ACHOO!

...that's right. We're sick. All of us. We're coughing, spluttering, sniffling & sneezing constantly... and, as if that weren't bad enough, today is an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny, warm & wonderful, and it's hard to enjoy it, being all sick & sorry for ourselves! It's much easier to be sick when it's cold & miserable & there is nothing to do but curl up in front of the heater with a nice cup of tea... not when it's nice & warm & the park is calling!

Anywho... enough whinging (for now... or more precisely for the blog, rest assured the entire Punky household will be whining quite consistently for at least a few more days...), and on to something fantastic... my awesome Japanese felt food pattern books arrived today...! WOOT!!

They are so beautiful... even if I am heartily doubting my ability to even vaguely get the gist of how to make anything from the Japanese instructions, pictures & all, I am still super glad I ordered them, they are just magic to look at.

They are called Felt Vegetables and Fruits & Handmade Felt Food & Goods Vol 2 from the 'Heart Warming Life Series'... they are entirely in Japanese & entirely adorable.

Scared of hideous failure thought I am, I will not be able to stop myself from attempting at least some of these gorgeous little felt masterpieces for Punky's birthday kitchen. I especially love the little fruits & vegetables, cut in half so that the seeds show.... *swoon*

A spider, more gnomes, a masquerade party & why I shouldn't be allowed near a computer...

How is that for a nice horror beginning?! I can tell you my heart just about stopped two nights ago when I went to close the curtain & found that thing lurking there....! I would have been a shrieking mess if it were on this side of the glass....!! It was there again yesterday but we had crazy winds last night & I suspect he was blown away... (...that is what I am telling myself anyway, especially when a nasty little voice in my head suggests that he might have found shelter... inside....)

Now on to why I should be banned from the Internet... it is just not good for someone like me... queen of procrastination, to have unfettered access to a myriad of crafty ideas, pictures, sites... not only do I spend way too long actually on the computer trawling for such things, but when I find something that takes my fancy I am off on my latest fad, leaving all other projects, works in progress and household duties in the dust.

My new "thing" is ATCs. Artists Trading Cards. I found this site a few days ago & signed up to a couple of swaps straight off the bat. I did know about ATCs before this week, or more precisely, ACEOs (Artists Card Editions & Originals), I had seen, and lusted after, a few on Etsy, but being the eternally poor mamma that I am, I never got around to getting any. I think they are an absolutely fantastic idea, an affordable way to collect original art, as well as, when trading with other artists, foster new friendships & fuel the creative fires.

Already I have been pushed to work super hard on my swap submissions, just from seeing what others are contributing.

What are ATCs or ACEOs? ATCs are cards created by artists solely for the purpose of trading with other artists, and are not sold. ACEOs are pretty much the same, but made for sale to collectors. Each card is 3.5" by 2.5" and can be on many different bases, Bristol board, canvas, playing cards, even fabric! The sky is the limit as to what you do with it, as long as it is that standard size...!

So, I scrounged around for a while & came up with a pack of playing cards the right size & gesso'd them up;

When they were dry I stuck 2 cards together for a sturdier card, using matte medium, and got painting!!

Bellow are my submissions for the 'Fantasy Masquerade' swap.

And, when I saw an open swap for GNOME ATCs... well... how could I resist shrinking down my gnomies into card form.....?!

As excited as I am about this great new hobby, especially the part about getting some lovely cards back in the mail, I can see it eating up a bunch of my time - especially since I can't bare the thought of sending out sub-standard cards!

I need to get a calender out in the craft room - I have so many things to do by the end of the month I am sure to forget & just focus on lots of little pieces of art....! Luckily, I am half way through completing my swap for Crafty Mamas, a pamper box for the lovely Gilly, I am aiming to get that sent before the end of the month.... really I am....!

Super Skully Library Bag Giveaway....

I'm torn between blogging about this for extra entries & keeping it to myself so there is more probability that I might actually win....!!!

Ah... this giveaway business is wrought with difficult decisions!

Truth is, I couldn't bare to let 3 extra entries pass me by... so, go on over to Mrs B's wonderful blog & check out the skully, skully goodness.....

Turning the tables (Red).

