Rain...finally!

Well it's been raining all night.

It's SO welcome.

Apparently it's been the driest November since 1914.

Well not now.

I think this must be the most rain we have had in one night since the January floods this year.

The rain has brought the temperature right down as well, which again is very welcome.

FLOOD   JANUARY   2011

The above two images were taken by me on 11th January this year.

The night before we had received about 80mm.

Not a day I would like repeated even though in the end we were not affected.

All day we thought we could have been and that was where the worry came in.

We are only new to this Darling Downs Town and seeing the creek level from our mail box was very worrying stuff.

The creek runs behind our house but is usually not visible from our house at all. The Oakey Creek has very steep banks and is a normally a slow running but low lying creek.

This is the town bridge but was taken after most of the water had subsided about 5pm in the afternoon.

For most of the day myself and other neighbours were stranded on our own personal island and had to wait for the waters to subside before we could get out and about and see what damage had been done to the rest of the township.

Potholders Galore

I'd like to share some of my

potholder collection

with you all.

My first attempt at a Folded Star, in just the right colours for my kitchen.

A retro style chook potholder for my kitchen. Mainly vintage fabrics used in this one.

I made this one out of leftover pieced bits and pieces, it was fun to make.

I love this one.

I found the pattern in a

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine

from the 1980's.

I made this one a few years ago and love the ceramic bee button.

This is a 'just for looking at' potholder.

This is 'some' of my collection.

It consists of vintage ones I have collected over the years as ones made by me.

Altered coasters

             Graduation Gift

I made this little box as a graduation present for my daughter.

It's the first time I have ever made one and it was a bit

challenging to make it fit together neatly but I got there after a lot of jiggling.

I added this bought photo frame.

I dismanted it so it could be attached to the front.

This is the original photo that came with the frame.

Empty frame awaiting a photo of my daughter on her graduation day.

One day I will change the tag that says

'graduation day' (it's a bit daggy), but I don't live in the same area as my daughter anymore

and I can't travel at the moment after back surgery.

I missed her graduation because of my bad back but got to see it live streamed on-line so that was a suitable consolation, plus my brother (as well as seven other family members) attended and took lots and lots of photos for me.

These coasters were purchased at an opportunity shop and cost about $1.

They were brand new still in the box.

I'm pretty happy with the way my altered project turned out and I think my daughter was happy with this gift.

Sweet peas, salvia and lavender

Spring has sprung!

I picked these this morning.

There's a crazy un-seasonal cool easterly wind blowing, so they are a bit battered looking.

Sweet peas are nearly my favourite, right up there with pansies.

They flower later up here on The Darling Downs than what I am used to in the sub-tropics.

The great thing is that they self seeded, so they came up just where they were last year and the trellis was ready and waiting, but the crop was much thicker.

The salvia was dormant throughout the long cold winter but has sprung into action the last couple of weeks and is nearly at its peak now, however will flower well until April I would think. Then I will cut it back again, it will lay dormant and the cycle will repeat.

As for the lavender, it loves the cold and flowered all winter.

After a good pruning at end of winter it has surged ahead and all the bushes

are laden with beautiful lavender heads.

The fragrance wafting throughout the house......sweet peas mixed with lavender is just heavenly.

It's a very respectable 19c here today and I wish it would never get any warmer.

Oh I do dread the summer.

However I have heard that the La Nina weather pattern has returned (I think it only briefly disappeared for a couple of months in winter) and it's looking like we could be in for a cooler and wetter than normal summer (just like the last year with the terrible flooding experienced in Queensland and some other Australian states).

 Let's hope that we do not experience the devastation of flooding and all the negatives

that come with it again this year.

The people, the local, state and federal governments and the economy

just would not be able to take it again.

Hat on Stand & House card

This beautiful Stampin Up hat on stand stamp is so nostalgic, I just love it!

It's the first stamp I have ever coloured in and I used Aquarellas and a water brush.

The corner die cuts are by Cuttlebug and the sentiment stamp by

Our Daily Bread Designs.

The oval and square are Spellbinder Nestabilities.

I will send it out one day, until then I will enjoy looking at it.

Friends card

A Garden and a rocking chair.

I made this card for my Mum.

She loves gardening and it's a thankyou card for helping me with some housework last week.

Her and Dad drove one and a half hours to my place, so it was a big day.

I am still no good after falling nearly 3 months ago.

Pain.....I AM SICK OF IT!!!!

This is another card I just had to make.

It's my 1st attempt at using the rocking chair stamp from Our Daily Bread.

It's not the best I suppose but still it was fun.

I have read so much about stamping, Copic Markers, diecuts etc etc since I became housebound with my bad back.

After a lot of research about methods and prices I decided I really did not need copic markers.

I have seen courtesy of You Tube many tutorials on colouring stamped images and found to my delight that Aquarellas and even Distress Inks can be used instead of Copic Markers.

I would dearly love to try them out but the expense cannot be justified in my case.

I do not make any money from making cards.

 I am flat out making one a week because of my pain levels.

So when I do make a card with a stamped image I have been colouring with my Aquarellas

and then painting over them with my newly purchased

Water Brush, which once again I discovered thanks to You Tube.

So many wonderful techniques and tips are to be found on the tutorials they present.

Thanks to all the wonderful crafters out there in blogland who take the time to post video tutorials.

It is so great especially when one is housebound.

Bless you all.

Pretty in Pink

Made this card a couple of days ago.

I just love this new silhouette die cut by

 Marianne Design Creatables, Charleston Lady.

I ran a pretty Kaiser Craft Journal Tag, English Rose Collection 

through my Cuttlebug,

mounted the lady on it & then layered onto a

Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four.

The 3D flower & leaves LR0164 & die cut borders LR0155 are also by

Marianne Design Creatables.

I backed the cut outs with Scor-tape and sprinkled with glitter purchased from a cheapie shop.

The pink glitter card was purchased from a cheapie shop as well, in a pack of 4 with matching envelopes.

I added some green crystal stick-ons and some rose patterned ribbon from my stash.