did you win?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! This is SO freakin' exciting. I love doing this.
Mr You has spent the better part of the week improving on his incredible lotto machine that randomly draws the winner of this Thanksgiving Giveaway... so he must love it too.

Before we begin I want to reiterate that the point of this annual giveaway is to show my thanks to you for your company and friendship. So thankyou each and everyone for taking part, showing your support, and coming back each year for more.
Happy Thanksgiving!

At 10pm we did the draw. It was great! And although I very much wanted each of you to win, when the actual winner's name was revealed I was thrilled! I know she is going to pee her pants when she realises it's her! I won't say anymore right now because I don't want to spoil the surprise.

So without further adieu, go ahead, PRESS START!!!!! :D

ending the drought

My Etsy store has lain barren, dry, and dusty for the past few months. But finally the rain has come, the sun is out, I'm turning the soil... And looky looky, some seedlings have sprouted!



Soon there may be a thriving new garden.


Only a few more hours to get your entries in for the Thanksgiving Giveaway!!!

art exchange

I've been lamenting of late with a couple of fellow bloggers about how great swaps used to be. Like REALLY great!!!!! People were so generous and creative and diligent! And when they got something from you you'd get a thank-you email, or a blog post, so you knew they received it safely and appreciated it.

These days more often than not you send something as part of a swap, and as my mum would put it, don't even get "a brass wazoo" in return. You rarely hear if people get your parcels or not, and I fear there's a pile of my work lying in a damp dark corner of a mailroom somewhere. But, even so, I keep being lured back by the excitement and prospect of more swaps. The concept is such a great thing, such lovely karma. I just can't resist the opportunity to surprise someone in a nice way.

Last week I was asked to participate in the International Art Exchange. Kind of like a big chain of art, where you send one piece of art, and are suppose to get (in theory) up to 36 pieces in return from all over the place. I knew that it was extremely unlikely to get 36 pieces, but I actually even doubted that I'd get one.

Still I excitedly sent off my parcel > > >

But yesterday I was both delighted and a little astounded to receive a piece myself!
Not only that, I feel like it's a customized piece especially for me. It's a mail-art collage from Punwit in New Hampshire USA. He wrote that he'd seen some of my work in the flesh at Artstream, an his favourite was my Tigerhug drawing. How sweet!



See he's put a tiger in there for me, and a stamp from New South Wales (my state). Along with lots of other elements that warm the very cockles of me' ol' heart. Yes, definitely personalised.

Anyway, It's so great. I'm so thrilled and remarkably appeased.

Thanks Punwit! It's brilliant. 100 good karma swap points for you!

(Punwit, or Larry Reynolds, is part of the Scrapiteria group.)

you don't win friends with syrup

While I may not enjoy chips of banana in my breakfast, I do expect, if I pay $5 for a banana smoothie, there to be some banana IN IT!

Syrup doesn't cut it I'm afraid. Without an actual banana I'm sorry to say it's not a smoothie folks. It's a milkshake!

A far inferior cousin.

(Image borrowed from here; Amigugmi Paradise.)

giveaways galore

A quick reminder that you only have until this Thursday morning to enter my Thanksgiving Illustration Giveaway.



Then to double your chances, ChunkyChooky is having a giveaway marathon. A draw each week for 4 weeks. Actually that's quadrupling your chances! Quick sticks, get on over there. :)

mountains of mess

It's only taken 5 days... 5 days to turn every surface of the entire house into my own factory:

My studio table is a pizza of drawing and painting stuff...

The spare room has been overtaken by a forest of sewing, complete with vines of fabric, shrubs of wadding, ironing board, balls of wool, etc...

The coffee table is spread thick with wedding thank-you notes in progress, stamps, envelopes, address book...

The dining room table has sunk under the weight of wedding photo's...

And thanks to my failed efforts to recreate the bircher muesli I became addicted to on our honeymoon, the kitchen is a little less than tidy too.

I pick Mr You up from the airport very early tomorrow morning.
What to do? What to do?

Spend the evening bouncing enthusiastically around the loungeroom to loud 80's pop, ending in an icecream stupor???
Or intensively de-flossy-fying the ridiculously messy house???

