Craftmad April Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone, I had wanted to make a Thank You card to send off to the lovely Carol Day who organised all our card classes on our New Zealand cruise.  So I started with the Craftmad April Sketch (you can find other peoples versions of cards in our Pinterest album here)

So I dug out my Graphic 45 paper pack - Off to the Races.  Layered up all the wonderful patterned papers and topped with a Stampin Up stamp which I coloured with my copics.  Finished with a little red bling around the edge of the circle and a sticker Thank You (Sticker Store)

Thanks for passing on by, off to my hammock now. :-)

Goodbye and Good Luck

A friend from work went on a cruise by herself at Christmas time and came back with a new man in her life.  This lady over the past six months had become disenchanted by her job she had worked for twenty years and found a exciting new work opportunity down at the Gold Coast closer to her new man.  Although everyone will miss her terribly everyone was so glad to see her so happy.  This was the card I made to say goodbye.  The hint of orange is a nod to this ladies indigenous background and she loves purple, the banner I punched hearts from a Gold Coast map.

Time to share a couple of presents I was lucky enough to receive for my birthday last month.  This clever idea of a pin cushion attached to a basket which I have been adding rubbish.  In the background if you squint you can see a glass tea cup I received from another friend which has been turned into a pincushion.

My son and his girlfriend gave me a hammock something I  have wanted to own for a very long time.  Would you believe it our palm trees are planted at the recommended distance required to hang a hammock.  It is so relaxing, even though I have only used it on two occasions so far due to rain or holidays or regular life getting in the way but it will get much more use soon.

Thanks again for dropping by have a great day.

Royal Caribbean - Radiance of the Seas - New Zealand - Pt 4 (final)

Hi everyone, the last lot of photos from our cruise.  Lucky that I am only sharing the few photos I took on our tablet and not my husbands 600+ on his camera which he is currently editing. :-)

The photo above is taken at Akaroa where we anchored so we could visit Christchurch.  Due to the earthquake 6 years ago cruise ships no longer pull into Christchurch so this means a tender and a 1 1/2 hour bus trip to Christchurch but with such beautiful countryside to view even on a cold rainy day who cares.  Although we did not realise that the township of Akaroa would be so pretty and we are keen to visit again one day and check this place out.

Taken from the bus, a view back to our ship.

Christchurch is stil repairing and rebuilding itself from the earthquakes six years ago.  On one hand it is sad to see such destruction and knowing people have lost lives and employment.  Then on the other hand this has created employment for a huge group of people redesigning the city and reconstructing. Also as we were driving in the bus driver pointed out a suburb of Christchurch that before the earthquake was really becoming a place nobody wanted to go but now is full of activity as a lot of the businesses moved there from the city.  There is now lots of parking in Christchurch as a lot of the buildings have been demolished and vacant blocks are left.  Walls of buildings are supported by shipping containers until work can commence on them.

More work being carried out.  I was just thinking I did not take a photo of all that is good in Christchurch.  Please visit as it is alive and well and plenty to do, we actually ran out of time and didn't get to do a few of the things on our list - like the tramcar tour.

We did however make our way to the Gondola to see the most amazing views.  The rain had stopped while we did the ride so could enjoy and even clearer view.

The view from the top of Christchurch harbour.

View of Lyttelton Harbour…..so pretty.  After the Gondola ride we got back to the ships bus meeting spot with 1/2 hour to go so not long enough to take our planned tram car ride.  Instead we ventured into the warm and dry museum which had amazing displays then journeyed back to the ship.  Definitely not enough time on this stop over.

Due to cyclone Debbie following us on our travels we had to miss pulling into Dunedin where we had a wonderful train trip booked. :-(  An extra day at sea. :-(  Apparently, the winds were picking up in the afternoon which would have made it hard for the ship to leave the port at Dunedin.  

Our next place to visit were the 'sounds' which are stunning, awesome and if you get a chance to see them please do as the photos don't do them justice.  The photo above is as we entered Dusky Sound.  It was freezing….well for a person that comes from tropics.  I did a quick walk around the ship, took some photos then found a little corner next to a full glass window inside and admired from there.

Dusky Sound

We then travelled to Doubtful Sound and the views just got better a little warmer also as the day went on.

Doubtful Sound

Entering Milford Sound by far the best although all were spectacular.  Much warmer now as I stayed out on deck for the whole venture into the Sound and back out.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound and snow capped mountains in the distance.

Milford Sound

This was the last of our ports of call we then headed back to Sydney with two sea days. 

My husband snapped this amazing sunset photo at the end of the 1st sea day returning home.  As you can see the sea was still not rough and we had a very calm journey all the way.  I was worried when we started as I had heard lots of stories of it being rough between Australia and New Zealand and even my husband could vouch for that as he was in the Navy and remembers a few rough trips.  Yes, he did enjoy the cruise style much more. :-)

We arrived back to Sydney in the early hours of the day a beautiful sight to end the trip.

