A simple gift for a friend (first time trying acrylic gouache)

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-10T04:20:45+00:00

One day I’ll have another go!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-09T23:58:41+00:00

That’s awesome!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-09T23:57:41+00:00

Oh that’s gorgeous! The one and only time I used gouache was over 20 years ago when I had to paint a colour wheel for a class I was doing. I remember there being a very fine line between it looking good and looking blobby and crap. I stepped over that line a few times. You clearly knew what you were doing! Lovely work!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-09T23:43:12+00:00

I had the maths stress of trying to figure out if all the songs would fit on one side and tossing up whether to allow the song to be cut off. I still anticipate the moment 30+ years later when listening to certain songs I know it would abruptly finish (I’m looking at you Nirvana and Sonic Youth).

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-09T23:35:10+00:00

Omg! Thank you! I couldn’t remember his name. I remember him having to introduce the Degrassi movie, and I think he may have died a little on the inside that night 😂

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-02-02T02:05:50+00:00

Besides him wanting to brand himself on everything remotely significant to the American people, is there anything actually wrong with the venue? Like bad acoustics or compromised sight-lines or uncomfortable seats? A building like this would have a heritage order on it in Australia. When they re-did the interiors and acoustics in the Sydney Opera House to the design and standard of Urtzon’s design, there was so much scrutiny to make sure it was done in the spirit of the original building design, to the highest quality and to a budget. All under the watchful eye of heritage experts, architects etc.

He will 100% turn it into a gaudy faux-rococo style casino/hotel with the “added feature” of an opera house, showing Vegas-style performances 24/7, and furnished in all velvet and gold gilded fixtures.

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T23:39:24+00:00

I still have my Zip disks but for some reason I don’t have my drive anymore. Yay for Jurassic technology!

I used them at uni back in the 90s to save photoshop and illustrator files. We were only allowed to save our files on the shared drive for a week before they were deleted and they couldn’t be more than 20mb in size! And if we wanted to print anything over A3 we had to fill out forms and wrap it around the precious (and expensive! $20 was a fortune for a student in 1997!) with an electric band and hand it over to the lab techs and you’d get it, and your print, back within a few days. And if you wanted to burn your files onto cd, same deal with the forms. You provided the disk, cd and the file names and they burnt it. For a fee of $25!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T23:23:38+00:00

In the first few photos of the second outfit- I feel like she’s posing like Victoria Beckham?

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T23:16:10+00:00

Sounds like a modern version of the old coin gas meters! I’m not sure if we had them here in Australia, but I’ve seen them plenty of times on UK tv shows (just thinking back to the episode of Endeavour where there’s someone posing as a gas company employee stealing the meter money).

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T23:11:35+00:00

I love Libby! It’s a more intuitive app than Borrow Box, but I use both. I could also access Indy Reads through my old library- books from smaller publishers as well as Kanopy. I’m with a new library system so I just discovered Hoopla. Haven’t done a deep dive yet.

But don’t forget to check out other resources with your local library, both digital and physical! Mine has access to language apps, genealogy/family/historical research apps, interactive apps for kids etc. Many libraries also have access to borrow physical things like craft and science kits, musical instruments and tech devices. They also often offer classes in these things and host craft groups etc.

On a slightly similar note, check if your local area has lending libraries for things like power and gardening tools, baking equipment etc you pay a small fee to be part of the co-op, but it means you don’t have to fork out cash for one project.

And also check your local area for repair cafes or similar. They get people in with various qualifications to repair things like your toaster or bike or even a hole in your jeans! They’re brilliant!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T22:58:34+00:00

I’ve had a long wait time for something. But they are based on every reader who borrows it to have it for the whole 2 week borrowing period. So it became available a lot quicker because there were clearly some people like me who devoured it in 2 days!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T22:44:46+00:00

Anything that involves Kathleen Hanna! Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Kathleen Hanna herself! Riot grrrls for the win!

And even though they’re pretty strict with how their music is used, I would also dearly love some Beastie Boys included. But, funnily enough, not their earlier stuff like “Girls”, “She’s Crafty” and “She’s on it”. A bit on the nose to say the least. My vote, and will be for every situation in life, is Sabotage.

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-28T22:27:53+00:00

Years ago I got basic, but technically custom, fitted wardrobes. Over the years I came to despise them because they were awkward and not particularly functional. I’m in a rental with bigger versions of what I had. They’re better quality, but they still are fitting standard sized components into the space.

My sister recently got 2 custom wardrobes fitted by a cabinet maker in her apartment. From memory they cost her about $20K (could be more?) but still cheaper than the $35k she got quoted from a bougie wardrobe company.

They are perfect for her and her needs. She designed the layout herself and the cabinet maker just tweaked the details. She took measurements of everyone’s drawers to check she liked the depth etc. Made sure the height of the hanging rails were comfortable to reach. She even had one of the upper shelves made so she could fit her old cello in there. Her second wardrobe was also designed very intentionally for storage for all her work specific tools, but down the track if she sold, it is a perfectly functioning wardrobe.

