Screen printed Christmas Angels. with a surprise Like and Share Giveaway!

art. house. mum.

We had the chance this week to say thank you to some of the amazing women who look after our children when we participate in our local MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) Group.  As a group we put together a small hamper for each lady, an attampt to let them know how much their gift of time and love means to us.

As part of my contribution I really wanted to add something home-made... and useful.   And so the teatowel idea was born.  Okay, not so inspring, but useful, none-the-less.

And then, as I wanted something unique, I decided to print my own design.  Simple (time contraints), but cute, my Christmas Angel.

And didn't I just have so much fun pulling some screenprints in the kitchen (health and safety?) after everyone was asleep... yes, everyone... it's been a big week for Matt.

This was a lovely part of a process of remembering... old skills, old loves, old failures, old dreams...

Things which I put to the side when the twins were born.  I begin to remember...

And as maturity and parenting put all things in different lights...  it is nice to find that some things are still familiar and valuable, even when the light has changed.

I had such a lovely time making these humble teatowels, and I hope that they can begin to say thanks to an amazing group of women...

AND NOW FOR THE LIKE AND SHARE GIVEAWAY...

I made a spare one of these... just becuase I could.  So to continue in the spirit of thanking, I'd like to give it to one of my readers.  And as this comes at a time when I'm trying to build a community with my blog and facebook page, I'm calling this a LIKE & SHARE Giveaway.  To enter, all you have to do is visit my facebook page, click on the Like button (if you haven't already).  Then come back here, click the "f" button below to share this post with your friends.  And lastly leave a comment with your email so I know that you've participated (write @ as "at" if you feel more comfortable) and let me know which friend "shared" the post that you saw (if applicable) and they will also get a gift if you win.  I'll use a random ballot to pick the winners.  Entries will close 3pm Friday 2nd Dec AEST.  And I'll announce the winners Friday night.  Lets have fun with this, and if I reach 50 Likers on Facebook I'll make it a triple Giveaway...

Happy LIKE & SHARING!         grace

** COMPETITION ENDED **  WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT!

Popsicle Memory Game...

art. house. mum.




I just came across a very generous site, Eat Drink Chic, full of inspiration and free printables for all sorts of occasions.


Our family is full of sweet teeth, so I reckon that this game would get all of our brains going...

And our mouths watering, too.   You can get the FREE file to print out here...  


Happy summer games!               g




AND...

I've had a ball for the last three months being a five-days-a-week blogger, building a library of posts which I hope that you've enjoyed too.  So now I feel that it's the right time to move to a slower pace on the blogging front so that I have time to do some more art and be fully involved in family and community.  Rather than five posts a week I'll commit to two or three quality posts.  I'm excited to try to provide some better researched content and have a little more time to finish some of the projects piling up in my "studio"...

Stay tuned (if you decide to become an Art House Mum follower, you'll hear what's going on here more easily, and if you go to my Facebook page and press Like, I'll make sure that you are kept up to date on blog posts, discounts in my Etsy shop... something I'm keen to get going... and other interesting things in the bloggerverse and art world that I come across).  Thanks so much for you ongoing support!  I love sharing this journey with you.

grace

Enjoying the the mess...

art. house. mum.

Some days are messier than others.  In many ways these last few weeks have been messy ones for our family.  Naturally the most tangible place to see this is in the washing up piled in the sink, the crumbs gradually being walked throughout the house, the clothes waiting patiently to be folded and put away (iron, what's that?).  Instead I'm going to choose to look at some of the things that I'm thankful for which have contributed to the mess, or lack of cleaning...

Time spent with family
Knowing that my usual backup (my Mum) is able to spend time with my sister and niece
Rain, glorious rain (and okay, that's enough rain for now, thanks God...)
Playdates with friends
Time for art
Time for craft, for giftmaking and planning
Time for talking through the hard bits
Time for listening and praying... we've had some extra need for that
Those hours in the day when staying inside with a one-year-old boy just isn't going to be productive...

And as pens, pencils, paint, glue, sticky-tape and paper are inevitable in any of our greatest messes, I'm going to take the time here to appreciate some of the outcomes...  the art that my children create whether or not I worry about the mess...

I hope that all your messes are well spent!

grace

Flatpack Helpers...

art. house. mum.

With our little keets growing at a seemingly impossible rate, we needed a chicken coop.  At the moment we lack time and appropriate tools, so flat-packed it was! 

And with three little helpers, how hard could it be! 

