Xmas Wrap Up

Christmas Day built up and then passed, pressies were excellent, food was excellent, company was excellent, feral moments were intense but passable.

Family

Wow, it's been a hectic two weeks since I last blogged. Too busy to blog, that's been me. Almost everything is in readiness for Santa's visit tonight, some shortbread biscuits to be iced and still a few pressies to be wrapped. But all Christmas cards were sent out, now that was a production line. Next year I'm thinking that printing them on my own printer is the G.O. My dream of course is to have a laser printer, in fact I think if I had one of these my cards would look soooooo much better, still you can't have everything that you want and still have food and so forth, it's all about priorities.

Speaking of priorities, the other night I watched a really bad, corny movie version of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' (the book is so much better). Badly overacted though it was, the message was clear, family is one of the most important things in our lives. Without family all the money and power in the world mean nothing. So as we head into the festive season tomorrow, spare a thought for those without family, or those who have lost family and find the cheery nature of Christmas a drain.

Merry Christmas and I hope Santa is nice to you all!

Lotsastuf

My goal is to blog a bit more often, but usually it's when I have the time and something to say. Can't be banal now can we!! Here is a second scary tiger, the Nathan 'raaaaar' tiger. Nathan was happy to sit for the face painter at our recent playgroup Christmas party. Bailey this time wasn't interested.

Bailey was very funny with Santa. He tells me often that 'Santa's coming', but he wouldn't sit on Santa's knee for anyone. But, he kept coming back to check out if Santas was still there, every couple of minutes or so, just to be sure.

Nathan was more than happy to sit on Santa's knee and get a lolly bag. Although neither Bailey or Nathan show any interest in lollies, Bailey refusing them and Nathan spitting them out. Let's hope that continues!!

Decluttering continues, and every time I think I've won the war more clutter appears. Having such a small house with not much storage means that things just seem to sit around until I can find a home. Then I want to use them again and so the process continues.

I did this canvas on Friday night at my friend Lisa's place. Scrapbooking of any variety is soooooo much better when you do it with friends. You can bounce ideas of them, copy their ideas, and generally talk the house down. And as a bonus it's kidfree!!!!

I'm hoping to do more scrapbooking next year than this year, but what with editing Postscript, trying to sell some of my cards, exercising three days a week . . . oh and looking after two almost three year olds, I'm not sure I'll have the time. Add to this my Masters, which I have been accepted into and all in all 2008 is looking crazier than 2007. Still it's better to be excessively busy than excessively bored.


Aren't these cute, I found them at a stall at Berwick market weeks ago. They are our Christmas tags for all kidlets receiving pressies this year. They are made of balsa wood and I've coloured the red in using texta and then added some Kindyglitz for some Christmas sparkle.

Time to make tea.

Choo Choo

A quick post before heading off to swimming. This is Bailey and Nathan playing with their new wooden train set. This type of play usually lasts for about 15minutes and then the train tracks are split apart, spread over the house and sometime used to hit Grandma over the head!!

Question: What happens if three of your favourite bloggers haven't posted a blog for a week - blogging withdrawal symptions, similar to lack of Diet Coke!

I have a to-do-list the size of Mt. whatever and unfortunately can usually find some other reason for not doing what is on the list. I am the Queen of avoidance behaviour . . . something that I'm working hard on to fix, but old habits die hard.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY DARLING HUSBAND ANDREW - FOUR YEARS TODAY . . . WOO HOO! ! !

Sleepy tiger and boys on the run

This is our scary sleepy tiger. Last Saturday while shopping there was a face painter at the chemist. Nathan would not have a bar of the poor lady, she only managed to put some glitter paint on his forearms. He wouldn't even be up for twinkle twinkle! To be fair he wasn't very well and had a runny nose, so it was probably a good thing. Bailey was definitely up for being a scary tiger and Andrew had sooooooooo much fun teaching him to 'raaaarrrrrr' and bare his teeth. By the time we got home (where the camera was) Bailey had become a sleepy tiger. He could barely keep his eyes open for this picture and then it was straight into bed, sheets to be washed later.

