Busy Times–a holiday required

Hello All.  A long time between drinks, but life has been chucking us wobblies as well as some good times, leaving me precious little time to create. 
In between all of it I have been throwing a bit of paint around some paper and fitting in a bit of art work whenever I can.
My house is becoming a trash can as I save all sorts of recyclables and odds and ends that I think may make some kind of arty mark.  Everything is eyed off as a possible stamp, mask or stencil – LOL – nothing is sacred.  Different papers and ephemera are cluttering up the bottom of the cupboard too.  All fun!!!!
Here are some prints from the humble egg carton. 


The end of the celery makes a lovely rose print.
We have a very small vegetable garden now but we managed to grow some beautiful broccoli this winter. 

Last weekend we went out to Leyburn Historical Sprints for my DH’s birthday.  Luckily it was a sunny warm day with no wind – an interesting day out is all I will say, but DH and his brother in law enjoyed it.

DH, Brother in Law, Ian and DH’s sister, Catherine.

A much needed holiday is just around the corner, so until next time, enjoy your arting and crafting
………………Dianne.

Out and About

It has been a busy couple of weeks with appointments and a trip to Brisbane but at last, today, I have a day at home to catch the breath.
Our beautiful daughter, Bonnie, turned 30 this past Monday.  We went to Brisbane and took her to lunch on Sunday and spoiled her a little bit.
This is the card I made for her with one of my new stencils from Crafter’s Workshop.  The stencils were on sale at one of my fave online stores for all things crafty , Craft Online.com.au.  Their service is exceptional and they have a really good overall selection of scrapbooking and craft supplies. 
  
This stencil has a whole lot of possibilities.  I painted the background of the card in the gold colour and used dylusions sprays over the stencil in purple and aqua.  After this photo I toned down the ‘30’ a bit and made it blend in a bit more.  The flowers were accented with a white gel pen from pentel.

When it comes to coffee, I am very conservative and usually order a cappuccino or a latte.  After our lunch at the very nice ‘Boathouse’  at the old Regatta Hotel, I indulged in my fist macchiato.  It could have been hotter for my liking but it was enjoyable and I would definitely have another. It is very strong though and nearly blew my socks off – didn’t need any more caffeine for the rest of the day.  Luke (Bonnie’s fiancee) had a cold coffee which was in layers.  Condensed milk on the bottom, double shot coffee and a top layer of cream.  His could have been more chilled to make it more enjoyable.

It was a glorious sunny winter’s day yesterday, so DH and I went for a little drive to Warwick to take in some of the Jumpers and Jazz Festival which is on all this week.
A lot of trees in the main street were yarn bombed and there were some very creative ones.  The main street of Warwick was ablaze with colour.


The Town Crier was there outside of City Hall and he introduced the Warwick High School band who played some jazzy numbers.
It was lovely to see all the girl saxophonists.  When I learned saxophone at age 13 it was a bit of a novelty.  There weren’t many girls playing saxophone in those years.  Hearing the saxophone still evokes wonderful memories of my teenage years spent playing the sax in a couple of different bands and enjoying entertaining others.  Perhaps I will entertain again one day – in the old people’s home?  LOL. 
There were 2 wonderful exhibitions in the Warwick Art Gallery.  I was thrilled to bits to be able to see the work of Cas Holmes up close and in the flesh.  Her work is an inspiration to me. Do visit her website and be blown away by the work that Cas achieves
.
By Cas Holmes.  I think this work was called From the Tea Garden.
There were many more wonderful works of textile art in the Exposition Exhibition by six Australian artists and six international artists.  Of course, I took many more pictures for inspiration.
What about this ‘Knitchen’

This display was amazing!!  Everything in this kitchen was either covered in knit or crochet or made entirely by knitting and/or crocheting.  Yes, even the tiles on the floor.

In the Rose Shopping mall we found another textile exhibition featuring the humble Tea Bag.  The pieces made by the artists were quite extraordinary.

These two pieces were made by Svea Bjornsson of Federal, NSW.  Svea must have drank lots of cups of teas!!

The artist, Jaunita Wellings of Clifton Qld called this piece Zen Tea Tangled.  Very clever.

I loved this piece called Zen Garden by Rhonda Jenner of Clifton Qld. 
A wonderful day out.

Until next time, happy creating……………………….Dianne

Seventy Surprise & Sunsets

Today one of my dear friends turns 70. 

We met at Toowoomba Quilters in the year 2000 and when I went to work at Blue Care, who should be also working there?  Joan.  We worked together for some 5 years and became firm friends.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOAN!!
We have been sneaking around behind her back and have put together a little photo/memento book for her. It will be a complete surprise when we present it to her at lunch today.

This is the front of the book.  I did an ink drawing of Joan & her husband’s house.  It is an historic old house built in the 1800’s which they love. I used my favourite pen the Sakura sepia pen.


Page by Shirley

Page by Marleen

Page by Vicky

Page by Loretta

My Zentangle page – All the items listed on the right appear somewhere in the doodle drawing.  This concept was from my friend Kerry’s website, “All About Drawings .com”

Page by Alison.  Alison has done a colour photocopy of the actual stitchery she has done for Joan.  Can’t wait to see the real thing!!
On each page spread I have also included some photographs of Joan with her friends.

We have recently returned from a trip to the Gulf of Carpentaria.  Our first camp spot was at Lake Waruma (near Eidsvold).  We have voted it our most favourite campsite ever.  The sunsets were amazing.  There were no bugs, it was peaceful and warm and we had this area to ourselves. 


I nicknamed it “On Golden Pond”!

The mix of colours changed as the sun started to disappear.  The sky remained a beautiful turquoise blue – so many different colours appeared.  

Until next time...........................Dianne

Summer Delights

 

EAT:

Just had my first mango of the season with my fave yoghurt of all time!!  Yummeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The tarty creaminess of the yoghurt and the sweetness of the mango was a pleasure to the palate. How I love the tropical fruits we are so lucky to avail ourselves of at this time of year

PLAY:

The following are pictures of beach scenes from our recent holiday escape.

These pictures following are in a National Park and we were the only ones on the beach – had it all to ourselves.

QUILT:

Now for the quilt part of this blog, not a lot happening I’m afraid.  There was some secret santa sewing going on before the holiday, and now there is just a few finishing touches to go onto those items. (Show and tell after the items are delivered).

Finishing work is still going on with my long drawn out crazy quilt and I am planning to have it finished in the New Year and ready for the big reveal on this blog.  It has been more than 7 years in the making – called ‘slow quilting’.

Until next time………………..Dianne