time for blogging. I've been a busy little beaver, making some new necklaces for Incube8r Gallery in Smith St, Fitzroy, utilising some of my artwork. Hang around and you might just see some appear in the shop soon. They've been popular little things, I'll try and get some work-in-progress shots to feast your little eyes on. Incube8r Gallery also held their launch last week, which seemed a successful night resulting in bodies being crammed into the shop space with not much room to move at all. I didn't even get a chance to do my sneaky little thing of hanging by my work to hear some genuine feedback whilst the viewers are unaware that the creator is standing right next to them!

My Dad is on holidays. Five weeks, the lucky bugger. Below you will find what a mixture of holidays, his train set and a camera will amount to. He sent me these photos with the title "Disaster in Diamond Creek." He assures me there was only one fatality but the body was removed before the shots were taken. Thank God for that.

Well, so it hasn't been ages since I last posted, but I do put pressure on myself to live up to my own expectations. I expect so much from myself each week which sometimes puts a little too much pressure on myself and ends up with me feeling a little depressed and like a failure. I'm sorry to always be so negative (feel like I'm doing that a bit lately), though I have to show the good and the bad don't I? I can't pretend that my life is all happy-go-lucky like I sometimes make out here. We all try to put our best foot forward, though I don't want to give anyone a false impression of me.

Now I'm off to get busy with resin for the necklaces previously mentioned. It's also been a great week for mail and prints arriving so I'll dust the camera off and take some happy snaps of all that stuff too. Seeya next time.

OMG Betsy Walton..

2007-08-28T11:36:00.000+10:00

..Has an etsy shop!
I have just made spur of the moment purchases and bought this, this, and this!
I am so absolutely thrilled to be able to get some of her work in my hot little hands. I have always loved her work and have always regularly checked up to see whether she was offering any prints or originals for sale, & I was always disappointed, until now.. joy! Can't wait till the postie brings these guys in.
Happy days.

Three New Ridgy Didges

2007-08-28T00:03:00.000+10:00

That's slang for real. Originals. They are A5 sized paintings/ drawings and available in the shop as of now. From top to bottom we have "I thought nothing of it," "I'm in the air and free" and "sometime in the future."

God the weather was good today. It was so warm. I worked with the windows and doors open, which is the first time I've been able to air the house without freezing to death. How I love the sun! I must admit that yesterday whilst on a break from working I slipped out and fell asleep in the sun until Leela ran over the top of me and caught my foot on her foot, which bloody hurt. Dogs are so clumsy.
Anyway, it felt like summer. There is such a different vibe in the warm weather, like a more relaxed easy going feeling. The hotter the better I say. This is a controversial topic. Either you like summer or winter better, and I'm sorry, but if you fall into the latter category I'm going to have to move you down my list of respected people. I'm constantly having this argument with my friend Tanya. (Love ya, Tan!)
It's funny how we either like one or the other. But then there are those freaks out there that like both. It's kind of like how you either watch Neighbours or Home and Away. (Tragic tv soapies we have here.) Or there's milk verses soy. Holden verses Ford. Chocolate milkshakes verses Strawberry. And we always fight faithfully & passionately for our team.
Go chocolate milkshakes!!

Sunday Posting.

2007-08-26T12:11:00.000+10:00

"I seem to be having some sort of gravitational issue." Biro, paint, coloured pencil and obscurity on paper.
I've been enjoying doing works on paper recently. I'm having issues with canvasses. I have started a few canvasses and I may just well be at a point in my life where I have to accept that maybe me and canvasses weren't meant to be. Sometime I may go back to them, but for now I wish them all the success in life. Be free canvasses, be free..

I apologise for the lack of shop updates and blog updates, though I have been very busy with a never ending stream of illustration jobs. Unfortunately it's my personal work that seems to suffer during busy times like these.

Now I'm off to do some more work. Anyone in Vic, enjoy this lovely spring weather we are having! It's so great to see the sun again!

New Print, Jim in Texas, Hangover, Food.

2007-08-12T15:48:00.000+10:00

This poor girl! She truly is a misfit. Haven't we all felt like her from time to time!?
This little darling popped into my head this morning and asked to be drawn. Thought you might also like to see the sketch/ idea I initially did for this piece in the back of my diary. I know people love process shots...

