Grounded Mermaids

Well this post has been a long time coming!!

Thankyou soo much to all the wonderful heartfelt comments of support that I recieved because I opened my heart.  Its so important that you helped me realise how common this problem is, it truly made me feel less crazy.  I have been working with my Homeopath and it seems we are well on the right track, so Im getting there, thankyou soooo much for the love, I am slowly getting back to you all xxx

I started this piece of art that I work on a few nights a week, here are some snippets and Im working in colour too!!  great to get back to colour.  When it is finished I will show the whole piece which should be by this weekend.  It is on an old page collage back ground and in watercolour, (i love water colour), Im trying to get a few new techniques going and want to make it crazy busy with alot going on, but Im finding it a little hard to just let go and lash out, I can feel Im controlling the process too much and not just letting loose and not caring about the outcome...hhmmmm that sounds like me everyday! haha

I realised thru my soul searching in the last week that the time I really truly felt like myself was back when I was in my early twenties and I was convinced I was a grounded mermaid!

All I wore was shell jewellery, I never wore shoes in case I may crush my delicate fins, I made soups from sea weed for dinner, sooo gross!! and I used to thoroughly enjoy putting men in trances!

I was obsessed with mermaid artists like 'John William Waterhouse' 

and  'Herbert Draper'

he is pure genius xxx

So here I am grounded mermaid once more, living on a farm by the ocean, drinking tea instead of seaweed soup, I spend my days being a mother, gardening veges and herbs, making prettiness and cooking for our souls....

I have hung up my gypsy life too, gone is the travelling vans and in its place are well defined roots...

which have blossomed into the most wonderful life, if only I could be aware of it 100% of the time.

I dont envy anyone elses life, or wish I was different, but I do have to change my perspective every now and then. 

This photo was taken when I was 18 which seems like a life time ago, here I am in my mermaid get up, dancing around a forest, playing shipwreck beauties, which had to be my favorite game of all time.  Too much 'Blue Lagoon' watching!  those were the days, when you had a flat stomach just because!!

Much to Kellys disappointment, I dont wear my shell bra any longer..but I keep it in my huge chest of dress ups so that one day my daughter can run around with her friends pretending to be ship wrecked.

Its a curious thing the stages we go thru, ....

I went thru the whole pretty as a peach 'Alice in Wonderland" stage where everything was very girlie.. i still adore my red velevet Mary Janes I got from Camden Markets when I lived in London....

and lately Ive been getting back into my witchy poo self with all this soul searching, these were my mothers socks in the 60s but I prefer to use them as my dress up ratty hocus pocus wear..thank god I have a daughter to pass all this on to!

Im re-loving an old book 'Wicca in the Kitchen'.  It gives the purpose and power of every ingredient and has me making foods for our moods and wants, its like an ingredient encyclopedia, such a wonderful book for when you feel like going slowly and making a meal that hasent been thrown together because someone is dragging on your legs, starving!.. begging for cheese!

can you see that little jar on the right???

thats called fairy spice, and any time that we are cooking, munchy gets to shake in the fairy spice, she takes her job very seriously and is quite heavy handed with her shaking!

Its a little old anchovy jar that is stuffed with moss and has a few fairy decoupage cut outs peeking out.  For older children you may want to put little holes in the top like a salt shaker but at Munchys age the 'where does it come out' question hasent been raised yet!

Its a very cute way to get her involved with the cooking, although she would do all the cooking if we would just let her!

So I will be back in a few days with hopefully a completed work of art, maybe the start of a new artistic mission, I work so much better under pressure with a deadline and a long list, so I need to get back on track.
Thanks to those interested in "The Book Hunt"  you have a month to do this too, so no hurry, a winner will be announced on the day I announce the new book!

Off to my hippy doctor this morning, then a friend is coming over so I can take photos of her beautiful pregnant belly and then Im picking olives this afternoon to preserve.
plenty to do in my little world

having a wonderful day???
I hope you are!

xxx
Sheree

The Book Hunt

When I was little I loved maps! treasure maps leading to anything, it was all about the hunt, but there were no maps to follow!! sooo I would make my own riddles and maps and hide them in my books and wait at least a week to find them "wow what is this!!"

The hunt would be on and I would find the treasure!! Ohh Yay! isnt it wonderful that being a kid is so simple!

So that little bit of mystery seeker is still inside me and I love hunting for clues and being sent on wild goose chases, so here I am bringing my treasure hunting joy to you.

As mentioned in my last post I decided to create a little something for the people who love a bit of mystery.

I will be putting up a 'Book Hunt" every month and all correct entries will go into the draw for an original piece of Paper Moon art work.

So what is a book hunt?? Hopefully this appeals to book worms and people who frequent librabries.   I have chosen a book from my favorites pile and have written a list of riddles and clues to help you search thru and come to the next clue, you donot have to read the book at all, just skip around hunting out bits.  If done correctly you should come up with the right answer.

