Happy birthday to me

Today I celebrated my birthday with family and friends at the Wetlands Cafe, at a winery called Chateau Tahbilk, near Nagambie, in central victoria.

We had food, cake and a boat ride on the lagoon/wetlands area.

Great cake made by the Chef at the cafe, flowers supplied by my great friend Gina .

beer bottles

My husbands xmas present was a box of variety foreign beer bottles. Here they are all empty and lined up to admire what has been drunk.

x buns

This is my attempt at making hot x buns on the labour day weekend. We added choc chips instead of sultanas. The boys did not like them I presume they werent sweet enough. They did rise and cooked ok, but werent like the store bought ones, recipe from Better Homes and Garden book.

I will resort to buying them already made from now on.

birthday cake

birthday cake home made from cadbury recipe

toby's 10th birthday

Toby and Hugh enjoying blowing out the candles on the cake

ribbon box

Here is a box that i have covered with paper and ribbons and added the word Ribbons to store my ribbon stash in.

Update for march 2008

It is mid march already, how fast is the year going. Only one more week left of school. Then Easter and the school holidays. With the holidays comes my reentry into the full time work force from 2 April 2008, as a graphic artist. How very exciting!!!
I have had a lovely time since finishing my course in december 2007, have completed a little recipe book with my favourite recipes in it, have created and sent out my birthday invites for a small get together in April.
I have also had a great time READING novels, here is a list of the books I have been enjoying.
Anita Shreve: A wedding in December, The Pilots Wife, Body Surfing, The Weight of Water, All He Ever Wanted, Fortune's Rock, Eden Close and Sea Glass,Light on Snow. (All very easy and enjoyable reads)
Linda Howard: A Game of Chance, Mackenzie's, The Mackenzie's, To Die For, All the Queen's Men, Loving Evangeline,Kiss me while I sleep,Duncan's bride. Bluebird winter
Maeve Binchy: Lilac Bus, Tara Road, Whitethorn Woods, Silver Wedding, Evening Class,
Rosamunde Pilcher: The Blue Bedroom and other Stories, The End of Summer.
Douglas Kennedy: The Pursuit of Happiness. HAPPY READING

typography assignment 2007

magazine double spread time mag tafe 07

time magazine cover tafe 2007

biscuit box magazine layout and box design 07

Biscuit box magazine layout for tage

freelance business card Leanne 20007

Business card designed for Leanne 2007

freelance work business cards 2007

Business cards made for a friend 2007

resume 2006 from tafe course

resume created 2006

merry christmas to all who read my blog

Tulips from DAndenong Tulip Farm

These tulips were on display at Tesselaers Tulip Farm Dandenong Sept 07

More Tulips

Beautiful pink and white tulips at Tesselaers Dandenong Tulip farm

Tulips from Dandenong tulip farm

Tesselaers Tulip Farm , we had a lovely day here on our way home.

Tulips in Spring from Tulip farm Dandenong

September school holidays

School holidays are just about to finish, yeah.
We had 4 days in Melbourne, visited the Pixar animation exhibition at ACMI at Federation Square, AFL World. Walked and ventured around St Kilda pier and the Esplanade Craft Market.
We visited Tesselaers Tulip Farm in the Dandenong Ranges on the way home the tulips were beautiful. We have had some quiet time at home,I took the kids to see a pantomine of Little Red Riding Hood at the local Theatre. It was quite funny.
I have even done a bit of homework. Only 7 weeks to go and then i will finish studying.

September Already

My how time flies, I have been busy trying to get my assignments finished, like chasing my tail around in circles.
School Holidays are just around the corner and means spending some interesting time with the kids.
I have been working at the local Art Gallery on Sundays, and am loving it .
So havent had much spare time to do other things.
Will up date last few assignments for an update soon.

June already where is the year going so fast?

Well only one more week until holidays. Yeah. But I have to get 2 assignments finished and 3 mounted and all my work handed in for assessment on friday.
A few late nights and bleary eyes ahead for me.
We had a wonderful weekend in june in melbourne, visited Heide Contemporary Art Gallery, the Art Centre craft market, had a yarra river cruise, visited IKEA finally, got my things i wanted. Had dinner in Lygon St Carlton, it was a lovely weekend.
We are enjoying a very bitterly cold day today. It must be snowing somewhere .
Back to more homework for now

June already where is the year going so fast?tsr

this cow is very patriotic to australia

There are numerous cows around our district, which is a dairy industry area. These cows are fibreglass and weigh a tonne, and show off some of the local art work in our area.This one is sitting down on the job.

scrapbook back to school i made this week

scrapbooking frame for mothers day 0507

tv show part 4 rollercoaster

Rollercoaster is a tv show on abc for kids.

This poster and the four following are typographical based, using letters only.

tv show part 3 sunrise

tv show part 2

tv show typographical screen images

This poster is for a tv advert for the tv show Rage on abc. I created the background using photoshop.

