Tri-Shutter Card.

Super simple instructions provided by Splitcoaststampers *
achieved the most amazing results for this card for my darling Grand Daughter's 4th Birthday.

   I downloaded the cute image for free at 5 Star Digital Scrapbooking Blog.

I'm definitely imagining this card in many, many, more themes.  

Another minimum effort project with maximum impact.

*(Tri-shutter card by Bonnie Szwalkiewicz)

Taxing Times.

Tax deadline, two hour wait to have car towed, heavy showers of rain with piles of laundry waiting to be hung out and a little doll that I so need to have complete before the weekend.

She's looking very Amish at the moment. I do intend to add facial features but not sure if I'll follow pattern instructions for felt features or use fabric pens.

What do you think?

Behind the dolly's head you can see the carry basket for her. Have had so much trouble adding base to basket but got some help at my sewing class yesterday (and then got stranded when my car immobilizer immobilized me)  and now well on its way to being complete.

To the right you can see bouclé wool which I will use for hair. (Purchased at St. Vinnies).

Here's dolly with vest, pilchers, booties, quilt and pillow.

  Remember my trip to Reverse Garbage and the beautiful fabric samples I purchased?  I have used as many of this as I could to make dolly's clothes.  The fabrics are one hundred percent fine cottons from Italy.

Do you think dolly will be able to compete with Dora the Explorer Doll?

I hope so.

Dolly's pattern comes from Family Circle Treasury of Dolls & Cuddly Toys and is designed by Gwen Merrill.

Darcy The Sheep also originated from one of Gwen's designs.

Above are some fabrics I've cut out for making a HST quilt for the guest bedroom, hopefully this will be my next sewing project.

No Progress with: The long hexagons or 

French General quilt top.

Cat in a Hat #2 is (almost) ready for sandwicheding, basteding and machine quilteding. Binding is machine stitched and waiting for hand blind hemming.

Finished: English paper pieced scrappy quilt.  Waiting for label. Saving photographs until labelled.

So many projects, so little time!

Happy sewing.

I'm linking to
WIP Wednesday

Fairy Party.

This weekend we celebrated Grand Daughter's birthday.

Hasn't my Daughter made the best cake?

I think she's done a marvellous job.

She has achieved maximum impact with minimum effort thanks to Glorious Treats Blog.

Cake 'how to' here. 

Of course the theme was "Fairies" and her little friends arrived dressed in their prettiest outfits (some brought along two or three changes!)

What beautifully behaved guests they were too.

They played games,chased butterflies (made of tulle) went on a treasure hunt and helped the Birthday Girl blow out her candles (the second time around!) And ate cake too of course.

I can't believe how quickly DGD is growing up.  I'm also amazed at how attached I feel to her.

As a child I didn't have the luxury of Grandparents and only now am I beginning to realise what I've missed out on.

Mr Honey Pie and I are so blessed to have her as well as our children in our lives.

What  better way to spend a weekend than with family?

Hope you had a special weekend too.

Cymbidium Orchids

Some plants seem to thrive on neglect.

Last year my cymbidium orchids missed out on all the lavish attention because Mr Honey Pie & I spent five months on a trip around Australia.

Although the spikes are not as long as they have been in the past, the individual flowers are the showiest I remember them in the thirty odd years I've been growing this variety.

I grew these from a discarded pseudobulb given to me by a neighbour.

Nurturing it without any expectations has seen amazing results and over the years I have run out of people to gift new plants to.

This is probably the first time in a very long time that I haven't got a spare pot or two or three waiting in the side lines ready to give away.

Instead, I have four pots of my own, spotted about the entrances to our home, receiving praises every time a visitor comes to the door.  Or simply admired by me and Mr Honey Pie every time we leave or enter the house. 

While I Was Sweeping

...and dusting & mopping & washing in preparation for my Grand Daughter's birthday party tomorrow,

this feathered friend and its mate visited our front garden.

They are having a delicious meal of wattle seed as I blog.

This bird is called a King Parrot.

Have a nice day.

Fizzy Fruit Lollies.

