DanielleQ: Curiouser and Curiouser

Day 2 - Sleepy sleeps

2012-06-02T20:18:00.001+10:00

At around lunchtime today, Ash came and told me that Cedar was asleep on the lounge. "That's ok", I said to him. Only a little later did Ben tell me that Cedar had actually fallen asleep standing up and leaning on the couch, which is rather more unusual!

He doesn't typically sleep in the day at all, unless unwell, but he had come in to our bed in the early hours of the morning with a temperature. Obviously whatever his immune system is fighting had him extra tired today.

I was thinking, I know that I often don't get enough sleep. It isn't intentional, but comes about because of the way I work and the way the kids do things. Sienna suffers insomnia and usually takes a long time to get to sleep. Ben leaves for work early in the morning - 5:30 normally, 4:30 on Fridays and occasionally other days - so tries to get to bed with enough time to have a decent sleep. Most days, Sienna isn't yet asleep when Ben goes to sleep. I stay up until she falls asleep, as well as using the time to do work on the computer, or for scrapping deadlines, while watching tv.

Then in the morning, Ash tends to come in to my bed for a hug around 6. I might have had 6 to 7 hours of sleep at this point, which isn't really enough for my liking. But I get to rest from 6 until 7:30 on weekdays, and tend to catch up in snippets on weekend mornings. I don't mind so much how things turn out, though it would be nice (mostly for her) if Sienna could switch off more easily. It made me realise, though, how much of a haven it is to sleep in a warm, cosy bed. Even when it gets squished full of more people than actually fit, especially on some weekend mornings, it is a soft, pillow-laden sleeping place for which I am truly grateful.

A detail of our Orla Kiely quilt cover

Especially my electric blanket. I really love that.

I am blogging grateful posts for the 21 challenge, raising awareness and funds for Australia's homeless youth.

If you would like to sponsor me or donate to the challenge, please click here.

Day 1 - crafty kids

2012-06-01T22:42:00.001+10:00

Today I am grateful for crafty kids - crafty, that is, in the scissors and paper and glue way. Not the manipulative, sneaky way so much. This morning Ash woke up before 6 and hopped in my bed for a quick cuddle. Then he hopped back out again and said that he wanted to do pirate crafts before school. He spent two hours making a sword and hook out of cardboard (which he had started the night before) and having breakfast before I got him to get ready for school.

After school, Sienna hid away in her room making a 'spy suitcase' out of a cardboard box, with sticky tape and using only scissors.

We had a slight altercation at dinner time between Ash and Cedar over this paper pirate hat (pictured). Ash had made it for doggie, Cedar had put it on his own head and then crumpled it up during their tussle. I got Ash another bit of paper so he could make a second one and everyone settled down!

There are days when the kids seem like they can only be entertained or absorbed in electronic devices - the ipad, ds, watching movies, playing pc games. While these tools are limited as necessary, I so much prefer it when the kids use their own initiative to be crafty instead. And they are usually a lot happier for it.

I am blogging grateful posts for the 21 challenge, raising awareness and funds for Australia's homeless youth.

If you would like to sponsor me or donate to the challenge, please click here.

The 21 Challenge - restart and love

2012-05-31T22:47:00.001+10:00

A couple of hours ago I signed up for the 21 Challenge.

In Australia more than 32,000 young Australians will sleep on our streets every night.

Challenge yourself, your friends and your workmates to do, or not do, something from June 1st to 21st. June 21st is the longest night of the year and a particularly difficult time on the streets for our homeless youth.

The 21 Challenge is your chance to help homeless youth by doing something you love, perhaps something you don’t love, or even something you’ve never done before for 21 days and asking friends and family to sponsor you. Be as creative or ridiculous as you like and the money you raise will go to Open Family Australia’s Outreach programs, supporting youth at-risk.

You will be supporting a great cause with all the benefits of your efforts going towards Open Family Australia’s Outreach programs to benefit at-risk and homeless young people.

(Description from the official website)

I'm not sure how I stumbled across the link on Facebook, but I read a couple of the stories on there about the challenges some young people have to cope with on a daily basis, and the efforts of the outreach officers to bring some stability into their lives. And I just clicked on register. I'm not sure what difference it would make but a small amount of awareness makes it worthwhile... with awareness comes greater empathy, not to mention the fundraising itself that will actually help individuals get assistance.

So my challenge is in two parts. At first I saw that some had declared that they would quit sugar for 21 days, which is something I've been meaning to do anyway. So that is one part. But then, I was meaning to do it anyway and it isn't really related. And being fussy about what food to eat seems so first-world compared to the challenges of homelessness and disadvantage. I still want to do it but I wanted to add a second part that would be more confronting for me.

The other part of my challenge is 21 days of being mindfully grateful and blogging that gratitude every day.