Later the same day . . . . . .

Sometimes the skills your children learn aren't necessarily the ones that you want. Bailey was determined to go for a walk Saturday afternoon, and decided to open the gate himself, with Nathan not too far behind. Now while I can applaud the skills and determination needed to get the gate open, I'm not too thrilled about the potential for escapades near the road. Time for some Bailey-proof locks I think.

Its' been a hectic week and I've barely had time to think. Andrew and I are off to Daylesford this weekend, staying in an 1860's townhouse B&B, with a spa bath and huge shower. Saturday night will be a relaxing and child free dinner and Sunday a sleep in past 7am!!!! Can't wait. Have charged the batteries on the camera and I'm raring to go. Hope yours is as enjoyable.

Cool Flower

How cool is this photo. I can't take any credit, my sister Jenni took it with her new wizbang macro tube thingy. Can you believe this is a seaside daisy - that's a seriously small flower.

I've been thinking about how I can do this photo justice in some delicate watercolour, the translucent quality would be a challenge to capture, but given how I've been feeling lately that kind of challenge would be good.

Haven't blogged for awhile, been feeling uninspired and seriously bummed. I'm trying to implement some solutions that should hopefully send me in an upward motion rather than a downward spiral.

Photos like these make me really happy, I could stare at it for ages and not get bored by it's contours, shapes, and sheer beauty.

Aaahhhh!!!

It's all getting a bit to scary at the moment. I met with the Snr Lecturer at the Theory of Art and Design faculty at Monash today to discuss my Masters proposal and she's ready, willing and excited about supporting it . . . . at this point, I did think about doing a runner (or in my case a slow jog) from her office . . . but then I told the little voice in my head to bugger off and thought how cool. I still have a slight deer-stuck-in-headlights look about me, but in reality fear isn't a big enough motivator to stop me.

Currently working on my Christmas card design in Marg's class and thought about doing Merry Christmas in Latin until I translated it - Hilaris Sarcologos - just doesn't have the same ring does it. Because Gothicised Italic is so formal I thought a formal look would be appropriate, maybe I need to study some Gothic or Blackletter work to get inspiration. I also thought that watercolour holly and berries with gold lettering was a possibility, but I can't find any decent pictures of holly leaves on Google to use as inspiration.

Twins are currently chucking a feral so this means I'll have to cut this post short.

Fully Sick

Yes, we are a fully sick family. My three babies, Bailey, Nathan and Andrew are currently sleeping of a pretty yucky bout of gastro. Last night I took Nathan to the Emergency department because he was having some pretty severe stomach cramps, and by the time we arrived he was very dehydrated as well.

Bailey was sick on Saturday, but appears fine, and Andrew unfortunately succumbed in the early hours of this morning, not long after we arrived home from hospital.

Mummy (me) thinks she may have started it all as I had very severe stomach cramps Friday before last . . . or I'm yet to get it - definitely something to look forward to.

On a brighter note this pudding is one I did for the Lilydale show last year. I scanned in some pretty funky paper to use as a backdrop. Just started calligraphy lessons that will include this year's Christmas masterpiece, currently uninspired by this but it will happen. We're doing Gothicised Italic and all that practice I've done making my Italic less pointy and more rounded just get thrown out of the window!

Scarily, Monash Uni think my idea for a Master's thesis has potential and I now need to work on a 2-3 page proposal outlining my arguments, summarising my points and discussing potential reading and research that will need to be done. At no stage did I consider what it would take to write 30-40,000 words on 'Parallels between medieval calligraphy and contemporary abstrast/experimental calligraphy' . Still I love an intellectual challenge. And I still need to find my transcripts from my three other degrees before applying . . . you can see how I value my testamurs can't you, do I have any idea where they might be? You guessed it - none whatsoever. I do the study for the enjoyment not the piece of paper!!!!

