glorydaze

An unexpected surprise turns into a Glorydaze ad

2011-07-10T12:21:00.003+10:00

So I opened a file today to edit some product images I had taken yesterday with a little help from my 4 year old (he is a big fan of the camera's remote shutter release button) and I see that leaving him alone with the camera for 5 minutes was an accidental moment of brilliance. This kid is an absolute star!

Mr Basgetti

2011-04-16T22:14:00.000+10:00

Well here is the main reason for my disappearance for the last 10 months or so, introducing, 3rd and final baby... Eddie (also referred to by his big brother as 'Eddie Basgetti') This guy has been a handful from the moment I found out I was pregnant, but every time he smiles and looks at me with those dark brown eyes, I melt. Having your very own little human beings is just the best I tell ya!
So I am hoping to be back to some sort of regular programing soon. Glorydaze has been closed down for a while now and I have given myself a deadline of July 1st to reopen the virtual doors. We also moved into a much bigger house and I am in the process of renovating and decorating the new studio which I am really exited about, it is driving me crazy having my machine packed away in the garage. Anyway, stay tuned for more regular updates.

Time flies when your not having fun.

2010-06-22T23:38:00.001+10:00

Apparently the punishment for neglecting your blog these days is an aggressive attack of spam. I have just deleted around 40 spam comments from my blog, proclaiming to know the answers to some of the big questions like "How to prevent your shoes from squeaking" and "where to buy tight shiny clothes" as well as the usual "The hard friend in your pants will look up into the sky" and "How to make your man's carrot grow" which I am pretty sure is not advertising fertiliser.

So anyway I am at the business end of the pregnancy from hell, and am due in 4 days. I could quite easily rave on for another 10 paragraphs about all the horrible symptoms I have had, but I won't, mostly because it would bore you to tears, but also because I would prefer not to think about it any more. After having two completely problem free pregnancies, this one has really been a shock to the system. So I would just like to take this opportunity to apologise to all pregnant women to whom I have shaken my head/rolled my eyes at in the past who were holding their back/frowning/groaning at every movement and bossing their poor husbands around like they are some sort slave, because I have come to the realisation that pro-creation is not always as easy as my first two children led me to believe.

Outstanding Creative Juices

2010-03-03T15:06:00.000+11:00

To acheive total awesomeness the rider of previously mentioned awesome orange bicycle is required to accessorise oneself with equally awesome ear lobe embellishments me thinks...

(edit- please note that this post does contain sarcasm, I would not in a million years consider the purchase of any item made from something thats only rightful place in this world is on the compost)

Can I please have this?

2010-02-03T18:12:00.000+11:00

Thanks :)

Available here

Oh yeah, that's right, I have a blog don't I?

2009-11-23T18:07:00.000+11:00

I sorta forgot about that.

So how can I possibly summarise what I have been doing for the last 4 and a half months? Quite easily actually... making bags, eating (occasionally), making bags, sleeping (sporadically), making more bags, playing trains (my favourite), making lots of big plans for the business next year (bank loans, more employees, bigger studio etc), and last but definately not least, conceiving children. So the last one has kind of cancelled out the second last one. The big plans I had for next year are going to have to go on hold for a bit longer I guess.

It was a nice surprise, but not such good timing. You ladies are going nuts for the whole bag party concept, and I have never been so busy in my life as I have been in the last few months, and apparently the little peanut does not approve. Constant nausea, dizzy spells, complete lack of energy, and extremely inconvenient pregnant brain are but a few of my complaints.

I will also be retailing for the first time at Magnolia Square at Brighton Town Hall in 10 days. 10 DAYS! So I thought I would get in early and start preparing for the event yesterday. Should be fine. Yeah just fine. Fine and dandy I tell you. Looking forward to it (being over) though. It should be a fun(damentally exhausting) three days. But really I am exited, especially about the company I will be keeping, it looks like there will be some great shopping to be had. Would love to see you there!

Puff and Billy

2009-07-01T18:18:00.000+10:00

So it has been a long time between posts, mostly due to lack of time, a direct result of the apparent bag buying craze sweeping the entire world. Which is great, but has left me with about 4 hours sleep a night, very limited time to hang out with the PC apart from taking orders and answering emails and little time to do anything besides sew. I am looking at employing a part time sewer, which, including my new party lady, will bring the entire Glorydaze staff up to 3 people, which is very exiting. Actually having employees is sure to make staff meetings and the annual drunken Christmas break up party a lot more rewarding, and trying to make conversation at work will not be quite so awkward either. I can also practice my general bossing skills which actually needs some serious work.

Anyway, here are a couple of my favourite photos from last month at Puffing Billy. The little guys obsession with trains is on the verge of a disorder, so taking him on a real steam train was a big risk. There was a point where I thought he might actually stop breathing, and a number of times when I thought his eyeballs might fall right out of his head.

a bobbin, a bobbin, a pedal, a pedal...

2009-05-22T23:20:00.000+10:00

This is my life (minus the mean boss), hence the lack of blog posts. I will be back to regular programming soon I hope.

Easter

2009-04-18T21:26:00.000+10:00

Gorgeous beaches,being chased by waves,watching sunsets,digging holesoverwhelming exitement.Over too soon.

On my Wall

2009-04-06T10:18:00.000+10:00

One of my favourite fabrics from my vintage collection. Also available here in a satchel bag.

New Print

2009-04-01T15:20:00.000+11:00

One of my new screen print designs in blue. I am having trouble choosing colours, there are so many combinations that I like. What would you like to see? I need help!

Ahoy!

2009-03-25T16:30:00.000+11:00

Ship mirror. Acquired through very sad circumstances. But makes me very happy to look at.

Last Time I promise.

2009-03-06T00:03:00.000+11:00

Yep I have redone the website. Again. Geez I had a giveaway and everything last time, and it was only a few months ago. Who knows how long it will take me to get bored of it, but I can tell you now, many hours have gone into it, and I really, really don't want to be doing it all over again for a long time. So I hope it is ok. Let me know what you think.

Bunny Huggles

2009-03-01T14:35:00.000+11:00

I am not even going to mention my lack of blogging lately and just show you some pics of the little guy at the school market night. He spent almost the entire time with the animals and was not even remotely interested in the jumping castle, merry-go-round or the big slide, which I was a little bit disappointed about because I really wanted to go on the big slide.

Sweet Suburban Skye

2008-12-18T22:42:00.000+11:00

This is what happens when I have a gazillion bags to make... I take lots of photos of the pretty sky and decide to go on a blog posting frenzy, after many months of being so quiet.

The Crocodile Show

2008-12-16T22:55:00.000+11:00

Pulling posters out of magazines and blu tacking them on the wall is still my favourite form of decorating. It is a far cry from Jon Bon Jovi and Johnny Depp, who were a common choice in my early decorating days, but it still makes my eyes happy.

Rain and Milestones

2008-12-13T18:56:00.000+11:00

Record breaking rain here today, which is great, but swimming with dolphins and steam train rides have been cancelled for this weekend , so Little Guy and Middle Size Girl are a bit disappointed. It is very rare for us to be home all weekend this time of year, with all the people I have either married or given birth to having birthdays within a 4 week time bracket and Christmas right in middle, but I am quite enjoying it so far. Little bit of splashing in puddles (yes that is my son in his sisters hand-me-down-pink-flower-gumboots) and a little bit of taking photos of pretty heart shaped rose petals.

I have managed to not do any work at all today, which I usually find very difficult. I thought I should get in a days rest before the busy week ahead. I have 30+ bags to make by Friday and an 11 year old's camping party to organise for Saturday. I really am lacking in time management skills and sometimes find it hard to separate home and work even though they are the same thing. I feel like I am turning each of them off and on a million times a day which can be frustrating, and usually not very productive in the end. I do manage to get things done though and would not have it any other way.