This new print is available in tummyache as of now.

My man's in Texas! I am alone for three whole weeks! I may literally go crazy from isolation. What to do what to do. I have so much work on so I'm going to try to get mountains worth of stuff done. Though you know what? I am looking forward to watching whatever TV shows I want. Jim doesn't go for trashy shows like idol, big brother and all the rest of that crap, but sometimes I just like to turn the brain off and soak up a bit of nonsense. I'm also going to try to not have any alcohol for the whole time. I am nursing a hangover today and feeling slightly shamed from the amount of junk that comes out of my mouth when myself, parties and wine are mixed. Not that I did anything embarrassing; it's just thinking about drunken banter when you're sober isn't pleasant! And I wasn't even planning on drinking much.

Oh well. Time to go and cook some pasta, and I'm indulging in some butterscotch pudding with ice cream after that.. :)

(One more thing. I'm still working on the series of artwork destined for prints. I know I said they'd be ready but they are taking a little longer than expected, & I want to get them just right.)

My week (last week, that is)

2007-08-07T13:16:00.000+10:00

GIRLS NIGHT!!!!

Fondue, band watching & silliness at the St Andrew's pub. So much fun!

Here's us making veggie tempura in my Great Grandmother's fondue set. An original cast iron (I think it's cast iron..) set from the real fondue days. Yummo. Although it ended up cooking too slow, and we were too hungry so we cooked the rest on the stove.

Clockwise from left we have the bubbly and friendly Jen, Sarah the obscurely funny girl, Yenski (Jen) the funky down to earth chick, and Tan, the sweet natured optimist! You know they have many other qualities & talents but I think that's a good start!

Get into it Yenski & Tan! (Tan, stop putting too many sticks in, you're cooling down the oil! Tan: but I'm hungry!!)

Now we're at the St Andrews pub. Taking stupid photos without a care of who is watching. This one is the almighty "Head Stack." Everytime I look at it I get "Head stack, baby head stack.." in my head like the B52's "Love Shack" song... From bottom: Sarah (who's face is cracking me up), me and Jen..

Cheesy grins. Me on the left & Tan..

This one cracks me up. The very sooky ladies Yenski & Sare..

Clockwise from left Tan, Sare & Jen. Oh dear.. the gravitational pull of the earth seems to have affected their heads.. my my..

Just wanted to share those photos of my fab weekend. We had some chocolate fondue after the pub with strawberries and cake which was to die for! Us girls plan to make our catch ups a regular monthly event which is great. Nothing like getting together with the gals. I think with these regular catch ups I'm going to get premature wrinkles from all the laughing we do..

And here's a Sunday doodle from this Sunday just gone.. with a couple of influences from stuff that was in my week. A guy contacted me regarding a commission and stated he'd like something strange to do with his cat's, and as an example he suggested cat heads with sea creature bodies. This idea stuck in my head and consequently came out in this Sunday's doodle. I also saw a roof top full of birds all in a row whilst driving down the freeway. I would have loved to get a photo of it, but this is the next best thing.

One more thing, I promise! For all you creative Aussie's out there that spend many an hour searching for arty obscure products I have started a new blog just for you! Take a visit to Creative Aussie Links, to read the full explanation. If you have a blog or etsy shop and live in Oz, feel free to email me and I shall add you to the links. It's still in the early stages so bear with me as I may change things around as it evolves.

If this blog post seems at all weird in any way it's because I've just had a coffee (which I never drink) and I'm feeling a bit buzzy and strange. In fact, I've got a headache. And I can't think of a good way to end this post. So I shall just end it. (Told you I was feeling weird!)

Prints of The Interactive Project

2007-08-01T15:51:00.000+10:00

Prints are now available of the interactive project painting in my shop as of now. I've got them available in two sizes; one fits to an A4 page, and the other is printed on an A3 page. Check out the listings in the shop for the exact dimensions.

It's Tuesday Today

2007-07-31T08:46:00.000+10:00

All day!
Here's a little something I was working on yesterday for a postcard design for myself. I call it "Contemplation in the Desert." I'm loosing gravity lately in my pics, things just seem to be floating around alot!

Syko is embarking on her own interactive project. I've already left my first suggestion, it will be interesting to be on the other side of this and watch someone else's project evolve. I urge anyone that's been thinking about doing it to give it a try!

