art + photography by Helen McLean

I think crafting can be done almost anywhere - the lounge room couch, the dining table, the car, a 50s retro house…

I have found out, now that I have a baby, crafting is the sort of hobby that is very portable and flexible. Other than book binding, which needs to be done on it’s designated studio table - all the other things I create can be done almost anywhere.

Over the weekend we went to Ocean Grove (unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the Rose St market to see annalaura) and I brought along my craft stuff just in case. On the way there in the car I stuck things down and the next day as the weather wasn’t beach worthy - I continued to stick bits down at the place we were staying. Sweet! Very productive indeed.

Now, this place we stayed at was awesome! Just a quick glance over my blog would tell anyone that I love 50s + 60s retro. This house was the bees-knees in retro… it even had a glass float hanging at the front door!

Check this beauty out:

OK – I’ve been tagged by Lara to do this internet game thing. It’s pretty cool actually!

The rules are:

1. someone tags you,
2. you post five things about yourself that you haven’t already mentioned on your blog,
3. you tag people you’d like to know more about

ONE
I use to work part time at Johnny Rockets - my first ever work shift was on a New Years Eve (nasty). I loved the dancing as it made the time fly when I worked there. My favourite dance was to Aretha Franklin’s “Think”. . And I LOVED the 50s style hat we had to wear.

TWO
I went to art school from age of 9, but my mum pulled me out eventually because I talked too much and she felt I wasn’t learning enough…. I was a real chatterbox at school as well – my report cards would usually say “Helen talks too much”.

THREE
I love the Beastie Boys and I’ve listened to them ever since I was 15. I started off with a cassette tape of “Paul’s Boutique” and it had songs such as “Hey Ladies” on it. Get funky….

FOUR
The first ever cassette tape I was given as a gift from my parents was Julio Iglesias and Elvis Presley (I know, I know) and the first ever tape I bought myself with my pocket money was Olivia Newton-John with songs such as “Let’s get Physical”. I never thought the song was about anything other than aerobics!

FIVE
The first car I owned my dad bought for me and my mum called the colour of it “goose shit brown”. I thought it was gold ;o) It was a ’76 Ford Falcon XB and it was a TANK! I got my first real bicep muscles driving that car as it had manual steering. It was also known as the “Rad Mobile” as back then I was known as “Rad” because of my maiden name.

Now that you know 5 things about me that haven’t otherwise been mentioned in my blog – “I have to kill you” ;o)

I now tag Cherry Rockette

I admit it, in the past I have wasted so much time doing meaningless things. To the point of feeling guilty about spending so much time, wasting it. I’m talking about (apologies in advance if I get anyone else here hooked on this) isketch.net

My husband knows of this site and knows the sounds that come out of it when participating…. So if I’m still playing when he comes home from work, and the first thing he hears when he opens the front door is “dun¹ dun² dun³!” he knows what I’ve been up to. Instead of asking, “how was your day?” he would ask, “how long have you been on that?”

It took a few months, but I have removed this wonderful time waster from my life. No twelve step program needed, just a re-assessment of where my life was heading ;o)

PS: Thanks to my husband who mentioned I should make the ‘dun, dun duns’ a bit more musical by adding descriptive pitches to them. So who’s wasting time now???