Rachel Greig

Sydney Weekend

We spent the day in Sydney yesterday visiting two of my brothers and taking the opportunity to visit some of our favourite spots, like Reverse Garbage, Glebe Markets and Deus Ex Machina Custom Cycles.

Reverse Garbage is a big warehouse full of all sorts of stuff. Every time I go there is always different things there, depending on what has been donated. From furniture, to rolls of paper, fabrics, paints, computers, theatre props, postcards, bottles, etc. It's always a treasure hunt! This time I found some rolls of textured paper, fabric remnants, some ornate frame mouldings, plus a bunch of smaller bits and pieces that I can include in my art stuff. We were also pretty keen on the big E for Ethan's room! But we didn't get it, as he really doesn't have the space for something like that! 

Deus Ex Machina is one of Stew's favourite shops, and this was my first time there. I love a shop where the displays make me pull my camera out... just love the artwork around the walls, the robots, the bike memorabilia... even the fitting rooms :)






Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Silliness

I saw this on Ginny's blog. Thought I'd have a bit of fun myself too!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Kanga Magna

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),
Boysenberry Kingston

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
R-Gre

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Olive Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),
Anneka Dubbo

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first),
Grerac

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),
The Red Water

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),
Leslie Gordon

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Sunflower M&M

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),
Kathleen Gordon

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),
Smith Sydney

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Autumn Anything

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Mango Jeansie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Weetbix Willow

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),
The Stamp Lightning Tour

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Kanga Magna

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),
Boysenberry Kingston

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
R-Gre

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Olive Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),
Anneka Dubbo

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first),
Grerac

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),
The Red Water

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),
Leslie Gordon

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Sunflower M&M

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),
Kathleen Gordon

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),
Smith Sydney

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Autumn Anything

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Mango Jeansie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Weetbix Willow

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),
The Stamp Lightning Tour

Help! Sunshine is falling apart!

I need some advice from those who make knitted toys! Ethan has a knitted toy called Sunshine, given to him when he was just 6 months old. Sunshine is well loved, and has needed several transplants (like eyes and mouths), and has needed a patch up here and there where the knitting has come a bit thin. I've just used embroidery floss to patch up the small pieces. It doesn't look that great, but it has done the job and Ethan has been happy. But now the knitting on  Sunshine's legs are starting to really to thin out and the stuffing is visible. I didn't want to use embroidery floss on this, as it's too big an area to do any justice. But if I don't do something soon, the knitting will pop, and he'll need some major surgery.

So... any advice from any knitters out there? How do you patch up a knitted toy properly? Is there a way?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance :)

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary, and Stew surprised me with Billy Elliot theatre tickets!! Yay! I love  the theatre, and especially stories like Billy Elliot. (I love that movie!) Meanwhile though, Stew says he has been paranoid for the last month, thinking that I was onto him. (he says it's hard for him to surprise me because I usually put two and two together pretty quickly. Which is a shame, cause i LOVE surprises!) But this time he got me! And what's even funnier is that almost everyone else in the family and at Stew's work knew about it except for me - and no-one slipped up, so it was a GREAT surprise!

Firstly, he asked me if I was teaching or had anything planned for the 23rd Nov. I said no, and he told me we're going to see Xavier Rudd. He's a guy I do want to see in concert, but I wouldn't move mountains to get there. But I put it in iCal, and then left it at that. We didn't have tickets, or any babysitting planned. But I thought we'd deal with that later. (meanwhile, Stew has bought tickets to Billy Elliot with the help of his workmates. The Xavier concert was just a decoy). Then.... when we were in Dad's music shop last week there was a poster on the wall of Xavier Rudd's tour dates. I thought it was odd that he was in Adelaide the night before our concert in Gosford (and the fact that our date wasn't on the poster!!!) but I didn't put two and two together this time, but I did remark to Stew that our date wasn't on there. (he's freaking out by now, thinking I'll start questioning it too much) so he cunningly diverted my attention to look at something else in the store.

Then last weekend I was chatting to Stew's sister and she was telling me that she wants to see Billy Elliot and I'm like 'Heck yeah! Tell me when you're getting tickets, cause I'll go', and Stew is freaking out again, thinking that I knew (??) and was just saying this to stir him up!! (paranoia had set in, LOL) But neither me, nor Lisa had any idea. But Stew rang Lisa the next day from work asking her if I'd said anything strange about it!!

Anyway - to cut to the chase, yesterday morning Zoë walked in with a bunch of flowers that were bigger than her, and tucked in the back were two tickets to Billy Elliot for 23rd Nov @ the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. Apparently kidsitting has been arranged already too!

