art :: day 30

well today is the last day of my art challenge and i think we have done pretty well. there is so much more i want to do with Hugo and i will continue this, we seem to be in a bit of a creative groove. and they do say it takes 3 weeks/20 turns a something to form a habit and i think this is true here. we have both rekindled out love of creating and as well as that we are spending time together. Hugo was at a friends today and they decided to paint t -shirts, they all had a great time. lots of messy fun had by all.

art :: day 29

still life of Orchids

art :: day 28

on the way up to Buller there is the most amazing little Gnome house. as you drive up the hill you see the sign and then round the next bend there is a little Gnome house in a tree, with a little red door, window, chimney and letterbox. on the way home we stopped and had a look, the whole trip till we got there was full of excitement and wonder with many questions.
where do they live?
are they home?
what do they look like?
what do they do?
are they scary?
will we see them?
how many are there?
why is the house in the tree?
and on and on.
when we got out Hugo was very tentative, but by the time we left and decided that they weren't home and they had gone on a picnic because the weather was so nice, he was happy and decided that he would write a letter to the Buller Gnomes.

we had a great weekend.
John had a small ski sat am but it was really soft.
we spent the weekend with great friends and we had lots of fun.
and i was so very happy as my team won the Grand Final. GO HAWKS !!!

art :: day 26

today we packed the car for the final time this winter and headed up to Buller. it was so warm it was really hard to imagine going to the snow. we stopped on the way up to look at our block of land. the boys are exploring the grass, and the view between the houses is Mt Buller. we are hoping to build in the next 5 years. we actually haven't skied at Buller for 2 years and i don't think we had looked at our block for about that as well, so it was nice to stand on it again and ream of all the things we want to do.....

art :: day 25

i now have a slight obsession with Liberty fabric!!
Hugos has 4 or 5 girls that are his closest friends, so i now have an excuse to make skirts. i remembered years ago going into a patchwork shop and seeing a patchwork skirt for a little girl. i must have stored this info away and the other night i suddenly remembered about it and thought that i would make a couple of them for some of the girls.
i found a pattern here and here and here. i bought the patterns and they look good, but i thought first of i would make nikkis pattern first. i have a whole heap of quilting scraps, some really lovely amy butler fabric and many others. so i thought i would give this one a go first and try it out before i cut into my Liberty fabric. i have always admired it and mum made me a skirt years ago, but to now have my own collection ( even if it is small) i am excited.

art :: day 24

phew. am i glad today is over. what a busy one. first stop this morning was Grandma and Popeyes. they are off to America tomorrow for a month so we went and had lunch together to wish them well and have a safe trip.
Hugo sat and did the above drawing. its a house with two chimneys, 3 doors and a pool, a apple tree, flowers, 2 paths and lots and lots of detail and thought that went into it.
then we came home and i had promised Hugo i would make him his own skirt from the great pattern from Oliver + S. both skirts i have made i hadn't put the ribbon around the hem, only because i didn't have any. When we cleaned out John's mums house i kept all her old linen , and this skirt is an old pillowcase. as i was making it i thought that the material may have made good shorts for Hugo, maybe next time !! i must be in the right groove at the minute afte making 2 skirts i was reading the ever inspiring soule mama blog, and yes Amanda has been making the same skirts!!
we then had to go to the supermarket and the local shopping centre had kids activities for the holidays, so Hugo got busy creating some football flags. ( for those of you not in Melbourne our football - AFL grand final is this weekend. GO HAWKS!!) he had to cut the paper and then weave coloured paper in. he picked up the skill really quickly.
well done Hugo.
i am exhausted. ready for bed and its only 5 pm

art :: day 23

today we created eye dropper paintings onto paper towel. the dye out of the eye droppers bleeds over the paper. after a few drops of different colours Hugo noticed that the colours bled together to make other colours.
Hugo: " look mum there are different colours, purple, orange and look i can make brown as well"
me: "why has that happened?"
Hugo: " the colours join together"

art :: day 22

not really art today, but the boys had fun together playing snakes and ladders. it is a 3d board and both boys love how the marbles run down the tracks. after reading nics blog littleredsquirrel and how her and Alexander made a marble run it got me thinking... so i might have to borrow her idea and propose the idea,/thought to Hugo and see where he takes it, and that's the beauty of it, i may have a preconceived idea about what we will do... but open it up to Hugo could we make a marble run? what do we need? what will it look like? how can we make it? can you draw a plan for me? what materials do we need? ... plant the seed and let his ideas grow and develop. i am excited i hope he is...

art :: day 21

this afternoon we planted some seeds that we had got when we went to Heronswood Garden at Dromana a few months ago. When we were there we joined the Diggers club. when we joined we received some free seeds as well as a discount on the seeds and books and plants we bought. over the last few months i have been saving egg cartons so we can plant the seeds. today was such a lovely day and we have spent the last 2 weekends gardening, but the hard yuck stuff like weeding and turning the soil over so today it was time to do some fun stuff. Hugo Archie and i planted the seeds and watered them. now we just need them to grow.
today we planted a few different varieties of tomato seeds, some lettuce, capsicum, chili, coriander and parsnip. fingers crossed they will sprout. when they do we will transplant them into the veggie garden.

art :: day 20

spring is sprung and my boys HAVE to be outsde. this afternoon Hugo was bilding a jump for his cars
Archie was exploring sand, water and dirt.

art :: Day 19

it was me being creative today.
i felt grounded and centred today when i woke up; a great friend had rang me last night and we stayed on the phone for nearly 5 hours, after talking about everything, nothing and so much in between i woke up feeling good today, ready to take on whatever the day gave. so off we went to Darn Cheap fabrics and i bought some really cute trim as well as this material to make some skirts. Most of Hugo's mothers group friends are girls and their birthdays are between November and Jan , as well as Christmas , so there is lots of present buying at this time of year so i thought this year that i would make some presents. this skirt was sooo easy and even with hugos help it took me very little time. it was a free pattern titled lazy day skirt from Oliver +s

Hugo tried it on for me so i could get the hem right !! and now he wants me to make him and Archie one for their dress ups!!! he also asked for some pants, so I'm on the hunt for and easy pants pattern, although i think i might make some shorts for them.