Saturday 7 September 2013

Loving Skye!

Let me introduce you to Skye! Skye is our Border Collie [with a teensy touch of Kelpie!] and would be one of the easiest dogs to love, in the world!



She's keen, she's eager, and so much fun! 



Always ready to play, Skye continually presents us with opportunities to play with her. In multiples! One thing she taught herself, is that if she collects enough toys, that maybe you will choose one to toss.




Anything can be a toy ~ for Skye! Here she is playing with her newest, favourite toy at Newcastle on Wednesday last. 



And yesterday, the hose ... we now have a new soaker hose!! 




Yes, Loving Skye is easy! 

Coming up 2 on Monday, we're hoping she'll be with us for many, many, many years to come!

Saturday 24 August 2013

New interests ...

How to find the time ...

... without giving up anything else!!

I think my first love will always be seaglass ... the look of it, the feel of it ... walking along a beach and just SEEING it! Right there on the sand .. my friend Bev said it best when she called it "The Seaglass Rush"! This is the name of her wonderful book, but it should be on a T-shirt, a hat or a badge worn by every seaglasser! Or just plain tattooed on our foreheads!!!!!


Whether it's a simple piece on an Aussie beach, or something fancy and wonderful from England containing every colour of the rainbow ...


This rainbow came from a dear friend in Sunderland ....
...even the smallest brown, well-frosted and smoothed by years in the sea ... well, yes, it's a rush and so exciting to find.

And the things you can make ... learn the skill and yes, you can do it ..


Yes, I can look at this and say "Yes, I did this!" This is my "Tree on an English Hill", a gifted glass from Dear Nikki!


Of everything I make, Light Catchers would still be my favourites! That moment when the last wrap is done, the last hook added ... hold it up ... and Yes! The rush is there!


And photography of course, but everything I seem drawn to complements everything else, so this should work too.

Now I'm off on another track .. one which won't take me too far from my chosen pathways, but another little interest, which I really do like [and have to keep going with, at least for a time, as I've spent more than a few dollars over the past couple of months!!] and am working at, to learn the skills I think I'll need.

While I was at Batemans Bay in June, I visited the local [Mogo] Cardmaking and Scrapbooking shop, Amanda's of Mogo, looking for some more DecoEmboss folders to make patterned brass discs using my Big Shot! Instead, I walked into a world of vibrant colour and stamps [which I've always loved since that first step into the door of my very first classroom ~ a Kindergarten!].

So, instead of brass discs,


I walked out booked into a cardmaking course with a lovely girl named Jill.
Three cards later, I was 'hooked'! Walking out with a couple of stamps and some card, some inkpads and my three lovely cards in my hot little hand!
 
Hooked! Hook, line and sinker!!
No self-control whatsoever!!

So ...
I've been trying to teach myself some skills, along with Youtube's help and that of my dear friend, Janette, who has been doing this for quite a while, and like most everything else she does, does well.

As I've wandered through this strange new cardland, I've come across a few things that really appeal to me ... scene-making, as opposed to adding frills and ribbons, buttons and bows ... that's where I want to go, well, at this point in time anyway. So I've been teaching myself to sponge backgrounds!

Lots of fun this, till you make a boo-boo, then it starts to come apart!


Can anyone tell that my little pine is actually drifting off the side of the mountain here?

Knowing when to stop .. I think that's the secret!!


This I love!! Sponging a background ... haven't made anything with these little pieces, but will get there in time.
And I love trees ... well, I knew that, but I think I could stamp away with  trees for quite a while to come.

So, my first 'big' purchase, was the Stampin'Up 'Lovely As a Tree' set!! And they are ... LOVELY!! I love them!! ~ and met another lovely person, the Stampin'Up lady Dawn, what a friendly, lovely lady!!
The lovely lady who sold me the lovely trees!

So, now I have to do something with my sponging and my trees!

Today, I've been practising embossing, trying out my brand new heat gun, and my very, VERY old gold embossing powder! Yes it works fine! After 20+ years!!!

Whoever said : 'You're never too old to learn new skills'!

