A Birthday Bash and a Couple on Their Way...

Today we went to the Purple Palace for more third birthday celebrations. When we arrived we found the whole front of the house decorated just for Miss Moo - balloons, streamers, birthday banners on the garage door and well wishes on the windows - how spesh did this little girl feel!!!And check out the awesome 'Yata that The H's made for Min Min (she prefers that name).

All the kids took turns to have a bash - here is Min having her go - they are so much fun and thoroughly recommended if you've never tried one - although there is a lot of work that goes into making them - just to see them bashed to pieces! Thanks Rosie and girls for all the hard work and staying up late (R!) to finish!And another icecream dolly cake with the gang- pink this time!

Min got so spoilt with this beautiful tin tea set and a great set of really vibrant soft crayons made with bees wax - yummy!The proof is in the cup - she loves it!

And finally, a couple more ladies very close to being ready as well - these were the two eerie half painted ones from a few posts back! I'll post a pic of them when completed, hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by my piece of cyber space, X Me.

Miss Moo Turns Three!

From this little ray of sunshine (who came four weeks early) to this glowing beautiful little girl...

Happy Birthday Millie Moo! It's so hard to believe that three year shave passed - and so quickly! Isn't it amazing that in three short years a little human can go from squirmy googly, to happy, confident and talking ten-to-the dozen! It truly is a miracle of life. We had a lovely day. Giving of gifts in the mornig, some friends around for morning tea - both big and small, and then off to the pool in the afternoon for a family swim. Here's the fairy cake. SOooooooo easy this one. Just ice cream with lots of yummy chocolate bars chopped up and stirred through with a cheapy dolly stuck inside. She loved it and it took about 15 minutes to make.

Millie with her two dear friends, Faith and Harry.

The mums!

Aren't these two like peas in a pod!

Eating some yummy yummy cake.

A photo with friends...

Standard 'mum and dad' birthday photo...

Helping me to blow up the balloons...

The dolls house...

This was funny. We had put the doll's house together and it was quite big so we covered it over with a sheet. We walked Millie over to it and said "now close your eyes for the surprise" and she did so and held out her hand for the present - how beautiful is that!

They're not in order but I'm sure you wont mind. Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

Greenough Historical Village

We were up and out the door by 8 this morning to take some family photos for a dear friend Aunty 'Lissa and her crew. Not far from Gero is the Greenough River Historical village - and such a great spot for photos, so we spent about an hour there. At the end AL took a few snaps of me and the kids and I just love them This red door turned out to be the best spot for photos this morning with just the right amount of colour and interest - don't you think?!

This one is my personal fave. This is Mr T's latest funny face and you can hardly look at him without him doing it right back! He is so funny and keeps my spirits light. And Miss M isn't too excited by getting her photo taken - can't you tell! Even still - she can't help beingn beautiful...

I got aheap of Thomas the Tank enjine trains for cheap about a month ago and Mr T will not let a moment go by without having one in his hand. He holds onto them all day, today being no exception. He even gets upset if you take it out of his hand to put his arm through the t shirt hole! Here he is with Emily!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek, X Me.

She Helps Herself to Happiness

This is my latest painting - as yet she's unamed - but the words on her dress read "she helps herself to happiness" I've had them all prfessionally wired up on the back now too so they're ready to display for the Christmas sale - very exciting! Oh no! I left off half of her head! (it should be one of those Lichtenstein paintings - "Oh no! I've left my head on the bus!")

And this is what they look like with the base layer of oil paint on for the face...

So that's all for today - hope your weekend was relaxing and lifted your soul. Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

A Scrap and a Girl...

Introducing Abigail! This week with my sis visiting I had lots of little baby sitters to watch the kidlets(cousins catching up) so we managed to get some painting done. I really do like this one alot and feel as though I get a bit better with each one. I recently became a member with my local community art centre (ACDC) and will be a part of a pre-christmas exhibition of local artists to sell their paintings as christmas gifts. So Abigail will be up for sale soon!

Maybe I may even have a personal exhibition one day? Who knows - I'm just really enjoying the ride at the moment...

And here's my little angel. I haven't scrapped for ages because of my painting, but I couldn't resist using these beautiful Sassafrass Lass papers. Hope your world is beautiful, thanks for stopping by, X Me.

A Bit of How-To...

Well, for those of you who may be interested...

Firstly - I love working on wood blocks - it's so much easier to have a hard surface rather than one that 'gives' such as the stretched canvases. I still use them - they're easier to hang, but I really love the wood and the fact that it stands upright on its own.

So, I prime the wood block with some white Gesso. If painting directly onto it - then a light sand does the trick. But as I adhered paper all over it - I didn't bother about the sanding this time.

When the Gesso is dry, I just went through my scrap paper box with some scissors and cut up pieces of paper. You could tear as well depending on the look you want. At the moment I'm in a cutting phase! I use a foam brush from the cheapy shop and use Gel Medium (see photo) to glue down the paper and then also a layer over the top to seal it. I've used Derivan and Jo Sonja and they're both as good as each other.

After that I draw my figure on the block or canvas using a PITT OIL BASE pencil by Faber Castel - extra soft. Other pencils just don't seem to work over the shiny surface of the Gel Medium.

In these two pieces, I've applied a fairly thick layer of Texture paste with a pallette knife and then stamped images using a foam stamp. It comes out of the jar/tube opaque but dries clear so you can see the paper underneath. The KAiser TP is smoother and the Jo Sonjas is alot thicker - so you can achieve deeper imprints with it - although it's slightly more expensive.
Next paint over the exposed areas of skin with a white gesso to give a nice base for applying the oil paints later. And that's as far as I've come with these two, so stay tuned and if you like I can write some more how-to's later.
Thanks for stopping by, X Me

Made a Start - Round Two!

Well, I've finally pulled my finger out (so to speak) and have started some new mixed media pieces. Just had to post these pics up of the texture paste layer - how yummy is this! I can't wait to see how this stamped image will turn out - each step is a big experiment for me and I love seeing it all unfold before my eyes!

Hope your week has been kind to you.

Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

Last Minute Decision...

Guess where we went on Saturday?! It was heaps of fun - and so good for Miss Moo and HJ to spend some precious time with their cousins. Sorry I've been a bit out of touch recently - but made a quick trip to Perth for mum's 70th this weekend. Will be back on monday and getting stuck into those next few paintings so I'll hopefully have some more art to post up soon.

I loved going on this Merry-go-Round when I was little and it was such a buzz to see it there still being enjoyed by kids and adults alike today.

The three stooges! What a great day - so worth the effort. How did you spend your weekend? Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

Look What I Bought...

Yes, that's right - sanding and priming this week and then watch this space for some more of my mixed media creations. I'll keep you posted with photos as I go so please stop in and have peek.

An check out the link to Gallery 12 if you can and cast your vote for your favourite "Unusual" photo.

Thanks for stopping by, X Me