lanne

oops

well my great big long clever witty post got deleted.. when my computer shut down unexpectedly.. when my foot turn off the power to the special powerboard..LOL opps!

Oh well you will just have to believe how clever and witty I was..LOL

I wanted to say.. look.. i got a new party dress for the blog. It is all dressed..well down and minimalist and ready for a new years party..

i am not sure about the banner.. not convinced it works but youknow.. it is better than nothingness.. now THAT is a minimalist idea!

I got part way through a blog renovation and had a hiccup and never made the time to get back here.. opps again! so now it is kinda sorta done.. ish.

I will add some more info to the side columns soon.. promise.

I am about to end holidays. I bought PWL a new website.. am working on a new blog for it (ok so I am drawing pretty pictures and more talented people than me are making it..LOL) there are also new forms and a couple of photo shoots for the website.. new photos rule! and I am working with Em on the project below.. *yay* and I have finally found a replacement for my fallen through secret... but that will take some time..

so.. the holidays are ending.. back to work for me

but .. not before i have 22 hours of domestic bliss.. domestic because it is raining and we arent going out.. and bliss because Lochie has gone to Grandmas for a play date (i never know who has more fun) and Andrew and I have a STACK of movies.. big people junk food (cheeses.. dips, crackers, salsas.. chocolates).. but i promise i will eat my veges! and... we are going to stay up late and sleep in and have a cozy quiet breaky before lochie returns..

ahhh domestic bliss and life is good.

Inspired.

I am inspired by many things and people.

one of my favorite people in the world and I are teaming up.. one + one..

she rocks! and I can't wait to do this fun project with her.

one + one = inspiration

One animal..

You know the old line at the end of the trick or movie.. no animal were harmed in the making of this... blah blah.. weeeeeeelllllllll

Yesterday we were cleaning machines.. we got up.. went to the markets, did the fortnightly grocery shop - then came home and cleaned... I mopped ALL the floors (no mean feat with polished wooden floors).. we pulled down the tree, we put things away, we tidied and cleaned the kitchen. Andrew mowed. I cleaned the laundry from top to bottom.. did 4 loads of washing.. we cleaned the fridge... we tidied the downstairs entrance hall which is lined with bookcases for bags and shoes (no clutter comes upstairs.. it is our tradesman's entrance haha.. and i love that no one sees it.. but frankly it was making me miserable... and now it is clean again!) I cleaned the garage.. / storage area.. all back to tidy and clean. I installed shades on the car for lochie (our other car had custom shades and I haven't done that with this car.. must order them! ...

so as Andrew mowed and I cleaned, we moved out the car and set Lochie up with some time to ride his bike.. and when that wore off .. a magnifying glass.. awesome.. he could keep an eye on ants and lawn bugs stirred up the weed pulling and mowing..

then he found a caterpillar... awww

he called him blankio..(hope I spelt that right) .. and he adored him. He kept a close eye on him with the magnifying glass.. and they chatted (it was rather one sided) and kept each other company for a while. I suggested moving the caterpillar back to the garden.. met with a few serious faces and a big fat NO.

Enter the daddy.. who was kinda tired and distracted and frankly I think we should probably forgive him eventually. He started up the blower vac and cleaned up the cut grass from the driveway.. umm starting a lil into the garage... ummm.. right around where blankio had been happily living in the equivalent of a big brother house under the watchful eye of Lochie.

uh oh.

it dawned on me too.. just as lochie. who was now sitting in my lap .. watching Daddy (he doesnt like the noise of the blower vac).. said.. Mummy.. where is blankio...

umm.

well.

Umm buddy...

honestly.. you could have stood on his bottom lip and reached the high cobwebs. the biggest.. saddest pout of all time..... the tears welled up..

It was OH SO SAD..

as his great big blue wet eyes .. looked at me and said..

Mummy - do you think i will ever see him again..

always the optomist (cough) I suggest maybe the caterpillar thoguht it was a fun ride to get blown about. .

um no. he didn't apparently.

