Each year I try and come up with an adventure for my birthday, be it getting acrylic nails done for the first (and last) time, planning a picnic (which never works out), or to just wonder around a shopping centre I am not familiar with. This is was the latter on the list, which turned out VERY good, as it seems that Nerf guns are a plenty in the North Eastern suburbs. What ever gets plans however, is ALWAYS preceded by Birthday Crepes (TM) at Mitcham Shopping Centre. More specifically Banana Nuttella Crepes with cream and ice cream, and due to their size this crepe is shared between two people, for fear of Rolly_Polly'ness.
I show Exibit A
SOOO GOOOD!
The purpose of this food stuff is to give fuel for the commencement of shopping mall walking and well shopping.
Birthday LoOt (TM)
Two new NERF guns for the cabinet!
I beautiful jewelery bodice stand from and Op shop.
I also was sent a one of a kind wire sculpture from a good friend of mine in Perth, I will take pictures of this once I have written my last exam next week. I also believe it is a item that requires its own blog entry.
Yesterday I also received a present from my darling brother as well as a Buzz Lightyear Bubble gun that I have been searching for for a while now. Again, there will be pictures.
The day after my birthday, last Saturday, we also took a road from up North to see some craft fairs that were one. Unfortunately the craft fairs weren't any good, but the drive was great. I took a few snaps along the way too.
So a couple weeks ago I completed the Heidi Swapp Memory Files class. I have just been flat out to actually get some photos taken of the final project or actually get a blog post done.
I decided to use my own paper for this project rather than what was in the kit. Just because I have a huge collection of 8 inch papers. I LOVED this project, so much so I want to teach it at work. I think it is a lovely combinations of interactive scrapbooking and that eclectic of little bits and pieces of embellishments that you can use. I ended up just digging through my draws of embellishments and ribbons and just HAD fun.
My "brother-in-law's" birthday is the day before mine so as a tradition I usually arrange a BBQ with the family to celebrate Chris and my birthday, not to mention just getting together with the family is always good, especially when there is food involved.
As I am a card maker as too is Chis' mum, there is always a show and tell when the card has been given to whoever's birthday it is.
I seriously LOVE this project, even though I was oh_so_very_tired, but I got through it and really like what I created. I make a couple screw ups, mostly due to my oh_so_very_tired state and not paying attention to the video Heidi aired on line.
I put my own red flare to things during the making of this folder as I wanted to see how red my new red Glimmer Mist was, and
Back in my days of TAFE while studying Fashion and Textile, I was asked by some of the students ahead of me in the course would ask if I would wear their garments at some of the functions we held as showcases and fundraisers. Back then I was some what of a waif and had no fears about walking out of a stage. The most memorable of these escapades was the end of year show case for the third years in 1999, when I modeled for a friend Julie. The clothing was very simple but the catwalk run rather dramatic. We walked out the Rammstein's Du Hast, all serious and determined, did the basic walk routine to the end of the cat walk and back. The timing was perfect and we all ended back at the entrance to the cat walk facing the audience as the music stopped and the lights were shut off. A millisecond of a pause and then the crowd went wild with applause. Absolutely THRILLING!!
Saddly there are some shows I never got photos for which was a but saddening. However, I have the memories in my brain.
With this layout I worked with stamping than usual to create a bit more of a texture and custom look.
So as I child I had a serious habit of playing in boxes keeping my self very much entertained in my own little world. I found a few of the photos my parents were rather sneaking in taking, and then found there were more in the stack of photos.
This layout is rather different for me, minimal with no inking the edges. I used some of the Kaisercraft chipboard embellishments which I felt matched the idea and theme of the layout. I am seriously LOVING my Silhouette Cameo for making titles.
A few weeks ago I came across this TED talk clip which was posted on a friends Facebook profile. After watching it I realized everything that Seth Godin has talked about in this presentation is all very accurate from my point of view. Our education system, globally, has been modeled on the really old backward principle of do as you are told and learn what we teach you.
As a dyslexic and growing up in a society that was opposed and utterly fearful of what they didn't know or understand, South Africa, I endured many school days of getting belittled by school teachers for just not getting the work that was being presented by them. I remember my poor brother, Danial, struggling week after week with maths problems and home work, with further yelling and berating by our father who just has no idea how to actually present the information in a way that Danial would get. There are more people with "learning disabilities" in this world than most would like to admit, and still there is this conformist attitude by training institutes and schools out there that those with "learning disabilities" just have to learn how the subject is taught.
