It is my greatest pleasure to have Amanda from Calico & Co guest blogging today.   While Amanda and I have only ever met in cyberspace we often joke that we were separated at birth.  It’s not often you find someone born in a different decade that you can share so many crazy idiosyncrasies with, but Amanda and I do just that.

Amanda was the first person I ever asked to be a guest blogger here, and that’s a huge thing for me.  It’s like letting someone into your house and letting them rearrange.  Amanda has brought a wonderful sense of sublime awesome with her. I found myself reading the list and going “me too!” or “oh yeah!”.  It just went to prove yet again how much we do share in common.

So without further ado, please welcome Amanda to the house of gnome.

*round of applause*

Hi Gnomeangel readers! I am so excited to be writing to you today! I feel so honoured that Ms Gnomeangel asked me to be her very first Guest Blogger, and was thrilled when she requested that share the top 10 things I am crushing on at the moment.

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10. 500 Pencils
The last crush I am going to share with you today is another big one for me. It’s the 500 Pencils program. The deal is you subscribe for a monthly fee and each month you are sent 25 gorgeous coloured pencils until you eventually receive 500 of them! Not only would it be a very inspiring event each month, but there are some amazing ideas for displaying the pencils, so they become art in themselves! I can’t wait to sign up one day!!

So, there you have it! The Top 10 Things I am crushing on right now! I hope you have discovered something great, and maybe even learnt a little something about me along the way! Keep reading Gnomeangel for some great daily fun and inspiration, and you are always welcome over at my blog Calico & Co if you ever feel like dropping by! Have a great day!

Amanda over at Calico and Co has started a new meme where you list ten random facts about yourself.  So I thought I would give it a go…

Now that I’ve listed mine, it’s time for you to list yours.  Once you’ve listed your 10 random things link back here so we can all learn something new about the wonderful people out there on the internet.

Music Monday is a little late today, but with good reason.  I’ve been waiting to hear about my father’s surgery and now I have I feel like the world can keep once again start to spin on it’s axis.

So, because I love you all for your support, well wishes and general awesomeness this Music Monday is for you, my friends – both in the real world and the even realer world of the internet!

On Monday one of my bestest friends in the world gave birth to her first child; Amber Rose.  I don’t think I’d be biased at all in saying; she is perfect!  Just see for yourself…

I was so excited about the arrival of this little lady.  (And I still am!)  It totally blows my mind to think that M has her own child now.  It’s so wonderful.

When they did the scan that would have allowed them to know the sex of the baby little Amber had her legs crossed (ever the lady) and so the radiographer couldn’t confirm the sex.  It’s been a waiting game to find out and now that we all know for sure I’ve decided it’s time to do some baby inspired spending to celebrate the arrival.

Here’s the top 6 items that are on my current shopping list for little Amber…

1.  Chunky Monkey Crochet Beanie – Winter is well and truly here in Canberra so every child should have a beanie and this one is just too cute!  I love the bright pink colour and the nice white flower.  I’d love to crochet one myself, but at the rate I’m going Amber would be graduating her Masters by the time I was done!

2.  The Virginia – How adorable are these booties!  So sweet and they look warm enough to deal with the below zero weather being thrown our way at the moment.

3.  Buddha Baby Bodysuit & Old School Microscope Baby Bodysuit -  I love these screen printed images.  Amber’s Grandma is in Thailand so the Buddha seems appropriate and I can just tell she’s going to be a genius so it’d be nice for her to get her first microscope when she’s still in nappies!

4.  Hand Painted Wooden Letters – These are so bright and cheerful.  I’m a big fan of having the child’s name in some form in their room and these would be perfect.

5.  Reversible Pinafore Dress -  I had the great pleasure of talking to Sarah from Madi and Me while I was at the Handmade Markets on the weekend and she’s as wonderful as the items she sells.  She wooed me into her stall with her gnome cushions, but then had me over the barrel when it came to her fabulous clothes and quilts.  Unfortunately at the time we still weren’t sure what sex the baby was so I didn’t purchase anything.  However, now that Miss Amber has made her arrival I’m going to be ordering up one of the reversible dress and bloomers sets.  They are just so special!  Sarah was telling me that the pattern is one that her Grandmother used to make for her Mother to wear when she was a baby.  Gotta love a family tradition!

6.  Etch A Sketch T-Shirt - What better way to immortalize this awesome childrens toy than with this funky shirt.  The message is simple but true.  Love it!

This ones for the girls who did the White Star assessment with me tonight – Shona, Ferne, Beth, Nat and Emily. You all rock and I can’t wait to start training with you for our first bout together!

I was singing this song while we were all standing in line in between our assessment tasks. I’d like to say I was as good, if not better, than Jensen but that would be a big fat lie.

I had an awesome night tonight, despite not having skated for five weeks and never having done jumps before.  I passed the endurance part of my test – 20 laps of the track in under 5 minutes.  Everything after that was gravy.

If I pass my white star I’ll start training with the league on Sunday, and then it’ll be training twice a week.  Rock on!

Right now however, I stink and need to get some sleep.