Oh I also just realised that this is my 101st post! I am going to celebrate by opening a $28 bottle of wine tonight, which is only done on very special occasions in this house. Sorry, you get nothing. However I will be thinking of each and every one of you who has ever commented, visited, read or accidentally stumbled upon my blog when Googling totally cool party. Thank you all for coming, and letting me think that the good bits of my life are sometimes just a little bit interesting to others.

Featured

2008-11-19T09:34:00.000+11:00

I never thought I would be featured in a travel magazine but here I am. Thanks Sue!

some goodies...

2008-11-18T12:44:00.000+11:00

Found some lovelies today...

hmmm... I can never get enough of green.

or greenish yellow, or brownish green. But that olivey gren linen tablecloth in the last photo is my favourite.

Konkeys

2008-11-13T15:25:00.000+11:00

I made this cushion cover on the weekend from some fabric I purchased from pyglet whispers that I am in love with. It has Konkys, Weows, Pippos and Raaaas on it. The little guy loves the animal print and the other side is some fabric I opped a little while ago. It is the first time I have sewn anything besides a bag in a long time, and it was nice to make something so easy with no tricky corners or annoying materials. The insert is 100% down and so comfy, it was made for a very expensive couch and given to me by a friend who worked in the warehouse of a well known furniture store, who came across a lot of 'spare' furniture stuff.

2008-10-26T22:24:00.000+11:00

Ok, so when I say sometime next week you knew that I meant 3 weeks later didn't you? Anyway the 2 winners are Christie, and Stomper Girl, randomly chosen out of a tea cup by the little guy, who would not stand still long enough for me to get a photo before stuffing your delicious names in his gob. This gift wrap by Beci Orpin, which comes free in the latest Frankie mag, is just fantastic though dontcha think? So congratulations ladies! I will contact you with the details.

Thank you all so much for your feedback, it really is very helpful, because I mostly have no idea what I am doing with this website stuff, and the whole process of making a purchase seemed a bit confusing to me. But I have been making a few sales and not had any problems so far. The only problem is that I have to keep changing my USD etsy prices to match up with my AUD website prices which is a constant headache due to the fluctuating currency. I cannot work out why etsy still does not have the option of listing in currencies other than USD, it would make life so much easier.

P.S. Is that little ad thing I just put up on the right annoying? I generally find flashing ads irritating but it was the best way I could think of to visually explain the interchangeableness (?) of the bags.

glorydaze.com.au

2008-09-25T15:51:00.000+10:00

My very own website is officially open with some brand new bag designs, that I am really exited about. They are my usual messenger style but have removable panels on the front, which can be swapped and changed whenever you like. Because of this option, and the ability to choose your own fabric, I had trouble setting it up as shopper friendly as possible, and my limited knowledge of web design and computery stuff did not really help much. As an opening celebration I am giving away a $20 gift voucher to one person who wants to have a quick look and leave a comment here on my blog telling me what you think -good and bad. (If you tell me it is rubbish you are not less likely to win, I would love a critical opinion) and I will randomly select someone next week sometime. Actually you know what? I am going to make it 2 winners! That's 2 x $20 gift vouchers -redeemable at glorydaze.com.au! That doubles your chances, and considering my lack of blog posts lately and minuscule amount of readers, you pretty much have it in the bag, right? So off you go... have a look... and tell me what you think... please?

P.S. Giveaway open to international readers as well.

New fabrics

2008-09-19T12:10:00.001+10:00

Just received my first 2 printed designs from spoonflower. I am so happy that this service now exists and am really happy with the quality, not sure about my designs though, I would really love some feedback from fresh eyes, because I get sick of looking at things after about 5 minutes and almost always end up hating everything I make.

Spare Time

2008-08-26T21:20:00.000+10:00

I had 3.2 minutes to spare today so in between a million other things I literally ran into my-favourite-place-that-smells-like-cheese-feet-and-cat-pee, and emerged (skipping, bag swinging, and happy face on) with these lovelies. I even found matching best friends for them all. HOORAAAH!

The Comfy Spot

2008-08-24T14:59:00.000+10:00

Heading off to bed after working till 2am, I find this. Winnie loves this bean bag and will get on it and walk around in circles for up 10 minutes before she finds the comfy spot. It can be quite annoying because it makes a lot of noise.

Well tonight she circled the guts out of it! But why let beanbag guts get in the way of the comfy spot right? I have never enjoyed cleaning something up at 2am less in my life (and I tell you there have been many things), especially when those evil little balls go all static and do the exact opposite to what I am trying to make them do.

Faces in Places

2008-08-14T13:06:00.001+10:00

I have joined the Faces in Places flickr pool. I see faces everywhere and now feel better knowing that maybe I am not the only one chatting to electrical sockets and parking meters after all.

1. The Face, 2. Smiley monitor stand, 3. Alien planter, 4. Che sonno :-O, 5. just keeping cool, 6. Now THAT is a Happy Birthday cake!, 7. Smiling Alien, 8. IMGP9802, 9. tile smile

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

New Shop

2008-07-25T02:07:00.000+10:00

I have opened up another etsy shop. Please come and have a look and let me know what you think.

Stocktake Time Again

2008-07-13T15:56:00.000+10:00

On My Desk...

2008-07-01T23:34:00.000+10:00

Little guy is what is on my desk today, watching a bit of "thomas tanky" on the computer while I sit behind him and sew. I swear he would sit there all day if I let him he loves that chair and this is the only table it will fit on.

and this is what is beside us on my cutting bench today... middle size girl.

This is the smallest room in the house, but it is where we are all hanging out today.

Here is a list of everyone else who is playing On My Desk

Comment here if you want to join in.

The Game

2008-06-08T16:52:00.000+10:00

1. Flying Megan......, 2. Single Egg Shadow, 3. poor ned better off dead, 4. Olive, 5. red shoes 5, 6. Gin Lemon. On The Rocks., 7. europe_bruno_h, 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. Rockstar, 10. The Finger Family, 11. Explosion, 12. Siblings, Star Gallery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Here are the rules if you want to play too:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

P.S. I wanted it to come out sort of cryptic so you wouldn't actually know what my answers were, but all the image titles pretty much give it away.

Just so you know I did not use the word 'explosion' to describe myself. I am anything but!

Bonus points if you can work out who my celebrity crush is.

This is...

2008-06-01T22:53:00.000+10:00

Have not really been doing the this is meme for a while, mostly because I am lazy, but this one was just too easy, so the theme this week from Kyla is your pet. Well here she is...

Winnie, otherwise known as Wiener, Ween, Wayne, Bom-been, and Winston. Loves a good party and is middle size girl's best friend.

stud on a bed of grapes... and other lovely things

2008-05-20T22:03:00.000+10:00

1. Call me, 2. Jack, 3. Concerto, 4. Stripes, 5. Wanted, 6. 7up bag, 7. Bottles, 8. belinda-in-the-green-room, 9. Yellow Sea

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

win win situation

2008-05-15T21:45:00.000+10:00

I went a bit over the top with my very first giveaway and decided that everyone who commented was a winner! There are a couple of people that I have not heard back from yet. So if you have not already, please leave me your details so I can send them out. Looking at those photos now I realise that the colours are nothing at all like they are in real life. i took them in the middle of the night and besides the fact that it was dark, my eyes were probably only open about 15% and I did not see the bad photography at the time. Anyway I hope you all like them!

Now here are some beauties I scored today whilst pushing a pram around the local oppy singing the alphabet rap in my best Elmo voice to keep little guy happy...

