Noice-ities (show us yours)

Noice-ities is a new gamey thingy we’re playing over at That’s Noice – Leigh and I launched it late last night… and it’s taken me until this afternoon to finish my own post. I’m nothing if not efficient ;)

Leigh has already admitted that the name of the game was my idea and that it looks like we’re saying nice tits. Oh dear. And now that the name is on our logo, it makes our logo look like a large, bright pink nipple. NOICE!

Now that’s all I see when I’m working on That’s Noice, hehe.

ANYWAY! It’s our version of games like My Place & Yours that I’ve been playing, and we’re starting by asking

If skill/talent was no object, what do you want to make?

I’m a simple girl with simple goals at this stage – my big big thing would be to make my own dress that I could wear when we get hitched… but that’s a tad unrealistic, even for me!

The most I’ve made on my new sewing machine is a cover for my toaster:

which isn’t exactly advanced, but I’m chuffed to have finished it (mostly) successfully. My first draft turned out okay, but this time I actually ironed the seams and whatnot (I think the iron is still in shock from actually being used!). And now I find I’m eating toast more often, just so I can use the cover. Sad, no?

Next, I want to make covers for Dan’s Xbox and PS3s (yes, we have multiple PS3s. Save me). Gaming consoles aren’t as square as toasters, so it’s going to be… um, interesting!

Why don’t you come along and join us for Noice-ities – you don’t even need to have a blog to take part!

The view from my front door

I love my place, even though it’s got floorboards on the ceiling:

Can you tell I’m on holiday? There’s stuff everywhere and I haven’t even finished unpacking from my weekend away. Or even the giant gold box that the Magnum Gold?! package was delivered in last week.

But! I’ve done the washing up!

Usually there’s a cat on the dining table (until I yell that them to get down), or piles of shopping on the kitchen counter. Or at least a pile of shoes in the corner that we’ve kicked off when we get home from work.

The theme for this week’s My Place and Yours over at Hello Owl is “What do you see when you walk through your front door?”. You should join in, it’s fun to sticky beak at everyone’s lives ;)

The panorama pic was taken with about 10 pics on my iPhone and stitched together automatically with the “AutoStitch” app on the phone itself. It’s a bit blurry in places, but I suspect that it’s largely because the light isn’t that great in our place…

Just 2 reasons why I might be willing to fork out the $$$ for CS5

I own an ancient version of Photoshop (a.k.a. Photochop). The price of buying an upgrade is in-SANE, so I’ve never bothered.

To be honest, I haven’t really found a reason to. Until now:

Content-aware fill

Everyone’s seen the video, haven’t they? Say no more. *swoon*

Rule of thirds-grid while cropping

I noticed this when watching the content-aware fill video. Be still my beating heart! I always struggle with the rule of thirds and need all the help I can get. I tried replicating this with my current install, but failed.

There are actually a bunch of other reasons I’d be willing to pay the exorbitant amount; this article over at Web Designer Depot covers most of it.

But, I only want Photoshop CS5, I don’t need a whole suite. Will I be able to only buy CS5?

Farmville

I went west for a few days to hang out with my BFF and her family. They live on a sheep and crop farm near Armatree, about a 6-hour drive from Sydney.

It’s nice to have a place to visit that’s such a stark contrast to life in inner-Sydney: out there it’s peaceful. Unless there are three small children around, of course ;)

I got home last night and had a restless night’s sleep (I think I kept dreaming about the locust plagues I drove through).

I think Elvis missed me, though:

(Don’t tell Elvis, but I missed him, too).

My most useful/used gadget

This week’s My Place & Yours theme was chosen by the lovely Susan.

It is any surprise what mine is?

It’s tragic I know.

I watch my favourite TV shows on it. I spend too much time playing games on it. It tracks time for me when I’m exercising. It reminds me when everyone’s birthdays are. It plays podcasts that allow me to get a good night’s sleep. It is the alarm that makes sure I get to work on time.

Occasionally, it lets me make phone calls. Damn iPhones are freaking useless with their limited bands for 3G access and phone network connectivity. Shits me to tears.

But I love it.

How to: be a sewing blogger (NOT!)

I am seriously thinking I need to start a new FAIL blog. Or at the very least, a FAIL category.

Because, honestly, after yesterday’s debacle with the giant cupcake, you’d think I’d give it a rest today.

But no. Today I decided to try sewing.

But! I saw this Lola Nova tutorial for fabric eggs and fell in love.

I’m sure I did a bunch of things that a good sewer never does. I just folded up the calico into 4 layers so I only had to cut the damn shape out once. I didn’t mark my start/stop points like the pattern said I should. I didn’t look up how to back stitch. I actually decided by the back stitch stage that the egg was a disaster and beyond help. So who gives a damn what a back stitch is.

(I actually ended up making a pretty cool mock up of an owl softie after this disaster, so I’m heading out in the morning to get appropriate owl fabric (Felt? Polar fleece? Fat squares?). Promise to show you the end result – hopefully something better than a big fat FAIL!)