anita meade - simple.creative.life

Cool cars on a craft blog? What the.....?

Despite what you think, I have not fallen off the face of the earth! lol! We went home to Myrtleford for the weekend, which was great but it throws me out of kilter a bit. Our flying trip was not just to visit my folks, but to visit the huge hotrod show in Bright. My hubby is a hotrod enthusiast. In fact he owned a very cool hotrod when I met him - but we needed a deposit to buy a house so unfortunately it had to be sold. I've felt guilty about getting rid of his "toy" ever since - even though he assures me he's not too scarred by the experience :) Here's a really poor-quality photo of his beloved car, taken many years ago.

Anyway, we went to the Bright Rod Run and, I swear to you, I've never seen anything like it. I have been brought up with an interest in cool cars, thanks to my Dad, and while I don't know anything about engines and the mechanical side of things, I do appreciate a beautiful car. Let me tell you, some of the cars we saw on the weekend were works of art. The amazing colours, shapes, paintwork etc were truly a feast for the eyes. 

 

 

This one (below) was my favourite colour. The paintwork was amazing in real life. I can see why they call this colour "Candy Apple Red"

 

This one (below) was on the cover of a recent hot rod magazine (Cruzin') It was great to see it in real life. Those flames were amazing!

 

 

 

I think Kermit had a great day out at the Rod Run - must have been hot sitting up there though! The temperature was 34 degrees! The kids did really well considering how intense the heat was out in that sun.

This purple car was incredible too. Check out the Marilyn Monroe painting on the boot. How cool is that!?!

 

Even the littlest car fans had hotrods. This little guy was having a blast.

 

I've never been to a Rod Run before and I have to say it was a great atmosphere. Really family oriented. Lots of great old rock'n'roll music. People taking pride in their cars and everyone showing a lot of admiration and respect for the hard work that goes into creating and maintaining these amazing vehicles. Danny has a wishlist as long as his arm now! Hopefully some day we will be able to get him another hotrod. I would love to be able to do that for him. It's fantastic to see someone you love really enjoying their hobby with such passion. 

I promise I'll be back with a more "craft orientated" post soon, but I hope you've enjoyed seeing what we got up to on the weekend. It was lots of fun.

"Show and Tell" - a Hatched and Patched bag I made :)

Hi again, I have something else to show you that I finished off last night. It's a cute bag made from red (of course) sandcastle fabric. The pattern is from the little book by Anni Downs (of Hatched and Patched) called Simple Pleasures. I have so say I just love how it turned out. I've been wanting to make myself a new bag for ages and when I saw this pattern I just had to give it a go. Let me tell you, sewing is not my strongest craft, by any means. I am definitely a beginner, but I am working on improving my skills, and I'm loving every second of it! Anni Downs is one of my favourite designers and I can see there will be lots more of her projects coming to life in my craft room. Here's some pics:

  

  
 

Intergalactic adventures.

    Yesterday was an RDO for the tradies here in Victoria, which means my lovely hubby gets to spend the day home with us. Well, these days the kids are usually at school actually, but this week we let them have a rostered day off as well. Why? Well we've been promising them for a while that we would take them to see the Star Wars exhibition at Scienceworks. It is here in Melbourne for a few months and we wanted to go on a Monday, as we thought it would be less busy than the weekend. We didn't factor in the six busloads of school kids who would be there on a weekday, but that's OK!

    Personally, I have no interest in Star Wars whatsoever, but it is always priceless to see your kids experiencing something that they're totally into. It was fabulous! Here's some photos of our day:

 

 

 

 

 

    This last pic is of Jayden proudly showing off his successful robot contstruction. There was lots of hands-on stuff for the kids to get involved in, an audiovisual show about robots, featuring C3PO and his friends (? robot names are a bit beyond my scope of knowledge! lol!), and the kids were amazed to see all the costumes and props.

    After we came out of the Star Wars exhibition we had lunch, during which, Jayden lost his sixth tooth! That gap in his smile is even wider than the photo above shows now. Then we headed back in to Scienceworks for a look around at all the other fun stuff. There is so much to see and do. We will have to head back there another day to finish our adventures.

