a work in progress

Louise, Jo and I headed off to our first mixed media class with Rebecca Vavic last night. Not really knowing what to expect (especially the locked door challenge before the class even started - timers and stuck doors!) we bravely faced up to our new improved artistic side. It was a hard class to describe, but we all ended up with the start of our first collage page. All the craft stuff I have spent years accumulating will now be put to use - yay- if I can work out what to do next, of course. Came home full of ideas (and trepidation) and woke up this morning completely devoid of any memory/inspiration of what to do next.....

Hopefully before next week I will be able to have more to show than this. x

butterflies

Is there anything better than a room full of butterflies? To add to Meaghan's new room decor I made this butterfly mobile (from here) with meaghan's fav colours at the moment esp purple. The original used felt balls between the butterflies but I used glass beads that meaghan loved. A very quick, easy and effective project.

bushfire appeal

The Toy Society and Meet Me at Mikes (such a yummy blog) is part of hand made for the bushfire families appeal. They are helping to galvanise crafters to make softies to send to the kids who lost everything. These two are my contributions, the dinosaur (which the kids were very reticent to let go) is a pattern from Melly and me, who has some fun patterns (available in Canberra from here), the doll is my own design and I am quite pleased with the way she turned out. She has a very loosely stuffed tummy so is very cuddly.

They were sent off to here (well worth a look to see all the different ways to contribute not just the cash appeal) and distributed when the need arises. Great idea and so much fun to participate.

last weekend

Had a nice weekend with a trip to the Botanic Gardens on Saturday and playing tennis with friends on Sunday.

Everytime we go along to the gardens we always think 'why don't we come here more?' It was a cool day (very unseasonal for february after the nasty week before) and the kids found the discovery track, where they had to keep an eye out for all sorts of different creatures, including digging in the leaf litter - how much fun is that?

After Meaghan's camp (successful - phew) she is very keen on walks in rainforests, this was the best we could do around Canberra, but very pleasant.

Happy birthday to Henry

Henry turned 6 (not 7 as previously mentioned, thanks Liz x) on Saturday (now unfortunately renamed black Saturday after the awful fires in Victoria). It was as hot as it has been all summer (above40C) and the lake was closed to swimming. So after little athletics, first thing in the morning we pretty much stayed indoors until a slightly bending the water rules sprinkler and water gun fight in the afternoon (more photos tomorrow).

Henry had a great day, all star wars and Lego, finished with his favourite take away to finish. His party has been put off for a few weeks until the weather is a bit kinder.

a bit nervous...

but not too bad. Meaghan began her first proper day of high school yesterday. Having the orientation day helped enormously as she had already made some friends. She also proved the theory that Canberra is a small place and everyone knows each other, by pairing up with a girl who was born across the street from us in our last house, and who we hadn't seen since before she was 2.

Anyway day 2 today which will mean real work and having to navigate around the school with all the girls there, not just year7. she is less than impressed with the uniform and I am unimpressed that she has to wear the blazer to and from school on these really hot days, Matt's school sensibly has done away with the blazer over the summer terms.

Matt needed to be dropped off early at his school to pick up his text books, Meaghan was then dropped off at hers and then a quick rush to get Henry to school on time for his first day (just made that). I think I will try to avoid doing all 3 schools in the morning whenever possible, afternoons will be ok, a bit more time and a lot less traffic.

Looking forward to a quiet day today