JDK's 8th Do Over Challenge

Welcome to the 8th Do Over Challenge reveal!

 

Focus On Life 2014 : Week 40

October's Topic : Colour

Week 40 : Colour Photography

 

Beautifully maintained p and brightly coloured classic cars all lined up, just begging to be photographed.

An InLinkz Link-up

Nine rules every kid (especially mine) need to know.

1) If Led Zeppelin every happens to come on the radio we quiet down so Mum can sing along to it. We do NOT start having a very loud hissy fit about a broken elastic band.

2) Boobs belong to the person to which they are attached. They are NOT for sharing and, specifically, we do not walk up to Gran, grab one in each hand and yell "HONK HONK".

3) When Mum is driving, do not start a punch up with your sibling on the back seat. This may cause Mum to accidentally jam her foot down on the accelerator and swerve wildly across the road while she tries to break up the fight. Mum does not want Mr Police Man giving her a right royal telling off and a big fine again thank you.

4) No one needs to know that Mum has "just made a big smelly". Ever.

5) We do not ask why that lady has such a big bottom within earshot of the lady with the big bottom. Even if we happen to like big bottoms.

6) If we don't like our vitamin tablets we do not hide them in nooks and crannies all over the house. When it gets hot they will melt into an icky poo coloured mess that smells all yeasty and freaks everyone out trying to figure out what the heck that icky poo-brown stuff is. Just eat the blinking things.

7) That bag of chocolate and lollies hidden on the top shelf of the pantry is not breakfast.

8) Mum's tomatoes do not need "watering" every time you get out of the car. If you've hung on for the entire journey home you can hang on another 30 seconds until the front door is unlocked and you can "water" the toilet instead thank you very much.

9) Vegetables are not poison. We do not tell our teacher that Mum fed us poison last night. Peas will not kill you. Mum might if you don't eat them.

 

Focus On Life 2014 : Week 35

August's Focus : Outside

Week 35 : Lazy Days of Summer

Spring is in full swing in my neck of the woods.

Warm days, cold nights and cloud bursts encouraging little green shoots to emerge from the ground and blossoms to burst from bare branches.

Promises of a hot summer to come whilst the other half of the world is enjoying the heat of the summer slowly transitioning to the glorious riot of colour that Autumn brings.

I've been chasing restful, repleneshing sleep for a while now and have not been joining in with the focus on life group as much as I'd like, but a wee burst of energy saw me take my two little imps to the lakes for a bike ride yesterday.

It was a particularly glorious day and we were treated to a lake full of beautiful model boats. Powered by the wind, they glided silently across the cold waters in a display of effortless elegance.

A timeless moment that could have just as easily taken place in any of the last four decades.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Recycle Your Empty Cans

One of the things I'd really like to change at home is the quantity of rubbish we create weekly.

Our two big offenders are plastic bottles (milk) and cans (my better half can't be without his fizzy). So I thought I'd have a little browse around the net and find some creative re-use of our rubbish starting with cans.

ScanWritr - Bring your paper work into the 21st Century

Take a look at the promo for this very slick app with so many uses and then scroll down for a bunch of freebies that Vanaia are kindly offering (be quick though, there's only a limited supply).

Details about this fantastic app can be found at:

http://www.vanaia.com/scanwritr

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 24

June's Focus: Finding the Fun in Photography

Week Twenty Three : Have FUN!

I've been arguing with a very persistent and angry pair of tonsils for the past three weeks and haven't felt much like blogging (or doing anything for that matter).

But the focus that Sally chose for June is enough to jiggle my inner child to the fore and brave the wild wind and torrential rain (...well, actually I waited for niceish weather) to play with macro on my lil' point and shoot. Here's a piccie of our car (giggle):

Focus On life 2014 - Week 23

June's Focus: Finding the Fun in Photography

Week Twenty Three : Silliness!

 

My daughter would dearly love to dress up boy-cat.

I think she might have more luck with girl-cat but boy-cat made the mistake of coming for a cuddle at the wrong time ....

That's my bit 'o silliness!

What have the reat of you been up to?

