Alcohol Intake

This was screen captured yesterday, so I am in fact up to 24 days.
I've survived without drinking

• bbq at a friends (everyone was making cocktails, but because I have such incredible friends they made me a mocktail
• stressful times at work
• boredom
• family drama
• Australia Day

I've become so much more aware of my thought patterns when it concerns drinking and to be honest I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. Lets see the next 76 days 

L xoxo

30 Loaves - Loaf 2 - Basic Bread

No photo of this one as I was not happy with the way it turned out. Chose the basic bread in the Thermomix book. Gound some linseed and sunflower seeds as the base and subbed wholemeal spelt flour for half of the bakers flour. This loaf ended up undercooked and dense and soggy, even another 10 minutes of baking didn't remedy this. One to try again after testing my oven temp I think!

Would I bake this loaf again?
Maybe

30 Loaves - Loaf 1 - Buttermilk Bread

Since the acquisition of my Thermomix, I have wanted to bake some bread. The basic recipe book comes with a few recipes to get you started and I looked there for inspiration. I chose buttermilk bread as I liked the sound of it. I trekked to the supermarket on a Sunday, picked up the ingredients I needed and headed home, gung ho to get my bake on. Hurdle....the bottle of buttermilk had mould under the lid, it was still in date fresh, but there was no mistaking that mould...gross. Back to the supermarket, chose another, opened and mould again. Grrr. At the suggestion of the customer service assistant at the front desk I chose the alternate brand of buttermilk, success!
Home, gung ho to get my bake on.
The bread was delicious. Spongy and dense, kinda like sourdough but a little different.
I really do need to get an oven thermometer and test my oven as I feel it runs a little hot.

Would I bake this loaf again?
A resounding YES!
Note: I would put it in a tin I think rather than "free" baking it

Hello 2012

So here we are in 2012. What a year 2011 was!
I have big plans for 2012 and I plan on documenting them here.

• eat healthier
• no alcohol for at least 100 days, currently sitting on day 6
• fresh juice every other day
• make 30 loaves of bread in the Thermomix
• complete 12 projects - appox one per month, below is what I have so far

1. make chair covers
2. custom mugs with Porcelaine pen
3. top from mans shirt
4. headbands
5. crafternoon
6. redo vege garden
7. Project Life album

Lets make 2012 awesome!

Lau xoxo

Little boxes, filled with ticky tacky, little boxes...

My craft room is a mess as you can see here and here. And I really need to do something about it as I can't bear the thought of walking in there and creating anything! In Better Homes and Gardens magazine, one of their storage tips is getting cheap galvanised shelving and organising all craft items in matching baskets with labels. Lightbulb! More upright shelving would be a more effective use of space than the shelves I currently have. So this idea has been kicking around in my head for about a month now, lack of funds has hampered any progress thus far. While trawling the interwebs for any information on laser cutting, I came across this blog and this pattern, for cute little fabric boxes. Lightbulb v2.0! I could make some of these boxes to store small items in and make my craft room more, more?? chic, styling, funky? matching?
Now I haven't touched my sewing machine for a number of years...As you can see by the dirt and dust here!

This machine is pretty special to me. It's an ancient Singer. My Dad bought it in his small country town op shop for five whole dollars! He was so impressed with it's condition and quality that he went back to the op shop the next day and gave them another five whole dollars! And he gave it to me! Blessed! (it's about the only thing my Dad has given me in the last 10 years - he doesn't believe gift giving) And it really is a beauty! And kitsch. And a little Stepford Wife <3

Fabric - what a mission. My local fabric store had a 50% off sale. Pandemonium! I am also terrible at making decisions. But with the help of my crazy (and awesome) mumma, I did it!

Heavy interfacing, dark russian blue for the inside, floral pattern and red linen for main and contrast, ribbon for "handles". And away we go!

Cut

Iron

Pin and Sew!

Finished!

Three more done!

Things I discovered along the way...

• I didn't sew over my fingers! Although it did get a bit hectic there at one stage!
• Measure twice, cut once. The box with the red base seems to be a little larger than the rest.
• Iron at every step. I didn't iron down the top seam of the first one and it didn't finish off as nicely.
• Get some at least semi-decent sewing scissors, or a rotary cutter.
• Cut in a straight line! There has to be some trick to this, just gotta!
• Less stiff interfacing for the small boxes and maybe stiffer for the larger ones.
• 1m of each kind of fabric, really goes a long way!
• I had fun :)

Work in Progress

Tiny links, each created one by one, a bead at a time. Stitched, tension tight. Growing slowly, very slowly.

