Handmade Super Mario Party - Wiiiii!

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The day has come!

Oh my God, I'm so excited. Today is Will's Birthday, and I have spent almost two full weeks getting everything ready - that's why I haven't been able to do any posts!

It's been crazy for me, I've been waking up at 6 most mornings just to have time to get things done - and I think he has no idea whats in store!! I haven't got any pictures right now, but I will take some when this 'storm' (aka the 21st of the boy I love) blows over..

I made him..

• A secret book box painted as one of the programming textbooks he wants, with some cash inside for his 'textbook' fund.
• Screenprinted (or rather freezer paper printed) socks and jocks
• A series of shadow boxes that revolve around his interests, everything inside them is made from clay or cardboard.
• A '50 Reasons Candy' jar (its a glass jar decorated like a candy jar with 50 reasons why I love Will inside)
• Ok one bought gift, a coffee grinder. He might take it back cos he didn't want me to buy him anything!

THEN...

NINTENDO PARTY!!! Which involves (all handmade)..

• Heaps of decorations, banner with mario style font, large cardboard character heads for the walls, mini booster toadstools scattered all around the house, a matching table cloth.
• The center table cloth (for the coffee table) is a mario world table cloth! You'll know what I mean when you see it!!
• A matching cake stand for 1 up mushroom cupcakes and goomba cookies.
• Clay stars to sit on candy plates and bowls.

I also bought some large foil gold star balloons and have drawn eyes on them to look like the stars in the Mario games!

Ah! I'm so excited, and when this day is over I can finally rest and not worry about getting things done!

Aiiiii I just remember I have to clean the house a little when he goes out (Yes, he has a job interview on his Birthday!).

Bye for now!

I love my garden, and my new job.

Life is sweet, like sweet basil.. mmm.

So I don't quite have a garden, I have a patio - with pots. Yesterday I spent the afternoon repotting all the plants, it felt good to get my hands in some soil again.

We have bought some herbs from the markets, basil and italian parsley, to begin growing in our home. They are on the patio at the moment, but I think we might need to get a planter box for the study and move them there. I know, sounds like a weird place to grow herbs but it gets the best sun in the morning (basil needs lots of sun) and good shade in the afternoon (we are tired of moving the plants inside when the afternoon sun hits). I'm not sure about all this yet though.. one way or the other - we are getting a cute little planter..

(I found these images on google but I can't remember where!)

Next weekend, we might buy a third herb - probably rosemary. I've seen both my Mum and Nonna grow it, and it seemed to do pretty well up there in Cairns (hot, tropical weather), so it should be fine here in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, my job at La Boite Theatre is fantastic. It's the easiest and most enjoyable job I've ever had. At the moment, we have a children's production playing, called 'The Gruffalo' (from the book). The kiddies go nuts for it. I'm more excited for our next production (which I have free tix to!)... HAMLET.

Splash! Apron

That's what I like to call it, anyway. It's been a must-make since I clayed up my picnic dress. The clay fun was worth it, but next time I'll be prepared.. 

The flowers on the fabric are actually stencil printed, the original fabric is some crazy tartan. At first, I didn't like the fabric .... but now I love, love, love it!

No pattern, just a 50's style apron for the bottom and a square bib for the top. Oh, and there's a pocket at the front too!

Clay and paint away!!

Finito

I couldn't of picked a more appropriate fabric for a library bag..

p.s. My Nonna, she loves the purse I made for her.. she shows it to all her friends =) 

Sweetness

Thanks to Bloom, I have made a journal cover for my visual journalling..

Although it has my name embroidered on it, the cover really reminds me of my sister. I think it's fabric Mum used to make Emma things when she was younger.

Have also made a library bag, but still have to embroider "i libri" on it.. I'm obsessed with embroidery at the moment - everything must have a stitch!!

A poor girl's shelf

I have to say, I am very pleased with yesterday's make (despite its wee wonkiness)...

