PROCRASTINATING, DECORATING, AND ANNOYING WISDOM TEETH

Boy oh boy, where do the weeks ago. I can't believe it is the end of July all ready. I have been pretty bad this week in getting motivated to do some art, actually I have been pretty bad the last couple of weeks. I just keep putting it off and being lazy instead. I keep thinking about stuff that I want to do in the future, and I let it distract me from concentrating on the here and now. I know I am doing this but I find it hard to pull myself back sometimes. I think I might go somewhere nice this weekend to distract my crazy mind. Hopefully next week will be a better one.

I have managed to do a little bit of art in between my laziness though, but not as much as I could be getting done or want to be getting done.

I have been preparing new canvases to start painting, and sketching some ideas for bookmarks that I want to make

I also managed to paint two canvases too, though I was just experimenting with backgrounds

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DECORATING

My Mum, Serena Lewis has been redecorating her bedroom at the moment and got me in the mood to do a little myself. I felt like bringing a bit more colour to my bedroom, so I took advantage of the end of financial year sales and bought a few more bed linens and cushions to brighten it up a bit. It's not a huge change, but it's big enough to make me happier with it.

My bed before

and my bed after
I really like the colours orange, aqua and chocolate together. Most of my house is decorated in these colours.

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ANNOYING WISDOM TEETH

I have also been dealing with a pretty inflamed wisdom tooth that has been annoying me for about a year now, and I have had enough of it. I had to get x-rays done yesterday to see whether the tooth was too close to the nerve in the gums or not. Luckily it's not to bad and they can take it out without to much of a risk. Though it is still attached to the bone so I will need to get some of that removed to, eep!! I am not the biggest fan of going to the dentist, but I guess it has to get done before the problem gets worse. I also got my very first filling done while I was in there which wasn't a pleasant experience. That needle almost gave me a heart attack! My jaw is so sore today and I still need to go back to get one more filled :(

SMILE!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - IDLE

She spent most of her time on the ocean floor idly passing her days

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I hope everyone had wonderful weekends :)

My partner Alex and his Dad went on a bush walk up Mount Mitchell this weekend. They have been meaning to do it for a while, but every time they have planned to go it either rains or someone gets sick. This weekend was perfect, the weather was beautiful and everyone was healthy.

While I stayed at home arting it up on Saturday, they set out on their big climb. It's about a 2 hour drive to the mountain and then another 3 hours up to the top and back. I wish I had gone, but I was afraid that my back would cause trouble and I would wreck their outing. They had fun and Alex said I would be able to do the climb no worries. So next time I am definitely going.

Alex bought back some pictures for me and I thought I would share the beautiful view with you for my photo of the week.

This was one of the views from the top of the mountain

Some fungi growing on trees

Isn't nature beautiful

Alex said the top of the mountain was covered in these grass trees. They grow really, really slow and are worth quite a bit to buy because of their age

The winding road down below

ISN'T SHE LOVELY

Hi! I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

You may have heard me talk about my pregnant friend Melissa before when I was making her this raggedy doll, and painting her this mixed media art piece for her baby shower. Well, Melissa had her baby girl on the 17th of this month weighing in at a beautiful 7 pounds. Baby was due on the 29th so she came a few days early. This is Melissa's first baby and all went well, although she has warned me that giving birth is the worst pain I could ever imagine. They named the baby Chloe which I think is a beautiful name.

I have been dying to see this new little girl and Melissa really wanted me to meet her too. So yesterday I bussed it down to my Mum's house in the morning and we both went and visited Melissa and baby Chloe. All I can say is that she is the most adorable little baby and I instantly fell in love with her.

This is Chloe

Unfortunately little Cloe was asleep the whole time so I didn't get a hold

Melissa was looking so well only 5 days after giving birth

CONGRATULATIONS MELISSA AND ANDREAS ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL!!!

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Hi everyone!

I haven't been able to do much art wise this past week due to having a very sick boyfriend to look after. He is back to work this week so I can get back into my art room. I started by trying to organise some stuff that I have been meaning to do for a while now. I wanted to make myself a little sewing needle book to keep all of my needles in one place. I was keeping them all in a zip lock bag and it was very annoying trying to find the one I wanted without getting pricked. So I finally got to work on one.

