the Wolfe Brothers

The last 2 days I have spent being inspired by the wonderfully clever, giving and positive vibe flowing Nick & Brian Wolfe, identical twins well known in face & body art circles around the world. They started out in the highly competitive painting world in Orlando FL and have a couple of movie credits for Special FX, have left behind a growing paint supply business, have several how to books published and now travel the world teaching, judging and competing (&winning) in face & body competitions around the world. What a life!

Day 1 we spent painting rubber heads.....doing cool, ultra fast skulls, tribal designs, stars and flames. Then the guys showed us a little more, whipping off things like dino skeltons in moments.

After lunch we moved on to learning basic face parts - highlighting & shadows, expression....

That's my head there -1st in line. I'm pretty impressed!!

........Then the guys again wandered thru the room transforming the basic faces into an array of scarey 'boy' faces.....see, so easy!!!

Day 2 we all returned a little tired as so many of us had been kept up with all the info being sorted thru our heads all night. We started with bruises, scratches, bullet wounds & blood splatters. Yes it was special effects (and gore) day!

Then using the basic from the day b4 we were shown how to do the 'ripped of skin' look....he did it so easily! I can't wait to try.

After lunch we went on to showing how to do latex effects which was pretty cool then finished the official lessons with a full on SFX (pre made) mask -attachment, adding horns, painting it and finishing up with those freaky contacts & teeth. If they hadn't have been teaching us I reckon they would have whipped this one up in 15-20 minutes easily.

Then they started to play and painted just about all of us -I was about 15th and suggested just a little dragon.....and got this work of art......I didn't want to wash it off.

a Bay Beach & Dreamworld

At long last my oldest friend -yep, one I've had since she was born just 2.5mths after me - bought her little boy (& Mum) up to Brisbane to visit for the first time since he was born.

The boys all had a wonderful time playing together and sleeping in the same room. They actually shared toys fairly well and generally got on.

On Saturday we went out to Shorncliffe where there's a great park right on the bay with a muddy sandy beach to paddle from and a lovely long pier to walk. It was also a bit cooler with a nice bay breeze blowing on what turned into a stinker of a hot day.



On Sunday there had been a promise to go to Dreamworld while in Qld, so off we went and after a debarcle at the entry gate which ended in us waiting an hour to get in then having J blast an employee about the wait and them hustling us thru another door jumping the queue we were in for lots of kiddy fun.

#1 Son had his 1st solo flight and his
plans to be a pilot are still alight. My boys (kind of) drove bumper cars, we all did the merry go round, they did blue clue's ride, ball blasting, and saw the white/light/orange tigers show. *Boys fave ride was the model T cars that they could drive (altho he couldn't quite reach the pedal...). He also enjoyed the teacups. We looked at the line for the flume ride and passed but got suckered into the river raft which the boys could all go on with us mum's while YD waited and snapped a pic as we bumped by.

We decided to get the year pass that was on sale, so we'll be able to go back for more fun and the stuff we missed AND try out the white water world park next door too.

Lots of fun times for my boys.....

The weekend B4 last

We had such a busy weekend.

On Saturday, #1 had a cooking party to go to - a 7 yr old boys party which requested no presents (!-so I gave him one on his actual birthday). He had loads of fun cooking gingerbread men, fruit sticks & the most delicious rocky road (oh that was for me wasn't it!).

Then on Sunday we finally met up with our old playgroup from #1 son's days. We hadn't seen each other all year now that the older kids have started school and it was so lovely to catch up - possibly for the past time as there's only 3 families left and 1 may be off to Melbourne soon... YD did a greta job watching over the kids and leaving up girls to chat.

We met up at Northlakes by the lake and there were markets on with a jumping castle where the kids sweated it out then after a icey slushydrink tried out taking photos of weach other with my camera....

After lunch #1 had another party to attend. This one was a Star Wars theme and was full of amended to star wars games and it was hosted by a Jedi Master (the dad in disguise having as much , if not more, fun as the younglings).

The next day was officially day one of school holidays and we have been pretty busy the whole time. Hopefully we'll slow down a bit in these last few days so #1son isn't too tired to go back to school.

Dusty Brissie

Today we had a dust haze blew over Brisbane and by lunchtime it looked like this on my way home...Its very weird, there's a yellow glow everywhere you look and you can taste the dust in the air. I can feel it in my eyes but it is somewhat better than the bushfire smoke from a few weeks ago.

The pic to the right is over our suburb and from there you usually look out over to the distant hills & mountains.

Apparently Sydney was covered this morning also and havoc has been played with flights both there & here.

an apron for 40

As I have travelled thru blogland I have been inspired by the many Apronistas flourishing out there. Not been an apron wearer, I have been waiting for an occasion to see if I could make something as pretty as I've seen around.

Finally that time has come, when Mum mentioned my sister wore aprons I finally had a victim -um I mean recipient! And so I set about making something for her impending 40th birthday. (Along with the apron I got her a cake stand & cake storer -very domestic goddess!)