1. Storm brewing, Central Queensland, 2. Karumba beach flower, 3. Termite Mounds, 4. Prairie Horizon, 5. Day7: Normanton -> Karumba (78km), 6. Sunset at Karumba, Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia., 7. Queensland Bottle Tree, 8. Tattersall Hotel, 9. Mount Isa, 10. Mount Isa Sunset 4, 11. Australie, Mount Isa to Longreach, 12. Mount Isa Lightning Storm, 13. Mount Isa Mine 14. Not available 15. Not available16. Not available

This week we’re on holiday, in fact as you read this I’m probably some where on the highway in Outback Queensland.  We flew to Mount Isa on the weekend and now we’re headed to Karumba on a week long camping and fishing adventure.  In fact, I won’t even have a laptop with me so I cleverly prepared this Flickr Fave in advance as I didn’t want to miss out on playing while on holidays.  So if you’d like to see more Flickr Faves head on over to Artmind.  While you do that I’m going back to using the CB radio in Ma and Pa’s 4wd inappropriately. *over and out*

1. Wren’s Nest Studio 2. Bornagain Books 3. Made by Plushka 4. Alison Jackson Jewellery 5. Prim and Pretty

Today Miss Alivicwil and I got up bright and early and headed into Shop Handmade‘s Grand Opening.  I’ve been quietly anticipating the opening of this store.  Being the sucker for handmade that I am I couldn’t wait to get in there and see amazing products up close and personal; and it didn’t disappoint.

The shop space is light and airy and full of wonderful displays. The staff are amazingly helpful and full of smiles which just makes the shopping experience even more enjoyable.  It’s a great space.

Photos courtesy of Shop Handmade

The store was still in party mode from the opening night event that was held on Thursday night.  There was even a selection of delectable handmade goodies from pARTy cakes.  I was dying to have a shop handmade cookie and it was bliss.  It literally sparkled.  I’m seriously considering putting in an order of my own.  Totally yum!  Alivicwil got to realize her dream of having Persian Fairy Floss, or as one of the lovely ladies compared it to ‘camel hair’.  (In consistency *not* taste!)

Alivicwil and I both purchased ourselves little treats.  I picked up two delightful buttons from Made by Plushka – a little hedgehog and a squirrel.  If I wasn’t on a shoestring budget I totally would have gone nuts in there.  In fact, I’m already planning my return trip.

So if you’re in Canberra and looking for something special head into Shop Handmade, you won’t be disappointed!

Shop Handmade is located on City Walk in Canberra’s CBD, Allara St on the corner opposite The Canberra Center.

1. Roller Skates lined up for a mile at our local elementary school gym, 2. 1954 Roller Skating Guide, 3. Department of Public Hurts versus Green Mountain Roller Derby Dames-106, 4. Radioactive Happiness!, 5. Big Laugh 6. Roller Skating! 010:365

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali.

Last night was my third training night for CRDL Freshmeat.   I got lucky and had an hour of warm up skating before training.  Normally there’s basketball training for school kids on the courts before our training session, but not last night.  It was brilliant.  It gave me a chance to get my skate legs happening and spend some time talking with some of the other Freshies.

I also managed to have a pretty good stack prior to training.  It was great.  This will sound weird but I was glad to get the fall out of the way.  Falling is something we all have fears about, so it was great to get it out of the way and realise that it wasn’t going to be a huge deal if you fall over.  I fell, I bounced back.

The session had it’s highs and lows.  I managed to achieve a few little victories that showed me I was improving.  I managed to hold ‘derby stance’ longer, I did a knee touch fall perfectly, managed to get a handle on T-stops and answered some pop quiz questions correctly.

Again the numbers of Freshmeat made it hard at times to work on the techniques they were teaching.  At times it felt like some of the trainers were more concerned with catching up with each other than helping out the learners.  I even saw one trainer laugh rather nastily when a Freshie took a dive, which is just not cool. Luckily there are way more wonderful things about it all then negative.

We were lucky enough to have Smarty Pants back for another training session which was awesome.  She has amazing skills and such a crazy kick ass attitude.  She has a great way of translating techniques into a variety of ways for people to try and understand how to implement it.

It was the first time at training that we really got a chance to mix with the other Freshies.  I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.  At one stage I thought I was going to spit my mouth guard out from laughing so hard.

I left training on a high and was amused to find myself thinking about driving home like it was on a derby track.  I actually went to put my feet in the t-stop formation instead of touching the brakes at one stage.  When I got home I was absolutely bubbling.  Poor HUBBY had to listen to me go on and on about how wonderful training was and how much fun I was having.  It was such a great feeling.  I haven’t had that in a long time.  I can’t wait for next week!

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If you’d like to see other flickr faves sans the life story check out ArtMind.

Today’s Music Monday is dedicated to Miss M who has so graciously lent me Ashes to Ashes.  I loved and devoured Life on Mars and have been wanting to see this series for a long time.  It hasn’t disappointed.  I managed to watch the first series on the weekend and I’m hoping to finish the second series this week.

In true BBC tradition it’s well written, superbly cast and totally addictive.  Oh, and the soundtrack is brilliant.

Image source: Girl Silhouette Tags by PaperKilpDesign, Electric Firefly Design, Paperdolls Print by Munieca, Light Purple Button Earrings by Crafted For You, Gifts Created and Red Berry Design.

Alivicwil and I took some time this morning to head out into wilds of Canberra and check out the Handmade Markets.  I’ve been wanting to check out the markets for a long time now and I’ve just never managed to make it to them, until today.

It’s the perfect autumn day to be wondering about looking at beautiful items.  Its just a shame that I tried to park my car on a fully grown tree and scratched up the side of my car.  But as I said to Alivicwil “it’ll buff out“.

I was really excited to be able to see Munieca‘s work up close and personal in Paper Klip Design’s store.  (I featured Munieca‘s earrings in my first Friday Fancies of 2010.)  They didn’t disappoint; just as lovely in person as online.

I managed to splurge a little on some wonderful fabric from Posie Patchwork.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I’ll save it for something special.  I also purchased some cute little pastel blue duckling earrings from Crafted for You.  Alivicwil managed to find the perfect earrings from Crafted for You that matched her watch.  It was uncanny.

There were so many wonderful things for sale, I wish I wasn’t so broke.  I loved the offerings from Red Berry Design, Electronic Firefly and Gifts Created.  I’m just going to have to save my pretty pennies and see them at the next Handmade Markets.