It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

... only with blistering heat that we've come to expect in Australia *sigh*. I've had my Christmas cd's on, getting in the mood. Our tree is up (and kitty is paying very little attention, surprisingly) and lights are on each night.

Now, don't hate me people, but I finished 99% of my Christmas shopping, and have wrapped all the gifts. I even made time today to create custom photo gift tags. Helps the kids who can't read yet be little santa's helpers on Christmas day because they can just look at the photos. I also created custom calendars for two of my besties (you know who you are), which I do every year. Loving my 2010 creations!

I am also flat out in my official role as Santa's Helper at my local Domayne store, taking photos of all the girls and boys (and mums and dads of screaming toddlers) on weekends.

Today I had a visit from the nice parcel lady ... a box of yet-to-be-released scrapbooking products to play with *YAAAAAAY*. It's all happening here folks! Now to luxuriate in the airconditioned comfort of the lounge room whilst sipping tea and gazing lovingly at my new scrapbooking products *hee hee*.

Are you having a nice relaxing lead-up to Christmas? Even if you're busy, it can still be relaxed :)

What a busy year!

Anyone who knows me well will always ask me what exciting project I have on the go at the moment. This is because I always have something interesting to do ... I really love my job(s)! LOL 2009 has brought me some amazing projects including:

* An Australia-wide tour of Spotlight stores, promoting Martha Stewart's papercraft range.
* Scrapbooking projects for Handmade magazine
* Painting project to be published in 2010 in Fine Art & Decorative Painting magazine.
* Entering my first competition piece, on display at Darling Harbour Quilt & Craft show (and currently featuring in Fine Art & Decorative Painting magazine).
* Designing original crochet patterns for a book by Milford Threads.
* Creating projects for in-store project sheets for various Brandcorp products (like the photo).
* Designing sewing patterns for Australian Girl Dolls.
* Running the school Bookclub.
* Keeping 3 shops open on Etsy.
* Santa's official photographer at West Gosford Domayne.
* .... and soooooooooooo much more.

The problem is that I am running out of steam. So now it is time for me to take a step back, look at what I have done, and decide what I want to do. In order to free up a little time I have put my photography store on Etsy into vacation mode until the new year.

I'm really looking forward to taking my creativity in new directions in 2010 as well as meeting some personal goals :)

Waifs & Strays

I am really excited to share a gorgeous new Etsy shop with you ... Waifs & Strays by Jayne Mateljan. This extraordinarily talented artist / sculpter / dollmaker lives in my neighbourhood, and I really enjoyed photographing her stunning mini creations.

You can visit her Etsy shop by clicking here ... www.JayneMateljan.etsy.com, or just click on the photograph below to be taken directly to the shop and see more views of these gorgeous creatures.

Enjoy!

RAK Winner

Three very beautiful stories about random acts of kindness, so I popped the names in a little pink tub and drew out this one ... have a read. Thanks so much for posting your stories, they really made my day each time one came into my inbox.

Karennarelle is our winner ... please email me at dlewis71@aapt.net.au and I can give you the details of how we will make your beautiful fairy portrait :)

karennarelle said...

How horrible for you and how lucky that the man was there...
My random act of kindness was to a little old lady who was in front of me in the shopping centre. She only had a few items I had my usual trolley full. I was busy stacking the groceries while her tally was being rung up when i realised that the cashier was telling her that she needed 3 more dollars or she would have to put some things back. She wasnt polite or sympathetic to this poor lady who was clearly embarassed. I told the lady that i would cover it the old lady was very gracious and i said that i would hope someone would do the same for my nan if she was ever caught short and that i was sure she had helped many people in her lifetime. The saddest thing about the story is that the cashier just looked at me as if i was crazy, it obviously would never occur to her to do that for someone.

My new job!

I am sooooooooooooooooooo excited to be stepping back into a teaching role, and at such an awesome place. Erina Scrapbook Store is a my LSS, and is a beautiful & inspirational place to be.

Check out the ESS blog post here, and watch the blog for class schedules as well. I am teaching a series called 'Guilt-free scrapbooking' ... yeah ... you know you want to be guilt-free ;)

Clever kitty

Look what my kitty can do! Ally is 6 months old now, and quite the climber. It took us ages to figure out how she was getting up into the boxes. Now we know. She can even climb up when the car isn't in the garage, but can't get down. What a cheeky kitty.

Owl be back!

I've been absent from the blog for too long! I've got a really good excuse ... I'm busy :D Busy is a good thing. I have a custom doll to make and some Christmas dolls underway for the shop. I've been making a few fairy portraits, doing some Etsy trades and just took on a new job teaching at Erina Scrapbook Store. I've been to Queensland for another demonstration, and had a huge family day out at Luna Park. The kids are now back at school, so I have a tad more time on my hands. I intend to use that time wisely and knock a few things off my enormous 'to do' list.

The most exciting new challenge, though, has been crochet. I started about 6 months ago, and now I am writing a crochet pattern book for Milford, along with my mother & sister. Here's a little sneaky peek at one of the projects that will be in the book ... a gorgeous little sleepy/wakey owl toy. This is my first prototype, and I've tweaked it a little, but I love it. I'll blog when the book is available ... most likely wherever you can buy Milford Crochet threads :)