There's an interview with Georgie Love (whom I sell some stuff through) over at Indie art & design, a blog that features independent aussie artists & designers. It never ceases to amaze me at how the internet is making the art & craft world a small connected community. Such a great tool. What would we do without it?

Interactive Project Finished & the Winner Announced!

2007-07-29T14:36:00.000+10:00

The last stage of my interactive project! The interactive project was a little brain child I had going over the last few months. I had my blog readers give me suggestions for the painting at the end of each stage, and I would randomly pick one out of a hat which would tell me what I had to do for the next stage.
I'd like to thank everyone that took part in this project which helped make it a lot of fun and definitely a very interesting adventure! I know many of you have been following the progress faithfully, so I thank you for that too, and all of your lovely comments, suggestions and emails :)

So, here it is, finally. The last stage as suggested by Helen who requested a sun with some rays to warm up the background. So I added in a subtle sun, not sure if it's completely warming, but it's a sun all the same. It reminds me of a winter sun shining through the clouds. I then signed and glossed the painting to finish it all up. Here's a close-up of the tenth stage:

And here, from start to finish is a sequence of all of the stages. Such fun to see them all together, stage by stage (and just fyi, the painting measures approx 15.5 x 12 inches):

Now, I was too nervous to draw out the winner for the whole project... so I got Jim to do it! All 100 suggestions from each stage were put together to draw out the final winner that was to be the new owner of this artwork.

Drum roll, please... AND THE WINNER IS... DIZZYJADEY!! Congratulations dizzyjadey, I have sent you an email to notify you and request your address :)

Once again a big thank you to all for making this project a success. It was so much fun. If you do want to have a piece of this project to own I'll be offering prints of it with the details to follow very soon. I wish I could clone it and send an original to everyone, I'm feeling bad for the people who I know would have loved to own it!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone. I'm leaving now with a sense of satisfaction of a finished project. I think good food, wine & a trip to the video shop is in order!
xx

Super Quick Update!

2007-07-26T21:46:00.000+10:00

I plan on uploading the last stage of the interactive project this Sunday (Australian day time), showing an amalgamation of pictures from start to finish, and announcing the winner! I'm very excited and my painting is looking forward to going to it's new home wherever that may be. Hope you're just as excited as I am!
(It's almost a crime for an illustration blog-post to be picture-less but I'm just going to bite the bullet this time and do it.. eek!)
See you Sunday :)

Burden Print

2007-07-24T17:14:00.000+10:00

This new print "Burden" is in tummyache as of now which you can find here. This is a piece I finished recently. The girl pulling the tree along was actually drawn for an illustration job I'm working on and I liked it so much that I decided to utilise it in an artwork. Even though it is a picture with sad connotations, I think it also has a soothing feel to it.

My new set-up in the studio is all in place now. My new large printer is all set-up and sitting happily in the corner. I'll be able to print up to A2 sized prints in the future. For now I will be aiming for some A3 sized numbers. I'm still working on a series of work for prints that I will hopefully have ready next week.

And one more comment for the interactive project! That's all I'm waiting on, so if you think you'd like to be involved and have a chance to win a painting leave your comment here. I just need one more!

Stuff, links & more stuff

2007-07-21T09:20:00.000+10:00

Oh goody. It's the weekend. What a busy week! Phew!
My new printing set-up is basically all happening, which I'm really excited about. This past week was spent ironing out glitches (of which there were a few) and packing, packaging, packaging! No time to get any new artwork done, though I do have lots of half finished artworks that I can work on this coming week. I've been working on a series for the shop which will be available soon. I shall let you know!
This week also saw me featured on Design*Sponge which I was absolutely thrilled about. And Cuteable. Can someone please tell me why I have never seen Cuteable before!? It's really fabulous, I can't believe I haven't come across it before in my internet travels. Unreal. And I do spend alot of time doing the old surf.
By the way readers, there is ONE MORE entry for the interactive painting project (see previous post). Next week will be the final stage and I can't wait to draw out the final winner of the whole thing.
Have a great weekend everyone. We're off to visit some family including Jim's sister who is 5 and 1/2 months pregnant. I've been cracking myself up with the words pregatronic'd & pregulated this week. I can't wait to have a little niece or nephew! (In law that is. Kind of. If I was actually married...)
I'll leave you with a silly drawing which helps to represent the kind of stupid mood I'm in right now:

Don't think about it for too long; though if you work I'd the answer, I'd love to know..!

