Monday

2 Years To The Day ......

I can`t believe it`s 2 years since i had a trip to Australia . The time seems to have flown by so quickly !
My partner and i arrived on the 3rd November in Sydney , and we had 2 wonderful days , until we travelled down on the 5th nov , to see my sister , near Dapto . It had been 4 years since i last saw her , here in the UK . So it was a vey emotional reunion to say the least . To see her newly built home and surroundings , and her 2 children , who have grown up too fast !




Just a few of my favourite photos , as we took 300 of them !


The infamous Sydney Opera House ....







Looking down on Sydney , from the tower ...... i did not take this one , as i am afraid of heights !!









Travelling around The Blue Mountains , at Katoomba , Echo Point , and The Three Sisters .......









Upon walking around to the waterfall , tucked behind it , virtually hidden in the trees , we saw a house there ! What a view they must have had !! I loved it so much there , when we got back , i looked at properties to buy . And guess what ! ? The house that we saw , was for sale ...... With over a MILLION price tag !!










Some of the many 1920`s / 30`s homes at the seafront looking onto Bondi Beach ........









Gothic building at Melbourne ........



















Below is a photo of my younger sister , me and the kids ...... I`m on the right in case you were wondering Tammy !!
This was one of the last photos i took before we had to say the inevitable " goodbye " for who knows how long we`ll see each other again ......








I have done this post as a tribute for my sister ..... why , you may ask ?
Because , no she hasn`t died , but because she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at only 38 .
May 17th this year , is a date that is etched on my mind .... I was standing at the bus stop , and got a text from her saying ... bad news i have cancer ....... My world fell apart , and i stood there crying .............. That day was a daze , and since then it has been a constant worry that she will have successful treatment for it . On June 20th , she had to have a radical hysterectomy , including lymph nodes removed , as it may have spread there too . Because i`m so far away to see her in person , and give emotional support ..... i have some guilt at not being there for her . Even though my parents now have emigrated there as well , i felt "alone " . I can`t even begin to imagine what she has been through , although we talk on the telephone , it`s not the same as seeing them in the flesh ....
What makes me even more angry is the way it came about ....... Over in Australia , they have smears at 2 yearly intervals , unlike here , ours is 3 yearly . The cancer that my sister got was cin stage 3 , which takes 5 to 7 years to develop . So how can someone miss this ???
Someone has done a serious mistake out there , and my sister is paying the price .....
Then last week , another text came from her , they have found something on her liver now ........ Blood tests have been done so far ..... if anything shows on those , like a tumour , she has to have an MRI scan , then they decide on what to do at a later date . I`m not sure what the future holds for our family , but i hope that things will improve and that my sister will have her health back , she deserves it .
So please , all you women out there , get a smear done ! Forget about the embarrassment factor , it could save your life !!


This is a last photo , which i have embedded on my mind , after i said goodbye .......
Alot of my time and energy is going on her , thinking ... alot of that is being done , and hoping that she`s strong enough to take this on and to come through the other side - happy and healthy ..... that is all i wish for .....
My focus on creating things is clouded at this time , and i lack motivation to do so many things that i have ideas for . As i have found that creating is an emotional form of expressive release for me and i can`t seem to grasp it with both hands and get on with it ......
I will get it back ... But i`m not sure how long it will take me .... I will still be doing things , but i need to give 100% to a project i`m on with , and i am myself`s own worst critic !! So i hope you will come back , and thank -you for reading this post of mine !












Saturday

On Warm Autumn Nights .......

This weekends collage .......





































Items used ..... assorted papers , skeletal leaf , vintage image and tea card , gold doily ,
rose printed ribbon ......
I will be adding everyone who visited my blog for the Halloween Bloglandia Party ASAP .
I have also , LOADS of finds to post that i bought today as well !!







Thursday

And The Winner is ......

Well , i`m just about recovered from all the sky hopping i did last night for the Halloween party ! Many comments arrived after i had to got to bed , as i had to rise at 5am , so i have made up for it tonight ... Better late than never i say !
I hope you all had a great time , and i`d like to say "thank you " to all who popped by for some of my refreshments on offer .
Now the best bit ...... the winner of my beaded ring give away .... Here it is ......








For ...... Tammy !!! Of Crooked Heart Art ! Well done you !!

Please get in touch soon ....

I hope it arrives safely to you and you enjoy it ! ;o)


Thank - you to all who entered , meanwhile i am making up 2 christmas themed lucky bags to win which will be posted pretty soon !





Wednesday

Welcome all to the Witches Broomstick Cavern Cafe ! ....




Welcome all to my Broomstick Cavern Cafe ! You are all invited to have a well earned break from flying around the skies .......
Come and join us at the table ......









Two little fairies are glad you popped by , and wish you well and hope you enjoy your short stay .....



Just in time for the celebrations tonight .... The warlock milkman delivered
the drinks ......








Please help yourselves to a glass ......










And i baked you all a cake , so please have a piece !










There is apple bobbing in a corner near the door ......






Or if you haven`t indulged in a piece of cake ..... i have some specially made fizzy sweets for you to taste !









Before i fly off myself ........ THANK YOU for all stopping by and i hope you`ll return , and thank you to The Fairy Godmother for letting know about this wonderful event tonight - with only 24 hours notice !!!
Happy Halloween everyone !



One last thing ..... There`s still time to enter my free give away , if anyone is interested out there !! See a below post . Leave me a comment to say you`re interested and i`ll announce the winner tomorrow night ! Good luck !














