Halloween and the Wallabies Versus the All Blacks.

Today we have had rain and thunder and lightening. We have also had lovely sunshine.  

Our Spring racing (horse) carnival has commenced as has our Spring Art Show.

This morning I was lucky to sell a few items at the art show.  We have another three days to go so I am hoping for more sales.

I will add these hand dyed doilies to the stand tomorrow. 

This afternoon we were visited by lots of children celebrating Halloween.  Lots of dressing up and laughter.  It is the first Halloween since we moved into this neighbourhood and it was great to see so many youngsters and their parents walking around the area.  We dispensed a huge amount of treats and everyone of the children thanked us. 

As if that wasn't enough excitement we have the Rugby World Cup final starting at about 3 am.  Our Wallabies against New Zealand's All Blacks.  Hoping for a win for Australia.

Melbourne Cup Weekend

This weekend will be busy with the Spring Art Show.  I have been trying to decide on things to include on the stall and you can see hubby has been relaxing with the tv and a glass of wine. 

Wonders from the garden

Goodies for the Spring Fair

I am making a few items for the Spring Art Show.  It always comes around quickly and then I am in a panic.

I enjoy making buttons and broaches and they are usually well liked.

These little pencil/scissor holders turned out quite well.

It is hard to think of things to do in a hurry and still be happy with the results but I think these items should be fine.

New House - New Life

I have been surprised at how quickly we have settled into our new home.  It is as if we have always lived here.

It is only 20 minutes from our previous home so we are still in the same general area but this is much more suburban compared to the bushland we were living in.

In practical terms this house is not as big as our previous one but it is spacious and well designed.  There are no stairs and the block of land is flat. 

We were on a quiet windy little road before and now we are on a main road with school buses passing by morning and afternoon.

We had possums and tall trees and mostly indigenous plants in our garden.

There were lots of beautiful birds too.

Our new garden is well established with lots of flowers and green lawns.

Fruit trees and bulbs.

I spend a lot of time outside in the garden.

I do love our new home.

Busy Monday

Today has been especially busy so I have not had much time for creativity.

I thought I would share some of  the pics I have taken to use as inspiration for future projects.

Making a house a home

The one thing our new house lacked was a dedicated workroom for me.  There was a big area at the back of the house which was ideal but it was open to the dining room so it would need to be tidy.

As it was unlikely to be tidy often then we needed a wall and a door.  Over the last few weeks we have had the wall built, the door installed and the lot painted.

Now I have a workroom/office/spare room and I do feel lucky.  There is still a lot to do to make it work but it is gorgeous.

Our new wall.

Room for sewing machines.

Storage

 More storage - the shelves are perfect for paints and beads etc. 

 

there is room for computers and files too.

 

The sofa turns into a bed and there is room for another sofa. The tv is in the corner.

Now I don't have an excuse for being lazy.

Using Photo Shop in designing projects

Early this year I attended a short course intended for artists who wanted to use Photo shop to assist in their creations.

I have found it to be very useful when I am "stuck" as I was recently in trying to figure out this mixed media landscape.  I was able to photograph the piece in the early stages and then using photoshop  decide on placement of trees and other elements.  Although I discarded many of the ideas it really was an interesting exercise.

 The course I did was conducted by Nic Kirkman at http://www.peninsulaartssociety.org.au/.

I did find it difficult at first but with practice I have been pleased with what I learned.