If you read my blog regularly, you will probably have noticed that I've been updating less and less lately. It's a combination of a lot of things - time, energy, lack of taking personal photos to share, and a lot of self-censorship, as well as distractions and deadlines. Partly, also, that I sometimes find it emotionally crippling to be the recipient of attention. A sort of antithesis to craving it (which also comes and goes). So, blogging every day would have been a big challenge anyway, but given the topic of homelessness, and my general tiredness at the moment, I wanted to make it a more affirmative, constructive challenge. Therapeutic, even.

This is something I try and think about anyway (positivity), but only inside my own head. And it's certainly not always natural. So I'm going to bring it on out. Instead of thinking how things might be challenging, or the difficulties of a day, or negative feelings, I'm going to find one thing to celebrate about each day, and do my best to share it. Because, in truth, I am not homeless, the subject of abuse of any kind, addicted to drugs or uncertain of where my meals might come from. And that is something to be grateful for to begin with.

If you would like to sponsor me or donate to the challenge, please click here.

Port Lincoln it is!

2012-05-21T19:28:00.002+10:00

Does that sound odd? LOL. I've never been to Port Lincoln. But, as I have said before, I love new places. Big or small. Far or near. Blah blah blah. And I jump at the opportunity to explore a new location.

So, did you know I keep waiting lists for all sort of locations? It depends on the spot itself how many bookings are needed to make a trip possible, but once I have two people interested from one place I look more seriously into making it happen, putting out feelers, spreading the word. And if it looks like enough people would love to have me photograph their family, kids, themselves, etc, in that location, then it's a go ahead!

This is how I happen to be visiting Port Lincoln in South Australia in September, offering photo sessions for the 3 days that I will be there. A couple of spots are booked so far, and I know a couple of more are in the works, so here is current availability:

Friday 28th September: 2:30pm, 4:30pm
Saturday 29th September: 7am, 2:30pm
Sunday 30th September: 7am, 9am, 2:30pm

And if anyone has any tips or recommendations for spots to see, shops to look at, places to eat while I am there, please let me know!

Kell and fam - sneakies

2012-05-20T12:45:00.000+10:00

Away with friends

2012-05-06T10:28:00.001+10:00

This weekend I have flown with my cousin Bec to Byron for a few days. We are staying with my friends in Bangalow who live in a little house with farmland around and it's a beautiful view, with chooks running around and goats in the field next door.

We flew in yesterday afternoon and are about to head to Byron to check out the markets, look around a bit. Tonight it's back to Bangalow for Bic Runga's show here. We fly home on Tuesday :)

danielleQ to ‘I Wish I Didn’t Have Aspergers: #AutismPositivity2012

2012-04-30T23:55:00.001+10:00

I stumbled upon this blog project that's happening today called "Autism Positivity Day". It came about, as the website says "A couple of weeks ago, someone somewhere googled “I Wish I Didn’t Have Aspergers”. The phrase popped up in a blogging dashboard and struck the blogger as being particularly sad. She wished she could have answered.

We don’t know who it was. We don’t know where he/she lives. We have no idea if he/she found what he/she was looking for in that search."

As a result, "We are asking every blogger in the autism community to write a message of positivity to #IWishIDidntHaveAspergers. So that next time that individual (or another) types that sad statement into Google, he or she will find what they need – support, wisdom, and messages of hope from those who understand."

Well, hi. I am a blogger. And I am part of the autism community I suppose, though I don't know if I think of it like that. I am just me, we are just we. Let's start with an introduction.

My name is Danielle. My blog is about all sorts of things, creative things mostly, photography and scrapbooking, food sometimes, family sometimes. Of my three kids, my daughter Sienna, the eldest child at 8 1/2 years old, has Aspergers. Ash, my 6 year old son, has high-functioning autism (the main difference in diagnosis is that Ash has had receptive and expressive language issues from an early age as well as the pragmatics and other elements). My husband, who is 35, also has Aspergers, diagnosed after the kids as a result of reading about Aspergers and recognising himself in the descriptions. Our 2 year old, Cedar, has a developmental paediatrician keeping an eye on him. We are an interesting family, for sure, we have a lot of love, and we have a lot of things to be grateful for.

I don't know who you are, and I don't know why you wish you didn't have Aspergers. It's such a sad thought, and though it may seem to be so logical to you, please don't wish yourself away. While not the sum of your parts, Aspergers is a part of who you are and comes with a beautiful flip side to the challenges you are feeling. I don't personally have Aspergers, I can not claim to share your experience, but I can tell you what I know to be true.

My daughter is so adorable. She is quirky, passionate, creative and fascinating. She looks at things in such interesting ways and is intrigued by details that others don't even notice, or possibilities that never occur to the people around her. I sometimes watch her and see, behind those beautiful eyes is a brain working overtime, seeing so much, absorbing so many nuances of light and sound and colour. She is a work of art. Every day she experiences fear and anxiety, and every day she feels love, excitement and joy. There is at least a moment of everything, and I admire her every day for the way she just keeps on being her amazing self, she is just so much of herself regardless of the perspectives of others or the words of those who don't understand. I feel her pain and sorrow, I experience her warmth and I embrace her enthusiasm. She loves me so much, and I am blessed to know her deeply every single day. She is an incredible girl and she has Aspergers.

