It's time to say goodbye...

To this, my first blog.

I'm pulling myself in too many different directions and my focus is spread too thin. So I've decided to minimise! This blog is now closed and all future postings will be over at what was originally meant to be my digital scrapbook design blog.

My brand is my name. It's too hard to juggle several different online persona's. I am who I am, and all my little projects need to be under one roof. That includes my digscrap designing, jewellery, photography and art.

So, make sure you head on over to the 'new me' blog and come along for the ride :)

School performances and Nerf wars

Finally, school holidays are here. Two weeks (okay, so 2.5 weeks if you count the public holidays around Easter) until we have to get up early again.
We started off well today with a sleep-in (woot! 7.15am wake up instead of 6am lol), but it's raining (lovely cool Autumn weather), so the kids are stuck inside and have had a couple of run-ins already this morning and my patience is starting to wear thin... I may just send them out in the rain with gumboots and raincoats lol

Yesterday was Scooter's last day of term, and the school had their Easter chapel performances. Scoot had to be dressed all in black with war paint! lol The kids did awesome and the dance (Scream It) rocked... This is the song they performed to:


Scream_it by kadosh777


And here's my warrior-chick lol



hehe They all looked pretty cool as they marched on stage ;)

Afterwards, we took the kids to the shops and ended up at FunHouse, where the kids played a few games and got enough tickets to some small prizes. Mr Mouse also bought something... something I'm not too keen on, but these things happen ;) So long as I'm not used for target practice lol We can blame Mr Mouse for the following photos...

I didn't realise until after I saw the photo that Miss Scooter was dressed rather appropriately for this photo ;)



And the boy *sigh* Please note, that I come from the bush, so my family owns rifles for legitimate pest control purposes, and all children are taught from an early age that guns are serious things, and we generally don't play with any guns (even toys), so I'm just not sure where he picked this pose up from...



So it looks like Nerf wars are the go at the moment. Should make for some interesting parties!!

Slow and steady and something fun

Okay, so my house is what you would call *cluttered*. Over the last 10+ years we have gathered a pile of 'stuff' (not to mention the extra people and animals that make up our current family) and our poor little house just isn't equipped to handle it all. Storage is a major issue.

So other than just buying a bigger house I am determined to get stuck in and clear everything out. Besides, I hate moving.

Last week I started on the family room and kitchen. It's all open-plan, and it's the main part of the house. You can shut bedroom doors, but people need to walk through the family room to get anywhere. It took me 3 days and it's not 100% perfect, but I'm fairly pleased with myself. And I've found it's relatively easy to keep things tidy when they were already sparkly clean lol

So, my kitchen now looks tidy and functional - and the most important function is that visitors can actually make good use of the breakfast bar and chat to you while you cook instead of there being 'stuff' living there. There's a few things left to find homes for, but I'm working on it lol Any suggestion for the pretty bowls and candles are welcome. I don't really have spots for them!



So, in my cleaning haze, I dragged out my rather neglected collection of wire and beads. I have a big selection of strange little beads. They are mostly glass with some gemstones and plastics thrown in. Of course these days I make a lot of my own polymer clay beads, but right now I wanted to play. Somewhere along the way I lost my love of creating just for the sake of it. Making a piece of jewellery that is a piece of art as well. An extension of the creator/wearer. So I flicked through my box and started to play, wrapping wire and beads while Mr Mouse made something with Lego (a tow-truck or car-carrier or some-such creation lol). The kids were in bed and it was incredibly relaxing.

So this was my creation. A free-form wire bracelet. It's not perfect, but then neither am I lol



And a different look at it:


I've left the jewellery making stuff out on the coffee table, which is probably not a great idea seeing as I'm supposed to be cleaning up everything lol But I think I will try for one more night this week of playing and then pack it away again until I get more things cleaned up... like maybe my work desk ;) lol

No fear

This little boy has very little fear. How I wish I could say the same thing about myself.
While he's launching himself through the air, I'm the one sitting on the outside of the pool taking the photo.

This afternoon, a friend and I start our attempt at the Couch-to-5K program. Should be interesting when we still have to look after 4 kids at the same time ;) We are planning a trip to the uni oval and a picnic afternoon tea for the kids lol
Tomorrow I will run by myself during the day. But it's nice to have someone to be accountable to and to share the enthusiasm.

