Sunday, January 16, 2022

100 Years Young

My mother-in-law, Dorothy, turned 100 on  Saturday 15 January at a nursing home in Ballarat. She is mentally alert, walks about as normal, showers and dresses herself unaided etc. Her mental exercises include doing word puzzle books. 

The family had planned a party but as the past couple of years with Covid has proven you have to be flexible.  The party hasn't been cancelled just postponed.  The Home allowed two visitor so my husband and his sister were able to be with her on her birthday.

Dorothy with the card from the Queen

She has received lots of cards from well known public figures.  She was delighted to receive a card from the Queen.

My husband with his mother

There were also lots of floral tributes, some of which can be seen in the above photo.

Dorhthy's 100th birthday card

My husband asked me to make a card for his mother.  After numerous attempts the above is the final result.  Not as good as one from the Queen.

Friday, December 24, 2021

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE CHRISTMAS

Work closed Tuesday for the summer break.  So we are off until after the New Year.  I haven't felt at all Christmassy.  Covid has made me cautious about large gatherings so I haven't attended any parties.  I received my booster vacc today so that eases my mind a bit.  
Looking around town and seeing the decorations I think I am starting to feel the Christmas Spirit.


Floating Christmas Tree, Geelong

Shopping Centre Christmas Trees 

Even around our neighbourhood people have been decorating.  Most houses in our street have Christmas wreaths on their doors.  While I was walking my dog this morning I took the opportunity to take some photos.

I liked the novelty of the bells and the little reindeers of the first one.  The second one is very sophisticated but unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice because it is in the shade.


I liked the colour comination of this first one, silver on blue, very pretty.  Again the photo doesn't do justice to the second photo.  The potted bush is covered in little blue baubles which were shining in the sun.


At the end of our street is a shop called Lily Pond.  It sells French antiques.  The window is always lovely but their Christmas Decorations are extra special.

This is a photo of our tree.  Have you put our your decorations yet ?  Christmas is upon us so I hope you are all able to be with family and friends.
                                       
              MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERY ONE









Thursday, July 30, 2020

Audrey NBUS

I have had the stamp, Audrey – Stamping Bella, for quite some time and it hasn’t seen the light of day until now.  So this card I made just because ……….

I am adding my card to the NBUS #16 gallery as this is a new-to-me stamp

Take care and stay safe  

Friday, July 24, 2020

Twofers - Butterflies

     Tonight I have two cards for the Twofer Card Challenge #29 - Butterflies


Penny Black Flutters die was used in both cards.

The first card, FRIEND, I used Technique Tuesday Stamps for the flower and sentiment.  Copics were used for the colouring and some Kaiser Craft Pearles added.

The BIRTHDAY card I used design paper from the Collect Moments pad.  Again the sentiment was Technique Tuesday and the rhinestones are Kaiser Craft.


Thank you for visiting and take care.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Twofer Challenge Umbrella



I have used an old Annabelle stamp -A Beautiful Day.  I used pencils to do the colouring


Only the umbrella from the above set was used for this card.  I used DP paper to paper piece the the umbrella.  The sentiment is Jane Doodles Pretty Peony and the hearts are a Simon Says Stamp stencil




Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Oddball Easter Bunny

I had been looking forward to receiving this stamp and it arrived yesterday.  So it is NBUS, or as Darnel put it - virginal.  This bunny just cracks my up.  What do you think is he simply suffering from a chocolate overload or do you think he would hides the eggs so well no-one can find them?

I have made this card for my sister who is not well (not the virus thank goodness) and I thought it would give her a giggle.

The stamp is from Stampingbella, it is coloured with copic and the DP  unknown.

As I mentioned this is a brand new stamp or NBUS, so I am entering the card into Darnell's new NBUS Challenge #13.


Thursday, April 02, 2020

Let's Chat



I think the sentiment for my card tonight is very appropriate for the current circumstance we are all in at the moment.  It's important to keep in touch with family and friends, via phone, text, email, skype, zoom or by what ever means.  Just to have a chat and see how they are.

I have used Paper Smooches Vogue Abode and it was coloured with Lyra pencils.  The chair is paper pieced.

I would like to enter this card into Inspirational Challenge 209 - Chair Photo


Take care, stay safe and contact your family and friends to have a chat

Saturday, March 28, 2020

An Englishwoman in Colac

An Englishwoman in Colac by Joan Frecheville Brown
A selection of her letters


My husband grew up in Colac, a small city in the Western District of Victoria, approximately 150 kilometers south-west of Melbourne.  It is a commercial centre for an agricultural district.

My husband is an historian who writes about the history of Colac and other places.  He is always on the lookout for new information.  Recently he left a book on our coffee table that he was reading.  It looked interesting so I picked it up to peruse it and then commenced reading it in full.

The book is a collection of letters written by Joan Frecheville Brown during her time in Colac.  It gave a wonderful snapshot of life in the 1950s and 1960s in country Victoria. 