I have been looking for some of these 70's net curtains for a while now (I have plans) and was very exited to find them just as I was leaving (this is when I realised that singing the alphabet rap in public is SO worth it) and they are even in my 2 favourite colours! I don't know if they actually have a name, but I had these beside my bed as a kid and I used to love weaving my fingers through the holes and they reminded me of lots of little cheese burgers so I have always called them burger curtains.

two each of these pillowcases...

a gorgeous green coloured tablecloth...
some nice thick fabrics for making some winter-y bags...
and some lov-er-ly John Kaldor fabric which looks much nicer in real life.
One of elmo's very good friends singing the alphabet with the cutest little girl who is probably almost 40 now. I just love the ending...

card giveaway

2008-05-04T19:40:00.000+10:00

I have just printed out some of my designs (old and new) onto cards and will be putting some in my shop soon. But I thought I might do a little giveaway as I have never done one before, all I ask in return is your opinion. I will put together a few little packs of mixed designs and colours, I don't know how many I will include and I don't know how many packs I will give away I will think about those numbers later. So just leave a comment and I will randomly pick out the winners in the next couple of days.

aprons

2008-05-01T22:37:00.000+10:00

Please don't tell my cool friends that I have a collection of aprons.

It seems aprons have been around a lot longer than I thought...
from the Bible "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons"
I never knew the story involved naked people sewing aprons, how interesting. Maybe I should have listened more in R.I.

-please don't tell my cool friends that I am quoting the bible.

moving out.

2008-04-29T20:57:00.000+10:00

Well it was time to say goodbye to some friends today. I sold the last of my furry guys. The last few have been patiently waiting on the top shelf (out of little guys view) to be adopted and given a new home (and voice).

I will be making more ~~when~~ if I get a chance. Any suggestions for a better name for them? I did not put much thought into 'furry guys' and it seems a bit boring to me.

I ♥ Orange

2008-04-24T23:49:00.001+10:00

1. Maracas on the wall, 2. Orange clutch detail - handmade by kara, 3. Tea Party, 4. S O S, 5. Doggie, 6. Where to park, 7. Untitled, 8. brick house, 9. Flowers in a green field, 10. Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle, 11. Influx Pencil, 12. Orange fungus, 13. Flamingo, 14. COLORBOMB 'Eco-Groovy' closeup, 15. koosh, 16. DEC orange flower closeup blue sky

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Oops

2008-04-16T09:09:00.000+10:00

OK I am going to pretend that didn't happen (43days since last post), well I don't actually know what happened, I just stopped having things to blog about. Actually I still don't have anything to blog about but I will attempt a 'this is' post even though I am way late and have missed about a hundred of them. The theme is '6 people you would invite to a dinner party'. Well first of all I am quite shy and unable to make any conversation beyond 'Hi', 'yes and no', 'oh really?', and a nervous giggle, with anyone besides my family and friends. So if I did invite people I admire and look up to I would probably lock myself in the bathroom and have an anxiety attack. So anyway because I am not into the whole having conversations bizo, I am going to choose people that I would just like to look at... I don't think individual explanations are necessary oh except the nana, she is only there to make the tea (not for my visual pleasure) and she would be asked politely to wear something more appropriate as it isn't that sort of dinner party...

Visit three buttons to see who else is playing.
Theme chosen by lily and agathe
Pictures from 'Bad Hair' bloomsbury,com

This is...

2008-03-11T13:07:00.000+11:00

Looking out my front door...

Unattractive brick wall about to collapse any day, firewood from last winter with crazy-fast-growing rose creeper thingys growing through it, weeds everywhere, carport, and car (I do love how it is only two steps from the car to the front door (very convenient when you have to make 7 trips back and forth with kids and shopping).

I thought I would also add: 'Looking AT my front door' because it is a much nicer picture. I scored this screen door on ebay after searching for over a year to find a descent second hand one that fit, and I love this mosaic number plaque I bought on Oztion a couple of years ago (hmm is giving out half of my address to the whole world a bad idea? probably. oh well)

Thanks Brooke (boobook sausage dog) !

Scored big time today!

2008-02-29T15:39:00.000+11:00

Particularly in the tableware department...

My mosaic thingy is a bit small so here are some full size pictures of my favourites. A very cute winking owl tea towel. Fantastic linen placemats x 4 with a retro cat print on them. And the last one is actually an ebay purchase, there are 5 of those fabric squares.

Nanny won't let me say "chap" she says it's vulgar.

2008-02-26T18:00:00.000+11:00

I was sick all last week so was planning on having a quiet weekend with a lot of couch, TV and reading action (or whatever the opposite to action is), but it didn't quite turn out that way. I don't know who came into my room while I was sleeping and injected me with the knowledge of how to make one, but I woke up Saturday morning with an overwhelming urge to create a puppet. Now I have never made a soft toy of any description, not even those sausage-snake things you make in textiles class at high school. Nope. Not me. Bags and purses and a couple of blankets is pretty much all I have in my repertoire. I love all the softies and things I see other people make, but words like small, fiddly, hand sewing, and stuffing all sort of turn me off the idea of ever doing it myself. Anyway I woke up Saturday morning and MAN I was on a mission. You know when a thousand ideas pop into your head at once and it's almost too much to bear. Before I even had breakfast I started sketching out pattern ideas. Anyway the rest of the weekend is a bit of a blur. There was frantic cutting, sewing, unpicking, frustrations, injuries, squeals of joy, and even a few casualties, but this is what I ended up with...

I am so in love with them (so are the kids) and I can't wait to make more. I have just put them up in my shop, but I won't be terribly upset if you don't buy them, because I am already very attached.

I have a feeling my inspiration may have subconsciously come from this book I read a million times as a kid (as you can tell by the condition it is in). I have no idea where I got it from but it was very old fashioned even back then. I remember the idea of toys being alive was so exiting. It is about a little girl and the many adventures she has with her beloved Teddy hand puppet and his "very cross sort of wife" who hits him on the head rather hard whilst making him clean up the cigarette ash he leaves about.

'Even Daddy says when he is speaking about Teddy, "yes he is a fine chap." Nanny won't let me say "chap"; she says it's vulgar. '

This is...

2008-02-26T15:20:00.000+11:00

Hmmm... late again and no posts in between, I am getting very slack.

When I heard that Jhoanna had choosen this weeks 'This is' theme as "Me Taking A Picture of Myself In the Mirror With My Favourite Accessory” I went - "eeurghh" But then I thought about the fact that the light in our bathroom is terrible (flattering tungsten glow) and flashes don't work so well in front of mirrors (flattering blur), then I decided I might be willing to post a mug shot.

So I have tried to distract your eyes with the fancy mirror and unfinished bathroom walls, because my eyes are: 3 and a half hours sleep last night and hair is: too tired to do today so will just stick a biro in it. But anyway now that I have cancelled out the distractions I created by pointing out what I was trying to distract you from I will get to the important bit... the beads. Op shop. 60 cents. Everyone has told me they are ugly. I have barely taken them off since I purchased them.

This is...

2008-02-19T10:38:00.000+11:00

what makes me laugh out loud...

Letters that the toothfairy has extreme difficulty in answering...

and stories that are not so much funny ha-ha, but more funny uh-oh.

My first bit of Stig

2008-02-12T15:15:00.000+11:00

Found some goodies today...

Mushroom Pot
Mushroom oven mitt
Two handy ceramic dishes
AWESOME beads
and one FANTASTIC breakfast tray!

This AMAZING Stig Lindberg dish ($1.99) Which is my most favouritest find in a long time. I love love love his work! ($1.99!)

and lastly these two ugly but cute oil and vinegar bottles.

This is...

2008-02-10T22:32:00.000+11:00

My Sunday Lunch...

No trendy cafe, no slowly grilled blah blah, no sprinkles of la-de-da, just vegemite toast. Yum.
(with 1 piece missing - couldn't wait!)

*although how I do love a bit of blah blah and la-de-da. Just not today.

This is...

