And Still the Flower Photos Come - LoL

I can't help myself - everytime I see a new flower in my garden I have to take a photo of it. I have a collection of different coloured Zygo Cacti in hanging baskets along the front patio, most of which flower around June however there is one which always flowers late October/early November with beautiful red flowers. It's just a shame that they only are in flower for a couple of weeks as they put on a terrific display.
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I have also had some more Hippeastrums flowering. Most of my Hippis are just ones which self propogate and cross pollinate however I do have some bulbs which I purchased a few years ago which have totally different colour from the others which are just growing everywhere and anywhere in the garden. The white one is called Wedding Dance & would have to be one of my favourites.


My broms are starting to flower too at present. They have such varied and unusual flowers .... from large vibrant coloured flowers to tiny little ones in the middle of the water well of the leaves.

My Cape York Lily is flowering this year too. It seems to do well if we have a reasonable dry winter. They are a native of North Queensland and last year it didn't flower well because of the drought. In winter it dies back to nothing and it's not until the shoots start to appear in Spring that I know it has survived another year - LoL.

I love flowering Eucalypts. The sit there for ages with tight cups and then almost overnight burst open with these wonderful flowers.

We are still not completely sure of the name of this lily - some people call it a Christmas Lily and a Fire Lily. We have always called it "Old Bill's Lily" - after an old gentleman which we met at children in a caravan park in Cairns in far North Queensland about 33 years ago. He was sort of a retired care-taker and gave mum a couple of these bulbs. Since then they have multiplied & we have given dozens of plants away over the years. They seem to grow anywhere - I have them in pots and in the ground and this plant also dies down to nothing in winter so that you have no idea where they are planted until Spring when the leaves start to appear. Many a bulb has been dug up by mistake in the past - LoL.

YAY !! - managed a few more layouts this month

I didn't think I was going to get many challenges done this month as I had a bit of a wipe out again with a Fibro flare-up & then the flu symptoms & dropping tiredness I get with the Chronic Fatigue but as usual I bounced back again & managed to complete a few this past week. I get really frustrated with myself if I don't complete a few layouts each month - LoL.

If it wasn't for challenges from differend scrapbook forums I probably wouldn't be motivated to complete anything.

"A Time to Reflect" was for a Mystical Scrapbook challenge using a page from a magazine as inspiration. I chose to use the outside theme with the chair and also picked out the colours from two of the cushions. I had been wondering how to scrap these photos and this challenge seemed to match the photos perfectly.

"Trimming the Tree" was a Hybrid Designs challenge where we had to use a combination of digital and traditional scrapping. I am still only fairly new to the world of hybrid scrapping and struggle a bit with combining the two techniques. However I found this old photo taken nearly 48 years ago which I had been wanting to scrap for quite some time so thought that this challenge presented a great opportunity.

Mmmmm - was certainly glad that I wasn't there to take this photo on the day that our son was abseiling in the Blue Mountains. Don't know whether I would have been too keen on having him jump off an 80m cliff - LoL - even though he had experience with abseiling.......it's still a LONG way down. This layout was for Puzzle Sketches - a blog which I have just found that gives you pieces to use in your own way. This time it was 2 squat rectangles, a tree, some 'bubbles' and a long rectangle with a torn side.

My final layout this month was for a Mystical Scrapbooks challenge using 2 photos, 4 pieces of PP & 5 buttons. These photos are of our son and his old Kelpie - "Amber" - on the morning he took her to the vet to be put to sleep. Poor old Amber had suffered a few minor strokes in the past couple of years but in September she had a more severe one which left her unable to walk, or swallow. She had been such a loyal family member & totally owner "her boy".

Feeling Blah Again .............

Why is it that everytime I take a few steps forward I seem to take as many if not more backwards. Just when I was looking forward to doing some creating & playing around with graphics I have the aches & fatigue hit again. Today I was feeling as if I had the flu again ......... that's the best way to explain it although it's not the flu but I ache all over and have this incredible tiredness hit where I just have to go and sleep. Slept for an hour again after my walk & breakfast this morning. Seem to be muddling and getting nothing done & there is so much I want to do.

The rain & storms don't help either as any change in weather seems to set things off although the warmer days are certainly better for me. Am sick of the rain already and the predictions are for a wet summer - ARGH - will be definitely climbing the walls and swinging off the light fittings by then.

More of my Australian Native Flowers

I love all he variation in colours and petals of the natives. I love having plants which attract the birds and try to have a variety of plants flowering at all times of the year.

These are a couple of my favourites. The flowers are quite small but the plants are absolutely covered in them.
The following pictures show one of the Grevillea flowers in different stages of opening right through to the seeds forming.

And finally - another Grevillea & one with the seed pods open.

