Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Mamas in the Hood Art Exhibition at Pine Rivers Art Gallery - 5 October to 5 November 2011

Its getting very exciting now, our exhibition of works exploring motherhood, art, politics, contemporary life and society is opening next Friday night, 7 October 2011 at the Pine Rivers Art Gallery. Refreshments served from 6pm - all welcome!



The Opening Night guest speaker is Anita West who has built a sustainable art career over 25 years whilst raising a family and understands the extra commitment and dedication needed. Anita will share her experiences to pursue creative endeavours amongst the backdrop of caring for children.


Artworks by Candice Hearne, Sandra Landlot, Chrys Zantis and myself will feature in this exhibition.
There will also be workshops and activities to attend including a filming of Who Does She Think She Is?, on Saturday, 15 October 2011 at 11am. This amazing documentary features five fierce women who refuse to choose between mothering or working.

Look forward to seeing you there!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Spring Garden Party Fundraiser 2011

Last Sunday, 11 September, a group of friends and I held our annual Garden Party in my back yard. This is the third year running we've held such an event and again we set about making it as much fun as possible while raising money for 3 charities. On the day we had entertainment, shopping, lucky door prizes and tarot card reading.







On the shopping side of things we had Robyn from "Fashions on the Go", Pauline with her gorgeous cuddly cushions, "Alfina's Cake and Coffee" with delicious baked treats and giftware, Madonna with handmade soaps, Leah with her magical children's clothing and Candy and Rhody with Rhody's delightful handmade wrapping paper and cards. Three lovely ladies attending the party agreed to be models and participate in the fashion parade to display the wide range of beautifully fashionable clothes and accessories. There was something for everyone as there were more clothes and accessories available to look at and try on than most of your leading fashion shops. To compliment the clothing, there was an exciting range of jewellery and handbags available.

There was also Tarot Card readings by Tara and Natasha from Spiritual Awakenings, two caring and gifted ladies who were kept busy with many ladies wanting a reading.

The hosts, Pauline, Sue, Alfina and myself, baked sweets and slices and made savoury items for the "high tea" included in the ticket price. There was delicious brownies, caramel slice, cheesecake, zucchini slice, savoury quiches, scrumptious sandwiches and more. Click HERE for the Brownie Recipe or HERE for the Zucchine Slice Recipe.


There were many lucky door prizes drawn throughout the day which were donated by the stallholders that attended, as well as the organisers of this event. Again thank you to everyone who contributed. My wonderful father also helped out again, cleaning my house and garden the day before and also by making two cork boards for the lucky door prizes. Thanks again Dad!
We placed coffee tables all over the backyard for our guests to enjoy a lovely spring afternoon. Sue made lovely floral table arrangements and decorated the posts with flowers and ribbons and the place looked magic.
My front yard once again turned into a carpark and thanks to John and Barchi (sorry if spelling is incorrect) for taking on the "parking attendents" role and fitting all the cars in. The kids played a big role in greeting people and organising the raffle tickets, especially Dylan and Kylan who found it a very busy experience.

Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket and came and participated on the day, it wouldn't have been a success without all of you. Approximately $1,500 was raised this year and we asked everyone to vote on which 3 charities we would direct this to. The top 3 this year are Ovarian Cancer, Hope House and the Clown Doctors who will each receive a third of the money raised.

A big thank you to my wonderful friend Candice Herne who took these Spring filled photos! It was a fantastic day, everyone's positive feedback and encouragement was most welcome!