More Layouts.

Palette 11 for TCR.







I quite liked this one, how it turned out. Lots of mess made to create it, love that arty mess. Paint, embossing, glitter, glitz = fun. As you can see, I stayed fairly true to the sketch.

And this is palette 12



Really happy how I managed to zip this one up fairly quickly. This is a shocking photo of it though, you can't see the hidden little touches of bling etc that give it the lift that it needs. I will take a new photo to replace this one if we ever see the sun around here again. Loved the colours of this palette, so elegant and regal.

Top Four.

Most played songs on the car stereo, courtesy of the back seaters.

Keeping up the Colour.

A new page to add. India loves this photo, though she is struggling to believe it is of her and not Esta. I'm pretty stoked that I've managed one a fortnight of these challanges from TCR. That's the goal I set so it's great to be keeping it and in doing so enforcing some creative time for myself. Certainly a sanity saver for me. Please excuse my wonking photography and cropping of the layout (as always).



A little close up:

This blissful Sunday.

It's a wonderful day here today. Blue winter sky, all sunshine and a gentle cold wind. One of those lovely Queensland winter days. India's practising riding her bike in the backyard...a new thing. Not the bike, she's had that for a long time, but for some reason, known only to MM himself, it's been locked away in the shed for years. The new thing is she's riding it, without training wheels. She's taken to that like a duck to water, as she does with most physical things. Super Mini, known vaguely as Esta, is her support person, running along behind the bike, shouting advice and making marshmellow cakes to boost Supergirl's (India) energy.
Getting our backyard ripped out and replaced last year : $8000.
Sitting on the backdeck watching over this bliss: priceless.

Now the crows...they are another thing altogether. I completely understand why a group of crows is called a Murder. It seems all thoughts turn to avian homicide when a clan of crows gather. I over heard various suggestions (overheard only because people who thought they were muttering, where actually yelling just to hear themselves over the noise) on crow culling from 3 of our 4 neighbours the other day and that only added to the various options I'd already come up with myself. Honestly, our Hometree (jacaranda) was like a Rockvegas Mobile in the '80's the other day. About 50...yes 50! crows had gathered there. It was like they were enjoying their own Host a Murder party or something...very loudly. Ok...it may have only been 20 of the feathery bastards... but they were VERY loud. Bring back the kookaburras I say! At least they are a lot more jovial in their company.
Anyway, we've decided we may invest in some weaponry...high muzzle velocity, telescopic sighting, massive volume water chamber....bring it on, the super water gun. He he he. Suggestions welcome. And I know, being mostly Coulter/Cagneys who read this blog, that there is quite a wealth of knowledge about such matters.

Quote of the Day: "How absurd you are!" says little 3 yo Esta to her mum.

A little more from the last few weeks.

Again this is for The Colour Room. It's really all I've had time for, and doing these have been quite a fun challenge. Especially since I'm using only things from my current stash of goodies...I've really had to rifle through everything to come up with the colour palettes.

The Challenge is to use the colour palette they put up each week. They also provide a sketch, I've also been trying to use that each time as well. I find keeping to the sketch can be quite difficult.

This is week 5 Palette:

It's very pastel this layout but I love the mermaid influence, thank you Graphic 45. I'm not sure I like my take on the sketch though. But I was under pressure to get this finished in time...lol...my excuse.

This is Palette 7, the latest:

And this is my take on it. I still plan to journal on this layout. About how Esta is constantly being someone else...Minnie, Issa (Dora the Explorer's friend), Emily (Thomas the Tank Engine's friend), Big Daughter, Sarah (the little three horn) etc. We rarely get to call her by her real name. And she is militant in insisting you call her by her current preference.

It's been really lovely to get into the craft again. Wish I had more time though. LOL...isn't that the mantra of everyone you know? Anyway, must sign off now. Emily/Esta is upstairs yelling for me and I can hear water running...alot of it!

Creative talk.

In an effort to get my creative juices up and running I've recently joined a new craft challenge site. It's very new but already very inspiring to me. Basically there is a new colour palette put up each week, and you have to create something using that particular colour palette (and the sketch, if you wish). It's perfect for me, since my colour confidence has been rather low since I found out I was colour blind (no I'm not over it yet, still getting to know what is what. but I'm getting there..lol). I think it will really stretch my creative boundaries. The site is The Colour Room and this was the first palette that I attemped:





A rather masculine theme, so a bit of a challenge for me to get the right colours. Particularly as I'm trying to do these task using my current stash of craft goods instead of buying more. And here is my layout, sorry about the appalling photo quality.

I used the sketch for this challenge as well as the colour theme. I like the way it came out, although it is way more grungey than I had planned. There's a fair bit of inking, distressing, layers and little glimmer misting in there. The journalling is the lyrics from a Sarah McLaughlin song.

It was so nice to get some crafting done again..for myself.

Coming soon a post about my holiday. Soon as I can get some photos downloaded.

Quotes of the Day.

I had to brake a little suddenly today in the car coming up to a traffic light.
A little voice in the back seat piped up and we had the following conversation:
E: Mumma, you have to say loud "bloody"
Me: ?
E: You have to say out loud "bloody" Mum, to that man in the car. Say it!
Me: Umm why?
E: 'Cause we went forward back and we don't want to crash, so you have to say "bloody" to that man.
Me: umm...ok *insert embarrassed face*


Driving home from school pickup.
E: Big sister gets excited when Little sister is in the car.
(E is big sister, I is Little sister)

More on Esta soon in Part 3.

Breath of Life Part 3

Now, all about little Esta.

Who is now not so little.

In fact, it is extremely difficult to believe she is still only 2.

