Creative Monsoon

samantha gazal

On - Wednesday 25 June 2014

Glad to see I'm not the only one a little obsessed by envelope lining. These gorgeous 3D flowers are part of Samantha Gazal's latest exhibition at the Butchers Hook Gallery, 52 William St, Paddington in NSW, until July 11.

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something new

On - Tuesday 17 June 2014

Working on something new today...

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Plants from scraps

On - Saturday 22 February 2014

The next step in the great garden conversion - plants. Kitting out such a big space with herbs and vegetables will be pretty pricey so I've been looking into growing plants from scraps. Above is my mutant capsicum grown in just a week from a few seeds saved from a store bought capsicum. And below the spring onions and leek have started to grow. Testing out some lemon basil too.

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Vegi garden

On - Tuesday 18 February 2014

It's time for a new diy project around the house. Last year we had two big designs - the kitchen and nursery, well three if you count the baby too! So now we need a big new project to get stuck into and I've decided to create a vegi garden.

We're going to use the big space down the side of the house. It gets enough sun, but not too much and is close enough to the fence to run some sort of netting to keep pesky possums out.

A few problems. What to do with big ugly open drain? How to make sure it won't be in the way when it comes to building in underneath at a later date? And we need a water tank.

First job is to clear it out and remove the mini jungle. We've made a start and ID'd a few plants like this blue ginger which is apparently quite rare.

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nursery done

On - Saturday 23 November 2013

Yay! The nursery is done. Except for a few more pictures and obviously lots more baby "stuff" - poor little guy doesn't really have anything except furniture and clothes at the moment. But Im sure that will change and we have plenty of storage space ready for it.

There were quite a few little DIY projects which might explain why I feel so exhausted. But very pleased with how everything turned out, it was worth it. Little one's initials I bought from spotlight, painted the same colour as the wall and used spray glue to attach some glitter scrapbook paper. The painting above the crib is just simple stripes painted on, then strips of ribbon added for more colour and texture.

Auntie Jackie made the beautiful crocheted blanket, and Grandma Bell made the gorgeous rocket mobile pieces which I put together with a wooden hanger purchased from etsy. Behind the door is another artwork I did of an owl which is mixed media using security envelope paper. Uncle Chris is working on some crazy alien illustrations which I'll use to make an ABC poster.

And because I love before and afters - the change table with drawers was an ebay find for $100 which I painted the same colour as the walls. Then I used left over test pots to create the ombre effect and navy handles. The rocking chair was another ebay purchase for just $40. Just a lick of gloss white paint and some nice new fabric.

To finish it off - twinkle curtains. Black out curtains in navy blue with little lazer cut stars that let just a little light in. Oh and we're missing a before shot of the whole room - yup, that's an improvement.