Lochie .. still the picture of misery tells me he wouldnt like it.. it would be like being caught in a big bad mean nasty horrible digusting bad hideous really bad fire..

and hey.. for four.. i think the just about exhausts his adjectives for bad.

BAD daddy..

Not sure we have forgiven him yet.. but a strawberry ice cream did distract from the pain.

so.. Blankio.. I hope you are enjoying you new home.. be it on a farm with rolling hills where puppy dogs and cats end up in the web of lies parents have been known to tell or.. whether you made it . and are now slinky about the grass... enjoy my lil friend and thanks for helping out with the babysitting.. we all appreciate the sacrafice!

and today.. we are having off.. phew.. exhausted from all that cleaning and .. well the HOUSE itself doesnt seem nearly as perfectly clean as one would hope.. maybe later?

we are off to the movies. seeing Mr Something Magical Something Emoprium.. you know the toy store one with dustin hoffman. ..

Allow me..said the 4 year old

Lochie is SO sweet..really. I have a beautiful 4 year old lil boy. I am lucky. Had we not discovered his food allergies I would have sold him on ebay as I spent much of his first 13 months threatening to do. They would have gotten a bargain..LOL

But minus the additives he is sweetness itself and whilst I am terribly biased I think he is just wonderful. He isn't one of those kids who punches, yells, kicks and screams through the house. We are not inundated with BOY noise and silliness (although that keen sense of toilet humour is kicking in slowly!) .. he is just a really nice sweet little boy.

Todays gems included..

Whilst cleaning his room he came in just as I was heading off to open something in the office (cant even think what it was now!) and he said.. oh Mummy, allow me to do it for you.. *awwwwww*

followed by me bringing him in a nice warm cookie we made - only to hear : oh mummy that was so sweet of you to bring me that cookie. Thank you for being kind to me. I appreciate it.

yes.. 4

I also caught him telling Zac the hermit crab how lucky he was to have become a pet in our house. Because really the parents who live here are very nice people and take good care of you - even without being asked!

Yes... and they will continue to do so because we adore him! (lochie.. not zac.. although andrew is smitten with it..LOL)

His room is now clean and the cyclone of toys in the lounge room has been removed! I have two baskets which slip into the TV cabinet.. At night we throw any games etc into them, so we can live in the space mess free for adult time, but the toys are easily found the next morning. But both had become full. The collection of lil bits and pieces is out of control.. and toys were becoming lost.

A quick (2 hours OH the people!!!) trip to IKEA and back proved very useful. Daddy being home helped too! Normally I would spend an entire day sorting, cleaning and making sense of the toys.. Daddy helped and we were done in 2 hours. :) Dust, mess and toy free!

The expedit bookcase (also from Ikea) stores SO many toys. I have found a few tubs, and leaving a few spaces empty is excellent.. We currently have 5 big lime tubs.. but need some more small bits and peices storage (one for puppets, one for puzzles, one for legos etc)

These are only $1.95 each..

I wasn't sure they were big enough and didn't buy many (5).. need to go back and buy another 15! that will give me enough to fill all 25 holes - I doubt I will as things like the pirate ship need storage - but not a tub. But the tubs will be handy in the wardrobe for art supplies etc.

I currently have the toys sorted using these - they are great but not strong enough for constant use of much loved toys..

We don't use Lochie's built in robe for clothes. Whilst he is learning to dress himself we have found it easier to use some coloured baskets in a bookshelf. The baskets are coloured and this helps him find what he needs to wear. Most of his clothes look OK together.. so no drama on what he chooses. (and anything that doesnt match most things goes on the bottom when I put the clothes away..LOL) No fighting, mess or fuss.. he just picks off the top and we all move on.

It leaves me the WHOLE wardrobe for storage. I have a few boxes of things we rotate through in the top of the wardrobe .. I have hanging cubby hole things for board games and things we play as a family.. and a cheap ($20) metal shelf for play-dough and art supplies etc. Everything is accessible, but with the doors closed it is out of sight out of mind.