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 22

May's Focus : In, At and About

Week Twenty Two : In Bloom

As we quietly move into winter, the blooms fade and the leaves fall. All that remains are the skeletons of once lush flowers ...

 

Stinky Dog Beads Blog Challenge and Hop

Welcome to the Stinky Dog Beads Blog Hop hosted by Lorelei!

A few weeks ago, Lorelei picked out a gorgeous selection of bits n bobs from Stinky Dog Beads and set the challenge for us to create gorgeousness with them.

 

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 21

(For the Bead Soup Blog Party click here.)

May's Focus : In, At and About

Week Twenty One : In Quiet Moments, I Tangle.

 

For some time I've been captivated by the beautiful black and white art that has been popping up all over the internet. A quick search led me to www.zentangle.com and the concept of tangling.

My two favourite crafts, beading and claying, require too much preparation, attention and equipment to whip out during those very brief down-times during the day so the idea of something creative and relaxing that only required paper and pen was very appealing.

Just over a week ago I borrowed a book from the library (One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula) and 'borrowed' my better half's nice drawing pen. Instantly hooked.

I can pop my pad and pen in my bag and take it anywhere.

Anytime I can find a moment for a cuppa I can quickly whip out my tangles. If there's a 'crisis' (and there usually is) I don't have to extricate myself from a difficult stitch to go and sort out exactly who is touching whose toys or to kiss away that little hurt.

The perfect little de-stresser!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 20

(For the Bead Soup Blog Party click here.)

May's Focus : In, At and About

Week Twenty : The View About The Ground

 

I'm very late with this post (too busy bead soup blog-hopping) but I wanted to share this family of 'shrooms I found nestled at the base of a tree in my daughter's kinder. The damp autumn weather has caused a frenzy of fantastic fungi sprouting from every nook and cranny and they make such lovely photographic subjects.

Couldn't bring myself to fiddle with the picture too much (other than to crop out my shadow) because the colours came out so beautiful in the afternoon sun.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

De-Clutter 2914 - Week 20

(For the Bead Soup Blog Party click here.)

 

I had a wee bit of a sit and think this week about why I find it so hard to get motivated to de-clutter. There is always an excuse - too tired, too busy, someone's sick etc. and while all of these things may be true (and often all at once) I am not so run off my feet that I can't fit in an hour of de-clutter a week.

 

I've actually known for a long time what the main reason for my prevaricating is. It is this room:

Bead Soup Blog Party 8 Reveal!

Welcome to the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party, created and hosted by the absolutely amazing Lori Anderson.

 

 

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 19

Nutty week this week.

I have no pictures and I have a school Principal that I want to yell at but I have done a fair bit of decluttering so just a quick report to touch base with my fellow de-cluttererers.

Focus On Life - Week 19

May's Focus : In, At and About

Week Nineteen : Good Things Inside

 

An InLinkz Link-up

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 18

It has been weeks since I've truly been able to kick back and take stock. I love my family more than anything in existence but I am human and I need a break from being a Mum and wife or I go slightly loopy-la-la.

 

My better-half was home nursing a cold yesterday and my littlest-one was over tired from swimming lessons so I left them both huddled in a blanket with hot drinks, chicken sandwiches and trashy TV and attempted to tackle the "Kitchen Cupboard of Horridness".

BSBP 8 - Introducing Bead Soup 2!

Now that you've met my first (official) partner, Hajer, please allow me to now introduce my second (unofficial) partner, Bridget of www.shears58.net!

Long story short we both got ants in our pants waiting to hear from our BSBP partners so we decided to become back-up partners. Look at the luscious soup that Bridget sent me :

BSBP 8 - Introducing Bead Soup 1!

Since the reveal is coming up fast (this Saturday!) I thought that I had better shake a leg and introduce my two wonderful partners and the beautiful soups they sent me. So without further ado, cast your eyes over this very special soup sent to me by Hajer of My Beaded World :

Focus On Life - Week 17

Week Seventeen : Evening Moments

Enjoying the cool Autumn evening at the lake, the kids, tired from cycling take a rest at the edge.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 17

After three weeks of having all my brood (including big ol' hairy boy) all at home I am a wee bit weary.