When I was a super-emotional and sporadically depressed teenager, I often thought about the depth and intensity with which I experienced things. The black is so black, emotional pain echoes with physical force. When it hurts, instinct tells us to wish the pain away. But knowing that the flip side of that deep experience of life is infinitely valuable, and a kind of balancing force to the difficult side - to see beauty in unique ways, to experience positive emotions with equal intensity, has always been worth it. I would not sacrifice that which makes me who I am, with all the beauty and pain, to be less of myself, for the sake of less intensity of being, because I wouldn't know how to be that person. I don't know how to want that. No one who loves you would want that of you either.

Sometimes it feels natural to wish it away, the core of who you are, to want it to go, and that is the pain speaking, I know. But you have the power to remember, to recall and re-focus. Remind yourself. You are amazing. You have gifts and spirit and a unique view that is irreplaceable. Aspergers gives you strengths and individuality which are awesome possessions. You possess them. Your strengths and interests, they are yours. And they are part of how fabulous you are. Even when you don't feel it to be true, reach out to those who love you and be reminded.

Ash, my middle child, is so fantastic. Along with his bewilderment at much of what goes on in the world comes infectious enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace the people he comes across, in all their variety. He shares his love of pirates with all he meets, and was saying to me just today "I don't know why I like pirates but I just love them so much" while we discussed the relative merits of treasure maps, ships and swords. He has a smile to light up the day, and experiences the ups and downs of his emotions with dramatic intensity. So many days are the "best day ever" for some small detail he has such appreciation for, even if it disappears minutes later. He embraces things that other people would barely notice, or just shrug off. Where other boys are embarrassed to display themselves so honestly, Ash is abundant in personality and quirky uniqueness, jumping out of his skin to just be himself, regardless of what anyone else might think. To worry about that just never occurs to him. The negatives of his autism are vastly outweighed by the power of what a fantastic person he is. He works so hard, and feels so much, everyday. I am blessed to receive his adoration and beautiful warmth in each day that I know him. He is amazing. And he has autism.

While a positive message, this is not a rose-coloured glasses post. Life is full-on for these kids. They spend their days trying to decode the world around them, and sometimes this doesn't work so well. Things get broken, others don't understand, they don't understand and their hearts are damaged piece by tiny piece when people say hurtful things. They take people at face value, they take words spoken very literally, and are not always rewarded for their open trust. They worry, they fear, they cry. But they always win. They remain passionately, intensely themselves and they remain incredibly loved and supported by their dad and I. We wouldn't want anybody to change who they are inside. Because they are brilliant human beings.

I don't exactly remember meeting my husband, as we were on the fringes of one another's radar growing up. I remember getting to know him on the Wednesday bus home from school, when he would also be on the bus on his day off from work. He would be returning home from Adelaide, where he would have bought at least one new drum and bass cd. He spoke passionately about his music, and shared his love of beats with me. He would comment on the Shakespeare plays I'd be reading for my English studies. We would talk a little and then a little bit more, and then we wouldn't stop talking. At other times, too, and so it grew. I always found him interesting, and loved that he was different from other people, just as I felt I was, though in different ways. Now we've been married for 13 years.

Ben is incredibly intelligent, and technology is his area of expertise and passion. Just as he counted the beats per minute of every song while making mixtapes when we were young, he pays attention to each technological detail around us. We laugh at some of his quirks, his 'Sheldon chair' and microwave rotation calculation, just as we laugh at the paint in my hair and, well, pretty much whatever. He has travelled, learned new things, adapted to new jobs and gotten to know new people again and again. In parenting, he observes and embraces and considers how best to support these amazing people we are caring for. And he loves me so much, so much that even after all these years I feel self-conscious about inspiring his devotion. But I don't doubt it.

Aspergers? Yes, it's there. It's here. It's part of our home. Regardless of autism, or because of it, I don't know. But I do know three things: I am never bored. We have love. And I am grateful.

Fabulous Autumn day - sneak peek

2012-04-29T13:02:00.003+10:00

It was a lovely day for an Autumn session in the Pirianda Gardens yesterday. This family was a lot of fun :) We started in their backyard to include their sweet dog in a couple of shots!

Paint and pieces of things

2012-04-27T14:19:00.002+10:00

On Wednesday it was a public holiday, so I decided to make it a painting day.