Well while all is still silent here I'm going to make myself a hot cup'o'char and find a quote to go with this fairy drawing I have almost finished. Then if time permits I'll play with the ruling pen working out how to do the gestural writing style of Yves Leterme. Wish me luck . . .

Sold!

Wow, I sold some work on Redbubble today. Someone bought ten of these Christmas Cards, I am just so totally blown away and feeling how fantastic it is that someone likes my work enough to buy it. You can check out other work I've loaded to Redbubble here.

I'm on a design blitz at the moment, totally loving that buzz that comes with being in the zone. I've been playing around with making brushes of my own calligraphy in PhotoShop, which is how I did this card. Once I can work out how to save them as an .abr extension I may even consider selling the brushes. I think though that I need a newer version of PhotoShop and that will have to wait until I'm rolling in it.

I've also been playing about with salt, yes salt. I did a wash of watered-down gouche on some hot-pressed Arches and then used the salt grinder to sprinkle salt over the paper. The salt soaks up some of the liquid and creates a really cool texture. I'm currently working on a fairy on this type of background so will post once it has progressed beyond the sketched in stage - which is where it's at now.

Doing Gothizied Italic in calligraphy class this semester, which should flow in really nicely into Christmas as it's a very Christmasy looking script. I've also sussed out Monash for a potential MA in Art & Design - Something related to calligraphy of course. The application needs to be in by the end of October, but haven't had any feedback yet, so let's just wait and see. If it happens that's great, if not there's always something else I can do.

Time for bed.

Frustration!!!!!

Totally frustrated with Photoshop again. It is the least intuitive program I have ever used. I finally worked out how to manipulate the colour of a black and white image that I have scanned. Now I'm trying to add a background colour via a new layer - the problem? Everytime I select a colour and hit okay I can only get the Grayscale slider up on the colour swatch palette, which means I can't play around with the colour as much as I'd like, can I work out how to change it . . . no . . . can I find anything in help that would actually help me . . . . no . . . am I ready to throw the computer out in the rubbish bin . . . yes . . .

So, I'm going to do what any insane Photoshop user is going to do . . . turn the bloody computer off and go and draw using real pencils and real colours, until I calm down enough to nut out how to change it . . . .

So . . . bye, bye . . .

Raaaaaarrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Daddy 'raaarrrring' the boys Saturday afternoon over the back gate.

Everything is looking green and the clematis is starting to look like a live plant again instead of the dead twig its been looking like for the winter months.

A good weekend was had by all - for those living in a vacuum Geelong thrashed Port Adelaide bt 119 points; Melbourne Storm did the equivalent to Manly in the NRL and Germany beat Brazil in the Fifa Women's World Cup.

Lunch was yummy at Georges in Camberwell and Bailey and Nathan were so very well behaved, which makes it so much easier.

This morning we've had visitors - Jane, Jordan and Mitchell and Lisa, Cooper and Baxter. Lots of fun was had running around the newly mown back lawn, sand has been put everywhere, especially in Bailey's hair, and Nathan's pockets. The boys are now sleeping soundly before wreaking havoc in the backyard again this afternoon.



This picture was taken last Wednesday at De Bortoli Winery in the Yarra Valley for Andrew's birthday, where we had the yummiest lunch. I can certainly recommend the Emeri Sparkling Wine, very yummy. Andrew and I have now discovered this marinated goat's cheese, which is to die for.

I have finally set up a profile on RedBubble, which is something. I haven't uploaded any artwork or worked out any of the details yet, but at least it's a step forward. Baby steps . . . . .

Finals Fever

Well finals fever has hit Melbourne-town. The Brownlow last night and the parade on Friday through the city and then the big day on Saturday, then it'll be cricket and tennis getting us through the weekend.

Sadly (or not) Collingwood could not find that one extra goal needed to beat Geelong. I ended up going to the footy (thanks Mum for twinsitting) and meeting Andrew in the city. As you can see by the pics the seats were excellent, very close to the boundary line on the ground level. 98,002 people saw this epic struggle and I must say it was a great and well fought out match. There's always next year for Collingwood . . . although I'm sure it's St. Kilda's turn!!

