tsk tsk

trigger treeding and jacorandas

It seems in this house our kids have discovered Halloween. My generation never celebrated Halloween as the Northern Hemisphere does. Infact it was't an event at all!  But I'd say that tonight  just about every neighbourhood across Australia there will be little dressed up terrors knocking on doors tonight. M calls it 'trigger treeding" She has no idea what it is all about. I think she will just be happy with green hairspray in her hair.

I was too lazy to buy a pumpkin to carve. the local ones are too hard and the imported ones too expensive. (You can see I'm really getting into the spirit of things). Pardon the pun.

So I carved a rockmelon instead. Not sure how our Jack O Lantern or as it is called by M as Jacoranda, is going to light up, but I don't think they will mind. Perhaps I should have filled it with red jelly instead.

In the meantime, I'm all ready for tomorrow. My little helpers this morning were great at packing some of the greeting cards, while I snapped some shots of work I'll be taking.

Went to the Finders Keepers today and it was really great. So happy to see lots of like minded people there. Glad Brisbane is really starting to support these events.

Best go green paint to be sprayed!!!

6 new cards

I have this feeling that my computer is about to crash. It's making that chugging sound. I haven't turned it off in over a week and I'm getting all sorts of messages about a full disk. Next week, I'll be spring cleaning my house because I don't recall what colour my floors are, and I'll be spring cleaning my computer.

Today is all about printing, packing, mailing, and getting ready for Sunday. I have 6 new greeting card designs ready for sale. I'm using a new recycled stock which has a lovely sheen. I'll just be keeping this in the Etsy shop for now. I'm really happy with how they turned out. All are blank. 4 are for Christmas, with the intent of making the design a little more suited to a warmer climate. The other two are for any occasion.

For all of you who visit my blog, I'd like to offer a special. (I'm not advertising this anywhere else. Just here in this space) Spend $25 US or AUD more in my shop and I'll send you two cards for free. I'll end the offer by November 12th.

Don't forget if you are coming along to the markets on Sunday, I only will have cash facilities.

tulips and birds

just popping in very quickly to keep you up to date with new works I am creating.

Here is a little peek at new prints. they'll be in the shop next week but I'll have some available at the stall on Sunday 1st for the Mathilda's Markets.

my weekly obsession

I am amazed that I have never come across a sea urchin whilst at the beach. NEVER! Considering that i have always lived very near to and visited the beach all my life, I think it strange.

They are rare and beautiful creatures and my latest obsession. They make me happy. Perhaps the thought that a beach holiday isn't too far away, makes me think about them more. For now I am content with having just 3.

That is enough..any more and I will become one of those mad, eccentric collectors and before I know it the house will be covered with seashells and coral!

Pictured below are Heather's finds. (from Skinny laMinx). And herz-allerlieb's treasures found in her flickr stream. Flickr has heaps of great photos of urchins to explore. And a little strange fact about urchins...they have hundreds of tiny, tubed feet and five teeth in the middle of their back side!

school bell

so, busy weeks ahead of me. I have so much to do and the usual 'of so little time'... I'm hoping to finish my ABCme orders, print some new cards and finish new commissions.

I'm trying to get everything in order for the Mathilda's market which will be on the 1st of November in Brisbane 9-1pm and that certain day in December which I dare not mention just yet because it really is way too early.

It's a battle between me and the school bell.

this weekend

This weekend we celebrated the upcoming 7th birthday of A. Lego party, cake, perfect day in the park under a big shady fig with lots of little friends.

This weekend I bought flowers from the market. Because it is Spring.

This weekend I am washing, and folding, and hanging and putting away baskets of laundry. Like I do most weekends.

This weekend the kids are splashing in the pool.

This weekend I am trying to paint some more. Only a plan at this stage.

This weekend we made pancakes and ate our first mango for the season.

new and free

well, I have new greeting cards in my Etsy shop.

A new little birdy painting in the Bigcartel shop.

Amanda from Swish and Swanky is having a giveaway on her blog. Pop on over and have a look and you could win yourself my print of  'Nigel the Robot'.

In the meantime I have lots of orders so fill and finish. I'm so glad to be busy, it must be Spring!

my weekly obsession

This week its all about dinner. the daily decision I find so utterly boring to make. Thinking about what to have for dinner takes about 15 minutes of my day, then shopping for it, and then finally cooking it whilst listening to the "but I'm still hungry mum" in the background, and making sure it is all ready by a civil hour!

Gone are the days of last minute gourmet dinners served after 8pm! I used to love cooking with a passion. Now I'm not saying that my kids have bland tastes. Tuna Sashimi, Penang chicken curry, French Brie, and Chinese dumplings are amongst their favourites. It's just the process of thinking, cooking, and eating with cranky kids who like pumpkin one day, and hate it the next, that takes all the fun out of it.

So how does this become my obsession of the week?

Well, I still love good food and every few weeks I go through stages of trying to cook new and exciting meals and so I have become obsessed with food sites and blogs. I usually end up cooking the same old thing, but occasionally......I have a good night.

Two of my first favourite blogs were (and still are) Cream Puffs in Venice, even though I don't have a sweet tooth i love this site.

Orangette led me on a walking tour of Paris and Brussels last year to find the perfect Macaroon and Croissant. And i am now passionate about her French Chocolate Granola. (pic botom left)

And in recent times I am always clicking over to sites like, 101 Cookbooks, (cashew curry, top) Tartelette, (2nd pic shows the spiced quince crumble recipe). Not Without Salt, showing here oven fried onion rings

Steamy Kitchen, bottom right showing how to make bacon and blue cheese butter.

Now not all of these are dinner recipes of course, but each site offers great ideas to meet my obsession with food and food blogs. Quality food, quality photos and quality information.

I can quite happily waste an hour looking for something inspiring to cook for dinner, and come away with nothing. Oh well, at least there is wine in the fridge to get me through the whining whilst I make one of the regular favs!

Fiona jumped aboard 'my weekly obsession'  last week, feel free to share yours.

new works on wood

I'm really struggling to find what I want to do with my creative self. I have had my hand in a bit of everything. From graphic design, product design, surface design, illustration, personalised works for kids and more. But now that the kids are at school I have been really wanting to paint.

So far this year with all the sickness we have had in the house, I have stopped and started my ideas about 20 times. I feel that with painting, I need to be in a certain frame of mind. Infact I could easily be a hermit. Locked away in my studio, never talking to anyone, still in my pjs eating peanut butter sandwiches. (geez I hope I'm never single because that description certainly won't win me any hot dates) But the reality as we all know isn't like that. But I have this feeling that there will be more time for me to self indulge in some painting time.

This of course means that I need to stop other creative pursuits. I'm not sure what yet, but certainly I will spend the next few months with the lead up to Christmas thinking seriously about what it is I really want to concentrate on and how I will endeavour to go about it.

I really need to make up my mind, because I'm sure my friends are sick of hearing me harp on about it as if it is the most tragic dilemma in the world!

So for now I have a few new paintings in my shop. There will be changes to both my Etsy and Bigcartel shops too. I'll be phasing things in and out over the next few weeks hopefully.

my obsession

it seems that every week I have a new obsession with something. This week it is with vases. I'm thinking I might make this a regular post on my blog. "my obsession of the week". Please join in if you like, I'd love to know what yours is.

One Black Bird's Holiday studio sale

red felt flower's Corners of my home #1

Neville Trickett's 037Still_Life

You_ii's mitsuru koga01