Well, this is so true!!
I hope I'm never too old!!
Just ... how will I fit it in?























Thursday 1 August 2013

Winter in My Garden


White Cedar seedpods!

August ~ Winter. The Dead of Winter! Yet the sun is shining and the weather's fine. 
As I walked around our garden this morning I was pleased to see so much life.
Flowers, birds, and new leaves on the roses and hibiscus. A bit too early perhaps, as we tend to get frosts in Sept/Oct, but I was happy to be outside and seeing so much life around me.

We let the dandelions grow here, as the lizards enjoy the leaves. 
Ivy growing on the back of the house. Should I trim it? Probably!      

                                          
Shy Violets


Christmas Cactus ~ Whoops!

 
Winter Branches against the sky!

                                                                                  
                                                                                         First Cymbidiums flowering, brighten up the yard.


'Rembrandt Masterpiece'! And yes, it is!


Budding Jasmine covers the fence! My neighbour probably hates me, but I love it!

Sunny the Love Bubble, one of our cats, sunning. His supreme talent is finding warm spots.


This magpie was caroling for all she was worth. The music in our yard this morning was sublime! Thank you!



Bird's Nest Fern


Orange Dendrobium ~ these grow like wildfire!
      One lingering hibiscus, but the plants were trimmed today, so there won't be any more flowers for quite a while.
And finally, a lone lemon .....


What a beautiful place, my garden, this morning!



Thursday 18 April 2013

Susan's Seahorse

My dear friend  Susan, from New Jersey made me this wonderful seahorse. What a beautiful gift this is, and it brightens my day ~ each and every one of them.
I've never seen anything packed so intricately, but this is such a wonderful work of sea glass art, to take less care in the packing may not have helped it on it's travels!
Here he is, all strapped into his seat for the flight over!

When I unpacked him, I was stunned at the shape!! Truly beautiful! Streamlined and graceful and so true to form!

What a beauty!! I just loved him ~ and still do!! What a gorgeous nose! Just perfect!

I love the way she's made him using seaglass from her area, and one piece of English glass from our friend, Rob, for the heart. It's between the large bottle bottom and the blue fin in this photo.
He spends his seahorsey days hanging from my kitchen window, and as I don't have a dishwasher, I spend a lot of time with him! We keep each other company quite a bit!!
To make this lovely seahorse, Susan used copper wire, and stripped it herself! What a wonderful friend!
Thank you so much Susan!! I love him dearly!

Autumn In My Garden!

Autumn in Australia is a beautiful time. When the heat begins to wane and we have the relief of cooler temperatures at night ... heaven!

It's April, and while the leaves have yet to turn red and gold, then to crunchy brown, we still have flowers, insects frogs and more blooming in ways that would be foreign in most parts of the world.

 
Over Easter, butterflies were everywhere, three, four, sometimes more, winging around and through the garden, but hard to pin down [bad use of words!!] . Finally I managed a few shots.


And up in the tadpole pond, noone has told the resident frogs winter is on its way. If we go on previous years though, all will be well, and these young ones will spend  winter in the pond, not growing much till next Spring.
We have large green frogs and small Eastern Brown Striped Frogs in our yard. These tadpoles are the Eastern Stripeds.


Our ginger plants have flowered well this year, huge and fragrant, I was surprised to see a few blooms even as late as last week. I think this will be the last!

The hibiscus too, are having a last hoorah!


And the ivy geranium ....

A few last tiny tomatoes ripening on the vines ...



But Autumn is creeping softly into the yard during the cool nights, and tinging the leaves with colour.





Wednesday 17 April 2013

Murano Seaglass

Another beautiful Ebay win ~ seaglass from Murano Italy. This time, "Flames"!
Beautiful Murano Sea Glass.
These are now pretty common on both Sea Glass sites I belong to, but each one is different and they deserve their own images.

Not such a great photo!

Really big, a lovely handful of glorious colour!

There don't seem to be any around at the moment for sale, but hopefully they will be back when more can be wrested from the sands around Murano.