Oh NOES! Curse that passionfruit seed!

Oh noes.  Fortunately we are still well stocked with oil of cloves (it’s the only thing that worked to get rid of the mould that came with last year’s rainy season and floods) so I can make a temporary poultice if it starts hurting too much…

The big thing is NOT TO PANIC.  Mr Beloved is helping, reminding me to “Notice… observe….” and I’m doing my best.

Journal page

I’ve been trying to get back into more regular art journal writing and collaging.  Keeps me out of the pubs and picture shows, as my Dad would say…

Happy New Year girl collage

(as always, clicky images for bigger)

(collage uses bits from  Tumblefish Studio, Paula Kesselring, and some magazine I had lying around.)

It’s hot here today, 34 degrees as I write this.  We don’t have aircon but we do have pedestal fans.  Now that we have a ceiling that can support them, we might one day think about ceiling fans… but for now the pedestal fans do the job.  My poor family over in Adelaide sweltered in some much hotter temperatures this week.

I’m very glad I cooked zucchini slice the other night – it’s nice straight out of the fridge, no need to heat up the kitchen! Oh, and as a treat we bought sausages from the butcher, so Mr Beloved will probably cook those on the barbie tonight.  I popped out to the greengrocer earlier, and the sweetcorn has been lovely, so I grabbed a couple of cobs.  I mainly went out to get some more grapes – I’m having a thing for frozen grapes again at the moment, yum.

Also bought some sugar free gum to have on hand as a temporary  fix for the broken filling – I don’t normally do chewing gum because I have TMJ issues, and after watching an episode of Jimmy’s Food Factory where he made his own gum (plastic pellets!  PVA! yuk!) I’m even less inclined to put it in my mouth, but needs must.

Journal page waiting for writing...

(Collage contains more bits from Tumblefish Studio plus others that were lying about…)

The flea saga continues – the cat is speaking to me again (after being bribed with milk) but the poor dog continues to get bitten – we suspect the fleas are in the grass, so every time she goes outside they jump on again.  The new medicine seems to be working, though, because the fleas that bite her DIE (muaaa haa haa) but of course she gets itchy with each new bite, so she’s still unhappy, poor little thing.   I spent HOURS vacuuming the lounge and the lounge room and the bedroom, enough to make my back ache – I’ll have another (less intense) run at that tomorrow, probably.

Tomorrow is the official unveiling of the Toowoomba Flood Monument – and perhaps fittingly, thunderstorms are forecast.  Supposed to be another hot day beforehand.

And even though it’s still hot, and Mr Beloved isn’t feeling up to it, I’m going to take the dog to the park for a quick walk.

[as always, clicky for biggy]

in 2002, I lived in a PO Box in Canberra..., (not really!)

It was from a secret Valentine Swap in 2002!  COOOL!

Postcards and yarn and things, oh my!

(Including a postcard of the New York skyline back when the twin towers were still there…)

The included card

I have NO IDEA who sent it to me – that info has been lost.  It was someone in the NY/ New Jersey area, though, going by the postcards and little goodies…

Yesterday as I was going through the envelope, I noticed a bookplate:

which I have stuck in the front of one of my current art journals.  And I thought to myself “Hmmm, I recognise that illustration!”  and this made me Very Happy.

Yep, in teeeeeeny little writing on the bookplate is  “Tuesday ©1991 David Wiesner Clarion Books”.  AHA!  It’s from another kid’s book I own – another Caldecott Medal winner , no less.

(In 1992.  He also won the Caldecott in 2007 for Flotsam, which I want to get. He’s the only person to win the Caldecott THREE times!)

And then I looked up David Wiesner’s web site and  YAY he has a new book out!!  It’s called Art and Max and I really really want it *sigh*… maybe when it comes out in paperback.  How could you not love a story about a lizard learning to paint?! Be sure to watch the video (click on the book picture to get the link) where David Wiesner explains the ideas he had in exploring various media to get to the characters – brilliant!

Art and Max

Anyway, if by some remote chance the person who sent me the Secret Valentines Swap in 2002 happens to be reading this – thank you for the goodies and for prompting me to look at David Wiesner’s work again!

I just can’t do such long days any more.  Tuesday was a write off.  Wednesday wasn’t much better… although a visit to our lovely GP to check on my new asthma medication (it’s WONDERFUL, I haven’t had to use my reliever puffer at all – such a huge change!) ended up including a referral to get Mr Beloved’s shoulder injury fixed (we hope). He needs an ultrasound guided injection to fix the bursitis that developed after he fell up the stairs and shoulder charged the house…

Wednesday also brought a surprise care package from a lovely Canberra friend – and if I could only work out how to get photos off my new phone and onto this old computer, I could show you!  She got EVERYTHING right, it was all such beautiful stuff and very me - I especially loved the badge that said “Craft is the new black” and another that said “Make tea not war.”  Good, yes?!  So generous, and you know who you are, *mwah*!

