Back to the fun stuff.

Yes! My tax is done.
I made my phone a snuggly sleeping bag so that I don't destroy it like I did the last one.
2 layers of felt just incase I drop it...

Now back to the fun stuff! Yay

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Email address is back (insert sigh of relief here)

I now have my old email address back. I know it was only a month but I really missed hearing from fellow bloggers
melanie[at]nunde[dot]com[dot]au

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Taxes ....yeah right!

So I went to my shed to grab my tax stuff which is hidden under this crate of scrap fabric.
I was seriously going to do it you know...really I was......

but then I saw colours...
so I had a little go at adding the next color to my work in progress.

And then I had to go meet the boys so I could walk them home from school
and I stopped and stared at all of the gorgeous naked trees on the way..

and took lots of pictures because I really do need the practice.
Now its time to serve dinner.
Maybe tomorrow I will do my tax...

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A print Gocco for me

OK... so I should be cleaning but I am excited and I know a lot of you would be too or have been because of this purchase. I ordered the print gocco basic starter kit. The guy at the shop that I called was impatient and cut me off as I was asking him a question, literally hanging up on me. I barely got "and what about" out and he said impatiently" OK see ya bye"
So I went directly to the site and ordered one. It will cost me $50 more to have it sent however this is an important lesson for me and everyone involved in customer service. Don't fob your customers off. He just lost a sale but because he may have just been having a bad customer service day I wont give out the companies name. We all have them some days. And on those days we may be responsible for losing a sale worth a weeks wages to some people. Something to consider when you are self employed. Something I will certainly learn from. I hope.
I cannot find a picture that I can legally put on my site anywhere so you will have to imagine it (insert imaginary picture of a print gocco here)
Cant wait to get my parcel!!

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Tuesday in the office. Not a very creative nunde day

By 8.30 am my eyes had glazed over with incomprehension as I struggled to fix an error on my web page. Its not a huge technical problem. Its probably the most minor of them all, for you....but not for me.....
So I am ditching that for a while to do some housework. (yes that's how desperate I am to get away from it) then this afternoon I will finish my tax. Yes, my tax. It is now blogged so it has to be done. *eyes glazing over already*
I would rather be doing something with these

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Monday at the club

After a 7 month break I have returned to the club. It wasn't supposed to be 7 months. It wasn't even supposed to be 7 weeks. Funny how you get sidetracked once you break a routine and then struggle to get back into it and then there is the time.... where does the time go???

Yeah it's a tough life belonging to a club in these surroundings......



One of the clubs greatest treasures is Bill. He churns these rocking horses out for charity, prizes and one night a week in a class he holds for rocking horse making. He is a true craftsmen. One of the many I get to hang out with in the hope that some of it will rub off onto me.




Billy brought in some show and tell. This arrow goes right through the bottle and it is one piece. Can you guess how? Whilst the blokes were stumped, our Elsie figured it out.

So Monday mornings you will find me amongst the noisy machinery and covered in sawdust.
I wonder how many of you belong to a club and what your club means to you? Not a week went by when I didn't regret missing out on my Mondays at the club and berating myself for getting out of the routine.

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Lynette is painting again YAY! Unlike myself, Lynette has talent and I have been nag nag nagging her to hold an exhibition at the old cheese factory. When she does I will tell the world. Check out her site if you love modern abstract art.






From the more crafty yet still arty girls at the shop.
Handbag door stoppers. I love them.


We have more mags , out they go at .50cents

And just like us, this gorgeous handmade fairy doll is just hanging around the shop looking beautiful

Time to get cracking craft some more handmade goodness. These girls at the shop are making me look like a slacker!!

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Thursday Craft Shop Mosaic

My creation
Originally uploaded by nundecreations

Still learning. Now I have labels like all of the pro's but I couldn't manage to save them with their new labels.
It was Grahams birthday today! Yay. He is a top bloke and we all wish him well. Pam cleaned out her craft stuff which meant that I got all of the treasures that she thought were junk. Yay me!!
I had been away for 3 weeks and it felt like forever. So glad to be back. Joyce is sick today and couldnt make it to share and care so Im sending a big cyber GET WELL to her even though she never goes near those fandangled computers so she will never see this.

