Monday, August 30, 2010

Train Ticket Art

A good friend told me about a NinetoFive mag contest to alter a travel ticket - winner wins a year's free travel.  I'm up for a challenge - I sent in my creation but it didn't get picked [oh well].  The winner and top 10 are pretty cool!

I used bee's wax to encase a photo I had taken of a train pulling away from West Ryde station and of course, had to include a poem of sorts [using words cut out from CityRail brochures]...and an arrow!

Amy won a contest recently - maybe her luck will rub off on me one of these days! ...keep going!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Mad for the 60's

I was reading on Emily's blog about her new hairstyle and Mad Men (Jon Hamm aka Don Draper is a St Louis boy)!  Series 2 has just started on SBS and I must admit, I'm kind of hooked.  I decided to go back and watch Series 1.  As I was watching it - the talk of advertising...etc, it reminded me of my parents - my mom and dad after all met at work.  My dad was a young exec at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and my mom was a secretary...hmmm.  My mom years ago put together some photo albums for me and I was looking through them...this is my mom circa late 1950's looking very glam!!  My mom told me that my dad took the train to New York to see the Ad Agencies back then - I think one episode of Mad Men mentioned a trip by train from NY to Cleveland took 9 hours.  I love the stories my dad tells us of his time at P&G - the new products (cake mix, nappies [diapers]) - could be some Mad Men episodes in there... 
As I was looking through the old photos I remembered an online art challenge I did a few years ago - I had a weekly prompt - and was required to alter a playing card - here's the one from the prompt called "Parents".  My mom and dad look awesome - 4 kids at that stage - we were vacationing in Florida. 
Love the sunnies!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

End of Season

Sadly, my football season has come to an end.  My team finished in 2nd place in the comp - up from 3rd last year (that's me in goals)!!  We just finished the round robin for the Championship - and have been knocked out by losing in our first game 2-0 and we drew 1-1 in the 2nd.  I'm so proud of my team and of me for playing 16 games!!  Go Rovers!

I have been the team manager for the last 2 years (Russell coaches) - and I love it!!  I made key chains for my team - one side of the key chain was a smaller version of this post card - which I altered - the "Come Play" is for the campaign to bring the World Cup to Australia!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

10 Years at Citi

Today is my 10th Anniversary of working for Citibank Australia [which recently celebrated 25 years of having acquired a banking license in Australia - we got cupcakes that day - I had to take a photo - I love cupcakes].

It has been a good 10 years - I've held 4 positions in that time - my current role I've been in for 4 1/2 years.  I thought I would take a photo of part of my work space to show you a glimpse of what keeps me motivated all day...like a poster that says "KEEP CALM and CARRY ON", buttons I made [one of my Aunt Frances who watches over me], a photo of Russell and one of Pete & his kids!  They keep me going...

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Simple Things


Did some major house cleaning this weekend - sigh.  As I was cleaning the bathrooms [double sigh] - I decided the soft soap dispensers needed a makeover [and I needed a break] - so I peeled off the labels - put a ribbon at the top and used "rub ons" - OMG - so cute!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Ode to the Dragonfly

Not long after returning from St Louis in March 2010...this dragonfly appeared on the side of our house late one night...I had my camera with me and snapped a photo.  It gave me incredible peace to see it there...I thought of my sister-in-law Janice...she loved dragonflies...her daughter Maggie got a tattoo of dragonflies that represented the members of her family...I read on my niece Emily's blog her recent encounter with a dragonfly...I believe in signs too.

DRAGONFLY SYMBOLISM [found on the internet]

For as many cultural meanings there are for Dragonflies, there are just as many symbol meanings of the strong winged insect. The main symbolism are renewal, positive force and power of life in general with a sense of self that comes with maturity. The Dragonfly is a creature of the wind so it's only fitting that it represents change. They skitter across the water surface implying that our deeper thoughts are surfacing. We are reminded that when our deeper thoughts rise we must also pay close attention to what is deeper than what's on the surface.

The Dragonfly's colors are a result of reflecting the power of light so they are associated with color magic or an illusion in causing others only to see what you want them to see. They remind us that we are made of light and we can reflect light in powerful ways if we choose to. They symbolize going past self created illusions that limit our growing and changing and being a creature of water they carry a symbol of dreaming and thoughts.

The most popular answer of dragonfly symbolism is the sense of self that comes with maturity and there's a strong link to them and butterflies since they both represent change. Dragonflies are a creature that you learn to appreciate as you age and look more deeply at your life, which is where the link to change and self appreciation comes in. As we age we don't just see the surface of things, we start to pick apart our lives and see more meaning in things. No matter what symbol you see in the insect, the fact is that the dragonfly lives a short life and lives it's life to the fullest which is the strongest lesson we can learn from them overall.

Tribute to the Socceroos!

The World Cup...we love football [soccer] in Australia!  So proud that our team was in the World Cup in South Africa and sad that it all ended after the Group Stage.  I carry my camera with me - I spotted this sign at a bus stop - I made Grace lean out of the car window to take a photo!



Lots of "stuff" out in the shops to get us in the spirit including green & gold [the sport colours] m&m's.  Kate and I have made m&m cookies twice!  Yummm!

Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flower
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
400g m&m's

Soften butter & mix with sugars.  Mix in vanilla & eggs.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder & salt.  Add to sugar mixture and blend well.  Add approx 300g of the m&m's. Place dough on tray - decorate top with spare m&m's.  Bake in 190C oven for approx 10 mins or until golden brown!  ENJOY!