Book Spine Poetry

Yesterday Annelise saw this post about book spine poetry and was immediately inspired to compose one herself.
Annelise showed me that same post and I was immediately inspired to compose one myself. I went straight to my art room Expedit (I had no desire to navigate the stairs to the main bookshelves) and started collecting and collating.

Who'd've thunk?!
I just love what one can do with words. (And numbers)

Here are my first attempts at book spine poetry.

 Love Life

How babies are made

Seven from Heaven

Gioie di una madre

(Joys of a mother)

 Yarns on women

The elements of style

It's not always black and white.

The lady and the chocolate

Sharing your story

Each new day

Living out loud

That's life!

How 'bout you have a go, eh? 

:D

Stats

Some time between last night and now 30,000 page views have happened on my blog (not including mine). I know that is not really very many if compared to a famous blogger but to me it's HUGE!

And...
I have viewers from 57 different countries around the world. How amazing is that?!?

Just thought I'd share. :)

PS I hope you find just a little inspiration when you visit and I'd love for you to say a little 'hello' in the comments - that would make me VERY happy.

Dead Right

There's this roundabout near our place that causes me just a little bit of grief. Here's why...
Drivers approach the roundabout as if they have right of way. They do not slow down, give way, or demonstrate that they even noticed that there was a roundabout.


Every time I approach the roundabout I think of a poem that my Dad would recite when I voiced my opinion about occasions such as the roundabout wrong.

Here lies the grave of Samuel Grey, 

Who died defending his right of way, 

He was right, quite right, as he strolled along,  

But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

Do you know the roundabout rules? It's pretty simple really - Slow down as you approach a roundabout, give way to traffic already on the roundabout if there is a risk of collision, and enter the roundabout when there is a safe gap. 


There is no rule about giving way to the right - none at all. In fact, there are no specific rules at all about giving way if you all happened to arrive at the a roundabout at the same time. He who hesitates gives way!!!


Driving a Ford Transit Van into a roundabout can sometimes be a tad stressful - even though I start into the roundabout first, my vehicle is SO slow to get going that it might appear that a car that entered the roundabout after me, but without slowing down, had actually entered before me. This happens quite often and some drivers are so rude as to honk their horn at me instead of applying the rule of giving way to avoid collision. 


Generally, I tend towards not being 'dead' right! I have imagined printing a placard saying "Read the Road Rules" and attaching it to the roundabout sign.


Speaking of driving...
I used to think that driving games would be bad for the kids to play because I thought that they would apply the same recklessness to their own driving, not really understanding the consequences of having a crash. But going grocery shopping with Declan and Hudson has changed my mind!!!


I heard a man have a little chuckle when I complained to the boys that they could play computer driving games with such skill but they couldn't even steer my trolley in the right direction for half a second! Obviously, the boys' computer driving skills have not transferred to real life.

Do driving games help you to drive? I know not. 


So to come full circle...
Check out the roundabout rules for your country, state or territory. It might not change anything at all but at least you will know that you had the right of way even if you didn't take it.

Time to Think

Some doodling from Saturday.
When I am doodling my mind is pondering things - everything from parenting to punctuation*, sleeping to sermons, farming to pharmaceuticals (to name a few!).

*Today when Reuben and I were out and about we saw an ad on the back of bus that said, "Surf's up. Steak's cookin'!" And it had all the apostrophes in the right places. 
Then we saw a sign that said, "St Joseph's EX-STUDENTS REUNION". Not the worst I've ever seen but a little noted contrast .

"You could sell that!"

The other day I spent two and a half hours sitting in a cold church hall waiting for a guy to draw up a plan and quote for renovating the church hall kitchen. Fortunately I had my doodling supplies in my handbag - I had removed them earlier to lighten the load but thought better of it and bunged them back in at the last second before leaving the house.

The first thing that came to mind to doodle was a peacock (not surprisingly) - I liked the effect of two pen thicknesses in a previous doodle so I used it again. Later that afternoon I spotted a peacock on the cover of a magazine sitting on a little hall stand at a lady's house. I was instantly drawn to the colours and the gold lettering*. I showed the lady my doodled peacock and she exclaimed, "You could sell that!"

