What a week

What a week I have had. It included laughter, love, frustration and happiness. It all led up to a wonderful weekend. I had the joy of my son Shane, Stacey, O'Shea and little Finn arriving from Batemans Bay. Stacey and the little boys headed down to her parents house in Cape Paterson while I got to spend some time with my boy who I hadn't seen for over 12 months. Then on Saturday we had a fun day for little O'Shea's 3rd birthday. He was super super excited and had a great time. It wasn't a big party but it was fun.

Time for a Dinosaur Party

 

Everyones getting excited about blowing those candles out!

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day while we all prepared for Shane and Stacey's wedding on Monday. They wanted just a quiet family only wedding at the Registry Office and that's exactly what they got. Monday started off with lunch at The Terrace Restaurant in the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was such a beautiful location, situated beside the attractive lake and surrounded by some amazing plants. After lunch we all headed to the Registry Office to join Shane and Stacey pledge their love to each other. It was such a beautiful ceremony. Yes, I did cry!!

The beautiful couple Stacey and Shane

Little Finn was pretty happy as long as Mums boobs weren't to far away!

Mikayla had fun blowing all the people a kiss

O'Shea and Clare loved the Ducks and Swans in the lake

I was happy having both my kids by my side
(Clare, Rachel, Me, O'Shea and Shane)

So now I sit here in a quiet house as my guests all left this morning. I really miss them and am planning when I can go and visit them in Batemans Bay. But boy am I tired and am planning on having an early night. 

Note: Oh by the way as I mentioned above part of my week was frustrating. The frustrating bit was my shoulder and arm still not behaving like a normal shoulder and arm.

The movement has improved slightly but it is still difficult to do most things. 

My de-cluttering, clearing week

My de-cluttering / clearing week has progressed pretty slowly due to my arm still not being fully functional. So I have just had to make the most of what I could do and also make some lists of what I can do when I get my arm working properly again.

But the one area I did tackle and thankfully completed was the clearing out and cleaning of my craft room. Since arriving home my craft room has pretty much been used as a bit of a dumping room. So if I ever want to start getting back working on my jewellery I just had to get it cleared out. There's nothing worse than trying to find your creativity in a bomb site. So I decided to start at one corner and just work my way through the room. I made the deal with myself that everything I picked up had to find a home where it belonged. Be it, in its home, in the donation box or in the bin. This is by farther hardest room for me to tackle. I think my craft supplies are my nemesis. I start and get totally overwhelmed of just where everything should go. I find lots of half made things that I know I should finish and lots of new things I want to start. 



Mmmmm I think this dumping ground needs to be cleared!!

Finally, after two days I had the room I want to work in. My desk is lovely and clear and everything is in it's home. Now once my arm starts behaving itself I can get into some designing. 

Yeah it's done

How did your week of de-cluttering and clearing go? 

I'd love to hear about your progress no matter how small or large. 

Pinterest

OK I will admit it - I Love Pinterest. I have saved things on Pinterest for quite a while now, but since my right arm has been out of action I have had lots of fun just browsing all the stuff out there. It is just amazing what you can find on the Internet. Ideas on any subject you could possibly think off. And don't get me on tutorials, wow! No matter what you would like to learn to do, it is out there just waiting for you to find it. Now being a crafter to anything, is probably the reason why I have lots and lots of tutorials saved on my Pinterest. So with my current train of thought of making the most and enjoying what I have hiding in your life, I have decided to actually make some of the things I have saved in my folders. I'm not saying I will get something made every week, but I am going to try and post on one of my craft adventures each Wednesday.
Today my crafty update is is totally impractical but fun and is now decorating my dining table for a little while. First up I had to collect some Autumn (Fall) leaves. This turned out to be quite funny. I was just leaving one of Melbourne's major hospitals with Shane and Susan. I hadn't told them what I was intending on doing, I just told them to keep walking and I would catch up. Then I started collecting some leaves that were still as whole as I could get. I think they thought the pain killers I have been on had finally flipped me out.

My collection of Autumn leaves and balloons

When I got home I soaked the leaves in some warm water. One to clean them and two so they were a bit more flexible.

A soak in some warm water then a bit of a dry

Then I blew up a balloon and rested it in a bowl. Then I proceeded to paint each leaf with a water based glue and stick then around the base of the balloon and about half way up. Making sure I had them overlapping each other so they would hold some sort of shape. The first one I did wasn't really a success as I used way to much glue and when it dried it looked as though it was covered in cobwebs.

You need a good coating of glue, but I went a bit overboard on my first attempt

Lets see how my second attempt goes?

 After leaving it to dry for around 24 hours, I burst the balloon, which came away from the leaves very easily. Luckily the base was flat enough to sit on the table. But if it hadn't been I would have just Blutacked it down.

After pulling all the cobwebs off my first bowl I was pretty happy with it

As I mentioned first up, it's pretty impractical, you can't put anything in it and it won't last forever. But I like it and it's nice to have a little bit of nature in a different form on display.

It may not be everyones cup of tea but I like it because it's different