just another day...

perth – part 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just some highlight photos from our trip to perth in the last school holidays.  it was the kids first airplane trip that they remember (apparently it doesn’t count when you’re a baby and can’t recall any of it).

i’m normally pretty happy with my photos straight out of camera (either that, or too lazy to edit them) but i have a scrappy project in mind for these photos and i wanted them to be as good as they could be.  So a while back i did erin cobb’s amazing clean colour workshop and i’ve finally put it to good use with these.  I find it hard to look at them with an objective eye but i think, particularly in the realm of colour/white balance, this workshop was a revelation to me, and there were a lot of particularly strong colour casts in these shots – from the fluorescent lighting in the airport and dodgy lights in the plane to the strong cyan cast in the pool shots. her process for lightening darker areas without overexposing the lighter ones is fab too.   i love learning stuff!

christmas presents

i’ve been meaning to revisit a few more of the presents from last christmas that were handmade, mostly because i’m trying to motivate myself to start a bit earlier this year. 

last summer, wendy treseder showed some of the most divine little cricketers made i think by her sister-in-law.  They were made out of champagne corks and felted cricket whites on facebook.  i left a comment saying they were the perfect idea as a gift for my brother, and i was totally going to swipe the idea.  the problem was i only had about four days to drink my way through a dozen (of course i needed a twelfth man) bottles of champagne so i could use the corks.  Normally i wouldn’t be deterred by a challenge like that – after all it was christmas, but i did have a little too much to do at the time to spend it quite that bubbled up. 

so i went with the next best thing and used cotton reels and these are my little men.

 

and phoebe made some wickets…

 

how insanely cute are they?  if you have a totally hard to buy for, cricket loving man in your life, this is perfect.  I’m hoping david will use them to demonstrate field placements to my little nephew.

speaking of whom, though neither of these were handmade, i did carry through the whole australian theme for little ollie – how cool is that superman sweater with the australian flag through it. 

 

 

and alex was enchanted by these coloured pencils made of twigs that we found in the Oxfam shop at Chadstone, so we bought them for Zoe.

 

This is supposed to be about the handmade stuff though, so finally i made a box of these little notecards for my sister in law.  I love this fabric and just transferred it onto cardstock with iron on applique stuff.  And i totally swiped one of the Prima journalling notecard boxes and altered that too to hold them.

I’ve got bigger plans in the homemade gift department for this year, which is why i need to start pretty soon.  just imagining being able to avoid the overhyped overcrowded shopping centres on christmas eve eve makes me sigh with happiness and though the chance of it is slim, it’s worth working towards.

a happy mother’s day

It’s a bit special when the kids make an effort all by themselves on mother’s day.  This year it was just the three of us, and the kids seemed to rise to the challenge of not having dad around to help them make the day special.

Once she’d established i was awake, Phoebe came in in her ‘waitress’ outfit (black and white) to take my order.  She wrote ‘rasin tost, cofey’ on her pad. 

I was nervous letting her loose on the coffee machine.  I heard her grind the beans, mumble a few things and she returned to report that she had some ‘technical difficulties’ so to be honest i was kind of relieved when she let me get up to make my own coffee.

 

At her direction, alex took himself outside to pick the little flowers you see there, and they carried in my breakfast in bed treat together.

 

 

 

Alex had selected this little candle and holder as one of my presents from the mother’s day stall, and phoebe held it out for me to make a wish and blow out.  A first for mother’s day, but it seemed like a good idea, so i duly made the wish that i’m sure all mothers would make and blew out my candle.

 

After breakfast it was time for the ‘stash’ which included an ‘i love mum’ photo frame, ‘world’s greatest mum’ pens (because we’re always stealing yours) and a beautiful silver jewellery box.  And home made cards and toffees.

 

Flowers arrived the day before from my brother for no real reason (except that he was sending to mum anyway and figured sis might like too (sis did!)).

 

I had also finished sewing this dress for Phoebe the day before, so she decided it would be an extra special mother’s day treat if she modelled it for me.  I guess it was!

