For this weeks Flickr Faves Mitsy set us some homework.  This week’s theme was set for us; Self Portrait.  We were tasked with finding images that represented who we are.  So without further ado here’s the 9 images I chose to speak to who I am at this moment in time.  The lists is by no means definite or exhaustive. It’s just 9 somewhat random images.

1. gnome – This one is a no brainer in some ways and yet in others it’s surprising.  My gnome “fetish” was well over a decade ago and yet I still have this link to gnomes.  It’s one that I propigate through my own choices, but it still amazes me that these little guys keep coming up in my life.  Sometimes the gnome thing is really random and then at other times it seems apt.  I’m sure when I move on to the next stage in my adventure a gnome will adorn my body’s final resting place.  I just hope it’s a tasteful one, like this one, and not some $2 Crazy Clark’s job!

2. Colored Pens #8,- I love stationery.  I’m a mad pen collector.  I might not drink coffee, but I have a coffee mug collection that grows just to house all the pens I acquire.  I love notepads, blank paper, wrapping paper, envelopes, cards, stickers and the list goes on and on.  There’s nothing more thrilling than a fresh notebook.  That first beautifully empty page.  I love the beginning of a school year when school supplies litter all the shops.  I love stationery!

3. Groovy Rainbow Cupcake,- Food.  I’ve had a constant battle with food.  I love to bake and I love to eat.  Two things that have not been conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  My relationship with food is changing and evolving and I want to be able to still have fun with my food and enjoy my life through my enjoyment of food.

4. star dust and rainbows. 156:365, – I love rainbows.  I love colour.  Lots of colour.  Bold colour.  I also love Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and mad socks.  Rainbows are happy.  I love to be happy.  Happiness is a state that I want to be in for the largest chunk of my life.   I love this image.

5. Tattoo pioeuvre 9,- Much to the misunderstood amusement of my friends and family I love tattoo’s.  I have four.  Two rather large and prominently placed and two smaller pieces.  I will get more.  I love them on other people (when they’re done well); regardless of their age, race, size or subject matter.  To me they’re like a living canvas.  I love the images that people chose to carry with them.  The stories behind them.  The technique that is used to make them.  I love them.  I will continue to think that people that have them are beautiful in their own way, and that the tattoo doesn’t distract from that.  I don’t regret mine, and I hope that those that get tattoo’s don’t regret theirs either.

6. I Want To Read: cover,- I’m a bookworm.  I love a good book.  Although I suspect what I consider to be “good” is not to everyone’s taste.  I love getting lost in a book.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish a book.  I love listening to people read from books.  I love going to bookstores and wondering the story picking up and caressing various books.  I’m a bibliophile and proud of it!

7. Girl Painting a Rainbow,- First off, I love the name of this image.  It sounds like it should be a Rollingstone’s song.  I love being creative.  I love to take objects and re-purposing  them.  I love the imagination.  I love seeing what others come up with.  I love the design revolution that’s happening now.  I love spending hours looking online at what people have created and how they incorporate the design trends and their own quirky style into their homes.  I love getting my hands dirty in the creative process.

8. A-Maze-Ing Laughter, – A day without laughter is like a day without sun.  It’s not right.  I can’t get enough of laughing.  I love to laugh; I love to make others laugh.  I love hearing a child just cracking up with their own laughter.  I love watching other people laugh.  I love infectious laughter that flows from one person to another.  I love a good joke.  I love a smartarse comment.  I love a witty insight.  A good pun.  I love a fart joke.  I want to laugh.  I believe our bodies were built for laughter.  I believe laughter is the sound of love.  I want to see this sculpture in person!

9. Macro Game Piece Monday – I’m an online gamer.  I’m addicted to playing an online game.  I love it.  I love playing board games and card games with my friends.  I love strategy and I love the escapism.  I love games.  I love nothing more then a good meal, great company and a few rounds of various games as a good night in.  I love trivia nights.  I love competition.  I love playing.

I loved this task so much it inspired a redesign of my blog theme where I chose photo’s from my life that I have taken that I feel represent all the great things in my life.  (With the exception of friends and family because I didn’t want to use their images without permission.)  I also realised that I used ‘love’ a lot in this task and I think it’s reflective of where I am at the moment.  I’m loving life.  Are you loving your life?

