Save the date…..
June 17, 2013
A sneak peek at the work in progress.
Exciting news in the last couple of days for me.
Some of my new work has been selected for a miniatures exhibition on the 7th of August.
This exhibition is the key Sydney College of the Arts event in the Sydney Design program….. so it’s kind of a biggish deal. It’s a big deal to me as this is my first ever public exhibition as an artist. I have only ever previously shown my work here!
….anyway…. I would love to have you all come to the opening on Wednesday the 7th of August. I know it’s a long way off, but I also know lots of you are busy, so put it in your calendar if exhibitions are your thing.
More info as I get it.
I’m inspired by: Belinda Von Mengersen.
June 14, 2013
Belinda giving an artists talk in Tamworth.
One a week for the past two years I have had the delightful pleasure of working for the lovely Belinda Von Mengersen….. she is also my lovely friend. Lucky me!
Well, now it’s lucky you too because Belinda’s work is part of the collection of textile art currently showing at Manly Art Gallery and Museum until the 21st of July.
Every three years the Tamworth Textile Triennale collects together textile artists under a simgle theme. This time it is Sensorial Loop. The shows aim is to showcase to a public the changing ideas and professional craftsmanship associated with contemporary textile practice in Australia.
The Dusting Cloth by Bel Von Mengersen. Image from abc local.
Belinda’s work as you can see is beautiful….. and according to her ‘photographs badly’, so I can’t wait to see it for real….finished.
What’s so Pinteresting……about fabric designs?
May 25, 2013
Towards Light… image from flickr.
I am a little disappointed to be showing you another of my boards, full of images that interest me. What’s so Pinteresting is supposed to be interactive. Yes you get me to collect ideas for you!
Anyone want to choose a theme for next time? Just leave a comment below.
In the meantime enjoy my collection of fabric designs, and ideas for fabric designs.
How Pinteresting are…….old shoes?
February 2, 2013
Image from Millas hem.
I am going to continue with the interactive Pinteresting this year.
Caroline suggested last year that she would be interested in a collection of shoes….
Mostly I have gone with vintage shoes.
You can take a look here.
Let me know what you like… and if you would like me to put together a collection for you of anything. Just leave your ideas in the comments below.
How Pinteresting is………… letter writing?
November 10, 2012
Click on the image to see a collection of inspirational pictures with a letter writing theme.
Well here it is…… How Pinteresting!
Meredith suggested a collection of images to satisfy here letter writing phase. I took the theme where-ever it choose to go in my mind….. so I hope I have fulfilled the brief 🙂
She also wrote a great post a little while back about using 20 minute time lots to put pen to paper, that might interest you here.
I just love this image of vintage packages.
So what’s next? You choose. Remember it’s interactive, and if no-one chooses I will have to bore you with my collections.
Facebook Friday
November 2, 2012
Thanks Tony and Dillium etc for posting this on facebook.
Yes tomorrow is our annual school spring fair. Come along, have a great day and say hello.
Facebook Friday.
October 26, 2012
Some of you may have noticed that for a while now I have worn goggles on facebook in support of free swimming lessons, because for a while now I have felt quite passionate about kids learning to swim.
Swimming is the ONLY extra curricular activity we insist our girls do, because it’s about safety not about having elite athletes.
I’m not looking for gold medalists, I’m looking for them to be competent strong swimmers….and we have watched the fun follow.
Fortunately, we have been able to fund this desire, but many are not…. or don’t realise the importance until it is too late.
‘Royal Life Saving’s earlier estimates that 1 in 5 kids are unable to swim 50 metres may be overly optimistic and it is now believed that more than 1 in 5 may not be able to swim at all. Today, an estimated 600,000 young adults are at risk; tomorrow and in the next decade we fear this figure will double.
Royal Life Saving believes that the rapid increase in drowning in young adults aged 15-24 years is undeniably linked to a fall in the swimming and water safety skills of children in Australia over the past 10 years.’
from the petition site.
Here is the most alarming bit!
Art class …..please help.
July 22, 2012
This week I start art class after a very long break.
More out of convenience than anything else I have enrolled in ‘continuing projects’.
The problem is….. I am sort of starting a fresh rather than continuing so I need your help.
Over that last couple of months I have been collecting still life images (because I am fascinated by the comfortingness of them). I think I would like to recreate them as drawings or paintings or collages …. or maybe even something all together different. I would love to experiment with stitching and fabric within works too.
I just don’t know where to start.
Please help me out by letting me know in the comments which images appeal to you and how you would like to see them recreated. I am not promising to obey your every visual wish but your feedback would help enormously. Thanks.
