Hey Shorty, It's Your Birthday

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Yessum! It's my Birthday today. I am now a grand old thirty-three years of age.
    The day began with a wake up call from my youngest, and ended with a pizza with my eldest and hubby under our heated gazebo.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    This past week I have been working on an abstract doll for my eldest. Abstract in the sense that it is based on her own drawing from a few months ago. I promised her I would turn it into something. And well, now I have finished making the doll. I can hardly wait to give the doll to Gwen tomorrow.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Feel the Heat

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Early yesterday evening we ate dinner outside. Crazy or what? Normally I would agree that is crazy what with it being a Victorian winter. But we had our gazebo, an outdoor heater and a deliciously hot BBQ dinner. We had potatoes wrapped in foil, marinated pork ribs, beef sausages, onion and peas. It was a wonderful winter dinner. It was a perfect moment in time.

A Perfect Ham

    My daughter, a perfect ham, just loves, loves, loves to have her photo taken. It has been a rare day when she hasn't obliged my shutter bug leanings.

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Look What Arrived

    Check out what arrived in the mail today. Earlier this month I entered a blog giveaway hosted by Kellie of 74 Lime Lane fame. And wouldn't you know it - I won!
    I won the latest album by Melody Gardot - The Absence. I have already listened to the album this afternoon. it was a smooth, laid back listening experience. It takes me back to a time from before I was born - very tiki lounge.
    Kellie, thank you for the album.

I Love This



Photography by Robert Doisneau

    I love this photo taken by Robert Doisneau. I feel like I could slip into this picture, slide into a seat next to these fashionable ladies and listen to their girly conversation. Gosh! I wish I knew what they were saying and where they buy their clothes from.

Doll House Tutorial [Updated]

    A while ago I provided a basic, easy to follow tutorial for making a doll house out of tissue boxes. Well today I thought I'd provide a special follow up. Along with the original tutorial I am also including wall paper line art which you can print out and stick to the inside walls of the doll house. And voila! You have instant room detail which can be coloured in if so desired.

    Here is something to do on a rainy day - a papercraft doll house.
    You can use the following photos [which document my doll house construction process] to make your own doll house. All you need are two tissue boxes [or as many as you wish], paper, card, textas and pencils, scissors, sticky tape, ruler and paint. This sounds like a lot, but you can simply use any scrap paper or card you have about your house. Think green! For instance, to make the roofline you could use last year's Chrismas cards.

Cut off the top/lid of the tissue box.

Tape together the two tissue boxes.
Stick down trimmed paper for the floor and ceilings.

Looking good.

Draw on to trimmed paper some wall details.
There are three walls per room/tissue box.
Use a ruler to get an estimate of how much to trim the paper.
Colour in the wall details.

* If you are not a confident illustrator you may print out the following six templates for the inside walls of the doll house.

Print this template out and colour in.

Print this template out and colour in.

Print this template out and colour in.

Print this template out and colour in.

Print this template out and colour in.

Print this template out and colour in.

Stick the wall details into the tissue box.
Fold scrap card in half and tape to the top tissue box,
creating a triangular roofline.

Still looking good.

Oh yeah!

Cut a triangle piece of paper/card same size as the roof,
and glue to the back, thus creating an attic.

Now you can paint the exterior of the house.
If you have a variety of paints, try something creative
with extra details - windows, doors, flowerbeds.

With your left over card do some cutting and folding
and you've got some basic furniture - like
a bed or a table.

Oh! And don't forget some little paper people
to live in the lovely paper house.

Tah-dah! She loves it.

Drop me a line if you try this rainy day papercraft project. I'd love to see how it went.

So Fast



Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    I wanted to show how quickly my husband moved his hands when playing Street Fighter. You have to keep moving in this fighter game. I tried it once, and my hands cramped up after only five minutes. I suppose though, like anything if you practice you can ignore the RSI.

Whoah! Did you feel that?

The house just tremored.

Such a Busy Mind

Illustration by Melissa Gaggiano

It's the Latest Thing

    Or in the least, my latest project.
    A few months ago I drew a silhouette for a basic doll [practically a gingerbread man cookie cutter shape]. I gave the page to my eldest and encouraged her to draw her own doll.
    Fast forward a few months and here I am beginning to sew up the doll just as I promised to do. I am embroidering as much as I can of the colour lines that my daughter created in her original picture.This is already working out to be a fun little creative outlet.

Op-Shop Find

    Happy, happy me! You know, you never know [Yes, yes! I am quite aware of what I just wrote] what wonders you will find if you wander into any op-shop on your daily path. Just yesterday as a spur of the moment thing I did just that and look at the wonderful goodies I found...

My Creative Space

    In my creative space this week I had been painting on canvas. Following are a few snap shots of my progress.


The original illustration.



I begin progress on the acrylic painting.
Using a 60 x 90 CM canvas frame.



My painting palette - what stories it could tell.



The finished piece.

Find other creative apaces here.

The Girl and the Night Bird

    This painting is my latest creative offering. This week I felt the urge to pick up my paint brushes and create something new. This painting is based on a much smaller original illustration from a few months ago.

Title: The Girl and the Night Bird

Artist: Melissa Gaggiano

Materials: Acrylic painting on canvas frame

Dimensions: 90 CM x 60 CM

Value: $200 AUD

    If you are interested in purchasing this painting you may drop me a line at emjieart@y7mail.com.

Rosy Moment

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Let us all have a rosy week.
And now for something special. If you are feeling a bit down this Justine Clarke video will make you feel better.

The Letter of the Day... M

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

    Okay, so not really the letter M, though it does look it. This is actually the flames beneath the lit BBQ. We had sausages, onions and chips for dinner saturday night, and yep, it was delicious. Almost nothing like eating a BBQed dinner.

Witch Style

    I absolutely love, love, love watching the Charmed television series. I cannot tell you just how many times I have watched the show. Innumerable really. I think I can safely say I know the show like the back of my hand. If there was a board game based on the show I would no doubt win every game.
    I like the family/sisterly orientated themes of the episodes and some of the witchy-poo humour [I am remembering Prue Halliwell stirring a cauldron brew, murmuring to herself, "I feel like I should be cackling".
    But those aren't the only things to enjoy about the show. Then there are the gorgeous glad  rags worn by these witchy women. My ultimate favourite dresser in the show is Paige Matthews [played by Rose McGowan]. My second favourite in the dress up stakes is Phoebe Halliwell [played by Alyssa Milano]
    Today I am gushing and drooling over these Charmed looks as seen in season 5...

My Creative Space

    This week my creative space has been all about photography. I watched a trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, which by the way I am very excited about. So excited in fact that I went about doing a Snow White inspired photo shoot on a budget.
    I wanted to do this whole thing with a girl in the snow and an apple. I didn't have real snow available so I used a white bed sheet. I didn't have a fancy princess dress, but the universe answered my call, and I discovered the perfect dress in an op-shop window.

To see my Snow White photos simply follow this link...

emjietreasures.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/my-snow-white.html

You can also check out some other creative spaces for this week here.

Carla's French Summer Giveaway

Photography by Carla Coulso

Okay! One of my favourite photographers, Carla Coulson, is hosting a blog giveaway - the prize being a print of this summer light photo. For more information on this competition simply follow this link... http://carlacoulson.com/paris-fine-art-print-give-away/

My Snow White

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano

Photography by Melissa Gaggiano