Side Bar love

 

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Don't you love your sidebar thingies widgets links pics and what have yous. I know i do i only have ones that mean something to me and that i love.Be it Tinkerbell dancing around and around or a bottle full of wishes . A year ago i got  several years of my blog printed into a book to keep by blog-2-print.I was very happy with it and its a keepsake full of memories and like a diary with photographs documenting some things i would have forgotten and others that i treasure,The only disappointing thing is that the backgrounds and headers and sidebar stuff that make our blogs so US is not printed,I suppose it would be a lot of ink and i understand but it was a shame.Anyway i had put a post the last thing before it was printed of all my favourite homemade blog banners and they are in my book so i have them,So this time i am doing this post on all my favourite side bar things to record them for the next blog book i have printed,so here they are my favourites,

 

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and here are a few of my favourite backgrounds

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Even Fairies Have bad days !

Its all in the face and i know that face hehe

and sometimes its all in the arms !

But even mad fairies are awfully cute don't you think ?

I have to say in the fairy's defence (my 3 yr old beloved god daughter) that she had reason.
my poor fairy's  mother had been ill for a few weeks and in hospital for over one,And even though her father
was doing his fairy best she just missed her fairy mother (who returned home this very day).
And for a very first this fairy didn't love her godmother for a whole four minutes,You see we have a few disagreements on fairy apparel and such (this was approximately the 800th outfit i think !) I have been ordered for one to rectify her shoe situation "me need pretty shoes ,you buy me some auntie Jullie '( and i have Tinkerbell ones no less), After four sons that's an order that's a pleasure to fill.

Thinking of my Dad on the first day of spring

The coming of Spring is bittersweet for me,Dad passed away you see on the first day of Spring,Just like spring comes as a relief after a hard hard winter so Dads passing came after a hard hard battle.He was tired and he was ready to go ! So many things remind me of you dad,Words that bring me to tears songs you used to sing that come from my lips when im not even thinking of you,Strong you were and stubborn as a mule.The inventor the fixer of almost anything the ultimate handyman and my dad who called me love and told me to wear sensible lace up shoes and loved any new Frock.Who talked like a country bloke and worked in a laboratory doing difficult chemistry,A good bloke in any language.

My Dad was smart enough not to even want a marker when he left this earth you see he knew that we may go there and weep on days like this and that as he said he wouldnt be there.It bothered me a lot until i realized where he was ,he was where he shall always be beating inside my heart,singing in my head and in every fibre of my stubborn little self.Inside all of us who loved him and now thats enough for me !

Love you Dad now and ever.xxx

My son the Cook and Magician

I have two sons that like to cook Matthew the eldest loves to make difficult things and even made the masterchef V8 cake once.He sent me a pic of this the other day and said mum what do you think


To be honest I thought the burger a little messy but it looked yummy

 I actually thought he made the masterchef hamburger and chips,being a crafter i was very impressed with the chip cone ,Then he surprised me by saying on skype where we were typing each other
one word CUPCAKES i thought whats he talking about ! Then he said mum they are cupcakes
he made a tray of each for a birthday at work. See he is a magician not a cook.
i like to think the creativity came from me hehe. Ingenius dont you think.

How clever these are puff pastry with icing sugar in newspaper cones



These are vanilla cupcakes with chocolate cake meat and shredded coconut lettuce

 

Just a kitten and a balloon

Here is our naughty Poppy who when i left my sons 18th birthday bag of presents overnight on the table (with his balloon weighted inside and the string touching the ceiling and i  thought  it Poppy proof)
hopped up on the table and inside the bag and wound the ballon down till she could put a claw in it.
Alex decided the day after his birthday after poppy adoring the ballon to gift her with it.




hmm its very high up there.....



Lucky i can climb well !





Is it there ,is it still there ? Am i dreaming ahhhh balloon !!



Well it was worth the balloon price for the laughter she gave us watching the love of a kitty for her balloon.She would jump up and grab the string and lay looking up at her prize then totter off across the room with it.In the end tired ney exhausted she put it up on her fav lounge and went fast asleep.Every now and then she would drag herself awake and check her ballon was still where she left it.

Oh this ballooning is simply exhausting !!

Heart of my heart-blood of my blood

Heart of my heart
yesterday when you were small
leaving hand prints on the wall,
Bringing drama to my life
always into lots of strife,
Showing all your dimpled charm
any trouble to disarm.
Now a baby yours to come
this time i am not the mum',
A nan or gran this time to be,
No one is happier than me !
I loved you all before we met
before the first nappy wet.
I knew then as now forever more
more than life i loved you four.
Already i feel the clenching start
of tiny hands upon my heart.

congratulations to my son Timothy and his wife Megan who is due in January 2012
7th generation Australian-with Maltese and Dutch blood mixed to perfection.