Hope was more than happy to play in the boxes, but the other two really do believe that they were key players in puting the puzzle together...  And to their credit, no parts were lost in the journey... And probably best if I leave it there!

My warning to the guinea fowl.. if you don't like your new home, then I know three little kiddies who wouldn't say no to a few good play sessions in this cute little hutch...

PS.  The GF are getting more and more lively as they get stronger.  I can definately feel that they don't want to be domestic animals and they make a run for it every chance they get.  I like them.  g

Three Things... Grantham...

art. house. mum.

Last week when I drove down with the kids to pick up the guinea fowl keets we drove through Grantham, a small town which used to be a highway town, now bi-passed and until 11 months ago all but forgotten.  Of course, Grantham, along with Murphy's Creek and a few other towns bore the brunt of what has been called an inland tsunami in early January this year.  Lives, businesses, homes, all manner of possessions were lost, and the town was devestated in so many ways.

I didn't know anyone harmed in the flood.  I don't even have friends in Grantham and I have only driven  through the town a handful of times.  Funny then, that tears are so quick to swell.  Seeing homes abandoned, destroyed.  Houses of varing  ages... some not even yet finished, others obviously old ladies who had been throught to have weathered it all... some lifted right off their stumps and dumped heartlessly.  Others gutted.  Roofs lifted off by the inconceivable might of waters at levels unheard of rushing mercilessly towards the river.

And now some homes being rebuilt.  Some on a previously unimportant rise of a hill left untouched.  The local store had re-opend some months ago, somewhat defiantly in a makeshift donger.  And such a proud business I have never seen.  I'm not sure why the flag poles out the front are up so high, but the flags flapping up high seem to say It is Us.  We are Here. 

We stopped at a park for an quick picnic, and while I didn't feel right taking photos of the personal losses which people experienced, I did snap a few photos in the park.  Can you imagine the amount of water required to shift the roof of a toilet block which, when we were there, was not within visible range of the creek water?

But, of course, that magnificent power was fatal in the most horrible ways.  I felt immense admiration for the people of Grantham as we paid them a brief visit.  They are our people and what happend matters.  The crops in the ground, the businesses and lives rebuilding, the wildlife acting as if nothing ever changes...  Thanks for your resilience...

grace

How to Make a Watch in 5 Minutes...

art. house. mum.

My Mum will laugh when she sees that I'm blogging about milk lids.  About 18 months ago when Mum and Dad were having a big clean out Mum bought up a bag of milk lids that she had been collecting. She apologetically gave it to my girls along with a tonne of other things.  For the next two days Miffy followed her around saying at random intervals "Oh Grandma, thanks so much for those lids.  I really love them."  On screen it looks sarcastic, but the little heart was on her sleeve.  Since then both Mum and I have found ourselves unable to throw out a single milk bottle lid.

So, when Hope requested a watch today, my mind turned swiftly to the hanging bag full of lids beside our recycle bin... 

I'm not going to patronise you with written instructions...

But I did have fun making these, and they were the preferred watch even when I offered that the kids could play with some of my old watches...

I hope your kids have as much fun time as ours did out of this simple little home-made prop.

PS. The cards which the kids were playing with are from  Compassion's http://www.giftsofcompassion.com.au/ campaign.  Drop on over and have a think about what  you might like to give this year...

grace

Guinea Fowl Art... It's Out There!

art. house. mum.


So, the theme for our lives this week (after parties, tantrums and yellow) has been Guinea Fowl.  So, Art being my interest, I am glad to tell you that I am walking a road that many artists have walked before...  


Check out these beauties by Michelle from the US.  

Then click here to view my latest Etsy Treasury (themed list not of my stuff, but from all sorts of Etsy sellers) for a treasure-trove of beautiful guinea fowl inspired art and creativity from all over the world!  


Click here if you are interested in seeing more of Michelle's work... some truelly beautiful paintings and prints inspired by nature.

Have a great day!        grace

Chewbacca and Amy.

art. house. mum.

Chewbacca is a character much loved by our four year-old girls, and known mostly through figurines, illustrations, and verbal descriptions by their Star Wars loving Papa.  They have Chewy soft toys(thanks again, Matt), and they love it when Matt wears his Chewbacca t-shirt and does Chewy impersonations.  Our girls love Star Wars because they know that their Dad does (which is fortunate because the boy uses the light sabres as vacum cleaners...).

Amy, well, there's a line in a song on the Juno soundtrack "I never met a Joshua that I didn't like".  Insert Amy, and that's it for Hope and Miffy. 

