Mandy in Oz

but I'm crafting away, nonetheless. Today I've been making soap, yesterday was sewing, applique, fabric painting, stencilling.....about to do a little more embellishment on a bag, but more on that later :) Here's some pics of what I've been working on, plus a shot of where the little guy decided to fall asleep today....very unusual for him, not to mention super cute :P

Well, it appears I may be coming down with something again *eyeroll* The aches and pains set in tonight.....how wonderful, just in time for the weekend :P Nevermind, I'm keeping myself busy *snicker* sketching a bag idea and cutting a stencil (the second time ever!) for another 'sort of' bag idea. Hopefully it works :) Will be back with details once I know.

it appears that project dye painting may be a win! woot! a couple of rinses and some hot, soapy water later - colour still looks nice and strong, lines are nice and crisp (as crisp as it gets, painting with dye, anyway) and I'm feeling pretty confident. I deliberately did this experiment with turquoise, as I've found it to be a bit of a heartbreaker when dyeing. Starts off looking good, after rinse it's a bit faded, ends up looking totally washed out. It's notorious for being difficult to set. So, the plan is to use these as appliques or pockets on some stuff for the kiddies, or maybe on bags and see how they fare after some washing and wearing......fingers crossed!

A little dye painting today......working on technique and using a new recipe. These aren't quite done, a couple more steps and I'll see if it's good or an epic fail :P Some finishing touches added to my alien landscape Twilight inspired on linen

taken at the family gathering yesterday. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny - just perfect for going to the park :)

The tribe rose early, heading into the city for the annual extended family gathering. Much fun was had by the littles and the bigs, after which we headed bayside for the opening of a fabulous new soap store :) Pics tomorrow ;)

because I'm starting to get that awkward silence feeling, you know - when you're trying to think of something to say :P Here's a couple of pics I took this afternoon, one of baby Jack and an action shot of the elephant skirt of a couple of posts ago.