2008-02-08T14:11:00.000+11:00

Well so much for being back. I guess I am not quite back into the blogging groove yet. It has already been two weeks since my last post. I don't know how all you people find so much to write about. I really do struggle. I am quite a shy person and don't have much to say at the best of times (if any of you ever do meet me in person, be prepared for the embarassing awkwardness I will create trying to make small talk) so coming up with interesting things to say to a bunch of strangers can be a challenge. So I have decided that themed blogging is the way to go. I am going to join in on the 'This is..." themed post which is meant to be on Sundays, but I am not good with schedules so I am doing mine today.
Leah has suggested this weeks theme- This is... 'my collection' and here is mine...

It is an accidental collection. If they weren't all empty and sitting in a pile under the stairs I guess it wouldn't really be a collection because they would be spread out on my walls nicely blending in with the rest of the 'collected' stuff in my house. I have pleanty of beautiful photos and art prints to go in them, but I am way more enthusiastic about buying the frames and pictures than I am about drilling holes into our hideous cement brick walls and spending too many hours trying to get the arrangement right.

Visit three buttons to see her blog roll of everyone who is playing this game.

*Note the picture in the background painted by my daughter and blu tacked onto the wall!

I am back,

2008-01-24T12:35:00.000+11:00

well kinda, my 2008 doesn't officially start until Tuesday when kids are back at school/creche. I was not planning to have this much time away from blog world, it just sort of happened. I have been meaning to post all week but I suddenly became afraid that because I hadn't posted for so long, I had to do some fantastic-super-dooper-mind-blowing post as if there was some sort of big 'welcome back to blogland party' organised for me and all these people were patiently waiting for my return. Anyway I quickly decided that was ridiculous and I hope all 3 of you enjoy my not-very-fantastic-at-all post.

First I will show you these great fabrics and very cute tea towel ("he-he there is a bird sitting on her boob" giggles middle size girl) I found on my first trip to the op shop for 2008 (colour co-ordinated as usual)...

Now here are some pics of our trip to Ocean Grove where the little guy decided he was over the crawling caper and decided to give walking a go. It was hard work keeping an eye on a young man who has just discovered that he can go three times as fast as he used to. I never realised those walls at home were so handy.

So that's enough for now.

Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!

Like Totally Cool Party! Seriously!

2007-12-18T11:41:00.000+11:00

Middle size girl's birthday was also a huge hit. At the moment it is all about cartwheels and handstands, so we booked out a gymnastics club and a coach for a couple of hours and the girls LOVED it! Especially the foam pit, I was tempted to jump in there myself it looked like so much fun, but 10 year old girls are easily embarrassed and she probably would have like totally died, seriously, so I refrained. The coach even did a floor routine for them which involved all sorts of flips and fancy tumbles in the air, which they were extremely impressed with. All 10 girls came back for a sleepover which was more like a hangout-over because there was not much sleep going on at all. However listening in on their conversations had my sister and I in absolute stitches. There was discussion (and a bit of confusion) about the difference between concussion and constipation. There was a couple of weddings in the cupboard and the divorces took place in the bathroom, someone announced they couldn't get married because they were pregnant and desperate (?) and there was also lots of discussion and giggles about those 'Stayfree things'. Words like totally, seriously, awesome and ya know were used in almost every sentence and mostly came after the word like. It was all so very entertaining.

This is the last few orders from the bag party I did a couple of weeks ago. It feels so good to have them all finished. Now... Christmas shopping, Christmas breakfast at our place, New Years Eve party at our place, trip to the country in between, and then camping for a week at the start of Jan... I am really looking forward to the middle of January.

One down one to go...

2007-12-12T10:28:00.000+11:00

The little guys 1st birthday on the weekend was a hit. Beautiful sunny day at the gardens, delish green racing car cake made by my wonderful cousin, cookies and cupcakes, banana... I mean booonana bread, zucchini slice, focaccias, fairy bread, piles of presents and some new wheels from Poppy for the little hoon.
Stay tuned for middle size girls 10th birthday update next week.

OK must go I have a million bags to be finished by Friday morning.

The Elf Dance

2007-12-07T00:00:00.000+11:00

I nearly wet my pants watching this...OK, this is terribly humiliating but I feel it needs to be shared... to see me and my family of elves doing a wonderful dance in the snow go here

This is going to be our Christmas card to everyone that has email this year. Wohoo! No stamps, writing, licking envelopes, lame Santa pictures (well I guess dancing elves could be considered lame) and it does not cost a single cent -something that we are running a bit low on this year.

Thrift color theme.

2007-12-05T11:39:00.000+11:00

I don't know how or why this always happens to me, but my op shop hauls are always co-ordinated! The snail is a jigsaw thing for the little guy, I just love wooden toys. And that retro melamine avocado green bowl is awesome and will look fantastic sitting on top of the huge green floral table cloth on the left. Very pleased with myself today.

Nong Love & Pay it forward

2007-12-01T09:51:00.000+11:00

I do love surprises -happy ones not scary ones- so I have decided to participate in this pay-it-forward thingy that I have been reading about on so many blogs. I put my hand up on Hyena in Petticoats blog and I have already received my gift *wohoo* before I have even posted about it! I did buy some awesome fabric from her etsy store, so she put it in with that, but I was not expecting it so soon. THANKS LEAH! I was secretly hoping it would be a Nong coz I have been eying them off for ages, so when I opened the parcel and saw those big brown eyes and wonky legs I did a bit of a happy dance! Nong was very tired from his long interstate journey so he went down for a nap with his new friend. Nongs name is temporarily changed to doggin (as well as our cat's and dog's and anything else that has a face and is not human) because the little guys vocabulary only consists of 3 words at the moment -'doggin' -animals, 'daddin' -humans, and 'nana' ladies with short hair and glasses. So Doggin has made himself very much at home.

So anyway this is how the game works...

The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me, sometime within the next 365 days. Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be, but rest assured, it will arrive. All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog, and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers. Easy Peasy.

If you want to let me know colors you like/don't like that would be very helpful.

Please come to the party...

Cookies Cake and Creativity.

2007-11-29T11:54:00.000+11:00

Cookies, cake and super-dooper-extra-large-nana-birthday-cookie were all made by my incredibly talented nine year old daughter/baker. Little guy is very impressed by his big sisters cooking abilities as am I. I just love that she enjoys cooking so much, not only for the obvious benefits, but also because it helps her explore her creative side as you can see by the decorations. She will spend ages getting it exactly how she wants it.
She has a very strong creative desire which I encourage as much as I can. I believe that kids are not stimulated creatively as much as they should be. I always encourage her to hand write her homework assignments and draw the pictures as opposed to typing it up on the computer with lame clip art pictures (which apparently is not discouraged at school). She also loves to draw and spends hours in her room developing her skills, which makes me very happy because although we are all born with creativity it is something that requires practice, patience and determination to flourish and is not something that we either have or don't have. Some people just have more desire to use it. Read Lara's post on this topic and the comments as well. It is very interesting.

Oh... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

Fishies

2007-11-23T10:08:00.000+11:00

Playing with some new pattern designs. What do you think? Stay tuned to find out what will become of these...

New Stuff

2007-11-21T09:25:00.000+11:00

New clutches added to my store

Flashback Friday

2007-11-16T12:18:00.001+11:00

Theme this week is TRAVEL BUG.
My favourite mode of transport in 1983

My sister pulling me and my best friend with her little tricycle. We would do laps of the court where my Dad lives all day long and it seemed so huge back then. I remember laying in bed at night trying to go to sleep and my legs still felt like they were skating. I am not really dressed in great skating attire, but we were at Dad's and I was probably dressed up for the Sunday morning photo and I think that top photo is actually one of them.

Miss me?

