Small Shoot

Yesterday we headed to Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula where Alannah, Sienna and Ash had fun doing a photo shoot for Small Magazine... will update when the issue is online, but in the meantime go and check out the mag - it's fantastic!

Within two hours I'll be in the car heading for the airport... so my blog will be taking a break, see you on the other side!

Keep Cup

I love this - Keep Cup is from a Melbourne company and is a light-weight, environmentally friendly and stylish barista-standard alternative to takeaway coffee cups.

I plan on getting this one, one for Ben as well and perhaps a spare or two down the track...

Found via Babycinno

One two three

 She is 6, determined that she "doesn't want to be in grade 1" (to which I say, let's worry about that in February, sweetie), makes an almighty mess doing crafts and scrapbooking every day, has been making cute buildings out of lego (she has some pink blocks from a Belville set Kell got her and loves them), got $5 pocket money for cleaning her room the other day - a huge task, with Ash's and my help - and added it to her piggy bank money to buy a Silvermist fairy doll (from TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure, one of her fave movies at the moment).

She got quite scared during 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' but luckily the scary scene resolved itself before she physically left the cinema (she was halfway to the door), and is looking forward to seeing 'The Princess and the Frog'. Last night she had a huge amount of trouble sleeping as she kept imagining bugs around the room and was getting really upset and scared of them. An audio book of 'Draw Close to Jehovah' eventually calmed her enough to sleep, sometime between 10:30 and 11. This morning she came into my room looking sad and tells me "I know why I am so tired. My mouth hasn't eaten anything yet." and starts crying - I'm thinking she isn't feeling well! Today we are at home and after I've done some cleaning we will get crafty.

 Ash tells me this is his pirate face, sans patch of course. Oh man, look at his grubby face! At four he is the same weight as Sienna (18kg) and is 106cm tall (she is 110). Pirates are his current love, though he also plays secret agents and super heroes with great enthusiasm! He is sick at the moment with a chesty cough and watching 'Backyardigans' on the couch, but I will switch it off soon and give him a book or some lego. With his pocket money for helping clean and some of his piggy bank money, Ash bought three mini sets of Pirates themed lego and is most impressed that he now has a tiny lego pirate map, snake and fish!

He can be a bit OCD with the way things should be done and if he has a tantrum it will be as a result of things being different from his expectations. He has a receptive language disorder, so this trait comes from that - he is very capable, it is simply the language that he doesn't understand well. Body language helps, and he is a fantastic problem solver! He is strong and independent, dresses himself easily every morning and changes himself during the night if he wets his bed (about once a week, or less often than that, he has been night-trained for about 4 months now). He is cuddly and happy, affectionate and sociable!

Ah, the baby boy... Cedar is growing up so so fast, he is 5 months now and starting to wear some 0 size clothing as well as 00 depending on the brand. Cotton On - one of my default brands for kids clothes - is smaller, so he is 0 there. Sooki Baby, one of my faves for babies, is bigger so he is 00. I'm collecting winter-y clothes for him at the moment so size has come up a lot while I try and work out what he will fit in - it is snowy in Germany! He is a content, bright and happy baby, adores his big sister especially and just got a gorgeous tree rattle from cousin Alannah, who made it with Auntie Reeze yesterday morning as a gift for Cedar! He slept in a hammock until about 3 weeks ago, and now he sleeps in a bassinette but will go into a cot when we return from Germany.


I will be in Hamburg again... Cedar and I that is, visiting this lovely girl and her family :) Can't wait. Can't wait. I hope I survive the flight but I still can't wait!

Possum adventures, by Sienna Quarmby

Once there was a little boy. It was a possum boy. He runned away from his home and found a boat. He went in the boat and found a pirate hat and put it on his head. And then he found a bag with two telescopes in there.

His hat didn't fit on him very well. He swam in the water to the beach. He went to the beach, put his hat off and put it in the boat. He left the boat and put the anchor out. He hanged it somewhere, left all his stuff in the boat and dug a lot.

He found a bit of treasure and opened it up with his tail. And he said "wow!". He put everything out so he could look at them really well. And he said "wow! there's gold". He put everything back in there. He was so excited, he kept it. He was going to take it in his boat and also take it home.

He was super excited he found a treasure. He put it on his bench, he popped his hat on and was very excited. He went in the boat. And he fixed up the anchor and drove home. He said "mum, I found some treasure and found a boat" and the mum said "let me look at the treasure" and then the possum said "ta-da!". And mum said "wow! great stuff". And then a possum said "there's gold at the bottom" and then he said "let's shut it now". And that's the end. And then he went in bed and dreamed about him in the boat. And that's the end.

Extra canvases

For the cafe, to replace the 3 (yay!) that have sold so far...