I put out all my paints and the kids paints and some inks and crayons etc on the kitchen table, found some paper and brushes and smocks. I also had some canvas panels set aside to be used for the 'Not the Archies' project, which I had registered myself, Sienna and Ash for. So we did painting, and portraits. It was a nice way to spend a day, though the kids lasted about half the day before pottering about doing other things. Scroll down for the artwork :)

Here are a few scrapbooking projects I've complete for Aussie Scrap Source recently.... the first one was for the Trends post on quilting. The second layout features Echo Park products, and the cards were for the Thank You cards feature... Click over to check out the rest of the blog posts, there is much inspiration to be had!

So these - below - are the portraits we painted. Sienna was painting Imogen. She began on paper and did the painting on the right, but then wrote a little note that "It's too hard" and put it in front of me looking a bit upset. While I was encouraging, she was frustrated at not being able to paint how she would like, but perked up when she started creating simpler drawings. So she ended up painting this larger piece of Imogen with a kite.

Ash's portraits were both of Ben, he really got into it and was quite happily painting away without much angst at all, which was great. I love his big piece :)

I ended up doing a quick practice piece on paper of my friend Nadya and was going for a fairly loose style, thinking I may end up doing something a bit abstract, but then changed to a photo of Imogen for the larger piece just because I love the dreamy feel of her expression and the light background. It ended up being quite impressionistic. I dropped the three canvas panel portraits off to Healesville this morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went to Monbulk College and taught a mixed media workshop to the year 12 Photo Media class there. Carli Wilson, of Barnaby & Wilson Photography, teaches there and had asked me to come in. It was really fun and interesting, the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves, and I might be teaching another to year 11s soon.

I went to an AIPP print critique night on Tuesday evening, which was pretty confronting as much as it was very interesting, quite educational and a little bit frustrating. I really loved seeing the variety of styles and genres shot, and came away looking with a bit more interest at my nature and travel shots instead of just focusing on portraits. I might talk about that later, I have thoughts that are still mulling and developing over this whole professional awards season thingy, I'm still not clear on how I feel about my place in it. And it's not over until June, so we'll see.

And now I am meant to be making a lasagna for tomorrow's dinner, since I will be out doing a photo session in the afternoon (weather going well). But I'm procrastinating :P Chicken and leeks, here I come...

Big sale and new cards

2012-04-23T08:20:00.000+10:00

Over at Curious Bazaar we are having a HUGE card and print sale! Most cards and prints are 50% off, and postcard sets are 40% off at just $6 for 6 postcards plus a free 7th postcard.

Why not take the chance to browse the store for some gorgeous gift ideas and check out this gorgeous new release range of cards from Medieval Mirage...

Enter the code PAPERSALE at checkout to receive free shipping for cards and prints! As always, enter LOCAL for free local delivery or pickup :)

The Mundane and the Rollercoaster

2012-04-20T16:03:00.003+10:00

It's been a week of not-much and also quite-a-lot around here.

Sienna has had a cough all week, she had the first day of term at home but then managed two days at school, enough to fit in the quintessential play date with her best friend :) Unfortunately she spent yesterday throwing her little guts up all day, but she seems a lot chirpier today and has her appetite back. I've also had some sort of fatigue-fuzzy headed sort of virus thingy so it's pretty much been a quiet week at home, not doing a lot or getting a lot done, for that matter.

Scored 75 - Family Category

On the other hand, a lot of Monday and Tuesday was spent with the laptop open watching the AIPP VIC awards judging on livestream, making occasional notes and baking carrot cupcakes. I joined the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography) at the end of last year, which means I will be an 'Emerging Member' for two years before I'm eligible to be an 'Accredited' member. Anyway, anyway, I entered the VIC awards and was very excited to receive two silver awards, one for an image I entered in the 'Family' category and one in the 'Weddings' category.

Scored 73 - Family Category

According to the AIPP newsletter, "A Silver Award is considered to be a high standard of professional skill. The judges are looking for something exemplary, something that is over and beyond what we do on a day to day basis. For this reason, many very good professional photographs don't get a Silver Award, not because they don't reach an acceptable standard, rather because they didn't excite or impress other professional photographers who probably shoot the same type of work on a daily basis."

Scored 73 - Wedding Category

So now I have something new in my arsenal against my own sense of inadequacy (that comes and goes), which is always useful. I have a level of peer recognition that may be useful for marketing purposes, perhaps. I entered 9 images, 2 got Silver Awards, 6 got scores in the 70s ("acceptable to very good professional standard") and 1 in the 60s (needs improvement). I also got a far better idea of what sort of images connect with the judges and what technical aspects / style aspects tend to be viewed well (or, not very well). I watched hours of judging and sometimes found myself astonished at results, while at other times I understood them completely.

Scored 75 - Portrait Category

It is so subjective, in that opinions and emotions are involved, also fantastic because very experienced and technically advanced experts are involved, and a great learning experience either way. I've still gone through the "maybe I'll quit photography" phases this week, among other conflicted thought processes, but will keep plodding along for now. I know myself well enough to know that self-condemnation is inevitable, I've just got to refocus and keep going. It applies to housework, parenting, gardening, scrapbooking and pretty much anything I get my hands on, LOL, so it's part of the process. Process of living? Dreaming, perhaps? Anyway.

