wearing cement shoes, swimming in treacle!

I don't think I've read this much in years :)  I have 1000+ emails in gmail and wading through them is like walking in a river of treacle with cement shoes! So many add notifications for g+ , youtube, twitter and pinterest that I've now temporarily turned them all off, combined with an art workshop I signed up for sending stupid emails every time someone coughs! If you sent me an add request for anything, sorry, but it's going to take me a few days to get through them all.

I've set up a folder, so if you do email me, make sure the title is mittens and I'll see it straight away instead of it languishing in my massive to cull pile. If you have emailed me via gmail and don't get a response it's because I've now resorted to scanning the list & deleting in bulk & may accidentally miss it.

Add that to the busy bloggers who last week went nuts with posting :) and wow. just wow. Blog Land was a barren desert late last year and now it's like Christmas was rain & everyone is blooming again. I think I'm going to just mark all read and start fresh with posts.

I've been working hard and also following up some family tree research that was on the backburner last year, like everything else. I did make headway on trove & discovered his funeral notice & found he was married 2 more times and ended up using his middle name instead. It's definite as all the kids are named in the funeral notice & via a WW1 record for his son. Such fun searching for a needle in a haystack of Johns[t]on[e]'s  so, if you have a Henry Vincent or Vincent or Henry Johns[t]on[e] born in Dunedin NZ in 1875 who moved to Sorell and Hobart Tas before 1896, I have some descendants for you :) He's also connected to the Johns[t]on[e]'s  in Scottsdale Tas and his 1st wife was Florence Edith Gill, which is the line we connect with. Other wives were Ellen [or Helen] and Elizabeth. They lived in Murray St and also Liverpool St Hobart later.

 The last of our daughters left home to make her way in the world, one kidlet to go...I can see freedom! LOL just kidding, sort of. Spent some time with the new grandchildrens, they are so cute and adorable, especially as I can give them to their mothers for the yucky stuff :) Both are happy chubby bubs doing all the right things before they should and keeping their Mothers on their toes and Nana in fits of laughter!

I'm waiting on a new phone to come in, it's worse than being a kid on Christmas morning! I usually use prepaid but this is a great deal and only a couple of $ more expensive than what I have now, so I will be joining the cool kid brigade :) Supposed to be here tomorrow, then I shall be app'ing away for a day or 2 :)

I can't promise I'll post every day but I hope to at least every couple of days again. Once I have my phone set up, I'll be posting pics of stuff that amuses me as well. I did go a bit nuts with family portraits over Christmas hehe, I was in their face trying for arty shots to put up on the wall. But, they all have to be similiar, the babies were easy, it was the grown up one's who were hard to get as they all kept pulling faces :) I should post those, they'd behave next time! LOL

Art Of Survival - Kerosene

Happy New Year, hope 2012 is a good one for you and your loved one's xx

so tired

Winter just will not go away. The minute you think it's gone, it sneaks back LOL

While I was gone, I have 2 more grandchildren, one of each :) ermmm, 2 weeks apart [give or take a couple of days] Both Mums, Dads and bubs are doing well. One more great nephew to make an appearance and then that's it until next year at least. I entered all their info into the family tree straight away. heh. otherwise in 20 yrs time I'd be trying to remember what day they were born. [j/k]

We also got another kitten and Tera is getting on well with her since the 2nd day, she's called Khaos. Is a fluffy tortoiseshell. Both thunder race around the house playing then eat and go to sleep & repeat. Tera has finally stopped coming in at 3am and biting my feet trying to get me to play, so YAY, I no longer have to wear ugg boots to bed and wrapping the doonah around me like mummy wrappings!

The boy is home for a day as he was playing a kinect?? game with his sister chopping fruit and his arms hurt really badly ROFL ohhh, I mean poor kid, but it was funny, flailing arms all over the place.  He can't even lift his arms up at all.

That reminds me, I have misplaced my fabric pens :( so need to rummage around and find them so I can finish off the bootees I've made. They're very simple but look wonderful & would make easy gifts, so once I've finished, I'll post a pic & pattern info. I have no clue where they are *sigh*

I'm working on some test crochet pieces for a workshop I'll be doing at the Kangaroo Flat Art Space and will post more info once I have it. One will be Christmas themed, inexpensive and make a nice present for yourself or someone who appreciates handcrafted gifts. You can also find more info on workshops and other happenings here at Handmade by the Flat 

Plus, Chris Moule,  another local Bendigo artist is hosting a workshop this week & next for ink rendering, so I'm going to those :) more info can be found here at Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc

And, now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to have a Nana nap and might not wake up until tomorrow.

new blogger editor is interesting....

Oops. I had a post in draft that I've just managed to fling off into cyberspace. Anywaaaayyyyy....

So, you know how I make the doodlebutz buttons? No? if not, then Cyndi at Mixed Media Artist posted a tutorial on how to make the buttons, so, me being little Ms Helpful [ I know! right... I was surprised too! j/k :) ] sent her an email and shared some extra info that I had discovered. If you want to try it yourself, whip over there and have a go! Don't forget tohave a wander around her blog, she's been on my blogroll for ages as she always has heaps of great inspiration.
and, I've discovered she's a really nice person too. Sometimes you email bloggers and they're not so nice or ignore you. She also makes gorgeous jewellery & beaded jewellery that a couple of you should go drool over :)  Cyndi has made some great tutorials available as well.

