Beryl the Teapot

This is the latest addition to my teapot collection.  She was my Grandma's. She has lived with my sister since my Grandma passed away, but Jodi thought she should be part of my teapot collection. I am so chuffed to have her sitting alongside all my other treasures.  I don't have many things that belonged to any of my grandparents, so she is super special.

She is called Beryl.

My Grandma Beryl had a wicked sense of humour- she loved it when people fell over! She also loved it when me and my sisters would sing together. I remember her coming to see me in my High School Musical when I was in Grade 12 (I was the lead... yeah, I was like, kind of a big deal...) and being so proud.

So, welcome to the family little Beryl teapot. Your namesake was an awesome lady and a lovely grandma.

Do have any special momentos of special relatives?

New Girls in Town

I have just updated my Etsy shop with a bunch of cool stuff, including these super cute cushions!

Red, White and Blue Owl $20 

Emma Cushion $20

Four Annas Cushion $20

Four Crow Girls $20

Heart Owl $20 

Mr Brown Cushion $20

They are 35cm x 35cm and include the inserts. And they are 100% original!! 


Looking at these cushions and all our other lovely things in our Etsy Shop makes me miss my Tessie partner in crime- Mum. She and Dad are somewhere on the Great Ocean Road in their little caravan having adventures. After almost 50 years together, they are still having adventures together and are still each others favourite person. That is so cool. (We miss you too, Dad!!)

x Gillian

If I was a character in a book.....

I have been reviewing books for The Circle for about  a year now. What a great experience it has been!! The Circle is such a  smart, funny show, and I loooooooove Chrissie Swan, so it is such a  delight to pretend I am like, totally, actually part of the team.


Each month, they send me a book, I read it and send back my review and a pic of me with the book. Most of my reviews and pics have even made it to air...

book from the top are: Calebs Crossing, Last Summer, Cuckoo, Before I Go To Sleep, Left Neglected, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, One Day

Reading has always been such a huge part of who I am. I love to know that I am the kind of person who always has a book in their handbag.... well, now that's a lot easier since my Lovely Husband gave me a Kindle.


Ah, Kindle, where have you been all my life?? With your awesome page-turny button that I just have to touch ever so slightly with one finger... I barely have to move. Me, who has ben turning pages MANUALLY and holding books open until my hand cramps into a claw FOR YEARS! Like some kind of animal....


So as well as my latest book club read The Hypnotists Love Story, in the last few weeks I have read:


Bossypants by Tina Fey
You'll Be Sorry When I am Dead by Marieke Hardy
Under the Dome by Stephen King
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King


Two inspiring, hilarious (and in Marieke's case, very, very naughty) autobiographies and two books by one of my enduring favourites.

If you asked me who my favourite author was (and you totally are, right?) I would say John Irving. Hands down. Closely followed by Armistead Maupin.... but Mr King has been with me for a looooong time.


 I first read Carrie when I was in Grade Five. Yes, Grade Five. I was ten. And it messed me up good and proper. I NEVER should have been reading that book at that age (YES, Mum, you told me not to, and I did it anyway!!!) That is NOT the book for an early developing pre-adolescent girl to read!!


But it also sparked my love for Stephen King's incredible books. While, sure, they can be crazy and gross and totally unbelievable, the reason I love him so is for his character development. Characters that stay with you, that are real and full and deeply drawn. Characters like Nick Andros from The Stand and  Ray Garraty from the lesser know Long Walk. I heart those guys.

SO, any book addicts out there- Who is your most loved book character? Is it that perennial favourite Holden Caulfield (lone gunmen need not apply....) or maybe little Scout from To kill a Mockingbird. Or Garp. 


I hope somebody's favourite is Garp......

x Gillian

Happy Zombie Day!!!

The Zombie masses of Brisneyland took to the streets yesterday for the annual Zombie Walk to raise money for the Brain Foundation of Australia

I was the Zombie sympathising chauffeur for an awesome gang of teenage zombies

As someone who is having an MRI tomorrow and has a family history of brain hemorrhage and aneurisms, I was so happy and amazed to see the 10,000 or so Zombies lurching through the streets to raise money and awareness.

But, let's get real, for these guys it was about costumes, covering themselves in blood, checking out hot nurse zombies and screaming at the crowd. They stayed in character for the whole walk and they rocked it. Their commitment to the Zombie experience was almost fanatical!!

I was transported back to myself as a teenager, and how passionate I was about performing, dressing up and standing out from the majority. My Awesome Teenager has always marched to the beat of his own drummer, and it was just so fantastic to see him marching alongside his people yesterday.

It was a crazy day, and I was so proud of Max and his mates. What a polite, well spoken, respectful bunch o' zombie-guys!


X Gillian 

Pretty girls and things on books

So, the old Blog feels like it has been very family/ personally focussed lately and not so much on the Art/ Craft side.... Not that there's anything wrong with that... my family are awesome and fabulously entertaining!


 In between Away Husband, Crazy Two Year Olds, Visiting Parents and my own Social Retardation I am still trying to find my direction with Tessie and to get myself organised!!


I am currently working on a set of printed book covers- very exciting. I have ordered the first run from Spooonflower and can't wait to see them!! The concept is to cut down on the sewing involved by designing the cover more fully in Illustrator- right down to ribbons and buttons!! Mum and I had an awesome designing session before she left*- we always spark off each other and she pushes me forward in my designs in ways I wouldn't achieve alone. This always leads to some great stuff.

Here is the front cover image of another product featuring the Beautiful Anna. The book cover are all A5 size. Perfect for a diary or a journal or a notebook.

