Pain in the neck.

What a pain I've had for the last couple of days. Even a trip to the osteopath (& $75 later) didn't help.  Some heavy duty painkillers are starting to relax things a little more though.

So I've not done a hell of a lot but Miss Beatie did these cute little drawings yesterday and I thought I'd share them with you.

Hmmm . . . the top one does look a bit like me?

As for this pair, I'm not sure who they resemble?

No Brown Owls Tonight!

Unfortunately the Brown Owls won't

be meeting tonight. 

We will be back Tuesday 8th February.

(Caz's other half is sick and I've injured my neck!). 

Sorry for any inconvenience, and hope to see you in February.

Home from Holidays

Yes, back after a week away with my family and it was great. 

Plenty of bike riding, swimming in the Allyn River, bbq's, late nights, going to the dairy, drinking 'real' milk, seeing plenty of wildlife which included two red bellied black snakes in the one day and a goanna.

Here are a couple of snaps I took.  I did notice how green everything is.  I think lush is the word I'm after.

You have to look closely for the goanna. I didn't want to get too close.

Did I mention bike riding?

Little James was a champion bike rider by the end of the week.

And then there was swimming a couple of times a day. Still cold mid January.  Having no tv, internet or mobile phone availability is exhausting.

And then because this blog is about making and creating I thought I'd include this amazing birds nest that was hanging from a tree, just above our heads.

I know . . . the countdown is on. The holidays are nearly over, BUT we do have The Brown Owls meeting on Tuesday night!  Yay!

See you there at Nords Wharf Hall, 7-9pm, bring your own craft, or use our materials to experiment.

How to make a dragons egg.

Here is the 'how to' for the dragons egg (from the kids art & craft day). There are a few steps in preparation but the kids do end up with a precious egg that they will be able to keep.

Step 1: Buy some eggs.

Step 2: Make the eggs empty.  Using a needle, place a small hole at each end of the egg, place your mouth over the hole and BLOW.  The more you do the easier it gets (try doing 2 dozen!).  Keep all of the egg so you can make a yummy omelet, banana bread, scrambled egg, cherry clafoutis . . .etc.

Step 3: Place half a skewer into one of the holes.

Step 4: Using a hot glue gun, glue the stick into place.

Step 5: Using the hot glue gun again, make a swirling pattern similar to the one shown.  A bit like a scalloped lace pattern.

Step 6: Spray two colours (in our case we used purple and green) onto the egg whilst holding onto the stick.  Flat colours work best, not metallics at this stage.

Try to get the two colours at either end.

Step 7. When dry, brush some metallic acrylic paint onto the egg.

Step 8. Then quickly wipe off again so that the metallic paint accentuates the hot glue 'veins'.

Step 9. When dry, use a pair of scissors to cut the stick off as close to the egg as possible.

Step 10. Now your egg is finished.

You can make a box to place it in, or buy a box.

Just remember to put some coloured tissue paper inside the box to nest it in.

Paper Flags

As I mentioned previously one of the 'activities' we did last Tuesday was lino printing. 

And what do you do with printed sheets of lino?  Well we stapled each one onto a piece of string and made these flags.

We had 'girl' lino blocks and 'boy' lino blocks for the littlies to print.  The kids loved the lino printing - especially the boys.

I do always find that when I'm teaching it at high school the boys really love the carving and printing - (although they're not usually very clean!).

Brown Owls Return

Start 2011 in a creative way!

Come and join the Brown Owls.

When? Tuesday 25th January at Nords Wharf Community Hall.  

Time: 7-9pm.

Bring along your own art and craft or come and start something new. 

We always have plenty of materials and inspiration. 

So come and have a cuppa, a slice, and a chat while you create.

Cost is a gold coin donation for hall hire.

See you there!

Still getting presents.

Just when we thought Christmas was over . . .  a parcel arrive this morning with gifts sent from my sister-in-law Kate.  Kate is a Buddhist who lives and works at the Vajradhara Gonpa at Kyogle on the Mid North Coast NSW. 

I thought I'd show you the great hat she sent Miss Beatie.

James liked it too.  Who doesn't love getting more gifts?  Thanks Kate.

Kids Day Out.

Just back from our Kids Art & Craft morning and needed a quiet cuppa to recoup.  Wow, what a creative group of kids.  We had about 20 kids and parents (all Brown Owls) helping Caree and myself with about 9 different activities for them to explore.  

I almost forgot to take some photos, but remembered just in time.

Ages ranged from 19 months (above) to 12 years and it was equal boys to girls.

They all loved having a go at lino printing, although I had to walk away from the table at one stage as it was getting pretty messy.

This was where the 'dragons egg' & box were created.  I'll be sure to put up instruction how to make these soon as they are always a favourite with children, especially the boys.

We also did the paper flowers which we've done at the Brown Owls.  No boys interested in this one though.

The kids also decorated matchboxes, made door hangers, drew dragons, made butterflies, created lino printed flags, and just ran around and had fun.

What a fabulous mess they made!  What a great day we all had!   

Vintage Chenille.

About 5 years ago my Mum (& her friend Helen from Vacy) went to Queensland and bought Miss Beatie back a pair of chenille shorts.  At the time there were very few about and of course I thought 'I could make those' (as you do). So over the years I went about buying and collecting old chenille bedspreads. 

Talk about unfinished objects - or should I say 'unstarted' objects! 

So this week during a lull in the holiday festivities, I finally whipped up a new pair using a cream and a checked pink.  I also attached a screenprinted design I did during my first foray into screenprinting.

I even put one of the bedspreads on Miss Beatie's bed! I think I'm re-living the 70's where my sister and I each had one, mine was green, hers a reddish pink.  What about you what did you have on your bed?