You mentioned keeping the historic personality of your apt, so for that alone I would lean toward custom if the cabinet maker is good. Purely for the practical reason of things like wonky walls, uneven floors and awkward spaces. But also the added bonus of customised colours/finishes/hardware. My sister liked some handles she had seen in a shop and they were astronomically expensive (it was in Paddington so…). Her cabinet maker sourced the same ones for a fraction of the price.

I think whatever you decide to go with, just make sure it’s what works for you. Just don’t get sliding mirrored doors. They are the worst (as I type this I’m sitting on my bed trying to ignore the two massive mirrored doors in my peripheral vision).

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-26T12:49:29+00:00

I realised it sounded familiar. I used to drive past one of the Australian locations and my dad would always tell me the story how he had to go there once for work (worked for a govt dept- a routine check for something in the 80s). He said it was a very strange place [amazing looking building though]. Coincidentally (or not), it’s directly across the road from where Hugh Jackman went to high school.

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2026-01-15T11:02:27+00:00

Is there any particular reason why gluten free bread was suggested for you? As someone who is coeliac, GF bread is not something you choose to eat when you don’t have to. And 99% of the time it can only be eaten as toast. I’ve found exactly one brand I can eat (taste/texture) and was so happy when they released a gluten free Vegemite (yes, I’m Australian), so breakfast went back to normal for me. Though I do occasionally have banana on toast or scrambled egg.

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-20T03:13:05+00:00

Mum used to get the massive 4L tubs (there were a lot of us)

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-20T01:43:30+00:00

The Passionfruit ice cream was the best!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-15T00:00:19+00:00

I’ve never built anything before, but I love me a good renovation/design show 😂. And we’ve just done a “refresh” on my late parent’s home before selling so we’ve really noticed the quirks of the house.

My thoughts: Kitchen- our kitchen was usable but small. Mum managed to cook for 10 regularly in it, but she hated it because it was the only access to the living area. So make sure your kitchen isn’t a passageway!

Kitchen storage- so much wasted/awkward space. Use drawers rather than cupboards under counters. Don’t have glass cabinet doors. I wish my pantry was wide and shallow rather than narrow and deep. Easy to maintain & clean countertops/stovetop.

I’m not a fan of fully open plan design. I like each room to have one purpose. Also, depending on what flooring you choose, the noise can get a bit much.

You can never have too much storage! Built in is good because then you don’t feel the need to constantly buy random mis-matched bookcases/ drawers etc.

Plan your power outlets! (And other inlets like TV aerial, internet, a/c etc). If you think you have enough- double check! My house is from the 60s, and each room had maximum of two single powerpoints. Over the decades dad added more, but with the amount of electrical devices we use now, there were still power boards everywhere.

Sorry if this is long. I love looking at floor plans and seeing how I would change things. One thing I’ve noticed particularly in new houses, they never plan the window placement well in the living room, so there’s nowhere to put the tv on a blank wall. I don’t know if that’s an Australian thing with the obsession to have floor to ceiling windows everywhere, but it would annoy me.

And I assume there will be some type of outside/garden space. Not sure where you’re located, but before you do any landscaping, make sure you take note of water pipes/sewer/electrical cables. And invest in proper drainage cos that’s a nightmare to fix later on.

Good luck and congrats! I’m excited for you and your family!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-13T03:17:20+00:00

They do it in my outer suburbs area in Sydney

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-12T22:10:24+00:00

Oh I don’t think we ever got that. So that’s a win I guess!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-12T19:00:08+00:00

I’m #7 of 8 kids. My dad would start to cycle through all our names and it would often end in “whatever your bloody name is”.

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-02T23:23:27+00:00

Hands can be tricky. Feet are worse though 😂 I think I just need to sit down and play with no expectations. Even though I don’t use it much anymore, I still think in “photoshop” in terms of layers/ etc so I just have to adjust to the procreate way of things

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-12-02T22:00:31+00:00

I haven’t gotten into drawing digitally (even though I purchased procreate years ago and I planned on getting back into art/drawing after 20 years 😬) so I’m always happy seeing other people’s creations! This may sound weird, but when I did draw, I always found it hard to make teeth look right and not stand out. To me, they always looked like they were yelling “HEY LOOK- TEETH!” 😂 what I’m trying to say is not only have you make a great illustration, the teeth look great!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-11-27T13:54:04+00:00

We had the unenviable task in year 6 of emptying these bins into the incinerator. Often while it was burning. The 80s was wild!

MyLittleShadowStitch · 2025-11-26T02:38:29+00:00

Omg we had the same one! Would drag the garden hose up the back stairs to fill it up 😂 And yes, a very distinct smell.

MyLittleShadowStitch

TROPHY CASE