Monday, 29 September 2008

The Last Post

For now, at least, and in words of Scott of the Antarctic, said with a stiff upper lip, "I may be some time."

The 'puters are being packed today and we have no connection to the Internet, yet, where we are going.

I'm changing my email address to mama.pud at gmail dot com





Saturday, 27 September 2008

Innocent?

I'm taking a momentary break.


Innocent? I think not.

I was packing the blankets and other bedding and remembered that my pink blanket was in my room and thought it would be a good idea to put it in the box with all the others.

I headed downstairs fully intent on getting the blanket. Alas, I was distracted. By what? I looked out the window as I heard Susannah firmly telling Hudson to go to Mum. In that instant I saw Hudson, firmly refusing to do what he was told, walking towards the house with yellow paint splashed down the front of his clothes.

I proceeded outside, relieved Susannah of her stress, told Hudson to stand in the middle of the lawn, ordered Reuben to switch on the hose, and hosed Hudson down.

At that moment it occurred to me that I could/should've take/n a photo as I recalled an earlier blog post regarding paint. Too bad. Most, but not all, of the paint washed out of the clothes. Hudson was dressed into dry clothes and I headed back to what I was doing - well that is what I thought.

I sealed the blanket box, stacked it in the ever increasing pile of boxes and wondered what to pack next. Then I remembered - the pink blanket. Oh well. It will have to go into another box.

While we're on the subject of packing...

Where is the pen?


This is Sophie-Lee's solution.

Other questions...
Where is the packing tape?
Where are my rubber gloves?
What was I doing?
Why is this here when I put it there?

...You get the gist.


Thursday, 25 September 2008

Therapy

I am having the greatest fun packing. One of my fave things to do is clean out and consolidate. And then there is cleaning - the amount of dust, cobwebs and other things is mind-blowing (yet not altogether surprising - is that oxymoronic?). Too much fun to have in one day!!!

Except for the empty shelves, the lounge/dining/kitchen look relatively normal, but head up to the rumpus room and you will encounter the depot look. I stole the 'depot' term from my Mum who has just recently moved.



Interestingly, nearly ALL my family will haved moved (major, significant-type moves) this year.

Things I have noticed...
- Any time after I have sealed the box, I will find another piece that should go in that box.
- I reckon that even when the house appears to be completely empty I could find another piece of Lego!
- There will always be an odd sock!
- There will always be a bit of Blu Tac or Pritt Sticky Stuff (much better) stuck somewhere (besides the carpet!).

That's all for now.


Tuesday, 23 September 2008

In My Garden

There's Spring in my garden - just a little bit. My wallflower is in full bloom having benefitted from a hard prune - a reminder of my lovely friend who gave it to me (the flower, not the pruning!!!).

The star flowers and grape hyacinths are popping up all over the place. But the flower that is grabbing my attention as I walk out the back door is this beautiful daffodil. (I did an action or two to the photo - I have no idea what, really, but I found it here if you want to try it out for yourself.)


These are no ordinary yellow daffodils (they've already done their thing) these are Pink Charm Daffodils - beautiful soft white on the outside with a pinkish apricot centre - sounds like a chocolate!!! I wouldn't eat them though - they're poisonous and you might get a bit of unwanted protein (spot the spider!).

The tulip leaves are up and promising a show of flowers. They have a week to show me something. One week today - we move.


Monday, 22 September 2008

Burning those Kay Jays!

I stepped on the scales this morning and it said LO. I had a chuckle cos only a few days ago I read this.

Any stress I might feel about moving is being directed to the fat cells in my body as per this.

Just thought you might like to know all that!

One week til we move!!!

Thursday, 18 September 2008

Wool Art

I am practicing what I have preached - take a photo and get rid of it!


During my packing fun I found this wool art sandwiched between the glass and the backing board of a broken A4 frame sitting on a shelf, where it has been for years. So, I took a photo. I didn't actually get rid of the wool but put it in a bag and packed it with my scrappy/craft stuff.

I just happen to have a photo of the occasion when I made it - a/an homeschooling activity - September 2003


There's the lovely Kimbo, Robbie, Janelle, Mick and Ellie. And a few others that you may recognise.

Creative Recycling

The other day I enjoyed sorting out all my scraps of cardstock and patterned paper. I keep them in a 12x12 ring binder with top-loading sleeves according to colour. I decided to throw all the little bits out and keep bigger bits that I was more likely to use, so my paper recycling shoe box became chockers with lots of colourful scraps. Being the kind of person I am, I couldn't bear to just throw them all away, and cooked up a plan for the kids.

So on Sunday arvo, with the weather outside not conducive to soccer playing, I set up an occupation for any, or all, who were interested. I stuck 4 big sheets of paper together (we only used half of it in the end), brought out my basket of punches, and the full-to-overflowing recycling box. Oh, and I dug out the glue sticks which I had already packed at the bottom of a big box of scrappy stuff.

I did take photos of the kids at work - Robbie and Susannah stuck at it (no pun intended) all afternoon, and then Sophie-Lee and Susannah continued into the night - but by some terrible twist of fate (or mismanagament on my part) those photos and some other special photos taken the day before have all disappointingly disappeared.

This is the result. An A1-sized (which, in case you don't know, is 8 times A4) collage, coated in structure gel to help stick it all down and give it a finished look.

Move

To keep my sanity and to fulfil my commitment to doing all the Mixed Media challenges at Blue Bazaar I have been playing with mixed media.


For convenience I decided to keep this piece relatively small - 6"x4".

I started with a bit of salvaged chipboard and coated it with gesso. It did occur to me to do the back but I didn't want to. Then I coated the gesso with structure gel (that's my texture paste for this challenge). While the structure gel was wet I stamped my favourite Fancy Pants flourish stamp into it and then left it to dry over night (not the stamp. I washed that!)

The next day I painted different colours onto the textured surface using Making Memories acrylic paint and Reeves acrylic paint.

I added some very fine glitter which a I got at the Scrapbooking Convention on the long weekend (and can't remember where from or what it is called and it doesn't say on the container!) and let that dry.

Last night I added some byzantia 'paint' but I didn't like what I did so I tried to wipe it off but it was too dry already, so I painted over it with the original colours that were under it! :)

This morning I painted the teal line that moves across and then poured some Opals powder of the same colour onto it and set the heat gun onto it. The heat changed the colour of the glitter from hot pink to multi-coloured.

Then to finished the whole thing off I added three layers of clear Opals to the whole lot. This is when the chipboard decided to curl up. I've managed to flatten it a bit.

Okay. So I called it 'move' because I made it during packing for our big move in 12 days time and I want to remind myself to move - you know, exercise!

So there you have it.

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

This Photo Makes Me Smile


I think this is my all time favourite photo (that I have taken). I'm working on upping the ante but this one remains at the top for now.

Recently I submitted this photo for the Centro Smile Competition and it is one of the 20 finalists for Armidale's Centro. I just happened to be in the shopping centre yesterday and sure enough, there is my photo, enlarged, amongst the other 19 finalists.

I just found out that now you can even be part of the competition and win a $5000 shopping spree.

Hennyway, go check it out!





We Will

I don't think I have ever shown you this one.


I did it in January for Lusi's Top 10. This layout started out as a doodling layout but ended up as a bling layout. The photo here has no bling, but in the mag (Scrapbook Creations 58) you can see the bling (it's around the heart).



Products: Basic Grey PP; Zig Writer; Zig millennium Pen; KaiserCraft Rhinestones.