This is my finished frangipani, signed and delivered to a very happy almost 12-year-old. Her pink party is all planned and this just fits right in. I was not unhappy with the end result and may consider doing acyrlics on canvas into the future. I find I'm a bit more willing to experiment with my painting and am really only trying to please myself, instead of that mythical person yelling instructions over my shoulder.

Well I have about 30 more minutes of twin silence and need to make Daddy a birthday card for his big day tomorrow. Not an '0' birthday yet . . . that's for next year!

Go Sainters!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's sad, but true, I am actually displaying something in Black and White colours relating to Collingwood instead of Black, White and Red and relating to St. Kilda. I have the sad misfortune to be married to a Collingwood supporter who as luck would have it scored himself tickets for tonights Preliminary Final. Now in reality I think Geelong will continue their crushing ways and beat the Wobbles, but you can never discount the appearance of a handbag or two.

Sadly, due to a lack of twinsitter availability lucky Mummy will have to watch the game on the box instead of with the other expected 100,000 maniacs at the G, now if this doesn't tell the AFL something then nothing well, because as it stands tonight's game will most likely have more people attending than at the Grand Final - unless by some miracle CWFC wins.

While we're having a sporting blog, well done to the Matildas in drawing 2-2 with Canada and advancing to the Quarter Finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup - they'll now probably play Brazil.

Full Steam Ahead

On Sunday 16th September Andrew and I and the boys and my parents headed to our local train station where a steam train was travelling between Mitcham and Camberwell for the day. I don't know who was more excited, Bailey and Nathan or Andrew! Into Camberwell the train was chockers - much like peak hour - but on the way back to Mitcham it was less crowded meaning we could wander around, look out the windows and enjoy sitting in an old-time cabin. By the end of the trip Andrew had more soot in his hair than the train was giving out, Bailey and Nathan came home and slept for over three hours and a great time was had by all of us. Mum and Dad were so impressed they're off next Thursday from Southern Cross Station to Bacchus Marsh.

This week hasn't been my most favourite of weeks. Nathan has been sick and unable to chew or swallow. Understandably he's been very irritable, unhappy and crying a lot (and I mean a lot!). Today we seem to have turned the corner and he's been happier, eating and drinking without pain so hopefully we'll have a better next few days than the last few were.

My frangipani for Taylah's birthday next week is coming along nicely. It's been sitting on the mantle for the last week so that I could try and work out what I didn't like about it. Yesterday Dad and I discussed it and decided that two of the petals were too big and dominated the rest of the flower. So I'm in the process of tweaking these naughty petals and will hopefully have it finished ready for next will. Will photograph and post so you can tell me what you think.

I've had lots of time to think while I've been nursing Nathan on my knee this week and my mind is buzzing about possibilities. I plan to attend some information nights at Monash Uni to look at the possibility of doing a Post Grad in Art & Design. There are two I'm interested in finding out 'Theory of Art and Design' and 'Design/Multimedia and Digital Arts'. Not sure where this will take me but I'm no hurry to find out.

I'm also thinking about moving Purple Berry Design from the blog to the world and start it as a business. My heart wants to sell my cards, my artwork and my head says that Desk Top Publishing will most likely make more money. So I think I'll just do both and that way I'm more likely to satisfy my conflicting desires. We'll be seeing the accountant next week to discuss implications for tax, etc. This is my chance I think to do what I love doing rather than what I had been doing (Instructional Design) prior to having munchkins. It's starting to take shape in my mind now and I just need a little bit of confidence and a little kick along to move it along further.

Will hopefully post a bit more often now that Nathan is looking better.

Ponderings . . .

poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

lavender blue

I'm really just a point and shoot photographer who plays with the settings on the slick new camera I just bought. Having said that I'm very happy about how this one turned out.