    Overall, it was a great, fun, exhausting day. The kids loved it! They also enjoyed driving through the city and over the Westgate bridge. So much for a couple of outer-suburban kids to take in! Daddy even pointed out the massive building at the Docklands that he is working on at the moment. It is amazing to drive through the city and know that Danny helped in the construction of a HUGE number of the buildings there. It reminds me of that (?) King Gee ad on TV where the Dad tells his kids about how he helped build a huge bridge every time they drive over it! (lol!) We are very proud of how clever Danny is, and the work he does.

    Well that's what I was up to instead of making Christmas cards yesterday. Well worth the delay to have a family day out I reckon! Have a fabulous Tuesday. Love Anita. xxx

Non-paper inspiration.

    Just wanted to stop in this morning and let you know that I haven't forgotten about you! As I mentioned in my last post we have dealing with our fair share of winter sickness in this household. It just keeps going around and around.....just when I think we're coming out of it, one of us takes a dive again. It's nothing serious....just your garden-variety winter ills, but it is challenging nonetheless. The kids are officially on school holidays. Hopefully they will be well enough to enjoy them soon.

     Due to the lack of productivity around here I have only a couple of things to show you today - I finished these a couple of weeks ago, before the sickness descended on our household! More baby stuff.....I think the white and pink hat might need a flower attached too. What do you think?

       

     

    

    As I haven't been doing much actual crafting, I thought I'd share some lovely blogs I've recently discovered. I am seriously entrenched in my fabric and yarn obsession at the moment, and these blogs are fuelling that obsession. I am also enjoying reading about simplifying our lifestyle, and toying with the idea of rejuvenating our garden this spring. All in all, these are homely, nesting-type days filled with comfort food, keeping warm and dry, and nurturing my family and home.

    Here are a few if my favourites at the moment, for your Sunday reading pleasure:

Down to Earth  - this delightful blog by Aussie Rhonda Hetzel is about simple living, home-keeping and lots of other  loveliness relevant to the challenging times we are facing at the moment. I have found lots of pearls of wisdom here.

My Sewing Serenity -  A pretty blog about sewing, gardening and other homely type things by US blogger Cathleen. This blog is such a visual treat to visit.

Lucy Bowler - I linked to Lucy's blog last week when I handed out a blog award. Just wanted to remind you to visit her......you'll be glad you did. Lots of beautiful stuff and inspiration here.

Feeling Stitchy - An embroidery blog by various artists. Some of the stuff here is downright bizarre but there is lots of inspiring pieces to see as well.

dear fii - Aussie blog full of crafty, stitchy goodness.

Attic24 - Lots of crochet inspiration and information to be discovered here. Bright, beautiful colours in her work.

Amazing Mae by Tracie. Fabric and sewing amongst lots of other beautiful creative stuff.

    There are oodles more that are occupying my time right now, but I will save some for another day......I don't want to overload you!

     Oh papercrafting mojo! Where have you gone? I am hoping you will come and visit again soon (at least before my next Making Merry Monday post tomorrow). But isn't it nice to be inspired by other crafts? It really keeps the creative passion flowing......and that is such an important part of my life. Hope you enjoy browsing these blogs. Have a wonderful Sunday. Love Anita. xxx

"Where have you been?" I hear you ask....

    Where have I been? Well the truth is....nowhere! I've just been having a quiet week, trying to spend a bit less time on my computer. I haven't made anything from paper for about a week (shocking, I know). But I haven't been completely craft-free.....I've been knitting and crocheting. These are two crafts at which I am a complete novice. In fact, I even borrowed kids "how-to-knit" and "how-to-crochet" books from the local library to teach myself. And it is going along pretty well I have to say. So far I have crocheted a scarf for myself, a Tigers scarf for Corey and yesterday I completed a beanie for Danny. Not too shabby either. They look pretty decent! I'm surprised actually! I don't have any photos of these creations to show you at the moment. I'll take some during the day and post them here for you to critique.

    Every now and then I go through a phase of wanting to do something different cratft-wise. I have regular phases where I want to use something more textural than paper....I want to play with fabric and threads and wool. I am completely ok with this. I don't get stressed that I am "over" papercraft and feel like I'll never scrapbook again. Creativity, for me, goes in cycles. I embrace all the creative inspiration what comes my way. It is a means of growth and development. I just go with the flow and see where it leads me. Having said that, I think tomorrow I will play with paper for a while.....I'm getting the itch.

    I have something awesome to show you tomorrow too. My hubby built me something fantastic for Mother's Day. I will take a photo for you tomorrow and post it so you can all check out his handiwork. Clever boy that Danny is!

