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I feel so much better! Today I finally posted off my handmade postcards for Nikki-Shell’s postcard swap AND I sent out a couple of thankyou packages to two people who sent me cool stuff recently - better late than never, right?

SPOILER ALERT! Here is what I sent out today for the handmade postcard swap:

And of course it is a print of my BLOOM mixed media/collage piece:

Here are all the lovely cards I have received so far:

Thanks so much everyone and special thanks to Nichola for organising the swap! And I’m really sorry to everyone that it took so long for me to get organised.   In my defence, my husband was away for work all last week (to Brisbane) and then away for fun all weekend (to Melbourne) leaving me at home with the three kids and a mountain of washing.  I can feel the weight of the guilt lifting off my shoulders at last! 

Yesterday after school Jack wanted to do some painting. He is always asking to paint and a lot of the time I am guilty of worrying about the mess and saying no but I thought I better say yes this time as he really, really wanted to paint!

I sat with him and we both had such a great time creating our little masterpieces.

Yes there was some mess but it was happy, colourful, FUN mess.

Jack was very keen on mixing colours so I took the opportunity for a little lesson on colour theory! It was fun to show him how and why the colours mixed. We made some purples and different shades of green and blue, and a great orange and lots of murky browny colours!

I had fun painting some trees:

Jack did some butterfly prints - where you put paint on one side and then squish it and open it up to reveal a masterpiece. I really like how he then embellished it too.

He decided that this one below was a picture of him (on the right) and Emma (on the left, see the long hair?)

Get your paints and smocks out today and have some fun with the kids!

My third scrapbooking layout. It took me about two hours. In a glassless frame for hanging on the wall. It features machine stitching, paper layering, inking of edges, a tag tied with ribbon, stickers, doodling, flower accent and button stickers.

I did this last night for my sister’s birthday which is today. She turned 38. The tag reads “baby by 40″ and her baby turns one in two month’s time. She also has a wonderful 17 year old daughter and was a single mum for all that time, but she always hoped to meet someone fantastic to share her life with and to have another baby by the time she turned 40. She got her wish.

She found love a little while back (with my husband’s brother, no less!) and the beautiful baby above is the product of that love. I say there’s still time to fit another baby in before she turns 40! She and her partner are thinking about it…

It’s so nice to fuss over a little niece.

I know I haven’t done any of my Analog Artlog for a few days now.  I figured there was no point pushing it or forcing it - if I don’t feel like it then it seems to defeat the purpose to just do something when your heart isn’t in it.  I had been churning something out every day for almost 10 days in a row and I just needed a break I guess.  I am trying to make a habit of it though so I will keep doing them, and I really do enjoy it so much!  It has been a great creative journey and it’s not over yet!   

Anyway here is today’s piece, made with shipping tags, ink, zig pens and watercolour wands and I like it a lot:

 

The journalling is about some very dear and wonderful friends of mine who nearly bought themselves a house on the weekend.  As it turned out they were outbid at auction but it was the closest they had come and it was very exciting and scary for all of us! 

Also on the weekend, probably because I was thinking about houses and auctions, I had my wonderful recurring dream that I seem to have quite often.  It is a different story each time but always features a massive sprawling house that I have just bought and once I move in I discover all these amazing secret passageways or a long forgotten attic filled with old and interesting “treasures” or something similar.  On the weekend, it was horses and stables and lots of paddocks that we simply hadn’t noticed before we bought the house. 

The people that we bought the house from are always some mysterious rich couple that don’t feature in the dream, and that leave their kind and helpful staff and lots of interesting furniture and vintage items.  There’s always good and happiness and wonder in this dream, although one time ages ago there was some kidnapping drama with a helicopter in there - I had probably been watching some action movie that time! 

I love this dream and I always wake up wishing I could go back to the house and keep exploring.  Anyone know about the meanings of dreams?  And is a recurring theme like this common or out of the ordinary?