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Wanna see more wonderful self portraits?  Or maybe you want to submit your own.  Head on over to Artmind where Ms Misty is hosting the Flickr Fave party.  Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I can’t stop looking at this image.  The combination of that oh-so-inviting water and the lush greens of the garden.  That little hint of purple foliage and the shine in her hair.  Down to the wonderful red of her fingernails.  I can almost feel the warmth of the sun in this painting.

I would die to have this painting hanging in our home.  I’m in serve artist lust at the moment.  This is amazing.

Check out more of Diego Gravinese at his Flickr or his website (which is currently under construction but has his contact details there).

Today’s Friday Fancies is an unusually long one.  I didn’t realise that there were so many variations of one of my favourite symbols out there.

1. Epershand Earrings 2. Harrington Earrings 3. Ampersand 4. Glass Marble Necklace Ampersand Symbol 5. Ampersand Ring 6. Sterling Silver Block Letter Ampersand Necklace 7. Silver Helvetica Ampersand Earrings 8. The Super Ampersand 9. Harrington Necklace 10. Aluminum Ampersand for Wall or Shelf 11. Ampersand Script Font 12. Land of Ampersand 13. French Style Petit Coterie Ampersand Burlap Pillow 14. Ampersand Gocco Print 15. Coral Ampersand 16. Ampersand Cushion 17. Ampersand Cross Stitch Kit 18. Wire Ampersand Symbol 19. Ampersand 20. Ampersand Necklace (Black)

How awesome is this vase?  Prairie House is made by artist Dora Humniski as part of the artist collective called Loyal Loot.

I just love the simple lines and the imaginative play on proportions and landscapes.  I’d love this vase just so I could keep changing the item it held and pretend I lived in that house for a little while.

Image source: Loyal Loot

1. yellow van, #410 in explore !, 2. Walk In My Yellow Shoes, 3. inconspicuous yellow umbrella, 4. Yellow Bike, 5. Happy Yellow Sunshine Rainbow Baby Tighter Crop, 6. yellow Y and blue sky, 7. it was all yellow, 8. Parking on double yellow lines, 9. Photo Course 01.03.10

I’m in a yellow kind of mood today.  Not sure why, yellow isn’t one of my favourite colours either so it’s doubly surprising.

The last week has been interesting.  HUBBY is still job hunting while I’ve been patiently awaiting a call from my new employer letting me know when I’ll be able to start.  While I’m enjoying the time at home with HUBBY I’m starting to get a little anxious about when we’ll both be back at work.  There’s a few things we’d like to do this year that rely on both of us working.  (Like eating regularly!)  But it’s in GOD’s hands so I guess I’d best just chill and enjoy the time I have at home.

On Saturday night we caught up with HUBBY’s Dad and his partner.  It was a great night.  I forget just how much I enjoy their company until we’re all together again and then I spend the next week or two wishing we all lived closer together.  His Dad was traveling with friends of theirs from Melbourne, A and P.  A and I had a great natter about the marvelous-ness that is Etsy.  We had an awesomely delicious meal at La Rustica in Kingston; it was just a shame that the service was appalling.  We waited over an hour to get our meals and the wait staff were not the friendliest wait staff.  One of the waitresses was wearing a rather lovely set of gold bangles that had little medallions hanging from them.  Only one problem, every time she served food she dragged the bangles through the dish.  Yummy!

We spent Sunday the way we’d spent most of the week.  Lazying about the house amusing ourselves with various media outlets.  It was a cloudy day that threatened rain and failed to deliver.  But it was clearly the first real day of Autumn, which is grand as it means Summer is over and Winter is just around the corner.  I love this time of year almost as much as I love Spring. I love seeing the colours change around the place and the ability to wear scarves.  I just love scarves.  In fact I’m going to have to make it a priority to learn how to make one this winter.

On Monday I went to a photography course with M called Love Your Camera.   (The rubber duck image above is one I took as part of the course.) It was great to catch up with M who is positively glowing in her pregnant state.  We spent the day having a good natter and a laugh.  The course was enjoyable and the facilitator really lovely.  I spent half the day wishing we could have a photo session with her because she was so captivating.  The course was a great rehash of a lot of the fundamentals that I had been taught at university.  The course is geared towards taking photos of your kids it’s still good practical advice for anyone wanting to just take a better photo and understand their camera. The facilitator is clearly really good at what she does and has a wealth of information to share about the business, tools of the trade and how to interact with your subjects.