Mother dear has sent me an abundance of fabrics, that half a shelf (shared with toxic art mediums) wasn't enough. So keeping in mind the fact that we are only renting, and also very poor, I made a removable shelf out of whatever junk I could find..

• Ikea box
• Masking tape (to soften the edges of the cardboard)
• Phonebook (paper mache) 
• Gesso and paint =)

Oh, and my second love ... the glue gun. Since I've started machine sewing, I must say the quick-unpick (I think some call it a seam ripper) is close behind. 

When we go on a big trip to bunnings (can't wait), I think I might replace this ol' shelf with a plywood version. Of course, no screwing involved (glue gun, you've done it again). 

Challenge

What to do with this new parental pawn off...

First thing - the knobs. We'll try find new ones. Making it look like it 'belongs', is another project on my long list... 

Today's Make

A water bottle cosy thanks to this lovely guide find. Unfortunately... Smasha is a bit fat for the cosy.. 

Sorry, I must just mention that I name items I get attached to.. Smasha is my water bottle (Smasha like a female marshmellow, not a wrestler). 

Since Smasha is a fatty, this water bottle cosy now keeps my paintbrushes warm (well half of them)... warm in the hot, hot, Brisbane heat. 

I'm going to make another one, before Smasha's self esteem drops. 

What achievements? and bringing back an old pastime..

For the last few Januarys I have looked back on the previous years and listed my achievements. I like that I can see how my goals change, and how I've grown over the years. 

In 2007, my favourite achievement was successfully sneaking into The Vines concert with my sister's passport. It was a big achievement, since we did fly down to Brisbane assuming I'd be able to get in. In 2008, College Dux was the cherry on top for a year that took me from a school skipping D student (well, I did get A's in art) to an A-for-every-finger high achiever. Nothing could top being known as the 'dark horse', partly because I just liked the idea of being a horse. With such a attitude altering, personality moulding, goal blossoming year -  2009 just seemed a bit uneventful. Sure, I still did very well at uni, but it wasn't the same as sky rocketing to the top from nothing, it was expected. So for 2009, I'd have to say my greatest achievement was moving out of home, and doing well despite being in a new city, at a new school, with new people and a new house.

2010 will be the year of  fitting in skills and hobbies. Will and I really pride ourselves on being two of the only people our age that have hobbies. Not video games, or drinking with friends, but fun, skill building entertainment. I am really hoping that this years visual arts subjects will bring back the artist in me (the crafter is too tame, at times). 

I've been seeing some beautiful 'visual journals' online, apparently its an art genre of its own, and I didn't even know it. I was just using up junk and venting creativity. Here is some pictures of my journals during year 10, 11. None for year 12, I was too busy being in love, and proving people wrong..

I think this year will have a visual journal. It's so nice to read back on the things I wrote..

10 dollars, 2 items.. and counting.

I bought some fabric the other day - turns out Spotlight's quilting fabric selection is not that bad, not a lot you can use for garments though. I made my Nonna a 'prayer pouch' (just a regular pouch, but for her rosary beads and prayer book) with fabrics to the theme of 'Il Giardino della Nonna', or Nonna's Garden. I even sewed a hand embroidered name tag (to me, her name is Nonna) to the inside, I hope she likes it. Forgot to take a picture before I sent it, but today with some of what was left over, I made my Mum (who goes to Italy a lot) a passport cover using this fab tutorial.

And consistent with my disorganisation when it comes to documenting stuff I make, my battery ran out before I could take a picture of the inside. =)

It just got personal..

I know this is a craft and art blog, but I've had it with bills. I want to talk about student life for today, or more correctly .. how gas and electricity screws your savings. 

Unless I just sit around and read books all day.. there is nothing else we can do to minimize our electricity bill. One hundred and seventy five dollars a quarter is FAR too much for two students to pay, its about $20.00 a week on gas and electricity. My beef with this is a lot of each of those bills goes to the 'maintenance fee', they charge you to keep it. But I bet if it was broken, we (or the landlord) would still have to pay to fix it. 