Scored 75 - Wedding Category

Scored 75 - Portrait Category

Now, I get to consider whether I will enter the APPAs with those Silver images or not...I plan on attending a 'Print Critique' at the AIPP - a step which really should have come before these awards, but I was a bit slap-happy about entering to be honest - to help me decide about that next week.

I've also uploaded this new recipe to Season with Saltbush - click over to have a look. It's easy and can be adjusted to use conventional herbs if you don't have any native ones in your pantry. And, speaking of subjectivity, this recipe and image was submitted to TasteSpotting and rejected for "composition, lighting" but at the same time was accepted by FoodGawker and got 364 favourites in 2 days, the highest of any of my recipes. Like most things, it just needs the right audience.

Ahoy! Pirate Festival

2012-04-15T21:33:00.005+10:00

Yesterday we headed out to Grantville, on the way to Philip Island (and just over an hour from here) for their annual Pirate Festival. They have a pirate-themed mini golf all year around and a native animal park. For the day, they had all sorts of activities and games, not to mention lots of people dressed up all pirate-like!

Sienna won the 'Best Dressed Pirate Wench' trophy for the 6-9 year age group. She did look very cute and pretty, and it probably didn't hurt that she was the smallest in the category ;) She also got to go on stage later on to help hold the big snake they had on display.

This was a rather more gross version of Bobbin for apples, with actual pieces of raw squid skewered into the apples! Motivated by a chocolate gold coin reward, both Sienna and Ash grabbed an apple with their teeth.

The face painting was a little bit challenging. First Ash just found it really difficult to communicate what he wanted, a simple design he'd chosen out of the example book, and I had to tell that face painting artist that he had autism just so she would stop talking for a minute and let Ash focus, lol. I don't often feel the need to mention autism to strangers, but apparently face painting is a bit fraught with emotion and communication difficulties! Ash was happy about it, he just needed a moment of reassurance to put the words together.

Sienna went to the other face-painter and asked for the dragon face, it was a design she had also chosen out of the example book. What we didn't realise is that this second face painter didn't paint from the example book, and her idea of a dragon face was quite different from the example. She was a talented painter, but added some sort of horns and fangs, as well as covering Sienna's entire face instead of just around the eyes. When she showed Sienna in the mirror, Sienna got really upset, so I left Ash to finish up on his own and went to see what was happening. Again, I had to say that Sienna has aspergers just to get the lady to stop talking for a minute, the painter kept saying that she didn't know there was a book, all painters are different and that most kids realise that all painters are different, that kids should know that. Um, ok, so it was a little like reassuring two children, really, since the painter was all offended. It was a misunderstanding, I explained that Sienna was expecting the picture she'd seen, we had no way of knowing that the book we were handed was only for one of the painters (or, for that matter, which painter). I explained to Sienna that the lady didn't realise, that the colours looked fabulous, but pulled her away repeating that we have baby wipes and that I will fix it for her, which understandably didn't impress the painter. Phew! Anyway, I wiped off the fangs and horns areas, and limited the green dragon paint to around the eyes like a mask, convinced Sienna that she looked like a beautiful lizard and we moved on to the animal park area with everyone in a good mood.

Cedar loved the kangaroos, it was so funny. He just kept running around saying "big rabbits!" and peering into their faces. He has seen kangaroos before but not up close and tame like these. The kids all had fun feeding them. We also checked out the koalas, dingos, wombats, tasmanian devils, peacocks and some other birds, an alpaca, a goat and a donkey. It was a nice relaxed end to a busy day.

Ahoy from Adelaide

2012-04-05T13:49:00.000+10:00

Here we are in Adelaide again for some of the school holidays. The kids and I drove over on Friday (technically the last day of term, but we usually skip the last day of term 1 to avoid Easter celebrations at school). On Sunday morning I had a fantastic time running Loving Light Chapter Two workshop at the Port Adelaide wool sheds. This is Marlie, our lovely model for the morning...

And the gorgeous ladies who attended. It was really a lovely morning, and the light was very nice!

A couple of snap shots of Sienna and Ash from yesterday morning, they were in a good mood to see that I had picked up daddy from the airport the night before so that he could join us on our holiday here. It was our 13th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, so Ben and I went to Kenji Modern Japanese on Hutt Street for dinner - heading straight from the airport. It was truly amazing! The highlight would be the Creamy Brie sushi, with brie cheese, roasted capsicum, walnut and something else I can't remember in a sushi roll, tempura battered and deep fried. AMAZING.

