Dressed Up With No Where To Go

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Would you believe! My eldest gets more wear out of my high heels than what I do. I should take a leaf out of her book and just wear my party shoes when doing run of the mill chores around the house, like cleaning the dishes and vacuuming the floor. Perhaps I could take my girls to the park wearing some glittery, risky high heels that I have been positively drooling over for months. Maybe? Maybe not!

I'm Still Here

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Okay! Granted it has been a slow week for blogging. Sometimes it gets like that when there are so many different things that you want or need to do. It can be healthy to take a break from blogging for a few days or a week. It is a way of saying my life isn't controlled by this one thing.
    Having said that I thought I'd pop in and leave a little note so the one or two readers that I have know I haven't fallen down a crack in the earth.
    It has been storming and sunny on and off today. At first the family tried stepping out but this bipolar weather isn't making it possible. Instead we stepped into the backyard for a short while and let the eldest let off a bit of steam in the puddles.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

12 x 17

    It has been a while since I last posted about my granny square project. But that doesn't mean it is dropped or forgotten. In actual fact I finished making all my granny squares. Now is the patient task of crocheting the pieces together. I imagine this will take one or two months to complete.

Click here to see the full progress of my granny square project.

The Gwen-Paper-Dolyn

    This is by no means a tutorial, but I thought I'd share with you the progress of a paper doll which had been made for my eldest [at her request]. Perhaps at some later stage when I have perfected the paper doll I will go about creating a tutorial for this one.

In the beginning, a template was drawn.

The template was coloured in and cut out.

And finally, the base was taped into a cylinder and the dress was
placed over the body.

Should You Be In Richmond, Virginia

    ... Just a quick note to anyone reading my blog, should you be living near Richmond, Virginia, USA or plan to be visiting the place in oh... say... the next twenty four hours, the lovely author, Candice Ransom, will be doing a Saturday book signing for her new book Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World. For more information visit Candice's blog... http://www.candiceransom.com/honeysucklevine/2012/ivas-launch-book-signing/
If you know some book lovers in Virginia be sure to spread the word.

Boondocks, Anyone?

    One of my favourite bloggers, Candice Ransom put me onto this number by Little Big Town. Boondocks is a hometown pride, feel good song. Enjoy ya'll...

Projects and Books

    Where am I at? I finished one major project this weekend. I completed a curtain for my bedroom. 
    Now that is over I can return to my crochet project, which is just so close to completion. You know when you are almost finished making something you find yourself slowing down, or being distracted by something else. That project could be done in another few weeks but suddenly drags out a few extra months. That has happened with my granny square project. Granted though, I did initially give myself an entire year to get the thing made, so really my progress has been faster than anticipated. Still, that final stage is a slow mover.
    On another note I am developing my mind. I have begun reading A Room of One's Own by Virgina Woolf. What are you reading at the moment?

Light, Lady Bird, Baby

My second roll of film from my Ricoh camera had been developed and I finally had a chance to collect it today.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Stars In My Eyes

I am such a girly girl.

I love stars.

I love glitter.

I love glittery stars.

In another life I probably would have been a dancer for Kylie.

Or I would have been Kylie.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Paperdoll Heaven

    Quite by accident I stumbled [is there any other way] across a wonderful site. And I will not be satisfied with myself today if I do not tell you what I found.
    Deep down inside, I love, and I mean I love paperdolls. They are the perfect thing when you cannot afford full scale three dimensional dolls, which was sometimes the case when you were a kid. Having said that a paperdoll isn't any less dear than other dolls. I would even suggest that a owning a paperdoll means you are drawing more on your creativity. Plus you can start to draw and colour your clothing designs for your paperdolls.
    So come on! Tell us, what did you discover? Okay, I'm getting there...
    I found this site called Dumbelle ~ Pretty Smart and it represents a store far away in a distant and exotic land called Brooklyn [Well, it's exotic to me. I've never been there]. The owner, Elaine Pedlar, designs and illustrates her own range of paperdolls.

Copyright Elaine Pedlar

Copyright Elaine Pedlar

    Amongst her paperdolls there are three main characters - May, Sunny and Kate. Each girl has distinctive interests and tastes, offering a little something different for everyone.

Copyright Elaine Pedlar

Copyright Elaine Pedlar

    I am so excited by what Elaine has achieved here. The shop feels like a sweet shop. But instead of candy, it is paperdolls for sale. On top of all this Elaine also hosts paperdoll parties and provides one on one tutorials/event sessions.

Check out Dumbelle at

dumbelle.com

Or follow the blog "Dumbelle Diary" at

blog.dumbelle.com/

Suburban David Attenborough

    This week I feel like a suburban David Attenborough. Yesterday I was patching up the ear of a sock monkey. Today I am chasing a white and black cat that ran through the backyard. I was so excited by the visitor that I went all paparazzo on it. Later in the night Michael pointed out a young Mister Lizard parked just out the back door. It must have been quite cold because it barely moved even when I came in close to take a photo.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Autumn Heart

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Finding my heart

In the Autumn dark

Treading these boards

I am seeking your light

When I see the heart

I know I am home

Your heart floats before me

And if I am lost

It will light my way home.

Welcome to Iva's World



Photography by Candice Ransom

    The author Candice Ransom, a childhood favourite of mine, is now celebrating the release of her book and cheeky new character - Iva Honeysuckle. The book is called Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World, published by Disney Hyperion.
    Come join the party and help Iva and Candice celebrate the publication of this pretty book... http://www.candiceransom.com/honeysucklevine/2012/publication-day-party/


Photography by Candice Ransom

DIY Cardboard Car



Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Today my eldest quite literally presented me with a challenge. She handed to me two empty toilet rolls and asked me to turn it into a car. So I say 'leave it to me and I'll think of something'.
    So as you can imagine, today's tutorial is all about making a cardboard car.

What materials do you need?

• 2 empty toilet rolls
• cardboard [it can come off a box, even a cereal box]
• art knive
• acrylic paint and paint brush
• texta

Instructions:

1. Draw an outline of a car on to two pieces of cardboard.

2. Cut out both car outlines.

3. Thinly paint the two car outlines with acrylic paint.



4. Allow the car outlines to dry.



5. Cut into each toilet roll 2.5 cm from each end.
Ensure the cuts only go halfway the rolls.

6. Slide the car outlines into the rolls.
The rolls will now become the wheels of the car.

7. The car is now ready to be raced.

Lost in Alexia Sinclair's World

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

    The latest photographer to blow my mind has been Alexia Sinclair. As you would know from my previous entry the other week.

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

    I have been spending more time at Alexia's website getting to know her work in a bit more depth. Her vision is intoxicating and detailed. In a word it is 'ethereal' [that is my word of the moment]. I feel completely drawn into the worlds she creates with her camera and fine art skills.
    I highly recommend a visit to Alexia's website...

alexiasinclair.com

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

Photography by Alexia Sinclair

Here, There Might Be Faeries

    The other day I may have found the doorway to the faery kingdom...

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

It's a Tree House

My tree house design

The other day I spent the morning with my eldest outside playing with Lego. She kept asking her Daddy to build her a tree house. So I suggested to Gwen that I build the tree house for her... using Lego. She agreed.

Morning at the Beach

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano