happy hallowe'en!

happy hallowe'en!

yes i know we're in australia but it's all a bit of fun really. i love an excuse to dress up in a costume and have some drinkies!
are you celebrating today? have you had visits from trick or treaters?
i haven't luckily, all i have in my cupboard is water crackers and fat-reduced, salt-reduced 2-minute noodles... that kind of fair would most definitely get my front yard toilet papered i think!

saturday prettiness.

the weather and my camera refuse to play along today, so i thought i'd share some pictures i took last time i was visiting my parents a little while ago (too long ago if you ask my mum...)



how is everyone fairing as we come to the end of blogtoberfest? exhausted? motivated? happy? disappointed?


i know for one i'm fairly motivated, both for blogging and crafting (though the weather has put me off crocheting heavy woolen blankets at the moment...)
big blogtoberfest wrap up tomorrow i think. oh and i need to get through the list. i've browsed only 15 of the 270 blogs so far, so i know what i'll be doing all afternoon tomorrow after work :D

before and after.

wednesday morning was hairdresser day! i popped in, got a fresh dye job aaaaaand a new fringe :D
curlypops and i decided we would both do a big reveal today and i even remembered to take a before picture.




and an after picture... don't mind the photo-bomber in the background there... that's the boyfriend, he thought it to be hilarious that i was taking photos of myself to put on the internet and insisted i put this one with him 'ghosting' on here. also, the lighting is pretty bad, it's still the same colour but without the brown strip down my part (ewwww regrowth!)



it would seem that this week is the week of new hairstyles with curlypops and car getting a new do too!
did you get your hair done this week too?

my creative space.

today my creative space is this jungle...



and these are my tools...



i'm off to go and get my hands dirty and my backyard tidy!

plenty more creative spaces over with kirsty!

some blatant thievery...

seeing as i'm absolutely pooped after a big day of tradies, hair appointments, shopping and dinner hostessing (boyfriend had some friends over), i thought i'd play along with vic...

the first song that comes up when you press shuffle on itunes...

mine was



piano man by billy joel.
well actually, the first thing to come up was an e-tutorial about hypertension from last semester at uni, i thought billy joel might go down a little easier ha ha.

4 things... chunkychooky style.

i thought i'd give kath's little meme as i've both run out of treasures, and haven't charged my camera.
so here goes.......

4 things that i always carry
1. my phone, seriously i'm lost without it.
2. lipbalm, love blistex!
3. keys, i feel naked without them, and have a mini panic attack when i can't find them.
4. knitting or crochet, there's always an on-the-go project in my bag :D

4 things that are in my bedroom
1. uh, my bed? it's the best thing in there seriously!
2. crafty stuff, 90% of my craft stuff lives in there. i really need to get around to organising it all actually...
3. clothes, everywhere, all over the floor, even though i pick them all up daily. not my clothes mind you...
4. mass amounts of wool. it's everywhere!

4 things that i would like to do but haven't done yet
1. buy a caravan and travel around the country like a gypsy.
2. open an etsy shop (that i can run whilst being a travelling gypsy).
3. cook an entire cookbook from start to finish.
4. manage to grow some vegetables in our backyard (need to stop those damn possums munching everything up!)

4 things that you don't know about me
1. the sound of whistling really hurts my ears, much to the boyfriend's disdain.
2. i could live in pyjama pants, 24/7.
3. i enjoy reading textbooks, but only when i'm not forced to...
4. i like chewing gum that tastes like bubblegum. guilty pleasure.

4 things i often wonder
1. how the world around us works. i think it's why i chose science.
2. why my wireless internet reception randomly fails every night.
3. why people do such horrible and cruel things to one another.
4. what i'll do tomorrow.

thanks for posting this cath!

at my house...

today at my house,
we're unpacking after a lovely weekend away.
a basically-technology free weekend away, hence the distinct lack of blog posts.




hope you all had a great weekend, i'm off to do about 238791 loads of washing.
see you all tomorrow!

what's going on at other people's houses? you can see over here.

ps. i had a great, BIG night on thursday, so great i forgot to pack my camera and laptop (perhaps the real reason for no weekendy blog posts...)

my creative space.

is full of cramming today.
and primping.

i have my last exam tonight at 6pm so i'm both preparing for the exam and the partying that will ensue afterwards.



reading all about pharmaceutical treatments of hypertension whilst painting my nails.
learning the difference between cardiogenic and non-cardiogenic oedema whilst waiting for my hair to dry.



it's bound to be a fun night, once the horrible exam part is over and done with that is.

more creative spaces.

making do.

on monday afternoon, the boyfriend had a job interview.
he was getting all suited up, popped on his nice new white shirt, only to realise that he was sans cufflinks.
the shirt had come with these elastic knotted things with a button on one side to keep them in place. i figured i could come up with something a bit more stylish :D



i took one of the elastic knotted ones apart and using the elastic and some old buttons made these shiny new ones.
what do you think? not bad for a 10 minutes job hey?

hope you're having a good wednesday wherever you are!
oh and i only have one exam to go now, life will be back on track soon :D

2 down, 1 to go.

exams that is...
i had my first one today and it went a little better than i was expecting.



now instead of studying for tomorrow's exam (which is 100% absolutely necessary at this point), i think i'll block out some hexies in the sunshine :D isn't it an amazingly beautiful melbourne day?

at my house...

i'm eating a nice healthy breakfast on the couch,



so i don't get too distracted from my studying. mmmm gonorrhea, goes great with muesli.



but i'm dreaming of places i'd rather be...
(hasn't my ripple grown a little?)


play along with lou lou.

flea market finds.

oooooopsies. i'm a little late with this one. just a day though...
and it's for a good reason, i was actually studying yesterday huzzah! motivation has struck when exams are only a day away (not the greatest timing there...)

for aforementioned reasons, not a lot of op-shopping going on here, so here's one i prepared earlier (and by that i mean bought about a month ago)



i found this cute little belt the same day i found my < href="http://coledabbles.blogspot.com/2010/09/flea-market-finds.html">vintage sunnies (so maybe more than a month ago then...)
i lurrrrrrrrrve it because
a) it was 99 cents. that's LESS than a dollar! amazing
and
b) it matches my peacock shoes almost perfectly! i can match my shoes to my belt and pretend i'm a stylish fashionista (i like to dream you see...)

more fabulous flea market finds with sophie.

grateful for...

the weather.
i know everyone hates this crappy, awful weather but today i'm really grateful for it.



if it was sunny and lovely, i'd be wanting to be out in it. weeding and pruning and planting in the garden or just going for a nice long walk.
but instead, the weather is horrible. so i'll listen to lectures for revision and crochet in front of the heater. much more productive for my exam marks :D

there's much more to be grateful for over in maxabella-land.

giving thanks.

i'd like to take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone!

thanks to those that entered my giveaway! the two winners were international readers, one from sri lanka and one from canada.
it amazes me when people that i know read my little blog here, let alone people that i don't know AND from all over the world!
so thanks to all that regularly read my blog too!



and thank you to everyone who has visited my blog over blogtoberfest, it makes me feel really happy and quite blessed that all new people are coming across my little corner of the bloggy world.
thanks to tinniegirl and curlypops for organising the entire event! it's such a great idea and i can't wait to finish exams and their horrible associated study to get cracking through that lovely, long list of bloggers taking part!




and finally thanks to miss rollinginfabric for the lovely bag that is decorating this post!
i really love the ribbon with the measuring tape printed on it :D
and it's a great place to keep all the hexies yet to go on her blankie...


hope you all have a great weekend!!!

drum-roll please...

as i had a fair few entries into this giveaway, i've decided to use the technology available to me, instead of writing out 42 names by hand and drawing them out of a hat i'll use the random number generator...



so without further ado, the winner of the first prize (big box of craft goodies including but not limited to: buttons, beads, paper embellishments, ribbons, wool, fastenings & embroidery thread) is....

number 33! which is peach rainbow!

i decided to have a second (minor) prize as well, because i had so many entrants aaaaaand because so many people commented saying that they loved the little pink box (i only meant the little pink box to be a prop because i really wanted to have a hundred-post giveaway but was HORRIBLY unorganised due to it being the last day of my uni degree/laziness).



so the winner of the second prize (little teeny box of craft goodies including but not limited to: buttons, beads, paper embellishments, ribbon, wool & fastenings) is.........

number 18, which is faith hope & cherrytea!

congratulations to you both and i'll be trying to get in contact with you to get your mailing address to send off your goodies!

i would really like to thank absolutely everyone who entered, i loved reading through all your comments and fully intend (once these horrible, dreadful, dreary exams are over and done with) to come and visit all your blogs and return the comment-y blog love!!!

on another note... i just noticed i'm nearly at 50 followers, i think when that happens, i might have another little giveaway, follower appreciation style. what do you think?
in the mean time, there's tonnes more giveaways you can enter over at curlypops' blog!

my creative space.

my creative space is all about the time-wasting.
procrastination. i'm getting pretty good at it after 3 years at uni...



i've done some mending. this is a dress that i bought at the mister mode night market a couple of weeks ago that needed a little attention. the front panel section was a little gapey, and by that i mean it was very VERY cleavage-y. too much for public consumption in any case. all fixed but i think it needs a dye job, it's faded very unevenly...



