We are here at last!!!!

Hi!

We made it! We have set up our home here in Onslow at last. It is wonderful to be here. Everyone we have met here has been so very kind and helpful.

I am not missing the packing up or moving.

The packing up took hours- everything thing was wrapped and I mean everything! We helped with the packing and it still took from 8.15 am until 6.30 pm. Can you believe it?

The next day it was 41 degrees. The poor removalists had to move 45 cubic metres of furniture.
That took from 8.15am until 6.30 pm. Then I started cleaning.

It was exhausting.

John's parents looked after us for a couple of nights. Thanks to both of you for your kindness and generosity.

A big thank you to Beryl and Laurie for their kind thoughts and wishes for our family. Your card was so sweet.

Here are some pictures of the family on the way up.

It took two days to unpack all the main boxes. After I got over the frogs in the toilet I felt very happy.

We were invited to see one of the beautiful, deserted islands here- Direction Island, it is part of the Mackerel Islands.

Some photos are below. I wanted to take more but the batteries in my camera ran out.

I managed to squeeze in some craft. I made a new journal using the rope stitch. I added some houses by Collections Elements.

Thanks for looking!

Sam x

Packing up

Maya Road Calendar

Photo frame layouts

Here are some more items I made last year that are being packed up now. This will be my last post for a while as I will be too busy in the up coming weeks. There is still so much to organise, but we'll get there!

Thanks for looking and thanks also for your kind comments, they mean a lot to me.

x

White Tile Album With Vivian Bonder

We had a garage sale today and the kids did a terrific job dealing with everything- from the preparation stage of cleaning up the shed, then washing and pricing their toys and arranging everything. They have been great during this stressful moving time. I am lucky.

Today I attended a class taught by Vivian Bonder at Scraptivate. It was wonderful. I was absolutely thrilled to learn so many new techniques and to be able to make a beautiful album. The atmosphere of the class was positive and friendly due to the tone set by Vivian and all the ladies who attended.

I was so lucky to receive a prize from Vivian too. I had commented on Vivian's site earlier in the week about her beautiful new house magnets and then I was lucky enough to win one in the class. I was pumped!What a surprise.

Thank you so much, Vivian.

Journals and Shrines

Yesterday morning I was so delighted to receive a package I ordered from Paper Forest Designs only the day before. Joyce Hewton, who owns this online shop, has always provided outstanding service and everything arrives proficiently and perfectly. Have you seen her own new stamp designs called Artistree? They are beautiful.

Here are some journals I made in 2006 to help me with my professional learning. I used many of the rubber stamps, (on the inside of the journal pages), from Paper Forest Designs and the turquoise suede fabric used for the second journal, was also from Paper Forest Designs. The stitching of the first journal is the caterpillar binding.

These are some shrines made from microscope slide mailers. Mel from Scraptivate explained how to make them.

Necklace

Well after a full on day of packing up, ( I'm talking about the spare room- arrh!), I made a necklace for the Mona pendant. The crystals, chain, Swarovski pearls and all the findings are from a shop in Morley, on Russell Street, called Amron. They stock a variety of beautiful created and natural stones as well as a wide variety of findings. This is a wonderful shop.

Back to packing!

Mona Shrine Pendant

I found a beautiful shop on Beaufort Street called Artistic Journey. It stocks the most marvellous products for altered art. There are many beautiful pieces displayed in the shop and they even organise art retreats with very talented artists such as Nina Bagley. I bought a mini shrine pendant and made a quick piece- in between the packing! I hope I have an opportunity to make a necklace to hang it on!

Some Items I Made

These are some items I made last year. The Studio Heath website has excellent wire jewellery tutorials.

I also made these ATC books to hold the ATCS I made last December at Scraptivate with an extremely talented and wonderful teacher, Kelsey O'Mullane.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you! I decided to set up this weblog to share my adventures in art and craft with my family and friends.
My family and I are setting off on a new journey this year and moving to a remote location. My husband and I have been transferred, through choice, and we are looking forward to new experiences. My two gorgeous children will also be starting at a new school, which will be very interesting for them.
Have a wonderful day!