2007-11-16T10:01:00.000+11:00

I doubt it, but anyway... I am back now, but with more visually unpleasing posts again because my camera has DIED. I am devastated and do not want to talk about it.
I am beginning to think I have unknowingly done something terrible to someone with special powers recently and they have placed a curse on my little house and all my belongings. Here is a short overview of cursed goods:
1. Camera: dead
2. Printer: dead
3. Sewing Machine: in critical condition, requires major surgery.
4. Microwave: digital display dead.
5. Dishwasher: dial thingy not working, have to manually turn every couple of minutes (what? no I will not do them by hand!)
6. Washing machine: overflows on every second load if I forget to turn the taps off because I am sitting beside the dishwasher turning dial.
7. New Carpet: big fat unidentified stain in middle of lounge, which refuses to budge (probably not cursed as middle sized girl is acting very suspicious)
8. Little Guy: Broken. Making lots of loud noises, refusing to sleep and leaving trail of slime on everything he touches.
** Warning: more complaining to follow...
Also husband is working long hours, so I have been running the house single mother style with very little assistance from him. Everyone in my family has a birthday within a 2 month time frame over Christmas. (by 'everyone' I mean Husband, Son, Daughter, Mother, Brother). I have 2 important age birthday parties to organise- middle size girl is turning 10 on Dec 20 and little Guy is 1 on Dec 10. I also decided that this would be a perfect time for getting back into the bag parties which I haven't done for over a year, and had a very successful one last night and now have 27 bag orders to fill in a couple of weeks. Last but not least the 2 days of hell I used to have at the end of every month up until I fell pregnant last year are back with a vengeance.

Phew, I feel better now.
Thankyou

**************************

Oh I missed last weeks Flashback Friday 'All in the family' and I don't have many family pics as we were one of those messy broken up families with steps, halves and ring ins who were never all together at once. But I decided to post the matching Dad photo of the 'My stylish Mum' theme from a couple of weeks ago instead. I'm pretty sure there was a bit more of a beer belly than there appears to be. Trick photography I think.

Flashback Friday

2007-11-05T12:49:00.001+11:00

My stylish Mum.
Oh dear!

Eggs

2007-10-31T12:01:00.001+11:00

Yuuuuuummmmm!
1. Poached Egg, 2. Eggs, 3. Glamour Chook, 4. Hen, 5. Soft Boiled Egg with Toast Fingers (Homemade Whole Wheat Bread), 6. company, 7. Easter Eggs (Boiled), 8. Yellow Eggs, 9. Poached eggs on toast - YUM!

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Flashback Friday

2007-10-28T12:53:00.001+11:00

Theme for this weeks Flashback Friday is 'Favourite toy/activity'.
The first pic is me with my tea set. I used to love having tea parties (and still do). Yucky brown curtains and carpet are questionable but my bedspread and hoodie are awesome!

This one is me and Dobby the Donkey. He was meant to be a gift from me to my younger brother who we lost to SIDS when I was 3. I became very attached to Dobby. He had bendy ears and a furry tail which I used to rub on my face to go sleep. He now belongs to my daughter who did the exact same thing.

I also had an imaginary friend named Boy after my brother died. He went everywhere with me until I started school. Boy was very naughty and was always doing things he wasn't supposed to, but I knew Mum always or thought it was me. Poor Boy was also very tough and received many injuries from my Mum shutting the car door on him or running over him with the supermarket trolley. That made me very angry.

Knit Graffiti

2007-10-25T10:22:00.000+10:00

What do you get when you mix grandma behaviour and gangsta culture? Well, you might get that fantastic rap scene in The Wedding Singer, or you might get knit graffiti...

(taken from THE AGE)

I was reading about this the other day and I think it is a brilliant idea!

Visually unpleasing

2007-10-22T12:50:00.000+10:00

This is my first post without a picture. For some reason the blogger uploader thingy has not been working. Very annoying. But once it is fixed I will be going blog crazy for about a week because my pile of pictures of stuff that I want to post is growing fast. I have been getting a fair bit of sewing in lately and will be updating the shop with lots of goodies this week. It feels good to finally get some of the things that have been sitting in my head for so long to fruition, making room for more ideas (I do have limited space in there). Anyway thats enough of not much at all. Bye.

2007-10-16T22:04:00.000+10:00

My computer completely died last Thursday. I knew it was coming. Besides the many errors freezes and random shut downs, every time I turned it on I thought a helicopter was landing on my roof. Well eventually the helicopter crashed. No fatalities, but there was two whole days with no computer. At first I was terrified at the thought, but eventually realised that it was actually quite liberating, and by Sunday all the floors were clean, no washing left to be done, I had reorganised my work area and my kids and husband were sick to death of me pestering them. So I have officially declared Saturday and Sunday computer free days for me, because I love pestering my family. Well maybe just email checking and a quick look at my bloglines, but that's it, I swear.

Oh this is some of the other stuff I got done in my free time... in my shop now...
Hmm... uploader not working properly will try to load more photos later.

Mosaic Monday

2007-10-08T19:50:00.000+10:00

Oh the humiliation...

.
1. King Kitty, 2. It's My Party N' I'll Cry If I Want To!, 3. DSC_0005, 4. IMG_13972, 5. The hypnotic eyes of the monsta, 6. Fafa Noel or The Grinch?, 7. DSC_7029, 8. RRRRRrrribbet, 9. They all had to take a turn, 10. DOBSON TURNING INTO A PUMPKIN - HPIM0002, 11. Father Christmas cat, 12. ginji_cosplay, 13. ginji_cosplay, 14. Buchow - the watermelon cat, 15. Oh ya! I feel pretty...., 16. This'll cost ya!

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Thrift Goodness

2007-10-06T17:08:00.000+10:00

Just when I had come to the conclusion that there was a secret op shop gang that is going around rumaging through the donation bins collecting all the good stuff before it is sorted out and put onto the shelves, I come across this great little bundle of treasures. And yet again they are all color co ordinbated -perfect for the Thrifty color theme flickr group

Things for the little guy

2007-10-05T17:09:00.000+10:00

I made this quilt last week. Well I guess I shouldn't really call it a quilt when I didn't actually do any "quilting", it is more like a patchwork blanket. I am terribly impatient which is probably not a very common trait in the crafting world. But if it takes more than one sitting for me to finish, I will get bored of it and move onto other things, which I will also get bored with and move on again. Generally the cycle is approximately four new projects before going back to the original. This is why I prefer to make things that I can finish the same day that I start.

This took me a couple of hours one night when everyone else was in bed. I have my own very uncomplicated technique. I cut up large strips of each fabric and lay them on my lap, then cut the desired length of each piece as I go. I call it the cut-sew-cut-sew-method. There is no need to match up corners and I don't even use pins *gasp*. Once the patchwork part is finished I attach it to the pre-quilted cotton/wadding you can get from Spotlight, then sew the strips along the sides to finish it off. Although I do like to get things done quickly (I once asked my husband what one word he would choose to describe me, and he answered, Efficient), I am also a perfectionist and if something is even slightly wonky or not right I will spend the extra time to fix it (whilst sighing and growling to myself that I could have finished two rows by now if I didn't stuff this bit up!). Anyway now you all know that I am a big fat Cheater-Marita.

I got the car fabric which I love from superbuzzy and the dark red is a beautiful velvet fabric I cut out of a old cushion cover, everything else is just bits I had in my stash which just happened to match perfectly.

Flashback Friday

2007-10-02T13:37:00.001+10:00

...or Tuesday. I am a bit late this week, but I am posting two pics to make up for it. The first one is of me feeding the chookins. As you can tell by my expression I loved the chookins! And how groovy is my little sleeveless shirt-dress, they are some big lapels for a two year old! The next one is of me and tinkerbell. Our very tolerant cat who lived to the ripe old age of 16. My Dad used to pretend to run her over in the driveway and hated 'the stupid cat'. But no one was more devastated than him when she died.

1977
1979

Shhh... the birds can see you from my desk

2007-09-27T13:32:00.000+10:00

Inspired by these two posts, here is a little glimpse into my world. This is my best friend and at times worst enemy. She has on her lap a rather large pile of unfinished pouches which she is just dying to get her little needle through. My production rate lately is something like one per fortnight, so we don't spend as much time together as we used to, but she understands the demands of teething, clingy babies as she has two of her own (see bottom photo). However hers can be quietly tucked away on the bottom shelf, unlike mine.

