Bummer!

Bummer Bummer Bummer! (I can think of much stronger expressions but I will be nice) I can't get rid of the formatting on the signature until I am ready to lose all the formatting for all other posted pictures. I really like the way this template borders and shadows the pictures so for now will go without a signature. When I get bored with this template or if I need to change it for whatever reason I will put the signture back in.
Oh well, I've learnt a lot about blogger's back end and my programming abilities came back almost too easily. Obviously I did too much of this in the previous life and it has become like riding a bike - something I will never forget.

There is now no reason why I shouldn't start sewing for the weekend market.
But.....
Maybe, just maybe I can procrastinate a little longer................

More Beautifying

More blog beautifying, ( anything to let me put off doing my market sewing a little longer), this time in the form of a custom signature. I was going to have my handwriting converted to a font so I could write a lot in my 'own hand' but I dont have a scanner that works at the moment so used 'My Live Signature" instead. 
Who knows, in the future I might get my handwriting done.
To get the signature into the blog I used the tutorial by Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous but when I inserted the code in the template box on the settings page, it put the signature at the top of the post and I was unable to write above it. To rectify this problem I inserted the html code "<"B"R">"&"nbsp";"<"BR">" before the code for the actual signature ( a throw back to the days before children ), to give a blank line so that I can write the actual post.  If you wish to use this code  you will need to remove all the "". These were put in to stop a blank line being inserted in the post.
How about that? I actually did a sort of mini tutorial - albeit 1 line and even more amazing the computer programming brain that has not been used for 10 years still works! Now to prod it into remembering how to remove the template picture formatting or override it for one picture only.


Happy Days!

Email Posting Test

On exploring the intricacies of blogging I wanted to be able to post if away from my laptop. Hence posting via email.

I tried posting via MMS but this must be for USA residents only like SMS because all it did when waiting to receive my code was hang my laptop.

Now that the text has made it through (hopefully) lets try a picture.......

It should be a picture of ‘success’

Yay me, if this works

Eight Answers

On browsing the blogosphere and all my favourtie blogs I came across Kate of Fox's Lane and her 8 questions. I have just had my birthday analysed and 8 is my life path number. I am not sure what that entails exactly other than the number 8 plays a large part in my life. Then 8 questions popped up and I thought why not. I am not sure who will ever read the answers as I am a newbie to blogging and as of yet have no followers but what the heck, who knows what I might find out about myself along the way.
Here goes....

1. Favourite Meal to Eat: Any kind of fish, or the perfectly cooked corned beef with mashed potatoes, peas and sweet baby carrots. I know the second option is boring and fuddy-duddy ish, but I think it is yum - probably due to the fact that I dont get to cook it at home as hubby doesn't like it.
2. Do you have a quirky eccentricity? According to my family I do. I am obsessed with using the correct knife for things. ie a cake is cut with a cake knife not a carving knife and you do not butter bread with a serrated knife. Because of this I have 2 knife blocks on my bench with the top row of knives dedicated to specific purposes and the lower row is for general utility knives.
3. My middle name is: Jane.  Plain and simple but it works well with so many other names that my eldest daughter has it too.
4. I am passionate about: being yourself. I hate it when people change who they are to 'fit in' with the supposed correct people.
5. Thongs or Birkenstocks?: Both. Although the birkenstocks are starting to take over and the thongs are being relegated to the beach/ pool trips etc.
6. Who was I before I had kids?: A compter programmer, trainer and technician. I was responsible for installing computer systems, providing support ( both technichal and software) and training on all aspects of use etc. I now never want to fix another computer or solve anyone's software problems. I am happy to use one and play dumb when it stops working and ask hubby to fix it for me. He got his bug for learning everything  and I mean everything there is about IT and computers from me bringing work home when we first met.
7. Have I ever been arrested?: No. My police check would be boring and empty.
8. This weekend I will: be visiting the Sisters Market on Saturday and then on Sunday be at the Mornington Racecourse Market selling my wares ( hoping that the rain stays away) and then enjoying the Monday Holdiay. ( thanks Queenie).

Well there we are - 8 things about me that most people who know me would probably be able to answer most but not all the questions.

Now off to do some sewing for the weekend ...........