This was not the first time someone had said that to me so that got me to thinking. 
What I want to know is...
HOW? How could I sell my art work?
That's a giveaway - I'm not an entrepreneur. :(

Kelly gave me a delightful little book quite some time ago and I've just started carrying it around with me. It is just the right size to do a quick little creative entry now and then. I took it with me to reffing and the combination of doing art and sitting in a warm, sun-filled car helped make the 5 hours pass ever so quickly. Here's what I did.

I doodled this blue piece inspired by the wake in the little Pixar film (well, I think that is where I saw it) - La Luna.

Then I fished out my travel watercolour kit and fiddled around - I put the paint down first and sun-dried it. Then I left it as a fail cos I didn't like it. Then I came back to it and added then pen work. Now it's okay.

Same with this one.

Here are previous entries, some of which you may have seen before.

That's all for now.

PS Sorry about the dark photos - that's just the way it is at the moment.

*I am inspired to add gold highlights to my peacock.

Playing with Pastels Again (Still)

The other day I saw my blog post from about 3 years ago and thought to myself I'd really like to get those pastels out again.
Then... Hudson was looking for something - glue, I think - and he found the pastels. He yelled out "Mum, can I use these crayons?" and there was no hesitation in me saying yes.

Yesss!!! That was the start of some fun pastel play.

Here are some of the beautiful results - there are many missing because they were taken home, or to bedrooms to hang on the walls before I got a chance to take a photo.

Most of them were plain colouring in...

... but sometimes a technique was added. Caitlin, inspired by her big sister, Annelise, scratched a design into her artwork with a gel-less gel pen.

The technique on this butterfly was to colour one side and then press a design onto the other side with a pen. Even though this is a fabulous result, it occurred to Caitlin after she finished that she could have drawn the whole butterfly on one side and the pressed it out on the other. Another time - when she gets over the cramp in her hand.

We've brightened up the winter sunlessness of the downstairs area with these vibrant artworks. You can also see there a works by Declan, Hudson and Annelise.

 Then Susannah said, "That one up there reminds me of a peacock."
And I was like "A PEACOCK!!! I could do a peacock!!!"
In my head it was way different, but this will do, eh?

In my mind I had hoped to do some scrapbooking or glue napkins to my handbag to change it up a bit and was feeling a little bit defeated but then I realised that this was just the creative outlet I needed in the last couple of cold, rainy days. And it's given me something to blog about too. :)

:D

PS: Black just makes the pieces POP!!!

Working With Watercolour

Last year I saw Jane Davenport's clever invention for happy creative travels - the Peerless Palette - and figured that would be a light and easy way to carry my watercolours with me when I go out. I purchased the Peerless Watercolors from Jane's store and then didn't do anything with them. I didn't forget about them - it was just a matter of getting my head around how and when I was going to make my light and easy watercolour palette. It didn't help that we had to move house for the 4th time in 3 years!

Skip forward about 9 months.

On Friday night I went to a craft night - the first one I have been to in Sydney - that's nearly 4 years of no craft nights! While pondering what I could take along to do I remembered my Peerless Watercolors and realised that this would be just the right thing to take along and get done.

It took a little bit of searching in boxes to find the paints and then a little bit of rummaging to decide what to make my portable kit in but when I came across a very cute photo album that my friend Peg had given me I knew it was the very thing I would use.*

After I had eaten a slice of poorly photographed** "Adult Cake" I set to work.

I surprise myself! You know how I love to have things arranged in rainbow order? Well, I kind of wanted to do that with my Peerless Watercolors but I chose not to make things hard for myself and not to agonise about it so I just chopped and stuck without a moment's remorse or regret.

With a feeling of great satisfaction about finishing a project I sat back and silently wondered how I could put my newly formed kit to use. I had recently been overwhelmed inspired by a watercolour portrait and the time-lapse video of it being created so when the lovely lady sitting next to me said "Paint a portrait of me!" I felt somewhat challenged to do so.

Still feeling rather relaxed about everything***, I whipped up a quick sketch and painted unreservedly, slopping watery paint all over the shop as if I was Agnes-Cecile. Not surprisingly, the results were tragic.

I knew that if I didn't pretend I was a watercolour artist and actually paid some attention to what I was doing, and waited for the paint to dry (that is one thing I find really difficult to do), then maybe I could produce a rendition that was half-way acceptable. I took a photo of the lovely lady sitting next to me, went home and the next day painted another portrait while watching listening to Bride and Prejudice.

Apparently, it looks like the lovely lady sitting next to me, cos when I showed it to some friends at church they could work out who it was with no clues. :)

I have a lot of respect for watercolour artists. A lot of respect.