Hmm that's better.

2007-09-26T23:12:00.000+10:00

My second post for today. For no other reason than to not frighten you away with that scary creature photo I posted earlier.

I bought this bookcase from the Salvo's yesterday for $8.

It fits perfectly on top of another bookcase crammed with fabric, with 3cm to spare before it touches the ceiling. Would you believe I had all of this fabric just piled up like a mountain in this same spot, no color co ordination what so ever. It really was driving me insane. (I should have taken a before shot, but was so exited to get rid of it once I returned from the salvo's I walked straight in and tipped it all on the floor. Now this is not as neat as other fabric storage areas I have seen, but this is about as much order and color co ordination as I have the patience to organise, especially knowing that it will only look like this for a week or so.

Name a Possum

2007-09-26T10:35:00.001+10:00

Just when I was thinking 'Gee we really could do with another rodent in this house' this little fellow turns up. I asked middle sized girl to run out to the yard to pick some grass for the annoying little eating/pooing machines that she already owns (rabbit -Izzy and guinea pig -Wendy -formerly known as Wench when she was owned by an adult) that I am getting tired of reminding her to feed, clean, and give attention to, and she comes running inside screaming that she nearly stepped on a rat. Upon inspection I find this little guy all cold and wet but still alive under the ivy tree (dead palm tree that has been overgrown with ivy) which has been home to a friendly ring tail possum since we moved here (which there is now no sign of). So we brought him inside to warm him up and make him all better.
So with some help from my sister who is a vet nurse and registered carer, we have adopted him until he is ready for release. He does require feeding of possum milk replacement about every 4 hours, so it is quite a commitment to take on, but I haven't had more than four hours sleep for at least 9 months anyway, and that doesn't look like changing anytime soon, so I may as well. He doesn't have a name yet, so any suggestions would be much appreciated, before my daughter comes up with something ridiculously long like a white dove we once adopted that we all had to call Lovely-Princess-Beautiful.

Flashback Friday

2007-09-21T10:42:00.000+10:00

Theme this week for flashback friday is... What your Mum did to your hair.

Here it is 1982 I think...

Well it wasn't actually my mum, it was my dad. My hair only looked like this every second weekend. My parents seperated when I was young so my sister and I came down to Melbourne from the country to visit dad. There are endless amounts of photos just like this one. It was a bit of a ritual at Dad's on Sunday morning before going home, Dad would do our hair all pretty, we would dress up nicely with our best plastic scateboard necklaces, stand in front of one of the two 'photo' trees in Dad's yard, and there would be one photo of me, one of my sister, and then one of us together. You can probably tell by the look on my face that we didn't find it very amusing.

What I did find amusing was this story that Dad only recently told me about doing our hair...

One Sunday we were running late and our hair hadn't dried yet after our pre-photo-sunday-morning-bath so Dad decided to use the hair dryer. We both had quite curly hair, so the result was something similar to the photo above. After seeing the two fuzzballs he had created, Dad went into a mad panic thinking that he had blow-dried our beautiful curls away forever! He said he was terrified to take us home to face a tongue lashing or even a severe beating from our mother who absolutely adored our curls. I can just imagine my Dad spending the 2 and a half hour journey trying to come up with an excuse as to why our curls had disapeared. If only Dad knew how delighted we would have been if you actually could get rid of them that easily.

Fabric

2007-09-17T11:55:00.000+10:00

Received this in the mail on Friday from Nuno+.
I love the shrooms!

Say Cheese!

2007-09-14T10:03:00.000+10:00

F lashback Friday.

Me, 1981

Put that thing away!

2007-09-13T09:48:00.000+10:00

The Little Guys new trick. Today everything starts with L!

Wooden Toy

2007-09-12T10:15:00.000+10:00

I received a back issue that I ordered of Wooden Toy magazine yesterday. Which, much to my delight, was hand delivered to me by the designers Mum! (who lives around the corner from me). It is essentially a skateboarding/street culture magazine which I don't really have a whole lot of interest in, but the design is awesome and there are some great artists featured in there like The Little Friends of Printmaking and Nate Williams (cover artist). And the history of Victorian Skateboarding was an interesting read too. Mum was gushing with pride as she told me how her son won 2007 designer of the year award last week and the mag also won the Best Print Media award for 2007. Both well deserved I say! Check it out here.

Above: Badges from Little Friends of Printmaking

Below: Best of Fall poster by Nate Williams, and one of his many great wallpapers available for download here

Flashback Friday

2007-09-07T12:44:00.000+10:00

Flashback Friday theme this week is Weddings/Formal/Sunday best. This is me at 2. 1977. I was the flower girl at my godparets wedding. I just love the purple velvet dress, it went very well with the grooms purple suit, but is a stark contrast to the hideous lino, I wish my mum kept it. Mum said I was perfectly behaved for the whole day... smiling on que, posing for all the photos, expressing the appropriate amount of cuteness required of a flower girl. It is a shame I couldn't manage that at my own wedding.

Facing My Fears

2007-08-30T14:03:00.000+10:00

I am feeling quite accomplished today. I have faced one of my biggest fears and am pleased with the result. For someone with 5 large bookcases and many boxes, bags and draws oozing with fabric goodness, it may seem a little strange that I have a huge fear of cutting up and actually using any of this fabric. Well maybe not that strange as it would explain why there is so much of it. Whenever I go to make something I pick up some of my favourite pieces and think about it for a minute, then put it back deciding to save it for when I want to make something really special. Which never actually happens.

So I returned home from a successful half hour spent at St Vinnie's the other day with a fresh pile of old musty fabric under my arm. Then after putting them in the wash and rearranging my shelves to make room for said fabric, I pulled out some gems that I had completely forgotten about. So instead of putting them back for when I might need them for something really special... I CUT THEM UP! It was not even that hard, the fabric did not scream in agony, I didn't make any huge mistakes and waste any, and best of all, I am very happy with what they became.

So what I have learnt is this... in a couple of months/years when I finally do make that something really special, as long as I keep spending half my life in op shops, on ebay and raiding old ladies linen closets, I will have plenty more fabric to use.

Flashback Friday

2007-08-24T09:57:00.001+10:00

Theme this week is T-shirt

I didn't have many t shirt pics, I was more of a pretty dresses girl, but I found this one of me and my sister up at the old church where we spent lots of summer holidays. For some reason we decided to dress up in our Mum's clothes on this day. I have a Royal Hotel Benalla t shirt on with the slogan 'the spot for a drop' which is where she used to work and my sister has the yellow one which implies that my Mum preferred women to be topless? Hmmm... I am not quite sure what sort of statement she was trying to make with that shirt. Judging by the angle the next photo was taken at, whoever had the camera was in fits of laughter at our antics. (notice the extremely safe contraption my baby brother is lying in on the right)

New Stuff

2007-08-23T14:58:00.000+10:00

I have just listed some new stuff in my shop... come see!

Flashback Friday

2007-08-17T01:27:00.001+10:00

Flashback Friday. Theme - Group Photo.

Here I am at the very beginning of my education. The first of many schools, teachers and friends. 1980.

Myspace? - Down with it.

2007-08-16T23:49:00.000+10:00

I am not sure why yet, but I have created a myspace page. I guess I thought I should check it out as my 9 year old keeps talking about it and is terribly upset that I won't let her have one until she is old enough. I am very frightened of her using the Internet. She was five when we first got it and one day while using a colouring page I had found on a kids site she came running out to me very distraught "There is a lady on the puta with a REEEALY BAD wedgie!!" So after closing down the wallpaper ad of a... well I wouldn't exactly call her a lady... in a G string bikini I made sure we had all the right firewalls/pop up blockers/antivirus software and blah blah blah. There was also a close call when she was doing a search for a Pussy Cat Dolls song (as if their films clips aren't bad enough) too so I am still not entirely comfortable with letting her roam free on the net. I am hoping that by the time she is a teenager I will be somewhat 'down with it' when it comes to this stuff.

