all quiet on the blogging front

I know, I've been very slack on keeping up with the blog this week. Just the usual business, plus not feeling the vibe to write as it doesn't come naturally to me.


Dylan had a wonderful 6th birthday party. The weather was amazing and the Scavenger Hunt went very well. All the children seemed to have a great time.


Since then, I've been giving myself a bit of a break to recharge my batteries and consider where to begin with the next projects. It feels great to have some space again with the spare room tidy and organised. I can get down to some serious art and crafting when time allows. 
I'm also on a bit of a mission take better care of my physical self, so finding time for everything will definitely be a challenge. Perhaps I'll compile an, 'Amy timetable' to be sure I fit everything into my week. 


Anyhoo! If anyone has any strategies for making time, please comment.


I have attached a couple of pics from the party and the ocean sculpture that I covered  a couple of weeks ago..

Another day!

A weird day for me. The weather doesn't help really. My thoughts are with everyone North who may in difficulty with the floods. I feel so sad, its difficult to comprehend the devastation down here in Sydney. My heart goes out to you all. 

I'm only going to include pics of the scavenger hunt page as its Dylan's 6th birthday tomorrow and I intend to use it as a distraction for both me and the children.

XX

The dog ate my homework

I know, it's already Monday and I've had a few dry Blogging days mainly due to overwork, heat and exhaustion. I slept a full 12 hours on Saturday night, after a fun and busy day at a party and the beach with the boys and our friends, (minus hubby, I might add).
So, a bit too much sun and child rearing alone took its toll and I fell into my bed just after the boys at 7.30pm. 


Excuses! Excuses! I hear you cry. It's not that I haven't been doing creative things, I just haven't had a chance to blog about them.


My good friend Mel reminded me that I managed to bake a batch of our favourite orange and carrot muffins before 9am on Friday. Not bad going for me. Unfortunately, as usual, they didn't last long enough to photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it.


I've also been doing more work on the Scavenger Hunt Idea for Dylan's birthday on Wednesday, which I'll photograph when its finished.


Today, however, has been my day. With Ned back at occasional care and Dylan at tennis camp, I managed to grab a couple of hours to indulge. After and hour of boot camp, (Go Boombahs), I got stuck into some therapy. Not one single chore including dinner prep got done. Liberating!!


I found this divine fabric which reminded me of giraffe skin and have been meaning to create something with it for a while. My youngest, absolutely loves giraffes. Anyway, here's what evolved. 

Phew!!!!!

Wow! I'm here! I actually made it to my blog before I collapse in a heap in my bed. 
A brilliant, but exhausting day at the beach with the boys and some of our very good friends. 
Now finally, I have some peace and quiet to blog.


With Dylan's 6th birthday looming next week, I've been working on a few simple games for him and his friends to play together.
An oldie, but a goodie is a Scavenger Hunt. I always loved a good scavenge as a child. It's great because you can work as a team to help find all the objects.
This is what I have so far, if anyone has any other ideas please comment.

Ocean Sculpture

Before I begin, I have to own up to not finding any time in my busy Mummy schedule for being creative today. 
However, I am dedicating this post to Dylan and his friend Riva, who worked very hard for 2 hours along with a quite few other eager young artists in the warm weather, to create amazing and beautiful eco-sculptures. Sea creatures made form used plastic drinks bottles and other found items, which will be included as part of a large scale sculpture at Bondi Pavilion this week. 


All the sculptures looked amazing and put together they will have an amazing impact.


Will try harder tomorrow, will try harder tomorrow, will try harder tomorrow.
(who ever did lines as a punishment? what a waste of life)......

a top crop

There truly is something very satisfying about being able to go out into your garden and pick your own home grown produce. After a number of failed attempts, finally this year I have worked out a way to get tomatoes to grow and thrive in our tiny shady yard. And it looks like it will be a bumper crop too.


It is a miracle however, that any of them have survived to the ripening stage, as my 20 month old has been picking the tomatoes off the plant while still green and throwing them to the birds. Great! Dylan and I managed to convince him that it's much better to wait until they turn red because then you can eat them yourself. Our plan worked and we now go out together every day and harvest all the ripe tomatoes, some of which actually make back into the kitchen.

Today, I made passata with all the tomatoes we picked. Yum!

My Creative Mount Everest

Well, what can I say? Another Christmas is over and the craziness is slowly winding down. It was a brilliant Christmas this year. Family, good friends beautiful weather and amazing food,(Boombahs, here I come).

My homemade teepee gifts were very well received. I have attached some pictures.

Our visitors have left and my spare room will again become mine all mine. I fear however, that time may well be my enemy yet again. Still a whole month of school holidays plus a non-existant husband/father to assist with the mentalness of the 5pm feeding/bedtime routine, means it will be well past 9pm before I can get anything constructive done. 

January is starting to feel like my own personal Mt. Everest. I am preparing myself for very little time or energy for anything outside of child rearing over the next 4 weeks. 

My challenge is to post something creative everyday throughout the remainder of January as therapy for myself. That's 28 days of at least one creative pursuit per day. Can I manage it? It will be tough. Stay posted for an interesting creative journey.......