And what's this about charging more in order to 'build more infrastructure' for handling peak hour energy consumption. If the government really cared about saving the environment, they would put rules in place (like they do during droughts). Instead, they just charge more, and only people like us feel it. If your making $2500 a fortnight, chances are that 1. you are able to reduce your bill more because that money likely leads to more appliances, and 2. the bill wouldn't hit you as much.

Grrrrrrr. 

The Pledge

I, Julia, pledge to walk to uni and the city, in order to save around $20.00 a fortnight to buy beautiful fabric.

There's nothing else I can cut out in my life, really. We are already so cheap as it is. No take out, no coffees, no movies.. what else can I do??

Thinking... thinking...

• We can watch TV less (even though we only watch about an hour a day, the electricity rates have gone up)
  
• Use internet communication instead of phone (psh, like thats going to do much) 

Sorry fabric, I'm not going to buy cage eggs just to save 6 dollars a week....

What a Cutie

My Baby Bernina was already cute, and now that she's snug in a blanket she just got a whole lot cuter...

I can't help it that I'm attracted to pastels... 

The purple flower squares need a bit of a steam. Too bad the iron likes to leak.. 

Meanwhile. I've emailed 'Sew, Mama, Sew' shop - trying to see if they deliver fabrics to Australia. I'm sick of spotlight.. I 'settle' for most of the fabrics I buy. For the same price as some boring print poly mixed cotton, 'Sew, Mama, Sew' has stuff like...

If your not that impressed, that's ok - because those are some of the clearance stuff! The full priced stuff is out of this world. For ten dollars a metre, you can get some delicious fabrics. 

Lets talk decorating.

One thing I've learned from taking my new found hobby onto the internet, is that people are really invested in their craft rooms. The pictures online are beautiful, groups pool their photos over on flickr just to make someone like me drool.

I have an issue. I don't want to invest too much in my craft-half-a-room (it's half a game programming room, too) because of my other hobby, the messy one... art. Visual art is messy, or maybe I'm just messy when it comes to visual art. I get paint everywhere, graffite easily transfers from a drawing to clothes, furniture and more.

I'm going to have to start making some real decisions. To paint, or not to paint. No, not really, as "to paint" actually means "to pass uni" in my case. What I mean is, decorating so that the room accommodates both art and craft supplies, allows me to make mess but at the same time provides clean storage (for those delicious nicey jane fabrics, I'll have them one day).

It's oil paint reference sheet vs baby Bernina.

Poor table easel, it doesn't like where this is going. I bet it's thinking "C'mon semester 1, 2010, I'm sick of pretending this palettes a canvas"

It gets ugly when fabrics and toxic paint mediums are battling for the shelf. I hope the gum turps doesn't try to fizzle any threads out.

I need some inspiration. Luckily, there is the internet. Cue gorgeous rooms...

I love the curtains, and the painted desk top of this room. This is a simple craft room that is achievable with a smaller budget.



Since I started writing this post I've already fixed my room up with the roll out space idea, it's fantastic because I needed more desk space, but want to hide it away when I tidy up.

Love the inspiration board, and how it reaches as far as possible. I want to do a similar thing with the narrow wall space I have between the desk and the window. I already use it to stick things, but a long board would be nice.

Great use of small space, and love the colour of the walls!

Another great wall colour..


All images are taken from flickr.

First Dress Complete!

But I don't want to upload a picture of it yet. Why? Seems I used 'pre-holidays' measurements, and now a dress I'm very proud of, and SO excited to wear ... doesn't fit. Sure, it zips up - but I'm not entirely comfortable with back pudge being squeezed down so that it fits under the seam line. Hrm. So, for now, lets look at this picture of it until upping the exercise and cutting the calories pays off..

(It's dress D.. and it's so, so beautiful - Curse you rum balls)

I've decided that I'm not going to work on anymore clothes until I fit into that one. Give it a month, I think. But that's OK - because I've got plenty of little things that I've been dying to work on. I need to make a sewing machine cover, kitchen curtains, a present for Nonna, some cute things to go around the house... I'll be fine =)