Frazzy Dazzles

My mum was visiting yesterday afternoon when The Golden Child needed to be picked up from school. So The Little Bush Princess stayed with Nanny while I ducked out to get our boy. When I came back my windows, my back door, the craft table and TLBP were covered in these little flutterby’s (sorry about the quality of the photographs. I’m no good at shots like this….obviously!).

They must have worked at record speed to have made this many little creatures. I was only out of the house for about half an hour and mum even found time to get the washing in during that time!

Needless to say these flutterby’s are going to be on the windows for some time to come. TLBP is enjoying seeing her handy work framed against the garden while being lit by the sun…and who are we to break her little heart?

As I write this TGC and TLBP are playing Lego. He’s building a space station and she’s trying to decorate it with flowers…it’ll be interesting to see how they reach a compromise on that one!

Not much in the way of being crafty around here at the moment. Just a few of these to bolster TLBP’s ‘clippy stash’. One has to accessorise!

How much do I love this little critter? Almost as much as I love the little man that created him.

I know I have mentioned before the children’s love of all things David Attenborough and Steve Irwin….well this little guy was recently featured in ‘The Life of Mammals’. Mr Attenborough’s DVD’s are on loop most of the time around here!

I have to say that I am not exactly sure of his species off the top of my head…but the story to the drawing goes like this.

There are these little rodents that live high in rocky hills….somewhere cold….and they spend the spring time working their little tails off collecting enough grass to see them through the cold months of winter. It’s a feverishly paced job and someone has to be responsible for the security of the little colony….this guy.

This is The Golden Child’s impression of the ’security’ portion of the colony alarming the others to the threat of a hawk in the air.

I LOVE IT!

And he loved seeing it stitched up in his favourite colour which went on to spark even more drawings from him. Its a win win situation really. He gets to use his imagination and build his drawing skills and I get more ’subject matter’ for my stitching. What’s not to love?

Speaking of love…this is how The Little Bush Princess and I spent our morning today. Sitting at the kids craft table taking in some much needed sun….playing with pink glitter play dough.

When I see those little fingers of hers I can close my eyes and hear in my mind my most treasured sound from my children’s babyhood. Not their first laugh or their little baby sighs…but the sound of little baby hands clapping for the first time. The other sounds are precious…but those first clapping sounds melted my heart.

If you read my last post you will have seen a link to the Beatrix Potter web site. If you haven’t stopped over then please do. We have been giving it a work out around here for the past few days. Colouring in and games, craft and drawing. Its been a fabulous find for us. We even dusted off our Beatrix Potter story books that had not been read for a little while and TGC has been taking charge of night time stories. We’re riding a tide of good vibes at the moment and Beatrix Potters imagination is fueling a lot of fires.

I have a few things that I want to address now rather than letting them wait…because with me things just wait waaaaay too long! ha!

First up is a tag from the lovely Kathy over at Lizzie Janes. Kathy won the little monsterling giveaway that I had a few weeks ago. You will all be happy to hear that the little critter has arrived in one piece.

Kathy is taking care of his jet lag issues and she says he’s settling in nicely. I can’t tell you how happy that made The Golden Child who worries for the safety of all the creations that leave our house until they report in that they have arrived!

The Tag rules are:

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is posted:

Sooo, six random things about me are:

1. I am completely incapable of concentrating on anything for any length of time. This has only been since I have had children. Maybe its because everything seems like a possibility to me now.
2. I have a fear of not being able to get out of public toilets!
3. I like savory over sweet any day of the week.
4. I dream of one day being a water colour artist and illustrating a children’s book.
5. My husband and I want to build a straw bale house somewhere in the not too distant future and live in a more ‘tread lightly on the Earth’ fashion.
6. I ALWAYS say the wrong thing at the wrong time and wince when people ask me for advise because I know I will get it wrong!

Now…I think that this tag needs to go on to:

1. Bethany over at Red Yarn
2. Stacey over at Three Red Trees
3. Jess at Button Beauty
4. Michelle at Greeting Tarts
5. Maxine at Perfect Cup Cakes
6. Katherine at Kitten’s Lost Her Mittens

The next cab off the rank is an award from Jen over at Stitcher and Scribbler. The award is the Arte y pico award.

