Art, food and friends

It was a tough assignment but someone had to do it.  Last weekend we headed off to the Barossa Valley with the intentions of seeing great art at some of the SALA exhibitions and also having some wonderful food.  The friends part was easy - they were all very willing accomplices.

The SALA exhibitions we visited on Sat afternoon, were a little disappointing - just not our 'thing' but we did enjoy this one.

All made from corrugated iron and metally bits - how smart.

And then on Sunday morning we headed off bright and early to see the exhibition that we really wanted to see. Thankfully it was all that we had expected and more +++

Sue rescues unwanted bits and pieces that have seen better days and with skill like a plastic surgeon, she rebirths them into unique pieces of jewellery.

I still can't decide what was my favourite piece.

The babushka looking necklaces and earrings were once the pull-tops from the tops of cans.

Of course its the kind of thing I notice and think about when I'm opening cans!

She can even produce some arty prints - wonder if there is anything she can't do?

Marion fell in love with this one.

I really liked the necklace on the left - made from pieces of china. 

I've been spotted since eyeing off the china in my mother's cupboard!

Cloud 9

  A few weeks/months ago we celebrated Kirsty's 40th birthday.  The theme?........ "Cloud 9"
  - and whilst we were encouraged to dress in vintage clothes or vintagey colours, the venue was already slotted well into the vintage era - by age and not by looks but Kirsty had a vision of what it could and would look like and she transformed the room into a magical loveliness.

The walls and ceiling were completed covered with black fabric - metres and metres of it - with hundreds of twinkling fairy lights and many tissue paper clouds hanging through the room.

Chandeliers, candelabras & lamps provided the lighting and

vintage tableware including water jugs and glasses filled the tables.

We settled into our seats and enjoyed the delicious meal.

                                                Marion, Kirsty and me

Kirsty's children were our waitresses and waiter, and her husband
was as debonair as ever

Nameplaces were little swans, with a name wrapped macaron sitting in their backs
and we'd filled lovely dishes full of macarons and had them dotted down the tables.

By the end of the night we were all wearing our wings - even my husband was happy to be photographed with them on.

My job was to make macarons and once started on the lovely pastel colours it was hard to stop. I must say that the photos taken of the mounds of gelati coloured macarons looked fabulous. The fillings included white chocolate ganache with pureed raspberry, salted caramel, lemon butter and milk chocolate with nectarine.

Marion made Kirsty's birthday cake - covered with edible shiny stars,
macarons and persian fairy floss
(I made the cake stand - thanks to the inspiration of Sue and Melissa, using a crystal platter and an upturned dessert bowl.  The cake stand was actually a Kitchen tea present for my new "niece-in-law" and as often the case, I now want one like it too!)

She's got 10 years to plan for her 50th, wonder what she'll do to top this party?!

Emerging from hibernation

It really can't be nearly 2 months since I did my last post, I'm sure there is a blog post thief out there somewhere.
I haven't been sitting around doing nothing all that time though, I've been making costumes for the school concert next week and - I have been trying out some new recipes for the upcoming market season like the toffee apples.

And mini lemon meringue tartsMarion celebrated her birthday a couple of days before she left on an overseas trip - she of course, made her own birthday cake - as you do!

I know you want to see a better photo of her cake................... It was huge - about 8 layers with a tempered chocolate flower on top.

Marion is currently in Venice - poor her!

My eldest cherub turned 12 a few weeks ago and instead of a traditional birthday cake, he asked for a macaron tower! At the time I couldn't think of anything to fill in the gaps with - if he had been a girl, I would have used flowers but since have thought that I could have used strawberries or marshmallows.

His friends didn't seem to notice the gaps and were quite impressed.

Play Day

I've been fortunate this week, to have time to play....not play in the sandpit type of play, but creative play. Marion has been wanting to paint some emus to take overseas as gifts, later in the year. So under the tuition of Kirsty, she created this painting.

And now Marion is working on the second one.

I think, from the latest reports that the one with the white cap has had a makeover - wonder what he/she's wearing now?

Kirsty is getting ready for an exhibition at the end of July so she has a few paintings "on the go".

This is the one that she was working on, while we were there.

And this is a nearly finished commissioned painting ready to go to it's new home.

Kirsty's emu paintings adorn the walls of some of the local hotels and homes around South Australia

and as welcome signs into one of our local towns.

What a girl!

We have a wedding to go to this Saturday - the first of our nieces and nephews is getting married, so it is quite a family event.

I'd bought a dress but couldn't find a necklace that I was happy with so I sent an email to Sue of Viva la Diva fame, and asked if she had anything made that would match my dress.

I've seen her work in person a few times and own a few pieces as well (as do some of my friends around here) so I know that I love her creations.

I sent a photo of my dress and just a few days later a parcel appeared in our letterbox with 2 lovely necklaces and matching earrings for me to choose from. I feel a bit like the Queen or a movie star, having jewellery made to accessorise my 'frock'.

