Australia Day ... belated!

This year Australia Day fell on a Thursday (26th January) and a lot of people took an extra day off on the Friday to have an extra long weekend ... I didn't, but I did work from home which was nice.

It has become traditional for Sam Kekovich (lambassador) to appear in a video each year to promote the eating of lamb on the Aussie barbie and here is 2012's version ... Enjoy!

"Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia!"
~Charles M Schulz~

Australian Travels

Ferg and I celebrate 10 years of marriage in 2012. As we weren't able to take time off in February to do a special trip, we decided to do a road trip during the Christmas Holidays.  We hired a camper trailer, packed up our dog Beau and managed to drive over 5000 kilometres in 2 weeks ... a massive and fantastic trip.

We left Sydney, New South Wales and made our way to Glenrown in Victoria on Christmas Day. We drove along the whole Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Warnnambool and stayed a couple of nights in Apollo Bay ... this trek is an absolute must see ... the beautiful blue coastline, the Twelve Apostles, Cape Ottway with hundreds of wild Koalas in the trees, London Bridge ... fabulous. Next stop South Australia and the Coonawarra wine region, then onto one of Australia's most famous wine areas the Barossa Valley.  Still in South Australia, New Year's Eve was spent with friends in Port Hughes on the hottest day (over 40 degrees) in over 40 years!

On New Year's Day we started our trek across the outback to the Gold Coast in Queensland.  There's nothing funny about diving into a pool in Broken Hill that feels like a bath and you need to wait 15 minutes for the cold water in the shower to run cold! The outback is amazing, emu's, kangaroos and goats!! on the side of the the longest straightest road we've ever driven on.  The heat playing tricks with your eyes, dry creek beds, twirling winds and red dusty sand everywhere.  Our dog Beau got in a tussle with 4 dusty country Kelpies in Wilcannia and we had air conditioned comfort for a night in a cabin in Gilgandra.  Our last stop was visiting family on the Gold Coast in Coomera.

It was so fantastic to see some of the beautiful places Australia has to offer and you get to see so much more when you drive ...

On the road to Victoria ... warnings.

My boys and our camper trailer set up for the first time in Glenrowan.

The place of Ned Kelly's last stand.

View from the Great Ocean Road.

Sunset at Apollo Bay.

The spectacular Twelve Apostles.

London Bridge.

Wynns Coonawarra cellar door ... the winery that made the region famous and one of our favourites.

Jacob's Creek Barossa Valley ... a cellar door must see.

Ferg's aunt Dolores and Pat in Adelaide.

A boat is no place for an Australian Working Kelpie, Beau looks forlornly at land (and Ferg snorkeling) in Port Hughes ... he also manages to get seasick! Poor baby!

Red Dust Twirly Winds in the outback.

Emus on the side of the road ... they look like brush trees until they lift up their heads.

Sculptures in the Living Desert Broken Hill.

The never ending stretch of outback roads.

You feel free in Australia. There is great relief in the atmosphere - a relief from tension, from pressure, an absence of control of will or form. The Skies open above you and the areas open around you.
~D.H Lawrence~

I survived ...

I don't know how, but from October to December I managed to survive ... my boss selling the business I work in, she was no longer there to help me, my colleague went on maternity leave (there are 2 of us day to day in the office), the busiest time of the year in the promotional products industry and my husband and I moved house!  There were loads of days when I thought I couldn't cope with all the stress and so many tears, but finally the festive period was upon us and a 3 week break was just what the doctor ordered!

I needed to do something creative during this time to keep some semblance of sanity, so I hit my stash of old scrapbook papers and (didn't even make a dent creating) 60 handmade Christmas Cards.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Another completed project.

In 2009 I was invited to join a miniature journal round robin with some lovely ladies in various corners of the world. The format was very small - 2" x 3" - with lots of different themes. On the weekend, I finally finished the outer cover and put the little book together and it's so nice to have another project finished.

The theme of my mini album was "Childhood" and each participant could do what they wanted as long as the page had a picture of their face as a child ... it's so cute, I love the pages that were created.

"Childhood" Collaboration cover and inside cover.

My pages.

Pages by Suze Urquhart from Essex,UK.

Valerie Brincheck from Michigan, USA.

Ali Brandist from Warwickshire, UK.

Joni Owens from South Carolina, USA.

Treez  Malyon from Essex, UK.

Sandra Zengler from Scotland.

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good,
behave yourself and never mind the rest."~Beatrix Potter, 1866-1943, Author and Illustrator~

Unfinished projects!

Ever since I moved back to Sydney and started working full time, I really haven't found much time to dabble in the arts and crafts like I used to.  I made a pact with myself that I would do a little bit of art of some kind every weekend or every other weekend in an attempt to finish all those half done projects.

Like most of us crafters, I have unfinished projects all over the place.  I feel great that I finally finished scrapbooking my mum's wedding photos a few weeks ago, the mini album of my sister's pregnancy of my nephew and a couple of weekends ago I finally made the cards from a card kit I bought in Brisbane in June ... and here they are.

Details of the kit and how to make 9 cards ... I managed to make 16 with some other leftover papers & flowers.

   

Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806-1861, British Poet~

ATC Quarterly

When I started creating ATCS in early 2008 I became really active in a number of Yahoo Groups. On one of those groups (ATC World - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATC_World/) I became a moderator and met so many wonderful friends all over the world.  One of those friends introduced me to a small ATC publication called ATC Quarterly (http://www.atcquarterly.com/) published by Ronna Mogelon http://ronnas.blogspot.com/ out of Canada.

Issue #24 has just been released and an article I wrote on making Non-paper ATCs was published.  In the list of items you need, gel medium is listed because some products in Canada are different to here in Australia, but I used an inexpensive Impasto / texture paste found in most discount stores ... anything with substance that dries clear will work for this technique.

An ATC of mine also featured in the Centrefold ... the theme this time was 'Dog Days'.  The focal point is my beautiful dog Beau on an ATC made completely from fabric.  Pam also had an ATC feature ... a hand drawn picture of Beau ... he's a bit of a celebrity in this issue of ATC Quarterly.

Here are some other ATC Quarterly Centrefolds where my ATCs have been featured.

ATC Quarterly Issue 18 Spring 2010. Ob la di, ob la da ... Beatles theme.

ATC Quarterly Issue 21 Winter 2011. Moo... Cow theme..

ATC Quarterly Issue 23 Summer 2011. Queen Bee ... Birds and Bees theme.
Pam's card also featured in this Centrefold.

The very last issue of ATC Quarterly will come out by the end of November 2011 ... the centrefold theme will be 'Goodbye'.  Will have to create something special for this publication that has been a part of my ATC journey since the beginning.

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."

~Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, Former American First Lady~