Placing the expedit bookcase along the same wall as the door means you dont see IN it until you are in the room.. this means.. you see a bed..some images on the wall.. 2 bookcases (one with clothes and one with books) and his writing desk.. and not much else.. makes the room look bigger and cleaner than it might really be!

I also couldn't resist...we got this:

This is the new dress up box! What child wouldnt want to dig through a treasure chest to find their dress ups. I just think it inspires the imagination and play. It looks fun and it stores HEAPS!! There are several capes, computer headsets, mobile phone, 5 different animal tails, knights costume including helmet, contruction hat, masks, bags, clothes, gloves PLUS the dress-ups we bought for christmas. It is easily opened, visually pleasing and there are no heavy lids for small fingers to get jammed in. LOVE it!!

So with the room cleaned and sorted..lochie had fun rediscovering lost friends and building a farm now we separated out the farm set.. :)

Tomorrow i am off to the markets.. fit in some groceries and if there is any energy left I am cleaning up the book space and the laundry and garage/storage area.. shouldn't take long .. it is just a question of finding the motivation! LOL

Hibernating.. .

I am in holiday mode. My body shut down on Christmas eve.. and I took the warning...I managed to spend christmas eve.. not eating chocolate cookies and sneaking around merrily stashing gifts as intended.. but curled up on the lounge with an irregular heart beat.. feeling pretty scared and sick. ack!

I had been stung by a native bee a day or so earlier and had a reaction to that... and I ate seafood pate (i am allergic to some seafood but nothing listed on the package).. wasnt sure if it was them.. or.. 'stress' (not a big fan of that) but it was BAD. I could get it under control... but move or do and it was right back out there again.

I was electrocuted in 97.. and it went through my fingers, heart and out through my foot (apparently.. this is technically electrocuted!) It really damaged the ends of my fingers, left a burned bit on my heart and then a big old hole in my foot. All healed now.. (I look normal..LOL) but my heart did get a lil messed up so it could have been that..?

We don't know.. It was still out of whack on Christmas day but you dont like to ruin these things for others.. and it settled down by boxing day..

So.. I have been hibernating since.. I was super inspired by Ali Edwards latest book Life Artist. which my friend E sent to me.. THANK YOU! and I have been pouring over the pages... lost your mojo? this book finds it!

I was so inspired I started a lil (big) project... albums for lochie. I have alot.. ok... 32,000 photos of lochie but..are they in albums? umm No. are they printed? No! are they on DVD.. YEP.. DVD Not very handy for flicking.. and if something happened to me I dont think they tell the story.

Scrapping for me is about me.. I do things to see if they work or I like this or the time it takes.. I dont love my earlier pages and can only assume one day i wont like the current ones.. I dont scrap chronologically and I am soooo slow at getting a few pages done.. I couldn't possibly print them and make albums...

but I hit on the mini book idea! YAY. So I just so happen to have 11 matching mini books..LOL.. and alot of photos and not alot of time.

So.. I started creating a cover - and then .. photo albums in the mini books. It is basically ALL about the photo.. and then I added some brushes frames and papers to add some ommph. Some pages are just paper and text.. others I wrote a line or two or a phrase on the photo itself.

I am doing two mini books per year (which gives me 22 photo spaces) plus two covers and a back page. I am making sure I include some milestones, some personality,some toy/activity based photo.. and then just some of my fav photos.. and a birthday photo at the back of the second book.

My early photos SUCK.LOL. but I am going with that cause that's what we had. OK.. i jazzed them up a lil in PS.. but . they are what they are.

I spent 2 hours going through my scrap stash.. and pulling out papers which were similar in tones.. some with textures.. and colours.. and then lots of brushes, frames and swirls with a similar feel.. and I copied them all to one folder.. this should help to keep the look consistent accross the 10 books.

I am also using one stamped time font (comes as PNGs) and .. century gothic.. it is a nice clean simple font.. and I am playing with BOLD and spacing so that it has an interesting look rather than straight text. I think keeping the text the same throughout will help with that consistent look... it is also faster for me.. and given the books are only 5 x 5 .. easier to read.