This morning we went and saw "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" which has become a new family favourite. Ben and I both loved it, and obviously Ash was just enthralled, but everyone enjoyed it. We even had the whole cinema to itself, Mt Barker obviously wasn't as excited as we were about seeing this new film at 10 in the morning! A highlight was when the Flight of the Conchords song "I'm not crying" started while Pirate Captain wandered the streets of London. Loved it.

A few family gatherings planned for the weekend, and a bit of stress regarding some delayed award mounts for my photo prints (so that I can enter the AIPP VIC photography awards, due next week, for the first time), plus a couple more scrapping deadlines to complete while I'm over here, and by Monday I will be ready for the road trip back home I think!

Mr Pirate Ash (of course)

2012-03-20T12:22:00.003+11:00

At the billabong at Reedy Creek, we visited Nan & Pop on the long weekend last week. The kids love playing outside there, in particular! And Ash loved adding his new pirate vest and hat from Nan & Pop to the other pirate jacket and accessories that he had - of course - felt necessary to bring with him. Just in case an adventure was to be had.

This was just one of many...

This is brilliant

2012-03-15T12:31:00.001+11:00

Yes it takes time to watch, but try and just watch the first 4 minutes - the first poem - if you can't fit in the whole thing.

Via Dumbo Feather

Happy scrappy

2012-03-14T21:49:00.002+11:00

I keep forgetting to share my scrapbooking projects for Aussie Scrap Source - oops! Here are a few from the blog over the past month or so... click over to the Aussie Scrap Source blog for the team's work and also close ups :)

Apple pie, baby

2012-03-07T10:48:00.000+11:00

When you would like to make some sweet treats but would like to justify them at the same time, using up fruit that is getting old is the perfect excuse. And I'm not afraid to use it. I reduced my fruit bowl load by a couple of apples (um, wow! yay!) and made up these scrummy cupcakes after searching for 'apple cupcakes' on pinterest. I thought a bowl of apples was a fun way to photograph the cake - hmmm, which one would you pick? A healthy apple? Or a pretending-to-be-slightly-healthy-but-actually-full-of-sugar-and-butter cupcake?

The cupcakes are particularly awesome fresh. Really light and scrummy. They get a little heavier over time but still yum yum yum. I do have a bit of an obsession with cinnamon at the moment, so the icing is a win. Despite the 15 minutes of beating, which I would never normally bother with. But it is good.

Apparently the original recipe is from a Donna Hay magazine, but I like the personal notes the blogger added. I also halved the recipe and made 10 big cupcakes. I only halved the icing recipe, not 2/5th like the blogger noted, but that did make too much. So 2/5 is about right for the 10 cupcakes - or make the cupcakes a bit smaller and make 12!

Click over here to read the recipe and comments :)

Linking up with Kell's 'Pin It? Make It?' challenge this fortnight.

Fernweh (wanderlust)

2012-03-05T14:59:00.003+11:00

There are many times when, if you asked me who I was, I wouldn't know what to say. I would know the answer that I know - my name, what I do, etc. But it is not always that we feel really connected to those details of identification.

Today I received a package in the post from my artsy ant friend in Germany. And among others, there were two things there. On one item, it said heimweh - homesickness. And on the other, this word, fernweh. Wanderlust.

And I felt, yes. That is who I am.

Drawing, eating and a Curious Bazaar giveaway

2012-02-28T12:27:00.001+11:00

To begin with, I have a fabulous Curious Bazaar giveaway for you!

The prize: A $30 Curious Bazaar voucher and some secret surprise-y treats added to your parcel when you use the voucher. Yay!

The deal: We'd love to increase our audience for Curious Bazaar, celebrate the end of Summer (I love Autumn) and share the love! I have a nice big update happening later today and would love to get the word out. So, there are three ways of entering...

1. Share Curious Bazaar on Facebook, simply click 'share' under the giveaway post on Curious Bazaar's page.

2. Tweet the link to this post, and then comment here to let me know you've tweeted.

3. Share this giveaway on your own blog, and then comment here to let me know you've blogged!

Giveaway closes 14th March 2012! International entries are welcome, I'll be adding international shipping to all of the shop items over the coming week :)

Note: These photos are from Tickle the Imagination issue 03 and was photographed by Curiouser, featuring Curious Bazaar brands Sew Chirpy and Polkadot Lane as well as the gorgeous creations of Little Tree Kids and Monet Paisley!

In home news, Sienna has been drawing and crafting up a storm lately, with a decidedly lalaloopsy focus! She's made clothes, constructed a boat, various beds and houses, mini blocks and toys, paper baskets and lots of little drawings. Here is one recent sketch, a little picture of 'Lady Stillwaiting'...

I've been cooking and baking lately, and yesterday afternoon made some yummy cupcakes from Lauren's blog, some 'pirate cookies' from a book Ash had borrowed from school, and a favourite casserole (Chicken, Mushroom and Leek) for dinner. This is a native herb-y pasta bake I made last week - the recipe will be added to Season with Saltbush soon!