Sometimes words make me cry ! ( even Winnie the Pooh !)

Well yes i know what you are thinking everything makes me cry.I cant stand to hear that song you are my sunshine my only sunshine cause when it gets to please don't take my sunshine away that's it I'm gone.I used to love that song " I wish everyday could be the first day of spring" and then my father went and died on the first day of spring so if i start singing that one i end up in tears. Bette Midlers from a distance and the allelujah song ( oh god i love that song).Yup i guess I'm just a sap.Words have always meant a lot to me, Some people call me the Wordsmith i don't mind i like that title.I am a writer and a reader i was born that way.I can be reduced to tears reading a book or i can end up laughing aloud like a loony.Reading is the cheapest holiday you will ever take.
It will however take you far away to another time and and another place.
As a young girl i once wrote a poem that ended
"For i am a writer of fairy tales
                and once upon a time all alone in a tower
                                                         a princess was waiting ,
                                                                                   and waiting...
                                                                                          and waiting...."
Little did i know then just how long some princesses have to wait
and sometimes a knight doesn't show up at all and she must rescue herself.
And i really do pity the fat ugly princesses of this world cause its bad enough when you are a commoner
and you dare to be born plain.Anyway i do so love quotes and words.I have passed this trait on to my sons all four love quotes and a few of them keep journals and are themselves wonderful writers.
Ah we may lack many things in our family but imagination we have in bucket loads. I want to know since when did Winnie the Pooh get so wise and deep .That Pooh  he is a real thinker ,i think should we meet i would like him an awful lot. Id probably love Eeyore too and i bet my bottom dollar that Rainy days and Mondays always get him down.

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Empty Boxes make my heart beat faster

Is it just me ?

tell me it isnt just me (well it isnt cause i have an Aunt who also loves boxes)

Like a three year old I often love the boxes better than the presents,
I cant seem to help myself i store them under my bed and in my closet.

Clear ones really excite me ! I know i know im a cheap date. Maybe its all that unexplored potential.I love to package things and i have sometimes

 made or bought things just to fit a certain box,Clear boxes are great for pretty presents
filled with  a gift surrounded by shredded tissue , rose petals,pot pourri or confetti they look
good enough to eat.
a simple paper tussie mussie (paper cone) that has been carefully placed in a clear box looks so sweet when filled with tiny treats.
Is that why i love that song little boxes on the hillside little boxes made of ticky tacky.unlike the song but my boxes never ever look the same.No i wasn't joking about the faster heart rate like a Good bargain at the op shop my heart will respond to a great empty box.So come on confess do you have a hidden stash of empty boxes



Above and below prime example a fabric hatbox purchased at the op shop for $2


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My New Crafting Altered Art blog

Pop over and check out my new Altered Arty type blog
Its called The midnight Craft Fairy for the simple reason that
i have always been a midnight crafter,When my four sons were small it was the only
me time i had, Now after recent turmoil in my life i find it hard to sleep at night
so again i have become the midnight crafter at my little oak secretaire,It makes me happy it keeps me

relatively sane,On this blog i will post my forays into the altered art world and swaps i have sent and received,Take a peek let me know what you think.

If motherhood was easy Men could do it !

ME,my mum,my mums mum and my mums mums mum.

Some they say are hugging mothers and some are scolding mothers.Some read stories and bake cookies and some go to soccer and some don't. I guess i am more a hugging mother also a sooky mother and yes i have been a yelling screaming shrew at times mostly id say warranted.I'm definitely a nagging mother,I'm a bribing kind of mother and a silly kind of mother.i have used fairies against my children yes i admit that-the fairies would watch son number two on the school bus and tell me how he behaved, If he came in asking what did the fairies say biting his nails and looking worried well the fairies had told me he mucked up on the bus.If he came in smiling and proud of course the fairies had told how proud they were he was so good.The same dobbing fairies though also left tiny fairy gifts and fairy letters.Santa's beard would get caught in our fireplace screen and once a letter even sailed down the chimney in full view of Alex.The bunny and the tooth fairy always came to our house.But however hard i would try i was not an organized mummy not with four sons and a husband never home , I have two sons with aspergers and one with adhd and one whose IQ was in the genius level.Oh yeah and the one with adhd was epileptic.they were always getting stitches and lumps and bumps and bruises well mainly Timothy was but the others had a share,So come to think of it maybe i had a reason for being disorganized;I was always wrapping presents Xmas eve and racing around cleaning the house before visitors and ending up in tears in my exhaustion at trying to be perfect. ( i have a feeling it was right about then i was that yelling shrewing mother) I didn't always get them to brush there teeth and sometimes they didn't even get their pyjamas on it was just a miracle to read them a story and get them all asleep at once. But i loved them dearly and with all my heart.So if you could say nothing else i kept them all alive albeit slightly damaged and i was a loving mother.I had a loving mother myself who was apt to be always a bit weird a little different but always loving. Although she did bang a mean hairbrush on the fridge when she got angry. She was  a dobber on us to my dad,Sometimes she would say she was going to tell dad and make us sweat all afternoon and then gave us a reprieve.An if it came to a smack from dad it was she who would sneak in with a chocolate after.