I made a 5x7 template.. with a guide set a lil under the 2 inch mark (to allow for the cheaper printer I am using to crop a lil in their print) .. pro lab prints would be lovely but would make it an expensive project.. so I am going with this. I MIGHT also make a blurb book of all the finished images. but the mini books have a nice lil arty handmade feel to them.

To assemble.. i just trim the top off the 5x7 and then add my fav double sided glue/tape.. (must buy more!) and then adhere the photo and trim with a knife. DONE.

it goes surprisingly quickly.

Here are some of my fav pages. .(psst.. I have over 2.5gb in that folder of resources so if you want to know who an element/paper is from I may have to look it up..LOL)

I made 35 pages in a day and a bit... coming and going from the puter... watching TV .. hanging with the boys.. so they do go pretty quickly. :) I also spent a couple of hours loading my fav photos into one folder so it is much quicker to open them and start...

Overall it is a really easy project and hopefully it is kinda rewarding at the other end!

Need to come out of hibernating today and sort out the toys that look set to take over the house...
and.. then groceries.. but it is rainy and miserable and I want to curl up on the lounge and snooze and enjoy the cooler weather!

Hope it continues all holiday long.. well maybe one day of sunshine to dry some clothes! hehe

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!

Christmas Day

began for us at 2am...LOL

Lochie came running into our room and announced.. boy.. that Santa sure is quick..

Not alot of sleep was had after that. We tried and tried to get him back to sleep but... it was on and off till 4:30am which ended in a wet bed, a wide awake child, an exhausted set of bleary eyed parents.. and a guy in a red suit zooming over africa..

By 5:20 all of the santa parcels had been unwrapped. The batman - todays most treasured gift had been uncovered along with a train and a knights costume. Santa did well and came good on all requests. Lochs was thrilled. We moved on to a long hot shower for Daddy, a long hot coffee for Mummy and MORE presents.

6:30 saw us all feeling the warm glow of loved ones gifts opened, 2 garbage bags of paper to recycle and a room full of booty. Then we found it.. the letter... which indicated another gift. Lochie looked on the back deck, whilst I checked the front. Wasn't it handy that I had the camera ready to fire and that Santa left the bike set up so I could get both the bike and the boy in the shot. ;) Mrs Claus chimed in on that one surely!

Funniest thing.. lochie thought nothing of Mummy going all paparazzi in the corner. haha. I didn't take any photos of the other present opening.. but did ensure this was captured for always and ever. I still clearly remember racing up and down the hall at home screaming his been his been.. when my shiny new bike arrived.

Ready to ride...

LOVE this face.. this is the face of a boy with a bike.. ahh the freedom they bring!

Mum came.. she had more presents than Santa needed for the whole street.. :)

and then we had a quick visit from Rob, some lunch with Mum on the deck.. weather was perfect.. overcast and not to humid.. deck was pleasantly cool.

Mum, Andrew and a very very happy little boy... (note: spaceman and batman joined us at the table..LOL)
Table was very casual.. some ribbons tied on the cuterly.. simple white plates. A dressed down version of our earlier christmas lunch on the deck. Mum doesnt like lots of fuss and stuff for christmas so we kept it casual but pleasant. One table for the meal.. the other vase of hydrangeas is over on the food table.

This was as close as we got to snow today!

The weather was perfect though. Christmas can often be sweltering.. where you gasp occasionally hoping to get your slice of the air con..LOL but today was LOVELY.. didnt even need a fan on.

and.. last but not least the train that santa bought. I hear he buys them at IKEA.. they are so cost effective he cant justify the elves making them anymore. We got multiple sets..and it makes a HUGE train track :)

(kinda interesting way to play.. standing and bending over... dont you think..)

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas...

Just a quick post ..

it is a little after 4pm on Christmas Eve and the excitement is building..