Cute things and a growing boy

2012-02-22T22:47:00.005+11:00

Summer is nearly over, and to celebrate the February sunshine we are having a sale over at Curious Bazaar! Polkadot Lane is all reduced by 30%, including funky screen printed tshirts and tote bags, cute pillowcase dresses and more. In addition, you can get 30% off everything in the Canvas Art section by using the code SUMMERART on checkout!

This boy is growing up a lot, playing trains for hours every day and starting to use the potty. He also loves playing with the keyboard (musical, not computer) and on the ipad. He likes pottering about with lalaloopsy dolls and has his own large Sir Battlescarred. But mostly it's about the trains ;)

Love at Georgie Love

2012-02-15T15:14:00.001+11:00

Apparently I need prompting to blog at the moment, for whatever reason! Anyway I came across this lovely giveaway by Georgie Love and thought I would participate.

So...

if I had $50 to spend at Georgie Love I would have a hard time choosing. I would love to put it towards one of these clocks... so fairytale whimsical. I would have it in my loungeroom.

I found something else I would add to my list but it would be a gift for someone who might read my blog, I'm not sure! So I won't link that one. Ooh how about this:

It's a bit lovely, isn't it? I do love a lovely necklace or two. And Ash would love me forever if I wore this one:

I love window shopping online. Georgie Love is great for that, especially when I'm on a strict budget as I can't decide on anything and end up admiring a lot but purchasing nothing. I do the same thing a lot at Leeloo and Lark. A friend once recommended I submit my art to Georgie Love but I never did anything about it. I'm a bit lazy like that ;)

My own shop Curious Bazaar is a bit similar to Georgie Love actually, with a smaller range of sellers and products as nothing is available elsewhere and is all made locally in the Dandenong Ranges area. I'll be adding some gorgeous new baby / toddler pants and vests from Sew Chirpy soon!

It's La-la-land around here

2012-02-08T12:15:00.002+11:00

Or should I say, Lalaloopsyland... Sienna started collecting mini lalaloopsy dolls a year ago, with the first eight released, and now has a bit of a collection of mini dolls, two big lalaloopsies - Lady Stillwaiting and Blossom Flowerpot (who has been sadly decorated in permanent green texta by a certain little brother) - and one little sis' - Specs Read-a-Lot (from Auntie Kell). Mini Pillow Featherbed has a broken (missing) leg and Dot Starlight had to have a funeral after she was beheaded by Cedar. Sienna decorated a cardboard box very prettily for the occasion.

Sienna also has the mini lalaloopsy treehouse, and my parents recently bought her the remote control mini lalaloopsy car, plus she has bits and pieces from playsets, like the bath tub (from Auntie Hayley), the bed and the cafe table and chairs. All quite itty bitty and cute. She has the DS game and loves playing on the website. She draws pictures of them and makes up her own picture books about them. She dresses up in similar outfits on the weekend, layering clothes that she has in the 'right' colours for her chosen character ;) In true Asperger style, she's either not that interested in something, or she's completely obsessed!

At the moment she is working towards some new mini dolls, plus the school bus, as part of her 'positive reinforcement' for occupational therapy. For each week where she does all her homework - 3 times a week - and her OT session itself, in a cooperative fashion, she gets one mini doll. At the end of the 6 week block she gets the bus if she's checked every box on her chart. But my point is, she's been collecting them for awhile now but it's only really the last two or three months that she has become really obsessed with them. Ash and Cedar each have two mini dolls and a big one too, they love them. Not as much as Sienna, but still. Ash has all the 'Patch Treasure Chest' pirate ones, not surprisingly, and Cedar has the big 'Sir Battlescarred', the mini 'Forest Evergreen' and the mini 'Ace Fender Bender'. These ones below are on the shopping / wish list....

So, anyway, when informed on Friday that she needed a pencil case, I thought we'd make her one with a bit of Lalaloopsy flavour. I'm not generally one to buy branded things like clothes and pencil cases, but I'm happy to make one, LOL. It was quite fun to ignore my to-do list and do some stitching for a change. This was all using stuff I had around, though I did have to cut up an old hoodie of Cedar's to use the zip. She requested the owl - Bea Spells-A-Lot's pet - be included to suit the school theme, so I made it a zip puller.

It made an 8-year-old girl very happy, though, so it's all good :)

I wanted to link up with 'Pin it? Make it!' on Kell's blog, but the truth is I searched pinterest for pencil cases and there were barely any at all. So I just started from scratch and made it up out of my head. Maybe someone else will pin it and make it one day!

Who's who: Baby name stories...

2012-02-04T10:22:00.001+11:00

I just did a comment on a friend's blog post that turned into a total essay, so I thought I'd pop it here ;) Kate had shared her baby-naming stories over here. With a dear friend expecting a girl, it is a fun topic to share.