Stage 9 Complete!

2007-07-17T12:55:00.000+10:00

Next stage is complete. There is only one more stage to go before the project is finished and someone wins the painting! I'll post the next stage sometime next week, after I receive another ten suggestions for stage 10, the very last stage. If you're new to this and wondering what the heck this is all about, you can satisfy your curiosity here.
Jenn Maruska was a bit indecisive about what she wanted. She couldn't decide if she wanted flying fish, flying fish-bird hybrids, flying fish that turned into birds, or flying fish that turned into elephants! It's ok Jenn, we all have decision making problems sometimes.. just ask Jim. (I have a terrible time making decisions sometimes... ok, alot of the time.)
Anyway, I quite liked the idea of the flying fish turning into birds. So, that is what I did. Do you like them?
It seems this project is wrapping up at just the right time, I'm not sure I could fit too much more into the painting!
Ok, get your thinking caps on again & I'll await your next ten suggestions.

Update

2007-07-16T15:56:00.000+10:00

Checking in here to let everyone know that I'm implementing a new printing system for my art prints this week. So any art prints bought from tummyache will be shipped out after I have everything here running smoothly. At this stage I am aiming to have recent orders out by this Friday the 20th of July. I'm going to do my very best to make sure this happens, and I shall keep everyone updated for whoever would like to be in the know. I'm very excited, as this also means that I will be able to do large prints, which I keep receiving requests for, so that is good news.

I am currently working on a new series of artworks that I'm saving the release of until my new system is in place. All I'm saying at this stage is that the theme includes trees in a way. (ooh, who would've guessed!?) I'm really having fun working on them and can't wait to put them all into my my shop when the time comes.

I'll leave you with a sketch from my moleskine I did last weekend. I usually do a bit of drawing/ sketching on the weekends. I tried my hand at some larger sketches on paper yesterday but what I have done so far I'm not entirely happy with. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of extra work, sometimes it takes a brush loaded with one colour of paint to hide the whole thing. We'll see.

Stage 8 Complete

2007-07-10T12:24:00.000+10:00

Promise kept! A new update within the week.
I plan on doing the last two stages for this project in the next two weeks. One stage per week. If you are unfamiliar with this project you can read up on it here.
I must admit that when I picked out Janealt's suggestion for a tidal wave I was a bit stumped as to how to include it in. I thought that a tidal wave would bring doom and gloom to an otherwise magical looking painting (which is how it is seeming to evolve), so there was another challenge. So in solution to this suggestion I have made the most non-imposing magical looking tidal wave I could muster.. complete with turquoise blue water reminiscent of an island holiday with glorious sparkles. You just know that this wave wouldn't want to hurt a fly, and would possibly sweep through leaving sparkles on everything. Right? Well, you can make up your own story if you wish, but I'm sticking with that one!
It could also be a mythological wave. Just throwing some suggestions out there. Art is best interpreted by the beholder.
So, two more stages left, and now I need another ten suggestions for the next stage. Best put your thinking caps on!

Sunday Doodle

2007-07-09T09:08:00.000+10:00

Here's a Sunday doodle for you (even though it's Monday today). It's done in my beloved sketchbook using biro, textas and coloured pencils.
I've got another busy week coming up ahead, new bag designs are in the making, I've got regular illustration business to attend to, an appointment with the accountant (eek, not my favourite thing in the world to do- Jim's coming along to be my left-brainer.. you know the logical side of the brain? I don't use it), plus I've promised my brother I'd have a painting finished for him by Friday, oh God I know there's more but don't want to think about it all!
Anyway, I'm off to give some stock to Incub8r today which is a new gallery opening soon in Smith Street Fitzroy.
So, I best be off to start my busy week. And I promise you I'll have a new update for the interactive project this week.

Calling All Cat Lovers!

2007-07-05T13:05:00.000+10:00

It isn't fair to the cat lovers out there that I tend to focus on dogs now, is it? So this is one for the cat people out there. You can find them sold separately in the shop. I've got new things in mind for future bag and purses so this may very well be the last bag design that features hand embroidery.
Well, as usual I've got a tonne of things to do so I better pull my finger out and get back to it all.. happy Thursday everyone :)

Is it productive..

