Week 3 competition

This weeks theme was Mystic....



Another fairly poor showing,



just 3 entries.......

but I WON!!!!!

Well, I was in with a pretty good chance.....YD thinks he's pretty cool as he was my model when I finally won but I couldn't do this one on my own face.

Unfortunately I can't use my prize ticket to the Australian Body Art Awards which is this week, but another painter who is going offered to swap me some paint for the tkt so I'm happy!

Overheard

Gran -oh can I get in the pool with you?

*Boy - well you'll have to take all your clothes off.....

ewww...

No, YD is not naked but did manage to join #1Son in the 'pool' on the weekend.
Well its big enough for the boys to paddle in & get wet!

Blue Day

Yes we are back in the blue! Uniforms that is, yay back to school!!


But of course it was the most important day when my baby heads off for his first day too.
No worries there, he just breezed thru the day and seemed to enjoy it. No tears from me as I was too frazzled to have the time to think about it. But now......well at least I still get cuddles at night.


Of course Gran asked for a photo of both boys together in their uniforms.......


Well that's not just so easy these days is it??

But we know anythings possible with a little photoshopping!

2 days left

Yay! its back to school in just 2 days time.

The boys had haircuts on the weekend which involved lots of yelling, & crying (why, I'm not sure, they seemed to have been over that nonsense a few cuts ago...).

Bags are already packed full of books etc. & waiting under the desk.

This morning uniforms were tried on for fit -and in the case of *Boy, to get the excitement of school happening.

So what should we do this last day of holidays with Mum (as I'll be painting most of Australia Day)?


I've no idea.......I'm done.......6 weeks of filling their days & prying them away from the tele has used me all up. Yesterday I got out the last of the craft items stored in my cupboard & while they are still playing with them, I feel I should do something special for this their last day......

Next face painting theme was Fiesta

My entry......

Again the number of entries was sadly low.......

But the clever Julie (who entered under my encouragement) was this weeks winner!

1 week before

1 week before both my boys are off to school......

#1Son is still struggling with his writing -low muscle tone makes it hard for him & since its hard he's just not interested. Great finger control when playing computer games tho!

My little *Boy will be heading to Prep. He's sooo ready & I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it but....well he's my baby, I hope he's going to be ok. He has started drawing wonderful pictures, without any prompting (no problems for him in that area) and yesterday did a lovely heart collage for me...aww!
I've recently noticed he has been saying "C'baus" instead of "because". Should I correct him or let him go one saying it cos I think its cute? Have I mentioned his kisses? He's a charmer -takes your face in his little hands, pulls you close and plants a whopper on them! Bliss!

week1 winner

And this weeks winner was.....
a beautiful and quite traditional version of a carnivale mask.


The other entries..... and not many other them either so I was in with a chance! (my entry is in post below)




















This weeks theme is Fiesta......wish me luck!

1st entry

In February the Australian Body Art Awards are on in Melbourne. Unfortunately I won't be going to the spectacle but last week they opened a photo competition for face painters which meant I could participate without being there. It will run over 3 weeks with a different theme each week and you can enter up to 3 designs a week.
WhooHooo!
This weeks theme was Venice.
A few entries were put up on the facepainting forum and so far they were all lovely masks, so I decided to change track and made my entry a sunset theme with cathedral, gondola & street lights in silhouette.
I had no model, so had to paint me which was another reason not to try the delicate swirls & detail of a mask. It was the 1st time I have done a total full face on myself too and I have to say, my respect for full body models has risen as it's so hard not to scratch yourself without thinking about it and those models can be painted for hours.
I had a few other ideas which included millefiore beads and the Doge's Palace's intricate arches but time didn't allow for those to be painted.
It's quite exciting being in a competition, being judged against others more experienced.
So now I wait for this weeks theme to be announced.....

summer nesting

Sometime last year I was inspired by The Nester to make our house entry a bit more presentable. Following thru on this I have to say I failed to do the trendy seasonal updating as we passed thru the year but I did manage to Christmassify in December and now that we have finally done our Xmas decoration pack up for the year I have attempted a summery 'beach shell' theme. Well I'm impressed with the shells in the vase at least !

While shopping my house (trying to find something a bit summery) I came across this hand cut soap flower that we got on our Thailand honeymoon 9 years ago. It still smells pretty as the lid of the carved coconut that it is in has been kept shut all these years..... I'm leaving it open for just a little while.





Meanwhile on my little monster front, I have to ask -will I EVER be able to take a nice smiley photo of the 2 of them together again????

(ps. white shirts from Aunty Le for Xmas....may not stay white very long on these 2....!)

Bubbles n bolts

I can't remember if I mentioned YD's purchase of a bubble machine in the lead up to Xmas but yesterday we got some new bubble mixture and WOW it was a bubble wonderland! SO many and in so many colours -the camera just couldn't get a good shot tho so you'll have to imagine!

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, our dishwasher has been slowly going downhill.....
over the past year the pipes have clogged several times,
then the door lost its slow opening gadget so it just drops open now when you undo it
(which may have been caused by small children standing on it when opened)
and now just this past month the door lock has loosened so it will dis-engage enough to stop the wash cycle.
YD was very proud of himself when he announced he'd fixed it and we'd get some more life out of it yet....
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yup -beautiful, isn't it????

new decade begins

Happy New Year - here's to happy times in 2010! I hope everyone had the fun/alcohol/sleep/food they wanted last night to bring in the new decade.

I was thinking about how little fanfare this decade is heralded with, unlike the last -altho that was the start of a century too I guess....




I've had the urge to try to do a body painting but trying to paint wriggly little boys is near impossible - so if anyone out there wants to be painted let me know....