It feels like I am a one-person fast food outlet, constantly cooking to the tune of "Mum, I'm so hungry my tummy is folding up".

And when not on kitchen duty I am entertainment manager for both the small people AND the large hairy one. All of whom struggle to entertain themselves without my input. Apparently none of them can even watch TV unless I am sat watching it with them. Gah!

JDK's 7th Do Over Challenge Reveal

Welcome to Jeannie K Dukic's 7th Do Over Challenge!

Devised and hosted by Jeannie, we are all sent a piece of jewellery, handmade by Jeannie herself, that she considers tired or boring. It is our job to make-over that piece into something splendiferous.

Focus On Life - Week 16

Week Sixteen : A moment best captured in black and white.

I've missed a few weeks due to school holidays, but while we were put and about we found this wonderfully gothic looking building, just crying out to be spookified in black and white.

 

Almost looks like a glowing white figure in the bottom left window, very eerie.

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

(No) De-Clutter 2014 - Weeks 15 & 16

It's school holidays so we have been at the beach!

My bestest, most favourite place to be wherever in the world I am.

The Color of Dreams Blog Hop

Welcome to the Color of Dreams blog hop hosted by the incredibly generous and gracious Rita of Toltec Jewels.

 

The paticipants were all given a gorgeous bead handmade by artist Patricia Handschuh of The Color of Dreams Boutique and invited to share our dreams, using our bead as the inspiration.

(No) De-Clutter 2014 - Week 14

Packing for holidays! Woohoo off to the seaside!

No more de-cluttering for a week or two....

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus On Life - Week 13

Week 13 : Eye Level

 

Yesterday we took the kids to the water park in Seville. This was an outdoor swimming pool for 50 years and has been converted into an amazing place with water jets that are activated by foot, tunnels, dry creaks, rocks to climb on and an artesian well.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 13

I had a rest from major housework this week since we are all a bit tired. De-clutter was replaced with some much needed therapeutic clay play.

SUPER CHEAP WEB HOSTING!!!!

Had to share this.

 

I am a big fan of HostGator because of their unparalleled customer service but they are not always the cheapest option.

 

But .... today only they are offering a whacking huge 50% off their hosting deals and domain names for $4 a year! HUGE!

 

I'm a little teed off because a couple of months back I went and got myself some hosting elsewhere for a couple of years because I couldn't afford my fave HostGator. Gah! So infuriating!

Focus On Life - Week 12

Week Twelve : Expression

This shot wasn't taken by me and I didn't add the frame or fiddle with it it any way. But for me it is both an expression of love and of such simple joy that I had to share it in preference over my attempts at this week's prompt.

My six year old son secretly borrowed my phone, took a picture of his four year old sister and worked out how to frame it and email it to me. I think it's perfect.

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 12

WORK IN PROGRESS!

 

Focus On Life - Week 11

Week 11: Beauty All Around

This week Sally challanged us to slow down, smell the roses and notice the beauty around us that we often miss in our hectic lives.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 11

I've found a fabulius way to get my other half to pitch in with the tidying up! Invite his Mum and Dad for lunch!

 

Together we spent the best part of five hours freeing the dining table and surrounding area of STUFF. Five hours! We haven't been able to use the table since before Christmas.

Focus On Life - Week 10

March Topic: Checking Out

Week Ten : The Big Picture

I'm a bit disappointed that I missed out on week 9 (macro photo) because I just love taking close-ups of bugs and flowers.

 

However the iphone has got this great little panorama function in it's camera which is immense fun to use.

 

So finally free from germs but still a little housebound I took a 'big picture' of the view from the bedroom. We are very lucky to have such a beautiful view.

 

I can't wait to have a look at everyone else's piccies :

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Spiral Netting Focal - Free Tutorial

Back in January I participated in a great blog hop titled "A TimeTo Stitch 4" and created a punky sort of necklace with a spiral netting focal and chevron strips.

A lot of interest was shown in the spiral focal which was based upon a tutorial in Russian I found at biser.info which I think is a site for beaders to post and discuss their work.

