hi everyone,
i trust you all had a wonderful Christmas?!
i was busy in the kitchen for most of Christmas morning preparing a nice hot lunch of turkey, ham, mashed potato, sweet potato, brussels sprouts and gravy. i had the vegetarian alternative for the turkey and ham, of course. the kids were all here and we had a great time despite the rain. oh the rain!
you may remember the horrendous swamp-like conditions we had to put up with in the past and, in particular, at the beginning of the year? you can refresh your memory here, here, and here. you may also remember how the bushland directly behind our back fence was cleared to make way for a new housing development back in august? you can refresh you memory on that score here. well, i thank my lucky stars that the home owner had a better drainage system installed back in June because we've had A LOT of rain over this past week and, no thanks to the new housing development behind us, we've also had this (pictured below) pouring into our backyard during the rain periods. the land developers obviously sloped the land and now their rainwater run-off heads straight for our backyard! NOT happy, Jan!!!!
UPDATE - I have since found out that our neighbours suffered the same problem during the constant rain periods. We will let our property manager know because you would think the developers could be forced to rectify the issue being that they are the ones responsible.
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on a brighter note, here is a pic i snapped of Mikayla fast asleep on Christmas day.
i am so in love with this little baby girl.
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i adore hot, spicy foods....the hotter, the better....so it's understandable that my kitchen decor is based on a mexican/chilli theme. a couple of days ago, i moved the chalkboard over to the pantry door making it easier to access, however, this left a blank wall space where the chalkboard had been and it was begging for some attention. i remembered having some chilli-themed calendars i bought years ago in my supplies and, as i didn't have time to create a painting from scratch, i decided to use a couple of the pictures. i glued them onto 12"x12" gallery-wrapped canvas frames.
i then painted the canvas edges in an olive green which i mixed using Matisse Australian Olive Green and Matisse Naples Yellow acrylic paints. the green makes a lovely compliment to the red chillies.
i then varnished the edges with gloss varnish
and ta-da! here they are all finished and in place
not bad for a quick fix to fill a blank wall, eh?
i'm hoping to post again tomorrow to talk about my word for 2011 so stay tuned, my friends....
~ love, light and peace ~
okay, now to my chilli decor.....
i adore hot, spicy foods....the hotter, the better....so it's understandable that my kitchen decor is based on a mexican/chilli theme. a couple of days ago, i moved the chalkboard over to the pantry door making it easier to access, however, this left a blank wall space where the chalkboard had been and it was begging for some attention. i remembered having some chilli-themed calendars i bought years ago in my supplies and, as i didn't have time to create a painting from scratch, i decided to use a couple of the pictures. i glued them onto 12"x12" gallery-wrapped canvas frames.
i then painted the canvas edges in an olive green which i mixed using Matisse Australian Olive Green and Matisse Naples Yellow acrylic paints. the green makes a lovely compliment to the red chillies.
i then varnished the edges with gloss varnish
and ta-da! here they are all finished and in place
not bad for a quick fix to fill a blank wall, eh?
i'm hoping to post again tomorrow to talk about my word for 2011 so stay tuned, my friends....
~ love, light and peace ~
We need some rain here but I dread its arrival as we have ceiling leaks and such that our landlord has never taken time to address even though I talked to him about it a year ago. We don't get much rain, but when we do, it causes an awful mess everywhere, especially because of the sand and dust to be found all over. It is cloudy out right now. Hope it stays cloudy. I would certainly not be a happy camper if rain water was flooding my back yard. Of course, when it rains really hard here, the sliding glass door in our bedroom leaks and then it is flooding across the bedroom floor. Ugh! You wonder if there is any planning and design these days or its all just get things done as quickly as possible and don't think of what will happen own the road.
ReplyDeleteThat is a fantastic use of old calendar pages. They look great on your kitchen wall. My hairdresser and friend loves chili themed items so I gave her a collection of such for Christmas.
Your sweet little grandbaby surely is the cutest thing. They are so precious when they are fast asleep.
