Australian Artist – Rachel Carroll

I visited an exhibition at Painters' Gallery over the weekend and fell in love with the Australian bird studies by artist, Rachel Carroll. I bought three of her original hand-painted cards (see above) featuring a Manly Fairy-Wren, Kookaburra and a Rainbow Lorikeet. Such talent! I want to frame and hang them as a triplet series in the entrance to our house. Aren't they beautiful - if you click the image it should enlarge so you can see the detail!

The Painters' Gallery exhibition will continue until Saturday 5^th February, 2011 and more information about Rachel Carroll can be found on her website.

My Bryon Bay Shorts

before....

after...

I’m on holidays in the beautiful Byron Bay and ripped denim shorts are almost mandatory for anyone visiting. I’ve been trying to hunt down a pair but with a cost of $100 - $545 I thought it was worth trying to make my own.

I found a pair of shorts for $4 at the local thrift store. Using a seam ripper/unpicker I frayed the pockets on the back and then I cut them off to the correct length using my favourite shorts as a template. The length was short enough so that the bottom of the front pockets could be seen poking out. Then I frayed the bottom edges and put a couple of frays under the front pockets. I found this video on you tube that might help anyone wanting to DIY.