So anyway if you have my space page please be my friend!

I think the fact that I used the word somewhat followed by 'down with it' confirms that I am definately not 'down with it'.

Note to self regarding the upcoming parenting of a teenager: Try very hard not to try too hard.

Flashback Friday

2007-08-09T12:30:00.000+10:00

The theme for Flashback Friday this week is fancy dress. That is me -the traffic light, and my best friend Kellie -Old Mother Hubbard. It was the last day of kinder and although Kellie now lives in Ireland, we are still great friends and we often laugh about this day.
I thought I might also share a fancy dress disaster that has scarred me for life which I do not really want to relive -but I will anyway for your amusement. (if there ever was photos I would have destroyed them long ago).
On the cold, wintry morning of the book week parade in 1981, after forgetting to organise my costume my mother somehow came up with this brilliant idea. She dressed me in a brown skivvy tucked into brown wool stockings, with brown roman sandals and told me to hop in the car. "But I am not dressed properly" I said "We will get something on the way" she replied. After stopping at the newsagents she gets back to the car with some brown crepe paper and proceeds to roll me up in it, and creates a lovely sticky tape belt to hold me together, finally putting a row of those colored circle stickers down my belly. WA-LA! Can you guess who I was? I will give you a clue, I was hoping to be eaten by a fox before I got to school.
Anyway there is more... whilst parading around the basket ball courts behind Cinderella and in front of The Cat in The Hat, with parents and teachers cheering on the side, it starts to rain. Not enough to stop the parade and run for cover, but enough to disintegrate crepe paper. Me being extremely shy and too scared to ask for help I keep on parading, leaving a trail of brown blobs behind me. Eventually the other children's giggles get too much for me and I run for the toilets (run run as fast as you can...) covered in brown dye and desperately trying to cover myself with the shreds of paper dangling from my sticky tape belt. Mrs Hogan came to my rescue and I spent the rest of the day in one of the spare school dresses the school has for occasions like this, and I never let my mum dress me up again.

2007-08-04T10:26:00.000+10:00

The best invention of this decade... CRUMPET TOAST! and this guy totally agrees...

:(

2007-08-02T11:58:00.000+10:00

I have not touched the computer for 3 whole days, and not posted on my blog for 8, and I am only doing it now because I woke up in the middle of the night terrified that the 2 or 3 people that actually read this will give up on me and never come back to visit again. So even though I can hardly breath, I sound like I should be operating a phone sex line, and every letter I type sends shock waves to my head which is threatening to explode at any minute, here I am. But I will not complain too much because I find winging sick people irritating, and I am sure you do to. So here are my op shop finds I was talking about last week.

I also received the UK version of 'The Dangerous Book For Boys' which I ordered from amazon a few weeks ago for a fathers day present, only to find out that an Australian version is coming out next week. GRRRR!

Thanks!

2007-07-25T22:28:00.000+10:00

Oh Gosh, I forgot to say thank you to skinny laminx for doing a post about me here. So Thankyou! It made me very happy that someone so talented would write about little 'ol me.

Did I just say Oh Gosh?

Punch-on in the kitchen department.

2007-07-25T00:02:00.000+10:00

My little sister recently sold everything she owned in a garage sale and moved from Darwin back down to Melbourne (Hooray!) and the other day she asked me to take her op-shopping for household goods "because you are so great at finding good stuff" were her exact words. Well it seems she was right, however what she didn't realise was that I am not too good at sharing the love when it comes to finding good stuff. I handed her the cute bird print glass bowl with gritted teeth, my hand was shaking when I pointed out the black and white leaf print dinner set. And the bright orange casserole dish that would have gone perfectly in my kitchen was unhappily handed over. But when I secretly tucked the wooden pepper grinder under my arm it did not go unnoticed I can tell you. "I have been looking for one of these for ages" I pleaded "NO! one day is all I ask. We came here to find stuff for me, the poor one, with not even a single spoon to her name. Your kitchen cupboards are oozing with stuff, in fact I think you have 3 salt and pepper sets don't you?" "Yes but I looooove this...." and the sisterly bickering continued for about 5 minutes and she won (she always does), and we continued browsing (me with sulky face). Then she found a Figgjo Lotte serving Plate exactly like this one, and when I told her how much more than the $4 price tag it was worth she was very exited and I was allowed to get a basket and pick something for myself (yay).

Anyway this is what I got. All matching of course. We had an extremely successful day, and I really am happy for her and her finds, she did an exceptional job for a beginner, especially the plate, but I don't think it would be safe for us to be going together again. I will post more pics tomorrow because batteries went flat before I could finish taking photos.

P.S. We did a search on the plate when we got home and the exact same one just sold on ebay for $150

More I want...

2007-07-13T23:43:00.000+10:00

I am always amazed when something so brilliant comes from the simplest of ideas.

Livingstones by smarin design.

These are actually cushions and can also be made for outdoors. I love them! I want them!

Attention Bloggers...

2007-07-13T00:20:00.000+10:00

I request the help of my fellow blogger's... Can you please postpone all blog entries for about a week or so? This would be extremely helpful in letting me use my very limited spare time to actually get something done! If you feel you do need to post then please leave out any interesting links you were thinking of including and please, not more than a paragraph or two of writing. Maybe just a few nice pictures to look at. Also if it is not too much to ask, please delete that annoying list of your favourite blogs because I really don't need to see them, my blog lines list is big enough already, I do not need any more recommendations!
I would also appreciate you keeping your comments to yourself (besides my blog of course). You might think it's OK to let someone know that you enjoyed their post, but I feel compelled to find out who would leave such a comment and what they themselves would post about and also, what others would say about their post and what they post about and what are their favourite blog's... you get the picture.
So your co-operation in this matter would be very much appreciated. My children are hungry, we have dirty clothes piling up, and my husband forgot my name today, so I just need a little time back in reality to tie up a few things and then we can all resume our usual behaviour.
Thank you.

I want

2007-07-12T16:31:00.000+10:00

I want these fabrics...

Available at Duckcloth.

Thrifty theme

2007-07-09T23:46:00.000+10:00

It was a complete fluke that my latest op shop finds all co ordinated so well. There is even a flickr group for this that I must join one day because this happens to me quite a lotThe picture turned out surpisingly well considering it is actually a scan of the fabric.
My camera is at my brother in-laws house after I broke my brain last weekend at my sister in-law's 30th birthday party and forgot to pick it up (camera, not brain) on the way out to the taxi at 5.30am - of course I did remember to take my glass of wine with me though. Who knows what photos I will be confronted with when I get it back, but it's more than likely I won't be posting them.
Tim's family really know how to party. I have had the "I-luuuuve-yoooo, we-are-sooo-appy-to-ave yooooo-in-the-fam-ly" talk with all 8 of his siblings at one time or another. Anyway we certainly made the most of our childless night out, but paid dearly for it the next day.

Out of fashion

2007-07-06T00:37:00.000+10:00

(Hmm... I quite liked how the colors of the picture in my last post went so well with my header)
Anyway I am really feeling like a Mother today. Partly due to the little guy deciding that sleeping at night time is way over rated, and daytime for that matter. But mostly due to a conversation with the middle sized girl that went along the lines of:
"What do you think of my new *jumper?"
"Huh, you are so out fashion" rolling of the eyes
"Really... how do you think I could be more in fashion?"
"you should wear more cool stuff like **auntie R and **auntie J"
then sensing the hurt in my eyes...
"But it's ok Mum, you are not as out of fashion as Nana!"

Oh no, it has happened, I am not a cool Mum. I was certain I would be a cool Mum. Now the people who grew up thinking I was the coolest and whom I frequently caught trying on my things and copying everything I did are more in fashion than me?

