*e*

my reality (**warning scary pics ahead!)

so...we board a plane for australia in 10 days. we move out of our house in 7. mick has officially finished work as of today and things are frighteningly real!
i'm still filling skirt orders
and camera strap orders
and making myself stretchy pants
and generally procrastinating
therefore
i present to you in all it's glory...
my um, studio!

my darling friend lisa, when recently describing my creative space to another friend - told her it was a place where she feared for her life should she slip and break her neck! i laughed. then i came home and realised it was true.
this is the floor in my kitchen (otherwise known as skirt making central, and not a place where food gets prepared, unless it is toast or cereal)...

you'll note i like to create a familiar workplace for myself - recreating the magic from the studio to allow inspiration to flow more freely...

(studio floor)
ahem.

believe it or not i went through this room of madness (and the garage - too ashamed to take a picture of that mess which should tell you something) to fill some boxes to the brim with excess supplies ('cos i have quite a few you see). leftover class kit stuff, product i have been given, stuff i've bought and never used.
if you'd like a lucky dip box check them out in my etsy shop - i may or may not have some other stuff going in there tomorrow. i'll be closing up shop on monday though - so last chance for straps and journals!

win-win-winners!

oops...i totally forgot to draw winners for the weekend giveaway (i know, the suspense was killing you)!

with some help from squinty-eyed and little pointy-finger girls - the winners are...

the spot in the "masterful art journaling" class goes to...

I would love to take the journaling class! I've already taken the mermaid class and am about to put it to work next week! fun stuff. The neclace is cool, too. fun sponsors.

Posted by: brittany | June 27, 2009 at 12:31 PM

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the adorable found and made literary necklace goes to...

What awesome prizes Em!

Posted by: Caitlin | June 28, 2009 at 02:45 PM

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and the spot in the mermaid warrior e-camp goes to...

Fun giveaways! Any of them would be great to win.
I hope you are feeling well. Your family is beautiful, your art is a huge inspiration!
Much gratitude to you!
Smiles to you,
Briana

Posted by: Briana | June 28, 2009 at 11:13 AM

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thanks for joining in and thanks to all the sponsors for their awesomeness! if you are one of the above comments please email me with your details so your prizes can make their way to you :)

and i'm excited for you to check out the new july sponsors - some wonderful stuff to see...
*arty online fun at kim archer workshops@home
*mama and baby coolness at liliesOvalley
*fab new 'everyday life' class at debbie hodge
*magical artwork by georgiamars

for more info on hosting an ad on my blog, please email - me emilyfalconbridge@hotmail.com

special little day for a special little girl

 

(cute birthday outfit sent from grandparents in australia, pigtails care of big sis)

wheee! i'm two!

all thoughts of packing and other such tediousness were cast aside yesterday to give our little two year old a day of fun. as mentioned ivy was director of such activities, declaring a list of 'yindi' favourites (which had a suspiciously familiar feel to them...lucky these two share favourite things hey?). first stop was party city for a big helium balloon for our little balloon lover. then it was the park - bubbles, snacks and constant pushing on the swings...then some fun at the ymca indoor pool where she was allowed to jump in and be caught over and over and OVER without mumma getting fed up!

once daddy got home it was time for pizza and presents...

two sweet little wooden cars from this etsy shop

the sewing machine was well received (note jealous look on mick's face - he is now the only sewing machine-less member of the family!)...and my lovely friend vicky knitted 'rosie' the purple gnome per ivy's request - ivy was given a gnome when she turned 2 and decided he needed a wife!

pizza and chocolate cupcakes topped with cream were on the menu for dinner...

and enjoyed by one and all...

(even the gnomes!)


it was a happy day indeed!

artsy at pink pineapple

just a quick reminder to those coming to the mixed media messy fun tomorrow night at the pink pineapple... please double check the supply list here and make sure you bring your stash of scrappies and stuff - bring extras if you want to contribute to the communal pile of craziness so we can all dig through and find treasures to work with! i'm really looking forward to this one...see you there!

call the store if you have any questions or if you want to grab one of the last spots for the class (760) 598-2222...

52Q - 26

this week's question is from one of my favourite-ever-artists, sabrina ward harrison...a journalling prompt she uses and i often think about -

Q - on my walls i would write...

i look forward to the day when i have my own walls to dip a big brush into thick ink and scrawl inspiring words and dreams and other such pretties onto the colorful paint...i'm sure there will be little handprints too.

what would you write?

