Carve it up.

I am joining in with a brooch swap & have deferred the actual brooch part for now while having fun with what I might attach the brooch to when it’s finished (…although “finished” might suggest a more labour-intensive piece than I have in mind. Something literally jumped out at me this morning that I think would be great, but I don’t know whether my swapee would be thrilled or incredibly disappointed…!).

I broke out the speedball carving tool I got from Holly’s class at Stitches & Craft a couple of years ago & attacked a few erasers last night.

What do you think of “Geek Amour”? I think I like it. I think I have grand plans, but, if I’m honest, I usually do.

(…and thank you everyone for empathising with me over yesterday’s post; I bet you all wouldn’t cry at an oppy in front of old ladies, but it’s nice of you to say you would….!!! xx)

Excuse me, is this a piece of your brain?

I found this ace microscope set at the oppy for Suspence’s room earlier this week. It was $5. I was happy. Then I bought a bunch of clothes for the kids at another oppy… & that’s when I lost a piece of my brain.

The total was $19. I paid & went on my way; only realising when I was in the supermarket that I had gone into the oppy with a $50 note, paid $19 & left with $1. Crap.

So back I went to the oppy in a bit of an anxious state, only to find the lady that served me had gone home & the woman in her place looking at me as though I was trying to scam her out of $30 with my obviously made up story about change & clothes & absentmindedness.

After explaining the whole thing again to the manager, & receiving the same look of disbelief… I burst into tears. Yep. Right there at the counter of one of my local oppies, with two grumpy looking old ladies glaring at me. Smooth.

The manager told me to come back in the morning & if the till was over $30 (an outcome she obviously thought was not very likely) I could get my money back, so I left, feeling stupid both for crying & not noticing I was short-changed in the first place.

I rang in the morning to make sure the till was over & the woman seemed much nicer when she said that it was. Relieved, I went down to pick up the money but was met again by Ms Dour, who grudgingly handed me $30 while grumbling “Next time you’re in here, make sure you get the right change. This is against our policy, but the till was $30 over so I’m making an exception.”

And you know what happened next? Can you guess?

I said “Oh. Yes. Sorry about that.”

Uh-huh. I apologised for them short-changing me & having them give me my money back.

*sigh*

But the microscope is cool, huh?

More finds with Sophie, here.

Knitingo.

Someone has been waiting a very long time for me to draw this. What can I say? I have commitment issues (now she just has to wait for me to post it).

I love the smell of burnt wood in the morning.

Hey. How’s things? You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been a bit quieter than usual of late; not posting as much & not stooging around your blogs as much… I’ll be honest, I’ve just not been feeling it lately. Subconsciously blogging has been put on the back burner. I’m thinking less about it, have been less inclined to take pictures to post & I haven’t had a whole lot of time to peruse other blogs or make something to talk about on my own.

I’ve been here before, so I know I’ll get back into it again with vigour, but I just wanted to let anyone who might be wondering know that all is well in the Punky household, I’m just busy & tired… but who isn’t?

I had some lovely mail this morning. A surprise parcel from Bec – a shirt each for Le Punk & Suspence, a cute pillowcase & the most fabulous Dr Seuss bib… “just because”. Isn’t that awesome? Isn’t she awesome? I love mail like that. Not for the gorgeous presents, but for the thought. For the effort. It makes me all gooey in the middle like an undercooked cupcake.

My other parcel was something I’ve been waiting weeks for. With a shaking hand I ripped into the cardboard & was hit with the most wonderful smell of burnt wood.

I can’t actually properly describe how I felt when I saw these little laser-cut pieces in my hands… I had designed these things myself, with an illustration program I know little about, a technique I know even less about & a technology I had never used before. Pride, excitement, wonder, relief… revelation? I don’t think that’s too strong a word; I have found something that combines some of my absolute favourite things (…drawing & design, messing about on the computer & getting mail!) & my mind is buzzing with the possibilities. I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt like this… maybe when I had my first Photoshop class years ago? It’s that big. It’s that fascinating to me. So new & so exciting.

Lastly, a quick cushion swap update; the cushion covers are rolling in now! There have been some amazing covers created & now that they are arriving at their destinations there is a lot of cushion love in the air. I am also chuffed to report that the participants in this swap are stellar people; not a single piker so far, & I’m only waiting on one person to let me know where they are up to, so thanks guys for being awesome & making it so easy for me to run a fun swap.

Have a great week; I might be around but if I’m not, I’ll be snuffling burnt wood & making grand plans to take over the world with a small laser-cut army of mechanical animals.

Left Behind.

So. Were you Raptured? I wasn’t. Obviously. If you don’t reply I’ll assume you’re thumbing your nose at me from heaven.

I made these pictures of random people post-Rapture last night for a photo contest on Regretsy. With my rudimentary Photoshop skillz it took me much longer than it should have, but it did take my mind off being left behind…

Whoops…

I forgot about my “Wow I talk too much” surprise giveaway thingy…

Random.org to the rescue…. *drumroll puh-lease*

Jennie! You’ll be getting a surprise something from me! Are you excited? You are aren’t you? I can totally tell by your slumped shoulders & deep exhalation.

The Craft You’re Doing When You’re Not Doing A Craft…

Want to make something but only have less than a minute & can’t be bothered sewing…?

