stormy night

We had a spectacular storm the other night here in Ky. Of course, I ran and grabbed the camera. I have never photographed lightening before.

There was lots of sheet lightening

which doesn't make for a great a pic but I persevered and ended up with a few good shots of fork lightening, which, by the way, is extremely hard to photograph. The storm started miles away and I watched it over my back fence, until it passed through Ky. At that time I saw lightening forks over my head... thats when I tucked under cover. But it kept moving away from us, which is when I took most of the photos below. There blurry as I didn't really feel like standing out in a lightening storm with a tripod....

Etsy feature.. yumiyumi

As mentioned, I plan to do a feature on a favourtite Etsy seller from time to time and I haven't been doing anything exciting to show you. As the other seller was a more comical, less serious type of work I thought I'd feature this wonderful artist - Aline *Yumi* Yamada. She is a fine artist and illustrator originally from Brazil and currently living in Ohio, USA.

One great thing about Etsy is the affordable artwork. Obviously studying art for 3 years, I appreciate having art and having it around, as have my parents often collecting interesting prints from markets while on holidays. Art can often be an expensive thing, but at Etsy you can find an array of great work at very good prices. I guess because there is little cost involved with selling on Etsy, artists can keep there prices low.

Yumi's work is quite interesting, it does have a feminine feel. Most of the works are a "Giclee print of an original illustration done in combination with pencil, ink, watercolor then digitally tweaked". Most of them are 8.5 x 11 inch (although she is happy for queries of any size) and sell for $20US. They also come in different colour combinations, for example,
red pink


or blues and purples

I think there is a definite gum tree influence here...

There is a real delicate feel to this style of her work..








But she also has these more bold designs


yumiyumi has a great series of owls and 'berry monsters', as she calls them. I think they would be great decorating a young girls room, something a bit different..







and she has even more styles in her shop. She has had very successful sales and reached her 1000th sale in early February after only 8 months.

Anyway, enjoy this beautiful art and go buy some if you really like it.


All images are copyright of Aline Yamada and were used here with Aline's permission.

no LIME just Leia

LIME has now become Leia Martin Photo Graphics - decided a revamp was needed. Not convinced of the LIME name anyway. I have a new template which is simpler and suits my work, helps frame my photographs. Please go take a look.
Cheers

Earth Hour

8pm - March 29th

Mark it on the calender, put it in your phone diary
On March 29th at 8 o'clock
turn off all your lights!!!
This is
Earth Hour

"On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking
48,000 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement"
From the Earth Hour website.

If you've ever felt like doing something about climate change, or even felt like you're a speck on the problem, then this event is for you. And this year its not only going national including all major cities, its going global with many cities already signed up. If your interested, go register and have a look at the website. And if you didn't hit play above, I encourage you to watch as its quite inspiring.

Grand Opening...

Presenting...

our new on-line store.....

carlyandleia.etsy.com



For people who haven't heard me preaching the word of Etsy, it is a wonderful on-line store where only handmade, vintage (over 20 years old) and some supplies are sold. Think ebay but with handmade. And it is huge, gaining more and more followers, continually featuring in articles relating to the on-line shopping movement and the huge craft/handmade movement that is occurring globally. There is everything from art, quilting, jewellery, clothing, skincare, the list is endless. It is American based, so all prices are listed in US, but our dollar is pretty strong so only a few dollars different. Most people use paypal for purchasing. It also acts as a learning tool for selling your art/craft, and they encourage mentoring from the more successful sellers. Your shop cost nothing, and each listing is only 20c for 4 months, including all images etc. They do take 3.5% of the selling price. Pretty good deal really.

Carly and I have long been followers, and thought it would be ideal to try and sell some of the works from our recent exhibition. We also plan, depending on the success, to continue making our fabric panels, but try to expand and make new products. At the moment we have 9 items listed and will continue to add more each week.




I thought I would also begin featuring some really talented people from Etsy here weekly. I'm starting today with a store called Kezzaroo, whose tagline is 'taking over the world one felt person at a time'. I made my 2nd etsy purchase from her, when I saw this little felt guy.

I thought this would be perfect for Jon, who is a huge Anchorman fan, and wasn't just another figurine type movie memorabilia, that he already has lots of. Kerrie, who makes them, was wonderful to deal with. She had actually ran out, very close to xmas, and quickly got to sewing me another one. It came in the mail, very quickly from Scotland, with a little badge featuring a photo of her 'Princess Leia' felt plush. She said when she saw my name she had to give it to me. There was also a cute note and an extra little badge and business card promoting a friends site.
She does other weird and wackie felt people... a few other crafts do..


Axel Rose, Mr T and and Paul from KISS
(featured in her store at the moment)

I guess unlike ebay, people on Etsy are selling their art and therefore aren't out to 'make a buck' moreso make a living from something they enjoy doing. I hope when you are all there visiting our site (he he), you take a moment to have a look around...