A Special Giveaway - Belinda Saville

Belinda Saville creates true beauty in her jewelry work. She has a dedication to design excellence and a passion to see a project through to the end. Over the last few years of seeing her work on the beading forum I have seen her style grow and coalesce into something truly magnificent. I aspire to have the level of attention to detail that she has. You can check out her blog and her Etsy shop and also on facebook.
This week she is having a giveaway to celebrate the opening of her Etsy shop. A gorgeous hollow formed pendant, Moroccan inspired. A piece to be treasured and admired.
Much Love
Lau xoxo

First Month of New Year...

is nearly gone! Can you believe it? Not much to say except, well not much!
Read this article http://christinekane.com/9-simple-solutions-for-procrastinators/
OMG THIS WOMAN IS LIVING IN MY HEAD!!!!!!
I plan on Post-It noting my computer as a visual lockout with designated times for mindless internet. Right after this blog post *wink*

Wow - a long time between posts!!!

October 17, nearly 2 months has passed since that date and I really have very little to show for it. Motivation and creativity have been at an all time low mostly due to being so busy I could cry! The ramp up to the silly season has been pretty ridonkulus for me this year and it doesn't look to be abating anytime soon! There have been some false starts to creation along the way though, and some small moments of joy, which is what sustains me through the quagmire. I'll give you an update on my creative space and a peek at the new thing that gives me joy every day. My vegetable garden. I heart watching things grow and these bad boys have grown from seed. Seed saved by a dear friend and passed to me in a moment of trust and generosity. Planted by another dear friend, in a moment of trust and generosity. I am so grateful for both these friends for the kick start to something wonderful.

 A false start, tangled thread, wrong supplies, not enough patience. Back to this later.

 My desk, yes I work on this. A travesty I know.

 I put things on the shelves! In reality, these shelves are incredibly ineffective and annoying.

Vege garden 5/12/10

Vege garden 10/12/10

Part 3 of Creative and Bullet-Proof

Take Inventory of my Creative Space ~ I've just moved house, perfect time for inventory and divesting myself of things I do not need or use. This is where my creative space stands right now. Will post pics once it's all sorted.

And visually documenting my top 5 tools used to create.

52 Challenge ~ Halt! I've moved house!

Everything creative has recently come to a grinding halt around here. I moved house. It was very stressful, even though I have moved house approximately 20 times before, it was very stressful. And disruptive. And wonderful. My new place to live is awesome! So much more space. And a park across the road....bliss. So before and after the hideous move I have been creating bits and pieces of wonderful. A cake, a life drawing night, an online creativity and bullet-proof attitude class. I really want to make some jewelry. I am awesome and I can do it.

Marley's Birthday Cake ~ Big huge thanks goes to Miss K for the inspiration, teamwork and lend of her huge kitchen bench.

A selection of the drawings I did at the life drawing night "Dr Sktechy's Anti-Art School"

Part 1 of the online class "Nurture Your Creativity and Develop a Bullet-Proof Positive Attitude" - defining what creativity means to me, creating 3 different mini-posters of it and placing them in spots around my house.

Part 2 of the course - identifying "bullets" saying goodbye and making some positive statements about myself and my creativity.

52 Challenge ~ Process with out end product

Ok, so one end product. A twinchie (2 inch square artwork) monochromatic theme. And a double page journal spread of colour experimentations, various media, complementary colours.
Less jibber-jabber, more preparing desk for Kal's class.

Today...

.....I painted my nails. A bright metallic purple. It's so very pretty. I have some houses to look at and then a baby shower to attend. Maybe an outfit shot to do.
Much Love
Lau xoxoxo

Cake Crazy

So since attending the Planet Cake Novelty 101 course, Miss K and I have lined up quite a few cake decorating jobs! It's good to keep the skills up. So with the world of under 12's being being very much Twilight obsessed it came as no surprise that our friends daughter asked for a Twilight cake for her 10th birthday! And of course because she is tres awesome she wanted a Jacob cake. By the power of google we will have a design idea! Miss K must take all the credit here. Her research is flawless and her passion for a good design idea unsurpassed! The execution ~ a little more tricky! Checkerboards are hard! and they don't go over the edge so well! But in saying that, I did enjoy having a another crack at the cake decorating title. I present to you.......Gateau Team Jacob!

