as the sun sets on another year

You’ll have to bear with me as my spongy over-sugared brain takes its time to re-connect with my fingertips and goes through post-holiday typing on a keyboard rehabilitation.

HI! Hope you all had a nice Christmas. We’ve spent the last week and a bit back up the coast with Mr You’s family; eating, getting lazy, eating some more, reading, fishing, did I mention eating?

Just before Christmas we were bestowed with another God-baby (one of Mr You’s nephews). This time last year we were given our very first God-baby, now we have 3 all in the space of a year! (actually Mr You has 4). How God-Fertile are we?!
(must be all those times I went to church... I've been at least twice now)

We had a sweet quiet-ish Christmas, played with the niece and nephews and were privileged to some full-on 70’s style psychodelic acid-trip sunsets across the river.

I can’t remember what else we did… caught up on some reading, made some earrings and necklaces with Mr You’s mum (she’s just discovered beading and is obsessed). Mr You tinkered on the mandolin that I got him for Christmas. (He gave me a handmade gift voucher for a generous shopping spree on Etsy – weeeeeeeeeee. I haven’t started yet, but can’t wait to get stuck in.)

Ah, I’m really out of practice and I’m drivelling boring old crap now, I’ll just show you some photos instead.








On the long drive back home yesterday we marvelled at how beautiful phrases such as “Hexam bypass” and “Kempsy bypass” sound, while clogged in traffic waiting to get through the traffic lights on the highway at Kempsy and over the weird bridge at Hexam. We were so overcome by the loveliness of these phrases Mr You wanted to wind down the window and shout them out to share them with the locals… luckily he refrained.

We did go off the highway to find some lunch in one of the towns that has already been bypassed. And this is what we found…



We ended up eating a meat pie on a table next to some bins outside of the bakery (because I wanted to support the local business instead out eating at the Mobil service station diner), and just as I was about to order the lady behind the counter scowled at me when I smiled at her. I know a highway bypass usually devastates the economy of small towns, but is it any wonder? Seriously she scowled at me! She dipped her chin, pursed her lips and squinted her eyes right at me.
Isn’t bypass such a pretty word?

cool yule

Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Cool Yule...

Choose a well-wish that suits you best and take it along with you!

I'm taking a bit of a break and will see you again soon after the season of merriment. Have a wonderful time.

Take care, big happy wishes to you all .xx.

five bits

I really want to post, but I can’t think of anything to say… I was going to attempt the 5 secrets thing (expressed so well here and here), but I can’t even think of 5 secrets I’m willing to share with the world.

So maybe a few tid-bits will suffice:

1. I am not obsessive compulsive but I do have my moments. I can’t hang clothes on the line unless the colour of the pegs match. They don’t have to match the article of clothing, just each other. So 2 white pegs, 2 pink pegs, or 2 blue pegs, you get the gist. I’ve often contemplated going monochrome in my peg collection to cut down the amount of time it takes me to rummage through the peg bag to find the perfect pair, but that would take all the fun out of it.

2. The by-line on my header up there is still true. I can’t knit. Eeeek. I know I’m most ashamed to admit this as I fear a backlash from the mass of knitters out there. My Granny taught both my sister and I how to knit, but mine always ended up all tight and stuck on the needle with my hands in cramps. Then when I wanted to join Brownies my Mum told me they made you knit a square as your entrance exam so therefore I wouldn’t be able to join. I still to this day don’t know if that was true or if the cost of joining (or the uniform) was too expensive for her and just fibbed to stop me joining.

3. I’m allergic to wool (another one I fear admitting for the risk of being kicked off the internet all together). I break out in hives. So I have to wear wool over something else so it doesn’t touch my skin, or switch to acrylic. Even as a baby I couldn’t lie on the soft lambs wool baby rug. When I told a friend this she nearly cried.

4. Ummm, well you already know how no-one knows about my blog (only Mr You). Yep, nobody I know in real life. Well… due to this I’ve created an identity problem for myself. I have started a new site for my new endeavours under my real name which links to my Etsy store, this is what I have recently shared with friends and family. When they ask me how I came up with the name flossy-particles I just make up some crap about things being pretty and flossy, as I still want to protect my blog and keep it secret. But I have a mortal fear that one day someone will do a search or something, find my blog and oust it to everyone else.

5. Because of this if you buy something from my Etsy store you’ll get an email signed with my real name (which is not mentioned anywhere on this blog). It delights me that even though this happens, people still reply to me as Flossy or Alice!
I LOVE that! ...and want to thank-you for it.

wrap up

Yesterday marked the beginning of the over-eating season. We had our Christmas lunch get-together at Mum's house; just Sister Sparkle, her man, me, Mr You, Mum and my step dad. It's been a few years since we've had a Christmas celebration all together (as Sister Sparkle was travelling around the country), just us without loads of other relatives and friends. It was special, and Mum really went all out on the lunch part. We spent all day there, eating and laughing, opening gifts and playing board games. I savoured it as it's rare these days, and Sister Sparkle is setting off to travel around the country again next year (in the opposite direction this time), so it's likely we won't be doing this again for another few years.