You're back? So, onto the next news...
I have a joint exhibition from 17 Oct - Nov 1 with D3 but have decided to do something a little different than usual. Canvas is involved... eek! and acrylics rather than my favourite gouache. I don't even know if I can remember how to paint with acrylics...hee, just kidding. I'm also using my own concoction on the surface, so I'm hoping it works & makes the surface similiar to clayboard, if it does I'll post the recipe. I know it works with a board surface, just not sure if canvas has too much movement that it will end up cracking. Test piece in progress, keep your fingers crossed :)

Then, another one from 6 Feb - 20 Feb with 2 others [ not sure if they want me to say who at the moment] so I am flat out like a lizard. Luckily I've been researching both ideas, so really just had to flesh them out.
Possibly might look at another later next year that will be Illuminated manuscript based, depends on the weather over spring/summer.

Been concentrating on crocheting baby stuff as 2 daughters are almost at their due dates and I've been making some baby booties from material, which are so cute and tiny!  Hopefully everything will be done by the time they're born. Also, been making some more forged by fire flowers, some for someone in case she wants them for her wedding, so just in case, I've been making the bases ready to sew specific colour beads later aaaaand some to turn into brooches. Also, did another couple of crocheted necklaces.

Some of my handcrafted items and doodlebutz are available at Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc gallery shop and I should get moving and put some up on my facebook page as well.

Discovered that I can still move when required, LOL, running [ ok, waddling wildly!] from the end of the  platform Metro line at Southern Cross to the end of the platform VLine train home was interesting! 1 minute to switch trains saw both D3 and I thinking we should just catch the later train home, except for the fact it would have been crowded with football fans & race goers on their way home & probably standing room only. Luckily the wonderful lady conductor stood on the platform until we got on the train. Phew!

Off to eat my dinner before the cat does, chicken salad wraps.....YUM! chicken,celery,lettuce,tomato,cucumber,all chopped, add mayo, mix well, slap into wrap and roll...eat.

oops...

oh dear, it seems as I am neglecting my blog. I don't mean to, but life just gets in the way of actually sitting down and typing plus the effort of loading photo's via bluetooth which obviously has the irrits with me.

So, I joined Kangaroo Flat Arts Inc and we had our official opening on 1st July, our members exhibition is there for 4 weeks. We were opened by the Bendigo Mayor, Rod Ffyfe and we were also well supported by local business and community groups such as Rajmahal , Men in Sheds and Kangaroo Flat Community Centre.

I've started researching a new theme for another exhibition later this year and it's really interesting, so I keep going down the internet rabbit hole, finding so much good stuff to read and look at. I really need to go to Canberaa though to see some stuff in person. Hopefully I'll be able to wander down to Melbourne to check out some stuff at the galleries too. We are limited to bus travel while they repair the train line atm, so that will have to wait until the trains are running again.

I also signed up for pinterest, to help keep track of the reference material I've found. I love pinterest and have spent many hours looking at boards :)

I tore a ribcage muscle a couple of weeks ago and spent the time painfully resting in bed zonked out of my brains on painkillers, it's slowly getting better though and the level of the *argghhhh* as I sit up or move or breathe is finally going down the scale. I have been crocheting in short bursts, I'm working on new baby blankets as D1 is due 15th Sept and then D2 has her first in early October.

Oh, btw, I decided one day to sneak out of the house to get sugar, only got down the road when the car made a huge bang, started losing power, then kangaroo hopped & shuddered and finally shut down. Luckily I managed to pull off to the side of the road.

 So, I'm sitting there thinking that hubby was going to yell at me for being out of bed, let alone out of the house :D and that I really did need to ring him because the car wouldn't start and there was no way in hell I was going to be able to walk home. After making my distress call, I got out to lean on the car as sitting was too painful, a car pulls up behind me, so I walk around the back and look down...

there's about 3 ft of what appears to be blonde/white hair trailing from the exhaust. Fleeting thoughts of Barbie dolls shoved up the exhaust by kids or shrunken heads and wigs as I stood there and pondered this strange happening. Fortunately my sanity was saved by the guy who'd pulled up who explained that the hair was in fact sound deadening fibreglass material from the exhaust. Ahhh, that explains the mini explosion I heard just prior to the car croaking it! Luckily he knew, because I have never seen that happen before.

Car is in the sick bay, awaiting a new exhaust system when it stops being so cold, rainy or hubby is not on call. In the meantime if I want to go anywhere I get to drive the manual beast, which means my travels are severely curtailed as holy crap it hurts to turn the steering wheel!

The only other things I've been doing is watching DWTS..happy Manu won! Amazing Race...sad the Big W ladies left so early, watching Australia's got talent..freaked out at the old guy aerialist...OMG! and watching the Tour de France and wondering how many are going to be left at the end! so many serious injuries already, I really hope they all recover quickly.

Woohoo! Great Aussie band Chocolate Starfish are back!

Chocolate Starfish are performing on
Saturday 16 July @ Corner Hotel, Richmond
Tickets: $25+booking fee available online via
www.cornerhotel.com