2007-07-04T10:17:00.000+10:00

..to spend my morning hours making a new myspace page when I have so much other work to do? Since myspace deleted my account with no warning or explanation (I only got sent a very vague and generic email) I ummed and ahhed over boycotting them (ha! What would that do!?) and then just gave in and made a new page.
So, wanna make friends... again?

Dog Nicknames & Print News!

2007-07-02T14:23:00.000+10:00

We love our dogs. Jimbo is always coming up with new nicknames for them, and the one that has been cracking me up lately is the new one for Leela (the brown one). We call her Pee-pee alot but now that has evolved into Pee-pee deluxe which really is quite silly and I've been laughing about that one for weeks. Bender's nicknames include B-boy, Bendy, Bendy-mo, Skat man, Bopper, B-bopper, Black dog and the latest for him is Selley's. This is after a well-known hardware store product called Selley's no more gaps. That's him.. he's known to squeeze into available cracks between me and Jim. I love the new nicknames. In fact I love nicknames full stop. We could never have guessed we'd own a dog that we call Pee-pee deluxe.. these names just evolve naturally out of stupidity and by accident.
Such fun.

And print news!! I am super excited as I'm investing in a fantastic new printer that will take my prints to new levels.. and SIZE! I will soon be able to print up to A2 prints! I can't wait to get this fabulous machine- I'm so excited I dreamt about it last night. Nothing will stop me now. I've got some new artworks in the making that will be saved for the arrival of my new professional print-making machine, which will of course be all be available in the shop when the time comes.
Just had to share the news. Onwards and upwards!

New Print

2007-06-27T17:37:00.000+10:00

Hello again!
Really getting back into regular blogging lately. It feels good.
This new print called "The Bird Keeper" is available here.

You can find an explanation behind the artwork in the listing.

I am annoyed today for two reasons: my myspace account has been deleted. I have no idea why and am really peeved that I didn't even know it was gone. Plus I burnt the dahl I was making for dinner. Seems like I'm burning everything lately. I made a banana and pecan bread yesterday and I burnt that too. No thanks to our stupid oven. Sounds like I'm really creative in the kitchen, but seriously, it's just a phase I'm going through.

Looks like it might be a pizza night tonight. Hopefully we will be able to watch some of the idiot box. It's really, really windy outside which messes with our stupid antenna. Stupid antenna and stupid oven. Luckily I hired BBC's Planet Earth so we can watch something. I tell you, in the very first episode there is a situation with a baby elephant that just absolutely broke my heart. I cannot believe how sad it was. I'm tearing up just thinking of it. Even Jim got glassy eyed. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Now I'm off to check if my dahl is still edible... might not have to order pizza after all...

Swapsie Fun

2007-06-26T12:45:00.000+10:00

Did a swap recently with Michelle from Green Kitchen. We made a mini art quilt for each other. I so can't wait to put it in a shadow frame and up on my wall. I love it; it's perfect for me and my style of decorating. I think it does have a bohemian quality to it, enhanced by the fact it incorporates recycled materials.. yay! Jim was also taken by it which is no small feat.. he's quite the art critic sometimes! (Did you know he gives my artwork scores out of ten? I have never got a ten. Though he says if he ever gives me a ten then I do something better he's got nowhere to go. Very pragmatic, but not much fun!)
Anyway, here's a pic of the quilt Michelle made for me. Even the back has nice fabric.

And here's my effort, a little tree house number:

What fun that was. It's really so nice for someone to take the time and effort to make something for me. You know, it's really my first piece of artwork I have. (Excluding prints.)
One day I intend to buy some original art, though I've always been waiting until I'm in my own home.

Also wanted to share a pic of my nesting gocco print as an example of what it can look like framed. One of my buddies got this as part of her birthday pressie recently:

And a better photo of my ring! Look at that sparkly rock in there! It's funny because I never thought I was a diamond type of girl, but now that I have this ring, I am converted. Here's a link to the jeweller's website.

Right, that's it for the blog today. I'm working on some new prints for the shop which will be available soon. I shall post here with the update. Ciao!