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3 of my 4 sons Joel ,Matthew and Timothy (and thats Trouble with a capital T)

And although she sometimes made us eat disgusting stuff like the occasional brussel sprout or worse steak and kidney stew she did make a yummy apple pie and custard, We also had fairies in our garden and sometimes in our house.What i think i am saying is that motherhood is not easy its  not meant to be after all if it was then men could do it hehe .And raising my four boys was soooo NOT easy. But would i swap them -NO never not even for the daughter i wished upon many a star for while pregnant.Would i change them well only a tad  you see Im proud of all of them.  Maybe id make them remember to ring me more often,to judge me less and love me more.to sometimes remember the fairies and the laughter  and all the stories ever after.For my mum who this year for the first mothers day since i was born i will not see . Just remember you are loved and when you think that all you did is forgotten know this that i shall forever remember the times both good and bad happy and sad,that you my mum were there . you have often dragged me from the depths ,of my washing when the kids were small and depression when i thought i had lost it all. I Love you to the moon and back.Happy Mothers day to mothers everywhere but especially to my mum..(caterpillar on a leaf mum)

I miss you Easter Bunny !

Oh it used to be so very sweet

the bunny tracks along the floor

up the wall and out the door,

The excitement of the bunny hunt

out in the garden and up the tree

Easter eggs for lunch and tea !

The early morning wake up call,

the pounding feet along the hall.

The fights about who found what

and look how many eggs he got !

The ones that melted in the heat

or those squashed by errant feet.

The easter hat parades you won

made by me those hats were fun.

Now my Easters  pass so quietly

No bunny comes to visit me,

My babes are all grown to men

But oh boys i remember when

Somebunny loves you forget it never

at Christmas,at  Easter, always ,ever !

Jullie Dodds 2011

Hippity Hoppity Easters on its way !

STAND UP EASTER CARD vintage inspired 3d cut and mica flakes.

Been crafting up a small storm at my small craft desk in my small craft corner of my small bedroom.

Running theme here, Actually I'm very happy as i sit at my oak secretaire and create,I used to have a whole craft room which it hurt to leave.But i have what i need here and i am happy.Everything is at arms reach and my clip it up saves the day so i am lucky.i HAVE EVEN managed to fit my small noticeboard with craft  on it as well as a little chest if drawers which i use for fav craft items swaps and supplies.

Bought this template online you print cut and embellish

Ahh will the real Poppy please stand up\And not on my lounge !
don't be fooled by the Innocent who me expression.
she is a nutter a real nutter and sweet as a poppy/

here is a card i made inspired by a vintage Easter card \it is embellished by stickles and mica flakes.



Atop this slimboy sits whatever treasures make me happy,
A mannequin whose tag proclaims
 Her name is Mary has been a fav of mine.A smaller mannequin
 whose letters proclaim endures,
To remind me that i have endured.
$2 store tin boxes overflowing with french seam binding
 cause that makes me happy and fav swaps.
This little space helps me create and makes me smile,



here is a small noticeboard for fav atc swaps etc
i think i am a master of small spaces

My clip it up is hiding in the corner and atop m,y step ladder
no space wasted here folks.

This vintage oak secretaire is my craft corner
it has many hidey holes and they are used to capacity
all at arms length i love it
when i am finished it closes up and is a neat little secretaire.
just awaiting my next project.

gotta love seam binding vintage and french,The tiny hatbox proclaims blingage on its lid
stick on diamante and pearls lie within.

Easter Decorations -Bunnies are breeding on top of my dining room slimboy.

             the small sitting bunny was made by an english friend met online (thanks Daisy)

vi ntage style feather Easter tree with German decorations/

i collect tiny tin candy container eggs this year i found some vintage style new ones arent they sweet.

I have made a few Easter baskets and some vintage inspired cards,I decorated my vintage style feather tree with tiny German ornaments and vintage Easter picks