Christmas 2012

It was fun to visit the Christmas windows in the city and visit the Swarovski Crystal tree at the Queen Victoria Building. It is totally magical!

We ended up with 17 people in the house on Christmas night and yep, I was cooking. I tried to keep it simple and prepare ahead of time so I could enjoy the day as well.

Spring in the garden

Lately we have been enjoying some beans from the garden and some fresh salads - we have, rocket, mizuna, mustard and some other salad varieties. A lot of things are getting eaten by the possums, the spinach is especially popular! Just when I think it's almost time for spinach pie it gets whisked away! Never-the-less we do get to eat some things. We also have corn and tomatoes on the way.

Carnations from the kids Grandmother "Marnie" by the cubbyhouse. On our to-do list - oil that cubbyhouse!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

For my daughters second birthday we had a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. The kid loves hats so it just came to me one day, we should have a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

I made a bunny cake (complete with coconut fur). We borrowed extra kids chairs from our neighbours, so we had lots of mismatched chairs which looked kind of mad. The kids decorated their own party hats with stickers.

News from Spring

I thought I would swing by to update you on few things I have been up to lately. We went camping at Wombayan caves with family, followed by a relaxing few days at the beach, and returned refreshed and ready for the lead up to Christmas...

I painted a piece of timber for the "9x5 show" for the Illustrators Australia “CARNIVALE” exhibition. I was inspired by a past trip to Venice and Padua. If you happen to be in Melbourne you can visit the 9X5 Exhibition at SPACE 39, Lvl 2, 39 Little Collins St, Melbourne. Opening night is this Friday the 9th November 6pm-9pm.

Last Saturday I went to "Pinerolo" Margaret Hamilton's children's book cottage in Blackheath. She runs courses on children's book publishing among other things. It was so lovely to be swept up in her enthusiasm for the books she has created over the years and all the amazing writers and illustrators she has worked with. She was also joined by renowned illustrator Wayne Harris who showed us many of his award winning books and and the original illustrations he created for them.

I enjoyed Margaret's original collections of artwork from many amazing artists including one of my former tutors Tony Oliver. I didn't get a chance to have a good peek at her book collection.

Autumn colours

I took these photos a while ago... but I liked the colours and they capture the feel of our Autumn this year. A beautiful sunrise, rain and then fun at the park when we got a bit of sun.

Thinking about colouring my hair again. Photo and hairstyle tutorial here.

Friend in the garden

This water dragon hangs out in our garden sometimes. It makes me happy when I catch a glimpse of it. I like to think of our garden as a haven for native animals. Here it is hanging out on the veranda of the kids cubby house.