Holiday feet

It was back-to-school day after the Summer holidays for most children in Adelaide today. We had an extra day to get ready and spent some of it at Officeworks stocking up on stationery supplies. Brianna is going into year 9 and her school only has year 8s and year 12s attend on the first day of the year.  

I always enjoyed the first day back at school after holidays. I have many fond memories of the holidays too. Here's a poem I wrote a few years ago to celebrate going back to school and happy memories. 

Holiday feet

Coated in carpets of prickles

Fat from a meeting with bee

Covered in gritty, grainy sand

Set free by wriggling toes

Pelting across hot bitumen

Poked out from single sheets

These are my holiday feet

Soon to be cocooned again

Soon to be back-to-school feet

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 25th, 2015

A great day for shadows today!

You can see other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

First I explored Pinterest, and then...

My six words for this week - 

FIrst I explored Pinterest, and then...

It's been a busy week around here. The last week of the school holidays has been filled with a variety of activities. Lots of little things adding together. Yesterday, at the end of the day I felt like all I'd done was get in and out of the car. 

My first pin on Pinterest also happened this week. I signed up a while ago but haven't spent much time on there. After my first pin I was hooked. How much fun to organise things I really like in just the way I want! At the same time I was aware that I can spend a lot of time being inspired by things I see and think I could do that but then never actually get around to doing it. So I was determined to try out one of the ideas. 

One of my boards is called Duct tape creations. After pinning a few inspirational ideas, one thing led to another (and multiple visits to Spotlight) and resulted in more than one creation. The learning was so much fun as well as the design tweaks. I'm very happy with the results, as well as thinking of ways to make them even better. 

I began with a wallet. 

then a coin purse, with a magnet to close. 

I liked the look of some duct tape feathers I saw but was a little skeptical about how they would turn out. These ones are quite small, with an unfolded paperclip for the stem but I'm happy with how they turned out and will make some bigger ones when I get some longer wire. 

After these I was ready for a bit more of a challenge. I found the instructions for the Cookie Monster lunch bag here. 

Next, a Tardis one for one of the Whovians in the house. I based this one on the Cookie Monster one and did a Google search to come up with the design which I tweaked a little for my purposes. 

And for the Whovian's friend an Eiffel tower. Again Google image search helped. 

After some experimentation I've discovered a great way to make the letters is to stick tape on to the backing of contact paper and then cut out. They then peel off easily and are much easier to manage. Now to start working on my next request - a dragon lunch bag!

To read how other people describe their week or part thereof in six words go to www.showmyface.com. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 18th, 2015

Most Sundays I post a photo of a shadow or shadows from around my yard. I'm breaking my own rules this week. It's already dark outside and I didn't take any photos at home today. 

Instead, here are some photos of the gorgeous Lotus flowers at the Adelaide botanic gardens. 

To see other people's shadow shots go to www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 11th, 2015

Shadows - tiny and huge. Shadows I probably wouldn't have noticed if not for Shadow Shot Sunday. 

tiny shadows from dried leaves

palm tree shadow on the roof

You can see other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

"Can we play with some playdough?"

"Can we play with some playdough?" 

My six words this week give me a chance to belatedly post about one of the gifts I gave to one of my nieces this year. 

My niece is two and loves playdough at the moment. We were talking today about the next time she comes to visit and what we might do. She asked, "Can we play with some playdough?" We can as I have some in the house, left over from some I made her for Christmas. 

I'm sure we'll have a lot of playdough fun, as well as some of her other favourite activities like hide-and-seek, reading and painting. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 4th, 2015

Some resilience and its shadows today. 

Most Sundays I post a photo or photos of a shadow or shadows from around my house and yard. 

You can see other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Happy New Year! May creativity continue...

We are a creative household, each of us in different ways. I'm sure the creativity will continue throughout 2015. Earlier this evening Alysha painted this canvas for her cousins (who are huge Frozen fans). I'm sure they'll love it. 

Happy New Year! May creativity continue...

This is a Six Word Saturday post. You can see how other people describe their week or part thereof in six words at www.showmyface.com. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - December 28th, 2014

Lots of shadows in the front yard this morning. 

You can see many more shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com

So different...just a day later

I enjoyed doing something different on Christmas Day this year. My daughters and I had a lovely lunch at home and then we headed into the city to see Into the Woods. It was a preview session so we feel lucky to have seen it before it officially begins showing here on January 8th. All three of us enjoyed it too. 

Adelaide was very quiet on Christmas Day. I haven't seen it so quiet in a very long time. Rundle Mall was especially quiet given that no shops were open. I took a photo of the Malls Balls. 

How different the mall was just a day later. We decided to head in to the Boxing Day Sales in Rundle Mall. It's the first time we've been to Rundle Mall on Boxing Day and I expected it to be busy but was surprised by just how busy it was! Here's a photo taken in approximately the same spot. 

So different...just a day later

We had a successful day shopping (well, a couple of hours) and bought what we planned to. Can't say I'm keen for those crowds again anytime soon though. Part of the reason for being able to visit the city on Christmas Day and to do some shopping on Boxing Day was that our family Christmas get together was held belatedly due to various family member's commitments. We've just got home after a very enjoyable picnic in the park. Now, after a great day in the sunshine today, I'm looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow (and some reading). 

The front of a card made by my niece Teya, 7

See how others describe their week or part thereof in six words at www.showmyface.com