I found the instructions a bit hard to follow so I ended up drawing myself a bunch of diagrams so I could work out the thread path.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 10

The past few weeks have seen full blown germ-warfare in our household with various forms of flu, gastro and nasty allergic reactions. To top it all our septic tank went kabluey and erupted poo-water everywhere. Yuck!

 

Never-the-less I thought it was time to start tackling the worst area in our house, the dreaded 'family room', even if only in a small way.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 9

This week was PANTS!

Focus On Life - Week 8

Week Eight : Capture Colour

Very tired, very grumpy, very blocked up and snuffly on the way to the chemist these glorious lollies caught my eye in their burst of glorious colours.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 8

This week I feel totally, utterly bleurgh. I've got a sinus infection and I know I should probably go to the docs but I am trying to will it away without resorting to yucky antibiotics.

In my bleurghness I have only managed to de-clutter 1 small bag of baby cutlery and 4 T-shirts and I complained the whole time about my bleurghness whilst doing it.

To stop my grumbling and grumping I have spent my time doing this instead (sorry for terrible picture):

 

 

Owl on the right is based on the following tutorial (lots of good stuff on this site):

http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/owl-pendant.html

and the left hand owl is based on this very high quality youtube video:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SAqNNIu1s8I&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSAqNNIu1s8I

Both are built ever-so-slightly differently with the left hand one being slightly more tricky around the eyes and beak but only requires one thread through the beak which gives more options in terms of beads. The one on the right requires two threads through the beak but on the whole is just that little bit easier for a novice like me.

Hope everyone else is having a less bleurgh week.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

GYB Give Away Winner!

This is a little later than intended, but i can announce that acvording to www.randomresult.com the winner of the GYB $25 Unkamen Gift voucher is ....

 

<drum roll please>

Focus On Life - Week 7

Week Seven : Collage of love

Yesterday I got the best Valentine card I have ever received. Un-prompted, my son had made me one at school. It's in the centre heart in the picture below and says:

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 7

The past couple of weeks have been a wee bit fraught with most of my time spent away from the house for one reason or another. But I was determined to remove some clutter. So a boot full of stuff found new homes on monday:

Focus on Life - Week 6

February's focus : Cabin Fever

Week Six : Quiet Calm

In stark contrast to February's theme I am aching for some home time. The super-hot dry weather has made for ideal fire conditions and we have spent the past few days on edge and leaving the house to hang around in safer areas.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 6

Well I have to admit that the past week has only seen me de-clutter one toy to the charity shop. Not a very good effort! I did have plans to tackle the area under the kitchen sink and finally investigate what I hope is an ant colony behind it (and not termites) but . . .

The Dreaded "no-reply" blogger!

This is just a quicky.

Do you know what a "no-reply" blogger is? Neither did I! But after the lovely Dasha of Patching Pixies kindly let me know that I was indeed a dreaded no-reply-er i thought I'd better investigate and fix it.

I could reportback my findings here but everything is explained so succinctly elsewhere I'll just send you straight to the source:

http://morefromyourblog.com/no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix-this/

 

Focus On Life - Week 5

(If you are looking for the Grow your Blog Giveaway it is here.)

February's Focus: Cabin Fever

Week Five : Get Outside

In my part of the world we're experiencing another round of uncomfortably high temperatures which will see us either hiding inside with struggling air-conditioners or seeking out water : lakes, creeks, beaches and swimmimg pools.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 5

(If you are looking for the Grow your Blog Giveaway it is here.)

 

I don't know how the rest of you feel but I am currently a bit overwhelmed at the task before me.

It seems that my de-clutter efforts have simply made a bigger mess than before :-(

To be expected I suppose since there's ten years worth of stuff hidden in cupboards and boxes and sheds and a simple task like tidying up one cupboard produces a flabberghasting amount of other stuff to sort out!

Grow your blog 2014 - GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to the second annual "Grow Your Blog" hop created and hosted by the rather lovely Vicky Boster of 2 Bags Full.

 

My name is Nelly, short for Penelope, occasionally dubbed Smelly Nelly or Penelope Ploppity Pitstop by my nearest and dearest. I do NOT smell out of the ordinary however!

