Super Sweet Blogging Award

I have been awfully slack of late but just wanted to say a big thankyou to Rainbow Junkie for nominating me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award which was a Super Sweet thing to do! For those of you who don’t know Ms Rainbow has a lovely colourful blog on crochet as well as many other colourful things – go have a look at what she’s been up to!

THE RULES:

Copy & Paste This Whole Post and Replace All Your Information — who awarded you, for example.

(I am presuming that the important bit to copy is this below.)

Thank the Super Sweet Blogger that nominated you. (Done)
Answer 5 Super Sweet questions. (See below)
Include the Super Sweet Blogging Award in your blog post. (Done)
Nominate a baker’s dozen (13) other deserving bloggers. (See below)
Notify your Super Sweet nominees on their blog. (I will!)

THE 5 SUPER SWEET QUESTIONS:

1 – Cookies or Cake? Cake!

2 – Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla!

3 – Favorite Sweet Treat? Milk chocolate

4 – When Do You Crave Sweet Things The Most? Any time after lunch!

5 – Sweet Nick Name? Never really had one although I do get called “Crafty” from time to time these days lol!

And here’s my Baker’s Dozen:

My Home Makes
Projects by Mtetar
SusieDDesigns
Gippsland Granny
Creative Pixie
California Pixie (A special thanks to California Pixie for being the inspiration for Terrarium experiment)! You can see her fabulous creation here
Deep in the Heart of Textiles
Occasional Crafter
Schmoozelfleugen
Ruthie Quilts and Quilts!
Kirsten Jane
Pretty Lady Baby
Nice Piece of Work

And just to be really “sweet” I wanted to share with you the gorgeous crocheted slippers I ordered from the Super sweet Jill Goldberg (Nice Piece of Work) above!

Crochet slippers from Etsy store – Jam Tarts

Looking for inspiration or…..where has my mojo gone?

What can be more inspirational than cake!

Well its a mighty good question and one I don’t suppose I’m alone in asking from time to time. Sometimes with the best will in the world, it just doesn’t happen. Sometimes its the things going on around you that just sap your creative juices.

I could probably blame it a bit on the weather as here in Melbourne we have had a couple of weeks where the temperature has been hovering around the mid 30s (Centigrade) and that makes me feel about as energetic as a limp lettuce!

However, the other day something did jolt me slightly out of my lethargy – another award!! (I really don’t feel at all deserving but anyway it gave me a big boost for the day) and here it is:

Yes I know I got the same one recently but I thought I wouldn’t get into too much trouble if I displayed the award again!

The nomination came from Carol at Life on a Dirt Road whose blog I really enjoy reading partly because I have always wondered what it would be like to live up a dirt road and away from city conveniences and also because she makes lots of lovely quilts and she makes me laugh. She also blogs in her PJs and drinks tea so she’s got a lot going for her! – go check her out.

As I haven’t been doing a lot of crafting just lately I thought I would share some photos with you as I believe its important to feed your creativity in those parched times. I got this idea several years ago when I read a book by Julia Cameron called “The Artists Way”. It is an absolutely brilliant book for anyone interested in living creatively and one of the exercises she recommends is making an artist “date” with yourself every week. Now this can be anything that inspires you whether it be a trip to the local fabric shop or a walk round an art gallery (basically anything that feeds your creative soul).

I went to Camberwell Market last week and also had a morning in the city so here were some things that inspired me:

Some interesting stamps

Vintage lace

…and teapots!

Embroidered tablecloth

I was very happy with my $6 tablecloth which I think is so pretty. It is quite stained but I feel like plans are starting to stir within… and thats a really good feeling … keep you posted.

A friendly kind of bomb

Yarn bombing of course or yarn storming as it is also known. I took a little drive down Hampton Street today in search of the wonderful yarn bombing that was there just a few weeks ago. Alas there wasn’t much left but there were a couple of colourfully dressed trees left. I did notice a few other ways the streetscape has had a bit of artistic cheering up!

Yarn -bombed tree in Hampton Street

Yarn bombed tree – Hampton Street

I really appreciate this kind of ‘graffiti’ as I think it brings a touch of colour, whimsy and humour to an otherwise dull street-scape. I’m always a bit taken aback when I read negative comments in the local newspaper complaining that it is untidy, messy and unhygenic! Oh please, surely anything harmless that brings a bit of a smile to people’s faces can’t be that bad can it?

For those of you who appreciate a little yarn bombing, take a look at Stitched up Mama for a taste of subversive knitting and crochet!
and here at Yarn Corner which is a Melbourne based group.

I thought you might also appreciate this shop I noticed – haven’t seen anything like this before:

Shop decorated with lace doilies

Close up of
doilees

And a little bit of mosaic never goes amiss:

I would love to hear your thoughts on street art ie. what is acceptable and where (if anywhere) should we draw the line.

I have the lovely Winter Owls to thank for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award and very honoured I am to accept it (even though its taken me a while to get round to it)! I love her blog and her original style – go have a look, if you haven’t already, there are great craft ideas, lovely photos, artwork and Ruby the pugalier!

Now for my 15 nominations for the Award – I understand if you feel unable to accept the award if you are too busy or for whatever reason. Please just take it as acknowledgement that your blog has given me much pleasure over the last few months!:

The Nerdy Sewist
Living Simply Free
Life on a Dirt Road
Beyond Back Creek
The Inbox Jaunt
Crazy Wonderful Life
Pauline Knits
A Daisy Garden
Creative Pixie
Cute as a Button 82
Gone Rustic
Blogging in the Slow Lane
Daniella Joes Blog
The Green Dragonfly
Stitched Up Mama

Now for 7 facts you may not know about me:

1. At age 12 I was a huge Donny Osmond fan
2. I’m not keen on olives or anchovies (but love olive oil)
3. I always loved SF particularly Doctor Who and Star Trek (what a geek)
4. I love HBO program’s like Sopranos, Mad Men and Breaking Bad
5. I always eat the orange creams first, never the caramels (they pull my fillings out).
6. The first single I ever bought was A Walking Miracle (bet no one remembers that!)
7. I dream of renting a cottage in Tuscany or South of France for a couple of months and walking to the local market every day for bread and cheese.

Well this has been a bit of an epic post, hope I didn’t lose everyone on the way!

I will also take the opportunity to wish all of you a happy New Year and an extra yummy, creative 2013!