Wishing you peace joy and love, Tammy
Now I know what I'm going to do in our bathroom. Not the chilies, but the technique. Every time I paint or draw something with the intention of hanging it in the bathroom, my husband confiscates it for another room. I'll just put a print on canvas and then he won't have to worry about the original.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS!
And what a gorgeous peanut, by the way. So pretty!
Mikalya is so beautiful! And that water pouring into your yard is terrible... One of the few joys of renting, it's not going to cost you actual money to fix it. Just headaches. Sigh...
ReplyDeletegreat idea using the old calendars, they look great on the wall :)
ReplyDeleteoh no about the waterfall in your backyard! that shouldn't be happening, time to complain I think
Oh wow, look at the rain!! We're dealing with snow, snow, and more snow. I don't know what's worse--really!
ReplyDeleteBut it's good that it didn't stop you and your family from having a happy Christmas--love your granddaughter!!
OMG! I can't believe the water pouring into your back yard!! I hope the improvements to the yard will hold up with all that craziness and you don't get flooded back there. I guess this is the test, eh?
ReplyDeleteMikayla is just so precious! I can see how she crept into your heart and closed the door behind her. She's a part of you forever. :):)
That was a very clever idea with the peppers. And you're recycling!! Looks really nice.
Happy New Year--soon! Tomorrow for us here in Fargo. I know you've picked a great word for 2011. :)
I just saw something on our news about all the rain that Australia is getting and I thought of you and your back yard. It looks like your problem hasn't been solved. What a mess to have to deal with right now.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when all you want to do is spend time with that adorable new grand baby! And who could blame you! I wish I could give her a little hug. She looks so sweet.
PS - love the quickie solution with the calendar pictures!! They look great.
Dear Serena..although 2010 had many trials and tribulations for you and your family, the birth of your darling granddaughter makes it all worthwhile..take care..enjoy the rest of the season with much happiness xx bettyann
ReplyDeleteDid you say you wanted a swimming pool? What a mess the developers have made! i thought of you when I saw the news last night, what a contrast, we are to have 40 deg today with no sign of rain. I hope it doesn't get any worse for you. At least you have a beautiful distraction. Mikayla is gorgeous, so cuddly! She looks like a little angel.
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with the calendars. What a great idea and so quick too.
Lee:)
Hi Serena. Wow, look at that water coming into your yard. My goodness!Sorry about that. Baby looks so cutey pie. What a great idea on gluing those great pictures on canvas. Why I have to do that too. I too have some great pictures of chili's and stuff and perhaps next year I will do that. Oh next year is a hop, skip, and a jump away. Tee Hee. Serena, I've enjoyed reading your blog this year and will continue to do so next year. I'm glad I got to meet you. Have a safe and Happy New Year's amiga, the best is yet to be. :) Take care.
ReplyDeleteOh Serena, sorry to see you are having another problem again. :( I hope you call them up soon, so they can resolve the problem. That is awful after all you went through. :(
ReplyDeleteOn a brighter note, Mikayla is beautiful.....God bless her!
And the idea of using the calendars as art Fabulous! They look perfect on that wall.
Hugs
I can't understand AT ALL, how you could be so in love with that baby girl!!! LOL. She is an angel...so beautiful...she looks devine in that red color!!! WOW!
ReplyDeleteYour paintings are really fantastic...so realistic. I can never know how in the world you can work such magic on canvas!!!
Oh my goodness, to see rain water pouring into your yard like that must be crazy!! Hope you can get that fixed, it's awful!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you stopped by! I'm happy you had a nice Christmas enjoying that sweet little granddaughter Serena, She is BEAUTIFUL!
Happy New Year to you! I'll be back to see your 'word of the year' for sure!!
Holy crud! All that rain water. They better fix that. Your poor fence won't hold up to much of that!!
ReplyDeleteLove the photo canvas's. Very cool. Glad you had a great Christmas as it being your first one being a grandma!! :)
Floods up north and drought down south from what I hear?
ReplyDeleteOver here it's around 8 degrees and raining and south it's snow storms in places they don't usually get snow!
Your Granddaughter is so perfect! What a beautiful little face.
I love the contrast of the colors with your white kitchen!
ReplyDeletePretty photos!
Nice post.....
ReplyDelete