end of term + easter creations

Yesterday was the last day of term and my daughter had her Easter parade, for which she had to come up with an Easter hat.

I had hope she would make it all by her self, but she was clear that it had to be made out of fabric, like last years, but different.  Which meant, as she is not able to operate the industrial sewing machine or complete any hand stitching this side of Easter, I would be the one making it.

'Ok, so what do you want?' I asked. Maybe I should not have asked that, like I said before she has some clear (in her mind) and very set ideas.

Trying to describe the hat, I was not always sure what she wanted, so she was asked to draw it. The little designers' mind set to work.

She choose the colours, watched the making and oversaw the all design decisions along the way.  It may not be the most fashionable of designs, but who cares?  For her, she got to see her ideas come to life and to wear them!  It is also a wonderful reminder that as a child, their minds are so creative, and that as adults we should try to free our minds as much as they do.

leading the Easter Hat Parade

And the day before: the tired walk home, leaving Mum to carry her school bag





Have a wonderful Easter holidays

not wasting an opportunity

Recently things seem to have got in the way of up dating the blog. It started when I sat down to start a post a couple of weeks ago, found something out and ended up have a night never to forget.

There was a mad rush of grabbing food, toys and my 4 year old, into the car, then on the train into the city.  The destination was King Street, but other people were quicker and we ended up on York Street.  We joined the end of the of the queue and waited as it slowly moved forward.  At least our queue was moving unlike the one the other side of the road - they still had over 4 hours to wait until Apple started selling their latest gadget.

Trying to get into Red Eye Records

Then it was down to numbers, there was only a limited amount but there were all these people in front - would there be enough?  2 hours later (and still with a very patient good 4 year old), getting closing to the front, it was anounced there were 20 left.  Phew, only 5 people infront of me.

5 minutes later I was excitedly wearing my green band.

The Foo Fighters were in town and they were playing a gig.  These guys can fill the largest of stadiums up many times over, but that Friday night they were playing to just 600 people, and I was lucky enough to be no more than 3 metres away from Dave Grohl for nearly 3 hours. 

They rocked big time. What was inspiring to me, was that they looked to be enjoying every single moment - I've seen some big names who turn up on stage, looking like it is was the last place they want to be - but when the Foos were smiling, giving it their all, carrying on when the equipment failed, it all added to the experience.

And if this was not enough, they played in Auckland to raise money for the Christchurch earthquake and in Brisbane for the flood victims there.  Even if you don't like their music (why?), you have got to admire these guys.  And if you do like the music, then the album is out tomorrow in Australia, and if you can't wait then you can hear it now Wasting Light


Find something you really love to do, and don't waste an opportunity.

smile for the weekend

quote: Kobi Yamada      

© decoro creativity 2011



© decoro creativity 2011

8 legged homes

Another sign of autumn are the number of spiders spotted around our garden - if they capture insects, especially mossies, stay out of the house, they are earn their keep to stay!


st andrew's cross spider
© decoro creativity 2011

Ok, they are not cute or cuddly but the St Andrews spider has some lovely colours and pattern markings.

leaf curl spider
© decoro creativity 2011




golden orb weaving spider
© decoro creativity 2011

The golden orb has been around since about mid summer, however now along with their webs they have got much bigger - the little packages on her web are past meals to show off how good she is at catching her dinner.
 

© decoro creativity 2011

I wonder what is hiding in there?  On second thoughts, when they hide in holes that is where they can stay.

purple autumn

A week into autumn the darker mornings with a slight chill are creeping in. Once the sun comes out and warms the day up, it becomes one of those beautiful Sydney autumn days topped off with the sight of a lasiandra in full bloom.


© decoro creativity 2011

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."

 Alice Walker

 

© decoro creativity 2011



© decoro creativity 2011



hanging around?

fruit bat (current home The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney)
© decoro creativity 2011


Where ever you are hanging out this weekend, have a good one.

monkey island

Like many boys, my son choose a pirate theme for his party.  As a party does not happen without invitations, I set to work on a few sketches for them, and went with this.

© decoro creativity 2011

We had already got a 'Happy Birthday' banner with a monkey on, so Monkey Island had to be the party island for all these young pirates.  The finished invites were washed over with paint to give an aged look and painted  (unfortunately, I did not make any spares nor did I take a pic of the finished invitation to show you).

The same design was applied to the cake.


© decoro creativity 2011

Then one sunny day the pirates arrived, played their pirate games, found pirate treasure, ate a pirate's feast and of course some pirate cake.