I have been travelling again. :-) - Rhapsody of the Seas

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Thanks for all the lovely visits and comments over the last couple of weeks.  So glad to see my scheduled posts worked.  Yes, my husband and I have been travelling.  This time a very flash way to celebrate my birthday back on the 21st (Thanks to my hubby for organising this :-).  We cruised (Rhapsody of the Seas) from Sydney to Lifou - Loyalty Island, Luganville - Vanuatu, Vila - Vanuatu and Champagne Bay - Vanuatu.  The photo above is the view of the harbour bridge as we departed Sydney.  The weather was awesome.

The Opera House and one of the the many ferries busily taking people back and forwards across the harbour.

Every couple of nights we had a wonderful towel animal to greet us in our room as we returned from tea.  We were lucky enough to have a terrific man Putu looking after us and kept our room so neat and always had a wonderful smile and hello when we saw him.  I have since learnt that Putu is actually a Balinese name given to the first born of a family.  So my husband and I would also be Putu.  This what else I discovered through Wikipedia -  The Balinese name is a naming system used by the Balinese people of Bali, Indonesia and the western parts of neighboring island of Lombok, Indonesia. They only use 4 names. Since most Balinese are Hindus, most names areSanskrit, while others still use native Balinese one. Regardless of being male or female, each person receives one of four names based on birth order.The firstborn is "Wayan" or "Gede" or "Putu", second is "Made" or "Kadek", third is "Nyoman" or "Komang" (Man or Mang for short), and fourth is "Ketut" (often elided to Tut). 

So the Putu we met does go by another name - Indra and it was a pleasure to meet him.

This photo was taken at the end of day at Champagne day when the tenders were doing their final run back to the ship.  Our last shore day also.  This place is so beautiful and wonderful snorkelling.

The towel monkey that greeted us one night.

This was a cake decorating competition held in the Centrum area of the ship.  The three competitors were from the the top….the Captain of the ship, the head chef and the head person to order all the food on board.  A theme was drawn out of a bucket by a guest…..which was Airplane.  The chef in the middle clearly understood the theme.  The guy to the right apparently created the 'Vulcan' and the ships captain appears to have only one thing on his mind….. he created a ship. :-)  It was a lot of fun to watch.  

This is the view at 5.30am as we returned into Sydney Harbour.

If you squint and turn your head sideways this is the Sydney Opera House around 6am on our return.  All of the above photos were taken on my phone and no I didn't take a lot as…...

I felt my husband had that under control. :-)  A digital camera in one hand and a go pro in the other. Yes, he has some wonderful photos that I will share with you over the up and coming weeks.  When we are all sorted.  We had a wonderful time and met so many terrific people and would highly recommend this cruise to anyone. (all age groups).

Off to catch up.  :-)

Nine Patch Block - Craftmad Quilt Block Swap

I am loving that I am up to date this month with our swaps over at Craftmad.

This is a nine patch block for our Christmas Craftmad Block Swap.  I have not done one of these blocks since we started swapping two years ago and I can tell you this one is a lot neater than back then.  I now have a quilters ruler, rotary knife and I use pins. :-)

You can see the other swapped blocks here in March 2014 Swap Album of Craftmad's Gallery

Thanks for visiting.

Bakers Twine Cards

As you can see - no new light tent yet.  Our February card swap at Craftmad we had to use Bakers Twine.  I really enjoyed digging through discovering what colours I had…..a majority kindly sent to me by Gail. :-)  This card was nice a simple, in real life the silver card stock has more glimmer to it.  I wrapped the grey bakers twine I had around a chipboard tag, threaded through organza ribbon to attach to the card.  Topped the tag with a delicate 'hello' die cut.

I can not take credit for this design as I spied it on Pinterest which lead me to a full stop at Stamping Connection.  Sorry the photo is so blurred.  I have attached a length of each of my pastel bakers twine colours.  Then added my all time favourite bird stickers from the Sticker Store.  Finished with a little stamped sentiment.

You can see everyone else's take on this swap in our February Craftmad Gallery.

Flip Flop Card

Not really sure on the name of this card but it has a lot of pages that flip and flop. :-)  It has taken me a while but the lovely Kaye made this kit up for us to do at the Craftmad get together last October.  I love all the papers and it was such fun to make.  Now to think of what special occasion I will use it for.

Front flaps open to reveal more pages, I have only extended the right hand side so you can compare to the left

Now both sides are extended

The big centre reveal.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Happy Birthday to me :-)

Yes, it is my birthday today and I am so excited as I have ordered this light tent with money my Mum and Dad gave to me.  My plan is to have it permanently set up in our sons old room.  Fingers crossed this will improve some photos of my cards in the future.   Off to go sit by my mailbox. :-)

Calico Puzzle Block - February Craftmad Block Swap

I made this Calico Puzzle Block for our February Craftmad Block swap.

This year we are using traditional coloured fabrics ready for Christmas.

I am getting a little neater with my triangles….they always tend to slip or stretch.

You can see the other Quilt Blocks here in the Craftmad Gallery.

Unstampabelles - Geometric Card

Finally had time to play with the beautiful Sprinkles I received from Annabelle Stamps who happens to be the sponsor this month for Unstampabelles challenge - Geometric Shapes.

I had a lot of fun creating this card in the wonderful cheery colours.  Started with blue base card, then a layer of textured yellow card stock which I rounded the corners on.  The bottom of the card I added this terrific striped papers which is full of geometric shapes, cut a wavy edge along the bottom.  Created a banner from white card stock and added a Stampin Up rub on sentiment.  More geometric shapes with the triangle ends and circle rub on.  Created this fun pinwheel from a Kaiser Kraft kit I was given at Christmas time.  Then attached the beautiful sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps using my Dimensional Magic.

Be sure to pop over to Unstampabelles as the Design Team have terrific inspiration for you.

This challenge is open until the end of the month and Annabelle Stamps has donated a price of $15.00 coupon to be used in their store.

Rose of Sharon

Morning (click images for larger view)

About six months ago I acquired some cuttings from my parents neighbours Rose of Sharon plant.  I have always admired this plant.  I love how the flowers look like roses and change from the crisp white of a morning to a deep pink of the afternoon.  I discovered that this plant is a type of hibiscus and does go by many other names.

Afternoon

Pretty in pink

I couldn't leave out this crepe ginger that came up by itself and attracts the beautiful honey eaters.

I get to see this garden through the window when I sit to craft. :-)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Mum's Birthday

Yesterday was Mum's birthday and this is the card I gave her.  Mum loves dragonflies, however, I did not have a die so went for the next best thing my butterfly die from Creatables.  I coloured it with my shimmer chalks and added the green pearl bling body.  I layered up papers cut using my Marvellous Squares dies and a little bit of Swiss Dots embossing.

I was really happy with the end result and was proudly showing it off to my daughter when I discovered that the top of this card was the actual opening.  Ooops!  So glad I was giving this to a fellow crafter who I knew would totally understand.  

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting.

Happy Birthday to our Son

Finally, I can share these photos.  Our son who now lives down in Brisbane celebrated his 20th last Sunday.  As we did not get to spend the day with him I sent him this party in a box. Took our son a while to collect the parcel and I just had a feeling that from time to time he pops into this blog so didn't want to ruin the surprise.  I spied the idea on Pinterest at some stage. I blew up a few water balloons, added chips, lollies, party poppers, and a couple of presents.  

Another thing I spied on Pinterest was the inspiration to this card (here -http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1757355).  Nice, quick and manly. 

Hope life is being good to you all…..thanks for visiting. :-)