Card Demonstration at Home

Not only have Mum and I been attending card mornings at the libraries but Jenny ... the lovely lady who takes the classes at Caboolture library came and gave a class at home. Jenny also demonstrates Stampin Up and these are the lovely cards which we made on this morning.

This would have to be one of my favourite stamp sets. I have seen so many wonderful ways it has been used. With this one we used the pens to ink the stamp before placing it on the card. I love the soft washed look which the flowers have.
Embossing and sponging were different techniques which we used for this card.

April Cards at Deception Bay Library

Mum and I have been attending card making workshops at various libraries in our area. At Deception Bay they are run monthly by Robyn who has some terrific ideas. They are all made using Stampin Up products.

In this card we used a die cut from the Big Shot Machine which was then stamped with Versa Mark Ink to give it a watermark look. The bottom layer of paper was embossed using the Big Shot. This is such an awesome piece of equipment. All the kids in our family actually put in to buy one for Mum for Mother's Day. Personally because of the problems I have in my hands & arms I find this much easier to use than the Cuttlebug as it's heavier and more stable. However it isn't as compact as a Cuttlebug and would be too bulky to carry around to workshops.

I particularly love the stamp set which we used in the following card.

Our Front Gardens

We decided to try a vegetable garden in the front garden for a change as I tend to forget to look after the garden when it comes to watering when out the back. So have decided I will leave that mainly for herbs and have the veges in the front.
Our fruit trees ..... we have lots of citrus - mandarins, oranges, cumquat, lemon & lemonade. Also there are 3 mangoes, 2 japonicaba, mulberry, pecan, macadamias, pineapple guava, fig and custard apples as well as grape and passionfruit vines.This old wheelbarrow was destined for the dump so I salvaged it and planted ivy geraniums.
The front bush garden.
More front garden with Shadow.
I'm not sure what this plant is however I have them coming up in one particular garden. I've left them growing as they have such a pretty flower.
The 'jungle' which I really need to trim back. I have left it till Winter to tackle as we have a few snakes around in the warmer months.
A cicada shell which was left behind on one of my orchids.

Lichen Textures

When I was looking at the different bark textures I noticed the different lichens which are growing this year. After having drought for so long we hadn't had any growing on the trees however with the wet season we had I've found lots of different ones.

Terrific Textures

I love different textures in bark and also experimenting with settings on my camera. I only bought it a few months ago and am still learning all about the settings.

Flower Photos for my Gardening Friends

I've been sorting through my photos from earlier this year and came across these photos of colourful and some unusual plants.

This grevillea is at a friend's home. It's a wonderful specimen and flowers profusely.
I love the Illawarra Flame Trees (Brachychiton Acerifolius) with their bright red flowers. Usuall this tree loses its leaves and it then covered with this wonderful display of which stands out amoungst the greenery.

This is one of my Dancing Lady Orchids (Oncidium) in flower.
This is one of my favourite orchids as it belonged to my Grandma who gave it to me over 30 years ago.
One of my ginger plants.My white bat plant in flower. I also have a black one and although they are both unusual it's the white one which is my favourite.

Time for a catch up me thinks................

I must apologise for having been so slack with my postings the past months but health issues have flared and I've been totally unmotivated and disorganised to do anything much. Then when I've felt better have overdone things ..... as per usual. I never learn.

Then today I realised that I had heaps sitting in draft which hadn't been posted - oops. So if you want to catch up on all the happenings .... make yourself a cuppa and have a read. I will be adding more posts over the next few days.

Our Christmas Visitors

We regularly have native birds and animals visit however Christmas Day we were kept entertained by a couple of Kookaburras. They sat and 'laughed' all through lunch. Maybe they were hoping for something too.
Earlier in the day ... just after breakfast as soon as I'd put our the wild bird mix we had a pair of King Parrots drop by for a feed. These are only occasional visitors however we have lots of other parrots drop by regularly ..... Lorrikeets and Rosellas.
Lastly this koala decided to drop by. My brother and his family were just about to leave when this fella climbed down from one tree ......... walked across the yard only a few metres away from us and then climbed up another tree. There he just sat and watched us.

Christmas 2009

Christmas Day 2009 was held at our home with my sister and her family staying with us Christmas Eve. It's a tradition when Trudy, Mick & Brooke are here at Christmas that we visit the Christmas lights.
This year the Aged Care Village once again set up their wonderful Nativity.
Hubby, myself and our son .... Christmas Day.
Dessert time ................... lots of fresh fruit as well as a lovely icecream cake which my sister made.
All the family .....................
Liam & William having fun in the pool.
Our Christmas spread .... how spoilt are we to have such a wonderful lunch. Something to be very thankful for.