It came at the end of a fruitful week for me. I did a really cute portrait photoshoot of some children and their puppy, lined up a months worth of work in January making a website for an author (meaning I don't have to go find a real job for a while yet), made a few Chrissy presents including a button brooch for Sister Sparkle and cushions for Mum, squeezed in some Christmas shopping, and spent a fair bit of time at the ever-growing queue outside the post office (yes it's so long at the moment that it trails outside and up the street a bit).

I had an order placed for a bag, and spent some time finishing an order for a painting from the markets last week. Actually that's a cute story... At the markets last weekend a mum let her little girl choose any one of my paintings to buy, the little girl ummed and arhed about which one she liked best. She really wanted a dark purple background so I told her I could paint something especially for her on purple, and she could choose whatever she wanted the painting to be of. There were princesses and pirates, and mermaids and unicorns, a wizard and owl, and in the end she decided what she really wanted was a treasure chest! (with rubies and emeralds inside). How cute is that?! I was kind of impressed actually that she chose something unique and unusual.

It reminded me of a time I was face painting at a community fete once. A little boy sat infront of me and asked me to paint his face like the back of a bus! (I dont know if he'd overheard someone use an insult at one time like "That woman has a face like the back of a bus"). Either way that's all he wanted. So I put my brain into gear and painted his face like the back of a bus, along with people in the back window and a number plate and big tyres. He was delighted. How cool is that?
Curious aren't they, those cute little people with strong personalities?

mask

My Illustration Friday attempt for "mask".

After painting acrylic on canvas all last week I seem to have lost my ability to piant in watercolour. I hope it comes back soon.

I call this one "Tilda sneaks". Tilda is available for sale here.

(Miranda mermaid and Pierre the Pirate are also now available in store)

christmas, it's coming

Do you ever have that "Wow that's cool, I wish I'd thought of that" feeling? Well check these out:


Mary Jane Holiday Stocking, available at Blueberrybandit's shop



I think this one looks like Mrs Clause's stocking, available at Desertblossom's shop



Knitty stocking, available at Heartfeltbaby's shop



Vintage Lady Stocking, available at The beadingtree's shop



Elf stocking, available at BloomingMoose's shop


It's okay, none of these are on my Christmas list (because I've left it a bit late for shipping to Australia now), so feel free to spoil yourself!

winged rainbow

Rainbow lorikeets have taken up residence in our neighbours back yard.

favourite fours

Ooooo, lil kim tagged me! I’ve never been officially tagged before, how exciting (well for me that is, you may find it long-winded and boring). But what the hell, here goes…

4 jobs I have had:
- My first job ever was selling entry tickets at the Museum of Fire
- While at uni I had a very cool job working for a ceramic artist, helping to make her market range of items while she concentrated on her gallery items. I would make plates, platters and bowls out of clay, she would draw her art on the fired ones, and then I would take them home and paint the glazes on them. It paid terribly, but was a wonderful job.
- On the side I did the odd face painting at fetes, and hair wraps at markets.
- At the job I just left I was a Senior Web Producer (which is a wanky way of saying I was a project manager at a web design company who had been there long enough to become senior)

4 movies I could watch over and over:
Mr You and I are hopeless when it comes to movies, we hardly ever go and see them and we don’t have a DVD player. The movies I watch over and over again are old videos taped off the TV that are all about 15 years old. But if I could watch a movie over and over again I’d choose:
- Lost in Translation
- Frida
- Amalie
- okay, for the last one I’m going to be brave and be honest… Dirty Dancing (eeek blush – lost some cred there didn’t I?). My sister and I watched our video of this soooo many times when we were young that her pink dress in the last scene is now white. We can recite almost the entire thing, And I remember not having any idea what “knocked-up” meant and I thought she’d just fallen up the stairs and hurt herself. We have the same nostalgic obsession with Mystic Pizza too. (oh dear, so much credibility just crumbled away into dust).

4 places I have lived (apart from where I am now):
- Townsville, far north Queensland - tropical (I spent my childhood years there, and now associate my childhood with wonderful warm tropical memories)
- The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney NSW - bushy (I spent my early teen years there, then came back later when I moved out of home)
- Penrith, western suburbs – suburban hell (horrible place where at the time everyone my age wore tracksuits and sneakers and were only interested in cars and footy, and I was abused each afternoon on my way home for looking different to them)
- Various suburbs in the inner west area of Sydney (As soon as I finished school I moved to the city and went to uni – ahhh. I love it here, different cultures, an array of foods, and houses that come from another time)

4 TV shows I love:
- Buffy (yes I’m one of those)
- Northern Exposure (It’s been a lifetime since I’ve seen this show, but I remember it with great fondness)
- You’re going to laugh at this one… Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (the US version, we lost it to the Australian counterpart though, which was soooo bad it only lasted 2 shows before it was axed. Just the intro music used to make me clap and cheer with excitement. I’ve never had a custom ringtone on my phone, but that very nearly made it)
- um…. None of those shows are on TV anymore, I’m trying to think of one that is…. Nope, I can’t think of one, so I’ll end with Pokemon. I LOVED Pokemon.