And so it was quickly decided that the two keets (baby Guinea Fowl) which we picked up on Friday would be named Chewbacca and Amy. 

Guinea Fowl are native African birds often kept for their tick and flea eating habits.  The lady who bred ours keeps around thrity in the paddock with her cattle to pick the ticks off the cattle.   We decided to get them because we heard that they kill snakes.  So far we've only laid eyes on baby snakes round our home, but babies mean mothers...  and I don't let my thoughts go too much further than that!

The downside to Guinea Fowl is that the apparently don't domesticate too well.  So, we are calling this an experiment, and we'll see how they go.  They also like free-range eating, and as standard fences won't keep them in, we may see a rapid decline in the number of tomatoes which we are able to bring in to our table...

But there are nearly always ways to make things work , and we'll do our best to find a way to make this work... did I mention that they KILL SNAKES...

And besides, while they don't seem to want to bond with us at all, they are gorgeos little birds.  All stripey and soft on the outside, but wirey and strong, showing promise of being smart independent birds.  And charmingly non-aggressive.  Those beaks just don't look dangerous, and they don't peck or attack as we pick them up and get them used to being handled.

The kids are simulataneously in raptures over them, and freaked out when they make any sudden move.  Even our fearless lad has shown signs of respect for these wild but tiny creatures. 

So, even as we subject them to the indignity of sleeping in a cardboard box that is moved between the laundry and the bathroom, we speak of them with respect and anticipation not so much for what they are, but for what they have the potential to be.

Happy Weekend!

art. house. mum.

May your weekend be full of family, fun, friends and flowers!

Talk soon, g

Loving my Android... my way

art. house. mum.

I don't bond well with new technologies.  I don't dream of new gadgets, and I resent all the plugging-in that goes on in our everyday lives.  There, I got that out!

So sometimes when I get a new gadget I try to use soft furnishings to form a bond...

My new android was a stranger.  So I decided to take the Biblical approach and heap love on it.  Starting with inspiration from some of my favourite fabric off-cuts.

I made a simple (but elegant) lined sleeping bag for it...

Surely that's better than sleeping on the cold, hard bench with no covers.  Matt's response... "Oh Good, it's soft on the inside so it'll keep the screen clean for you..."  Yup, thought of that myself... see how well it works!

I hope that now we can be friends...

I might even venture to the app store and see if I can improve it's personality...

Has anyone else read "The Winter of Our Disconnect" by Susan Maushart? 

Here's a quote to tickle your fancy "They [generation Y and Z, or "Digital Natives"] are no more frightened by new media than they are by a new pair of trainers.  They just jump right in and start sprinting.  While we're struggling with setting the time and date, they've shot a music video, customised the ringtone with seasonally appropriate sound effects and changed the wallpaper to a close-up of the pug relieving himself."

Yup, I'm what Susan Maushart calls a "Digital Immigrant", I got the young guy in the shop to set the time and date.  And I still haven't tried dealing with the awful ringtone...

Have a great weekend!  grace

Three Things for Thursday...

art. house. mum.


1.  Green tomatoes burdening the vine...  promises... all the red ones eaten...

2.  The newly dubbed "Reading Chair"... relief that The Boy has finally shown an interest in books... 

3.  Evening play-time... tall, tall towers... tall, tall tales...

How to Sew Quickie Christmas Dresses...

art. house. mum.

This morning Hope put on her Christmas dress from last year... and it just didn't fit.  So she made me promise to make her a new Christmas dress... today.  And she is a twin.  Needless to say, I wanted something SIMPLE and I had to use fabric which had been destined for other things.  Not terribly Christmasy, and a little bit early,  but here it is... with instructions... which may or may not make sense.  Pattern writers are professionals, after all!

The girls weren't in photo-shoot moods, but they did start walking (and dancing) with the strut that shows that they FEEL beautiful. 

I had 1.5m total of material to start, so 75cm for each dress. 

So there you go.  If I can do it, then so can you!  And there really is something special about seeing your kids dressed in clothes that you made them.  I find it a lovely way of saying "I love you" a thousand times a day... and never even uttering a word.

Happy sewing,    g

Horse and His Boy Postcards

art. house. mum.

These postcards just arrived from the printers the other day.

They are the first digital drawings that I've had printed, and I'm really pleased.

Hope you like them too!

I've posted them in my Etsy shop,  and on Tittle and Tat.

They are listed in sets of 10 of each.  But if you are interested in mixed sets, or sets of different quantities, just let me know.

Why not send someone special a note today... old school... with a stamp... snail mail...