blog hopping

I love blog hopping! and HOPEFULLY I've found a cool new way (new for me anyway) to do it.

It works like this -- follow Brenda. Pimp your blog on her blog. Check out the other blogs on the list, follow the ones you like. TOO EASY, MATE!

new shoes!

I saw this post on Jos' blog, and followed the link through to discover this post on A Vintage Affair, and that led to The Elegant Shoe Tutorial at Artful Afirmations.

I'm not 'good' at shabby or vintage but I have a passion for shoes and handbags, so I immediately started on my first pair -- I say first because I have plans for 2 more pairs. At least.

alarmed....

Hubby cooked up some yummy steaks last night, but you know -- he cooks like a bloke -- and for some reason (the clouds of smoke maybe) the smoke alarm went off! It took us a while to get it down and shut it up, but reminded me that I need to change the batteries, since I forgot on April 1st.
We stayed in a gorgeous luxury beach house in Dunsborough one time, which was absolutely beautiful -- except that the toaster was placed right under the smoke alarm, and the darn thing went off if you even heated a slice of bread. To make things funnier, the smoke alarm was about 35 feet in the air (well it looked like it to me) and hubby had to use a broom to shut it up. Still, better some inconvenience than a house fire!
So, if you haven't checked your smoke alarm batteries, get up RIGHT NOW and go do it. And if you don't have any smoke alarms -- WHY NOT????

1920s STYLE

This is my example for the MMT comp this week.

The photo is of my great-grandparents, whom I knew (though not as well as I would now like) They moved out to Australia in the 1920s, from Germany. My granma had worked in Berlin, and was always a snappy dresser.
They were farm labourers, taking work wherever they could - and in those times, they did it hard. It must have been so very strange for Granma, and I admire her more than I could ever put into words.

I used the beautiful Kaisercraft Devonshire range, plus odds and ends from my stash for the LO. Journalling is hidden on a tag behind the photo.

my own background

After a LOT of messing around last night (trying to find old tutorial) and then a lot more messing around in Photoshop and Photobucket (getting the background made was easy, it was the sizing that nearly drove me crazy -- but maybe that was cos I'd had a few glasses of red) I finally got my new background made and loaded.
And this morning I looked at it and .... I still LIKE it! So yay for me. And yay for Wilna and her awesome Bling the Blog class.

a Compendium of AWESOMENESS

Could this possibly be the best day of my whole life, all forty-fi... *cough* ... thirty-plus years of it??
Firstly, my team (the Fremantle Dockers) won their first AFL** game of the season last night, and did it handsomely -- playing in a totally devastating way that makes me hope they won't suck too badly this year. In fact, the commentators (who are mostly asses) were saying they seem to have made a quantum leap. Not too sure what a quantum is, but I hope they leap there next week too.
** AFL being Australian Football League

SECONDLY -- and just as importantly -- I got my long-awaited Compendium of Curiosities today!! For the uninitiated, this is a totally awesome book written by T!m Holtz with whom I am wildly in love (artistically of course) and LOOK!

he SIGNED IT.

With his own hand. (tones of hushed awe)

{{my husband refers to T!ms' work as 'scrap porn' because of the OOOH-ing and AAAH-ing when I read the blog or watch the YouTube videos.}}

Can life get any better than this?

PUNK RULES

This is my PUNK ROCK example for this weeks' MMT challenge at ART.




I used:
Kaiser papers from Shaken Not Stirred
paint
sewing machine !!!!!
tartan shirt from the op-shop
label from the tartan shirt
T!m Holtz trinket pin and game spinner
Carolees tiny black alphas
Scenic Route random Kraft alphas

and the photo is of my 8yo boy, Jack.

a random act of kindness..

OK so it's not really random .... this lady Tiff has a sick little girl Ivy, and they've spent a long long time in and out of hospital.
Tiff has amazed me by noting the needs of the hospital and nursing staff, and wants to raise money for some of those needs. These aren't huge things, like a new Cardio ward -- she thinks the nurses deserve a fridge to keep their food and drinks cold, and someplace comfortable for parents to sleep while they sit with their sick kids.
If you think you can help with a donation, visit her blog and follow the link.

facepainting

We took the kids to the local Playgroup Easter fete this morning, where they had their faces painted. Jack chose a vampire, of course... and Katie picked a fairy. Of course.
Don't they look so cute??