Despite being enjoyable it just felt like it was missing something.  I really felt the lack of a handbook as I’m a note taker that likes to make notes on the slides as I see them.   I also thought it was hard to see what we were all doing when you just relied on the digital display on our cameras.  It would have been great to do some practical work in the morning, have the facilitator load the images over lunch and then talk about what we’d all been doing, with a follow up in the afternoon to correct what we’d done in the morning.  Or even set a homework task and have people take photos prior to the class and go through those and then show the improvement at the end of the day.  Besides being really helpful people always get a kick out of showing off their talents and subjects.  (Or is that just me?)

At the end of the day did I feel like I got my $225 worth.  Unfortunately not.  Due to the size of the class it was hard to get one-on-one time with the facilitator and because we couldn’t see the difference in our images over the day it really made it hard to adjust your style and settings to see some improvement and take advantage of having the expert with you.

Would I recommend the course?  Probably, but only to those that had children or were looking to start a family portraits business and we’re looking at a really basic introduction in to what to do.

Would I book Angie to take photo’s of me and my family?  Hell yeah!  She was wonderful and clearly talented.  My brother’s 30th Birthday is coming up and she’ll be in Brisbane around that time.  I’m seriously considering flying up there and getting her to take the family portraits my mother has always wanted of us.  I will definitely be keeping her in mind when my Sister-In-Law has her baby later this year.  It would be a wonderful gift to give new parents.

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If you want to see other people’s Flickr Faves head on over to ArtMind. While you’re there check out the latest, and way cutest, offering from ArtMind: Bunny Art

Image source: ArtMind

I just love this installation piece by Pete Dungey.  It’s a brilliant, and colourful, way to highlight the problems with road conditions.  I just love the look of the mini garden.  The website gives the following explanation about the project:

An ongoing series of public installations highlighting the problem of surface imperfections on Britain’s roads.

‘If we planted one of those in every hole, it would be like a forest in the road’

It would be a crying shame if someone was to run over the top of one of these mini gardens.

Image source: Pete Dungey

Found via A Cup of Joe.

I’m playing it fast and loose with today’s Friday Fancies.  Normally I try and stick to a theme, but today’s theme is all about things I like.  That’s it.  So enjoy.

A. Rufus – This little guy is just so adorable.  He’s made by The Vintage Magpie (the blog is a must see!).  He reminds me of Basil Brush, only without the double entendre.

B. What’s Up Chicken Butt? – I’d love a set of these cards.  What a great way to stay in touch with a bit of a laugh and some cool graphics.

C. Cast Metal Animals – Love these little animals.  I’m not a big fan of traditional style bookends, but these little critters would make the nicest little touch to a stack of books.  I couldn’t decide which one I liked most so I’d just have to get all three…

D. Milk – I’m still not able to drink milk like I used to and it’s still bumming me out.  But I’d totally love to get this card and frame it.  The colour combination is great, and it’s one that I’m really crushing on at the moment.  I’m even thinking about using it as the basis for my next adventure with crochet.

E. Funky Swirl Cupcake Liners – I recently picked up a copy of the Country Woman’s Association’s cookbook and I’ve been dying to try out some of their sweet recipes.  These cupcake liners would be a great accompaniment to the yumminess that is a traditional country recipe!

F. Snuggle Up – I’m starting to think I have a thing for bunny art.  I would love to add this to my collection.  Those little cotton tails are just so cute.

G. Scherenschnitte Ringer Tee – My love of t-shirts is not dissipating with time, and these great shirts are not helping the cause either.  Such sweet motifs and great colour combination with a vintage feel.  I want them all!

H. Valentine – I love garnet and I love upcycling.  I also love love *wink* so what better way to acknowledge all of that then with this beautiful piece of jewelry.  I’m really loving all the jewelry that’s popping up at the moment made from cutlery.  It’s such a great way to take some amazing flatware outside of just the dining room.