*overpriced purchase to cancel out depression caused by, and to cover up, the gazillion extra kilos found since childbirth 6 months ago.
**twenty-something-childless-tight-jean-wearing-expensive-boot-buying-aunties.

Golden Books

2007-06-27T11:33:00.000+10:00

Inspired by Meet Me At Mikes and her collection of vintage illustrations, I decided to have a look through my old Golden Books and here are some of my favourites. They brought back so many memories, but it is strange how differently you see things as an adult. I remember actually being scared of this picture and felt sorry for the poor little lamb being left outside with such a scary owl.Almost every books starts the same way, with my name being violently scribbled out by my little sister after I generously handed down my much loved collection to her.

I Can Knit!

2007-06-26T10:55:00.000+10:00

Ok I didn't say well but this is my very first attempt ever at knitting and that pic has been taken at the most flattering angle. I purposely put those holes and bumps and loose bits in for ...um ...character? I have not tried it until now because I am not very patient and it seems like it would take a long time. I like to do things super fast. I have been sewing for years so I pretty much have my technique down pat and I can whip things up on my super speedy industrial machine in no time. So I never thought I would enjoy knitting, however I was pleasantly suprised to find it quite relaxing in a sort of meditating kind of way to concentrate on one repetative task and just zone out on everything else. So there will be more knitting adventures to come. I am not so good at finishing things, my Mum said when she was teaching me to knit that she will be very surprised if I could even finish a scarf (inspires a lot of confidence she does) but she was right I have already put my first attempt down and have been looking for more wool. I am easily bored. Maybe I will eventually have enough unfinished scarves to make a big knitted patchwork blanket! I wasn't going to show it but this is the unflattering angle...

today

2007-06-22T17:04:00.000+10:00

12am: little guy wakes up for feed
2.30am: little guy wakes up for a play

5.30am: little guys wakes up for a chat

8.40am: me wakes up in panic, missed alarm, rushes around like crazy mother yelling at middle sized girl to get ready for school who was laying on couch in pj's watching cartoons!

9.02am: On my way to mums to drop of little guy for my third day of 'me time' in 6 months. Exited.

9.30am: Home now, will do some housework. Pull out 8 month old $480 vacuum which recently got back from shop being fixed. Won't go into details but we argued and vacuum made me cry. Give up on housework.

10.00am: Driving down freeway to pick up rabbit hutch I won on ebay which is 30 minutes drive away (finally we can put the filthy but oh-so-cute rabbit and guinea pig recently given to us by 'friends' in their very own home - outside, hooray!) when I am about half way there am curious about funny rattling sound coming from car also curious about smoke billowing out from under the bonet. chug slowly for a few k's whispering servo servo servo. finally see caltex star shimering in distance yay! pull into servo have lost power steering and brakes are not so good. For some reason I feel like I have to be at, or close to a service station when I have broken down, don't know. Call Dad (reflex action) he reminds me he bought racv membership for birthday for situations just like this. Oh yeah thats right thanks Dad.

11.45am: Racv guy arrives. We look at engine and my fan belt looks like this...

"can't fix that, will have to get a tow" OK

12.45pm: Tow truck arrives. Get car towed back to my Dad's house who cancels weekend plans to fix car -yes my Dad is a super star. But feeling very bad will have to think of something to repay him this week. He drives me home (roadworks on freeway takes 3 times as long as usual)

2.30pm: Home, pull 3 bills out of letterbox and have missed delivery of package that I wanted for weekend. Put kettle on.

2.45pm: Husband rings working late shift will be home at 11pm. Mum drops of little guy who immediately vomits all over me and wants nana back. Take kettle off stove, open fridge and open wine bottle.

Now: feeling much better.

TODAY: I got to drink three cups of yummy servo hot chocolate which I love. I also bought this great beanie at servo for $9.90 to warm my freezing ears while waiting for racv guy. Love servo's love my mum and love my dad!

Diamonds Anyone?

2007-06-21T13:15:00.000+10:00

Got a call from the bank at 8am. It appears that a complete stranger decided to use my credit card to purchase thousands of dollars worth of diamonds amongst other things. But that's ok I don't mind working my butt of to pay for someone elses diamonds and plane tickets and anything else their little heart desires, I am sure they are lovely people and deserve all those goodies! I am SO happy to oblige!
How does someone think that it is ok to do this to someone else! I just cannot understand it! I assume they got my details over the internet somehow because that is all I use my card for. Thankfully the banks insuranse should cover everything. I am going to have to be more careful in the future.

Anyway in other news, I listed some stuff in my etsy shop today!

Mmmm Heating

2007-06-15T13:53:00.000+10:00

My Dad has been serving us chicken casserole and sausage & veg on plates just like these for most of my life, and I always loved them. He would be very pleased to know that these ones sold for over $100 dollars on ebay.

Also, our heaters have arrived! just in time too, it is freeeezing right now. I have been appreciating these gloves very much lately. We have lived in this house for five years now with no cooling or heating except two extremely dodgy, wonky ceiling fans on our very low ceilings (which a few guests have had some altercations with while dancing on dance floor/coffee table) and a very messy-expensive-bad for the environment-coonara type fireplace, and although my fire lighting skills have greatly improved (I am dying for the situation to arise where I have to race someone to light a fire -survivor style) I really have had enough of carting wood through the house, sweeping up dirt and bark, and waking up ice cold in the morning to do it all again. We talk about it every year but now that there is a baby that needs to be kept warm all day we have finally done it. Because the installation costs more than the units I am getting my plumbing brother to put them in for me, so I am going to have to really start whinging about the cold to get it done befor winter is over.

This guy keeps pretty warm in his bunny suit but would never be seen in public with it on, how embarassing!.

New Bags

2007-06-12T19:12:00.000+10:00

I have finally listed some things in my etsy shop. They are not the tea towels I have been trying to focus on, they are a couple of bags I made up this week. The denim I used has been sitting beside my machine for a while and every time I walked past for the last week it would be calling to me "make me into a baaaag, make me into a baaaag". So I did as I was told.

Anyway back to the tea towels... I have been washing, drying, printing, ironing, experimenting with fabrics and colors and even cooking these damn things to make sure they are exactly how I want them to be. So anyone who purchases them can be assured that they have been through the most vigorous of testing. I am thinking I will go with 100% linen. This seems to be the best all round fabric for strength, absorbancy, and wear, and it also looks great printed on. However I may still change my mind. if anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would love to hear!

I also made up some of my earlier experiments into little purses/pencils case thingys which I will be putting in my store.

Printing Adventures & Sore Teeth

2007-06-09T00:15:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since I last posted but I have been busy fighting with my screen printing stuff. Yes all of it, imaging machine, stupid peely mesh stuff, dumb broken lamps, even the mixing of the ink colors is harder than I thought it would be. I decided that the fabric I choose to make my tea towels was not absorbent enough for my liking so I am using my first batch as rags. I have also been dealing with a sick little girl and a teething little guy this week so squeezing in a half hour here and there does not make for a very productive day and only increases the level of frustration when things do go wrong. Oh well I have been promised at least a day and a half to myself over the long weekend so I will hopefully have something in my shop by next week. Anyway must get some sleep before someone wakes up for feed/cuddle/bucket. Will update on printing adventures soon.

I am a Printer!

2007-05-31T18:23:00.000+10:00

I can print! I can print!

My screen printing gear arrived last week and after much joy (wohoo!) and frustration (stoopid globes!) here is a sneak peak of some tea towels I am making for my etsy shop which has been laying dormant for nearly a year now and which I have only ever listed 2 things on and sold 1.

Colouring Sheet

2007-05-31T10:03:00.000+10:00

I just had to post this 'COLOURING SHEET' my lovely daughter made for me. I keep it on the fridge and when I am in a bad mood I just flip it over and read the back and I smile and everything is ok again.