Saturday

Floral , Shiny And Ribbons ......



Today i went to my home town where i was born , hoping to bag a load of bargains ..... And boy did i score !


Some silver mini doilies .... Love the cute retro image on the packaging !









Vintage millinery flowers ! I`m soo happy i found some of these here in the UK ! These are extremely hard to come by , so i bought all what they had .......











Small fabric flower arrangement , a really lovely soft pink colour and about 7 inches long .......










Unused ribbons .. the middle patterened one is stiff fabric











And in time for getting started with Christmas things .... These red shiny stars with tiny beads stuck on them ....








And just a small amount of a BIG bag of faux ivy leaves ......









I have more to show .... But i`ll leave that for another post !


I plan to do another give away soon , Christmas themed this time , with some of my above buys .. .... So keep a look out for a chance to win a small goodie bag of stuff !
Meanwhile my other give away is still going on a post below , if you want to take a chance of entering it ! !






Friday

Shabby Vintage Style Quilt Cover .....




Here`s my first quilt buy today !
Browsing in a local charity shop , this caught my eye straight away ..... And even more so when i saw it was a Laura Ashley one ! I adore Laura Ashley designed things and promptly went to pay for it ...... Getting it home was a different story or what i mean is , ready for it`s showing on here ! All i got from my better half was an " Oh no ! " Meaning to me ... How can i get excited by a bit of material ? Where am i going to display it ? We haven`t even got a single bed to put it on ! Men just don`t understand ! When you see something you love ... you HAVE to buy it ... don`t you think ? My reply was ... Well it was cheap ..... under 4 pounds ! Doesn`t he realise that`s a real bargain ? They usually go for £45 and upwards !!

I plan to " get my revenge " on him , by getting a photo of him nodding off the sofa with the quilt over him !




















Lastly an old set of thick cardboard picture dominoes
... . With some really cute images on ......







Look on the post below to have a chance at winning at one of my makes !!


My First Giveaway ! .......

Thinking of something a little bit out of my comfort zone of creating , i came up with this ......



It`s a wire ring with bead attachments , about 3 and a half inches in diameter .








I have made 2 of them , so i`ve decided to give away one !

So if you`re interested in getting this .... please leave me a comment , where ever you are !
And i`ll draw a winner this coming wednesday evening , my time .












Be sure to pop back to see if you have won this ! Good luck !

I would love to know what you plan to do with it ! Mine i think will go around the bottom of a candle .......









Sunday

" Rubbish " Collage ......





Well i`m glad to say i`m back on here . ........ So far , so good !

I have 2 posts today .... After finally sussing out how to upload my photos a different way than normal ! Has anyone else found this out yet ??


Anyway , this collage came about as i was trying to decide on what to do next a few days back .
I just happened to look in my rubbish bin before emptying it , and thought could i reuse anything in there ?
This is what i came up with , all be it "rubbish " to me , or even to you ...

Text from the small book i dismantled for the bird book cover collage , and very apt for this one i think .







The joker playing card - meaning rubbish is no joke nowadays .....









A little girl praying .. . that you will think before throwing anything away , and ask yourself can i reuse this , or recycle it .....






All the things i would`ve thrown away , but reused somehow ....

I hope it will make you think on what you throw away , and buy with the packaging we have today in our everyday lives ......

I now use 2 bins , one that i will definately throw , and one for just in case i change my mind .

Or you can stick all the tiny papers etc onto thin card to do Serendipity - i think it`s called . Then you have your own creation to cut up how you like !

Wednesday

Having trouble with the computer !

Just to let you know that i am having trouble with my computer at the moment .
So i hope to be back on here as soon as it`s fixed !!
Thanks

Friday

What Sort Of World Mini Bookcover Collage .......

Just a quick collage i did tonight ...... On a mini book cover 4 inch by 3 inch



Apology`s for the flash back on it !




















With vintage lace with tiny seed beads stuck on , text from the book , millinery flowers stuck in a fancy metal "thingy " ;o) and ivy leaf . .........














Thursday

Where has the time gone ? .....

It seems we all have busy lives , and not enough quality time to do some creating ! As i feel the same way at the moment , with starting a new job , and having to be up at 5.30am ! I`m more of a night owl , so it`s taking some adjusting for me and not having enough time to do what i`d like on an evening , but here i am with somethings .............



Here`s my new birdie addition from a trip out this gone weekend , on my bird cage that i resprayed blue ........












He`s not a vintage one .... ... ... but i love the brown colour ......






And finally after weeks of trying to get hold of this book ...... I have my own copy at last !!
From a challenge Artsymama set , what seems an eternity ago !









And a book which was written back in 1906 , a year in flora , fauna , and birds .
I want to get another copy of this , so i can cut it up for the beautiful images inside , which are produced to look old , as it would`ve done back then ........
























One final book i`m waiting for is this ..... Out in January 2008 . Can`t wait for this to be published !















Wednesday

Grasshoppers Dance .......

After hearing that the fairies had a banquet the other evening .... It was time for the elves and grasshoppers to have a musical evening ..........







The grasshoppers had a wonderful time conducting the music for the special evening .......









A fairy sprinkled flowers and dust down from above ............







And a curious fairy had to have a look ........ hidden behind some flower petals ........











And the elves played happily along on their wooden flutes .........









The music and dancing will carry on way into the night ...........












Items used were :
Vintage sheet music paper , handmade paper , paper flowers , glitter , fairy image , ribbon with bees and dragonfly , 3D ladybird sticker .