More photos soon – another extra special mother’s day present just the one day late – alex got a haircut.  I can very nearly see his face.

melbourne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just after christmas (and that’s just one sign of how behind my blogging is) i took a day out from kids, christmas, crap and commitments, just to take photos.

many years ago when i lived in london i took myself off to canterbury for a weekend.  it was only different from all the other weekends and trips away in that i went alone and took the time for intro and retrospection.  it, along with a few other solo adventures, stands out just because it was me time. i don’t think i spoke to anyone for the entire weekend. 

this day taking photos in town reminded me of that same indulgence – something i know i don’t do often enough.  It’s also something that many will feel sorry for you for if they hear about it - ‘what, you went by yourself?’.  i’ve never been afraid to walk into a bar or pub on my own, spend an evening in a restaurant or go to the cinema alone – in fact it’s always seemed somewhat luxurious and self indulgent and never moreso now as a mother.

anyway, i digress. the reason for this photographic adventure was to create a unique present for my brother.  we both lived in london for 10 years from 1990 to 2000, when i finally caved and returned home.  he remained, and although in the last few years he’s relocated with his family to amsterdam, he still remains, resolutely, on the other side of the world.

as kids though, we were lucky enough to grow up in the heart of melbourne, a stone’s throw away from the mcg, a walk through the fitzroy gardens directly into the city centre.  it was a genteel area in the 70’s that has become exclusive and leagues out of ordinary budgets as time has gone on.  we moved from there when i started secondary school to hawthorn, a then shabbily middle class suburb, now much smarter with properties just starting at seven figures, and much sought after due to its proximity to all the exclusive private schools.

and so i take every opportunity i can to remind him where he’s from.  it’s some futile hope to make him homesick enough to drag himself and his family HOME.  it’s not worked yet, but i won’t stop working on it.

so i took the above photos – some are kind of famous melbourne landmarks, but more of them are slightly offbeat memories that are unique to our own childhood – and i turned them into coasters for him to take back to amsterdam and put his sterling silver stein, or posh ol’ wine glass on. ;)

 

 

random photos and stuff i probably shouldn’t blog

but will anyway :)

i have a mouse that lives in my kitchen.  every night my cat goes outside and finds himself a field mouse, and brings it inside. to eat.   in my presence. some nights i wake up to the sound of crunching bones.  he used to just play with them, and i would chase them both back outside.  but now he’s eating them. it’s gross.

the mouse that lives in my kitchen, though, the cat seems to tolerate.  perhaps they’ve come to some kind of arrangement.  he lives in the dishwasher and i first found evidence of him when i pulled out the dishwasher when it decided to stop working.  and i know he’s still here because i found more ‘evidence’ after the initial evidence was cleaned up.  the mouse eats the cat food.  i wish was joking.  i hear it in the night when all else is quiet, crunching on the dry food. i wish they’d make mouse flavoured cat food – let’s see how he’d feel about cannibalism…

there’s also the neighbours cat who lets himself in the cat door and eats the cat’s food.  i wonder if he’s also in cahoots with the mouse in the kitchen.  i just walked up the hall and did a head check – phoebe asleep in her bed. alex asleep in his bed with the dog at his feet.  cat asleep on my bed. but as i walked i heard the cat door swing.  the nightlife in this house is wild ;)

in other news, the dishwasher has died.  i apparently either have to buy a new motor, or a new dishwasher.  or stand at the sink for an hour a day as i have for the last few weeks doing the dishes myself.

so, new dishwasher it is.

 

and it’s funny because less than a month ago i was taking photos of, amongst other things, the dishwasher with an idea of doing some pages on things i’m most grateful for.  or things in my day i need but take for granted. something like that. 

 

along with itunes… and i had to scroll up just then to decide that the fingerprints on the screen are fingerprints in the photograph, not on my screen.  although it’s a photograph of my screen which is the kind of thing that goes around in my head for a while until it explodes.

 

and speaking of exploding heads, there’s also this recent treasure.  this is a photograph of alex drawing still motion figures on his whiteboard, to make a movie with on the galaxy tablet.   so perhaps not explode, but it certainly makes my head ache.

 

 

as does this treasure from phoebe.  this reads ‘treasure’ (i spelt that bit for her).  tac ten steps. clos ryour is’ (take ten steps. close your eyes) and is a post it note on the loo lid.  not so sure what the treasure was…

 

and this is where she made herself up as a sheep dog. 

 

and not even jesse knows what to make of that.