I don't know if I am being biased but I think that Sydney harbour is the prettiest of all the harbours I have ever pulled into on a ship.  

Thanks for visiting a leaving lovely comments over my four post New Zealand trip.  If ever you get the chance to visit New Zealand take it as it is a beautiful country.  

Royal Caribbean - Radiance of the Seas - New Zealand Pt 3 - Cardmaking

During the sea days I took myself off to the card making classes held by a wonderful lady named Carol Day who when not cruising runs a little business called 3D Art in Carselkdine near Brisbane Queensland.  Sadly she does not have a website or Facebook page otherwise I would share.  Just for the shear fact the amount of work she put into preparing each kit for us.  We literally had to sit and adhere everything together.   Actually this project above - the bon bon gift holder we had to cut four triangles, which were pre marked, in to the card stock to create the diamonds at the top to enable the bon bon to bend in.  Carol doesn't do a lot of cards when she is ashore with her group of ladies as she concentrates more on papertoles.  

Such a simple way to change the card by folding the front back on itself….I really like this design.  Yes, Carol had inked every one of those clouds for us.  Carol had made up 40 kits for every class - 160 clouds pre inked.  :-0

These cards were such fun to put together, it was nice to have an hour of sitting with like minded people and I am sure all our husbands enjoyed the peace and quiet too.  

We took over one of the pubs on the ship for and hour.  You can see my grey hair directly under the first L in QUILL. :-)

This was our final card of the cruise and what a way to finish.  Imagine, Carol sat and die cut 40 of each level and then had pushed out any of those fiddly bits that don't come out with the die.  Each layer of blue is adhered to a piece of vellum which is then attached with foam tape to a layer of white to give a shadowy effect.  The flowers were die cut and we pleated each leaf to give this terrific effect.  Yes, this would be my favourite.

March Craftmad Card Swap - Drips and Spatters

March at Craftmad was all about Spatters and Drips another swap I really enjoyed.  I had two partners for this swap - the reason why there are two cards the same.

I googled as I always do and found this artwork by Popwheel Art I liked so had a go at making it into a card.  

Opinions please.  As I add the link to the artwork I saw on google, I am wondering if I have crossed that copyright line?  I have copied it as I loved the image I saw.  I quite often copy something that I google but normally they are cards and there are lots of the same style cards pop up in the search so therefore I feel I am adding to the collection and I always try and link back to the image I found.  This time though it is artwork and someone is trying to sell it. Curious.

To create the card I dug out some white card stock and my acrylic paints.  The greens and yellow I splattered with my paintbrush and then daubs of red, yellow and purple for the flowers.  Finish with a gold spritz.  I then layered up the cards with card stock that matched the flowers. Add black corners as this looked like artwork or a photo hence the signature in the corner.

I really love the end results of this card although it took me a lot of playing with my Copic ink refills and copic pens to get here.  I started with white gloss card which I coloured in strips in the colour of the rainbow with my Copic pens.  I then used the lightest of my two Copic pen ink refills to add drops to the inks, enjoyed watching the colours merge. Layered this all up on to glitter card stock and black card stock to make the rainbow colours pop.

So nice of you to visit, hoping you are having a lovely day.

Royal Caribbean - Radiance of the Seas - New Zealand Pt 2

Arrival into Auckland

Clock tower at University of Auckland

Just loved this tree at Albert Park Auckland

Our ship

Sky Tower Auckland.  My husband did the jump from the top……192m :-0  I calmly sat at the bottom and videoed the experience.  My husband was the talk of the cruise and he got to show off the video to a lot of people….we didn't come across any other crazy person that had done it on the entire cruise. :-)

Next stop was Tauranga where we hired a car and drove to Rotorua to spend the day with my old school friend and her husband.

My friend and her husband took us for a tour of all the beautiful lakes close to where they live….like literally on their doorsteps.  As we were going around they were saying to each other we should start coming back to these places.  We all do that don't we forget what we have right under our noses.

Another lake.

And yet another lake, all with extraordinary views.

On our car trip we saw lots of kiwi fruit farms.  

and rolling green hills which is New Zealand to me.

Sunset as we left Tauranga

This was our morning arrival into Wellington….living up to its name wet and windy.

We took the cable car to the top - Kilburn

Tram car tracks

View of Wellington from the top.

A different position of a view from the top.

Since we were up there we thought we would have a look at the botanic gardens.  I surprised how many flowers were still out since it was Autumn

I just liked the look of this tree, we did make it to a rose garden and had lunch in the cafe but all the photos are on my husbands camera but I can assure you the roses were very pretty.

After the Botanic Gardens were rode the tramcar back down to the shopping centre and wandered around for a little while.  Found Cuba Street which my husband had read in reviews before leaving it was the place to see….nope….we think the reviews were possibly 5 years old.  A lot of closed shops. The photo above is the view of Wellington as sailed out of the harbour.

More photos soon.