 

For me blogging is a way to connect to like-minded people where we share our art, crafts, recipes, stories and a little bit of our lives.

 

I'll keep this short and sweet because there are over 500 blogs to visit in this event (click on the image above to see the full list) so how's about a GIVE AWAY!

 

My favourite supplier on Etsy is Unkamen Supplies - a wonderful source of chain maille supplies and kits, so .....

 

Prize = $25 (US dollars) Unkamen Supplies gift Certificate

 

All you have to do is leave a comment to say hello and tell me your favourite online or Etsy shop. (PS if your favourite Etsy shop sells gift certificates I am more than happy to change the prize to on of those for you.

 

Draw will close midnight AEST February 14th 2014 and the winner announced on the 15th February.

 

Good Luck!

 

Focus On Life - Week 4

Week Four : Words

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 4

We've got one week left of summer hols before my eldest goes back to school and my youngest starts kinder (woohoo! 3 mornings a week to myself! / boohoo, my babies are growing up).

So we've been playing lots and making a big mess insode and once the nasty fiery heat receded we went out and found sand and water to frolick in.

A Time to Stitch 4

Welcome to the reveal day of the ATTS4 blog hop!

The challenge was to create something in net stitch plus at least one other stitch out of 1) Chenille Stitch, 2) Chevron Stitch or 3) Spiral Rope. I kept it simple and chose only one other stitch : Chevron.

So without further ado, here is my slightly gothic looking necklace:

The side straps are chevron stitch and the focal is spiral netting - I hope I'm not cheating by using spiral netting! The swirly design is based upon something I found here, it's not very easy to follow so I'll add some (hopefully clearer) instructions in another post later on.

Here's a closer shot of the swirly net focal:

After a great deal of faffing and experimenting I used a dismantled charm bracelet to connect the individual components. The shiny silver seems to add a bit of punkiness in my eyes.

I really enjoyed this challenge so a big thankyou to the lovely hostesses Therese and Christine.

Enjoy looking at the amazing creations of the other participants, they are breath taking:

01. Amy Severino
02. Janet Bocciardi
03. Cynthia Machete
04. Alicia Marinate
05. Paula Kramer
06. Kim Hora
07. Dee Alcalde
08. Dagi (Kokopelli)
09. Maryanne Gross
10. LizE
11. Sally Russick
12. Becky Pancake
13. Jasvanti Patel
14. Karin Slaton
15. Alenka
16. Sarah Sequins
17. Tanya Goodwin
18. Debbie Rasmussen
19. Shirley Moore
20. Crystie Willard
21. Nelly May (you are here!)
22. Ana Cravidao
23. Therese Frank (wonderful hostess)
24. Christine Altmiller (amazing hostess)

(No) De-Clutter 2014 - Week 3

Yep, nuthin' happening this week. When it hits 30C I start to wither. When it tops 40C I melt. I break into a river of sweat making a simple sandwich. I carefully position each body part so that nothing touches. Cuddles are done at a distance of 3 metres. All activity is restricted to what can be achieved either sitting in water or laying starfish-like under a fan.

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 2

Week Two : A Silhouette.

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 2

This week I thought I'd tackle the upstairs closet, with no expectations of finishing it in one go since a third of the space is taken up by stuff belonging to my better half. Here is the naughty cupboard in all it's chaotic glory:

And this is only half of it.

Focus On Life 2014 - Week 1

I love taking pictures, just love it. And last year I followed the series 'Focus on Life' photos with great interest, so this year I was very keen to join in.

'Focus on Life' is the brain child of Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime. Each week Sally provides prompts to inspire your photography. It's not too late to join in, click on any of the links above.

Week One : The Minimalist Photograph :

De-Clutter 2014 - Week 1

The rather wonderful Bonnie of Jasper's Gems suggested a year long de-clutter project for 2014 with weekly progress reports on our blogs.

I did have a wee bash at a de-clutter last year - which didn't get much beyond clearing out two drawers. Not very successful!

But with the added encouragement of Bonnie, and with the promise of 3 child-free mornings a week when my youngest starts kinder, I fully intend to kick clutter's botty this year.