Have a serious case of the CBFs (can't be . . . .) today when I have loads that I should or could be doing. Who knows what causes it, but I've got a really bad case. I couldn't even be bothered surfing the net, now that's saying something!!

All is silent in this wonderful house and I'm loving it while I can get it.

give thanks

Sometimes in the hurry and dash of everyday life, in the effort to get through what needs to be done and in our effort to make sure we are doing the right thing (whatever that is) we forget to give thanks for what we have been given. Often I have to remind myself that I am blessed to have two gorgeous boys, that they are only two and a half and that there is plenty of time for them to become big boys. When I see photos like this, playing peek-a-book through the easel, I am reminded big time and so I give thanks for the blessings you see.

In my last post I gave the wrong url for redbubble so I'm having another go. Amazing how one little typo can bring things undone. There's some seriously cool stuff on this website and it's worth taking a look. Another one I got off Kal's blog is Andrea Waines jewellery design, I'm trying to find out if they ship to the land of Oz because I've got my eye on one that says 'Color outside the lines', love it! love it! love it! . . . . Andrew are you taking any notice of this???

Until next time remember to give thanks.

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's day and to celebrate I created the scrapbook page on canvas, with a great photo of Andrew with Bailey and Nathan. This will have pride of place at Andrew's desk. The decorated sayings were created by Bailey and Nathan with mummy's help.

It was a good weekend all around. Saturday we caught up with our friend Sonja and saw Die Hard 4. I love Bruce Willis in Die Hard mode. It was soooooo funny, I love that that don't take themselves seriously, and that John McLean has rubber bones and teflon skin!!

Sunday as well as being Father's Day was Lachlan's (son of our friend Megan and Steve) first birthday. A very important birthday to attend. Two hours up to Ballarat, lots of fun for a couple of hours and then two hours back. Bailey and Nathan had lots of fun and lots of cake!! It was a glorious day yesterday and everywhere we looked it was a sea of blue meeting green rolling hills. Ballarat was true to form . . . cold!! But definitely worth the visit.

Been checking out my sister Jenni's photos on this really cool website - Photo of the Day, you can check out her photos here if you like. Another really cool website is redbubble, which is an online gallery of work for sale. I've been thinking of creating an account and uploading some artwork there just to see what happens. Trying to break though some fear barriers that I think are holding me back. Every day I push just a little bit more.

Fantastic week ahead, got the new Oprah mag on Friday and the new CK mag today. That's lots of reading fun to be had in the next few days. The last few issues of Oprah have been tying in with thoughts that have been bouncing around my brain, it's definitely worth subscribing from the US, love it and think Oprah is fanatastic.

I have a tip for all bloggers - don't cook rice while updating your blog! Luckily I remember the rice just in time to save the saucepan and the rice - doh!

The return of feral Friday

Maybe it was the lunar eclipse, maybe it's the god-awful wind that's whipping around us at the moment, whatever the reason, today saw the return of feral Friday. If you get eight two and a half year olds together you're bound to get some feral-ness, but today was impressive; with hitting, pushing and biting all appearing. My two weren't so bad, Nathan was a clingon, meaning he was attached to my leg almost permanently and Bailey was in what I call 'watching and waiting mode', just happy to watch what the other kids were doing.

This is my work-in-progress pink frangipani. It's my first foray into acrylic on canvas and I'm not unhappy with what's happened so far. It needs a bit more definition and fine tuning, but with this one, being done for my goddaughter's twelfth birthday, I'm in no hurray, just happy to see how it evolves. Thanks to Kal again for inspiring me to move my art in different and untried directions. She's good like that!

Apart from that trying to do a Father's day card and a 1st birthday card and lacking inspiration for both, the more you push the less it works, so I've stepped back for awhile and will let my brain unfold a design for each.

Off to a lingerie party tonight and there will be champagne - it's all good!

Where's the week gone?

I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged. It's been a very full on week, lots of things to do, lots of visitors, not a lot of time for me to do anything on the PC front. This pic was taken last Sunday on a walk around the block. Bailey and Nathan love to sit on every fence we come to. This one is on a busy road so there were lots of cars zooming past.

