Post Dinner Swoon

.........oh have I had a meal.  Anyone familiar with Chapel Street in Windsor should go and explore the menu at Dino's.  We shared some interesting tapas (grilled asparagus with parmesan shavings, black heirloom tomatoes, cured ocean trout with beetroot strings) then roasted duck, wagyu sirloin and veal, followed by strawberry pannacotta and chocolate tart.  Not to mention a soft pinot grigio and some great coffee.  My Dad has found yet another good place (and I'm betting he and Mum were the oldest in the place by at least the 25 years that separates us!!)  The prospect of breakfast, or ANY meal, in the next 24 hours is completely superfluous.  

Add to the food: eccentric and casual diners, staff from all corners of the globe, attentive and amusing service, quirky artwork and retro leadlights.  I had forgotten how much I miss the cosmopolitan side of my town when I'm hiding here in my safe and rather boring suburb (*** identity concealed ***)!!

Manly Men

Here's Dad's card.... just time to upload before falling into the shower and getting ready for his big birthday bash, well, okay, the dinner booked in an upbeat bistro Dad's found.  It makes a change from the usual sailing-themed ones I usually make for him, and it fits the bill for the latest Opus Gluei challenge too.  Lots of layers, some leaves and a brad from a TE kit  or two, ribbon from the Busy Room boxes, and an assortment of DP from Spotlight and La Creme (thanks Lisa, that's a gift that keeps on giving!!)

Can't wait..... have to run.

 Happy 80th Birthday Dad!!

Lost time

How can it be three weeks since I even opened the page?  Where does the time go?  Ah yes, writing reports, travelling to Canberra, writing more reports, Christmas shopping.......  well, roll on December.

ooooo, sudden thought..... can make a card for the Poobahs AND have something special for my Dad in the same breath.  Its not every year he turns 80!  Cant wait to see the restaurant he's found for dinner this year - in Chapel Street no less, so its not going to be boring!!  What a great thing to be still looking for things outside the square........ 

Find the artist of the image above here.  Love the work of Mike Barr because its the Chapel Street I know from my childhood, captured as I remember it.

Messages for friends

I love it when I can make a card with someone particular in mind....in principle.......but when it comes to actually sitting up to the desk and choosing colours, papers, ribbons etc, I can't make up my mind.  Here are two cards I made recently - both for good friends of mine.  The first is for a lovely lady going through some sad times.  She makes beautiful things for other people, and is one of those empathetic people who know just when to post you a little present when you need a lift.  My favourite is a box of chocolate frogs she sent me, along with an apology from her sons who had to taste test a couple to check that the packet wasn't past its "Use By" date........  Boys.

I think the two pieces of DP are from Stampin' Up and are a perfect match for the Kaiser flowers.  The brads are from a multi-coloured pack I found at Spotlight, and the ribbon could be from anywhere.  This Busy Room is getting more overloaded than ever before.

This next card had to match a truly exotic beach bag my friend chose from a stall at the Healesville Market last month.  She wandered past and exclaimed over it so much that I had to go back and buy it for her BIG SPECIAL UMENTIONABLE birthday which was last week.  We went out today to celebrate at a local winery where they served us a great lunch with some good wines.  Despite the low clouds we enjoyed the magic views across the vineyards.  Three tables of friends and family made for a lovely l-o-n-g day. 

Everything I've used, except the big green brad, is from one or other of the magical TE Key Ingredients kits I've been gathering over the last few months.  Don't know what I'd have done with out these little packets of surprises which wing their way over every month.  The hardest part was sticking on the tiny sequin stars......I need better glasses, and smaller fingers!!

Everything is on a go-slow...

...trying to upload but tonight, nothing works.Halloween at its best? or just another rainy night in Melbourne.

Bubble bubble.....

 Now you have to remember that we don't really do Halloween in Australia, despite the chocolate-driven intentions of the children in my street, so this week's challenge at Opus Gluei appeals to the witch in me, as opposed to pumpkins.  I hope the Poobahs take their usual relaxed view of things and don't get too cross!  Anyway, its taken so long for me to find my work table, not to mention my scissors, paper and double-sided tape that I hope I'm forgiven

So in homage to my favourite Romantic artist, John William Waterhouse, and in deference to the witches of my imagination... here are my three triangles, one circle and one half-circle as per recipe.  And I even managed an embellishment or two, if you count the sketchy additions as well as some tiny bits of bling.  You might need a magnifying glass to find the half circle, but its there.... follow the line of sight.

I REALLY like the witches in "Hocus Pocus", especially Bette Midler's buck teeth and flaming red hair....and the wonderful Thachery Binx of course (in cat form).  I've never been able to look at my vacuum cleaner with quite the same equanimity since..........

Thanks to imdb for the photograph from the movie.

Christmas is coming.....

I don't want to think about it, but Christmas is on the way.  Yes I've started Christmas shopping (to be truthful, I never really stop), and I've even begun to think about what I might cook for the holiday visitor-fest (now that's a nice thought).... and Christmas goodies have begun to pop up in the nicest places.  If you haven't ever visited Taylored Expressions, you've been missing out on lots of lovely things.  Click on the badge on the side to see what is in store there for Christmas.... right now!

Summer??

Summer........  cant wait.  Winter has been particularly wet and cold this year, and although we need the rain and my garden is thriving, I do love a warm afternoon.  

When I saw this image I could hear insects buzzing around and darting across the top of the water in the creek.  There's just a soft sound of water moving and the grass is just a bit prickly and dry from a day in the sun.  Pick up the hem of your skirt and slip off your sandals; slide your feet into the cool water just near the bank where its shallow and you can see the bottom.

Not sure if this is what Opus Gluei meant by dog days of summer, but it says summer to me.  The papers are just a collection from the boxes, bits of black and orange and a whisper of gauze ribbon to break up the black..

Opus Gluei #66 The shirt off your back

Those Poobahs try to push me out of my comfort zone every week, into the cat food of all places, but not this time!!

As if its going to make the slightest bit of difference whether I look up, down, behind me or anywhere else?  What else is there to see but black?  Its my uniform and I love it. Just to prove a point I pushed back the chair, grabbed the camera and aimed it straight at my feet..... black trousers, black shoes, okay, and spotted laces, but they're mostly black and they came from such a great shop on Southbank......  I bought check ones too, but that's for another day.

So that's when I settled back into such a comfortable space and reached for lots of little bits and pieces of black scraps that litter my desk.  A piece of corrugated card with a hint of glitter, some parchment, a circle of velvety suede, some faceted brads and of course a matching piece of spotted ribbon.  I have to admit this is not the most bright and beautiful ATC, but it is me.  And if I'd used my shirt for inspiration (or in this wintery weather, my polar-fleece), it wouldn't have been any different!! 

Sorry ladies, not this time.

Happy Birthday Katie

It doesn't seem like 12 months since I made the last card for Katie, but it must be.  My son asked me to make something for his friend, and its a pleasure.  Katie has been a good friend to Simon for a long time, and calls herself  "an honorary boy" because she's the only girl in the group which regularly drops in for pizza..... so much for my Friday nights home alone, not that I'm complaining very loudly.

.All the elements on this card are courtesy of a kit from Taylored Expressions, the extra one that came at the end of my 6 month subscription to her Key Ingredients sets.  I started with my usual black CS (cant move too far out of the zone) but the other lovely papers and flowers and leaves are from the kit.  I love the retro colours and psychedelic pattern of the DP.  This is going to be a kit I'll be using a lot and soon it will all be gone!!