When you have solved the riddle leave a comment on this page but donot put your answer, I will email you and you can tell me the answer. this is so we can be sure you really found your way to the end!!

I really not sure if there is an easier way to do this!  Anyone!!

The first "Book Hunt" is quite simple, as a starter! but beware after this intro book hunt...because it will get harder.

I have tested this on a few people and no one knew what I was on about and where to start so I have put a clue in the first line in a red colour.

Good Luck!

Is that the phone ringing, is it a bird or is it a belle??
Ohh it is a belle.

Today is August 4th 1610, four paragraphs in there was a number.

I went to find Juliette with this number over her heart.

Where I heard of a birthday that brought a kind of awakening...

What birthday was that again??

I happened upon Perette with this number over her spade.

"I can smell flowers" from how far away?

I think thats the page number I should go to next.

Some supplies were brought for the sake of travelling theatres everywhere.

How many different supplies were there??

I went to Lemerle with this number over his spade.

There I heard of crows foot curse, placed on a woman by a child.

How old was that child again??

I went to Juliette with this number over my heart.

My mother abandoned me and left me in the care of a little group of caramelites when I was how old??

I skipped this many paragraphs ahead where our name was revealed.

I added the letter values together and the sum was this number.

1  2  3  4  5

a  b  c  d  e

f  g  h   i   j

k  l  m  n  o

p  q  r   s   t

 u  v  w  x  yz

on this page number was one of my mothers sayings

and this my sweets is your answer.

Thanks for playing, if you feel totally lost and would like help feel free to ask questions.

Happy Hunting

xxx

Sheree

Sowing The Seeds Of Change

Such little seeds, grow into such big changes, and changes is what I need...

I need to rid my body of these anxietys about nothing at all

sow my seeds of change, today these old problems are cast out, I will not carry you anymore, you are not needed here any longer....

Let my strength uncurl, it is no longer quivering in hiding

Who is in control??? ohh thats right its me....

How quickly do we forget and wake up one day to realise the ridiculous patterns that have become our normal.... when did I change??  I dont remember but now I know about it..I can go back cant I??

or do I go forward???

Its easy with blogging to present our best face, but if you look inside my heart you will see I am a mess, an afraid girl who cant go to town to do the shopping or leave the house for the night to go to a kids birthday party without having a panic attack and being found hiding in the truck wanting to go home to safety.

I have been here before, would like to say never again, but this is the right now and I have to figure out what changed and how I got myself here.

I have tossed up whether to even write about this because Im sure its not what you all come here for, but then I felt I wasent being honest about my days.

"have a wonderful day!" Id write even though mine had been moments of terror because of waiting in line at the post office, or feeling trapped in aisles at the supermarket.

I will get on top of it, and refuse to let my world get smaller and soon I will read this post and think, What?? what was the big drama about....

I need to set myself free like a buzzy bee. I can feel Im holding on too tight!!!

Neurotic Pisces???..Jeez! I dont know...I will get there...

Anxiety Queens aside, I have been waiting to splash these pages here but was afraid the little boys mummy would see them and it would ruin the surprise.

Munchys best friend Sandwich was two the other day (party noted above!!) and I made him a book of their adventures.  I found a hard cover book "Sam comes to dinner" with 24 pages so I made 24 pages with old scrapbooking paper and stamps and developed 24 photos of the adventure and these are what the pages turned out like...

After finishing the pages I then wrote the story under each photo and glued them over the pages in the book (i must have a book destroying gene in me)

So it had the original cover and a book about a boy and his best friend.

Once the book was put together I did more stamping and drawing on the pages

it turned out wonderful!

A treasure to hold on forever, and maybe a bit awkward when they are in their 20s and cant stand each other! hehe  you all know what Im talking about here, when you look back on old birthday party photos and think, "what was that guy doing there" ???

Ahh great times ahead xxx

Im soooo enjoying paper crafts which I never really did before,  I love taking art into new directions, and now I am at home every day I can finally explore more, with the help of little fingers...and winter is coming.....with the new chilly nights....the pumpkins all ready, the soup is hot and the bread has been baked mmmmm.  There are some nice things about winter!!

I even went mega domestic and made some muslie too

I love it with lots of coconut and no raisins, so I have to make it myself!

Hope everyone is having a great day, and thanks for all your heart warming comments.  I feel like I travel to so many places each time I visit you all.

xxx

sheree

Pea Es

I love a mystery and things like 'The Da Vinci Code" are right up my alley, so Im starting a monthy post called the Book Hunt.

I will post my first one tomorrow.

I will post about a book and you will hopefully be so interested you will go find it at your library or for some lucky book worms on your shelf at home, you will be sent on a mystery quest thru the book with clues and riddles till you come to the end question.  This will not require you to read the book at all, just hunt thru paragraphs and chapters for clues.

Post the answer as a comment and there will be a winner and prizes!!!

confused????

it will all be clear tomorrow xxx

New Summer Whimsys For You Northern Folk

Hello my pretties!!

