Back home again

I did not attempt to blog while in the UK as I was using an Ipad and some functions are limited. We have been home for a week and I am nearly ready to go back to work. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to take an extra week of long service leave, so that I had some rest after the trip home. It is a long way from the UK to Perth and the time difference plays with your head and body.
We did a lot of touring in our hire car and my favourite purchase was a TomTom which I bought at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It took me a lot of trial and error to work out how it works, but by the end of the trip I was able to arrive at our destination without a problem. Even though I had a huge map book of the UK, it didnot give enough detail when it came to roundabouts.
We also visited a newsagents nearly everyday as my DH loves the paper and his magazines. I found a couple I have not yet seen in Australia. One of them I took out a subscrption for and downloaded the first edition to read on my Ipad as it was out of print.

I have been making some flowers ready to add to a teacosy that is ready for decoration.

I can't wait for the next edition to arrive in my postbox.



Nearly there.

I haven't been sleeping too well as I have been worried about getting our new Visa cards before we left the country.Today the postman brought both cards as well as some new camera batteries. Now I just need the book I ordered to arrive before we head to Perth on Wednesday. I have cleaned the laptop back to the original settings, packed it in it's box and put on the label ready for dropping off at school tomorrow. Tomorrow I can concentrate on washing and packing clothes for the trip. I don't think it will be much warmer in London than in Collie.

Preparations for holidays

I have finished at school and handed over my keys to the relief teacher. I still have some reports to finish and a computer to clean up and return as the lease is finished. I think I need to make a list of all the little things I need to do before we board the plane for the UK next week.It doesn't seem quite real. Luckily I still have a few days left. Tonight we are heading into Bunbury to watch a movie. This afternoon I finished reading the second book in the Milenniumq series and can't wait to read the third. I was hoping to be able to buy an iBook version, but no luck there.

Winter has arrived.

This is a long weekend in Western Australia.The weather has been cold, foggy and then sunny, so there are no complaints from me. After a visit to Bunbury farmer's market I have been making soup. Yesterday was leek and potato and today it is pumpkin. I have packed up the leftovers for my DD to take back to Perth.
Creativity is a little stifled at the moment. I have done some knitting, but scrapping is taking a back seat at the moment. I did not get the latest Chookscraps Amazing Race challenge done in time. I need to work on school reports. I only have 2 weeks left at school before I start my long service leave and head off to the UK. Hence the procrastination that is occurring at the moment.
Here is a photo of the berry muffins I made this morning. The recipe is from a website I found recently. http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/

I am a bad Blogger

The school holidays have been and gone. We've been back at school for a week and a bit. Tomorrow we start a new timetable. Naplan is over-just the waiting for the results. During the holidays I had the opportunity to attend a mini workshop using the latest "Collections" collection. I just love the printed tissue paper. It is quite strong and takes dye easily.

This a view of my little project in the process. Here is what it looked like finished.

I also worked on this layout for the third leg of the Amazing race at Chookscraps.

The weather down in Collie is starting to get cold. The autumn colour is beautiful. I took this photo early Saturday morning as we were taking DD's car down to the local car lot.

Easter holidays

After a very long term of 11weeks and two days we are on holidays. Some nameless bureaucrat decided that we need to start holidays with Easter. This year it is rather late so a 12 week term was decreed. Then came NAPLAN testing due to start the day we get back from hols. So now we go back on a Thursday to give the students 2 days to settle back in before the big test. I will be pleased when we can teach something other than NAPLAN. But first we have our first term holidays to refresh the body and spirit.
I spent the first day scrapping at the shop as I had not had the opportunity or the motivation to do the second challenge in the Great Chook Race. We are off to New Zealand and the elements to be used were balck background, a bird  and some doodling to echoe the maori designs that abound. As I had snaffled the camera cards from DD on Sunday I had a heap of new photos of her holiday in the US.

I usually scan my layouts but as the flowers are quite high I decided to photograph it instead hence the easel at the bottom.
I also managed to make a card for the Chookscraps CC which closes today. I have been experimenting with easel cards so this is the result.

Today is Good Friday and I have had my hot cross buns for breakfast. Later on I am going to make some fish cakes by Donna Hay. DH has gone to work so I plan to tackle my craft room so that I can get some quilting done later on in the holidays. Happy Easter.

And so has March.

I can't believe that it is April already and that I have not blogged for a whole month.
There is just over a week to go at school until school holidays. Everyone is tired and coming down with sickness. I just hope it bypasses this little family.
It has been very quiet here as DD is overseas in San Francisco at the moment and DS is up north doing night shift at an iron ore mine. He will be home in a few days for a week of R and R.
On Friday I had the crown fitted on my front tooth that has given me so much grief and expense over the years. Next step are some fillings to replace the old metal ones.
The weather has finally started to cool down and I have started knitting. I bought some very pricey yarn from a little shop in Bunbury to knit a scarf with a wavy edge. I have done about 30 cms.

