tiger tongues

tiger birthday cake
Originally uploaded by djbebe

This photo is a bit old - sorry blog, for cheating - but the thing that I've spent all day working on and just finished (yay!) has to stay secret until Kim has her baby. (Not long now!) So instead, you can all admire the totally awesome cake that HandyMan and I made for my nephew Henry's second birthday. I somewhat foolishly volunteered for the cake making duties since the mother and grandmothers were all sick or too busy. I seem to recall I was also sick and too busy but the alternative was my mother slapping up some cake mix and sticking some smarties on top. Henry might not have cared that much but I did - so armed with the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book, some pinking shears and a whole lot of butter, we whipped this cake up in record time. Squashed marshmallows for eyes, licorice stripes and the tongue is made from an orange sugar jube, cut in half so the shiny side is showing - and irresistable to a 2 year old. I attempted to get Henry to admire and appreciate the artistic skill involved in making such an awesome looking tiger - yeah, it's a tiger, whatever - but he just kept reaching for that shiny tongue. And there's only a certain amount of time where it's socially acceptable to keep a small child away from his own birthday cake.

flowers

flowers
Originally uploaded by djbebe

I made a long todo list at the start of the weekend, and as per usual I did lots of things but didn't get many crossed off the list. But that's ok because in my world, the list is just to remind you that you once meant or wanted to do something, as opposed to my good friend Kim who makes lists so she doesn't get distracted by other stuff - my list is so that when I come back from being distracted, I remember where I was.

Plus, since this is my first weekend home in 2 months, I decided I could do whatever I wanted for the whole weekend.

So from my list, I finished an order for brooches, made covers for my mp3 player and started on some new shirts for me. Ali, I aim to finish them tonight!

Not from my list, I baked 3 kinds of cookies, planted tomatoes, beans, basil and cucumbers, made ginger and lime granita, started some bean sprouts, arranged some flowers, and made a big mess in my craft room. I also hemmed a dress, sewed the buttons back on some shorts and rearranged the entire kitchen. The plates are so much easier to get to - I can't believe it's taken me a year to figure that out!

And then, see, the remainder of the things on the list just get carried over to the next list - that is if I still desire to do the thing. If not, too bad, thing, you had your chance.

And now, I can cross 'blog post' off the list. Yay.

reverse garbage + workplace agreement

I may have mentioned Reverse Garbage before - well they're having a pre-Christmas exhibition and some of my creations will be on display there. And if you're super observant, you may notice that one of my brooches is featured in the flier. If you're in the area, maybe I'll see you at the exhibition launch?

Jungle brooch

Jungle brooch
Originally uploaded by djbebe

Thanks for the good thoughts and karma - got back from Parkes last night so we're both a bit exhausted from driving (almost 20 hours all up), funeral matters and family overload. I know what you mean about crafty diversions - if I wasn't a crafter I might be forced to clean the fridge or something. Anyhow, today I made some more coasters and this brooch, in the aforementioned not-quite-leopard-skin rayon. I think it works. I scored a handful of these upholstery buttons at an op shop a while back, and they go perfectly with this vinyl which I also thrifted - for a dollar a metre.

And now I'm waiting for HandyMan to cook me dinner.

seascape brooch

seascape brooch
Originally uploaded by djbebe

I've had a fairly crappy couple of weeks and I don't want to talk about it any more. To cut a long story short I'm staying home from work this week to recover from surgery and attend a funeral. The only good news is that I get to spend some quality time in my craft room so have been churning out some new brooches. Check out my etsy and/or madeit store to see more. I'm quite partial to the minty polka dot one myself - I might just make another one. The one you see here is made from a recycled Ken Done (in case you're blissfully unaware of his work) silk scarf. I'm working on the theory that any fabric, no matter how hideous, can work in small amounts. My next challenge is a particularly hideous yellow not-quite-leopard-print rayon that I accepted in a moment of weakness when a friend (I won't embarrass her by linking from this to her neo-cool blog) was throwing it out. It has been on death row in my stash for a while now but it's going to get one more chance to become a brooch like this.