Have finally bought a digital SLR, the new Pentax 100D Super - very cool, especially since all of my existing Pentax lenses work. Still working on how to get the best photos and playing with some of the automatic scene settings. It has one for taking close ups of text, how cool is that for a calligrapher that loves to take photos of text - it was meant to be!!!

Had a very profitable night last night at a Trivia Night for the kindergarten in our playgroup centre. Shrek 2 DVD, pass to Hedgend Maze, $45 haircut! Didn't win but had lots of fun.

Today has been a lazy kind of day, Daddy is on twin duty, which means Mummy gets a bit of time to herself. Planning some painting of some sort this afternoon. Need to finish my calligraphied fan for calligraphy class on Tuesday (this week we start Copperplate - (very scared!).

Learned how to make a brush in PhotoShop this week, and was able to make a brush from my calligraphy, which means I can then 'paint' directly onto one of my pictures when I'm making a card. I'm sure there are hundreds of other uses as well. I'm still working on cropping to size, not exactly sure that I'm doing it right. But I love learning new stuff, it makes my world go round.

If anyone is out there, please let me know you're reading me.

Here's the thanks!

Here's the thanks card I talked about in my previous post. I've just spent half an hour trying to upload this and the formatting on the text kept going haywire, very very frustrating!!!

BBE

One look into these beautiful (and very different) big blue eyes and nothing else seems to matter. Playgroup was a godsend this morning and the girls in my group are amazingly supportive and loving. It's just the best when you know you have a shoulder to cry on and that shoulder is going through pretty much what you are.

This has really been my only artwork this week, unless you count practising Pointed Italic in Calligraphy class this week. Specs for this card: ruling pen in Sennelier purple ink, scanned and printed on mulberry paper, which has then been 'artistically' ripped and stuck to a metallic bronze card, which has been glammed up with holographic gold glitter - I love my glitter.

Think I have finally decided on an DSLR to buy - Pentax 100D Super - mainly because I already have a number of compatible lenses and filters, which reduces costs. My existing MZ-5N is fantastic and I've read some great reviews on the 100D Super. Now just need to lay by and pay it off.

Weekend looks good with Andrew playing off in the section final on Saturday and Sunday heading into the city with my parents to look at the Pixar exhibition at ACMI, which looks really good. Also thinking of brekkie in Camberwell, a treat that I haven't had for ages. So although sometimes it can be crappy, it's really all okay and looking good!

Direction

Saw this quote from 'Alice in Wonderland' in a mag I was reading and it inspired me to do this. (If you click on the picture you get a better view of the words) Pretty much sums up my ability to make decisions at the moment . . . not sure where I want to go . . . but I'm sure I'm gonna get there!!!!

Must share gross toddler story - Bailey stuck a pea up his nose the other night, hey why not it fits. Today at swimming he sneezed and a piece of corn came out his nose - question is has it been there for two days - ugh!!! I really don't think you can appreciate grossness until you've experienced toddlers.

Postscript has been finished and sent to the printers - yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Of course there's still lots of de-cluttering to do, but drawing for some reason always wins.

Daddy Naught!

Last week Bailey started telling me 'Nathan naught', meaning that Nathan was being naughty, whether he was or not was another matter. By Friday Nathan had started telling me that 'Bailey naught', 'Daddy naught', 'Nani naught' & 'Pa naught' (notice no mummy naught!!). Daddy certainly lived up to his name on Saturday night by deciding that icecream with chocolate frogs was a goer - Daddy very naught!!!! As you can see lots of fun and mess was had - and Daddy was made to clean it all up. We'll forgive him because he's in Perth for four days and not back until Wednesday and we miss him lots.

Today has been a 'go' day, toilets and floors are sparkling, tomorrow I'll do the basins and I have to work up to the showers!! I've almost finished Postscript, which means a huge sigh of relief. Next job is to finish tidying this room so that I can get some serious creating done. I'll post photos when I've finished.