And what did I get Stew? I hang my head in shame, LOL. But I made him a nice card! And I'll be organising some swanky accommodation for the night in Sydney that's for sure! :)

Thanks Stew - you made my day :) Happy anniversary! x

The Monsters Book

While we were in Canberra the other weekend, Ethan was mainly hanging out with my brother Pete and his girlfriend Frances. Ethan loves them and loves that they will sit and draw with him for ages and ages. So, while they were driving to dinner one night, Ethan tells Frances that he'd like them to draw a book together. About Monsters! He then goes into detail about how he will draw one monster, and will send the book to Frances to draw another monster, and she is to send it back for Ethan to draw another one... and so on until the book is full. Frances loved the idea!

So when we got home, I found a blank book, added the title and credits... and Ethan (age 6) drew his first monster. And so the book begins...

Alcohol Ink Christmas Card Class

Here are the details for the Alcohol Ink Christmas Cards class! I'll supply the alcohol - you supply the Christmas spirit!

        Where:    Erina Scrapbook Superstore
        When:     Wednesday 17th October 10am - 12noon
                               Thursday 18th October 7pm-9pm
                               Saturday 20th October 10am-12noon

(this is a 2 hour class that is being repeated over three days, so pick your best time! Of course, if you do have a LOT of Christmas cards to make this year - you're welcome to book into all three! ;)

Call the shop for all the details. Ph: 02 4365 0770

The Fine Print: the above samples are not necessarily what you will be making in class. This is a technique based class where you are given creative freedom to choose the colours and stamps that suit you!  All materials are provided.

Hope to see you there!

A few random things

Crop For Kids is currently holding some online classes to help raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Check out all the info here.

Shari and Susan both nominated me as a Rockin Girl Blogger a few weeks ago, and I just haven't put it up here! So thanks for the nomination (and rockin right back atcha!!) I'm supposed to nominate 5 others, but I'm sure everyone has probably been nominated by now. But nevertheless, my votes go to Jayne, Helen, Mel, Fiona, and Dani! Fun blogs!!

I was supposed to be having a break from teaching for the rest of the year (to sort out 2008 workshops and some big projects) BUT! I'm in withdrawals, so I'm doing a few Alcohol Ink Christmas Card classes at the Erina Scrapbook Superstore during October. I haven't confirmed dates, but will put them on here as soon as I can! :) Will be FUN!

Oh and how much fun would this weekend be! I'd love to go for Tim's inspiration (but equally I'd love to go for Mario's cooking!!) However, I won't be crossing the Pacific this time, unfortunately.

That's all folks!

Weekend Adventures

We've been in Canberra for the weekend celebrating my brother Andrew's 21st birthday. It was a great weekend - we all went out to dinner, some of us went too the movies, and we also checked out Dad's new music shop Pirana Music. It's on the northside of Canberra, in Mitchell, and has only been open for a couple of weeks. Already it's going strong! They also do online sales, so check out the Pirana Music website if you're into anything music!



They also sell pianos, woodwind, drums, amps, studio gear, mics etc. I had a tinker on the piano, and also showed Ethan a few tunes on the trumpet and flute. (I don't really play, I just know how to do a few songs on each of them.)

My brother Pete (you know, the Milky Way photo) has now bought himself a Fish Eye lens, so we had a LOT of fun with that  too:

That's Andrew the birthday boy! And here's some snaps of the rest of us:

I'll have to borrow the fish eye to do some 'proper' landscape photos... :)

Thanks also for your responses to my photography questions below! I'm working on some new ideas for my photography workshops for 2008 (and a few other things) so it's nice to know what you're doing and what you want to do with your cameras! If you do have any questions for me, let me know. Gotta get you all using more than the Auto setting!

Photo Question

The other day Stew was taking some photos with my camera, and mentioned that he still doesn't feel confident using it.

So I have some questions for you all...

• How many photos do you take a month on average?
• Are you confident with your camera? Do you hesitate to pick your camera up because you aren't confident technically?
• And lastly, is there any thing that you wished you knew about photography or your camera to make it easier for you?

Looking forward to hearing your answers!

Fiskars Challenge

I did a challenge over on the Fiskateers blog using alphabet chipboard. They sent me a bunch of different bits and pieces from alphabets (all sorts of letters from all sorts of sets) and I had to come up with a way of using them together. While my idea of using them for a title isn't so new, I did cover them with the new Distress Crackle paint to make them all the same colour, and to give them a more uniform look. The crackle paint is great stuff - and fun to work with. (only takes about 10-15 minutes to crackle!)

The other thing I did with the chipboard was to create a frame for the journaling. This was originally a Cloud 9 large chipboard letter (the negative part), and I trimmed off the inside of the letter to just leave a square frame. But wonky, but that's the effect ;) Then I painted it with the Distress Crackle paint. This product is designed for porous surfaces for the crackle to work, not glossy surfaces like this coated chipboard, so some of the paint has cracked off. I like the effect because it shows some of the original colour underneath and actually makes it look more aged and crackled! But you can see on the first few alphabet letters in the title how the crackle paint works on non-coated or matte chipboard.

Anyway - it was a fun project! Check out the Fiskars blog here for what some others did with alphabet chipboard!