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.

Looking forward - dodgy knee.

Moving to our new home was,  in part, a result of  the fact that I injured my knee a couple of years ago.  Our Mount Eliza home became unmanageable.

Preparing our home for sale was lots of fun (and some stress).


Having put a deposit on our next home meant that we were under time pressure.  Fortunately we had already decided on an agent to sell our house.  Marc was to become a very important person in our lives for a couple of months.

Whenever we have sold a house I have bought new linen for the bedrooms and bathrooms.  This way I have new linen for the new home.

The people at Adairs Mornington were so helpful and I was very pleased with the result.

I was also doing a little stitching of course but most of my creative energy went into the house.

I did a short course on using Photoshop which was lots of fun and very useful.

It is time to cook so I'll be off now.

Thanks to everyone who visits and comments.

Felt

 Although life is rather busy and disrupted at present I am making time to be creative.  Using felt as a background and adding fabrics, stitching and embellishments I have created a container for pens or scissors: my husband tells me it is an ideal size for a small bottle of beer. 

 The second one is made from some felt I made quite a long time ago wrapped around a tin which is lined with shop bought felt.

These are quick and easy projects and are good for using up the bits and pieces in the stash.

Changing houses

Moving house is an unsettling process but it can also be really exciting.

We decided to move from our house in Mount Eliza when I found the hilly block just too difficult to manage.   We had looked at several houses fairly close to where we were as we love the area.

I must admit it was a difficult time emotionally as we had a lot of work to do to prepare the house for sale.  We had developed a very close relationship to our next door neighbours (including the twins who are my god daughters).

Then one Saturday we made a list of five properties to view in a last ditch effort to find our dream home.  
 The first two just did not suit us and we were already feeling discouraged.  The third house was not what we were looking for, with only three bedrooms.  We need a room for Mike's office and a studio/office for me.  We also need space for the grandkids to come and stay.  There were many reasons not to like the house but as soon as we walked in the front door we were captivated by the house.  It just felt right.  It is not glamorous.  It is not modern and it is not characterful but it spoke to us.

 We inspected the house on Saturday, made an offer on Saturday.  Then we had to sell our existing house.  Panic.  More about that next time.

Buttons and Bees

I am busy making some items for sale at the Spring art show.  This will be a little button and is coming along nicely.

This little bee was very busy a few weeks ago and now we have apricots to look forward to.  I love having a productive garden.