And guess which one I chose??? Yes, both of them.....they are both gorgeous....and which one will I wear? Well I'm going to take both with me and decide on the day!

Thank you Sue!

When Home Alone

...and you need to take a photo of yourself it can be a very skillful and dangerous feat to attempt.

Circles can spin before your eyes and you become aware of not being as deft and nimble as you once were.

Amanda was kind enough to lend me a pattern for sewing a skirt and even more kind to supply some extra instructions for me, so that I could understand the instructions!  I haven't done much sewing for myself so I was a little unsure if I would get to the "finish line" of the skirt.
It was super quick to make and I decided a bit later to add the extra embellishment on the front to add a bit more interest.

So all was good, now to take a photo of me wearing the skirt but there was only 2 cats, the dog and me at home.  Suddenly I thought, I could use the help of the mirror to get my digital camera lined up in the right spot.  The flash was a problem but I felt sure I could remove that with a photo editing program and also fix anything else.  The first 4 photos weren't quite right, I wasn't up high enough,  so I stood on the bed as you would but maybe not the best thing to do when you have a waterbed.  I'm guessing it was a bit like being on a surfboard for the first time. 

All became calm and the camera was carefully lined up again....beep...battery on the camera was flat.  Finally after going through that procedure again, this was the photo I was going to present to the blogging world..........

...I don't think ...so!  Note the discarded shoes on the floor, not just the ones I took off before I stood on the bed, but also yesterdays and the other pair that I decided not to wear.  The quilt has obviously exploded out of it's cover after I had been rolling around trying to get to my nimble feet.  Clearly not the fashion statement that I was wanting to present, especially with the trackpants under the skirt and frumpy hoodie.  It looks so much better with a white or black t-shirt and no trackpants. 

So that has been my bit of fun for today now to go and tidy up my bedroom!

Now how do you do this blogging thing???

It's been so long since I did a post, I have almost forgotten! It is so easy to get out of the routine and then struggle to get back into it again.

I've been working on pages for my journal...a lot of ladies that have done the class have gone on to make multiple journals and I'm still plodding along doing my pages, whenever I get a few spare minutes. I am really enjoying using some of the scraps that I have had around for awhile. This is one of my favourite pages - it includes an illustration from an Alice in Wonderland book and a cloth tag from Rivers. I've discovered that Rivers have great tags - metal, plastic, cloth = all wonderful for this kind of thing.....a good reason to go shopping?!

During my blog sabbatical, I have become a year older - see, that's why you should regularly blog!!! I received this lovely parcel from Melissa - it was so nice to receive some handmade goodies and especially ones that look this good. I've worn my owlie brooch several times.

Just lazing around....

I think this position of Spike's would actually be quite comfortable! And whilst he had been happily lazing around, this week has been very busy for the rest of us. Three trips to Adelaide for various reasons has made the week fly by and here we are now with one week of school left.
No time has been spent crafting.

Marion and I have a pattern in the Easter edition of Homespun, and they had requested a profile photo of us - this was the best we could manage last Sunday!!

Using the scraps

When I finish a project, I try and use the scraps lying around on the table to make a card or a tag.

This tag flew around the world to be part of a 'tag gate' of encouragement, for a lady called Tina who is very sick and undergoing treatment.

It is a lovely idea and this is the finished piece here below.

(photo courtesy of The Polka Dot Barn)

Hello there!!

Remember the soldered charms that I had made for a wedding? Here are the finished coathangers with the charms attached....cream dupion silk one for the bride and flower girl, black velvet for the bridesmaids and blush pink dupion silk for the mother of the bride.
The "BS" was the initials of the bride and groom - they went on the end of the row of chairs, at the wedding.

Here is Marion working on the wedding cake - it was HUGE and I wish you could tell just how big it was, from the photo. If you know the size of the Kitchenaid mixing bowl on the left of the photo, you might be able to appreciate the size of the cake. I couldn't lift the two layers.

The wedding was last weekend.

Marion is now in Queensland, recuperating!

I have been remiss in acknowledging a Swap that I was involved in with The Chocolate Crow Trader. We were supplied with a template of a doll shape and we had to create something from that. This is the lovely doll that I received from Julie Duncan of Cloth to Creation.

I had given you a glimpse of these wooden chips used in a necklace but I hadn't shown you the finished product. This necklace was sent to Pam as part of the swap.....she has a photo of herself wearing the necklace and it looks pretty good on her, I am sure it would have been better if she had shown her lovely face as well....... Details of the template and the swap can be found here.

Just lying around

The boys had a friend over during the holidays, for a sleepover - and he brought his little teddybear with him. Poor little bear.

Also lying around the house was "Sam" , enjoying the sun!

When I was in Spotlight towards the end of last week, I found a packet of wood chips apparently used in mosaic work. I loved the green colour and thought they would be great to use in a necklace. As soon as possible I had to have a play to see if my idea would work and I'm quite happy with the result.

Love that green!