Thursday is our usual scrapping day – well, the others scrapbook and I admire their work.  I’m taking a wonderful online class that has got me interested in actually playing with my art materials and drawing again.  YAY!  The funny thing is, I’d signed up for the classes and hadn’t realised that one of the teachers, the wonderful Jane Davenport, was going to be speaking at the Scrapbooking show – it was such a delightful surprise and hearing her talk about art journals made the long day worthwhile. She is SO INSPIRING!

Here’s a page of very wonky drawings (mostly done with my left hand) – an exercise from Carla Sonheim’s Drawing Lab book

Wonky cats - an exercise from Carla Sonheim's "Drawing Lab"

And a boring page (but interesting to me!) of playing with pencils – I never would have known how much I like drawing in pencil over gesso if I hadn’t done this exercise from Jane’s class:

Pencil on paint... hmmm!

The rest of the week and the weekend is a bit of a blur – taken up with usual stuff, I guess.  I’m still recovering from a couple of super-anxious days that saw me chasing my own tail… thank goodness I see my lovely psychologist tomorrow!

Meanwhile, even with his wounded wing, the lovely Mr Beloved has been plodding on with  the ever-present task of reorganising the studio.  He’s a brave, brave man to wade into piles like this:

Another pile of books to be sorted...

We need to weed out books we don’t want, but there are still an awful lot that need to be re-shelved in our new bookcases.  Some of the bookcases are “zombie” bookcases that Mr Beloved has managed to patch together from odd shelves and pieces of timber – but they work!

And now I’m off to the post office (waiting on a book my psychologist recommended, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion) and then a bit of housework and some DRAWING!

So expect a post later in the week about the shows – it’s such a loooooooong day that I fully expect to have to spend Tuesday and maybe Wednesday in bed recovering.

In health news: the new (preventer) asthma medication (symbicort) has meant that I have only had to use the (reliever puffer) Ventolin TWICE all week.  Huge difference from before the preventer when I was having to use Ventolin 4 times a day most days!

And those two times were on the very coldest nights – we had the coldest day on record here on Thursday, with the temperature struggling to reach 7.4 degrees C at the airport – and it our little valley I can tell you it didn’t even get *that* warm, and with windchill was around -5 in the early morning.

And here’s the blast from the past – this photo fell out of a book as Mr Beloved was putting books away on our new shelves this week:

Anne-Maree Campbell, me, Simone Parker, Gail Patterson - and a very cheeky little brother Godon Miller in the window!

Simone and I worked out this was probably taken in 1981… such a long time ago!  I have no idea what Anne-Maree and Gail are up to these days…

Cards in progress.  I can’t remember (and OMG, shock, I am too lazy to backtrack!) where I saw the Stampin’ Up Two Step Owl Punch first used to make penguins, but aren’t they cute?

Only problem is, with my hands still swollen and uncooperative, it takes me about an hour to make each card with three penguins on it.  And there is no way I’d even try without tweezers and a Zig (brand) glue pen (that blue pen with the white lid in the foreground – has a ballpoint tip for liquid glue.  Scrapbookers have the coolest tools!)

I now also have a gazillion white owls, since I only needed the bib and one set of eye circles for the penguins.  Anyone got any ideas for the white owls? Also lots of spare orange and black bits, as you can see.  I may give up and *gasp* just bin them.

I don’t do a lot of holiday cards – so please don’t be offended if you don’t get one!

BUT: leave a comment (on my blog, not on the facebook feed) about something on my desk in the picture, and one person WILL get a card – I won’t promise it will be a three penguin one, but it will be handmade!

{clicky for biggy}

Scanned journal page; digitally layered with a text page (by Amanda Sexton, in Art Journal Caravan Parcel 46 from Scrapbookgraphics.com) glitter stars (from the 2010 Art Journal Caravan Steamer trunk – no longer available) and alpha (from Amanda Sok‘s package that was the Scrapgirls.com Jan 2010 offering.)

I printed this out onto textured cardstock and it came up quite well.  Just like a bought one.  Wouldn’t want to do that often since printer ink costs more than Dom Perignon or caviar… but my hands were too sore to cut out and paste In Real Life, so GIMP to the rescue! (GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and it’s FREE.)

I use GIMP because it’s freeand fully linux compatible,  but I admit there are times I wish I had Photoshop Elements* or (dream on!) the full Photoshop works to play with- just because there are some groovy things (actions, styles) that you can’t translate into GIMP.