Take embroidery hoop. Stretch opshopped fabric over inner hoop & secure with outer hoop.

Artfully arrange brooches.

Voila; purty vintage look brooch holder. (…and you said you weren’t crafty…!)

Retail Therapy.

Yesterday we were in town for some veggie buying & sushi eating when I remembered about Borders closing down. We moseyed over & found the cupboard almost bare as they are in their last days, with everything at least 60% off & even the fixtures for sale.

I was sad that they were closing but cannot deny that my heart beat a little faster in anticipation of snagging a bargain… if only there were something decent left to buy!

There was. For me anyway. On a table at the front were these gems, usually $19.95 but reduced to just $3 each. I had one once but that was many moves ago – now I have the whole sassy set three. When linking I just saw there are two more! Doh!

I high-tailed it to the craft section but it was decimated. The only craft book left, without a word of a lie, was a knitting book for men (as in, Men; Knit stuff! as opposed to Men; Knit things for them!). Dejected I set about circling the store’s scant remains, hoping to come across something, anything, I could herald as a bargain… (…lucky I don’t get out to shopping centres much these days, any spare cash at all burns a hole in my pocket, especially when there is a sale on – I am a retailer’s dream….)

Cook books – gone.

Gardening books – gone.

Kid’s books – super gone.

Dvds – gone.

Cds – gone.

I ended up at the front of the store again in front of a bunch of Young Adult books. I saw something pink & floral, something that I thought had “…for girls of slender Mums…” as the subtitle, & I picked it up anyway.

Bingo.

A quirky & cute craft book, with skirts, bags & dresses to make! The title, in actuality, is Lovely Things to Make for Girls of Slender Means, which is me to a tee (…just as well it was about money & not girth…).

Truth be told, I bought it without really looking at it, so excited was I to find any kind of decent looking craft book at all, but when I got home I perused it more & even googled it; then I found that my bloggy mate Jennie had reviewed it! She’s done a much more thorough job than I would ever do, so go there if you’d like to know more, but I was doubly chuffed to find that someone who’s sewing skills are much better than mine thought my bargain book was a good’un too!

But why is the rum gone?

Captain Jack Sparrow.

 

(…what? Do I need a reason?)

Bravo. (And an important reminder!)

I have been absolutely floored by the quality of the awesome cushion covers my talented swappers have made so far… I knew you guys were special!

If you want to see what I’m on about, there is a linky at the end of this post with a some finished cushion love residing within it; there are going to be some happy bloggers out there soon when the postie swings by, I wish more than one of those beautiful creations were coming to live here… I could be the crazy cushion lady. (Cleaner than cats & they don’t shed hair. I digress….)

If you’re in the Cushion Swap, you’ve got just one week left! Cushions to be sent out on or before the 23rd of May peeps! CONTACT ME ASAP IF YOU’VE ANY ISSUES AT ALL, PLEASE!

'What I’d like, is I’d like to hug, and kiss ya'

So blogger is back! Thank goodness… I’d have to like… go… do… stuff… if it stayed away much longer… and well… we can’t have that can we?!

After having minor conniptions on twitter about how bummed I’d be if my blog posts from the last two years disappeared into the cloud, the first thing I did when blogger came back was back this mo’fo UP! In the process of doing that I realised I was backing up 549 posts – which makes this my 550th post, which means some sort of celebration is in order.

Because this was kind of unexpected & because if I wait until 600 I’ll forget all about it until it’s too late, I don’t ACTUALLY know what I’ll give you as a “Woo – 550!” present, but it’ll be something. That’s for sure. It might even be good.

So if you trust me (Bahahaha) & like surprises, leave a comment.

We’ll see what happens.

My Creative Space

Our Creative Spaces.

I can only hope…

…that my swapee likes ironic cushion covers.

Put A Bird On It…

…with this innovative new product, the BIRDAZZLER, you can “Put A Bird On It” whenever you like, no matter where you are!

I’ve been busy all afternoon, making all sorts of things better by putting birds on them…

BIRDAZZLE, BABY!

Cushion Swap; Show ‘em off!

I know that a few of you have finished, perhaps even mailed off, your cushion covers already… woop woop! Here is the linky for you to blog about what you made if you’d like to share. You can show us your cushion or wait until you receive somebody else's, just remember that until it is received, who is making for who is all hush hush!

Hopefully I’ll get my own cover made this week sometime, I can’t wait to see what everybody has done!

(Let me know if you’d like a flickr group; I tend to forget about flickr but I’ll sort it out if you would like to upload your cushiony pics up there too.)

1/2

Time flies when you’re sleep deprived!

Happy 1/2 birthday to my favourite baby boy. You can clap, roll, sit up (briefly) & munch things with your single bottom tooth. You love “Five Little Ducks”, splashing in the bath & hanging out with your big sister. You are always happy, very chatty & the cutest little things since cartoon puppies with sad eyes. We all adore you. xx

Talk Nerdy To Me…

Jim Parsons as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory… Bazinga!

Matthew Gray Gubler as Reid from Criminal Minds…

…& Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker in Juno; Wizard!

...a late addition, thanks to Lola Nova for the reminder (& this video)! Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Concords...

(Just some Geeky on-screen boys I like!)