Snippets

We had a rather lovely Christmas Day.

Ari rose at the crack of dawn to a stocking filled with toys.

His big gift from Santa was a set of Automoblox hot rod cars.

I love their designs, but I must say it was rather disappointing 

when the one of the wheels snapped off first play.  Dear me.

I think we shall be asking the elves to send us a replacement...

From Mama and Dada he received a Maxi Micro Scooter!

He outgrew his Mini Micro this year and we decided it was

time for an upgrade and it was love at the first sight! It's already 

taken a trip into town and it's bound to get a lot of loving over

the school holidays. It's beautifully warm here lately, Summer's

definitely reared her head, at last! I'm hoping we'll get down to 

the seaside and give our new swimsuits a bit of a whirl too.

Ah, lovely food, lots of sweets, family and friends...

I hope you had a lovely Christmas too and have something 

equally wonderful planned for New Year's Eve? xox

wreath

Wow it's been a busy, busy December!

Not long till Christmas now and Ari's crafted up a storm
of paper snowmen and colourful garlands this past week.

No wreath yet! But plenty of ideas to choose from....

I love this cute hand made wreath from Bloesem Kids

and there are three more wonderful wreath ideas here
if, like us, you are up for a little last minute crafting.

the christmas play

I orchestrated a lot of the costumes for Ari's school play again.

Little elves, christmas rockers, a marvellous toy and Ari's PJs.

Yes, all those years of costume making and millinery training

definitely come in handy at times. It was exhausting, but fun! 

Ari helped me choose this lovely fabric for his polka dot pyjamas

and looked mighty swell as he recited 'A Night Before Christmas'.

I made his slippers and nightcap too and managed to snap a quick 

picture or two before we raced out the door to oversee the dressing 

and make-up pre-concert. I think a rather fun night was had by all!

sweet and simple christmas ideas

A round-up of some sweet and simple DIY paper decorations...

1.trees  2.village  3.snowflakes  4.garland  5.ornament

...and more wonderful project ideas here and here on Pinterest.

pretty paper

I fully intended for us to make our own cards this year...

Ah,  life rarely runs according to plan.  There's still time, agreed,

but I'm halfway through making Ari's costume for his Christmas

play and I have several others to finish off before Thursday night

and then we're off to a two day wedding on Saturday+ Sunday.

And I'm hoping to fit in baking and decoration making, sometime.

So, Ari and I popped into Kikki K instead and we purchased a few bits 

and bobs from their lovely Christmas range.  Hard to resist and almost 

as sweet as something handmade.  I particularly love the pop-up cards.

Take a peek xo

Art School

On another note, I will be returning to study next year....

I've found the most wonderful creative development course

and am thoroughly looking forward to further honing my skills.

It's project based, so I will be able to work on my own designs...
toys, clothing, illustration and a secret project or two, inline with
the further development of the Raised by the Wolves label.

I look forward to sharing my developments here with you.

It's an awfully long time since I was a student, studying at 

Art School. These works were some of my final year pieces

when I undertook my Diploma of Visual Arts at Swinburne. 

I'm still terribly fond of them, fifteen years on. I've been busy

working on a new series of images along these lines recently

 and am hoping to exhibit them someplace in the next year.

This week, my days have been filled with costume making.

For Ari's school play once more. Just a handful of elves to go

and some polkadot pyjamas for my little man and it's done.

Better get to it I guess!

You can view my art portfolio here, if you fancy. x

the new look

Here's a peek at Ari's new do thanks to Captains of Industry.

Sam the Barber definitely worked some magic on those

tired old locks. I was prepared for tears. But Ari loved getting

 it cut and he loves his new look. And so do I.  It reminds me of the 

children in those old 1930s, 40s and 50s readers, that I'm so fond 

of referencing in my art and illustrations.  So gorgeous!

field journal

Entry Four:  Succulents in our garden

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Life has been rather hectic! Ari collected these a while ago 

and arranged them for me to photograph. I only just got

around to uploading them yesterday. Aren't they beautiful? 

You can view other journal entries here and, as always,

feel free to create your own and link it in the comments.

The Summer break is coming up... only one more week of school!

We'll try to be a bit more regular with these posts over the holidays

and see if we can't collect a few specimens a bit father afield... all of

these  beauties were found in the potted garden by our back door.

xoxox

the divided heart

It feels like such a small world sometimes, doesn't it?

I just discovered that one of the Mums at Ari's theatre class is the author 

of this wonderful book, which I read and loved a few years back...

I've probably mentioned this book before. I found it very inspiring.

In it, Rachel presents a beautifully curated collection of interviews with 

some of Australia's most talented creatives, as they discuss the struggle 

to balance 'Art and Motherhood'.  If you haven't read it yet, you should.

There's a great review of it here and you can purchase it via Amazon. 

Rachel is an artist as well as a writer and has a wonderful blog.

Stop by and have a read sometime,  I think you'll find it inspiring too. x

sweetheart

Ari lost his locks on the weekend.  A first haircut.  At age 7.

Incredible, no?  He'd been so reluctant to cut it, so we just let 

it grow. I saw no reason to force it. And then one day he said

"I want a haircut". So we visited the barber. Snip, snip and all 

those tiny little curls fell away. Sigh. His new cut is super cute 

(I'll load a pic here soon) but I do miss those curly locks.... xo

Clare Grill

Beautiful oil paintings from artist Clare Grill.

Inspired by the traditional craft form of samplers.

You can see more of Clare's beautiful work here.

via an ambitious project collapsing