BeautyScope 197: Sandy footprints

rush hour

for beach birds

Catwalk Catastrophe!

 

Once there was a harried tailor named Francois

 

 

who worked for a famous clothes designer, Monsieur Ferdinand.

 

 Francois worked very hard, and was always running late, dropping things and generally in a state.

It came to the time of year that all designers love and dread...the catwalk competition!

They worked hard to produce many beautiful outfits.

The day came and they arrived at the venue

 

Monsieur Ferdinand greeting his adoring fans, and Francois as usual mumbling and stumbling.

Finally the very cool judge Hom Tanks," sorry no pictures please!"

 

So the Competition starts.

 

Earlier today our reporter spied our judge at a coffee house, looking rather irate and harassed, yelling into his phone.

 

 

 

Let's hope nothing too drastic has happened!

 

And here is our first contestant Monsieur Ferdinand, looking suave and slick for the cameras.

 

 

But what is this? Maybe we have discovered our judge's annoyance. It seems there is no model!

 

 

Yes, I just caught Monsieur Ferdinand accosting a passing worker, saying "I told you to find someone!"

 

"You'll have to do it Francois"...

 

 

I'm not sure Francois is too happy about that!

 

So finally we are underway.

 

 

"Here we are folks with our first outfit! This is a striped linen, in which the stripes have been turned sideways in the side seams, and the hem and armholes left to fray. Very comfortable in Summer."

 

"While we are waiting for Francois to change, I'll tell you about my outfit. I made the vest with multiple pockets, out of bright fabrics to modernise the usual fishing vest. Then I paired it with stripy drop crotch pants, using the same varied directional stripes as the last outfit."

 

 

 

"Ah, here is Francois in another pink ensemble. This time made into a lovely summer hotpants outfit. With a drawstring waist, kimono sleeves and zip entry, made out of gorgeous light pleated crepe viscose. Very light weight."

 

 

"On to a new style for us. This long vest made of upholstery fabric...tres chic!"

 

 

"Next we have a style influenced by Indian fashion...in fact the fabric is direct from India, as are the earrings!"

 

 

 

"This is a lovely addition to any person's wardrobe. We have taken an embroidered tablecloth and made a circle skirt from it. See how it swings...glorious!"

 

 

"The piece-de-resistance is this satin peacock blue top, decorated with hand painted silk rosettes, hand sewn in place. Like little waterlilies floating on a pond!"

 

 

"So how did we go Judge Tanks? Do you see anything you like?'

 

"Do I ever. I have finally found what I've been searching for. You are the complete package...beautiful model, fantastic designer and flamboyant showman!"

 

 

"Congratulations, you are the winner!"

 

 

Jazzy Jack/Francois signing out. Hope you enjoyed this little fantasy created with my latest sewing projects. All made by moi, except the upholstery vest which I thrifted. I even made Monsieur's clothes!

 

(With many thanks to Mstrs Actor and Artist, and Bushy for their support!)

 

'Til next time, keep on creating, and showing your wonderfulness to the world!

Love,

JJ

BeautyScope 196: Mission Unearthing

organic rocket

unfurling stages

as it blasts into space

BeautyScope 195: Tree resort

tracks in the snowy bark

for insects

to ski on

Rainbow scarves

Hello my friends. Thanks so much for the lovely comments on my new look blog!

As you will see, the blog isn't the only thing having a makeover.

Check out my new hair! Ta da!!

I'm not sure how I arrived at this post. I have been inspired by Anne of SpyGirl's Pantone colour post, although I was too late for that, and now the current topic is a post influenced by a book or "Reading between the lines" which made me think of this post about stripes, and this post telling the story of a scarf.

I also have been thinking about Sacremento of Mispapelicos's ShareinStyle Scarves which reminded me of two of my posts, waiting for love(the above story of a scarf) and scarf play (where I play making headwraps).

I do a lot with scarves!

I'm also wearing a new dress to me, with beautiful detail around the waist, in a colour very close to the Marsala Pantone Colour of the Year.

I have a lovely book about colour and how all the pigments and dyes were created around the world.

 

So put all that in the mix and of course out pops a completely new post about colour, specifically rainbows.

(some colours I could have filled with 4 or 5 scarves!)

Red

I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives. Billy Connolly

calls subtly, seductively

and klaxonically shouts

...at the same time

Orange

Life is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangy-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have a half a one for breakfast. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish

sunburnt country

turns orange

in the heat

Yellow

Drive, guy. That green light isn't going to get a deeper green. It'll only ripen and turn yellow. Jarod Kintz

how can one colour

be the symbol for happiness

and for cowardice?