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Nokia 95 my all in one PA

Bear with me. I am still recovering from the cost but I think its worth it since I only have to carry one thing not 4. Nokia95 is my new best friend. I had outlived the relationship with my old kodak digital and I had ruined my new Nokia 6288 which had also replaced my ruined Mp3player.
I was also constantly being too lazy to even switch on my laptop because its a well known fact in my house, if you switch on a laptop, you will end up browsing for hours and not doing a bloomin thing you were sposed to do.

So in comes Nokia95. It has my organizer in it to replace outlook express, an mp3 player with sound quality that surpasses any of my old ones, its wireless so I can everything I need to in a flash without the temptation of surfing(you have to be desperate to surf on a phone right?) and last but not least its a brilliant camera. Check out the pics
This is me practicing the phones macro shots.

Whilst it is not up there with the greatest macro cameras, this is perfect for me at the moment

I would edit them to bring it in even closer but I have just had Vista installed and now have 4 hard drives also which requires for too much thought at present( I am not accepting the change and still using my old OS) I'll come around eventually but until then photoshop is out of action.

So what have I really been doing?
Trying to understand how to set up my new website. Unsuccessfully redirecting email and I am still without my old faithful personal email address.
Trying to set up wordpress
Designing like a maniac, not just in my head anymore but actually on paper.
Re arranging my studio because my eldest has moved out and I now have storage space. Whilst this creates an exciting new space it also echoes of sadness. I wasn't prepared for the nest to start emptying yet, however, that's life isn't it?
Soon I will actually have some craftiness to show for all of my work. And how cool is it that I now have a new camera to capture it with:)
"So excitement" as Kylie Mole would say
Ave a good one!

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Wash Cloths

The Purl Bee is a great place for washcloth patterns which is why I am parking the link here. I must make some. Absolutely must. Yummy cottony all natural goodness.

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Wonderful Winter

Every where is green.
And Shiny


One winter, I went to bunnings to buy a chiminera. I read the instructions, prime it and prepped it and filled it with wood. So what if I put too much wood in? I mean seriously, instructions really exaggerate the perils of not following them purely for legal reasons right?
So more wood I shove and just as I walk towards the teeny tiny veggie patch to tend to it BANG!!!!!
It did explode as the the Warning said it would, AND my pergola roof was on fire. So screaming and cracking up laughing at the same time I put the fire out, carefully lifted my now snapped in half chiminera into the teeny tiny veggie patch where it reminds me everyday, Yes Melanie, Warnings are there for a reason
Now to the point
Look at the lovely winter flower!!

I know Ive told that story before but it cracks me up.
So what did I get up to today apart from weeding and sneezing.(still have a cold)

I had one large 120cm by 40cm canvas, 1 scrap of fabric from the drapes i made, a glue gun, staple gun, some wire and a huge blank spot on a wall.


and this is what I came up with Yay!


And here is my completed rescued chair.
I got to use my skills I had attained by joining the Woodworking club yet again and I am sitting on it right now. My feet don't touch the floor so I get to swing my legs whilst typing.


I love the smell of leather and I cant believe someone chucked it out just because of one wonky leg. I hope they get kicked by a cow for being so inconsiderate.

shiny

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And I thought I was so smart!!

Still no website and email for nunde

My dear M found a new website hosting thingy that he raves about and after a few attempts at working it out I have decided that my time might be better spent in the kitchen....... I am having such difficulty with it and still no redirect for my email address. I know a lot of you bloggers out there are web designers and such and I gotta tell ya, My hat goes off to ya if you can work this stuff out. You have certainly earned your bragging rights! This is me stomping off ............... temporarily defeated, for now.

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Fantastic Friday

So as I promised to myself I set off to the shed for the day!

The crafty Goddess was on my side because I was on fire.