1. Latte and sunnies.Image from the bottom of my laundry basket.
2. Muffins on a board. Image from Modern Country.
3. Spilt coffee.Image credit decor8blog.
4. Extra strong cappacino. Image mine.
5. French press and small bites. Image from decor8blog.
6. Three pears and a pomegranate. Image from decor8blog
7. A vase, a painting and a deer. Image the lennoxx.
8. Napkin with sprig and duck egg.Image from the house of Turquoise.
9. Pink flowers in a lime vase. Image from the house of Turquoise.
10. Sweet peas and mini bird eggs. Image from the house of Turquoise.
Please give me some direction…. even if it’s just the number of the picture.
….and yes, I will do some updates as to how the classes and paintings are going.
May even have a give-away, but only if you help me know where to start.
The gorgeous birthday girl with the jelly cake that did work. Photos by the lovely Charles Francis.
Our excitable 6 year old enjoyed a crazy mad science party a few weeks ago now.
When she suggested the idea I was a little out of my depth….. not having enjoyed science that much through school…. so I did what I do best and searched the internet for party ideas. Tim also had the great insight to ask some family friends of ours to help with the activities. They are a family full of crazy, fun, sciency folk and they did a marvellous job of entertaining and exciting the masses.
Because I was so thankful to all the people out there in cyber space posting their great ideas for me to use ….I thought would put all the links together in one post for you to use and steal and enjoy.
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| Another free invite by Smilebox |
The invite was made using the excellent Smilebox. So easy , and so free!
Playing with IT…. the slimy stuff.
Norfolk Kids have a great recipe for custard powder gooey slimy stuff!
The super geeks preparing the rocket for launching.
The water rocket was a great hit with the Dad’s and the kids.
The Aquapod bottle launcher could quickly become a family favourite. The launcher is safe and with just a bike pump and water sends the rocket about 100m in the air.
….. a little palaeontology anyone?
Wack with a hammer to reveal a dinosaur inside. A hit!
…similar ideas at Kids Activities Suite 101.
Marbled fingernail painting….
…a little something like this.
6 year old in her scrubs playing with ‘squishy circuits’.
‘Squishy Circuits’ are the brainchild of AnnMarie Thomas. See her TED talk here. These are super cool!!
Yes, it’s an old faithful….pass the parcel. The treats inside included ‘Smarties’ and ‘Nerds’ and crystal stickers.
No link here. I adapted this game all by myself.
Even when we really had no idea what we were doing we looked the part in our lab coats. These came courtesy of the high school our friend works at. They had authentic chemical stains.
Making ice-cream to eat with our birthday ‘cake’….which was actually jelly. BIrthday girls looks a bit sceptical about this one.
We jiggled and wiggled to science music making our ice cream. You can find the recipe here.
….ooops just realised that you all have seen this outfit before on a different birthday girl. Yes the girls do borrow each others clothes.
And speaking of food…..
An exploding (not really) jelly cake.
Made this one up too after the disaster of the ‘molecule cake’
Inside the test tubes was a jelly snake, and it’s hard to see but the jelly was layered lime aqua and pink.
A very cool and easy way to layer jelly. The link is down but you can see from the images here how to do it. All you need is a muffin tray.
It doesn’t show fully in the photo but these drinks were colour layered….it’s all to do with sugar content.
I found this cool idea at the sisters cafe. It also works in a larger jug.
A little difficult to see….. ‘Build a molecule’ tray of round food and toothpicks. Also little specimen cups full of jelly.
The ‘build a molecule’ idea came from Come together Kids. This blog has lots more ideas re:science party.
Balloons and flower balls as party favours. If you look closely you can see the water has H20 labels.
I have talked and made these tissue paper balls before. The instructions can be found at Martha Stewart (I couldn’t do a party without her) and the idea for re-labelling the bottles of water from Kara’s party ideas. As you could imagine ….there are lots more ideas for different parties to be found here.
Last of all 13 year old and I made bunting of real chemical elements (with a few made up ones).
Were you aware the R is the element Random and Da is the element Daring?
…… not to leave out science fiction …… see chemical element Et……
The idea for the bunting came from Apartment Therapy.
6 year old in excellent company…… mad scientist together.
I used the image of Einstein from the invitations…… then photographer 6 year old doing the same face. After a short fiddle with the colours in photo shop….. we had our bunting.
How do you start putting together ideas for a themed party?
What are the best ones you have ever hosted or been too and why?
Dirtgirlworld does World Environment Day.
June 4, 2012
Image from the dirtgirlworld site. For more info click on the picture.
It’s not too late to do your little bit on World Environment Day.
One of my favourite children’s websites has joined forces with a bunch of sponsors (one who happens to be my sisters business) to put together this great resource.
Look at the ideas page….
….and think about how you might get your local schools, communities or churches involved next year. Maybe do something small yourself today!
Happy World Environment Day.