I just delivered my last client order for the year. My fastest turn around ever.. courier delivered it after 2pm and the client received a wrapped package an hour later..LOL

Lochie is enjoying the few presents we have let him unwrap. I am a firm believer in letting him open some. The joy of giving is something to be learned and valued.. if someone gives him a gift (and trust me alot have!) then I want them to enjoy the gift of giving.. to see his face as he opens it.. to show him how it works, or read it to him, to see him smile or ponder... I want him to KNOW they gave it to him and to value their gift, and their kindness. The alternative is a HUGE pile of presents... with a quick mention of the giver.. and a tearing of paper before moving on. That is FINE too and part of the fun of the day.. but i would rather he did that with my gift than that of a loved one.

So.. he has a few gifts... opened and being enjoyed. Dad sent him a crane and he has been playing with it for hours.. He is currently enjoying a numbers/writing book from Aunty Mel and the last few days have been spent cajoling Daddy into more pages from his dinosaur book from Rob.

I opened one of my presents early too.. hey.. the courier dropped it off today when it was anticipated it would be the 7th Jan! So they must have wanted me to have it.

THANKS Em! I now have a copy of Life Artist by Ali E.. and a quick flick over coffee has already solved a problem I had with a layout. I had a big clock on it .. set at 4:15... as lochie is 4 1/4 and I was having trouble placing photos.. now i can see how to do it clearly!

Which brings me to the reason for my blog post! to wish my friends a very merry christmas. and to thank them for the wonderful things they bring to my life.

If you were all able to make it to christmas lunch tomorrow you would be greeted by two big vases of these..

But given you cant.. I shall share my Christmas wishes here..

Merry Christmas...

to Em.. who brightens my day, inspires my inbox, and challenges me to create a better stronger family filled with love and acceptance. It is a joy to be your friend.

to SMJ who is bright and upbeat.. who always adds some cheer, some spark of creativity. Her generosity knows no bounds and I loooove seeing her as a mother. .and as a friend. I adore her.

to Angela who makes the smooshiest of babies.. the most fabulous of pages.. and inspires me to want to be a better life artist. To have an ounce of her creativity.

to SP my shabbiest of friends.. my favorite designer and one of the nicest people on the planet. Truly truly cool person..

to Sharon ..knowing sharon makes you smile when you see a particular shade of green. nuff said.

to Lisa - buying a mac has meant much more opportunity to chat to you I will be forever grateful. You inspire me daily!

to my creative team.. oh you guys rock.. and you know it.

And... to the participants in round one of the photo in art out workshop.. .thanks! you guys were great to work with and I hope your businesses are all doing really well!

to my storyboard customers.. thank you for all the kind comments and for showing me your work.. it is always so fun to see! I look forward to bringing you more new product in 2008.

to my blog readers...MERRY CHRISTMAS.. thank you! for a year of reading, sharing, caring, comments, kindness, joy and sympathy. For sticking it out when I was SO sick and for laughing along when I cant help but laugh at myself. Thanks for looking at my photos, cheering me on in this difficult job of parenting and for understanding when it takes me a few days to post.

I look forward to releasing my new website.. and new photo blog early in 2008..

Merry Christmas one and all.. and I reeeeeallly reeeeeeeally hope. that you all enjoy the magic of christmas!

edited to add. I got the nicest most thoughtful gift in my inbox today. (and I hope I dont get into trouble for sharing).. the wonderfully generous Shabby Princess.. she commissioned a QT avatar for each member of the Shabby Artist team. Our very own personalised one.. and they rock! She put them all on a card.. and sent it to use.. (gosh it was SO COOL and soooo thoughtful and so kind). and she is sending us all out the big version..so we can all have one. .. simple, kind, thoughtful and sweet.. .no wonder we all adore her!

here is mine!

Naughty or Nice

We have a christmas budget for lochie. Sure.. he is an only child and sure.. we could probably go a lil wild but we both are very aware of 'spoiling' or over indulging him.. and we stick to the budgets (fairly arbitrarily set when his first christmas rolled around). And stuck we have..

until this year.

I went a LIL smidgeney bit over.. probably about $40 .. .oh ah.. oh well.. everything he wanted - a batman, a knights costume and a wooden train set.. Santa has agreed to bring.. and we bought the things he will get alot of use from... I dont like merchandise toys.. so it is all educationally sound good stuff.

