I liked the look of this

Hope you do also. Just happen to see the light shinning on the trunk of this palm tree out in our courtyard area one night and loved the way it was shinning on the flower spike.   Well I liked it anyway.

Much of nothing

 Above two photos are of fisherman on the Tongariro River - Turangi North Island of NZ, top photo shows 5 men fishing it shows how popular this river is infact it is world famous and the lower photo of a lone fisherman was taken by myself and it is of my wonderful man - these photos were taken a good number of years ago now, I havent been back here for year so will be great to see how it has changed.

 Bags almost packed:( hope Yasmine's boot space is empty when she comes to pick us up from the airport on the 5th Sept)

Well not much to report actually except I have been pretty busy with work and home, therefore by the time I finish at night there is not enough time to do what I would love to do - CRAFT. Infact it is normally 8.15 - 8.30pm by the time I finally sign off for the day. Brian and I leave on Monday for 2wks away in NZ, 8 nights in the North Island so the lad can do a spot of long overdue Trout fishing. We leave Brisbane on Monday and fly into Auckand where we are expected to arrive at 5.30pm, we will overnight at the hotel next to the airport as it is so close seems crazy not to eh and the price was good also. The area we will be staying in is very thermal and there are many natural hot pools we will hire a private pool and go over late in the afternoon and or evening, it is a great way to relax and end the day. Tuesday 28th at 1230pm we fly to Rotorua where we will collect our rental car and drive via Taupo to Turangi where we are staying at one of the NZ Police Holiday homes for 8nights then return to Rotorua on the 5th Sept and fly to Christchurch to stay with Yasmine and family for 7nights, catching up with family mostly and a few very close friends. My oldest nephew also turns 21yr on the 29th August so we hope to catch up with him and wish him all the best. On the 12th Sept we fly home to Brisbane, collecting our car from the airport parking and drive the 1hr trip north to the Sunshine Coast - home to get back into work work work again. Roll on October when we will go away for a week locally in the caravan, as I dont have any leave left I will drive to and from work from the van park - it will still feel like being on holiday. Well folks that's about all for now will catch up with you all from NZ.

Brisbane - July 2012

Find a few photos taken of our fabulous relaxing weekend in Brisbane.
Hope you enjoy looking at these, the pink boat is the one that young Sunshine Coast girl  - Jessica Watson  sailed single handed around the world it is at the Maritime Museum on Southbank.

Not craft this time - but Mummys

Mummy's I hear you say - yep just that out of order this is however too bad.Late July Brian and I had a weekend away to Brisvegas to go and see the Mummy 'Secrets of the Tomb" show at the Brisbane Museum. We drove down Friday night after all the peak hour traffic had gone and found the hotel, no room service for dinner after we saw a sign in our room saying 24hr room service, so we hot footed it to the little Thai takeway across the road - just so yummy.
After a sleep in on Saturday as we don't normally get a sleep in so it was a treat, we made a cuppa and went back to bed to watch some of the opening replay of the Olympics, after a lazy get up we showered and made our way down for breakfast a buffet so that was fine. Back to the room to tidy up and get sorted we headed for a short stroll to Southbank it was great not having to drive everywhere - infact we never used the car all weekend. We found a nice area to sit in the sun and just relax before heading back to the room for a cuppa and a bit of fruit for lunch before heading down along Southbank to arrive at the museum at 2.30 we had to be there 30mins before the showing  - time arrived and we went into the theatre for a 30mins 3D MRI imaging show on the mummy see notes below - taken from the Internet, no photos were allowed.

Who was Nespernnub:

Nesperennub lived nearly three thousand years ago in Thebes. Thebes was one of the greatest cities in ancient Egypt and was full of temples and grand palaces. Nesperennub himself worked as a priest in the greatest of these temples, Karnak. He was also a fan-bearer to the King, so was an important man.
Nesperennub's wooden coffin has his face painted on the outside. He wears a wig, and his headband and collar are made of lotus petals. The hieroglyphs down the centre are a prayer asking for 'life, prosperity and health' for Nesperennub. Inside the coffin a goddess holds her arms open to protect his body.

 Nesperennub was a husband and father, and a member of an influential family. Other members of his family have been discovered over the years – the coffin of his wife lies in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology (University of California) and the coffin of his father is in the British Museum – unfortunately their mummies are missing and it is unknown if they were sold to someone else or left behind in Egypt.
Inscriptions on the coffins of Nesperennub and his family, as well as inscriptions found on the roof-terrace at the temple of Khons, reveal some of the story of how their daily lives unfolded. Nesperennub and his father were priests in the religious complex of Karnak, which was the cult-centre of the god Amun-Ra.
Nesperennub was mainly associated with the Khons, a very ancient god linked to the moon. An inscription on the roof-terrace of the temple of Khons records other titles held by Nesperennub: “Fan-bearer on the right hand of Khons”, and “Fan-bearer on the right hand of the king” – a privileged position potentially providing him with direct access to the pharaoh. Nesperennub’s priestly duties included opening the doors of a shrine each morning, revealed by his title “Opener of the Doors of Heaven”, and sprinkling water over the offering table in front of the cult-statue.
Nesperennub’s wife, Neskhonspakherd, was also from a family who held positions in the temple. They had a child, Nebetkheper, and there may have been others, though no record of them has ever been found. It was an amazing exhibition and well worth seeing if you get the chance.
Below are just a couple of photos taken outside the museum the Bronze sculptures of the Pelicans and the Fountain and one of myself.