4 places I have been for a vacation:
- All the capital cities in Australia, except Darwin and Hobart
- Fiji
- Portugal (and a fair few other countries in EU)
- Ireland (and the UK)

4 websites I visit daily:
- my blog
- craftzine
- indie quarter
- five and a half

4 favourite foods:
- vegetables
- tomato
- cashews
- cake

4 places I would rather be:
- Turkey
- Morocco
- walking along a beach
- on a boat floating in calm water on a sunny day

4 people I am tagging:
This meme has been doing the rounds for a while (although I’ve never done it before), but I’m trying to think of others who haven’t either…. apologies if you have already. I hereby tag:
- Danielle
- Robin
- Jen from IslandArts
- And since she’s on a roll: Faun

my first market

Yesterday my Sister Sparkle and I set up my first ever market stall. I had spent many many hours everyday last week working on a range of childrens paintings especially for this day. There were pirates and mermaids and unicons, princesses, a wizard and a few trees - sweet folk from the lands of myth. I also had some Christmas tags and cards, some hairbands, and Sister Sparkle made some earrings and two little bags.

Our stall looked colourful and inviting, even if I do say so myself. The market itself was small but very sweet. I was happy that it was indoors as I didn't have to worry about things blowing over or melting in the sun. I expected there to be lots of handmade stuff at the market, but over half of it was party-plan glitzy jewellery, tupperwear and avon make-up, so I had lots of people questioning if I had made the art myself. (We don't have anything like Renegade Craft Fair here in Sydney, which is rather depressing. I've recently been wondering what it would take to set one up).

Anyway, we had good fun at the market. I really enjoyed it. I got some lovely feedback and had lots of good chats. I think wearing my vintage dress was actually a very clever idea, lots of people complimented me on it, which opened up a line of conversation. :D

I didn't sell as much as I expected, but the other stall holders told me we were up against a big Carols by Candlelight festival that was on nearby, so the crowds were down. This particular market is only on twice a year, so I may have to look around for others. The good thing was it was small and quaint, I didn't need insurance, it gave me a good taste of what it would be like to do it more often, and things I would need to consider next time.

I'm going to research postage costs this week, and then consider putting a few smaller pieces on Etsy. I'll keep you posted.

my quiet forest

On Friday my letterbox showed great kindness in delivering this wonderful new print to me. This is a lovely print titled "My Quiet Forest", by the amazing Ashley from Kitty Genius. I've been coveting her works for ages and finally decided on one recently.

The canvas paper stuff it's printed on is really very cool; making the print feel very fancy, excellent quality, and giving me the feeling of having just nabbed a fantastic bargain!

Check out her sweet blog here, and her Etsy store here.

i heart 50's

You know the little "you complete me" hand gesture that Dr Evil does to Mini Me? Well I've been slinging one of those across the room at my new vintage dress every few minutes. I heart my new vintage dress. heart. heart. heart.

Oh boy am I in trouble. A little shop has opened up right near the post office, it's filled with wonderful unique vintage wonders. And I'm in trouble. This little dress (hand tailored original 50's number in spectacular condition) fit me like a glove. Well it would fit as though I was poured into it if I had those big pointy 50's knockers, but it still looked good enough for me to be overwhelmed with that "MUST HAVE NOW" sensation.

Guess what I'll be wearing to the markets tomorrow?

Speaking of markets, I'm pretty much organised, I just have that icky task of pricing things today (arhg shudder), and working out some interesting display tactics. Oh, and flouncing around in my new dress. hee.

might

My Illustration Friday attempt for "might".

I'm still painting little canvases like a mad woman, getting ready for my very first market stall this Saturday. This little set is for the markets, but also for "might".

After the markets, any leftover stock (that don't get turned into Christmas presents) will be available in my Etsy Store.

mermaids

Oh Boy, I'm soooo busy. A week to make enough stuff to fill a market stand is not very long. I knew this when i accepted the gig, but as each day ticks by it becomes truer and truer.

I'm having great fun though! I'm up to my armpits in mermaids and pirates and unicorns and wizards and all folk a "little bit myth".

My computer is sulking because I haven't been playing with it. Out of protest it has destroyed it's own network port and I'm having to sneak moments on Mr You's computer to get to the interweb. Luckily this week it's all up to the paints and brushes.

I'll take more photo's later, but here's a sneak peak so far...

no new inventions here

Sorry, I won't be illustrating 'invention' for Illustration Friday this week.

I just found out after lunch yesterday that I've managed to get a stall at a small craft market next weekend (not this one, the next one). It's great news, I'm so excited! It's exactly what I need right now, some focus and to feel a sense of purpose.

But, it's also sent me into a wee spin as I don't have anywhere near enough stuff to fill a market stall. So, I'm about to knuckle down and get busy. Really busy. The market is at a school, so I'm planing on doing a whole range of items for kids specifically for the market. I'm thinking cute simple paintings, wall hangings, some more hairbands and clips. A couple of cushions too if I get time (I think I'll be pushing a bit there). I've got exactly one week. tick tick tick...