Working and thinking...

One of my goals for this year was to exhibit some of my artwork in at least two exhibitions.  I'm very happy to say that the first exhibition I'm participating in is just around the corner.  It is Viva la Frida - The Exhibition and opens on March 9 at The Circle Gallery in West End.

I've been working on three pieces depicting various yearnings/loves/obsessions of Frida and of course, how could I resist my own version of her stunning face.

My happiness is somewhat tinged with sadness and concern at the moment for my most beloved Aunty.  She's suffering through a very deep depression filled with terrible thoughts and I find myself thinking about her almost constantly.  She's always been my inspiration you see...she's the one who told me to just practice, she's the one who I wanted to draw like.  So sad but soon hopefully she will begin the long road back to normality.  

Are you a creative type living in the Brisbane-ish area.....

Did you know that you don't need to have any etsy shop anymore to join BrisStyle Inc.?  How cool is that.  It means that all sorts of creative type people can join up and have fun and meet loads of other lovely creative peeps to talk creatively with!  It also means that if you're not quite ready to do a market or open an etsy shop that you can do it slowly with lots of support and encouragement .  Nice!!

If you're interested, do check out the membership section of the BrisStyle website for more information.  If you've got any queries, send them over to brisstyleteam@gmail.com......and I'll get right back to you!

Is home where the heart is?

(the view from my front door)

Someone I know recently said something about my home.  Not in a mean way mind you but in a roundabout way they implied that my home is a little bit crap.  They'd recently decided that no one 'has it all' and used me as an example saying that even with my great stuff ie great kids, great husband etc, etc, I had no great home to enjoy it all in.

It got me thinking.  It got me thinking because often I feel like my home isn't so great too.  I get embarrassed by it.  I get embarrassed to say that I live in a shed (sorry, shouse) and sometimes, well pretty much all times I don't invite people over because of it.  Me who cares not what others think, cares what others think about my home.

I thought about it quite a bit when I heard this little titbit of gossip and I thought about what makes a home great.  Is it granite benchtops, a rumpus room (which usually don't see much rumpusing) and a massive bathroom sink or is it memories and laughter and the occasional cobweb in the toilet?

One day, when our house is finished, will I look up here at our old shouse and miss it just a little?  Probably not so much but what I do know is that this little shouse of ours is more of a shome than I realised.

What do you think?  What makes your house a home?

A work in progress...

It's all happening in the nest at the moment.

The boys are building another chook-pen for some new ladies joining us soon.  This one is big with a capital B and will be home to about 15 lucky chickens.

Things are moving along on the house.  The slab will be down soon...I can hardly wait!

Surrounding all this hustle and bustle are the trees we planted years ago, once tiny seedlings, now full of colour.

Mumma made....

So often with markets and etsy and everything else on my plate, I forget to make time for some mumma made goodies for my own little monsters.

You can't really go wrong with baby pants though can you?  I mean they take 15 minutes or so to whip up and are cutie-patoot not to mention a fantastic way to use up some of the fabrics I've been saving for my 'just in case' baby girl.

I use a very basic one piece baby pants pattern so they're not only quick but kind of fun (I love sewing up the leg seams in a big U shape!).  I even whipped up little Xanadu a pair of denim pants the other day...denim with red polka-dot cuffs!

Then there's a bit of boy sewing.  Littlest boy is the biggest fan of mumma-made shorts ever so when I saw this amazing Japanese fabric that the very lovely Mel from Kimono Reincarnate was destashing I grabbed it without hesitation....and here's the results.....

I wish there were more hours in the day or more days in the week for more mumma-made sewing....it really is my favourite kind.

Feelin' Crafty...

Where has the time gone?  It's already mid January...kids are nearly back to school and the little babe is already 5 months old!  

There's been very little making going on lately but a few of my Christmas gifts have inspired me to get back into it.  I was a very lucky girl this year.  Mr Jetta's Nest gifted me with a beautiful set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils......eeeek!  I can not wait to use them.  I've played with them a little and their the absolute nicest pencil I've ever, ever used.  I also was given a nice little stack of my favourite drawing pens and loads and loads of sketchbooks and artist paper.  Yes....I was super spoiled!

Anyways...here's a little something I knocked up last night.  Littlest brother and I have been in negotiations for quite some time about this girl.  We've planned adventures for her....maybe even a sidekick and of course she has plenty of cheesy sayings.............so without further ado, let me introduce to you.......Craft Girl - she's got it all stitched up!!

How's your new year proceeding so far?  Is it tumbling along as quickly as mine is right now??

Building...

....a gingerbread house.  Flat-pack from Ikea.  It didn't look so good and it didn't taste nearly as good as homemade but hey, it was up in 5 minutes and then down in about 2!

Nimble little fingers stealing adorments

I'd love to make a beautiful one from scratch....I'm pretty sure it'll never happen though.  Have you ever made a proper one or even a flat-pack that looked ace?