Joan was married to a local doctor, Graham Brown.  They met during the War in Britain, married and came to Australia in 1947.  Goodness knows what she thought when she arrived in Colac – a country town based on milking cows, sheep, onions, potatoes, cattle saleyards, sawmills and trucking companies.  Joan was a sophisticated young woman who had been living and working in London a large cosmopolitan city and she went to Colac to start her married life.  Quite a difference but she was very philosophical about the change.

Back in the 1950 the best form of communication was by letter and Joan was a prolific letter writer.  Her letters were firstly to her friends and family back in Britain and then to her children when they went off to boarding school in Geelong.  The letters gave interesting snippets of her life and times in Colac.

She entered into community life with great enthusiasm.  She was a member of the Schools Mother’s Club, the hospital’s Women’s Auxiliary, joined the Colac Players, the Film Society and weekly discussion groups.  Some of the fund raising events were hat parades, chicken and champagne dinners and afternoon teas.

Joan was very widely read and the house was filled with books.  One letter mentions in regard to a function she was attending where there was a tedious and long- winded speechmaker . . . the most ghastly speeches - fortunately I had a penguin in my pocket and read that.

Back in her London days Joan worked in the film industry so she always had an interest in films.  She mentions films such as A Hard Days’ Night.  She wrote that this film was brilliantly clever and its photography and off-beat humour was outstanding.  Although she thought three songs were her limit.  At another time she saw the film of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and thought the singing magnificent.

The couple built a house on a hill overlooking Colac with a very large garden that had a plantation of Australian natives.  Edna Walling contributed sketches for the layout.   In her letters to the children Joan would mention that the first daffodil was in bloom, that the wisteria was nearly in bloom or the wind played havoc with the magnolia.  Joan said the house was for use not show.

The house, large for its time, was where the couple raised their 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls.  Once the children were at boarding school Joan wrote to them weekly.  Her son Michael remembers the letters as being newsy and cheerful.  Son Jonathan comments that the letters don’t give a full picture but there was music not only the children’s on violin and piano but from a large gramophone cabinet in the lounge where Joan played her classical music records.  Daughter Julia remarked that re-reading her mother’s letters reminded her of her mother's vibrancy and strength and of her intelligence and humour.  Daughter Louise said that her parents never talked down to her, valued her opinions and that she was an individual.

In the early 1960s Joan contracted a mysterious wasting disease that slowly crippled her existence and rendered her weak, scarcely mobile and helpless. Despite various diagnoses (way off beam for the time) and advice from her husband’s medical colleagues in Colac, Ballarat and Melbourne Joan found no cure.  Her condition was later diagnosed as motor neurone disease.  She died in 1967 aged 45.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Bunnies


Tonight I have two cards for the Twofer Card Challenge #25 - Spring Animals.  I have chosen a bunny.  The stamps I have used are from the Simon Says Stamp set, Some Bunny.  It's the very first time the set has been out of the packet.  I have coloured both bunnies with my Lyra pencils.


My First card is a cheery Hello.  Something we all need at present.  The sentiment is Hero Arts


My second card is an Easter Card I had fun doing the background.  for the ink blending I used Simon Says Stamp inkpads and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The scalloped fram iswas made using a Spellbinders die.




Look after yourselves and stay safe.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Christmouse Card

Tonight I have a card for the Inkspirational Challenge 208 - Animals.  This is also my first Christmas card for 2020 and hopefully there will be many more before December

I have used a LOTV digital image Christmouse Pudding and I have used pencils to colour the image.  The sentiment and the added holly are Kaiser Kraft stamps.  As are the rhinestones. The DP is Doodlebug Design



 Look after yourselves and stay safe




Sunday, February 23, 2020

Twofer Challenge 24 Fruit

Today I have cards for The Twofer Challenge.  This month the prompt is "Fruit" #24
I have used a very old stamp, so old I can't read the label.  It is the only fruit stamp I have.

For this birthday card I used the pear stamp to create an all over pattern.  The leaves are from a Hero Arts stamp set.  The images were coloured using my Lyra pencils.  The sentiment is from a Technique Tuesday set.

For my second card I again stamped and coloured the image with my Lyra pencils.  For the sentiment I used a Memory Box die cut.


We have two pear trees in our backyard and they are ladened with fruit ready to pick.  When I went into the yard early this morning eight lovely parrots flew out of the trees.  The parrots had been having pears for breakfast.

❤ 

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Valentine's Day

Just popping by today to show you the Valentine's Day card I made for my husband.


The stamp is Big & Bold Love's Kiss from Colorado Craft Co and I used Tsukineko Delicata, Ruby Red.  The lips are a beautifull red and full of sparkles.

My husband and I don't really do St Valentine's Day.  Some years it comes and goes without a trace but this year when I saw this stamp I knew I would be making a card.

Do you celebrate St Valentine's Day and if so how?