just another day...

point of view

A few weeks back now the intimidatingly talented Nic Howard asked me to contribute to her new Big Picture Workshop ‘Point of View’.  If I didn’t email straight back and ask ‘are you sure you mean me'?’ it was just because i was trying to appear uber cool. lol.  anyway apparently she did and i not only created a couple of projects for the workshop, but she created a layout and a whole mini album for the workshop using MY photos!  They turned up in the post last week and though her photography is impeccable, they still just don’t do justice to the detail and beauty of the real life thing.  The mini album now has pride of place in my mini album basket, and that would surely be the only mini album in there that has me on the front cover!

Anyway, if you’re after a new edge to your scrapbooking, go check out her workshop.  I think after you’ve been scrapping for a few years it can be difficult to find different ways of showcasing annual and repetitive events, and this course will give you some great thought-provoking new ideas.

 

more midwinter

playing catch-up here, but the day after the day i just blogged we had another busy day - the camera hadn’t had such a serious workout for a while.

we went to a wonderful park that was full of fabulous pagans celebrating the winter solstice. phoebe made a wreath made of branches and holly and alex made me buy him a dagger necklace thingy.

and then we headed into the city for the ‘light in winter’ at federation square.  naughtily shot these out the car window as we were driving – again the light was irresistible and i even love the blurry shots!

 

i have been both blessed and cursed with a serious travel bug which kept me out of this country for ten years before the kids.  sometimes it means i don’t see the beauty on my own doorstep, so this was a bit of a lovely reality check for me.

 

on to the lights – the kids loved them.  the installations were varied – some where interactive – some i really just didn’t get but all had a point of view and i’m sure i haven’t done them justice, but we had fun.

the arts centre

 

and a few minutes later it was black

love the old and new juxtaposed in this shot

 

 

the highlight was this installation of light columns which changed colour and responded to light and movement around them.  they only let a few people in at a time so that you could see the responses so it was a bit of a wait but it was worth it.  the kids were enthralled.

 

the constantly changing light (and moving targets) made photography tricky, and i constantly had to adjust my settings (not always correctly!),  but i really enjoyed the challenge

and was grateful for one of these

 

and a phone call to dad to tell him about our adventures at the end of the evening.

i’m so behind (and not just with blogging!) because we’ve just returned from a little holiday up to the snowy mountains to see their dad.  more adventures (and more photos!) to share, to come.

beautiful light on a midwinter weekend

ever since my dad died, once a month i take my mum to a swap card fair in melbourne to hawk her considerable wares.  (these are the playing card variety that people collect, not the greeting ones).  normally i leave the children with frank and take some stash and scrap in a corner somewhere for the day. 

with frank away of course the kids came too.  mum has a mantra on slow days at the card fair - ‘if you can’t sell, buy’ – when nothing’s happening it means she has time to check out everyone else’s collections and see what she can onsell to others.

i borrowed her mantra yesterday with the kids in tow, took my camera with me and turned it into ‘if you can’t scrap, shoot’.  And shoot we did.  The light was beautiful and my wonderful willing subjects had the best day.  These shots are straight from camera and complete with dirty faces, but you know, that’s how life is :)

 

climbing trees

 

climbing other trees

 

 

 

 

 

posing

 

 

 

 

playing with the last of the autumn leaves

 

trying to capture mid air flight

 

 

 

and a couple of shots that melt my heart.

 

love these kids.  and love that they can enjoy each others company so much.  in between me following them around like the paparazzi, they completed five missions – from securing the area for an alien landing to defeating an enemy before he let all the criminals in the jail escape and ‘adding an element of risk’ with a bomb about to go off.  apparently.  there was another little girl there yesterday  - we only saw her once.  she sat in the front room on her ds the whole day.  all my experience of them just reaffirms why we only have a playstation that you can’t carry around with you  (i know alex would if he could.!)

 

and more on beautiful light – my bogan girl (check out the white vest and tattooed arm!) creating potions on the driveway

and my boy – this was actually homework about volume and this photo went in his  homework book – the only things under a litre i could find for him to put in size order on were his half drunk pop top and alcohol.  oops.

 

and because it’s been a while, thought i’d share some um. scrapbooking.  that’s right.  that’s what i do!

 

     

 

       

these two for aussie scrap source – on glimmer mist

 

     

what bugs me :)

 

 

and finally i’ll share one from my new venture – before we even launch online the pack of goodies that created this layout is all sold out.

 

on that note i’ll wrap up this mammoth post, and go back us some solstice cookies.  winter makes me happy :)

missing my man

 

who knew?!

he’s run away to work in the snowy mountains. a six hour drive away is the closest he can find work right now, and after six months of rejections he doesn’t have much choice.

the house is quieter, stays tidy after i’ve tidied it, i don’t have to listen to UKTV drone on or fight over computer time, but still i miss him.

he left about 20 hours after i arrived home from brisbane and the poor old kids want to know how come they can only have one parent at a time right now.

brisbane was fab.  the gorgeous nic my partner in crime was great fun to be away with, despite the high maintenance hair issues ;) 

 

some scary shots from my phone on our one night out (sorry nic, but it’s one of the very few where i don’t look like i’ve got no eyes and no neck).  very impressed with our david, the barman who didn’t have to look up how to make a margarita or a long island iced tea.

and some better shots of the booth and nic ‘playing’ with glimmer mist

in one of the very rare times when we weren’t three deep in customers.

we were amazed, thrilled and gratified at the response to our booth, our products and designs.  we’re on a relentless drive now to finish the website and start playing on the blog, but there’s no point in linking just yet because it’s all still under construction.

 

 

our booth was right by the loading dock doors which were wide open during set up and tear down and the view opened out directly to the massive ferris wheel on the riverbank.

which we couldn’t resist going on between margaritas in the rain.  they take your photo on the ground in front of a green backdrop and then insert you in the gondola.  doesn’t get any cheesier than that for a pair of scrapbookers out to play.

a new adventure

the very lovely Nic and I are involved in some adventures at the moment.  we’re helping to launch a pretty exciting concept in scrapbooking, that will be new to some and others will just sigh and say ‘about bloody time’.

i can’t tell you any more at the moment because the website isn’t quite ready although an awful lot of hard work is going into it. 

i can tell you we’ve been jetsetting about a little lately, and we’re going to be at the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo & Convention on the long weekend in June 6-8th (that’s next weekend.  yikes!)

We’ll be launching there on a massive booth and Nic will be the one talking and smiling and i’ll be the one cowering in a corner.  So if you’re in Brisbane, come lookign for us her.

more soon :)