So I fought my way through the spooky twiggy trees that surround the entrance

And I finally finished this.
Last year I retrieved this from hard rubbish... It had one broken leg. I see them in shops ranging from $120 to $250 depending on the shop. All leather with a sprung seat, how could I resist.
I could start ranting here about how a cow and a tree died for this chair only to be tossed into hard rubbish to contribute to landfill. All for the sake of a broken leg which took me 2 minute (yes really, no exaggeration) to cut from a scrap bit of wood. I had to do the join Melanie style because I didn't have the factory bolts and inner tubing. It was barely used and I am sure of that because I could tell by the state of the remaining legs and the bottom of the legs were barely worn.


I thought I could be even more frugal and use one of the sample pots laying around to paint it but I'm not happy with it so will look for a good match tomorrow
with screws and grommets at $2.60 plus the $3.80 for the paint tomorrow

A bit of sanding and a lot of buffing and polishing the leather which was scratched mainly in my messy shed

It came up a treat. $6.40 What a bargain!

Here sits my finished jazzy joy doll( i made it for my daughters 16th and stuck money in her little teeny pockets) The buff on the leather looks awesome!
And finally my remade picture amongst my shrine to shabby chic that I just cant part with.


This is an old print my mum gave me when I was little. She said it was us when I get older having lunch in France. How could I possibly toss that out ?

Check out what is written on the back


This print is not to be sold in USA.
Why? I found that very odd but I am sure there is a reason for it.
Probably a boring one.
Oh and everything on the list given to the mess makers was done.

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Fantastic Fridays

Another blanket of scraps. This one is for Connor(7) Once these simple blankeys are done I'm going to make a gorgeous cable patterned cream one to drape over my winged knitting chair...mmmm cream. I vow to have this one finished my July 30th because I hate blue, there for I knit if faster to get it over with.

This is the kind of stuff that impresses me and its heartening to see a work area that resembles mine:) Winner of the Craft Challenge #28

I have made 4 lists and each will be given to the resident mess makers. Whilst they are cleaning the house, I will be in my shed designing/creating and I swear to the Craft Goddess that today I will be creative.
No Housework
No Taxi-ing Children
No Whining about my woes
Ignoring my cold that is now Laryngitis(sp)
So, off I trot to adorn my self with my lucky crafting scarf that gives me super creativity powers.

Have a fantastic Friday!

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Changing Pictures, old pictures and the big picture

I purchased this 17 years ago in Bayswater from one of those little art exhibitions they have in the middle of Malls for local artists. I am sorry to the local artist but my tastes have changed.

So I gutted it and put something more..Melanie-ish in it. I love wire and now I have a frame for some old wire/fabric hangings I did 7 years ago

This is an old picture of my Dad. Bottom far right. He looks no older than my eldest son now. He can still kick a soccer ball too, even in his 70s

And now for the bigger picture. no picture included for this.
I have almost finished my tax(its laughabley easy since I didn't make a cent).
It is once again school holidays and in between a run away son (17 and just quit school), sleepless nights worrying about said runaway son, a cold and a very awful and on going child support issue rearing its ugly head, I have managed to clean my shed. Completely clean , organize and line the draws in my inside desk. Completely clean, fit lights, add more wall lining to my shed/studio. And most importantly I have set out my goals for my business in 2008/2009.

I have a goal in mind that will make me feel independently wealthy enough to pay off my credit card, get movie star(false) teeth( so I can smile) and save for a holiday my family and I have not experienced in about hmmmm 10 yrs. It might only be to Queensland or somewhere closer but hey, at least it will be an adventure. And I love adventures , big time. All this requires is hard work, better organisation and confidence(my new teeth will help that). Oh and a little less home life drama, yeah I know, as if.

Runaway son returned by the way, 9 days later, as if nothing had happened....... I couldn't draw, sew or knit while he was gone so I have a lot to catch up on. I did clean a lot though so that was a bonus. Life happens though hey? I laugh about how dramatic I can get, as if the sky is falling in. Anyhow, Im a happy camper now and the creativity is oozing again. Thanks for stopping by. May all of your teenagers resemble the Brady Bunch kids and may you always maintain a Doris Day like calm.

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Crafting or Home Business articles

Once again blogger comes through with a place to store links that I would never find if I was left to rummage through my favorites bar
I will be linking useful articles written by people in the know regarding craft business, online and home based business.

Venus-zine
Crafting a Business with Jenny Hart

The Artful Crafter - The four M's

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