Another Treasury pick for ME!

Yes, I know, AGAIN with the Etsy Treasury, blah blah blah......
Includes:
paperbella, Krislyndillard, mkendall
evilneedles, ThreadRare, CrochetDiem
cosmonautshop, LianaKabel, MichelleJunkin
EmilyGill, liradesigne, EmergeDesign

My place and yours

Hello blog. Yes, I have been absent. Guess what, I've been OFF my backside, away from the computer. Yes, I'm getting fit again. And I feel good.  But you, my dear, are looking a little tired.  Time for a spruce up. Is it cheating when my first post this week is for Pip's meme? Dreamed up by the lovely Shelley of Femme de Montmartre, it is "Through the Front Door".

Ironic that Pip posted a clip of Shakin' Stevens, because my front door IS green and I often have that little 80's ditty running through my head as I open it.  No "old piano playing hot" behind it though.  It's usually a few degrees cooler inside, so lately it's a sigh of relief when said door is opened.

My hallway is actually a little mix of old and new.  We've kept some* of the original features and added a few contemporary touches.  Just inside my door is an old meatsafe from my Mum's former antique shoppe.  On top of that is a serene gold Buddha and a couple of vintage knick knacks.  Above is one of my rare forays into painting, a piece I did in what my brother terms my "angry" phase.  I prefer to call it my "expressive" phase.  The walls are painted Dulux "Ploughed Earth", which is a deep, warm grey colour.  The floors are stained dark chocolate brown.  The door is usually chocked open with one of my Marc Newson doorstops.  Lights are by ISM Objects and that white woven panel on the wall was made by a friend. 

*If you are wondering why the glass around the door doesn't match, it's because someone liked my laptop and digital camera more than I did and they REALLY needed to have it. Lesson learned, deadlock and security door always locked.....and laptop replaced with desktop. A bit heavier and harder to carry.

Finally.....

YAY!! I got a treasury on Etsy. I can hardly believe it. Yes it is official, I AM an Etsy nerd. Although it was by chance this morning, it wasn't like I waited up all night to get one.....

In other news I got a copy of Faythe Levine's doco on DVD from Justine at Mixtape. It's fantastic, I watched it twice yesterday while the wee one had a record 3 1/2 hour sleep.  I highly recommend it. The DVD that is. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Oh and the record sleep time was ACE for Mum too.

Stay cool all you Melbournites....(and those in Adelaide too!) what IS going on with this early Summer?

An anniversary

Back of my handmade wedding dress, originally uploaded by mainichi.

It was my wedding anniversary on Monday. I won't tell you how long the pair of us have been married. But let's just say it was in the 1990's that it took place. And yes, I was quite young, actually!

In celebration, here's a pic of the back of my dress from said day. My Mum made it, and I helped to bead all that lace which we handstitched on. She also made my headpiece and veil. And the bridesmaid's dresses. And her own dress. And prettied up her garden for months prior so we could be married in it. Wonder where I get the project over-committment from??!!

A creative saga

Do you know those moments when something you have been working on turns to disaster and it seems that it shall never, ever recover that glint of creativity that initiated the whole process? That it is bound to end up in the pile of stuff under the desk, or in a cupboard somewhere, forgotten and abandoned?

Well, I had one of those moments last weekend. I was studiously working on my piece for Craft Victoria’s “White” Christmas window theme this year, all inspired and enthusiastic, when it all turned to disaster. And then the wee one got a hold of it. It was promptly dumped in a heap, and abandoned on my desk.

So there it sat for five long days, bombarded with an occasional glare and snarl from my direction, destined to end up alongside all those other half baked projects crying weakly from the dark “saaaaave meeeee”.

Until last Thursday night, after another late one (why has ER returned to such a late timeslot??), I crawled into bed and *boom*. There it was. An answer. A solution. An epiphany. Call it what you will. But, as always, it was so simple and straightforward and glaringly obvious that I could only say to myself, why didn’t I just do that to start with??

And so here it is: the fruits of my labour, my impatience and my determination (sounds like motherhood!). It’s "Shades of White", consisting of a long necklace, made from white handmade rope, off white recycled upholstery leather and beige recycled felt. It will soon find a new (temporary) home at Craft Victoria. I hope someone likes it as much as I do.

My place and yours

Well I was a little stumped as to what to choose for this week's theme over at Pip's blog, chosen by My Bricole.  It is "your secret weapon".  I thought and thought....maybe a tool I use in my sewing/craft adventures, maybe my sewing machine....but nah, not right, there must be something else, dare I say it, something NOT related to craft!?

Then I thought of this, my First Dan Black Belt in TaeKwonDo.  It is something that informs so many parts of my everyday life. The journey to earn this belt has given me many things: confidence, skills, strength, fitness, patience, stamina, stress relief to name but a few.  Pictured with my belt is a wooden board that I broke (yes, with my bare hands!) whilst it was being held by TKD Olympic Medallist in 2000, Lauren Burns (one of my heroes!) She has signed it with a few words that always manage to inspire me:

"What can be imagined, can be achieved - Dare to dream!"

I really think this little sentence has helped me achieve so much in my life, including starting my interior design business, starting Mainichi and home birthing a beautiful boy.  So, I say, go ahead and dream away my friends, for you never know where it can lead you.

I got a present in the mail.........

.....yes, I did, from Tess. It's a bunch of felt from my fave crafty shop in Tokyo, Tokyu Hands. Thank you, thank you Tess.  I hope that next year I might actually make the journey myself to add to the dwindling stash, fingers crossed.....