:)

my baby is a big girl now

2 years and one week ago i looked like this...

and then...she entered the world so beautifully and our lives were to be forever changed with her magic. our little baby is TWO YEARS OLD TODAY! us three girls have just been laying in bed together looking at yindi's baby pictures and swooning over her cuteness (and those yummy rolls that have sadly disappeared!)...






oh she's a special one. her name means sun and she has certainly been the sunshine in our family with her round cheery face and big loving heart. i can't believe how time flies (*sniff*) and that now my roly-poly baby is an almost toilet-trained, talking in 2 word sentences, kissing 'beebee' soon-to-be-big-sister who is in the other room having a princess dress put on her by the chorister of birthday fun (miss ivy) and demanding which hair tie she wants big sis to put in her gnome's hair.

we love her! happy birthday sweet girl :)

weekend giveaway!

three very cool things to win this weekend, thanks to these lovely blog sponsors...

debbie hodge always has awesome sounding online classes, and up for grabs is a spot in the new class "masterful art journaling" which i think i'll sign up for because it sounds sooo cool!

In “Masterful Art Journaling,” you’ll get inspiration from art masters that will help take your art journaling in new directions. From each week’s art history context, Dina Wakley extracts art techniques, exercises and journaling prompts to help you play, stretch, and explore as a journaling artist. Class starts Tuesday, June 30th.

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heather from found and made has a beautiful etsy shop full of lovely things (i am the lucky owner of one of her necklaces which i adore), and is offering up this sweet baby literary necklace...

Heather says: I love journals but they're a little too big to haul around everywhere I go on a daily basis. That's why I came up with this cute little on-the-go journal necklace. Perfect size for doodling!

This journal was created using an old bookcover. It has 40 pages(80 front and back)of random hand cut (by me) vintage papers. Even the lined paper is old! Journal measures approx. 2" x 1 1/2" and hangs from an adjustable black waxed cotton cord.

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mccabe, al-la the dancing mermaid has long been teaching amazing art journal classes to young girls from her beach cottage - and now brings her magic to you in an e-course - mermaid warrior e-camp (ivy is joining in and very excited about it!)...the course is available all summer long and one lucky winner will receive a pass to join in.

little girls changing the world from mccabe russell on Vimeo.

to be in the draw for one of these giveaways, simply leave your sushiney comment below and i will randomly choose winners monday night and announce them here - good luck!

retreat

this is how i found them just now.

bowl of dry cereal, books, weaving. togetherness.

how i love these two together :)

yindi and 'raa-raa'

 

they adore each other.
and i adore seeing them together :)

the crafty room will be the last thing i pack

not only because it is the most insanely-out-of-control-overwhelmingly-crazy room in the house, but because we are still being crafty in it! till the very last day i tell you (rubbing of hands gleefully!)...

yesterday i hauled sewing machine, spray paint and other assorted items to my friend lisa's house, where i was craft slave for the day - the gift i gave her for her recent birthday! she had quite a list of things ready for me and my supplies to tackle - amongst that list was a seat cushion and pillows for her fireplace corner...

(the backs of the pillows were squares cut from button down shirts - makes it really fast to make and easy for taking off to wash...let's hope her husband doesn't discover the giant chunks missing from his wardrobe anytime soon)
adding pretty thailand ribbon to the tops of the curtains in her girls rooms...
and making a boring old corkboard un-boring...
this took a whole 2 minutes to do with the spray paint and masks!

i used up the last of my yummy thick wool felt making a collaborative class scrapbook for ivy's teacher as an end of school gift from all the children - they all did beautiful pictures and messages and i bound them together...

ivy's cute little picture of her playing with woodsy the class gnome (ignore my weird loopy stitching, i'm hoping the teacher did!)
and the two ivys shared a page with their messages...

the best part of course was watching all the little girls (note: boys were not so interested!) gather around their teacher like a gaggle of little goslings and giggle and oooh and ahh over all of their pages!

you can read more about how i put these kind of books together with several other examples over here on today's mama :)

on todays crafting agenda: stretchy pants and skirt (for me), beeswax crayon art (ivy & yindi)...and maybe i'll even make dinner - who knows?!! i like to go crazy somedays...