It did stay sunny today.... yeah! Not only did I get a whole lotta washing done (shhhh... the mermaid is still on the clothes line... at least it got that far...!), but I finally painted, or finished painting, Punk's little table & chairs that we got from the oppy weeks & weeks ago... This little set was a horrible dusty pink with blue dolphins stencilled on it *shiver*, I wish I had taken a before photo, but I was so eager (this is weeks ago...) to get it painted that I got stuck straight in... only I have no idea about spray paint & the one can I had didn't even cover half the table...!

The half red, half pink monstrosity had been mocking me from the shed, so yesterday I bought a whole bunch of delicious cherry red paint... to show it who was boss!!

With the lovely sun today, first & second coats were dry in no time, and, this is the absolute truth, Punky was not away from the table for the rest of the day. First, she was just sitting outside in the sun, then, when I brought them inside, she sat looking extremely pleased with herself for ages, looking at books & playing with cars on the table top. Then she ate her dinner at her little table & indulged in a little after dinner drawing... I think it's fair to say she likes it. A lot.

Lots of Green... A Lucky Day?

I only realised after I'd uploaded these pics that green is quite prominent in all of them... I'm hoping that's a good sign... if only I could afford to buy a lottery ticket!

First of all, this is my very first, still brand spanking new, ever so lovely, wooden desk easel. Isn't it purty...?!

Next up is a top I found in "The Great Craft Area Clean Up" of '09. It's actually a boy's top I got on clearance, green tops for girls aren't all that easy to find in shops around here, it's all about the pink & the frills generally, but I thought this was a lovely green that the Punk would look cute in. I embroidered the mermaid a little while ago, after a trip to The Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne, and obviously, promptly, forgot about it. It still has the fabric marker where I drew the design on! I'm hoping it stays sunny (but I have grave doubts) so that I can get this washed & dried & on Punky asap.

And lastly, two lovely op shop finds, featuring lucky green again. I was super excited to find these guys, both now hanging out in my craft area.

A Cute big sprite & Patty O'Green (complete with hot air balloon & wee little sprite!) from Rainbow Brite.... aaaaaaahhhhhh.... lovely.....

Thursday Road Trip; Sushi & Camels....

We ventured out of our town today on a mini-road trip, pretty much exclusively to have sushi for lunch. It is a sad state of affairs, but our town does nae have sushi, and yeah, I know I can make it, but I've tried & pretty much failed at that, and it's just not the same.

Punky loves sushi. From when she first started on solids she's had sushi, and I'm pretty sure she's missed it as much as I have since our move to no-sushi-land, so today was greatly enjoyed by all (..but especially by Le Punk!).

After a massive sushi pig out & a spot of window shopping in the shopping centre we were off again, and Punky was ready for a nap....

A quick stop in at a massive hardware store (The Boy needed potting mix & I needed spray paint... lovely, lovely, cherry red spray paint....) & we headed home. Deciding on an alternate route to the usual however was a lovely variation... The road has been christened "The Horse Poo Highway" by locals because every second property has bags of the stuff piled up in their driveway with signs saying "$1.50 A BAG!". I know that doesn't sound like a particularly scenic route... but it is actually, lots of farms & green acres, but the unexpectedly delightful thing we came across was....

Camels!!! Cute & different they may be, but as I discovered when I wound down the window for some pics... they also smell very (very) bad...!

A Clean Craft Area & Pretty Precious Things....

We've had a pretty good day here, in spite of the horrible night we had last night - Little Miss Punk had a very disturbed night (monster teeth me thinks), which meant I had a very disturbed night, and neither of us were very bright eyed or bushy tailed this morning.

Once I'd had my morning coffee & Punk her Vegemite fix, all was well. Because she had hardly any sleep last night, Punky's nap lasted for a marathon amount of time & I was able to get a tonne done out the back... yes, that's right, I managed to get my craft area cleaned up! This is what it looked like before, and now;

Not a major make over by any means but it is certainly much tidier! I utilised Punk's old change table in the corner there - told The Boy it would be fine as long as we don't have another kid (he's keener than I on #2) any time soon.

I like that it's clean & tidy out there now, but I REALLY love that I was able to make more room for my precious things, so that I can have them around me when I create.

I also got a desk easel today - my very first easel ever!! It's cold & dark out the back right now so I'll take some pics tomorrow... it's so awesome though & I can't wait to play with it, and you know, "accidentally" drip paint on it for the first time... ;)