Classes for June

We had two interesting classes this month. The first one was a layout using flower stacks & fluid chalk. It was a bit time consuming but I loved the way it turned out.

Then last weekend we made a beautiful box. I can think of so many uses for this.
This is the second one that I made - I think they are so lovely.

June Craft Challenges

Well I didn't think I was going to get anywhere with my craft this month. Seemed to be in a total uninspired muddle & finding that my arms have really been flaring up with the cold weather - don't like winter at all.

This is my card:-

My layout was of a layout of myself & our son.

The OTP was a decorated canvas for a housewarming present.The photographic challenge was to be an action shot taken using the burst setting on a camera. This is a photo of Russ who belongs to friends & we were looking after him for a few days. He loves jumping up for his frisbie.

The Quick Technique Challenge for this month was to do either a LO or Card using one embellishment & a verse.

Looking good at Mum & Dad's

Well after another two weekends spent at Mum & Dad's home we are starting to make progress. Hubby went up for the Saturday a week ago & then he & I went up again last weekend. So far there has been about 2 tonne of rubbish go to the tip as well as 2 loads of firewood to my brother's & 7 trailer loads of other items to store at our home in the meantime.

We were actually able to use the bar-b-que & eat under the house for the first time in over 15 years. So the house is now on the market & hopefully will sell fairly quickly. After living there for over 47 years it is going to be difficult for Mum & Dad to say goodbye but I am sure they will be happy in their new home.

June Weekend Workshop

The weekend workshop kept us busy too. With the usual Card, LO & OTP challenges we also had a quick LO challenge as well.

This is my contemporary card. I used some teabag folding for the centre.

The theme for the lay-out was 'That Look' and I couldn't resist using Amber in her Santa hat. She really has a 'look what they are doing to me' look on her face.
The OTP challenge was to decorate a door hanger - either one for the knob or to hang on the door so I decided to do one for the ensuite.

And finally the quick layout challenge was themed - 'My Favourite Thing' - so I chose to use sunrise photos.

Digital Scrapbook Page

Well I finally had a play around with digital scrapbooking. This is the page I put together for the Photo Impact June competition. Enjoyed mucking around with the placing of photos and objects and would like to do more pages in the future. Think I will always do the scrapbooking by old methods too as I like to actually be able to flick through an album.

Our early-morning visitor

Last Friday, hubby, DS & myself went to Mum & Dad's in Brissie to start helping them clean-up & throw out in preparation for listing their house & moving up our way. It is quite a mammoth task as they have been living at their current address for over 47 years so there is a lot of acumulated treasures - lol. Also dad had been a builder so there was an awful lot of left-overs from jobs.

Friday night (early Saturday morning) we were awoken by noises in the bathroom. Mum originally thought she had heard a tap dripping but when she walked into the bathroom everything was quiet and as she didn't turn on the light didn't notice anything amiss - however after hearing more banging we thought a possum might have made its way in through the window.

On investigating further - this is what mum found when turning on the light. Not what you expect to have greeting you.

What did we do???? - well at 3AM the best plan of attack was to close the door & leave it till the morning when dad made a snake noose & he & hubby bundled it into the laundry hamper in the bathroom & hubby then released it on the creek bank down the back of mum & dad's property. I felt a bit sorry for the poor creature - lol - moving it from a lovely warm bathroom & depositing it down the backyard in a shower or rain but after a few minutes it gathered its bearings and slowly moved to shelter. Needless to say that the window was closed tightly the next night - lol

I'VE GRADUATED - YAY !!!!!

Well it took a year and a half but I have finally completed my Photo Impact course. This is a graphics & photo editing programme which I can thoroughly recommend. It is so user friendly & has so many different tools & techniques available. I can't decide which part I enjoyed the most........loved animation.........loved digital painting & can't wait to try digital scrapbooking.

RAIN & MORE RAIN ................

Well we arrived home from holidays to find that there had been over 5 inches (162 ml) of rain in the previous couple of days - something that was badly needed. The dam actually backed up with the back paddock flooding a bit - something which hasn't happened for quite a few years so we will now have plenty of water for the winter. The tanks were full & overflowing & so was the pool which was great to see. We do have town water as well but try to not use that for anything other than laundry, kitchen & bathroom. We will have the washing machine connected to the tank water too soon which will drop our usage of town water even further.

Our short-break away ............

Hubby had been accumulating RDO's so we decided to have a week away and head down to northern NSW. As I have problems with travelling any distance our first stop was at Tweed Heads where we stayed in the Big4 park which was in a lovely quiet area and only a short walk from the river.

These were some pelicans which were hanging around fishermen hoping for some tidbits - they weren't disappointed either.

Tuesday - 27 May - we headed to Byron Bay - unfortunately the accommodation wasn't on par with Tweed Heads - no blankets on the bed and the heater on the air-con wasn't working. No clothes dryers in the laundry either so the cabin looked like a Chinese laundry - lol. However luckily we always carry blankets & a little fan heater with us when travelling so were snug enough at night in the cabin.

This was a lookout which we stopped at on the way between Tweed & Byron. There was a lovely walk right out to the point & the view was spectacular.

The weather started to change on Wednesday afternoon & by Thursday it was blustery & squally but we still took a chance & visited the lighthouse. We were going to go on the previous day but as there are usually tours of the lighthouse on a Thursday we left it till then however all the guides were away at training so we unable to actually do the tour. There is a bit of a museum at the base of the lighthouse but not really worth looking at except it gave us a break from being out in the wet.

We did go for a walk to the point though which was well worth the effort. I have always loved watching the ocean in rough weather - there is something about the spray & the crashing waves.

While at Byron I was able to meet up with a friend from Bangalow who I was in hospital with 18 months or so ago. We do keep in touch via emails and messenger but it was wonderful to be able to catch up properly.

After three nights in Byron is was onto Casino just for a night -don't know why we actually chose there but as we had never been in that area previously it was good to have a sight-see & then the following day we came back to Lismore. Can recommend the park at Lismore Lakes Caravan Park. It is set in a lovely area - next to a bird sanctuary with a lovely big lake which you are able to walk around.

At Lismore I met a lovely lady whom I had been chatting with on Blumars. We spent a wonderful few hours with her family - it is fantastic to actually get to meet friends whom I have got to know through this forum.

After Lismore headed to the Gold Coast via Nimbin & Murwillimbah - driving through showers - where we spent the night with some friends. Even with email & messenger it's still not the same as actually spending time with someone and I'm not a letter writer nor do I tend to use the phone a great deal as I get too muddled when talking on the phone so it's always lovely to actually get to visit.

Sunday night it bucketed down & all the way home Monday afternoon we had to drive through heavy rain too.

At least we had lovely sunny days for the first half of our time away and then with visiting friends at Bangalow, Lismore & the Gold Coast the rain didn't matter. It was welcome in the area as things were starting to dry out again. I just had to visit Spotlight to buy some craft supplies to give me something to do in the evenings - lol - as I really don't cope too well with being cooped up for too long.

I could never live anywhere though were there is a true 'wet season' though as I would end up climbing the walls - I have to be able to get outside in the sun - he he.

Travelling was a bit of a struggle but we tried to get plenty of walking in & do most of our driving in short stints. We had half hoped to have done a trip to either NZ or Tassie next year but I think for the time being that will have to be put on hold as I really don't like to be away from home for more than a week - will see how things go.