It IS Friday night.... Hmmmm....
Is it too soon to call "happy wife, happy life" on this one? heeee

turn of tides

Thank-you for enduring my grumpy post yesterday. It seems just by getting it out, I have cleared the way for all things fresh and new. I'm feeling so much better today. Pheeew.

Spending time out of the house with friends, brainstorming with someone who is really excited about a new venture, and a sudden flood of requests for commissions, has me all bubbly again.

One of the commission requests in the pipeline is for a wall mural inside a new boutique bakery. EEEEEEEEEEk! SO EXCITING!

Not since year 10 work experience have I done a full mural! (I work-experienced at a place I thought was a film editing company... Turned out to be a one-man video editor for Bikey Strip Video's... A bit too freaked out to stay in the edit suite, I spent my week painting a mural on the outside of his studio/shed instead.)

Anyway, this opportunity is way more sophisticated, and I've got my fingers crossed really tight that it actually eventuates.


Remembering the joy, today I am grateful for:
- Staying in close contact with dear old friends
- Finding such great new friends with so many things in common
- The beautiful weather
- The flood of new creative opportunities
- A generous thank-you gift from a friend I did a family photoshoot for
- Having cute flirty Skype chats with my absent hus... with Mr You



And because Mr You has been away working this week, this pic is for him. Just one of the girls at home missing his hugs.

Good luck with the exhibition opening tonight Mr.

Too bad you're going to miss your new favourite TV show. I'm sure P.M.M. will fill you in ;)

teeeeeeee heee heee heee heee hee hee he he he he

compassion

You know how you read those books (for me it's The Artists Way and The Alchemist), or come across those things that you think I need to read/see/listen to this every year as a reminder. Those things that inspire you to the best human you can be?

Well here's one of those things The Charter for Compassion.
(via Equipoise):(It's worth the visit)

It reminds me of many good things, at a time when I feel like I'm in need of the reminder.

At a time when I'm feeling ripped-off by someone I trusted.
At a time when I'm feeling my generosity is being taken advantage of.
At a time when I'm feeling like I can't quite find my feet.
At a time when certain aspects of my future have me terrified.
And when feeling all these things leaves me feeling angry, ungracious and petty with myself.

It reminds me that I strongly believe in being above pettiness. In hearing peoples situation over the top of their words. In trusting that people generally do the best they can with what they know. In trusting that there are ups as well as downs, and there are rewards in being patient. I strongly believe that life feels better when you concentrate on being a more generous, giving, loving, understanding, compassionate, motivated person. No matter what's going on around you.

(Watching the clip also reminds me how much I adore faces. I LOVE faces. I love them all.)

Of course the reason I'm banging on about this so hard is that I'm struggling with it right now...

Plus, living next to a "smart" man who decided to breed dogs for cash, bred them too young (just 8 months old), and now has 13 dogs that he can't sell (apparently it's against the law because the mother was too young), can't afford to worm or vaccinate any of them. Has no dog training ability (his last dog wasn't even house trained), and now we live next to a barking stinky-poo-pit.

I find it inconsiderate in so many aspects, and to so many creatures.

So with that, and other inconsiderate things going on right now, I need the reminder.
Compassion, understanding, rise above pettiness....
Compassion, understanding, rise above pettiness....

Now excuse me while I go close the doors and draw the curtains... It's usually when I'm in one of these "it's not fair" moods that the Jahova's Witness ladies come knocking on my door, ask for me by name, and inquire if I'm happy with my life. ;)

through the door

I've been wanting to join in Pip's "My Place and Yours" for a little while now, but this week I actually have something good to contribute... Stuff I've been wanting to show off ;)
This weeks theme (by Shelley from Femme De Montmartre) is "Through the Front Door".


Outside our front door we are now greeted by turtles. We didn't buy each other wedding gifts, instead we bought ourselves these adorable hand carved turtles on our honeymoon. See? Two turtles, swimming together, hanging onto each other... get it? Romantic eh? hehehehe.
Anyway, they give our house a new tropical beachy look, it's prefect to lead us into Summer.