I think Mr Mouse has almost fixed the server, so I may just be able to start doing some more digital work again soon. Other than that, I have two packets of beads made, but no thoughts on what to make with them. Hopefully my inspiration will rock up shortly lol

My hair is short again, and currently straight. I'd post a photo but I need to recharge my camera battery ;) needless to say I'm pretty sure it will be back to curls tomorrow! But it's nice while it lasts. One day I'll organise it so I actually get to go out for dinner with lovely straight hair.

I've had to crack down on my security for comments unfortunately as I awoke this morning to a lot of spam comments. Looks like it's back to comment moderation for a little while. Oh well. I guess they had nothing better to do then spam a boring little blog like mine ;)

Back to the daily routine I suppose. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day :)

Pretty things, broken pc's and a winner!

Last weekend Miss Scooter had her first sleep over at a friend's house. Seeing as she's spent numerous weeks at a time at my parent's place 3.5 hours away with no issues, I figured she'd be perfectly fine a mere 10 minutes down the road with people she'd known for 3+ years ;) She had a blast, and of course, I made the requested bracelet at the last minute lol Not too bad for something whipped up that morning ;)



All things computerised hit a minor snag earlier this week when we had a power surge (very weird, completely different to others we've had) and the RAID server stopped working. Well, it was turning on, but not booting up. Turns out the boot drive died. So it's on the operating table (ie, my dining table!) and is currently being fixed. Hopefully it will be done asap as everything is on there and I'm missing it lol Thankfully all the data drives are fine though :)



But in happier news, I got special mail today! My copy of *bespoke* issue 2! So much gorgeousness. Do you like the photo? I handed the DSLR to Scooter and asked her to take a photo. She felt very honoured to be trusted lol and I think she did a pretty good job.



Which brings me to choosing the winner from the *bespoke* giveaway.
Thanks to random.org, the winner is....

Rowena said...

I would love to win the Bespoke giveaway! I just discovered the vine the other day in fact, and the cover is gorgeous! I love to sew (I make kids clothes), and I adore collage. My kids and I are always at the dining room table either making collage or drawing.

March 19, 2011 4:33 PM

You need to contact me sweetie at donna dot duncombe at gmail dot com, and I'll set you up with your shiny new copy of this fab little zine.

I hope everyone has had a good day. It's getting late here and we have a wedding to attend tomorrow - woot!! so I'm heading off to bed. Probably with a certain little zine to flick through :)

Sometimes I think....

More of me? a photo by dgr_mse on Flickr.

Ever had one of those days where there are so many 'needs' dragging you in all different directions?
I think I drove all over today running errands and doing those 'needed' tasks, like sorting something out for Mr Mouse, getting cardboard for Miss Scooter's assignment, and doing the groceries.
I wistfully glanced at the lovely clothing stores as I power walked through the shopping centre (*sigh* and they had sales on!). Ah well, I'll go look at MadeIt or Etsy instead, not that I have any money lol
And then I get home and there is no water because the council guys are out the front fixing something. I guess I didn't really need that shower anyway ;)
Time to wind down, throw something together that resembles dinner and help Miss Scooter with her assignment (on bright pink cardboard no less! lol). Still trying to work out how my 7yo is going to remember a 2 minute speech, but I figure we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

March Giveaway - Win a copy of Bespoke zine (issue 2)

Lookee here, this is THE best new zine ever. Seriously. And the lovely Jess (of Epheriell Designs) has given me a copy of the latest issue of her baby, *bespoke* to give away to one lucky reader of my blog!



I am in love with this little zine. *bespoke* is a full colour Australian print zine (it's also available as a digital download, but I prefer the touchy-feely paper thing lol), published by Jessica Van Den (the gorgeous lady of EpheriellDesigns.com) and features a huge array of Aussie and international crafty types.

Issue two is crammed full of goodness such as:

-Thrive – Kimono Reincarnate
-Beautiful Blogs – An interview with Pip Lincolne of Meet Me At Mike’s
-From Corporate to Creative – how 3 women did it!
-Vintage Crafts – Rag Ruggin’
-Tutorials – How to hand-carve a sweet birdie stamp!
-How to Find your Vintage Era
-Autumn Lovin’ – a selection of gorgeous Autumnal goodies – to win!
-Bespoke Beauty
-And much, much more!

Want a little sneaky peak? Here you go!







It is seriously crammed full of crafty goodness.

So, what can you do to win? It's pretty simple really! Just leave a comment here and tell me about your favourite art and/or craft, and I'll pick a random winner. Draw will close 24th March, so start commenting!

Meanwhile, I now have to go make a necklace for my daughter to give to her friend for her birthday tonight. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute, yes? lol