VERY WET & WINDY

Last night we had a huge storm hit SE Queensland with hail, high winds & torrential rain. My brother at The Gap in Brisbane had some windows broken by hail & trees blown over. Fortunately we didn't have any damage from hail or trees ... our hail was only pea sized but we did have water water come into the ceiling in a couple of places due to the gutters not being able to cope with the quantity of water. Our front garden steps were like a waterfall & we had water running through the ceiling in the breezeway.. We were without power for 12 hours but luckily have a generator which can run a lot of the household.

The water running over the gutters in our pergola area.

The waterfall down the front garden steps & onto the patio. Fortunately our house is about 4 inches above the patio so no water came into the house - just into the breezeway which is all tiles anyway.

My Daylillies

These are some of my daylillies which are flowering at present. They would have to be one of my favourite flowers as there are so many different varieties and colours. Fortunately they are quite forgiving flowers too and will survive neglect as they sometimes get forgotten but given a bit of TLC certainly reward me with a lovely display.

Our Resident

Here is our latest resident. It's a young water dragon - quite friendly. They do become very tame as dad used to hand feed one when they lived in Brisbane. "Drago" used to come at the same time each day to get some meat from dad and would climb up his leg onto his lap sometimes.

The Nativity Stable

Dad has been building a stable for the nativity scene that the village where they live is setting up on their front lawn. It is wonderful - I think he has done a fantastic job. One of the other cottage residents has cut out the figures and made the manger and another done the painting. Graham will be doing the lighting once it is all set up.

Scrapping with Mum

Had a lovely few days last week doing craft with mum. As they are still settling into their new cottage and finding places to store things mum has left all her crafting things with me so she can just come around to scrap. I have plenty of table space to work at so we can just leave things laid out & not have to pack up each afternoon. Mum really motored through & managed to complete quite a few layouts. I only did one each day but at least I did get a few more photos done. I'll just have to stop taking more for a few years till I catch up - LoL.

These are my layouts:-

This is Gunde' who travels with us everywhere. Our son used to take Gunde' with him on holidays from the time he was 2 yo and as I have sort of inherited him it has become sort of a tradition that Gunde' still comes on holidays with Graham & myself. So this is Gunde' on Dunk Island.
This is my niece at one of her dance concerts. Don't you just love the pink wig.

Then finally I did a layout of Josephine Falls in North Queensland. These photos were taken during the same holidays that we visited Dunk Island and The Cape. It's such a beautiful area, crystal clear rock pools which are icy cold and lovely rainforest. Even though Cyclone Larry had been through the area 18 months prior the rainforest had started to regenerate.

My T-Bag Flower

I have just finished making some t-bag folded flowers and have had a few requests for the instructions. They are really very simple - basically just squares and kite folds.

Step 1: Cut out your squares - the size depends on how big you want your flower to be. For smaller flower you will only want 3 layers of petals or for a large one maybe 5 or 6. Most of the ones I make have the 4 rows of petals. You will need 8 squares of each size. My sizes here are 3.8cm (1 1/2 inch); 3.2cm (1 1/4 inch); 2.5cm (1 inch) & 1.9cm (3/4 inch).

Step 2: Fold all squares in half so you have a centre crease line & then fold the outside points in to the centre to form a kite shape. Fold this kite shape in half & snip off the tips as shown in the photo and then open out to the kite again.

Step 3: Now you need to cut a piece of heavier paper or card which will be you base for sticking the petals on to. Mine is about 5cm (2 inches) square. Starting with the largest size - place the petals loosely in a circle so you have some idea of how they will sit.

Step 4: Now use either glue or DST to adhere them to the card. (I personally find DST the best).

Step 5: Do the same with the next row of petals.

Step 6: This is attaching the third row.

Step 7: Now for the fourth and final row. Then you can embellish your flower with either kindyglitz, glimmermist or bling.

Have fun with your flowers.

Our New Bathroom

Yay - the bathroom renovation is finally completed. Graham did the finishing touches today so now I can do the final clean as there is still a fine dust layer on things from sanding the ceiling and the bath became a store room for tools so that needs to be emptied. Not that it gets used anymore...with the water restrictions baths are becoming a thing of the past. Hopefully I will remember to post some photos here this week - just have to take them first -LoL.

Remembered to add the photos - Hehe.

Can't find my before photos :( but will keep looking - I know they are on a disk somewhere - LoL.

Girl's Night In Sleepover

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month a group of friends got together for a Girls Night In Sleepover. We did have about 40 there for tea although only about 11 actually stayed the night. We had a wonderful time with lots of fun & laughs. My friend travelled up from the Gold Coast to spend the time with me and mum also came.

This is our table:- What is left of our sparklers - lots of smoke - Hehe and only a bit of sparkler.

Saturday morning was fun with those who slept over having a belly-dancing lesson. I honestly don't know who they get some bits to wobble whilst keeping the other bits still. The young lass who gave the demonstration was absolutely fantastic. She was only 15 but had been learning for 8 years.

Our instructor:-