My mother paints with acrylics.  She's always looking for reference photos.  She doesn't have a digital camera or a way to print photos, so she's always asking her children for reference photos.  My sister sent my mom home with a CD filled with photographs my sister took in Nevada.  My mom handed me the CD and asked me to print some of the photos.  I printed some of them and gave them to her at Christmas. 

With the photos in mind, I remembered that I was just given an index-type folder book (above) to alter.  I took out the book yesterday and began altering the cover with some beautiful red and gold floral fabric and  some yellow lace.

The button on the front cover is actually glued to a washer.  I punched a hole in the book with an awl and slid a washer and rivet on a small diameter bolt to form a shaft for the ribbon to go around.  I pushed the bolt through the book and screwed on the nut.  I glued on the button with E6000 and let the adhesive set up overnight.

I removed the elastic band closure by punching holes around the rivets holding the elastic band in place.  After covering the book in fabric, I glued and set rivets to both sides of the back cover.  I cut a yellow ribbon and threaded it through the grommets and tied it into a knot.

I covered the inside of the back cover with felt (before gluing in the grommet).  I also added some red scrapbook paper and some wallpaper to the front of the index folder.

Now the book is ready to fill with reference photos. 

I think my mom will enjoy getting a few more reference photos.  The presentation is pretty and she can keep her photos in the book until she's ready to start painting.  I'm hoping this is a present she'll truly enjoy.

• Prostate cancer
• Osteoarthritis
• Ventilation tubes (grommets) in children with OME
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Liposuction for chronic lymphoedema
• Laparoscopic mobilisation of the greater omentum for use in breast reconstruction
• Endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) for mediastinal metastases
• Psychosis (first onset) - neuroimaging
• Follicular non-hodgkins lymphoma (recurrent or refractory stage III or IV) - rituximab
• Community engagement
• Smoking cessation

I've been doing some experimenting building baskets and boxes out of fabric.  I have a lot of grommets and a few grommet tools.  I had an idea for a box/basket and a color combination, brown and blue.

I sandwiched 5, 7"x7", pieces of stiff felt between a brown and a medium blue polka dot on light blue fabric.  The pieces are sewed together like a pillow.  Sew with wrong sides together then turn.  I was making it up as I went along.  I discovered that it was best to sew around the bottom piece of felt. 

My first attempt at grommets failed.  I found this new kind of grommet at the craft store.  It has prongs that can be flattened down.  With a little fray check around the holes, these grommets worked great on my fabric basket.

I folded and tied the ends together with ribbons. VIOLA! I have a box/basket.

I made some boo-boos with this one, so I'll be keeping it.  Now that I figured out how to put the baskets together, I think I'll be making a few more.  I have an idea for some gift baskets.

Another day. Another rip off.

My empty shell of an apartment has a bath and shower, but no shower curtain.

So to avoid wetting the floor and possibly slipping up and cracking my head open on the tiles, I went to a department store today and bought a shower curtain.

It said on the pack 'with metal grommets'.

I assumed this meant hooks.

So I go home excited to be able to have a shower and wash away the cheese under my foreskin, unwrap the shower curtain pack only to find there's NO FUCKING HOOKS IN IT.

What the fuck is that about?

Who the hell would want to buy a shower curtain without hooks?

Surely not all shower curtains are the same or have the same number of holes in them?

Is there a universally agreed standard amongst shower curtain manufacturers as to the number of holes a shower curtain should have?

If there is, they should get a life.

grommet

n. an eyelet placed in a hole in a sheet or panel to protect or insulate a rope or cable passed through it or to prevent the sheet or panel from being torn.

I'm not ungrateful really... I know that I have a good life, a wonderful husband and a lovely daughter... I guess everyone needs to have a bitch sometimes though. Now the hearing loss thing isn't a huge deal I don't think. We have a specialist appointment in November (earliest I could get even though we are paying an obscene amount of health insurance... don't get me started!) and I guess the worst case sceanario is that she will have to have an operation to have grommets... okay, not the end of the world, it's a common operation and lots of little kids have them. But hey, this is the first time I've had to go there personally and the first time that my little baby girl has had to have surgery. Indulge me, I'm allowed to be a little bit stressed about it surely?! We'll wait and see what the specialist dude says and then I can stress out with good reason (LOL!).

Now the business thing... well I have to say that I'm sooooo sick of responding to requests for assistance and not even getting the courtesy of a reply! If you don't want me to do your admin work well okay, but please tell me so I don't keep putting you on a 'follow-up' list and annoying you with my emails every once in a while for the next two months! What on earth has happened to good manners? I would think that with the ease of flicking back an email, it would be oh so simple to fob people off! Whinge whinge, gripe gripe... I've really had one of those days! But you know what? My daughter made me some fake flowers, put them in a little glass, displayed them on my dressing table and said "this is because I love you Mum." Life isn't that bad.

The Berrett’s brought me existing black and white photos of them with their new baby boy. My concept for their announcement was to tell their story through the well-known nursery rhyme “What Are Little Boys Made Of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails.” I also featured the stacking ring toy to illustrate “How He Stacks Up”— 7 lbs. 3 oz. 18” long. Grommets were used for bindery and an elegant off white paper was used to keep things clean and simple. My work on this project included: concept, design, production and writing.

My personal wedding invitation was a simple, clean, black and white design that featured images of beaches and mountains—to illustrate our common California to Colorado moves. Along with our monogram, metallic silver and white duplexed paper was used to add classic elegance, and a translucent envelope and grommets were used to mail and bind the piece. To save on paper, the RSVP card was a tear-out reply card on the last page. Thank you cards were also produced for future occasions. My work on this included concept, design, writing, print specs & mgt.