A little bit of background here, I have only be diagnosed since early 2012 with dyslexia, but have had suspicions for many many years. I also do not see my dyslexia as a "learning disability", as I have a rather dynamic method of learning. I see the term "learning disability" as the inability to learn some thing which in my case is totally incorrect. I do learn, almost every waking, and some time attempting to sleep, moment of the day. If I don't know some thing I look it up, because this is a technological age with the interwebs. Because as Seth puts it, "anything worth memorizing, is worth looking up".
So, back to the topic of the education system....
In early 2011 I set out to study again, only this time it wasn't in the creative side of this, instead it was an academic course, the Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy. I chose to do this course as a external student, no contact with any lecturer and only books to read from. Now, I was under the deluded notion that the institute I am studying through knew what they were actually teaching in this course. It turns out I was so very wrong.
In the 2 years I have been studying through this institution I have found glaring errors in course work books the most recent of which was an appalling mistake about the global symbol for health and medicine which was put in my course work book as The Caduceus, which has nothing to do with health and medicine as all. This perpetuated mistake by a medical division in the USA has made its way into my course work, which I reported to the head of the institute mentioning that hopefully it won't be on the assessment. I eventually put this information on a discussion forum where I am advised by another student that if it is in the exam just to give the answer that was in the course work book. Has our eduction really boiled down to compliance?It has dawned on me that the institute I am studying through most likely hasn't actually written the course work book but has rather copied and pasted information from another institutes course work book. Which only makes the education system all about profit and not actually about teaching anything.
In short, we need to find better ways to teach people that the sub standard methods we are too scared to evolved out of. I will leave you with this very apt meme....
This week has been SO very full on, what with study, work, craft shows and not to mention my Heidi Swapp Memory Files Class that started yesterday afternoon. WHAT FUN!!!!!
I had my housemate help me set up a work space, so I had room to move during the class, while he was off watching How I Met Your Mother in the lounge. Every now and again I would trot in with a show and tell of the cool stuff I had made over the last 20 minutes.
I seriously cannot wait for the next installment of the classes.
So, we have The Work Area with laptop, paper towel, cleaner and tools.
Right in the middle of it all
Working on the first project.
Almost completed with both projects for the night.
I had a lot of fun doing the class, and I am very pleased with my self for being talked in to actually doing the class. Chapter 2 is tomorrow afternoon (my time) and SO prepared for it.
I went to my first Craft & Quilt Fair with a couple friends this morning, making sure we arrived early. On arriving, there was a HUGE line to go in the the exhibition area and once we were in we saw a massive collection of crafting and hand craft retailers and demonstrators.
I am a bit methodical in how I approach events like this, always starting one end and making my way to the other end, maximizing the experience of the fair and to make sure I don't miss out on seeing ANYTHING that might be important. We began our exploration at the guilds off to the left from the entrance.
Of course there was stalls up on stalls of quilting fabric some were beautify, but as I am not a quilter I did not purchase any, but the colours were LOVELY
One retailer I started squealing like a little girl was was Posh Pendants. SO PRETTY!
The Paper Hubb has a Washi Tape WALL!!!! $3 each and some VERY nice designs.
Make sure you check out these guys if you are heading in this weekend.
My Loot for the day, which I am VERY happy with. Scored a $30 Tattered Angels stamp collection (the big one at the bottom of the pile) for $10. So certainly some excellent deals. Many retailers had EFTPOS which was handy as I didn't take much cash with me. The food venders were open in the exhibition area and there was a cafe vender too, with heaps of seating for you to sit and have your lunch or a coffee and a tasty treat.
Lately I have been going through the masses of family photos that my mother had held on to before her passing away in 2008. She saw them as some evidence or history of us as people and a family, which I entirely agree with. Moments were captured, some more embarrassing than others and some useful for black mailing purposes later on in life, but they all demonstrated the evolution, change and adaptation of each of us through the years.
You can tell I have been talk with my brother today, I am rather philosophical and introspective.
So, amongst the pictures I came across a photo of my self curled up sleeping in pink clothing in a bed with pink better with our family cat curled up next to me. Anyone who knows me today will be aware of my disdain for the colour pink. As an artist I decided to work with this color to see if I could actually create some thing worth while. I think I did.
I was contacted by a family friend a couple months ago, asking for some custom birthday cards for some old school friends. I created 4. This was the first of those 4.I was happy with all 4 cards as they all come out really well. As the recipients have their birthdays I will be able to post the cards.