Finally getting a handle on the photo collage in PS. Next job is to learn how to use brushes and maybe even some digi-scrapping kits. Any learning is good learning . . . I love learning!

Lily

I drew this lily while having my hair done today at the hairdressers. My sister asked me to do a sympathy card for her and sent me a photo of a lily that she wanted me to draw. It goes with these words . . .

"The tide recedes but leaves bright seashells on the sand.

The sun goes down but leaves its warmth upon the land.

The music stops but lives on in sweet refrain.

For everything that passes something beautiful remains." - Anon

It says it all . . .

Saturday Fun

Saturday we travelled to Geelong (about 1 1/2 hours away) so that Andrew could play tennis. I know it seems like a long way to go, but as Andrew plays pennant we could end up anywhere in Victoria. Luckily Geelong Lawn Tennis Club had a spare synthenic grass court that Bailey and Nathan could run around on. They chased the tennis ball and some other balls we brought for about 45 minutes before becoming bored. Lots of fun was had.

How cool is this negative layout thingy that I did in Photoshop. I'm making it my life's mission at the moment to skill myself up to being a passable PS user. This wasn't actually that hard to do and I'm thinking that it would be a good way to display all of the photos I need to in the next issue of Postscript that I'm working on. Running across the bottom part of each page. I just need to remember to make the image size a bit larger - this is only about 1cm wide! I'm happy with the effect though.

Today we are heading to Kew Traffic School where Bailey and Nathan and the rest of our playgroup can scoot around on their ride-ons and trikes. Should be fun and plan to take lots of photos. I even bought some really cool patterned paper in readiness for scrapbooking.

Still working on the decluttering and plan to have it all passable by next weekend. This week will be busy as I put together Postscript, start learning Copperplate in Calligraphy class (ah!) and make a sympathy card for my sister. In between the normal demands of a household dominated by twin terrors. Wouldn't have it any other way!

I love my hubbie!!

Just wanted to share this photo with you. Andrew organised all of Bailey and Nathan's cot toys this morning before he went to work. His organisational skills are just amazing aren't they! I should mention that Andrew heads off to work around 7:15am and the reason Bailey and Nathan weren't in their cots is because they were snuggled up to Mummy in our bed - it was very cosy in there this morning.

It's been a fantastic day weatherwise, which means boys outside burning up energy rather than sending me mad inside. Bring on Spring.

Not a lot of calligraphy or artwork being created here at the moment, starting to crank up the next issue of Postscript, the Calligraphy Society's bi-monthly magazine. I'm the Editor, which means lots of work on Photoshop changing images to grayscale and .tif format, and lots of work in InDesign doing the layout of words and images. Now that I've worked out that Cntl-T can be used to scale images in Photoshop, I'm going to try some photo collages. This means not much else will be done until next week. But then given my tendency to practise avoidance behaviour, you just never can tell. It's all good at the moment.

What I said

The good and bad sit side-by-side, but it is the positive that makes the difference

Wow, I can't believe I wrote that in an email to someone six months ago . It was sent back to me today with a note of thanks. Sometimes when we write/paint/do things we see only what it is now, not what it will become with the passage of time.

Like these cards, made for birthdays over the weekend. I do them, I'm critical of them, wish I'd done something else. But, with time and space, I see them for what they are - art created to celebrate. And surely that's enough.

I had a bit Harry Potter weekend, seeing the new movie and finishing the new book. I'm a bit shell-shocked, happy that I know what happens and a bit sad that it's all over. I truly love the power of words, their ability to transport; to convey emotion.

Ants, Ants, Everywhere Ants!

I'm hearing this to a 60's tune but can't remember the name. You have no idea how much I detest this little critters, and I especially detest them when they are crawling all over the toybox!!!! This meant washing all plastic toys and picking ants of the soft ones - my sink was full of little people! Still on the bright side at least I have now cleaned everything, something I'd been planning to do anyway . . . the universe works in mysterious ways.

