My Creative Space

After a hectic week, this creative space finds me making muffins.My 'Best Ever Chocolate Muffins', ( so named by Sarah and Mia) are Mia's favourite thing to do in the kitchen as she can mix everything together and then it is a race to see if I can get the mixture into the muffin pans before her tiny little finger has 'tasted' all the mixture. It is surprising how much one little finger can collect when tested numerous times.
As we have no snow here in winter, the next favourite part of muffin making is putting the 'snow' or icing sugar on the muffins, as well as the bench and anything else within arms reach.

Showing Piglet how to make it snow.

Waiting for them to cool

 Still waiting, but getting closer

 

 Cool enough - This one's mine

 

To see what other creative people are up to this week pop on over to Kootoyoo .

Wordless Wednesday

Through the eyes of a 2yr old.

I am constantly humbled by the simple wonders of the world  as seen through the eyes of my 2 year old daughter. Saturday night found us sitting ( and shivvering) under the bigtop of the Perry Brothers Circus - a family circus since 1880 - watching what probably would have been a great circus 20 years ago. Now, to an adults eyes the acts are tired, the performers are old and the 'sparkle' of a circus is missing due probably to the fact that this circus used to have lions end elephants etc, but there are now gone , as they are for all circuses, and the acts have not been replaced by anything eye-catching. .... BUT.... In the eyes of a 2year old ( and a 9 year old) the magic is still there. The clowns are still magic, the tightrope man is awsome and so is the balancing acrobat. ( I have to agree the balancing guy was really good). Each act was followed by enthusiastic applause and constant 'Wow''s and all we heard on the drive home was..'I want to go to the circus again tomorrow Mummy'.

Sunday was a suprisingly sunny winters day so we took advantage of the lack of rain to get out into the vegie garden. The broccoli, cauliflower and beans had all finished and needed to be pulled out and added to the compost so the garden can be ready for the next plantings. While I was pulling out the bigger plants  it was Mia's job to pull out all the grass that had sprung up along the edge of the garden. To her suprise she found the absolute last of our carrots. She spent the rest of the night, and all through dinner, pointing out that we were eating our carrots and that she had found them when everyone else had said there were no more.

The proud haul - albeit a small one

One chilli plant has been devastated by the frosts so it was also Mia's job to pick the last of the chillies on the bush before it was pulled up. Again these were proudly displayed to all as she had 'tected' ( protected) them from the nasty frost.

'Tected Chillies

This coming week brings busy, busy, busy. Shop listings to be done, wholesale orders to be sent and a new 'day job' to start. I have good intentions to post as much as I can, especially since this blog will be used as a family update as well as craft for the next few weeks as the grandparents tour the great Australian Outback, but we will see what time allows...
So for now I'll leave you with the thought....'Dont over think things. Sit back and enjoy the simple happiness to be gained from looking at things through the eyes of a 2year old'.

My Creative Space

YAY - they arrived!! My stamp set that is.....

So this week has seen me dig out some old spoons and some of these  ( everyday flat washers, that is) .....

and make some of these......

...... More practice is needed to make sure the imprints are deep and even and silver spoons are much easier than the flat washers. Others have been made but they are now touring outback NSW and I forgot to get photos before they went to their new home.

(I know this isn't Basil but mid winter is not going to find much basil growing in vegie gardens. Plus I am standing in the rain on a very wet Melbourne morning to take these photos so parsley will do.)

( As the rain was getting heavier, only one shot of each spoon was taken so their was no 'choice' to be made for the best shot/lighting, lack of stray grass growing in the vegie garden etc.)
  