:D

* I had used the very cute photo album for a while as an album for photos of my very cute grandson.

** That stuff is really hard to photograph. And that stuff on top is beetroot-coloured cream whipped to a fraction of a second short of butter!

*** Maybe it was the chocolate cake!

When Moses Comes To Our Place

Somehow I managed to coincide my little foray into scrapbooking last weekend with (inter)National Scrapbooking Day, not that that made any difference at all to my scrapbooking or the likelihood of scrapbooking actually happening.
Hennyway, I did a layout - my third for the year.

Journaling reads: When Moses comes over to our house he loves to play with the cars in Declan and Hudson's room. Other times, he likes to go outside in the back yard and play with Hudson's dinky car or kick a ball around. Another thing Moses likes to do is unlock the van, hop in, and go for a ride.

Nowadays I keep my scrapbook inspiration in Pinterest (Don't even go there! It is a TRAP!! You'll never get out!!!) so I had a quick squizz at my Scrapbook Pinboard and found a few layouts that I liked (of course). The one that inspired me most was the one that Kathie Link did when she was inspired by Julie. Interesting - I didn't even look at Julie's layout until now and I see that I also have circles punched out of blueish print.

I wish I knew how to deal with my photos on my Mac. I have booked myself in for One to One at least 3 times now and then have not been able to go. I can't even send it to my old computer cos it is up to the raspy breathing stage of imminent death. So you will have to put up with, yet again, a slightly edited Hipstamatic photo from my iPhone.

A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month

Photo from  here

I prefer the "pinch of snuff and a cup of punch" version to the "pinch of salt and punch the weak witch" version of this monthly game that I play but, really, it has nothing to do with either of these versions or any other explanation you might come up with.

The "pinch and a punch for the first of the month" game, for me, is just about being the first to realise it is the first of the month and getting in first to the recipient (victim) of the pinch and punch.

It all started years and years ago with Mum and Dad. They still do and I still do. If I can't be there to physically pinch and punch (friendly-like) then over the phone is the next best thing. The kids are all into it but they are hard pressed to realise before me.*

I have a friend who is an avid pinch-and-punch-er. There are no holds barred, so to speak, so in this technological age, I am using this blog post to pinch and punch her before she even gets her phone out to text me at midnight or 5 o'clock in the morning!**

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month! You know who you are!!! Ha ha ha ha.......    :)



*
DH doesn't play.

**
Most of our txt msg history is related to the first of the month.

1.1.2012
Me: Pinch and a punch for the first of the month. Happy New Year!!!
Her: Cant believe u got me again. Happy new year to u all.

1.2.2012
Her: Pinch and a punch for the first of the month no returns ...woo hoo can't believe I got u first.
Me: Whoa!!! Just went to do it and whammo! Congratulations. You got me. Here's a little flick and kick for being quicker than me.

1.3.2012
Me: I can't believe it's 8.20 on the first of the month and I haven't been got!!! A pinch and a punch for the first of the month. Hope all is well with you.
Her: Oh. ....just writing the date at work now. Drats. I deserve a slap. Hahaha.

1.4.2012
After a missed call from her...
Her: Pinch and punch no returns. ..... loves ya.
hehehe
Me: Ha ha ha
So far from my mind
I thought my alarm was going off. And my phone clock says 5.42am. Daylight savings has ended!!!

Scrapbooking Trend

I had the opportunity to scrapbook on the weekend - a rare occurrence nowadays. I managed to produce the second layout for the year so far.*

I took the photos on January 23rd and printed them out that day! Then they sat there somewhere in the vicinity of my questionable scrapbooking space until the moment I decided that I wanted to scrap a picture of my grandson and couldn't find a decent current photo of him. So I went with the already-printed photos of Susannah having fun posing with a breadstick.

I took immediate inspiration from Nic Howard and Amy Martin on the Aussie Scrap Source blog.

I had to take the photo of the layout with my phone because we (the royal) have lost the charger and spare battery for my Canon 400D and I haven't bought another one yet.



*Maybe the number of layouts I produce is a gauge of how simple/complicated my life is. Let's take a look at a graph of the number of layouts I did in the first quarter of each year since 2006.

I just spent an inordinate amount of time trying to work out Excel and, in the end, had to get Soph to help. Grrrr. Hennyway, as you can see, the number of layouts I actually produce has reduced drastically over the years.