And just inside the front door... the super cool retro buffet we got at a garage sale on the weekend! For $10! It's in excellent condition, and if we do end up updating the handle, and painting the inside a bright colour (as we had planned) its going to help Mr You's smaller instruments stand out very well, and look even more cool. (Although it's in such good condition I'm not sure I want to tamper with it... but a deep red inside would look pretty impressive).




Of course when a new piece of furniture comes into the house, it sparks rearranging, impromptu cupboard clean-outs, etc.
An unexpected mini Spring clean!

4th annual thanksgiving giveaway

Drumroll...
Spotlights...
Curtains Open...
Announcing the 4th Annual Thanksgiving Giveaway!
Yaaaaay!

Welcome.
Those of you who've been visiting for a while will know all about this, and probably have already decided what your prize will be. For those who don't know...

What It's All About
I really like the general idea of the Thanksgiving celebration, but we don't celebrate it here in Australia, so I have developed my own tradition, showing thanks by hosting a giveaway. The prize of the giveaway is an illustration by me that the winner gets to commission. It can be anything you like. Have a look see at the previous winners commissions, and others, in the commission section here.

Should you win you could request an illo of anything or anyone you like. It could be abstract, like your favourite song, or specific like a portrait of a loved one (or pet) from a photo. You should keep in mind the style of my work though, because you may be disappointed if you ask for a Rembrandt!

How To Enter
It's easy, just leave a comment on THIS post anytime between now and the morning (my time) of the 26th Nov. That's 2 weeks away. One comment is enough, as I'll remove duplicate entries before the draw so everyone gets an equal chance. The draw will be completely random, and I'll be drawing and announcing the winner on Thanksgiving Day (which according to my calendar is the 26th Nov).


Spread The Word
Seeing as this is such a big event in my blogging calendar year, I have created a button. If you'd like to help me spread the word, go for your life! Use the button all you like!

You can add it to a blog post by using this code:

• In your blog post entry window enter the following code:
  

<a href="http://flossy-p.blogspot.com/2009/11/4th-annual-thanksgiving-giveaway.html" title="Thanksgiving Giveaway 2009" target="_blank" ><img src="http://www.flossyparticles.com/images/ThanksgivingGiveaway_Bttn_Wht.gif" alt="Thanksgiving Giveaway 2009" /></a>

Or to add this graphic to your side bar...



Using this link: http://flossy-p.blogspot.com/2009/11/4th-annual-thanksgiving-giveaway.html


What's Next?
Well, enter your comment, and start thinking what you'd like me to paint if you win.
Good Luck!!!!! :D

supercute is my new favourite phrase

What comes with losing your job is much fantasizing about a dream job, moping around the house eating too many cookies, bouts of un-explained (and never before attempted) housework, to-do lists popping up on the walls like chicken pox on an itchy child, spurts of energy to grow your business into a booming empire, followed by a cranky and ravenous mission to retrieve money that's owed to you, and an ever-keen eye for a good bargain and general cost-cutting.

Exhibit A:



START WITH: Sweet but kinda boring new t-shirt nabbed for a measly $5
ADD: First attempt at homemade yo-yo's (thanks to a helpful tutorial by Heather Bailey)
PLUS: Post-wedding hair chop-off
ENDS WITH: Super-cute new top on somewhat cheered-up chick.


P.S. Tomorrow I plan to announce something exciting. Something that happens here this time each year. Something I think you might like. :)

and finally

The last of the honeymoon recap. Inahale... exhaaaallle... bask... aaahhhhh.

all in a day

If you've just tuned in, we're doing a honeymoon recap of Vanuatu here. :)

town life

colours of critters

our little bungalow

While I'm letting the pictures speak for themselves here, I am adding little descriptions for each pic on Flickr. Click through on the pics to see if you need more detail :)

clarity

I can't keep waiting for the photo's before I post... So chronology be damned, I'm going to start from the end and work backwards! Take that for rebellion! ;)

Here's our honeymoon... ahh, it was lovely. Perfectly honeymoony. I'll show a few pics each day this week (this is my pledge), so you can see for yourself. I don't think I'll need too many words. You'll get a good sense of it through pictures and wordless quietness.

So grab your sunglasses and a sarong, let me take you to Vanuatu. Enjoy...