SO here it is - I have to admit that while I designed & cut it all out, Mum took over the majority of the sewing together when I went over to use the overlocker......apparently at 42, I still haven't all the skills to competently use it....

There are no pockets as I don't see the point, there are gathers around the sides for a fuller look and the necktie is tied into a bow thru a button hole. The main blue floral is very pretty and the edges are a tiny black polka dot.

So that is that craft bandwagon I have jumped onto & fulfilled!

size always matters...

The boys were showering with YD the other night.

"dad can I touch your balls?"
"why?"
"well they're EE-noorrr-mous!" "will mine grow that big?"
"they might"
"but I've only got one...."

of course this comment caused instant concern and had to be checked by YD....relief, his boy's ok and does definately have two little balls down there!

damaged

I'd take a photo but it's not real attractive.....

This afternoon YD & I had our yearly skin checks. This is a good idea for us as we are both quite spotty and living in QLD is fraught with sun danger!

Today was finally a bad report for me and I had 2 sun spots ice-burnt on my face, just between my right eye & hairline. WOW talk about sting! but it didn't last too long really and it has morphed from wasp bite looking blobs into pink graze marks. And I have to look forward to further ugliness and it dries, scabs & falls off.

At least the other spots on my face were just....you guessed it - age spots!! Yet another medical professional reminding me how old I was!

It might remind me to wear a bit more sunscreen.....maybe

Hello & I was tagged

I'd like to say a Hello to my newest follower CT who found me somehow.
Welcome, I had a quick look at your blogs and while I couldn't read it all, your girls are just the cutest and your crocheting lovely.


I've also been tagged by Hester -twice in only a week or 2! SO I'd better fulfill my side before she gets me again!
(Oh, I just found how CT found me - thru Hester!)

#1 tag 'rules -
1.Collect the book you have most handy.
2. Turn to page 161.
3. Find the 5th complete sentence.
4. Cite the sentence on your blog.
5. Pass it on to five other blog friends


Well my closest book is a dictionary but I'll go get the one by me bed....it's 'PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern. Page 161 only has 1 sentence and it is...

'Holly was about to start screaming all sorts of insulting things at her sister but stopped herself when she saw Ciara sitting on the floor with what looked like a photo album in her lap and tears streaming down her face.'


Oooh, that sounds interesting - I'll have to start reading it tonight!
I won't tag anyone but feel free to play if you haven't already.



tag #2 rules -
1. link to the person who tagged you
2. post the rules on your blog
3. post the six random things about you
4. tag six people at the end of the post and link to them
5. let each person know that they've been tagged

Ok, the link is up above, rules posted but again I won't tag so let me know if you play and I'll link to you.
6 random things.....hmmmm

1. I don't like nail polish on my fingernails (and never red on my toes as I keep thinking I've ripped them off & its blood!)

2.Most of my library is fantasy novels, with a lot featuring dragons.

3.I sadly no longer hold a passport (a sad state of affairs from an ex travel agent that has been true for over 5yrs now)

4.If I don't make 'something' - anything- for any length of time I get fidgety. A card will fill this need but I like computer imagery too to fill a gap.

5.I'm NOT a good housewife -but I won't let Yes Dear get a cleaner.

6.I am currently tossing up which new camera to buy me for my birthday next month. Currently between Fujifilm S1500 (good price and all I really need) and S100 (which is just lovely, does all the stuff I sometimes want to do, costs more & is heavier). This is to replace my current Fuji which has slowly deteriated since it took a swim in the apple juice that was leaked into my shopping bag about 2 yrs ago.



Ok, All done....let me know if you play!

All about 'my' Fete

Well number on thing I can say is......I had a wonderful day and everything went so smoothly AND we made just over $42k for the school.

It was a really wonderful thing for me to take on. As I mentioned before, it gave me a purpose in my unemployed mother life and the response from everyone was just sooo nice I will have to do it again, at least for another year (or 2).

I may even have managed to loose a tiny bit of weight as over the 3 days (Pre/post/feteday) I think I managed to rack up a few Kms dashing around the school grounds. My feet sure hurt heaps & I would have loved a massage or 2 those nites!

I had lists upon lists about everything and a great team who actually seemed to listen and our set up went relatively smoothly, once everything arrived. With only one mishap of a table buckling under the weight of 2nd hand books -luckily I was the only one close at the time.

The Fete day was blessed with perfect weather which I'm sure, helped with the larger crowds. All the rides were very popluar, stalls were well visited and the food court held out until about 4.30 after which the pizzas started arriving after 5 for dinners. I have to say 'my' face painters did a wonderful job making 3 times the total we did last year, with less painters. Our entertainment stage kept the crowds entertained and the auctions raised a nice total. The fireworks were absolutely SPECTACULAR!