*DO NOT tell me there is a free trial version  -I know there is; the other part of the story is that we are primarily a Penguin (linux) household, because Bill Gates wants too much money for his Windows OS. :-pppp

ANYWAY, the birthday girl liked the card. I also gave her a Pitt Artist’s Pen in GOLD – love those pens, and had to get a gold and silver for myself – yum!

and a wee journal for her to Zentangle in.  (Something comes to mind here about buying pressies that you’d really like for yourself… hmm!)

My hands are slightly improved after a week back on the Celebrex.  Problem is, that’s not a long term solution (anti-inflammatories greatly increase the risk of stroke, as this ABC Health article points out).  I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist down in Brisbane but that’s not until the end of February.  (The wait would be several YEARS if I was trying to see one in the public system…)  Still no oboe of flute practice and I missed the concert band’s end of year concert and two rehearsals so far… hoping (I would cross my fingers if they didn’t HURT so damn much!) that I might be able to play in the carols gig on Monday night… we shall see.

Apart from that – I’m really enjoying reading a series of novels set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Woods Cop mysteries – but they’re far more interesting in letting the wilderness and the people who interact with it star in the stories.  The main character is a Conservation Officer named Grady Service, and they’re written by Joseph Heywood.  Deer huntin’ , shootin’, and fishin’ is DEFINITELY not my usual cup of tea but I’m loving these books.

And now it’s past my bedtime.  It’s raining here again (wettest Spring on record, anyone?!) and we have to get almost all our sheets through the wash because they’ve developed a musty pong. Ick.  There are times I wish we had a clothes-dryer…

Well, my secret Small Art Pen-Pal swap partner, Shannon in British Columbia, got my piece of art (?! well, the thingummy I made), that I showed you a sneak peek of way back here.  So now you can see the whole thang:

Approx 8″ x 8″, wonky stitching and all! The crown, wings, and cloud border at the top were printed from .png sheets from the lovely Marsha of Tumble Fish Studio (I love her original artworks, and also the digital collage sheets she offers as .pngs  – soooo much easier to work with than .jpgs!)  The background is some scrapbooking cardstock that I used the credit card painting technique on – ever since I learned it from a Kelly Kilmer online class, it’s been my favourite way of getting a quick, interesting background.  (If you don’t know what I mean, pop over to Michelle Ward’s Green Pepper Press Street Team blog – she used the same idea (with cool variations!) a little while ago in Crusade 44: In A Scrape.)  The other bits and pieces came from magazines.

I was really worried my secret penpal wouldn’t like it – I was NOT confident, I didn’t think it was my best work, but then, I never like my stuff!  But she’s been very kind.

And here’s what she sent me – a gorgeous hand made journal with lots of little prompts and interesting pages!  And although she had no way of knowing this, she used pages from one of my favourite scrapbooking ranges – Cosmo Cricket’s “The Boyfriend” range.  I love that she also included some magazine pages  – as we know, I’m a bit of a magazine junkie (although my habit is now restricted to buying them second hand, as other money is all for oboe reeds!)

My photos don’t do it justice  – I LOVE this journal!  I’m going to start using it very soon – just a few pages I want to finish in the current one.

Thanks to Samie Kira for organising this swap.  Part of the requirement was that the swap partners write an encouraging letter to each other – I forgot to take a photo of mine to Shannon, which I wrote on painted over pages from an old encyclopedia – Shannon wrote her letter to me directly in the journal, which is so cool!

And in news from the aviary: there’s  a new hatchling in the cockatiel cage.  Since Bollinger and Dorian succesfully raised Rex, we’ve been wondering if more little birdlings would happen.  The new one was sighted this morning, but was soooo teeny – and sometime the parents abandon the little ones.  So we’ll have to wait and see…

So – not much happening here.  My back has been playing up to the point where I’m seriously considering having more injections – even though they hurt A LOT. But at the moment I’m not doing much because my back hurts.  Kind of a circular argument, except that I know that in the past the injections have let me get up and get going – which I’m kinda keen to do.

(Despite the mess in the pic – not much art stuff getting done, either.)

I’m STILL waiting on the oboe – hoping for news today.   Did I mention that once I’d decided to go with the oboe instead of the flute service, my poor old flute broke down? Something is going very wrong so that when I try to play the high E-flat, a random note happens instead.  I believe it’s a combination of the pads being so worn and the springs so in need of adjustment  – in other words, the overhaul that I could have had for the money spent on the oboe was REALLY needed.  ARRRRGH! (Because my flute comes into the “hand built” category, it’s not a matter of just a couple of hundred dollars – and it’s certainly not something I’d trust to a local, non-specialist repairer.)

