New Year's Eve 2011

The Month That Was.

A child's wonder - QVB Sydney.

QVB - Sydney.

Some Drummer Boys aren't necessarily human. Christmas window display, Sydney.

King Parrot visiting my friend's garden.

Blue Mountains NSW.

Community Spirit - Banquet of Dreams at Springwood Civic Centre.

This year's summer theme has been very feminine I'm afraid...that is, dark, wet and moist. 

La Nina is very definitely at large in Sydney this summer.

My first visit to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall to watch....

Angelina Ballerina!

Happy New Year to You All!

Christmas Eve

Christmas light displays from around the neighbourhood.

Wishing you all a stress free and a happy Christmas.

A Most Unusual Find

Now that the rain has stopped (but the sun's still hiding behind the clouds) I've had a little time today to venture out and look at what's been happening in the garden.

I re-potted a palm last month and this most unusual 'flower' has popped out from beneath the soil.

The 'flower' is about the size of a mini-cupcake.

It's Time

There's nothing like a Grand Child to remind you that life's not all that bad and for getting you back into the Christmas spirit!


After a week of seeing the Christmas tree still in its box, sitting in a corner of the lounge room it was time!


In a short space of time it went from this...

To this

Our family owns so many Christmas tree decorations it's almost impossible to put them all on the tree at once.

So usually I have a different colour combination each year.

This is the first year that our Grand Daughter is old enough to really help so I asked her what two or three colours she'd like for the tree.  

We started out with red, blue and gold and ended up with....you guessed it...as MANY decorations as we could fit on the tree!

We stopped when there were no more spots to hang our decorations from.

As we picked out each decoration I told her how old her mum was when we acquired certain decorations and, if they were hand made, who made them.

Our Christmas tree decoration collection started some thirty five years ago.

I guess it's children that help to make Christmas that little bit more special.

I hope that your Christmas plans are all on track.

Twelve Days of Christmas.

Suddenly, Christmas has lost all its glamour.  First with the news that our nephew's partner has been diagnosed with bowel cancer in her mid twenties, and then when I contracted a stomach bug that afflicted me  not only with vomiting but with the vilest stomach cramps I have ever experienced.  

Now I have laryngitis and just the act of speaking is painful.  My energy levels are low.  My Christmas cards haven't even been written let alone posted and the weather has been appalling.

On the bright side though - our Eldest Son is arriving next week, flying over from the west coast and this has spurred me on to do the Christmas food shop today, before my visit to the GP.

This year we've decided on Kris Kringle for the adults so gift buying has been made a whole lot simpler. 

With only twelve days to Christmas this is the most un-organised I ever been I'm sure.

I can only hope that 2012 is a bringer of better news than what 2011 has been.

Sometimes

Sometimes our health system gets a big F.
She's not yet thirty.
She has been ill for some months now.
She sees her doctor re rectal bleeding.
It's haemorrhoids.
No improvement.
It's colitis.
Couldn't be bowel cancer...she's too young.
No improvement.
No new diagnoses.
Weight loss is now an issue.
In desperation she takes herself off to see a specialist...at her own expense.
Diagnoses?  Bowel cancer.
Scan is arranged and the promise of operation to remove affected part of bowel is made.
Scan shows that cancer has riddled much of her vital organs...kidneys, lungs,....
She may not see Christmas.

Upcycling - Christmas Cards. #2

No Sew Christmas Bunting.

Start off with a wide-ish Christmas card from last year.  About 12cm wide.

Cut front of card away from back.

Mark centre of card front on the back of bottom end. (The top of illustration should be at the widest end of your piece).

Rule a line from this mark to both top corners.

Cut.

Once again rule a line on smaller pieces from  bottom corner of triangle to centre of cut edge.

Cut along this drawn line and you should now have five pieces as shown above.

Form a 'crown' shape with the longest narrowest strips and use staples to hold together.

There are two of these shapes.

One will be a napkin holder, the other a place card.

Punch circle from backs of cards, write names on circles and staple to upturned 'crown' to form a place card.

Repeat the above until the required amount is achieved.

Use the back of the card for notes, shopping lists, etcetera.

To complete the bunting staple the bunting shaped cards to a strip of ribbon. Alternate between the large and small shapes.

Use whatever ribbon you have on hand that might be suitable.

I used gold ribbon left over from last year's gifts for the above bunting.

For my larger bunting I used some cotton tape that I'd purchased from the op-shop with a whole lot of haberdashery.

If you wish add lots of glitter by outline edges with glitter glue.

I've linked to Artful Affirmations

Visit Terri at Artful Affirmations to see 

what others have been making in preparation for Christmas.

Linked to stamping-ground.blogspot.com Whats-on-your-workdesk-wednesday

This Month In The Garden.

December

Banksia cones never fail to intrigue me, no matter how many times I see them emerging.

This summer is shaping up to be a wet and cold one.

So wet and cold in fact, we could be having a Northern Hemisphere Christmas.

Thank You.

I've had a request to make two thank you cards for end of year celebrations.

This is my first one.

The papers are from my stash.

I've used some vintage lace on the right and inked my Penny Black images and "thank you" with Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink, warm red.

One butterfly image was embossed with Transcendence embossing powder and the other with Snowflake.

The scroll was printed on a clear sheet.

This is my inspiration for the layout.

Sketch Saturday #184  By Karita

I hope you can find the time to visit Sketch Saturday's blog.

Ballet

The layers of the petals of this camellia japonica remind me of a ballerina's tutu.

Tomorrow, my four year old Grand Daughter is to perform in her first ballet concert ever.

It seems like only yesterday that her mother performed in her first ballet concert as a three year old.

My Daughter's entire ballet class performed  a dance dressed as ponies.

In some ways it was more comical than anything, because the budding ballerinas were so intent on watching the audience that they kept running into each other.

I can't wait to see what my Grand Daughter is to perform tomorrow.

None of us, not even her mother have any idea of what Grand Daughter will be performing!

Traditional Afternoon Tea

Three generations treated themselves to a traditional afternoon tea at the 

QVB Tea Rooms.

Full silver service was in use, as was pristine starched white table linen.

We were served tea in Royal Albert 

Country Rose tea cups.

(As was the hot chocolate for the youngest generation - all of four years of age).

Each serving comprised petite fours, cucumber,cheese and dill sandwiches, savouries, pastries and scones with jam and cream, served on a three tier cake stand with matching plates.

All enjoyed in a setting reminiscent of the nineteenth century.

I haven't linked to Terri's Tea Cup Tuesday in a while, but I think this occasion warrants a link.

Thanks Terri for hosting.