Until today.

Andrew and Lochie went for a bike ride/picnic breakfast yesterday .. they were gone for hours and had great fun. Andrew mentioned tho that lochie has outgrown his 3 wheeler... not surprising given he is a huge kid for his age (tall and solid..) and he got it for his second birthday.

This morning when it was mentioned in passing again at Mum's we both kinda looked at each other... as soon as we were in the car it was decided.. .a bike for christmas! Depsite his budget being spent.. despite him having quite enough thanks! Despite us deciding next year was a bike year... 5. ... 5 is good for a bike.

Lochie will be getting one at 4.. LOL

So we went to toys r us.. got the last red bike his size.. (may be a lil itty bitty to big but it is hard to tell without the child! - we left him at Mum's for the day so Grandma could get a fix!)

and now I am off to wrap it.. I can only imagine how delighted he will be.. when all the presents are unwrapped and ohh and ahhh'd over.. and then.... he finds a bike on the deck with a note from Santa saying.. this one wont fit under the tree..LOL

Somehow tho i am sure it will only be as bright and shiny as our faces were knowing we just bought our gorgeous son his first big kid bike.. *beam*

There will be photos for sure..

Through the windows..

Today was FUN...

Rob is a good friend of mine, and art teacher.. (high school) who .. was MY art teacher in high school! Our friendship has evolved and she has watched me go from being 11 years old and teaching me the colour wheel to being MC at our wedding, and now..where I have Lochie and our *big people* time of going to galleries etc is limited... but the friendship and support remains. 20 years of knowing each other. MUST doing something for our 20th anniversary LOL

So I look for activities which I can combine my friends.. and Lochs.. in interesting ways (for all parties). Rob gives Lochs gorgeous books for birthdays and christmas and knowing my love for the books by Graeme Base she very kindly finds them! For his birthday this year she bought him Uno's Garden. An incredibly beautiful book about Uno who goes to live in a wonderful forest only to attract others and man takes over.. destroying the home of the incredible animals. Whilst the story unfolds.. there are alot of drawings to count.. like the buildings double on every page, the animals diminish.. there are prime numbers, doubling, halving, counting to 10 and back again.. as the generations restore the forest .. there is also a snortlepig to find on every page. This book delights adults as well and children and grows with them.. now that is my kinda book! (please look for it online because I certainly dont say enough positive things about it here.. )

See inside the book here

So when I saw that the Myer Christmas windows were based on the book..the trip was sealed. Rob met us at the Art Gallery and we walked into town.. and we were all enthralled by the beautiful recreations...

and what luck.. i just HAPPENED to have the camera..LOL

This is UNO

This is a snortlepig...

The workman who build the buildings.

the swampy mess that the beautiful forest becomes..

The forest is rebuilt but I couldnt get a decent shot due to glare (remembering all these are behind glass!)

and.. the enthralled child.. ;)

We stopped and had brunch and then we walked back to the gallery (tired child!) by this time!

We went to the Warhol exhibition for children... they had some great stuff.. NO photography..it was a killer.. 5D strapped to myself... and NO photos..LOL You can read more about the exhibition here.. Lochie particularly loved the silver clouds.. oh ok .. all three of us did! LOL

Lochie also did the 15 seconds of fame.. screen test. He was hilarious. He sat in the chair and then wasnt sure quiet how it worked and was WAY overacting.. only to have it all come up on the big screen about a minute later.. to much laughter from those around us!

We rounded it all off with a play with an installation by an artist (I WILL get her name so wrong I wont even try it.. Sounded like Yay OI Kasah.. she is japanese and brilliant! It is a huge low (6 inches deep?) pool covering a massive area inside the gallery (always there) and she has put in hundreds of silver balls which float.. it is incredibly serene.. the pool is embedded so the water is floor height and it JUST moves a lil so the balls move... oh.. dreamy.. and you can gently push the balls around.

last one i promise..LOL

Do you see what I see? *la la la

and this is as close to what I see when sitting at the puter..LOL