Platform shoes are my favouritest..... my favouritest shoes that I used to wear every day when I was young and fabulous. The thought of wearing ANY shoe that is not flat and unattractively comfortable now makes me wanna puke... But I can still draw them, can't I?

I have also ordered a sample of this fabric. I will share some pics when it arrives, so you can see how the design translates to fabric. 


Now, I will go back to obsessively watching the letter box, waiting for my fabric to arrive. Oh, hang on, maybe the mailman is coming..... NOW! Or, maybe, he is coming.... NOW!! 


Maybe I should rearrange my owl collection again instead......




X Gillian

Fencing

Last week, my Dad built a fence in my backyard. I helped. And, by helped I mean I followed him around tidying up obsessively and sorting his ratchet-wrench-thingy attachments into size order. Oh, and holding stuff. I was awesome at that.

As previously mentioned, having your parents staying with you can make you regress slightly... During the fence making, I became my 12 year old self, who loved it when Dad would say "Good tackle! Go yourself!!!" when he watched me playing Touch Football. He is an accomplished sportsman. I played Touch Football and Hockey with moderate success until I was about 13. Then I discovered boys. And sulking.

 But last week I wanted him to say, "Good fence holding! Good drill passing!!" Ridiculous.

The fence was a necessity that we have been wanting to make happen for a while now. It was becoming increasingly nerve wracking when the boys played in the yard, as there was nothing separating them from the drive, or a clear run to the road.


 As we have all seen on the news, accidents in driveways happen constantly and needlessly. It breaks my heart. Our family has such a tragedy in it's past, and it was often on my mind. I would text the Lovely Husband almost every afternoon, saying "We are outside, come down the drive slowly!!" I was in a state of cat-like readiness at all time, ready to leap up and grab the boys if a car came down that driveway.

So, I am now incredibly relieved that our little boys are contained and safe. Thanks Dad.

x Gillian

Girls Night

Ooh, look at those beautiful stylish ladies. They are out in public, at a chi-chi-poo-poo bar, being fabulous WITHOUT THIER CHILDREN!! (9 children collectively to be precise. That's a lot of children to escape from!!)

They should talk and reminisce and laugh and drink some lovely wine.

And then they should eat cheese and cured meats and artichoke hearts and olives for dinner. 'Cos they can. 

And maybe they should have some cocktails.....

And dance to some eighties music at a club in the Valley......

Whoah! What happened!! Look how much fun they are having! Look at how they have no idea of the crippling hangovers waiting for them in the morning!

Awesome night with awesome girls = hangover = TOTALLY WORTH IT!!

When was your last girls night out?

*ps: Having my parents staying with me this week must be making me regress- My Daddy dropped me at my friends house, I drank too much, Mum waited up for me and I pretended I wasn't drunk when I came in at 2:45am... 

Fashion Face

We are calling this look "Fashion Face". It occurs when Jasper is wearing a favourite piece of clothing- like his Doggie pajama Shirt... or my hot pink cardigan and beads.  He will give you "Fashion Face" until you tell him how lovely he looks. And he looks FABULOUS!! HIs Daddy is away, so don't tell him Jasper is rockin' the vintage cardie, kay?

And then shit gets crazy when Eli raids the jewellery box. He loves Bali... and accessories. And full body contact wrestling. And general mayhem and destruction. He is so not going to Schoolies Week when he is a teenager! He's probably come home with facial tattoos and a barmaid wife. Not that there's anything wrong with that. For someone else's child. 

Mine will all be good boys. In pink cardies.

x Gillian

Tessie goes to NC

Yesterday, I posted off a package to a lovely customer in North Carolina. 

I love to think of our Tessie products living their lives in places far, far away! I hope Tara loves her Lou Lou Mini Bag!! 

We still have a few available over at the Etsy Store.  I will totally make your package as cute as this one.... maybe even cuter. And, I have been known to throw in extra little thank you presents... :-)

x Gillian

ps: the cute little package is sitting on my windowsill with 2 incredibly cool Englishmen- my Lovely Husband and Beatles producer George Martin. This signed pic is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received- from my lovely sister-in-law Karen.

Even When I'm Sleeping

Bedtime in our house can be crazy. The twins go to bed willingly and with no trouble around six thirty every night. That has never been a problem. They then spend up to an hour running around their room, dragging the matresses off their beds, jumping, laughing, banging, crashing, pulling all the clothes out of the drawers and peeling the paint off the walls. Literally. They peel the paint off the frickin' walls!!! What is that?!!

And then, after they have accomplished sufficient destruction, they will curl up together and go to sleep. How cool would it be to have a best friend to wreck stuff with, then cuddle up to every night?

In other news, since I currently have no-one to wreck stuff with, or cuddle up to, I have replaced the Lovely Husband with an enormous mountain of clean washing. 

The washing pile doesn't care when I flick around the channels with the remote control, which is awesome, but it doesn't spoon me. Stupid washing pile. If only someone would fold you and put you away.....

x Gillian

Flying Solo

My Lovely Husband is far away, and me and the monkeys are travelling OK.

Seeing him on Skype, surrounded by his beautiful family is so wonderful... even though it makes my heart hurt a little, 'cos it means he is not here with me. I totally miss him and it's only been four days outta three and a half weeks. I need to man up!

The cutest thing: Eli telling everyone we see that "Daddy went on a plane to see his mummy and daddy". I think it makes him feel better that he can explain it to himself. He tells me every morning too. Just in case I forgot. 

In other news, I stayed in my pajamas until 1pm yesterday and I haven't even had a shower today. And I'm drinking cask wine. Rock n Roll.

X Gillian