    Speaking of Mother's Day, I have had the most wonderful Mother's Day with my boys. I was greeted this morning to a trail of notes from our bedroom to where my presents lay waiting in the lounge room. The boys had each bought me a special gift from the Mother's Day Stall at school. And I have to say, they know me so well. Their choices were perfect. From Jayden I received a gorgeous red and white striped coffee mug, filled with chocolates and a bookmark -he knows 3 of my favourite things are coffee, chocolate and reading (and my favourite colour is red)! And from Corey I received a gorgeous little pink journal and a beautiful pen in a little case, as well as a twirly thing that spins in the breeze (not sure what you call it) - Corey knows how much I love to write in notebooks and journals. Both boys gifts were perfectly ME.  Of course they were accompanied by beautiful handmade cards which had had so much love and effort put into them. How lucky am I?!

    After breakfast we went down to visit Danny's Mum Margaret. We took the opportunity to take a few snaps of her and the boys. Here they are:

 

          

    I really like that last photo of Margaret. Notice she's wearing her brooch frm the Mother's Day card I made for her :) After we said goodbye to Nan, we picked up some lunch and headed to a nearby park with a great playground. We lay out the picnic rugs and settled in to enjoy some fun in the autumn sunshine. What bliss! My three gorgeous boys and I having fun together on a sunny autumn Sunday. 

                                                                                                        

    

  

  

    We had so much fun playing together. Then we headed home and I indulged in a delightful 2 HOUR(!) "nanna-nap" on the couch. Ahhhh, life is good.

    Happy Mother's Day to all you blog-hopping Mum's out there. Hope you had a fantastic day. Please come and visit again soon - I promise I won't leave it so long between posts next time. :)

                                 Love Anita. xxx

                                                                                                     

My Rainbow and other fun stuff.

    My lovely friend Jo-Anne Mitchell had this fun little link on her blog so I thought I'd pop over and play along. It is a quiz that tells you about your rainbow shade......

Your rainbow is shaded red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a passionate person. You appreciate energetic people. You get bored easily and want friends who will keep up with you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I love these sorts of thing......interesting to find out how your answers to a quick quiz can be interpreted.....and you know what...the results of this quiz are spot on! This is a pretty good description of me. My favourite colour has always been red. Why don't you take the quiz and find out what it says about you? 

{Thanks Jo - that was fun! Love Anita. xxx}

    Another fun thing I discovered over at the new blog of former Simple Scrapbooks blogger Angie Lucas, is the website called "A Word a day". I am a serious "Word Nerd" (as Angie puts it) and I just love learning new words and then pulling them out in conversation. Words are such fantastic tools for life.....the more you know, the better! Today the "Word of the day" is:

lepidopterology

PRONUNCIATION:

(lep-i-dop-tuh-ROL-uh-jee)

MEANING:

noun: The study of butterflies and moths.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek lepido- (scale) + pteron (wing, feather), ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly) that also gave us feather, petition, compete, and perpetual.

USAGE:

"Mr. Sokolenko's exhibition comes at a time when Nabokov's reputation is on an upswing in the rarefied world of lepidopterology. During his lifetime some lepidopterists, perhaps jealous of his literary fame, carped about his lack of formal training."
Alexander Osipovich; St. Petersburg Exhibition Shows Nabokov Under (and Behind) a Microscope; The New York Times; Jul 26, 2006.

Here is a creative example of my lepidopterology. Aren't words just GREAT?! I love 'em! Yep, I'm a "Word Nerd" and proud of it.  :)

                   

Wow.....it is HOT!

    Hi, just popping in to say I'm still here. It is ridiculously hot here. 41C today, 43C tomorrow and at least 40C on Friday and Saturday. We are hiding inside with the air-con pumping, the curtains shut tight and the TV on. Not much going on creatively. I'm just trying to keep the kids occupied because it's too hot to go out and do anything. Also I am without a car today because my beautiful, brand new (4 week old) Commodore Sportswagon is at the panel-beaters! Yep, some inconsiderate so-and-so scraped the front bumper bar with a (?) trolley when we were at the shops last week. :( I was SO upset. I know it is only a car, but it is BRAND NEW and oh-so-shiny and I love it. Anyway, we will have it back tomorrow all fixed up. Here's a pic of the new car BEFORE "the incident".