Opera in the Orchard music poster

This is a poster for a music concert, I chose to call it Opera in the Orchard, as in March 2007, it was a current concert in the area.

It is a typography based poster.

ART Deco poster motorbike

Art Deco poster , using gradients in Illustrator.

Has it been a month since i last posted

The next few images are of my assignment handed in on 24 May, it took a lot of late nights and weekends to get it finished. But i learnt a lot about the computer program i was using.
Only 3 more assignment to finish in the next 2 weeks.
The month has flown, by the time I work part time, study and look after the kids and husband, the weeks are flying by.

Vehicle signage for matisse cafe

Logo placement for vehicles.

I have spent many hours making a style guide, book which shows the printing people how to place the logo when printing , letterhead, business cards etc, will put an image up later after i get back my assignment.

matisse notebook

Notebook , shaped like a matchbook, with note paper and pencil inside. The idea is for a kids pack, to keep kids happy and creative during a meal etc at the cafe.i

3rd lot of photos for matisse cafe

Menu example and drink coaster with logo on them.

more images of matisse cafe logo assignment

Fax sheets, advert for newspaper, uniform, and signage placement for logo.

I cant believe May is coming to an end already

Letter head , envelope, with compliments, and business card part 1 of Matisse Cafe assignment.

war poster

War poster created with 4 different photos, man is my grandfather who was in the merchant navy, melb shrine of rememberance , cannon and postcard from my grandfather.

peace concept two

Melbourne Yarra river, people relaxing along the river.

April busy busy busy

Hi
We have been busy for April , I went to Melbourne for 3 days for a conference AGideas. Design conference at the art centre. It was very inspirational . Theme of Pulling a Rabbit out of a hat.
Which as a mother and parent we do quite regularly to get by.
As it was school holidays the boys and Pete came to Melb with me, we stayed in a nice 2 bedroom apartment on St Kilda Rd, only 3 tram stops from art centre.
We had a nice easter at Mt Beauty and caught up with a friend who I went to kinder and primary school with, it was really nice to catch up again.
This week we have had a quiet week, i have managed to do a bit of homework,
hoping to get some more finished by tuesday.
Happy Easter
gen

handmade bag

This is the messenger bag I made this week. Lincraft opened this week, so I just had to check it out and this is what i made.

March 2007

March already. Well Toby has turned 9 . So that makes me realise that the years are creeping by really quickly now.
I have started back at Tafe with my Graphic Art course.
Suprises have come to me from my prac placements, I have done a volunteers guide course at the Shepparton Art Gallery, which finished last week. From that i have commenced some part time, casual weekend work on the front desk at the gallery for the next couple of weekends. So I now have no idea what day it is and am looking forward to a week in Melbourne from the 1st of April.
I have managed to create a messenger bag, last night instead of doing homework , will take a photo and put it up soon.
Working on 3 different assignments at the moment , none of which are nearly finished so will need to get my butt in gear this week and work on them before next week. End of term next week, one week in melbourne for a conference , which i am looking forward to. Then Easter and i am hoping to have a 4 day wind down at home. Before next term starts again.

school has returned yeah

Finally the school holidays are over, and i have been feeling a bit like creating. I have nearly finished making the quilt journal to record my quilt information in . i created a card for dads birthday which he received in the mail today and liked it.
We have had a nice holiday. Visited Lakes Entrance for 1 week at New Years. Had a week of swimming lessons, which took up most of the day by the time the kids had a swim.
We had a days adventure to Bendigo, visiting the art gallery, the Discovery Centre, and a Gillies pie. We also climbed the hill and walked through the gardens in the town to the tower on top. It gave a great view over bendigo city. The buildings are so old and beautiful.
We had a night in Melbourne, visiting the National Art Gallery, St kilda rd, to see the Manga art exhibition, by Tezeku? he did Astro Boy and Kimba the white lion. We had a trip on the City Circle tram which is free and takes you around the outskirts of the city centre. Had a walk along the St Kilda Esplanade and checked out the art market. Watched the para kites on the bay , the new sport taking over windsurfing it looks like fun.We stayed with some friends and visited the DFO in Essendon. Some bargains were caught but just went for a look.
February has started and i have 3 weeks till i start back at tafe. I'm looking forward to a few days by myself.
Hugh starts kinder next week.

s

quilt journal currently in progress

i'm finally getting into the groove of making things. This is a quilt journal to record info about quilts when i make them. Pattern was from Homespun dvd by Leanne Beasley .2006

dads birthday card i made

Round robin xmas quilt started 2004

This quilt was started in 2004, as a round robin friendship quilt from Express publication craft forum website. I finally put the blocks together and quilted it in 2006. But as yet the binding is still to be done. It is still hanging up to remind me to finish it.

fun jumping the waves

here is my youngest jumping the waves with life savers in wet suits in the water.