Esta is another little atom full of energy, but perhaps not so highly charged as India. This girl is a little more grounded. But just like her sister she is a terrific joker and they both love playing silly buggers together giggling hysterically the whole time they get up to their mischief

She's funny and has a very quirky humour just like her big sister. Her imagination runs wild pretty much all day long, and if we aren't running into animals constantly around the house (wild animals), we are in an altered reality where we are in fact other people or things. This week we are Lil Daughter and Big Daughter and Farda (Father) and Lil Mumma. Soon we'll be back to trains...Percy, Emily and Thomas. Last week we were our good friends and neighbours...Katie, Greta and Pete. And Esta plays hardcore, she will carry this on for days and will severely reprimand anyone (night or day) who slips up by calling someone by their real name.

Esta has recently started in a new daycare, right next door to the old one. We moved her, after much deliberation, so she isn't playing in a playground that sits right next to a main road and bus stop (in an effort to improve her health). The new one at least is about 20 metres further away. It was a difficult decision to change her, but she really loves it there in the Wombat room. She would love to go every day, because being at home when India is at school just doesn't cut it in the entertainment stakes. However, she does still love spending time with me and she'll ask me on our days together "So Momma, what we doin' today?"

Health wise she is doing ok-ish. We've managed to extend the period between antibiotic courses to about 3-4 weeks, instead of every 2. So things are looking up, but we'll see how we fair in winter.

The highlight of her week is swimming lessons. She's only begun this year, due to ill health previously. And she LOVES it. She looks forward each day to her next lesson and we talk about it often.

Esta also enjoys music and stories and running races in the backyard, and swinging on the swing and going to the library, and drawing/painting when I allow it as she is prone to decorating anything around her rather than the paper. She also loves to climb over the gate into India's room to play on the sly, sneak out in the mornings and watch the TV. In fact she enjoys a good sneak, and if you catch her or she's trying to do it in plain sight she'll say " I close my eyes Mummy" or "you close your eyes Mummy".

Oh and she's a chocoholic.

Not sure where she could have picked that up from.

Part 2.

India has been remarkably well, as always has the energy and movement of an atom on speed, and can't be still for a second.

Since we ripped out our whole backyard and re-landscaped, her health has greatly improved. There was obviously something she was quite allergic to back there. She's enjoying Grade 2 and has a lovely teacher this year that seems quite conscientious and willing to get to know her students. Indi's not involved in many other activities as yet but we'll look into joining some groups a little later to harness some of her energy.

She's reading well and loves to email. If you receive one by her, know it's a work of love. Even if it is only one sentence. She puts a fair bit of time and thought into it. It's really hard to climb the wall, do a triple somersault and stand on your head when you are typing with one finger, so it takes her a bit of time.

India's taken an interest in love lately...or should I say "lurrve''. She's never really been interested in lovey dovey stuff before, despite being in school with girls who talk princesses and princes, boyfriends and such things. But she read Esta's library book the other day "Where Willy went" to Esta, it had them in hysterics. lol.

At the library, I thought Willy was a Worm. Turns out Willy is a Sperm! And I don't need to tell you where Willy went, do I? Ask India if you want to know. I think she is now the most well informed 7yo in town, which I don't thinks is entirely a bad thing considering some of the things she's come home and told me about discussions at school. (No, Indi, you don't get pregnant by kissing any male appendage, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't on the news even if N says that is was.)

True to Indi form we've had to have long discussions about it all. Not something new, as we've done that all before due to her endless questions when I was pregnant with Esta. But this time she wanted more physical, graphic detail of the male/female coupling. Of course, we discussed this rather maturely and matter-of-fact, with only the odd gross out noise from India, while I'm keeping a straight face but laughing hysterically on the inside (thank you nursing experience) and MM is hiding in the other room going red in the face with embarrassment. It's not so much that she wants to know this stuff; it's her intense and direct questions that reach beyond her age and can be rather difficult to answer without a full degree in whatever the topic is at the time.

Anyway, NOW she wants to go to a Co-Ed school.

So she can fall in love!

Breathing life back into the Blog. part 1.

With the new year came the ususal flurry of activities. Holiday celebrations, house guests, birthdays, school starting and the tying up of all the loose ends that moves us on from all the negative influences from last year. So now we are well into February and, although chaos never really leaves us, I think I feel it's influence waning for now as we embrace a loose routine.
{edit: I think I spoke too soon.}

The girls are thriving. They had a lovely relaxed christmas/new year. They loved having house guests here, though they feel no remorse for waking them very early each day. Both my girls have a belief that if they are awake, everyone should be awake. And they wake Early. I'm afraid it is an inherent genetic truth of theirs, I've not managed to rant, beat, plead, trick or bribe it out of them.
MM is well. Or Big Boy as Esta is currently calling him. The other day it was Doctor Daddy Donkey, though we soon tired of so much alliteration, and it became Daddy Donkey. He continues to strive for the sub 3 hour marathon, with all of his mental and physical energy. The aim is at the Gold Coast run this year in July. As long as the injuries stay at bay...curse the stinking injuries! Though I do believe if he ran with one, he'd still make the sub 3, such is his dogged determination and freakish endurance power. So here's hoping that no little muscle fibres go Twang! in the early hours of a cold morn between now and July. We are looking forward to giving him lots of pats on the back and indulging him in extensive descriptions of what a Hero he is to us.

I'd hoped to post photos but Blogger is not working with me on that.
(edit: photo working now, see below)
Part two coming up soon.

Here is our beautiful Jacaranda.
If you look closely you can see Uncle Paul, little E, and Jas (but not from her best angle).