Winter Chills

Winter definately let us know it has arrived today!
With the temperature not going above 13'C, a real chill in the wind, and the torrential downpours, there was no doubt cold times lay ahead. Not coming from somewhere with snow and all the problems that come with it, I do wish we could have a white winter to go with the low temperatures. Mia asked this morning why if  it was winter now, why we did not have any snow. She could not understand that just cos winter on the ABC kids shows always has snow, in Melbourne snow is an absoloute rareity.
Days like this mean very little gets done around here as there is always something someone has lost, has taken off someone else, wont share with someone, and then there is the constant hunger problem - when's lunch, when's dinner, I'm hungry - you know the drill.
After a day of being shut in the house watching the rain, we took a break in the weather this afternoon as a chance to take the dog to the park and stretch some cramped legs. (This is only after one day - wait till mid winter when it can rain for days on end).

legs stretched

wait for me....

searching for 4 leaf clovers

playing in the autumn leaves - even if they are a little wet

exercise for Toby

My Creative Space

Well after a late night finishing the leather cuff last night I was greeted by this view out of my weather window early this morning.
The ground was as white and crunchy as the sky ( our first frost for the season) 

This is the view from my kitchen window and is the best way of telling the weather for the day ( perhaps I could rent it out to the tv weathergirls as their prediciton method is fairly lousy). The large maple tree is my season indicator tree and in the big white space next to it is a huge gum tree ( normally visible) that is my wind  indicator.
I love fog and the thicker the better. To me it is mystical and magical. It always makes me think of the movie Brigadoon and on the really pea souper days my inner child hopes I might stumble on my own magical town buried in the fog.

By the time Mia and I returned from Playgroup this morning the fog had lifted to a beautiful, albeit cold, sunny day.
That meant I could use the natural light to take some photos of my new cuffs and play with all the manual settings on my camera. (Depth of field is my favourite)

After lunch I decided to sort out the zipper stash and with the organisational skills of a 2 1/2 year old this is what we ended up with.

so now my challenge is to turn the above into the below.

 

Now it is off to make some of my famous chocolate muffins. Sarah's friends at school have requested some for snack tomorrow as even though their mums now have the recipe they apparently dont make them taste as good.

As it is creative Thursday, pop on over to Kootoyoo and check out what other crafty people are up to.

Cuffed Up

With the hlep of a couple of spare hours today, tonight mystery hours have been very productive. TWO cuffs completed and ready to go. 1 is the bubbles one I pinned out last night and the 2nd is a zipper strip cuff on leather. Again a very large learning curve working with leather and hot glue. Am wondering if there is a glue better suited to gluing things to leather tha normal hot glue. The cuff is now sitting under several phonebooks, chopping boards etc to keep it presses while it finishes drying tonight. I am also happy to say no new hot glue burns tonight - Shock horror, I might actually be getting the hang of this thing. Yay me!.
Here are tonights accomplishments....

Bubbles...

Leather cuff......

Now to find an outlet for all this zipper jewellery I have building up apart from my shop on madeit.

Mystery Hours

Once again the post meant for Tuesday is not written until after midnight. Oh how I could do with some extra hours inserted between 11pm and midnight.

With the design for my second cuff constantly on my mind, it was a long day before 'my' mystery hours came tonight. My girls give the time after they go to bed, when the dishes are done, house tiedied, everything ready for the next day and other half is happily installed in front of either his computer or the TV with remote in hand, the name of mystery hours because according to them this is when new things or clothes just appear. In thruth between 10pm and 2am (that is my absolute deadline if I want to be able to function the next day) is my time to sew, craft, hot glue, soothe the glue burns (which are getting less) and basically let the creative juices flow.

Tonight was the new cuff. Instead of twisting zippers this time I wanted to recreate a 'doodle' that I think everyone has done at one time or another. You know the one where you start out with a few big circles and fill in all the between gaps with ever decreasing circles until the whole area is filled with masses of circles.
This is the scribble that prompted it all.

and then translated into zippers....

The larger circles looked a little empty so some of the extra circles I had made were used to break them up a bit.
Now firmly attached to the polystyrene with many, many pins, the fun part of tacking the design to the felt begins. I am getting a lot faster at the whole process though. The last cuff was a very fast learning curve.

I did also whip up a new dress for myself from one that had sat in the wardrobe since the 80's. I bought it the last time the Military theme was big and had the extra long military vest to go over the top and break up its greyness. Scary to think I could hold onto something so boring for so long. This year as a first day of winter thing, I gave up waiting for long grey 80's dresses to become fashionable again and transformed a boring grey full length dress into a empire line, just above the knee dress. I forgot to take a before picture but just imagine an ankle length dress with the waistline on the actual waist and the obligatory 80's shoulderpads. ( These were the first to go).
Here is what it became...

I know it doesn't look much laying down but the only full length mirror in the house is in my daughters bedroom and she is sleeping peacefully. I do like how I fluked the flash to be where my head should be.
I am also hoping that it may look ok over leggings etc as a tunic style top as well.