I relaxed while Bailey and Nathan had their sleep today and indulged in watching Oprah. Generally I don't have the TV on when they sleep and use the time to clean, cook and create (not necessarily in that order). Again the universe is giving me messages, it was on decluttering your home and how to get rid of things you are hanging onto.

I have boxes of baby clothes and don't know why I'm hanging onto them. I have tidied my scrapbook and art supplies but there is other 'stuff' just hanging around and I have sooooo many clothes that I can't hang anything more in the wardrobe. I keep putting the cleaning off. This is partly because I not a cleaning lover and partly I think because I'm overwhelmed by the mess I have created - stupid really. Today I felt so out of control because all of the toys were across the floor instead of being contained to the toybox. Isn't it ironic that I'm overwhelmed by mess, yet I am naturally messy!

I also realise that my creativity is being stifled by the clutter within which I'm trying to create. Kal today showed the room she is painting and how it is uncluttered and painted every couple of months, wow I am in awe of that type of energy . . .

So, the time has come to unclutter, starting with this room that I am sitting in. Sometimes the universe just needs to give you a little push.

It's official . . .

I hate Photoshop! All I want to do is a simple photo collage and can I do it . . . no!!! I can create a new canvas, add layers, but can I scale the photo to the size I want . . . you guessed it . . . no!!! I have books on it, I've checked help and still can't work out what I'm doing. So I did what any sane person does, I used Illustrator, which seems to be sooooooooooo much more intuitive than Photoshop.

Bailey and Nathan loved finger painting this morning and did a fantastic canvas painting for Grandma's birthday tomorrow.

Any tips for my photo collage techiniques gratefully accepted.

Purple always wins!

Of course you had to know that given the choice between vacuuming and playing with purple ink, that purple ink will always win! This is written using a ruling pen, very cool, but still learning how to use it.

I've been studying this piece of work that I started at Summer School in Winter, a week-long calligraphy programme put on by the Calligraphy Society of Victoria. Frustration is written using a drinking straw (who needs expensive tools) dipped in gouache. I wasn't happy with the composition of the capitals and I'm thinking about re-doing it. When I photographed it and tried to fix the lighting levels, my programme turned it green (it's on Arches CP paper, which is cream). I decided to save the photo this colour because I actually think it looks good. I think more funky capitals, moved closer to the middle, and some green spattered using a toothbrush should improve the effect. Will keep you posted on how it works out.

A great weekend was had by all in our household. Andrew won tennis, which is very important when you're playing for sheep stations!! Only two matches left and then it's the finals. Auntie Jenni taught the boys more climbing tricks, like I they need much help! Lets make this a good week!

Fantastic Friday

Welcome to fantastic Friday! Fantastic because I have playgroup in the morning, which means a chance to chat with other Mums and to share our toddlerdom experiences, and Bailey and Nathan have fun playing with different toys and learning to play with other boys and girls. I promise to post photos showing their faces, although it is difficult to get them together. At the moment every time I get the camera out Bailey wants me to take a photo of Bob (the Builder) and Nathan tries to grab it from me, so I get a lot of photos with hands over lenses and boys in and out of shots.

Yesterday had the desire to draw, but what to draw, what to draw. Often by the time I've made up my mind B&N have woken up and I haven't done anything. Yesterday decided graphite and raspberry would do the trick. Raspberries are my favourite berry, although I love the others as well (hence the blog name!). Still have some issues with my shading and don't think I've ever noticed that certain parts of a raspberry resemble a certain bottom part of the human appendage! Or, is that just me and my problem to deal with?

Still have about 45 minutes before B&N wake up, what to do . . . empty the vacuum cleaner so I can vacuum . . . or play with this really cool new Sennelier purple ink I've just bought . . . . mmmm choices, choices . . .

The incredible Climbing Duo

My first post, does this officially make me a blogger? I had to share this photo of my munchkins doing what they do best . . . climbing. They climb onto everything, this toy is a special favourite. Ah the joys of toddlerhood . . . more posts to come.