12/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - so proud you were to help prepare the carrots for our dinner that you had picked from our garden.

Felix - running races and ball kicking at Petone Recreation Ground this afternoon. You had a smile from ear to ear as you ran as fast as you could, completely oblivious of Gus and his antics (for a change).

The Emperor's new clothes

As Gus dozed on the couch and Felix was yelling at me from his bedroom that he didn't want to sleep (although his eyes told a different story), I managed to fit in a wee printing session. I was really eager to finish off printing the blank t-shirts and sweatshirts from AS Colour so that Gus would have a few more tops in his wardrobe that aren't crop tops!

Loved the way these came out, although I somehow managed to smudge the hooves on the donkey t-shirt - wondered if I didn't have enough pressure on the screen when printing. Learning all the time!

Next on my list of printing is a brown bear for the last blank t-shirt. We love the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Junior, so naturally when we were chatting about what picture to put on the last t-shirt he chose something from one of our favourite books. I was a little pleased that he chose the brown bear as I have a gorgeous mushroom brown paint that will look beautiful on a white t-shirt. Fun, fun, fun! Xo

Getting ready to post it

I have finally got my parcels ready to post for Handprinted III - a fabric swap (see linky button thing on the sidebar). It took quite a bit longer than I thought to get all the printing done but probably because I kept getting sidetracked by printing other things instead! I loved taking part in this fabric swap and love that it gave me the motivation to get printing again. I can't wait to receive my four little parcels in the mailbox. Thanks to all for taking part and to Leslie at Maze and Vale for organising it. Xo

11/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - on his way back to the car after the kindergarten Wheelathon fundraiser. He tells us that he won but we're not so sure. He was certainly one of the first three to get there.

Felix - "Mummy, we go to Daddy hotel for pepi cino", Felix asks all the time so we finally made it in last week.

10/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - yet more crafting this week. I did help him a little with his mask but he directed me to make it exactly to his requirements and he took it from there.

Felix - playcentre is so much fun - especially for Felix who is becoming more and more confident in his physical abilities. He is starting to take more and more little risks like jumping off things, riding his bike quicker and running faster (with his signatory little skip as he goes).

Bliss......

I just have to share my contentment right now. I should say first of all that of course I love my family with all my heart, however the peaceful sound of silence in our house right now is heavenly.

Gus started 'big kids kindy' today which means he is there until 2.30! Wow, huge day for him and I'm sure a quiet afternoon. After a busy morning at playcentre (for the both of us) Felix is now sleeping soundly - heard beautiful snoring coming from his room just now. Grant is at work so its just me, a pot of tea (thanks Rozie) and my screen printing.

While the tea brews I'm pondering colour choices for Handprinted: a fabric swap 3 and working out the positioning of my triangles. The latter is rather difficult for me as maths has never been a strength of mine - hence the notebook and eraser.  I'm thrilled that my fabric swap partners have all suggested colours I like to so the trick for me now is to select colours that look fabulous together. So despite the mathematics, life is good! Xo

Triangles anyone?

I think that maybe I am slightly obsessed with triangles right now. While Grant made our dinner and Felix pottered around, I had a play around with two little triangle potato stamps this afternoon. Gus was keen to assist me with my little project of making gift wrapping fabric for a birthday present and even made his own little handkerchief.

Although the potato stamping was quick and easy and I was happy overall with the end product, I didn't enjoy this as much as the stencil printing due to the irregularity of the print finish but then maybe it's just me being an inexperienced potato stamper. I will definitely have another go and experiment with some different patterns and prints. Xo

9/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - it's all about art and craft at the moment. He has been busily creating all kinds of wonderful things: puppets, masks, sculptures and plenty of drawing of course. It is wonderful to see how he represents his thoughts through different mediums. This photo is of his cat mask for which he also made a wool ball using paper and sticky tape.
Felix - sleeping beauty! He's not been doing as much of this lately as he needs to and so has been cranky as cranky can be by mid-afternoon every day. Exhausting for all!