I love hearing naming stories :) Ben and I felt happy to have relatively similar taste, I known some couples have choices that are quite opposite to one another, LOL. We also found out genders at about 20 weeks, and wanted names finalised well before birth if possible. I just felt more settled that way.

Sienna I chose, 9 years ago. As an artist, I was naming her from the paint colour, it wasn't an unheard of name but at the time was quite unusual and wasn't in many books. I also loved the travel reference, as in the city of Siena in Italy. Now it's quite the opposite, having been a top ten name in Australia a few years ago! Either way, it's a pretty name and I'm happy :) After finding out she was a girl we went to a cafe and chose 'Belle' as her middle name. I love Disney films and Ariel didn't sound as good, LOL. We liked how 'Sienna Belle' could almost be one name from the way it sounds.

Shortlisted if she was a boy were Camden, Ash and Gabe (Gabriel). Tristan and Elijah were also on the list but not top choices.

Ash we had chosen finding it in one big fat baby book, as in, Ash tree. We loved the tree reference. Ben had a high school friend he had been close to called Asha and had always loved her name, so something similar had been on the list anyway. We said to one another that Sienna had been my choice, but Ben completely agreed. Ash was his choice, but I loved it too. Daniel is the name of Ben's younger brother who died at the age of 20 shortly after we got married. So that was an easy middle name choice, and a way of letting the kids know about the Uncle they'd never meet.

We had Ashanti Miette chosen for Ash if he was a girl. I really wanted Miette in there somewhere but having not used it for Sienna meant we missed out in the end!

Ben calls our youngest the 'hippy name' of the three, LOL. I got Cedar from looking online. We had London and Dublin as name options but weren't really settled or in agreement about them. We agreed on Rhodes as a middle name before choosing the first name, as Ben always loved a style of music that used a type of keyboard called the Rhodes and I was looking for travel references (it's an island). Anyhow, I was kind of stressed that we hadn't decided for sure once we knew he was a boy, it was quite annoying for me. I ended up finding Cedar on the blog of an American photographer and it was a perfect fit - another tree name, and we both just loved it. Cedar Rhodes it is.

If he was a girl he was going to be called Adelaide Miette. I would have loved to use that name as well :)

So, girl names we shortlisted all together included:

Sienna
Adelaide (kind of old-fashioned, German originally and with an English nod, plus our hometown)
Adeline
Miette (means 'sweet, small thing' in French, an abbreviation of Marguerite, french for Margaret, Ben's mother's name)
Ashanti (African)
Belle
Evangeline
Ariel
Kairi (love of Japanese culture, we had this shortlisted as a middle name for ages)
Asha
Quinn
China
Indigo

Boy names that were listed at one point or another and that I like:

Ash
Camden
Tristan
Gabe / Gabriel
Elijah
London
Dublin
Rhodes
Rafe

At school we've had a couple of kids called Sage - a girl and a boy - and I think that's a lovely name, also quite organic in feel. This sharing thing is fun and interesting, I'd love to know what are your favourites?

Sharing these stories remind me that I haven't shared birth stories for either of the boys yet. I'll get there eventually ;)

Another project and new shop

2012-02-01T15:50:00.001+11:00

And that makes three (well, three little businesses, anyway, but there is always a myriad of projects going on!)...

A couple of weeks ago I launched a new online store, so that you can now buy online the Outback Pride products I talk about here and on my blog Season with Saltbush. Simply go to http://shop.outbackpride.com.au/ and have a look!

In everyday news, tomorrow is back to therapy with Sienna starting OT and Ash back at speech on Saturday. Friday is the first day of school. It's been warm and then actually a bit cold and then sunny again around here. I've barely scrapped - only one page in the school holidays - but will be back crafting this month. Now that the Outback Pride store is launched I have some design work to get on with, plus an album to design and photos still to edit.

Sienna is completely lalaloopsy mad, Cedar divides his addiction between his wooden train sets and the ipad. Ash is pretty technology-focussed at the moment, but also enjoying treasure maps and lego.

Catching up

2012-01-26T21:58:00.002+11:00

I haven't shared any scrapbooking here for awhile, so this is a mammoth catch up post :) There are a few off the page projects as well but I might share them in another post. The above is a detail shot of my year in review page for Aussie Scrap Source. Check out the blog for the full details and more close ups!

This layout below was for the Websters Pages Weekend Inspiration, as always there are close ups on the Aussie blog.

OK so above we have a Zva Creative weekend inspiration page, the detail shots are on the Aussie blog. Below is a detail shot of my page from the Aussie Scrap Source Hero Arts weekend inspiration. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed working with stamps ;) It is one of my favourite recent pages.

The last one (above) is my page for the Sassafras Lass weekend inspiration post for Aussie. Close ups, again, are on the blog post.

Finally, my final project as a DT member for Scrapboxx was designing and working with the December Boxx of Scraps kit. I created these three layouts, which you'll find on the Scrapboxx blog.