Blog post mourning

Two days ago I sat down here, and wrote an extraordinary blog post.  It was full of humour, wit and drama.  It was probably the best I have ever written, but alas, I accidentally clicked the back arrow and consequently lost the lot.  My dispair has seen me in mourning for the loss of a truly brilliant piece of literary creativity.  As such I chose a suitable amount of time to mourn before I came back online.  Two days is sufficient I think.

So, what was the deceased post about?

Wednesday last week the household gained an extra 3 people.  My friend Ruth, her husband Jeff and their daughter (my niece) Araminta, were staying with me a few days.  They are currently making a big move from one country to another, while stopping over in Australia to catch up with friends and family. 

Bearing in mind that I have two dogs, one of which is not used to kids and the other has not been around them for 3 years, plus I am babysitting my Aunts dog, means the house was full.  Araminta loved the dogs, but the dogs (all of them 12 yrs plus) were not too keen on a 4 year old girl running after them.  This meant I was the safe haven and had 3 dogs around me constantly, unless of course, Araminta had food.

Eventually Araminta realised that Bo was the most patient one:

 Of course I could not have my niece here and not get her doing something creative.  Over two afternoons we made a mixed media hard canvas that she could take with her.  We used everything from spray mists, to Gesso, micr powder, lace, stencils and so on.  She did most of the work herself.  I just showed her what to do.  Her colour scheme was a little 'out there' so I softened it a little.  I think it turned out great.

 In my rather long break from blogging, I participated in another doll swap.  The theme for this one was "the Animal Within."  I went hopped on the internet and did some of those quirky "what is your spirit guide" quizes.   Pretty much it was 50/50 between a wolf and a deer.  Just goes to prove yet again that I have a split personality.  :)  

I figured the wolf would be the easiest to work with.  I had already decided that I was going to alter a barbie.  To do her hair, I melted her actual hair with the heat gun.  It went into a top knot sort of thing which provided the height for the wool that I threaded through.  Yes I beheaded her and shoved a needle through many times.

I did take some photos of the Blythe dolls clothes that I have been making, but seem to have been in the deleting frame of mind and have accidentally deleted them. I will take them again after I have made some more.

Well the house is quiet now and I am back to work.  I have nicknamed my Aunt's dog 'Puddle,' because he is one big dog puddle always at your feet.  If he were human, he would be a stalker!

The weekend can't get here quick enough.

Lightning

The weather report last night said that today would be 36 degrees celcius with strong winds.  The fire danger is extreme.

So at 3am this morning I was awoken by thunder.  Initially my thoughts were yay, I love thunder and lightning, yay I'm on holidays so I can get up and watch.  Once outside I thought of the weather report and then thought, oh bugger, the lightning is a mix of sheet and fork lightning.  Better not start any fires 'cause there is very little rain coming with all of this. 

At 3am I decided to try and take photos.  Really wish I knew the proper technique for this but considering I don't know it, I figure I did pretty damn good.  :)

This is my first shot, and out of about 600 photos (I can take 40 shots a second) the majority of them turned out like this:

I personally thought I did a brilliant job.  The camera I am using is my mothers Lumix FZ100.  I find it is quicker and easier to use for some things than my more professional one. Not one for fussing around too much, I tried the camera on it's Intelligent Auto setting.  This worked great for the lunar eclipse a few weeks back.  Hmmm better put those photos on here as well.  That will be a post in itself.

These next two shots are taking using the IA setting

I came inside to check on the quality as I find the bigger computer screen shows more blur than the small camera screen.  I decided the IA was showing the full detail so I changed the setting to night scene but kept it on auto.  If you look hard enough in some of the photos, you can see the reflection of the lightning on the lense.

Not sure what is with the darker line on this photo.  It appeared on a few, so I can only guess that it has something to do with the 40 shots per second.  I do think I framed this nicely though.  :)

After getting a stiff neck I finally decided to just take photos willy nilly, (is that still said now days) and I got this shot.  Nearlly missed it altogether but happy with what I got.

In this one you can see the end flicker of sheet lightning.

Earlier I said there was barely any rain, well it is coming down hard now.  It is 5am, and the thunder and lightning have been constant.  Love this weather.

Going back to bed now, though I am not sure if I will go back to sleep.

Wedding Box

As promised, here are some photo's of the box I have made for my cousin.  She is getting married this coming weekend.  Unfortunately I will not be there for it as it is on the other side of Australia.  Normally I would have made something nice out of the photos I would take.  I decided on a box for the keepsakes.  Letters, speaches, cards, the garter.  :)  She can use it for whatever she wants.

I used, Gesso, off white paint, lace, micr flakes, glass beads, micr powder, shimmer paint, card, and much more.  I hope she likes it.

Happy New Year

There are many different ways people see in the new year.  When I was a teenager my group of friends and I used to get together for a party and then have a massive water fight. There would be water pistols, bottles of water, water balloons, buckets would eventually come out, and if it was at someones house, so would the hose.  Those were the days.  I miss those days.  Now I seem to sit at home and treat it like it is a normal every day night ... if there is such a thing as an every day night.  LOL

It is currently 1:40am January 1, 2012.  I saw in the new year sitting on the floor in my studio (no room on the table) painting my cousins wedding presant.  I was hoping to get it finished today (um yesterday) but I am missing a crucial element which will require a journey to the store when they open again. Yes I promise photos soon.

Earlier in the night I also did more sewing on my Blythe Doll outfits.  I need to see if they will fit a Barbie as well, that way I can have a larger customer base.  It is hard to tell just by looking at them.  Even though a Blythe dolls body is the same size as a Barbie, I don't think the Blythe are as top heavy in the chest area (definitley in the head area though).

Best wishes for the new year.  May 2012 be one to remember for good reasons and may the Mayans be wrong in their end of the world prophecy.  :)

Hot Hot Hot

Up until a couple of days ago, we were experiencing some lovely weather.  Not too cold and not too hot.  In the last two days though, it has been like summer has finally realised it should be well and truly awake, so, to make up for it, the temperature has increased 10 degrees.  It has gone from a balmy 28 to 31 degrees C to breaking the thermometre at 40. 

Yeah 40 is not nice at the best of times but to have it suddenly knock on your door, it's like a wrecking ball hit you in the face when you open it.

I don't have a pool, the aircon spits and drops water after 5 minutes of use, our beaches seem inundated with sharks at the moment, and being school holidays means the local pool will be over run with unrully kids.  Therefore yesterday, around 6pm, the temperature gage sitting on 37 degrees, I donned my bathers, turned the hose, and enjoyed and old fashioned hose water fountain.  Even sprayed the dogs to keep them cool.  For the benefit of the water conscious who are currently gasping for air at the thought that I did such a thing, the hose was on for less than 3 minutes, I was standing on the lawn, and it was a light spray.

A few years ago, some friends who live in the far north of WA sent me this photo.  It explains exactly how I am feeling right now.