Practised versions of all of these will be available in my me2 madeit shop very soon....

~~~~~~~~~

Today was the opening day of the Quilt and Craft Fair in Melbourne and many hours were spent fossicking through beads, fabric, silver blanks and the  best store for any sort of gadget you could think of. www.punchwithjudy.com.au . (Finally a supplier of freezer paper in Aus!) If I had the patience to make quilts there would be even more to choose from - especially a thing they call the Curve Master Presser Foot , solely for sewing curves without the need to clip or press the seam flat!
If I could knit there is also this great book called "Really Wild Tea Cosies" - hmmmm, now who do I know who knits and has time on their hands.......sis?
The day was not all spent drooling however - apart from a selection of charms, pendants and some sterling silver pendant blanks, I did buy myself a darning foot for my machine. ( my main reason for going to the fair)

I have watched  Alisa Burke do lovely free form stiching on her blog as she transforms clothes, furnishings etc and wanted to give it a go myself, so, first thing done on arriving home today was to play with my new toy. I only got time for one attempt but was very happy with it and can't wait for the chance to do more. If this is what a first attempt looks like, the future looks promising.

To find out what other creative types are up to today, pop on over to Kootoyoo and gaze upon some amazing talent.

Wordless Wednesday

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words so today sees the start of Wordless Wednesday. A day which will will be represented by a photo or photos to sum up the last week or the feeling of the day.  It will also help me get in the habit for the photo a day I want to take of each of the girls starting at their next birthday (handy that they are only 8 days apart - the wallet never thinks this is good though).
Here we go .......

 

 

.............

Winter Sunshine and Whales

The extra week of the school holidays for Sarah saw us take a couple of days to explore the 'other side' of the bay. Living on the Mornington Peninsula means we dont get down to Victoria's Surf Coast much, although with all the new bypasses that have been built it is now much quicker. I had wanted to do something to get everyone out of the house, do something new, and most of all, away from computers! This time of year, pregnant whales head to Warrnambool to calve. To me it still seems a freezing and rough place to have a baby but they seem to like it as they have been calving there for a very long time. All types of whales can be seen, Blue Whales, Sperm Whales, Dwarf Minke Whales, but the most popular are the Southern Right Whales.
Anyway, our first afternoon of whale watching had no whales but we were entertained by several seals playing in the surf and riding the waves almost right into the beach. THe second day was more successful with a very heavily pregnant whale spotted out from the viewing platform. Now spotting a whale when they are pregnant is not the most exciting as they are too heavy to throw themselves out of the water so you see their backs and the water spouts mainly - but hey a whale is a whale.

 The surfing Seal

 Whale Spout
( a bigger lens was needed and I kept wathcing the whale and forgetting to take pictures.)

 Whales Back

The journey home found us weaving along the Great Ocean Road to Port Campbell and checking out the 'Shipwreck Coastline' at places like London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge and no trip is complete without visiting the stunning 12 apostles ( even though there are now only 9 left standing)

The 12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

We were lucky with the weather with beautiful sunshine, but there was a distinct possibility that it could have rained the entire time and as with most holidays it ended much too soon and we returned to get reasy for the next 10 weeks of school.

Christmas in July

A few weeks ago I signed up to take part in my first ever gift exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous. I was very nervous, yet excited, about what to send and what I would receive. Would what I sent be too small?, Would the person I sent it to like it? .
I sent my package off by the cutoff date and a couple of days later my surprise arrived in the mail - all the way from Eagle Mountain (rather appropriate I think for someone with a surname of Eagleson), just south of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ability of blogs etc to bring together people from all over the world and eliminate actual distances, time zones etc amazes me.
Inside was some fabulous reversible bunting with 'Happy Birthday' on one side and 'Celebrate' on the other. We have had a couple of birthdays since then and mid year Christmas is coming up this month so it has been, and will be, well used pretty much from the moment it arrived.
A big thank you to Jessica for her wonderful gift.
Now to hope mine is as well received......

Being gloomy winter over here, it is very hard to show these off to thier best.

Where's my Hoverboard?