Isn't the colour gorgeous.
I have also been doing a little bit of scrapping. The first round of  a new competition at Chookscraps closed last night and voting has commenced. It is called The Amazing Chook Race. Here is my entry for the first round. We were limited to a very snmall number of ingredients as we had to pack light for our trip. Here is link to all the layouts.  http://www.chookscrapsscrapbooking.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1271.

Retreat has come and gone.

Last weekend was the March Chookscraps retreat. Luckily the weather was much cooler than it had been during the previous week. I love watching and learning how other scrappers create. Some get heaps done. Others get very little done. It doesn't matter as no one is counting. The best thing is having our meals prepared for us and no washing up at the end.
I also managed to fit in my monthly quilt class and lunch with friends before heading off to retreat. I love not having to work on Fridays.
Here are a few layouts I did over the weekend away.

Chookscraps CC

I can now safely say that I have finished moving in to my new art room. It is a lovely space with beautiful natural light. I still have a few boxes of books I need to sort through.
My DD came to visit this weekend so that she could use the macro lens and a camera to take photos of her jewellery collection. She is working on a new collection of pieces ready for the "Unwrapped" market next month. I did like one piece she showed me, but I was not able to snaffle it .
Yesterday I went to scrap with a group of friends at Chookscraps. It is cybercrop weekend and I managed to finish all the challenges before heading home early at 11.30pm. Here are a few pieces.

I seem to have used this gorgeous shade of green on all my layouts for this month's CC.

Weekend at last.

The school week has flown by and I am more than ready for my first 3 day weekend. On Friday I went to my applique class in Donnybrook and after lunch I went for my next visit to the dentist. That went well and I headed to Bunbury to buy some elastic and a few odds and ends from Spotlight.In the evening when the needle had worn off my teeth were starting to complain. It seems that the after effects of root canal treatment are worse than the actual treatment. I am one step closer to having a better smile.

I discovered that the furniture arrived for my art room while I was out of town. Most of it was in place, so DH and DS helped me move the rest into position. Now I just have to sort through the pile and put things onto my nice new shelves. That can wait until Monday as I am baking biscuits today and scrapping tomorrow.

Kayaking on the Swan river.

Bubbles in a funnel. Photo taken by DH with my macro lens.

Two ducks swimming in the settlement ponds near the swan river.

First week back at school

Today the students arrived back from their holidays. It was lovely seeing the new Year 1's settle in to their classroom with great big smiles on their faces. I also had the chance to help with the new Kindy students who all waved goodbye with out any tears. Our transition programme is certainly working well.
I wish I could report that the furniture truck has finally found it's way to our school and depositted stools, tables and shelves in our rooms. No, we are managing with old furniture until it arrives in a day or two, or three.

On my last weekend of the hols I went to Perth with my DH and spent some time with my DD. Here are a few snaps taken with my new I-phone.

Morning tea at Coode Street Cafe.

Early morning rowers on the Swan River.

One week left.

There is just one week to go of my holidays. It has gone fast.
Yesterday I scrapped at Chookscraps and created the following layout.

Challenge 1

Ugggh! Dentist today!

I am off to see a new dentist today. Hopefully we will get along as I need to do a lot of catch up work.
I got my keys on Monday morning and have been slowly moving all the art papers into their new home. Hopefully the new furniture will no be too far away. With so many school in the same boat, I don't know what will happen.
I managed to put my new bike together with help from DH and have been getting used to the different programmes. It even measures body fat and BMI.

I have been scrapping at Chookscraps on Wednesdays afternoon/evening and have managed a few layouts. On Saturday there will be a midnight madness crop ( 12pm to 12am), so I am looking forward to that.

This layout was for challenge 3 from the January non-sketch challenges which had to include sanding, embossing and paint. I used some glam on the flower petals.

A New Start for 2011

 

Sorry about the lack of posts to my blog. The end of the year was rather stressful and rather than try to catch up with the photos for each day, I decided to just stop and take a break.
Christmas and New Year have been and gone and I have just two weeks of holidays before I head back to the coal face. I have spent the last two weeks scrapping, quilting, knitting and reading. I get the keys to my new Art Room on Monday, so the big move will start. My plan is to do some each morning while it is cool. Luckily I do not live far from school.
Last year I tried to post a photo each day for a year. This year I am going to try to blog once a week. I think that is more doable. I got a macro lens for Christmas, so hope to play with that when I get the time.

Close up of Christmas wreath.

Hopman Cup on New Year's Day.

Family golf game on January 3rd.

Baby card for a friend.

Tree mural starting to take shape.