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by Karen, my sissy in law.
Here goes...
A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog

10 years ago: Think I was working at McDonalds in Bendigo after 'deferring' uni. Jon and I started living together.

5 Things on my to-do-list today:
Be warned - I'm having a deliberately lazy day...
1. sleep in - done
2. take forever to drink my coffee - done
3. get house tidy for drinks tonight
4. try to get some listings in Carly and my Etsy shop (to be announced)
5. get some photos up-loaded on project 365 blog.


What I would do if I was suddenly a billionaire:
Employ a full-time chef and housekeeping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buy myself at least two houses - Torquay and Illuka one would need to be a farm or few acres, maybe a inner city Melbourne apartment.
Buy all family members a house or pay off their mortgage.
Buy myself and all my family and friends hybrid cars (sorry if they're gutless)
Buy a vineyard and the cellar door would double as my photography gallery.
Set myself up with an awesome camera and fully deck myself out for digital printing.
Start fulfilling all my overseas goals.
.....list could go on forever.........


Three of my bad habits:
1.drinking too much caffeine via coffee and coke
2.not exercising
3.not being tidy

Three places I have lived:
Geelong
Bendigo
Barham

5 jobs that I have had:
McDonalds - check out
Safeway - check out
Waitress
Video Clerk
Cellar door assistant

5 things people don't know about me:
1. I collect vintage tea cups and saucers.
2. I absolutely love David Attenborough nature docos - think he may be directly responsible for my passion for animals and nature, how could he not inspire with his own passion?? I have recently acquired his box dvd set - 'The Life Collection' - which features all his nature documentaries - 20 dvds, over 40 hours worth and if I could only watch one thing for the rest of my life - it would be this!
3. I wish I had an opportunity to dress up as Princess Leia from Star Wars when she has the bun hair-do and white draping gown, and I'd have the have the blaster in hand too.... maybe at my 30th...??..
4. I have on layby at work a 5 litre port barrel. Jon constantly asks 'Why does anyone need 5 litres of port'.. my reply 'Why not?'.....hey. it could be a 20 litre one...
5. Like karen - I also harbour feelings to be a singing and dancer....

I tag -Nikki, Dean, and Jan
although these 3 don't really use their blogs for person stuff, but think a little 'Meet the Author' wouldn't hurt...

big day out.. not just a clever pun..

Thought I'd tell you all how awesome Big Day Out was. My goodness! Although its a big year with weddings, babies and 30th's, this would surely be a highlight of my year, and I would assume show up in my 08' review. The day didn't start well, I'll get the whining out of the way, parking took longer than expected. Hate the new venue, all dirt and concrete, no grandstands to kick back in.
Luckily there was good music and good company! My good friend Karyn and I hung out most of the day, with her good friend Shae. And must admit, felt like I was 19 again. Specially with the line-up including Regurgitatoir, Grinspoon and Silverchair. Felt like the 90's. They were all fantastic, Daniel johns is such a funny bugger, in a bizarre, eccentric kind of way. Gurge' didn't disappoint with many oldies, as with Grinners'. Faker were also great.
But the absolute standouts were Rage and Bjork without a doubt. She made the day for me. I have loved her for so long, it was surreal to see her in the flesh. Words can't really describe the sensation. Seeing your idol of over 10 years, someone who continually amazes you with their talent. I know not everyone appreciates her musical stylings, but for me, it was magical. And then Rage Against the Machine came on. You have to love some angry, politically charged music. On one hand you have John Butler and on the other you have Rage! Both Bjork and Rage had comments regarding our former Prime Minister, Rage even applauded us for getting rid of him. Funny that a band from the other side of the globe is so aware of our government. Anyway, they rocked out! Zach hardly stood still and the crowd followed. Only disappointing thing was when they stopped playing, walked off, until the dickheads sitting on top on the bar roof got down, helped that they had a few thousand people booing them!
All in all a great day, think I'm getting too old and with sucky venue it may be my last year..??.. maybe A Day On the Green is more my speed...
So I have some visuals to share, so enjoy...




Dirty feet everywhere...



Harri Kirchner food...perfect for vegetarian... doesn't look real good though


We believe that the Sombrero should be outlawed from BDO. Great for the wearer, sucks for everyone around them...


crowds, crowds...








..as the sunsets, Bjork plays..



Hard to see, but this is white confetti being shot into the sky for her last song, not just one bang, it keeps going so the sky is filled with white...





...And....
One of my new favourite things is magnet sheets that can be feed through printer. Going back to Christmas, I made these sets of magnets as part of my families present. Using 6 x 4" cut into the 6 squares. I have also done simple photos ones, quite effective really.