Did anyone notice that last Tuesday was the day that Marty McFly arrived in the future after hitting 88mph in a pimped out Delorean in 1985?

Just a little bit of trivia to fill your Friday ( and to help show your age).

Now where is my hoverboard?

Wishing for Knitting with a Giveaway thrown in.

- or at least the ability to be able to do it!
I have always found sewing and guesstimating at patterns fairly easy and generally my experiments turn out pretty well with only a few tweaks needed for the finished product BUT knitting on the other hand is a whole different story. I have attempted to learn to knit several times but each time has resulted in abject failure. I know you say anyone can knit - but not this little black duck. Just like my attempts to make scones. I can cook most other things but I could sell any attempt at scones to the army as amunition. Even a chef has guided me to making bullets and in the end threw his hands up and said some things just weren't for everyone.
Therefore I have to buy scones ( or have others make them for me) and gaze in wonder and awe at all the fabulous knitted creations that appear on eveyone's blogs. I must admit I like unusual items and this necklace at Kute Kiwi really caught my eye. I have seen several chain necklaces made from felt and the like but I think the wool gives it that extra something.

What do you think? Pop on over and check it out and you may even win one her wonderful creations.
P.S. I also like the flower on her wrist.

My Creative Space

Todays creative space finds me recovering from probably the worst migraine I have ever had and I have had some doozies. Yesterday however, I could not stand up or even sit up without the head going and the vision unable to focus on anything. Subsequently from 10am yesterday til 8.30am this morning was spent in bed in a semi awake state. Almost back to normal today - just a little shakey and vision still goes blurry if I stare at the computer screen for too long. Hence any creative stuff done today will be faily basic and can almost be done on auto pilot. It consists of a pile of Wheat Bears for this weekend's market,( it has been so cold here lately that these have been selling really well),......

..... some more coffee cozies as these have also been selling really well but not always as coffee cozies. Some have gone to be worn a cuffs and others even as a large brooch ( the lady really loved the button). Some have even gone as pants extenders for pregnant women or as cuffs for kids jeans to extend their length. People constantly amaze me with their 'different' ideas.

Last but no least some more fleece flowers that can be worn on a beanie, headband, brooch or hair-clip.

I had planned to finally get started with stamping some washers and making some cool keychains, pendants etc but that will have to wait until my head can take loud banging noises again and the concentration/focus is back to 100%. Attempting something like that now would certainly produce some interesting/abstract outcomes  to say the least. Three weeks ago when I went looking for an alphanumerical metal stamp set, I could find nothing in Australia, even on ebay, and I was dreading haveing to pay the lovely cheap price  for the stamp set from the USA but the horrible postage (as they are not light). Now they are everywhere out here.

Postage in the USA is so cheap  in comparison to here. In the Christmas in July gift swap that I took part in from Craftaholics Anonymous, I received a lovely present from Salt Lake City for a total postage cost of $5.60. My parcel which weighed about the same but going to Canada cost a whopping $18! Even converting the US price into $AUS there is no comparison.

Pop on over to Kootoyoo to take a peek into other people's crafty world.

A Break in the Rain

It is not a nice way to spend the school holidays cooped up at home being sick and then just as you start to get better the weather really caves in. So to make up for this we took a break in the rain today as our chance to get out and get some fresh air - really cold air, but fresh air. We headed down to our local park by the beach, Mia about as rugged up as she could be and Sarah being the typical " I'm not cold" grade 5 kid. She did however layer up with thermals to keep me happy. I was really bummed that I did not take my camera to the park as there were a couple of great shots of them playing together and racing each other down the slide but when we made it to the beach for some sandcastle making, I remembered I had my phone and I hadn't tried out the new zoom feature for the camera on the iphone.
I must say I am rather impressed by the camera today as the light was not good (it was getting close to dark and at the moment that is not long after 5pm) and it did a pretty good job of not making everything blurry. It must like natural light better than inside light as the photos are always better.
We are hoping that tomorrow is a little brighter for longer so that we can head down there again or maybe up to the dandenongs in search of freashly roasted chestnuts.

This is my favourite shot for the day

 

Just for Mum