Happy New Year

Xmas and theNew Year have come and gone. Welcome to 2007. We had a nice quiet xmas at home playing totem tennis ,table tennis and scooter races. We had a great week at Lakes Entrance , playing on the beach. It was a bit cold to go swimming, the kids jumped the waves and had a fun time building sand castles. We played 4 games of mini golf, and lots of walking.
I did get to visit the patchwork shop in Lakes, and will have to find time to complete a couple of projects.

December 2006 already

December already. Where did October/November go to.
I have finally finished my studies for 2006. And am enjoying some time around home doing other things, like setting up the xmas tree. We had a lovely day in Wangaratta today . We met up with my parents for lunch at a nice cafe. Then we visited an exhibition of work by the TAFE students in Wangaratta. Mum had some work on display. It was an interesting exhibition. There was also a display with some of the Shepparton andWangaratta Graphic Design students in the gallery, it was good to see what the other campus is doing for the same assignments.We took the kids to the park in Wangaratta and they had a lovely time twisting the swings around and getting really dizzy.
Enjoy the next few images of my last 3 assignments all feature different styles of book making in them.

Inside Substrates book

This image shows the edge of the pages inside the substrate book, it was spiral bound. I designed and printed the pages and stuck them onto card with a black backing card as well. Then placed plastice pockets in between each page. Spiral bound.

Substrate book final assignment 06

This is the cover for my substrates book, in the pages are some pockets and I have put my collection of different printing techiniques into this book. ie varnished, uncoated, embossed, diecuts, different materials ie rubber, plastic,
It was an interesting exercise to collect different samples.

Colour activity book assignment for prepress

This is a colour activity book, The image at the top is a slip cover to keep the book in. The book has a cardboard cover, made in 3 pieces, then the pages are spiral bound onto the cover inside it.
The content on the pages was to highlight the difference between, printing colours , ie one spot, two spot, CMYK, using one colour to achieve several different tones, colour separation. This was an assignment for Graphic Prepress.

Resume dec 06

Sorry about the size of photo .
This is a picture of my resume I did for my last assignment. It has a filigree back and front , and folds open in a trifold. Inside is a cd with my work on it, and concertina pages come out with examples of my work on . The filigree at the back is a slip case for the resume to fit into.

Phone card assignment

This was my last assignment i finished, we had to create contemporary phone cards.

The photos i used were from the kids playground in town. Colourful and bright.

resume in the working

This is my resume so far. Still a lot of work to be done on it.

Check this sound from the clock

Dave showing hugh how the clock works and how inspiring the alarm sound is.
Fancinating. The mountain behind is Mt Bogong , with very little snow on it for the end of winter.

Clock from Bahrain

This is the gorgeous clock that Dave brought back from Bahrain for my boys. Apart from its wonderful tackiness (pointed out to me by davd's girlfriend) the alarm sound is so eeiry. The noise and chanting that you hear from a mosque, all to surreal. The kids loved them thought they were rather different and kept playing the alarm for quite a while.

table talk book cover

This was the result of my last assignment. A book cover theme of Coffee.Photo was taken about 10pm the night before i handed it in.

New assignment is to create a phone card image.

update

Hi we had a lovely weekend on the 12/13 August in Albury and Mt Beauty. We are now enjoying a lovely quiet weekend at home. Kids have had some playmates over . I have been trying to complete some posters for the school art show , next weekend. I have made a batch of choc chip cookies today, the kids enjoy eating the dough the best.
My next assignment for tafe , is a book cover, with a theme of Coffee. So imagery has to show some sort of relationship to coffee or a cafe. Still eluding me on this one.
My learning of web pages is coming along. We will hopefully have a front page operating next week, not online . Then have to learn how to add everything onto it. Very time consuming.
A logo for the local hospital's cafe that is to be opened in 5 weeks. The best logo out of the class will win $500 and hopefully be used by the hospital.
Thats it for the moment

florist logo assignment for tafe

Here is a picture of the with compliments slip i created, to match with a business card and letterhead as an assignment for a florist business .

The business cards had same imagery and folded out.

What has been happening

Well the bathroom renovations are finished for the moment, just have to do the painting .
We didnt do much for the school holidays, as we waited around for tradespeople pretty much all the 2 weeks. But it does look great and the new toilet is fantastic.
We saw "over the hedge" and "cars" at the movies ,I personally enjoyed " over the hedge " better than cars. It was really cute.
We had a family day out to the Avenel Maze, the kids have a ball there. The quiz to get around the maze is all about Ned Kelly, who lived around the area and not far from Glenrowan. We had a nice picnic, and did the mazes. We visited Mitchelton winery on the way home, showed the kids the look out tower and the playground and the art exhibition. but didnt get to taste the wines, maybe next time.
Kids are back at school and I go back to Tafe this week also.

Nearly new bathroom I love it so far

This is what our bathroom reno looks like at the moment, still have to paint the wall and later this year we will re do the shower with matching tiles and new shower screen. So nice and light Also have to paint the door.