Green

I've learnt to gather simplicity from grasshoppers. I like their naïve indecisive minds never knowing exactly when to stop chirping, and I envy their ability to be able to mingle with the green... Munia Khan

my favourite green

is spring green

newborn bouncy elastic green

Blue

I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes. Yves Saint Laurent

 

sad music

that makes people happy

Indigo (or thereabouts)

His eyes were that colour you can't see in the rainbow. Indigo. Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

 

exotically rare

mysterious, magical

and ever so slightly confusing

 

Violet

Sir Richard, life is a game in which the player must appear ridiculous. Violet Crawley, Downton Abbey

 

old fashioned name

reminiscent of shrinking,

inflate little violet

you too can be purple!

(Both dress $12 and earrings $8 were thrifted. All scarves thrifted except the green and last violet - retail, and blue - gift. Painting and haircut by me!)

 

I was feeling triumphant having cut my hair at the right time of the year for once, when the weather turned cold on me. Never mind, a perfect excuse for a colourful head wrap!

PS. taken when I had hair because...lazy! You get the picture:-)

 

I leave you with the rainbow hues in my colour washed painting of Life.

Enjoy a colourful time until we meet again.

Keep on creating!

Jazzy Jack

Linking to SpyGirl and MisPapelicos.

Come on over and see Anne dressed in a bookish striped scarf, and Sacremento radiant in stripes using Furoshiki to make a bag out of a scarf. How amazing are my friends ...and scarves!!

Update: Linking to StyleCrone to give her a Hat Attack with my scarf hat, and to Monday Mingle looking at Summer.

 

Why not leave a three word impression (poem) or a smiley if you enjoyed your visit? :-D

BeautyScope 194: Fatherly love

time stands still

as a father

holds his sleeping son

BeautyScope 193: Perpetual motion

everlasting daisy

eternally pirouetting

on the shelf

BeautyScope 192: Legume ultrasound

foetal pea-in-a-pod

nestled gently on

its silky pillow

Heartwoods in Summer

 

Welcome to Heartwoods from Bushy, Winter and I.

We had a lovely time away, and would like to share it with you.

Here is a map of our property. It's a mountain side, made up of two 40 acre blocks. They were parcelled off during the gold rush. So if the kids fall out, they can inherit one each. 

 

You can see the bottom boundary is a creek...more of this at the bottom of the post. Top left of the block you can see two black spots which are our sheds, and one blue spot which is our leaky dam. We are almost at the top of the hill at about 900 metres.

 

 

You may be wondering what the kids get up to without screens.

First we have Mr Artist being cool in a shell on our dam (complete with some water for a change.)

Going, going, gooone!

 

 

Here Winter, come and float in my boat.

Um, no thanks!

OK I'll go by myself..."wow, look at all the tadpoles, there are literally millions, seriously there are more than a thousand!"

 

 

Then we have parkour adventures over "Speedy" our stationary wreck.

 

 

Don't forget archery sessions with Bushy who is a passionate archer. (new bows for Christmas)

 

 

And then we have riding our bikes - this time the kids rode from the top to the bottom of our block after Bushy slashed a path with the tractor.

Mr Artist managed it unscathed both times, but poor Mr Actor came a cropper the second time. Thank goodness for dirt bike helmets!

 It was still voted the BEST fun!

 

 

We also have time to jump on an old couch, throw sticks that sound like thrumming boomerangs, and play cricket with Bushy...Winter is fielder.

Top right photo shows the stairs I fixed and outlined with bark, and bottom left shows the outdoor shower in the driveway (which we now realise we left up, so may need a new one by the time we head back!)

 

 

Down time includes knitting, reading comics, drinking tea, sitting in our lounge room admiring the view (a flat elevated cleared section- you can see the ground drops away behind Bushy), lying in the hammock, and the all important bug spray!

 

 

There were plenty of bitey bugs, but we also saw a ton of birds including an eagle, also a tortoise, a snake, lizards, and tadpoles.

 

Down the bottom of our block we have a ford to cross the river, and we've noticed it's been under water the last few times. So when Bushy mowed the driveway we came down to have a look. The pipe underneath was silted up.

Never fear, Bushy is here! 

After some digging and scraping, and strategic placement of rocks, we had it flowing again.

 

Then we decided to clear away a waterhole for swimming/ squatting(!), cutting back some undergrowth, to create a lovely cool spot for picnics.
 

 

What does Heartwoods look like at night, you ask?

Here is Bushy in the shed with our divider down (Mr Actor is asleep behind the blind), and outside the trees are silhouetted on the cooling sky.

 

 

One of the glorious sights this visit was butterflies flitting around this blossom. Of course I didn't manage to capture any of them!

 

 

So that's our busy visit. Hope you enjoyed your time with us.

Feel free to lie back, relax on our hammock, and enjoy the evening sunshine!

 

Please come back again.

Until next time, keep on creating and showing your beautiful selves to the world.

 

Love,

Jazzy Jack