Timmy Tags class - August 11- 2012

Saturday 11 August was the day and it had finally arrived, I have been wanting to do the Timmy Tags class at the LSS since last year however as I work almost every Saturday morning until midday it has been out of the question UNTIL I had a cunning plan - why not ask the kind ladies at the LSS if they could do class A & B back to back on a Saturday arvo!!!!!!! I sent an email asking just that very question - to get a reply to YES of course they would re arrange their calendar to fit the class in for the 11th in the PM, it could only be that Saturday as we are off to NZ at the end of the month and the LSS have their retreat the weekend before we go away. What great timing - I arrived on time hahahaha had to get the lad to close up for me. There was only myself and one other girl doing the tags and another two ladies working on scrapbook pages. We started doing Tags set A and these were showing us how to use Distress inks and what you can do with them - FANTASTIC I thought. Each class is 2hr and you do 10 tags. We had a 1/2hr lunch break from 2 - 2.30 then it was onto Tag set B the majority of these we were shown how to use and what to do with alcohol inks - again AMAZING. I came away and my head was spinning, there was also a good deal if you purchased and as I have a loyalty card for purchases and classes this was a good opportunity to get some kit together, inks both Distress and Alcohol, I already have Distress Ink Pads and some of his pens, also got some Perfect Pearls now that stuff is amazing,some blending solution for the alcohol inks a blending tool complete with pads and some felt pads for the alcohol inks all in all I arrived home around 5.30 and I think Brian thought the aliens had got me. See below the complete set of tags that we did each card has a sticker on the back with written instructions on what techniques were used, what product was used, colours etc and how to do it again. So I came away with a heap of new ideas and techniques and a mini reference tag library.

This annoys me so much I added them in order however they are not in order so see my ref re pics:



Tags A

Tags B

Tags B

All B Tags

Complete set
Tags A & B

Tags A

T!m Hotlz - August 2012

So T!m Holtz I hear you say - who is he??? OMG , Toni at Jelly Bean Scrappers would say wash your mouth out.The below article was taken off the Internet to give you a background of who he is and what he does.

Tim Holtz is the Creative Director for Ranger Industries, one of the leading manufacturers of innovative inks, paints, and embossing products. Tim plays an integral part in the development and design of cutting edge paper crafting products. Tim has teamed up with various key companies like Ranger, Advantus,Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix, Tonic Studios, and Core’dinations to bring unique products that work hand in hand with Ranger’s extensive lines.
As a well known designer, Tim travels across the country and internationally to educate and introduce people to his world of ink techniques, project ideas, and so much more. His books “A Compendium of Curiosities” Vol.1 and Vol.2 are filled with creative and inspiring ideas for paper crafters and beyond. He truly lives his motto:
“In a world where the moments of our lives can be captured and created in art of the everyday, it’s important it reflects our own unique personality. Finding just the right objects, accents, and tools to use are most important. Whatever your artistic vision is, exploring the imaginative is a chance for our creativity to escape understanding. Remember life isn’t about finding yourself – life is about creating yourself…”

Giftbox & Card made at Keryn's - August 2012

And here is the finished piece, someone special in my family is going to get this. We made the box from C/S and added an acetate window to view the card. The card was layer's of C/S and embossed, makes a very personalised gift including card. And yes the flowers are handmade from cream C/S.

Play date with my friend Keryn - August 6 - 2012

My friend Keryn lives about 3/4hr south of us and as I have Monday off I decided I needed some play time with my friend, it just happened that Keryn had a class at her house that morning, (Keryn is a Stampin Up Demonstrator) we were making a box with an acetate window which allows you to see the matching card. It was a great morning and for once I didn't have to rush home so was able to enjoy my space and company. There were around 6 of us at the class with lots of laughs oh's arrrrr's I have stamped this in the wrong place, I have put this upside down, my wording is not straight, happening from around the table's, all familiar quotes we hear and say when crafting I am sure. The photo's below show some of the ladies and some shots of the beautiful tranquil countryside I have to drive through to get there - I go this way as I don't have to drive the mongrel Bruce H/Way - and driving this way I feel like I am on an adventure - well girls are allowed to dream you know. Enjoy the pics.