This Sunday will see the Park Hyatt in Canberra hosting Mathilda’s Market.  It’s a market specifically for selling handmade childrens items.  Now I don’t have any children (at the moment) but 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the childbirth for most of the women in my circle so I’m seizing the opportunity to do some baby present shopping. Besides, it’ll be a nice excuse to get out of the house on Sunday morning.

Mathilda’s Market is held in all capital cities, with the exception of Darwin.  (But I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before that is rectified.)

A month after Mathilda’s Market there’ll be the Handmade Market!

This market is not just about the kids, it’s got everything for anyone.  The market has become so popular it’s had to change it’s location to accommodate more stalls and shoppers.  Which is a great indication of how much people love to buy handmade and support local artists and crafters. I’m going to be saving all of my pocket money for this event in March.  Which will mean staying away from the fabric stores!

If you can’t wait till March, you can get a sneak peak of what’s going to be on show and the people doing the showing at the Canberra Handmade Market Blog.

As of April if you can’t make it to a market day there will be the Handmade Market Shop to supply you with your handmade fix.  The shop front opens April 16 and you can keep up-to-date with all the pre-opening happening at the shop’s blog; here.

With these new kids on the market scene it could be easy to forget about the tried and true Old Bus Depot Markets.

Held every Sunday in Canberra in what used to be, strangely enough, the Old Bus Depot these markets are an eclectic collection of craft, art, jewelry, fresh produce and specialty food items.  They also have a food court type area that has a small, but diverse, collection of stall holders.  These markets are a staple in our household.  HUBBY likes them because he can get his coffee fix from the wonderful people at Wagonga Coffee; and I love them because I’m a sucker for anything bright and shiny.

So that’s how I’ll be spending my Sundays for the next few months…

Images: Cartolina Cards

This range of greeting cards and stationery is like candy for the eyes.  The incorporation of vintage prints and images with modern sentiments is timeless.  I adore them all.

And you want to know the other great thing about this range, apart from being beautiful, they’re great for the environment!  Just check out what they say about their printing process and products:

Cartolina is proud to produce environmentally responsible paper products.
All our cards are printed on recycled paper that comes with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. The FSC represents products produced from well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood. Our cards are printed with vegetable based inks and our printer was named Most Environmentally Progresive Printer in Canada at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Environmental Printing Awards. The FSC logo is displayed on the back of all of our counter cards.

So there you go, not only will you be fashionable when sending out these wonderful messages of love you’ll also be doing your bit to help the environment!

You can buy these products online and in person at these retailers.

I’m a big sucker for flowers.  A BIG sucker! I can’t go past them.  I’m having a particular soft spot for Hydrangeas at the moment.  I love the soft pastels of blues, pinks and purples.  Today I’ve put together a collection of some of the floral items I’ve been lusting after on Etsy.

1. Hydrangeas in a Vase – It’s like Hydrangeas were made for being captured in water colours.  This artist has done such a great job of capturing the light and the different shades of the petals and clusters.

2. Hydrangea Save the Date – I love these Save the Date cards.  I wish the pattern was available in just note cards.  I would love to own a set of these to be able to send out to my friends and families.

3. Happily Ever After - This is a vintage item which just makes me think of spring.  I love the pink and green combination.  I wish I had the clavicles to carry it off.

4. Purple Hydrangea Focal – I would love to see this bead as a drop pendant.  I love the combination of the colour and the use of glass.  I’m nearly as big a sucker for coloured glass as I am for flowers.

5. Vintage Bunny Planter with Felt Florals – Unfortunately this little bunnykin has found a home with someone else.  But he’s still too cute not to share.  I do love the idea that something so special can be made out of a vintage item.  It’s like getting a second chance at life.  The colours in this bouquet are just so lovely too.  I would have loved to have this little guy in my home.  I hope he brings his new owner much happiness.

6. Maddie Bouquet of Flowers Vintage Inspired – What a great way to jazz up a pair of shoes.  Not sure how well the felt flowers would hold up under the tough workout that my klutzy feet would give them.  But they’re just so lovely I’d wear them until they fall apart!

7. Pink Blooms – I love this take on a water colour of Hydrangeas.  The individual flowers make the transitions between colour shades all the more impressive.  The simple lines of the stalks.  It’s just pretty.