It's my BIL's birthday this week.  Normally we only exchange cards but this time I thought I'd surprise him with a card with a twist.  

I know he loves fizzy sweets so I bought this packet for less than two dollars at our local supermarket.

I printed out this graphic of a motor bike from The Graphics Fairy because he is a motorbike freak.

I used A5 size card stock and trimmed the sides to the same width of the label and then added  folds above and below the graphic.

Next it's only a matter of stapling the top fold over the original label to hide (but still accessible) and adding a hand written greeting to the bottom flap.

Fold up the bottom flap and there you have it; a card and gift in one.

Edit-23rd October: Australia Post did a great job of delivering the above gift to BIL so that it arrived in time for his birthday.

He said "it was the best birthday pressy ever".  I guess it helped that he didn't know that we knew that fizzy lollies are his favourite!

Linked to Brag Monday at

Treasure Hunt.

Good Morning to you all.

Seems that Spring has finally decided to make a show this week.

Yesterday was glorious and I spent the day in the garden feeding all the yummy herbs, as well as all the ornamentals.

This week my daughter and I are planning a party for dearest Grand Daughter.

One of my jobs is to organise a Treasure Hunt for eight preschoolers.

I've not done this ever before so I hope I get it right!  

The above picture of our front door is the first clue.  I plan to photograph each clue and place it in a numbered envelope which the child with the corresponding number badge opens.

Eventually they will find the treasure chest filled with bird seed in which the treasure is hidden.

Have you planned a treasure hunt before?

How did it go?

Visitors To The Garden.

Today the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature mild.

So is it a surprise that this yellow tailed black cockatoo should visit the garden for a feast of banksia seeds?

Never mind the mess left behind by the flock of three.

Or that we've been woken at six on a number of mornings by shredded banksia cones dropping on the roof just above our heads as we sleep!

And should it be a surprise that this little fellow came out to bask in the sun?

Especially since we've rarely seen the sun since the first day of spring?

The second week of October and I've had to turn the heating on again.

Is that rain I hear dripping down the downpipes?

Sixtieth Birthday

My Brother-In-Law turns the big six oh this Saturday so I made him this card using his NRL team's football colours.  Yes he goes for The Panthers!

I found the image of the panther here.

The papers I used were out of my stash, many of them are now out of print but I have enough papers to last me a life time, so I use what I can when I can.

The layout comes complements from Sketch Saturday.  

Happy crafting!

Happily linked to Sketch Saturday.

Loving My Books.

What I'm Reading ATM

No matter what's happening in my life, I always find time to read.

The Red Tent in reality is probably nothing more than the story of everyday happenings in the life of a woman living in biblical times.

But what a story.

Dinah is, through connection with the earth and the universe, in one with her body and its cycles. 

But she comes to learn that this is not how it is with every culture.

To me, it highlights how contemporary women have lost touch with their natural cycles and mother earth.

How much less complicated would life be if this natural wonder could be re-instigated into our daily lives? 

Once again, the biography of Louisa May Alcott could be nothing more than the reiteration of the humdrum of a woman's life.

Instead the reader journeys with Alcott, peering into a family life that is intriguing and extraordinary to say the least.

Find out how Alcott invents the family of her preference and creates a best selling novel which we all now know as Little Women.

At the suggestion of my Bowen Therapist, I borrowed A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle from my local library.

Is it just coincidence that this book is so appropriate to things happening in my life at the moment?

Perhaps there is such a thing as serendipity!

One thing reading this book has taught me is that mostly, we need to just stay in the moment.

It brings to mind the opening lines from the Serenity Prayer:  

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

I'm re-reading it! 

(And accepting that for the moment there are many things in my life that I cannot change.)

My Mother's Birthday.

A Card For My Mother.

Thanks once again to Karen from The Graphics Fairy for the beautiful flower that graces this birthday card which I made for my mother.

My dear Mum turned seventy eight this year and is going through a difficult time with her health.

Land acquisition by the powers that be have made home life a torment for her over the past eighteen months or so.

I can only pray that both sides come to the party real soon, for she can be as obstinate as any government department when she wants to be.