Fabric Monopoly

Well, I've been craftin' like a maniac and have sourced some very sweet fabrics to make my new dolls with. Here is a pic of the dolls in progress. Spotlight had a 20% off everything in store tonight. Went in around 8pm thinking the crowds would have gone the bloody hell home, but no lots of keen shoppers still there. Bagged a trolley tonight and watched it like a hawk.(Very few and far between at the Newie store) So much better to shop with a trolley than lugging rolls and rolls of fabric around a very messy shop full of trip hazards. Mainly bought quilting fabrics as these seem to be the only ones that are a decent weight as opposed to all the crappy thin stuff spotlight is known for. Spotlight has a monopoly on fabrics here and it makes me crazy!!! Where is a bit of healthy competition? Nowhere - so therefore spotlight can sell any old crap served up by these old surly birds that tell you that you are not lined up in the correct spot. ARRRgh, drives me nuts!

Went to the country on the weekend. Peddled some of my wares, felt weird, but got over it. Hopefully I'll have some of my new dolls and wares up in a few country stores very soon.

Giveaway

To celebrate my blog anniversary I'm having a giveaway. I've put together a few of my favourite screenprinted and linoprint patches. So all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what you would make out of these patches. I'll run it for 10 days so check back here at the end and I'll post who gets the pack. So comment away.

Number 3 - Dollhouse

Yes, it happens, I get obsessed with something and have to work it through. So here is instalment #3 of the dollhouse series - Girl with Treehouse. When I was little my Dad built me and my brothers and sisters (yes there are many) a two storey cubby house. And not to stop there, he also built us a huge platform with a flying fox (flying dangerous zip rope contraption), which ran alongside the cubby house. A tyre, which you rode on top of, was attached to the zip line and Cisco, the goat, would try and bunt you off as you approached the ground- fun stuff! As kids we played in the cubby constantly and we only came inside in the evening when the mozzies got really bad. The cubby could be anything you dreamed up; fort, shop, ship, school or battle station. We often had sleep overs in the cubby and would scare each other silly as it was way down in my parents backyard. I don't remember ever sleeping in the cubby for the entire night as we also had a horse and goats which were in the same paddock as the cubby and they would be making, what we would deem as monster noises. As the years wore on and we became teenagers, the cubby then became a hangout for all the naughty teenager stuff. Ah, cubby how I love thee!! Every kid should have a cubby. Check out this cool kid's treehouse with ladders, rope and a mini flying fox -sans goat. Poster in background is my 'I Love You' eyechart.

Dollhouses

At the moment I'm in the process of helping redesign a dollhouse, hence dollhouse line-up. I had a Barbie dreamhouse when I was little and I loved it. It was a three storey pink palace spectacular with a extra fancy art nouveau lift. As I was always a shortie, this dollhouse towered over me for many years. When I was finally tall enough to see the roof and really play hard core, my cat, Tootsie, caught a rat and somehow it got stuck on the second floor, head wedged in the lift and died. Traumatised and unable to get the image out of my mind of that poor rat scurrying around trying to escape from interiors of pink, lace, plastic and a cat who looked like Hitler, I couldn't bear to play with my Barbie dreamhouse ever again. Poor Barbie dreamhouse got relegated to the shed where I'm sure it provided a home for many a rat. Here is my latest version of a dollhouse, Miss Modern with her Palm Springs House.

I love Nu Yrk

I'm sick of the crappy, rainy weather. And there's nothing to do, except for crafting of course, and going broke tending to my sickly cat. I live near the beach which is great in Summer, but everything pretty much ceases in Winter. So lately I've been blog-surfing like a crazy woman. Through this blog-surfing I am currently living vicariously through mizudesigns who is holidaying in New York. I am so filthy jealous. Go check out lovely New York through her eyes. Also check out her lovely shop she shares my printing and pattern obsession. So here is a happenin' New York pipsqueak showing off her lovely brownstone dollhouse on the upper east side in New York.

My Cat is Sending Me Broke

In the matter of a few weeks my cat has cost me big dollar, which I don't have. Jobson, my 13 year-old Tabby cat, has been fighting with the feral cat from next door. I'm sure I'm getting robbed blind at our vets, but they can pretty much charge whatever they like as I haul him in for his repeated operations. Apparently he wasn't so friendly to the vets this time and they found it hard to approach him without a bit of bitey action. In the dark recesses of my mind I was secretly pleased, at least he gave these charlotain's a hard time. And what's with all the head gear they attach to all pets these days. Jobson ripped his off as soon as he got home without any ill effects. As I collected Jobson from first surgery with said head gear, I spied a budgie in the waiting room with one on - hilarious! Don't you think they could go to a haute couture show sporting these? tres chic........ Very Vivienne Westwood..

Blog-anniversary

This lovely curvy lady is going to be turned into some sweet bookmarks. Stay tuned!

This time last year after reading a Sydney Morning Herald article on blogging I found Leslie at onegirl. After looking at her fabo site she got me all inspired. I finally got the courage to post about a few crafty adventures and of course am totally hooked. To celebrate my one year blogging anniversary I am now participating in my first ever swap. I found a great site by Katy, i'm a ginger monkey,(on Saturday) and she is running a Russian Doll Swap. First swap ever, so of course I sent off my swap package today. Keen, yes siree! We had the Queen's Birthday long weekend so I spent Monday printing and packaging my surprise. So exciting, but also nervous I hope Katy likes what I made. Anyhoo Happy Blog - Anniversary to Me! Still loving it one year on.

Night Swinging

Here is the linocut I did of the chair-o-planes. I was in a world of pain after I finished this one. I sustained quite a few cuts to fingers and hands. I'm a bit of a manic cutter as I want it finished as quick as I can. Not because I get sick of cutting I just can't wait to see the finished print. When finished I went to Bunnings (hardware store) to look for some wood pieces to do my linocuts on and whilst there I went looking for that particular blue, that is a night sky. I looked for the darkest blue they had in the sample pots and British Paints had the perfect shade bizarrely named, 'Night Flyer'. How weird is that! So I bought and yes it is the perfect shade.