I really liked how mine turned out so I made three more to sell on my ETSY store. They are made out of felt so you just put your needle trough the pages inside. I also put a big button on the front so the case can be closed by pulling the braided floss attached to the back around it.

That's one job down, and many more to go :)

LATEST MIXED MEDIA PAINTING

I have finally finished the mixed media piece I have been working on for a while now. I have had a lot of distractions that have kept me from finishing it, but I sat down yesterday and got it done.

When I first started this piece all I had was a blank canvas and no idea what it was going to become. I just started building layers with the background and adding stamps and different textures, and it went from there. If it looks familiar you may have seen the sneak peek of it in progress in my creative everyday post the other day. I am happy with how it turned out in the end. What do you think?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - HOLLOW

The young Aboriginal boy was happy with how his didgeridoo turned out. He hand crafted it from a tree that had been hollowed out by termites.

CREATIVE EVERYDAY

I recently joined the creative everyday group that is run by Leah Piken Kolidas who is a wonderful artist. I haven't had time to participate yet due to a busy schedule, so thought I would put together a quick picture collage of some of the things that I have been doing creatively over the past couple of weeks. The days go by so fast that it can be really hard to get everything you want done. Sometimes I wish there was two of me.

There has been some new mixed media paintings started and old ones to finish, dolls eyes to be painted and sketching challenges to complete (among other things).

I hope to keep up with the creative everyday posts in the future and to also post more of my artwork as I go.

MONDAY PHOTO A WEEK

Hi everyone!

I had a lovely weekend just gone by. My little brother Aaron is on school holidays at the moment so he came to stay with us for a few days, but is back home now. We had lots of fun together and I already miss him heaps.

Alex, Aaron and myself all went on a huge bike ride together on Friday through the Boondal wetlands and up to Nudgee beach. Alex and I have been wanting to do this bike track for a while now but we have been waiting for Aaron to come and do it with us. It is a beautiful riding track with nothing but nature on either side, I would definitely do it again. We rode about 20 klms all up and we were getting pretty sore legs by the time we got back to the car. Unfortunately on the way back we had to ride against a pretty strong wind which made it a lot tougher, but we still had fun.

Here are some photos I took on our ride -

This is a pic of Nudgee beach

We had hot chips and burgers for lunch

Alex and Aaron at Nudgee Beach

Mangroves on Nudgee Beach

Alex and Aaron on the boardwalk through the mangroves

ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

I am thrilled to have received an award from the very talented myrarte. If you haven't seen her beautiful artwork pop on over to her blog and take a look, as it is well worth it.

Thank you so much for this award. I truly appreciate it!!!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - SHAKY

Although she was shaking with nerves as she walked out onto the stage, she still put on a happy face as she made her performance

MONDAY PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

For this weeks photo I have some pics from the Paniyiri Greek Festival that myself, my partner Alex, my brother Reece and his girlfriend Sarina went to on Sunday. The festival is held every year at a Musgrave Park to celebrate Greek culture. Even if you are not Greek it is a fun family day out with lots of fun things to do.

We had a great day and thanks to some fantastic acupuncture my back injury didn't get in the way!!! We all played a few Carnival games and won some prizes, ate lots of yummy food, and spent a great day walking around and having lots of laughs.

There was a lot of people there

There were some Spartans walking around too

and some Greek dancing.

Alex and I

Reece and Sarina

Reece bought me this awesome Greek hat

Sarina and I with our prizes that the boys won for us

Alex and Reece with the prizes we won for them

I'M A GREAT AUNT!!

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to announce that I am now a GREAT Aunt! My niece Sarah-Kay had a healthy little baby boy yesterday at 2.12pm, weighing in at a tiny 5lb 11oz. Mum and bub are doing well and will be out of hospital tomorrow.

My Mum went up and visited them in hospital today, but unfortunately I missed out as I am too far away to drive myself with my back injury :( I would love to have visited, but Mum got me the next best thing... photos!

The proud new Mummy with her bundle of joy

This is little Tristan

Boy, he is a cutie! I can't wait to meet this little guy in person and have a big cuddle. It makes me so excited to start a family of my own one day.

Thanks for the photos Mum xx

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - WORN

The word for this weeks Illustration Friday was worn. This is what I came up with -

She still loved her worn old teddy