i sewed together this beanie that i knitted up a little while ago. this is my brother modelling it for me. i really should learn to knit beanies in the round, saves on the pesky sewing up the seams part that i always put off...



oh and the boyfriends family dropped us off a new (old) couch. so naturally the entire house needed to be rearranged to fit the couch in (excuse the mess)... lots of time wasting...

now i'm going to go and spend the next couple of hours studying (maybe) but i'll be back at 5 to draw my giveaway! absolute last chance to enter now! goooooooood luck!!!

pop over to kirsty's for more creative spaces.

oh and in case you hadn't heard, no ncb tonight! or for a while... not until a new home is found for it! let tinniegirl know if you think you know of a good place to hold it...

blogtoberfest day 13 - self-portrait day.

yesterday tinniegirl suggested a self-portrait day, where we all reveal what we look like in real life to one another (eek!). i took this to mean make a self portrait... i was later corrected on twitter but encouraged to make one anyway :D


so out came my media, i couldn't choose because, as you can see, i was a little spoilt for choice...
dry pastels, paints, pencils, markers, water colour pencils, you name it, i've got it!

and then what size to choose? i had both an A4 and A3 sketchbook... while i was deciding, i found some sketches i'd done for one of my subjects in year 12. they're not from memory, we had to copy them from an image. would you like to see?

ok so maybe i never got that last one finished... i'm not very good at completing things i start ha ha!



i decided to have a crack with some dry pastels, i've always liked them but they drive me insane when they smudge all over the place!



so then i though i'd have a crack with some watercolour pencils... according to the boyfriend, it's a little paler than me in real life and sadder, but not an entirely inaccurate representation.

so i thought i'd show you me in real life too, that way you can decide for yourself! that's my friend kat, she's amazing!


pop on over to tinniegirl's to join in the portraiture fun and see some other head-shots
hope you're all having a happy blogtoberfest!

ps. if you haven't already... definitely enter my giveaway. it ends tomorrow and i've just put the prizes together!!! excitement plus!

tuesday treasures.

so my treasure this week isn't something old. it's not something i inherited, or will pass onto anyone i know.
this week my treasure is all about the greenery :D



the seeds that i planted last week, the mystery seeds, have popped out of the dirt.
do they look familiar to anyone? not me ha ha!



and also the basil i planted.

now i consider these treasures because when i see those little green bits popping out of the dirt it makes me RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY!
seriously. i run around the house like a madwoman, singing and dancing my butt off.
i screech at the boyfriend, 'baby, baby, come and LOOK! it's AMAZING!'
he half heartedly has a looks, replies with 'that's great'
and i continue to sing and dance for the rest of the day!

it's something i share with my mum, this excitement for new green things. though she's a little bit more reserved, not so much singing and dancing, just a smile :D

what's your treasure on this fine tuesday? pop in and see clare to play along.

ps. my giveaway is coming to a close VERY quickly and you should enter to be in with a chance. i'm thinking of perhaps having a second prize... so even more chances for winning :D

finders keepers.

yesterday, after work, i sacrificed a few precious assignment hours (ok, so not much of a sacrifice) and headed into the city for a look-see at the finders keepers market.



i couldn't believe how much there was to look at!!! probably one of the largest markets i'd ever been to but i made sure i looked at EVERY stall.
however all this looking with my eyes meant i didn't take very many pictures at all... but here's a couple i did take, they're mainly of novel things i'd never seen before though...



the print is a little small but this card reads 'craft lady: you can't help but love a lady who isn't afraid to do nanna craft'
brianna spotted it and i thought it was wildly appropriate for me as the boyfriend almost continuously calls me a nanna for carting knitting or crochet everywhere. can't remember who was selling these, anyone?


speaking of the boyfriend, i saw this and couldn't help but think of him. it was just the coolest.
whenever i'm anywhere browsing, i can't help but look at things and see them as amazing presents for other people. anyone else have that problem?
gosh i can't remember who was selling these either! bad memory due to wayyyyy too much to see!


and these? well these were just the bees knees. books with covers made from vinyls. the inside cover was the cover of the record too. i really liked the photo album one!
find them here.

i had set myself a $20 budget for the day due to looming rent and bills so i didn't really buy anything... but my head is full of dreams so that's a good thing right?
ok well i lied, i did buy one thing...


brianna again spotted it and we both decided we couldn't let it pass...
yes those are knitting needles in my bag... it was a long train ride into the city ok?!
also, just a public service announcement... if you're going to knit on the train, make sure you grab some wool that is in a ball not a skein, otherwise you will have to make it into a ball on the train and people will glare at you when you hit them with your wildly flailing arms trying to untangle the skein and others will stare and laugh.
it took me the entire train trip in, and the tram trip from flinders st AND 10 minutes sitting on a grassy hill in docklands to get it into the ball ha ha. from then on out the knitting wasn't bad though...

hope you're monday is as painless as possible and that you a buoyed through it by a marvelous weekend!
i'm off to do start on some exam study as i successfully completed my last undergrad assignment last night (and handed it in this morning before the faculty office opened, therefore on time!!!)

sunday funday.

well it was a funday, up until now...