So I’m playing a borrowed flute for rehearsals, but don’t have an instrument at home to practice on – well, unless I live with the random notes where the high E- flat should be.  And what keys are essential in concert band music? Oh – E flat! D’OH!

Last week we went to the local council nursery to get our “free”plants (A voucher comes with the rates notice) – the passionflower (I ADORE passionflowers! They’re so freaky!) and the grevillea (I don’t know what specific one it is, but isn’t it pretty?)photo are from that trip.

Meantime, we’re finally having some delightful Spring weather!  Today is another clear blue sky, starting off cool, warming up in the arvo (21 degrees C today!) -  just perfect.  A huge relief after the drenching rains and high winds of last week.  Of course, the warmer weather brings the inevitable “Snakes are on the move” story in the local media.

Constance J. Woodle had her haircut today – and the groomer commented on her weight loss  – YAY!  We changed Connie to a fish based diet (including fish treats instead of her favourite bribery tool, dried liver treats) and she’s stopped scratching at herself AND lost weight!  Oh, if only it was so simple for me… sadly, I hate fish, and while her kibble certainly sounds crunchy and appetising…

Oh – and here’s why I don’t do “ordinary” scrapbooking – BECAUSE I SUCK AT IT!! Seriously, this page has no “me” in it.  If I was using all the same bits over again, I’d splash paint, add more of my own writing, etc.  But here it is, DULLSVILLE:

(Also? Scrapbook pages are a PAIN to photograph straight – I *almost* managed this one, but not quite.)

I like the photo, I like the stamped date (see what happens when you don’t clean your foam stamps properly between colours? I kinda like it!) But the butterfly is crapful and the birds are boring.  *sigh* And it took me FOREVER to make something this bad – where art journal style stuff is at least enjoyable, this was torture!

And now I must go squich my boobs into a bra and take the dog for a walk.  The choices of route are either: past all the (council recognised) “problem” dogs; or down along the footpath where the local hoons think it’s wonderful fun to throw their beer bottles to smash onto the footpath.  I looooooooooove my neighbourhood.

(clicky biggy)

Yes, that is Constance J. Woodle  – but no, that’s not really me, LOL! Connie is in her full winter coat – I think next time she sees the groomer she’ll have a close shave – her hair starts to get knotty at this length.

(clicky biggy)

The bottom line that the scanner cut off says “I am really looking forward to bed!”

We see the doctor again in a fortnight and I’m determined that I will have lost at least a couple of kg by then.  I’m back to using the CalorieKing.com.au website to count calories and record  exercise: that really helped last time when I managed to lose weight.  I’m aiming for around 80kg as my final goal – heavier than Weight Watchers or CalorieKing recommend for my height and age, but more achievable than their estimate  – 60 kg? I don’t THINK SO!!Last time I was that weight I was 20 something years younger and caught any flu/cold/lurgy that was going. That’s when I got the glandular fever that is still effecting my life NOW.

And here’s a journal page I started at Social Cre8te at Tammy’s shop yesterday:

There’s some stamping in the background using one of the new ($4!) Kaisercraft texture stamps (the one called “Flourish”, CS759) – I’m looking forward to using the same stamp in wet gesso to give more texture to backgrounds – I forgot to take the gesso with me yesterday!  The buildings are made from a book I bought for $2 on British plants -  a very good buy because the paper is such beautiful quality, no foxing at all, and very sturdy, even though the book dates from the late 1930s (from memory). (No, it wasn’t worth anything as a book, but it’s lovely as art material.)

In other news: Mr Beloved hired a slasher (what a beastie!)

yesterday, and did the yard.  First time in about (mumblety… 5?) months, and the !@&*^!* kikuyu grass ( Pennisetum clandestinum – if you do a search on google images you’ll see just how invasive it is!) had grown into knee high, tangled mats that an ordinary mower  had no chance of defeating.  (And our mower still needs to go off to be repaired anyway…)  At least we can see the dog when she’s in the yard now!  We’re pulling up runners and trying to poison the rest of the kikuyu, it’s awful stuff.

And now it’s time to hang the washing  – such a beautiful almost Spring day here,  blue sky and the birds are turning over the drying “hay” left in the yard…

As you can see, I’m working in a spiral bound journal (A4 size) rather than making either of the book’s Kelly’s teaching; I’ll probably have a go at the books sometime but for now I’m happy with yet another A4 journal.  I’ve used a lot of scrapbooking papers in these pages – mostly because I have them and I’m trying to use them up, instead of being precious about them and “saving” them!

More pages to come…