I have just put a whole range of loveliness in my Etsy Shop

It seems that more fun was had naming them than making them..I have a friend who makes jewellery and I remeber her telling me this years ago, you can call things whatever you like!!  and so I have!

take a squiz, hopefully something sings to you

here are the wonderful names....

Bordeaux Beauty

Country Fare

Lavender Cotton Tails

Gorjuss Grape Juice

Penelope Peacock

Denim Mandalas

Island Goddess

 and Smoke On The Water

They are all altered or adorned existing clothes...

I am loving making so many pretty things and am working on kiddies clothes this week

The weather is chilling down here, it has started to rain, I have been wrangling ducks all day into the new pen..only to have them back at the door 3 times!!!! little escape artists..and now that my family has woken from their afternoon naps (nice for some!) we are off to the garden to get the 5000 new seedlings in I have sewn in the greenhouse, talk about greedy!

Did you see something familiar behind my lovely model??

If any of you recognise this door, your right

 I had posted about it here

Hoping everyone had a wonderful weekend, mine was wonderful

friends friends friends, dont they make the world go round .....

xxx

Sheree

Peace At Home

Where the sun always shines, on this little home of mine

and the green grass grows, to keep us on our toes

theres a family here I've made, where ancestors bones are laid

that will stay in my heart,  whenever we're apart

I love the life I live, and have so much gifts to give

there is so much time to spend, sharing stories with you friend xxx 

I spent my 20s travelling around looking for a place to call home and look at where I ended up...

back at the start.

How did you end up in the place you live??

Is it your family home town?

 or did you happen upon a paradise to put down your rambling roots???

xxx

Sheree

Munchkin Turns Two

So my sweet pea turned two today.
Two years since my lotus baby swam into this world and made our lives wonderfully crazy.
The ever changing groundhog day that to people who dont have kids it just cant be explained.
You hear people say its soo hard but so rewarding, I now understand it to be rewarding for sure but the hard part is strange, sure its hard work but I feel the hard feeling comes from the fact that when you have a child you have no choice!  Its hard because they are here and you cant give up, it dosent matter if you wanna run and not do it, you are here and you are doing it.

Such a wonderful commitment to make, to sign the contract of life and agree to bring someone up the best you can and teach them all they will need to make their own life amazing.
We are only having one child, Indi is it, so we will be doing our best to help her be a person who is going to live a life aware of her world and hopefully start the generation of change, to put right all that we have done wrong.
No Pressure My Love!! hehe
just fix the world aye! 

So I made my little fairy a Tinkerbell cake.
She looooves Tink!
Our town is so small that I could only find Fawn and Silvermist to go with her, much stress for me but no problem for her!  Us mums and our inner pressures to be perfect! sheesh!
A lovely green meadow and vines, and 10 candles, who made the rules of only two??

Beautiful ribbons and plastic flowers.

I was going to make the flowers but realised she was 2 and would not care in the least!!

Two Woo Hoo!!

"Hey little guy..you wanna flap flap today??"

The funniest part of the movie!!!

For her 1st B Day cake I made a nest with 3 baby blue birds (very ugly birds too haha)

and now we have this blue bird..

so that is how traditions start.. from now on she will always have a blue bird somewhere on her cake

coincidence x 2 = tradition

Pretty Bows xxx

Present time was as frantic as any childs party, presents opened and strewn to the side without so much as a thankyou, or even a glance at the actual gift

NEXT!!!!!

how embarrassing for us parents!!...she loves it really!!

But this gift is going to go so well in mummys lady cave so I can have my sewing table/indis drawing table back.

Let the masterpieces begin!

And superhero birthday girls always have time for a little swinging...

whats for our bbq dinner???

potatoes with cheese mmmmm
do you want one or two??....

lovely salads with cheese

yum yum we love cheese!

would you like some salad on the side too??...

eat up, the exciting parts coming!!

Its cake time and the first sighting of a wonderful ball of fire coming her way!!

Ohh My!

Yay!! its Tink!!

Blow out your candles my sweetie, make your wishes xxx

And what better thing to do than to give you 2 year old the sharpest knife in the house and let her hack her cake to shreds!! she had a whale of a time!!

We ended the afternoon with drawing and hang man for the adults, a truly frustrating game!! haha

Wow look at the sun she drew!! ohh my your advanced!! haha just kidding

What a fun birthday with no childrens party in sight! thats for next year...

Thanks for coming to the party, hope you enjoyed the dinner, I left the meat out for you vegetarians!!

all the birthdays done for the year Yay!!

So seeing as munchy has been monopolising my blog of late she will be taking some time out so mummy can blog about art and deep thinking.

Some of you will miss her for sure, but she will be back with adventures galore!!

Everyone take care of your little people, whether they are human of fur babies or feathered friends.

So much joy in such little packages, growing bigger every day.

xxx

Sheree