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award on the basis of creativity, design, interesting material, and also contrubutions to the blogger community, no matter what language.

Introducing Gordon the Quad-ra-pus

Maybe he wouldn’t have looked quite so disturbing if I had have straightened his tooth up before taking the photo! Sorry Gordon!

He has a certain ‘Oscar the Grouch-ness’ about him. I think it’s the colour green that I have used…

He’s wonky, dishevelled and half-asleep…but the kids love him sooo much!

I’d like to hear what you think…but only if it’s good stuff!

and a note to yesterday’s post….

In my acceptance speech I said that Frazzy Dazzles allows me a place where I can be me without being some one’s wife or mother first…..

and that’s true

But the more I have thought about that statement it isn’t how I truly feel.

Frazzy Dazzles also allows me to embrace the act of mothering. My kind of mothering. To share the moments that would be lost to my bad memory if I wasn’t recording them to share about here.

Frazzy Dazzles allows me a window into the soul of my little family because in a way it allows me to step back and see their wonderfulness from the perspective of an ‘outsider’.

In my opinion we have a phenomenal and special little family. Blogging allows me to tell the world that (or at least whoever stumbles across me!) as well as share and learn from the experiences of others. It allows me to be inspired by a broader community in ways to enrich my families lives.

I wouldn’t be without it!

I think I need to have a little ‘I’m sorry’ to kick off today’s post.

I’m sorry that I have been a little bit hit and miss with getting posts up and with getting back to people’s emails. My intentions are good…I just seem to have been busy with a ga-jillion little things that have totalled a whole lot of time spent elsewhere doing other things!

It has taken me DAYS to get my act in gear enough to say thank you to the lovely Kathy over at Lizzie Janes for passing on this…

My first ever award and all I have to show for it is a lot of tardiness! Sorry Kathy!

Then I was lucky enough to have been thought of for the award by the lovely Stacey over at the fabulous Three Red Trees site!

Obviously it was time for me to accept these awards and adhere to the rules that govern it!:

Here are the rules for this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!

Well, I don’t have seven other blogs that I will link to. However, I highly recommend that you drop by these sites and have a little look at the creativity and inspiration that lives there!

1. Happy Stash - The happiest stash of all! Go and see my lovely friend Jen and let her know you have been there. She does some delicious patchwork (I admire women who have the patience to do the things that she does. I love the results…I just wish I could do it!). She’s also the queen of unfinished works…but I love that about her. I love it because she has so many good ideas that she can’t contain them.
2. Dancin Puffin - From one chook lovin’ crafter to another. Gemma has a lovely little clutch of chickens who have just hatched. She too does things that I can’t…like knit! I wish I could and she does….I’m jealous!
3. Zia Koko - A generous and kind mother of many, multi talented, multi tasking woman who was one of the first to encourage me further into the world of blogging with Frazzy Dazzles.
4. Handmade in Israel - Lisa is half a world away from me…living in a middle eastern country a far cry from what I am sure I live and see everyday…yet I feel like she is just around the corner. Stop by and leave her a comment. She does some fantastic paper craft and card creations. Love it!
5. Stitcher and Scribbler - Jen (another Jen!) has a fully stocked etsy store just waiting for you to have a little shuftie through! She has a style that is all her own and adorable. Go have a squizz.

So that’s 5…that’s not too bad. A lot of the other blogs that I would have chosen have already received the award from others…

….now acceptance speech…..hmmmm

Maybe instead of a standard acceptance speechI could tell you what blogging here at Frazzy Dazzles gives me…

It gives me a place where I can exist. I can be the me that I want to be without having to be someone’s wife and or mother beforehand. I can show the world that I am still alive and kicking.

It’s a place where I can beat my own drum and you can choose to listen or not. I will still keep on beating. It gives me confidence and a sense of accomplishment.

It gives me a vehicle to meet other like minded and wonderful people who are often seperated from me by long distances and an opportunity to play a part in a global ‘community’ that I would not be without.

It gives me….a chance to be me and I wouldn’t be without it!

Now what have I been up to?

Well Karen and Lisa wanted to see the doll

She’s another little Jemima…for a girlfriends little girl. That hair takes a long time to put in but is well worth the effort in the end!

Thanks for reading

Jen