Friday Style

It's been a while, but it's been work, domestic diva, work, domestic diva, work around here for quite some time. So outfits have been corporate or jeans and t-shirt. Tonight I went to the opening of the Perth gallery of Outre. One of my favourite artists of all time was featured. He was even there at the opening. But it was way too packed to get near him and I wouldn't have know what to say! "I heart your stuff man" just doesn't really cut the mustard with such a renowned artist such as Shag. His new work takes on a different concept. A series of original paintings (most of his work you can buy is limited edition prints, no less amazing I must add) that come with "The Inscrutable Mystery Guide". The guide deciphers the iconography of the each painting in the series. The idea behind it is only the people who own the paintings ever get to see what is in the guide. Inscrutable and intriguing. I'm dying to know what is in the guide, but with a $2000 price tag I can't see it happening soon. But we all need pipe dreams yes?
So with such a nice occasion to go to I got a little dressed up! Please excuse the poor photos, Marley, my nearly 4 year old wanted to get in on the action, I was a bit rushed!

I added a couple of photos with Marley as he absolutely loves the camera. He's right into the action whenever I pull the camera out!

Dress: Black Roses from Hurly Burly Clothing Perth

Fishnets: Micro Net from Target

Shoes: Burlesque Baby

Earrings: Dangerfield

Much Love

Miss Lau xoxox

PS I heart my coffee machine so much but rarely use it. It is as far from automatic as they come and I always think too hard! But this morning I just needed to fire that bad boy up! Check my latte! I so rock. Mwah! L

The 20th Thing ~ 52 Challenge

I counted up the things I have created during this 52 Challenge I have set for myself. Today's post celebrates the twentieth thing I have made since I began this challenge on the 11th February 2010. I'm not even at the halfway point yet as far as things made goes, but I am over halfway in time. I still feel good about setting myself this challenge, but feel I need to gift myself some more time to sit back and create.

Yesterday I went and did a Cake Decorating - Novelty 101 class with Jess from Planet Cake. The Team from Planet Cake were here for the second time this year to do some workshops. Be warned ~ this is 7 epic hours on your feet of cake decorating. I really had no idea how hard this was going to be. Or how insanely precise you have to be to get these bad boys looking fabulous! But it was very much fun and I do believe there may be a new hobby brewing away inside my brain. Enjoy the circus tent extravaganza in all it's cakey goodness. It's nearly 25cms high and weighs a good coupla kgs!

52 Challenge ~ Very Bad Laura

So I am epically failing with the 52 weeks challenge I set myself some months ago, along with blogging, housework, exercise and many other things. My friend sent me a link the other day for an online class designed to boost creativity, which in theory sounds fabulous. However I have to move house sometime in the next 2 months so I am doubting I would get my moneys worth from it, given that life is going to get hectic in the near and not distant future. Hmmmmmm.............................. do I hear the sound of excuses being formed? Big fat, juicy excuses? Yes I think I do! The jury is still out as too whether I will sign up, I'll keep you posted.

In saying that I did have a spurt of creativity in the last week or so, and then ran out of supplies, and have not had time to get me some more! Eeeeps! So drum roll please.........................

I made one for myself first, it is so super pretty, after wearing it for a few days I decided that they were a fabulous idea and made one more, and then ran out of glass........*insert sad face here*. These are on longish chains, the copper one not so much, coz I didn't have much chain, but it's cute anyway.

Double Post Up ~ 52 Challenge and Sweet Style

So I've been a bit slack with the creativity challenge. I'll put my hand up for that. I was given a Blythe Doll for my birthday by my wonderful girlfriends and I was inspired to make her some new clothes. The first pic is her (now called Luna) straight out of the box. And the second is her in a new stylin dress and earrings I made for her. I went on an Etsy retail therapy binge this week and bought her heaps of new clothes and shoes. Stay tuned for more Blythe goodness.

My super cool Aunty is here and we went out for dinner and a few drinks last night. I was instructed to put my party gear on, after a few costume changes, this was my choice.

Long sleeve top - Target

Cardi - Jay Jay's

Skirt - Burlesque Baby

Shoes - Burlesque Baby

Tights - Supermarket

Earrings - Dangerfield