Ducks in the pool

I got home today to find two very excited boys - they'd beaten me home by a few minutes. They discovered there were some DUCKS in the pool, and Thomas decided to take photos. Jonathan found the camera and got some excellent snaps.

The whole world's going mad for KIMMIES!

Wow, I've finally done it - I've invented a new movement in stamping! It's going to be a craze, I just know it. It's the (wait for it) Kimmie!

A kimmie, for the uninitiated, is a piece of 2-dimensional artwork. Any medium is allowed. The only real restriction is the size - one square centimeter! Yup, that 1cm by 1cm. Pretty darn'd small. But it can be done. Wanna see?





















As you can see, here I've prepared a cardstock base by adhering an old dictionary page (I know, I know, I always do that ... well what's wrong with that?). I painted it white, then with some colours (greens and bronzes today).

I inked up just part of a stamp with a marker, and stamped it. The clever bit though - I used a waterproof marker - the permanent kind that dries very fast. You can get an excellent stamped image from them, but only if your stamp is VERY SMALL, because you must work quickly. So this technique requires that you make kimmies!

Why a waterproof marker? So I can paint over it in the next step! More paint added (very much thinned with glazing medium) to colour the wings. Not really to colour, just to tone - I was being subtle.

Then I added - hah! You thought I was going to say "a word snipped out of my favourite dictionary" didn't you! But I wasn't! Then I added a word snipped out of a very tattered POCKET dictionary. They are smaller, you see.

Bit more glazey paint; then some almost black paint on the edges, and you're done. Now wasn't that easy?

To give you an idea of the scale, here's my batch of kimmies, with an Australian 5c piece, and a US penny (one of our family just got back from the US).

But what was the stamp? It's clever! The answer is on my other blog (and that's a hint).

Thanks to Anne and Petrina for setting me on this foolish path!

A puzzle for you

Q: How many cars can you see in this picture?



















Sorry, no clever answer for you, I just enjoy working across the road from a crash repairer.

The coffee fix

This is what happens when you book a catered function and don't offer coffee. The event was Stampin' Up regionals in Melbourne yesterday. SU don't do coffee, but most of their demonstrators do. The foyer coffee shop probably sold about 100 coffees (so they were punching the air). But if each of us spent a few minutes in line, that's hours of stamping time lost!

D'ya think I'm analysing this too much? Probably, but I do like a nice coffee around 10.30 every day.

Anyway, that was the only grumble, and there's pretty pictures on my Altered Penguin blog if you want to have a look.

I love it when stuff I like goes out of fashion...

... cos it turns up in the clearance outlets. Crocs in the Mary Jane style, all in pretty colours, all cheap from Dimmeys. That's a peacock blue, and a ruby red - the photo is not near as cool as the real colours.

It feels like summer already!

Ah, back to work, and on Pizza day too!

Back to work properly, now that the school holidays are over. Working from home is NOT the ideal for mothers, you know! It's shockin' actually. Both work and home suffer. So I'm glad to be back in the office.

And I picked a good day too. A Good Thing had just happened in the business, and the boss was celebrating by shouting all the Melbourne staff pizza for lunch. The scrummy kind from the gourmet place! Pete brought in some home brewed beer as a treat for those who liked the look of it (see Jeff and Chris here tucking in here); and Umit topped it all off by bringing in a whole tray of Kadayif. Which is Turkish for AWESOME!

I've hunted down a photo that looks just like what we ate. I borrowed it from here. It's a cool blog with tons of Turkish recipes that would be fabulous to make, if one spoke Turkish (which one doesn't, I'm afraid). So, until I can corner Mrs Umit and get all her secrets, better just keep being charming to her husband.


By the way, beer at work is very much the exception, not the rule. Felt I had to add that.

New word for you - a seasonal one!

Asparaginous : resembling asparagus.

Another new word from my old dictionary. Now, why did I not know this one before?

A good one for this time of year - the spring asparagus is just coming in. Buy it by the kilo, you can get just the amount you want - "bunches" are all different sizes. I like it stir fried, but nothing beats asparagus in melted butter... except perhaps a cheese sauce.