Discuss your results. How did you arrive at your identification?

Importance of pure cultures, any problems you experienced, suggestions for improving the procedure you used, suggestions for any other media that could be used or tests that could be done. Did looking at one week old, refrigerated cultures, affect the results?

Did the identified bacteria match that of the specified bacteria for each supplement? Did the numbers (e.g. CFU/mL) correspond to any that may be reported for each supplement? What effect(s) do antibiotics have on probiotics? Discuss.

you know that assignment i was meant to have done friday, before any giveaway fun?
it might not have actually gotten finished...
i only have that one section to write, 350 words worth, but writing it feels as painful as pulling teeth.
it's times like these i wonder, how many marks would i lose if i just didn't do it? yes i'm a horrible uni student!

anywho. the sunday prior to awful-assignment writing time was actually pretty great! i worked this morning (ok, not so great) and then headed into the city for finders keepers! more about that tomorrow though when i can get my camera to connect to my computer and pop up some pictures (though not many, i was too awestruck to lift my camera for most of the adventuring)!

have you entered my giveaway yet? please do! you could win some amazing goodies :D

hope you've had a great weekend!

things i'm grateful for...

today i'm playing along with maxabella
something i'm incredibly grateful for this week is...


my lint shaver.
seriously!
it cost me less than $5 from spotlight and has given new life to pretty much all of my clothes! my washing machine like to throw lint all over absolutely everything! not to mention, it's fairly relaxing... yup i'm a little weird...

ok so that was a little bit tongue-in-cheek (but true!), this week i'm grateful for this spring weather we've been having.
all my plants are in bloom and it makes me so happy to leave the house (as opposed to winter when you almost couldn't pay me to leave...)

hope you're all having a wonderful saturday and not having too much fun at finders keepers. i'm hoping i'll get there for some retail therapy after work tomorrow...

ps. have you registered for my giveaway yet? you could win random crafty goodies! in a box! tell your friends!!!

post numero cien!

that's right, post number 100!
doesn't actually seem that long ago since post number 50... i guess my posting frequency has increased a little...

anywho! you may remember that for my 50th post i had a little giveaway, well susan l remembers, she was the lucky winner :D

so i thought that as this is my 100th post, and it IS blogtoberfest, that i'd have another :D


and what am i giving away?
a box of crafty goodies!!!
miss curlypops suggested it so here it is!
i will however be keeping the contents a little bit secretive... until i pick out the winner of course!
*disclaimer* box may be larger than pictured.

to be in the running, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post :D
easy as pie!
i'll draw a winner thursday afternoon, let's say at 5. right before northern craft bonanza.
good luck everyone!!!

some art?

as promised a few weeks ago in tuesday treasures these are my year 12 studio art final pieces.



they are a series of embellished photograms, portraying some things that have come together to make me who i am today (or was 5 years ago).




can you see my treasures in there?



pop over and see tinniegirl(a real artist!) to sign up for blogtoberfest if you haven't already!

tuesday treasures.

are you ready to open up the final two boxes?



both boxes contain watches! these were again given to me by my grandma, who is very generous with sharing her treasures.



and again, i'm not sure of the significance. i'm pretty sure my great- grandmother may have owned them...
they're both pretty old-school wind-up watches. and i LOVE the silver, diamondy one. i think if i get married one day, this will DEFINITELY be my something old.

heaps more tuesday treasures over at clare's craftroom.

spring planting.

the weather on the weekend was so lovely, i just had to get out there and get my hands dirty in the sunshine!



i found this little matchbook of seeds at uni one day, pinned to a noticeboard in the library. i immediately claimed them, and they've been floating in my handbag, waiting for the time to be planted.



the slogan on the back was pretty cute i thought.



i rustled up a planter tray, and some dirt and popped them in. can't wait to see what pops up...



i'm keeping them on my kitchen windowsill, they get lots of sunlight but the pesky possums can't munch on them! i popped some basil seeds in too. i love how it grows like a weed. a DELICIOUS weed!
don't mind my droopy coriander either, i gave it some water, it'll perk up soon with any luck :D

hope you're having a fantastic monday and that you're all signed up for blogtoberfest!