This last one is a 10"x12" canvas, which are $35, the others are $80 and 16"x20".

Busy day today - bible study, paediatrician appointment and Sienna home with me because her whole school is going to see Where the Wild Things Are - great movie, but if my child is going to be crying or scared I'd like to be there for her. I was starting to feel like I was over-reacting, or that people would at least think I was, but then Ben pointed out that I know Sienna and I've seen the movie and are in the best spot to judge if it is appropriate for her. Big screen, not so much. So there ;)

Etsy update

I've just added these seven new canvas panels to etsy - click here for details

Lovely Sweet William

LOVE this new print from Lovely Sweet William! Sienna has one of their Camille dolls, gorgeous stuff.

everydayArt giveaway (link)

This weekend I am part of a giveaway over here on Ali's blog, go leave a message for a chance to win these three canvas panels among the other giveaways on offer!

Someone said these sound like bad pick up lines, I think they were talking about this one with the line "I will take a photo of your smile and place it in my memory" which made me wonder, as I have the advantage of knowing the poem where the line came from and had not thought about how it might sound out of context (it doesn't worry me, I don't feel the need to take myself THAT seriously, but it did make me look twice!). Kell said she liked it so I thought it must be fine. In any case I've decided to pop the whole poem here as I often use lines from it and it might add meaning for anyone who buys those pieces - it is a poem I wrote as a teenager (14 or 15 I think) and is something nostalgic for me.

We Will Wish on a Dandelion

Anyone want to come outside with me?
It's raining, but we can fix it.
We can sit in my garden,
me and you, and we can
have a good conversation.
I will know you better than
your toes do.
We will dream together
and make a wish
on a dandelion, as if we were
still little kids.
We will laugh together
and have a good time.
I will take a photo of your smile
and place it in my memory.
We will cry together
and you will hold me
as we cry for what was
and what is.
We are a circle together
and we will know who we are.

That wild rumpus *spoilers*

Before seeing this movie, I had read Pip Lincolne's post about it here and found it really interesting. It was enough to decide that it wouldn't be for Sienna (or Ash, but for him it's more about age than personality), though I had actually gotten that impression from the trailers already. I went and saw the film tonight and thought it was amazing.

Altogether I found it beautiful and sad. Max's feelings of loneliness, fear, insecurity and anger were so strong and really resonated. I was crying within 5 minutes of the start of the film (his sister's friends destroy his igloo as a sad climax to Max's childish, boyish method of reaching out for connection by starting a snowball fight) and probably spent half the film the same way or close to it - sometimes out of empathy and sometimes just from the powerfully emotive atmosphere. But that's me, right? Some people wouldn't react as emotionally, but still appreciate it in a great way. Some people wouldn't get it at all.

In the same way, whether it is a movie for kids. Not little kids, there are some frightening images from the monsters in one or two spots. But a few kids Sienna's age (6) would be ok with that I think, it would be offset by the thrill of the wild rumpus and childish abandon, dirt clod fights, fort building and just awesome imagination at play. Kind of like The Princess Bride or The Labyrinth have scary parts, parts that freaked me out completely as a kid, but I still loved the films. Or like The Dark Crystal - pretty freaky in parts actually - the death of the Skeksis king comes to mind - but also interesting and fantastical. Most 6 year olds I think would find it quite difficult. The storyline is abstract, the resolution is vague. The wild things are still sad at the end, Max doesn't apologise to his mum, it is not your standard formulaic movie. I'd probably think 10 year olds and up would appreciate it (still be scared, at least some, but have it still be worthwhile), but that totally depends on their personalities as well. All the melancholy and anger may upset, or it may just make the film all the deeper and intriguing for them.

One review states "Let's be clear though - this is not really a kid's film. The themes of anger, loneliness and melancholy coupled with some dark, sinister visuals are the stuff of nightmares. The younger end of the audience may find it hard to watch - but that said, there's wonderment aplenty in the vision Jonze has had."

I feel like a bit of a wild thing, a bit of Max and a bit of the mother. They all resonate. The imagery is stunning and real. I want to go and build things out of sticks and mud, now, and photograph wild children in earthy dress-ups. Very inspiring, very emotional, very different.


... uploaded (finally) baby hats in my etsy shop here

Secrets on Dandelions - Exhibition Part 2

The other 5 canvases in the exhibition, I also put up the three smaller ones I did back in October as there were smaller spots free on the wall - BellHowell, Blossom and Silver Birch. Those are $35 each, so keeping it all quite friendly!

For my etsy update, there will be one this week, I've been doing the same theme as I spoke about a week or so ago, on canvas panels instead. Here are a couple of 5"x7" pieces that have been given to dear friends so won't be in the shop....