                     

    In other news, we spent the Australia Day weekend up at my sister's place near Albury (man was is HOT up there!). Had a lovely, relaxing time hanging out with the family.We especially loved the visit to their generous neighbour's rockin' pool! (Thanks for letting us use it Glenda). I took umpteen photos of the kids in the pool, but here are a few of my favourites:

                     

That's Corey under all that gear. Love how he even manages a smile for the camera with a snorkel in his mouth! LOL!

 

And here's my little swimming machine - he was able to swim the full length of the pool (about 12 metres)  all by himself without stopping (with and without the snorkel! LOL!) Yay Jayden - you're going so well with your swimming. Love ya matey!

  

    Here's Jack and Granmama having a cuddle and a chat. Love the hat Jack! Keep up the great swimming practice mate.

                       

    Last but not least, Cooper in full flight! This kid is fearless! With the help of his Dad Colin he was flying through the air. This is my favourite photo for the weekend. I feel a scrapbook layout about this photo coming soon....

    Thanks so much, Jode and Col, for having us for the weekend. We love you guys very much.

     Only 5 more sleeps until school goes back....I have mixed feelings about it, but overall I'm looking forward to a little more time to create, and also time to keep things around here a bit more organised. For now though, I'm going to spend some time with my boys. I think there might be a few games of Wii bowling coming up this arvo.

    Take care and for those in Australia, stay cool and well hydrated in this heat wave. Come and visit again soon.

                                   Love   xxx

Photo memory game

    My buddy Sandie has set me a challenge.....a fun little game called the photo memory game. Here's how it goes:

Go to where you store you pictures on your computor.
Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH picture.
Post that picture on your blog along with a SHORT story about it.
Tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.

So here are the six people who I think would enjoy this quick little challenge (hope you are up for it girls):

1. Sue Madex

2. Claire Daly

3. Jo Mitchell

4. Di Herman

5. Leanne Stamatellos

6. Nicole Southworth

And here's my photo........

            

    It was taken on the 4th of May 2005 which was Danny's 39th birthday. We'd enjoyed dinner and birthday cake with Dan's lovely sister Laura and her family. Obviously it was all too much for Jayden! He must have been completely worn out! I love that you can see our clothes airer full of washing in the background, including Jayden's swimming top - we had been having lessons at the local swimming school here in Lilydale. In those days I had to get in the water with both the kids for their lessons. How times have changed in 3 1/2 years.....Jayden rarely falls asleep before he goes to bed now, and certainly not cuddled up in my arms. He barely fits on my lap like this these days. He is much less chubby now and has more freckles on his face. Of course I haven't changed a bit - ROFL! Except maybe for an extra chin!

    Thanks for the challenge Sandie - I love this photo and I'd forgotten all about it!

                    Love   xxx

Shivers.....swimming in October in Victoria? Are you crazy?

    This is a layout I whipped up today with a Bazzill cardstock background and some great shades of blue cardstock from Stampin' Up! - Cool Carribean (retired), Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue and Tempting Turquoise. I distressed the edges of my water ripples with my fingernails and a pair of scissors. I have also glued blue and clear beads onto the journaling block and the water ripples for a bit more texture and some sparkle. And of course the letter stickers are my beloved American Crafts Thickers.

    I just love this photo of Jayden! It is such a fun picture and shows the absolute delight in his face. It is so great to watch your kids truly enjoying themselves. Nothing brings me more joy. Another moment captured and story recorded....the story of the freezing cold water in the pool in October.....and of the little boy who couldn't care less about how cold he was!

  

    Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic weekend.......and for those motor-racing fans out there who will be watching the "Bathurst 1000" .....GO HOLDEN!

                                    Love  xxx.

Wordle

    Just finished visiting the blog of the sensational Belinda Venables who created a "Wordle" today. Thanks Belinda for the link. It's lots of fun. You just type your blog address into the Wordle website and it uses the most frequently used words on your blog to make a word picture. Cool huh! If you click on my Wordle you can make one of your own. I can't seem to find Jayden's name on my Wordle though.......might have to start talking about him a bit more often. You know how he takes notice of these things...(lol!)

(click on image for a larger view)

     How nice that some of my most frequently used words include "love", "family", "time together"  and "friend". Yep, those are the things that my life revolves around.....family, friends, love and spending time with special people. If you create your own Wordle leave me a comment with the link to your blog so I can check it out. Catch you again soon.

                                             Love    xxx