My only 'emergency' to be dealt with all day was to make a sign directing prepaid -> & cash <- for the huge line up at the ride armband sales. Chasing people out of the tree cover at dusk was fun along with moving the large crowd back from the fireworks area -something we'll need to make more obvious next year! The best bit for me tho was seeing all the smiling faces -especially after the fireworks as everyone left. Many said thanks to me -as if I did it all myself and I was just glad to have been a part of it all. I haven't smiled as much in one day since my wedding! It proved again that what you give comes back to you.

Unfortunately, My photos of the day were mostly of set ups etc so I don't have much to illustrate here with but here are a few.....

catching up

Well there's been a few reasons causing my lack of posts of late- a big one was 'fete brain'.....after the fete I just couldn't concentrate on anything much, especially writing anything. It was like I'd used up all my brain cells on getting thru fete day and they weren't letting any info out afterwards. That went on for a few weeks until I finally organised myself to do a few projects which helped settle my concentration back into its normal form...of course then there was last week(end) when I became fully engrossed in the Twilight series......yep, so now i'm dragging myself away from Forks and getting on with my humdrum life!

But seriously, if you are considering finding out what all the Twilight fuss is about, please clear you schedule and be prepared to let the house go a while. I don't think I've read such a series in absolutely ages that I really couldn't put down like that. I think part of the draw is the pure romance and the way its written in the 1st person so that 'you' are the character. Its really not a scarey vampire read at all, the vamps just provide the main action segments and there's always the eternal life element. Anyway so now I've been co-erced into joining the other similarly hit mum's from school in a totally teenage outing - to see the next movie at a midnight screening in November.....crazy but if I can stay awake, it should be fun. But 1st us most recent few readers have to see the 1st movie.




SO apart from reading what have I been up to? Well *Boy started swim lessons and seems to be doing really well & enjoying them. I think he's going to be out of the 1st level class before the other 2 boys in his class who have been going for ages....'cors that could be just the mum talking! But so far he's had no qualms about going and is the 1st into the pool for the start of the lesson.






My first project in ages was to finally try freezer paper stencilling. I had a lovely friend buy me some while on a trip around the US and after a bit of searching she got me an enormous 30.4m roll! Lucky its a one use only type of thing or I may never get thru it all...I may never anyway! Anyway we needed an extra apron for our 'spare' face painter who was joining us on a job to wear so I whipped up this text across the bottom. It worked a treat and I was very pleased with myself.....shame the apron won't get any more use now.....


Sad days as I helped my bestest bud pack up her belongings (again!) to head off into the wild croc infested nth qld to her new job & home in WhoopWhoop. Will I be visiting? NO -but I hope her visits are often and her blog is kept up to date! We had a playdate for our boys to say bye but they didn't really 'get it' -but they had fun. Le is, of course settling into WW and the boys & MIC seem quite happy up there too. Small town tales will flow....

My next project to snap me out of the brain fuzz was to spend 2 days working on a blog, business card, stickers etc for the general branding of one of my gossip girls for her new cake business which she had decided to start after being 'let go' from her 3 day a week job as she wouldn't work a 5day week. I'd show you pics but I'm not feeling inclined to advertise her after what happened later that week.....


Then I did a 7th birthday invite for one of #1Son's friends. I love doing this type of thing and spent a day changing the pic of darth vader & Zac that was taken at legoland, into a pretty cool scene (if I do say so myself!) - Zac was impressed anyway!!





The next day, the new cake entrepeneur and my face painting partner told me by email that "I am tired of working around whatever mood you are in on any particular day and dealing with the negativitity and crankiness - everytime I call I wonder what I'm going to get this time." & "I'll be working on my own for now on. Atleast then I know where I'm at at any given time."....Strange, I didn't realise I had ever been in anyway negative or cranky with her, EVER...especially in the 2DAYS I spent working on HER stuff earlier in the week! And so, without even a phone call the Cheeky Cheeks partnership was busted.

But within 12hours I had settled on a new name and within 24hours my new blogsite was up and running ......with the old one very modified for old clients and access to editing totally changed.
ADORN Face Painting has been born and I've been working on my own designs for business cards, magnets, quote sheets etc. I've gone for a more 'mature' look, away from the child friendly scheme we had before. It will evolve, I'm sure but I think its a nice start.

I've already started on updating my images, so my nieces, nephew & boys will probably be starring quite heavily in the gallery. This one is my new pup, which I think is quite cute..

I have a few jobs lined up and another workshop at the end of September then hopefully all my new ads will start kicking in.


I have to say that the bust was something I had always expected due to her nature and inability to keep girlfriends but I was saddened anyway and it may cause (me) some discomfort at future gossip girl lunches...


And so, then I was swept away by the romance of Twilight and you are back up to date.
Oh, except yesterday I got my hair cut coloured & brows shaped & tinted - today I did some cleaning........ there right to now!

Flower Friday

So to mark my return to hopefully regular blogging I'll start with a Flower Friday featuring my lovely bouquet of gerberas from the school P&F for my work on the fete.