Welcome to Australia...

...Hannabelle Cordelia Hare!

Recently I entered an exciting blog candy giveaway on Tracy's beautiful Patchwork Chickens blog. I discovered Tracy's lovely blog (full of gorgeous, hand-crafted artworks) through Lucy's Attic 24 blog...my favourite place for fabulous crochet inspiration and easy to understand tutorials.

Anyhoo, Tracy got lots and lots of entrants for her scrummy blog candy, 101 in total... But guess whose name was pulled out of the hat (literally) by Lucy? MINE! I couldn't believe my good luck!!

Hannabelle Cordelia Hare was soon winging her way to her new home in Australia, and as you can see from the photo above she has arrived and has been very busy taking it easy. She is suffering a little jet-lag...but Miss 8 and I are pampering Hannabelle and making sure she feels right at home here with us Down Under.

Thanks so much again Tracy! It is obvious that oodles of love and care have gone into the making of Miss Hannabelle Cordelia Hare and I will be keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of you opening an Etsy shop in the near future ;-).

Family Time...

Barrier Reef Collage MKII...

I mentioned when I first posted my Barrier Reef collage (here) that it was something of a work in progress. Well, I've had another go and I am much happier with this second offering. There was, amongst other niggly issues, too much blank space in the first edition. It annoyed me!

This time I have also used a beautiful Corban and Blair shadowbox frame. It is quite deep (which I tried to capture in the next shot) and it makes a big difference.

Lunch time now, and I think the littlest Postie is about to wake.

Have a good one (it is a glorious sunshiny day in Canberry today :-).

Blogged to: Voodoo Child - Rogue Traders,  Chained to the Wheel - The Black Sorrows and Down Under - Men at Work.

Hey, Little Lady...

Just a rooley, trooley quick one today...

I have been dreaming of making an easel card ever since I set eyes on Bronwyn's simply gorgeous creations.

This is what I came up with over hot cross buns this weekend...

No time to explain...hubby is now marching about and pointedly looking at the time. I need to go!

Have a great day.

Blogged to: Where the Streets Have No Name - U2, Halo/Walking on Sunshine - Glee Cast, Addicted to Bass - Puretone and Vienna - Ultravox.

HEADLINE: 'PUT YOUR PAWS IN THE AIR...

.....THEN SLOWLY HOP AWAY FROM THE PRODUCT.....

NO ONE NEEDS TO GET HURT!!'

BURGLARISING BUNNY CAUGHT WITH HIS FEET ON THE FOIL AND THE TREATS IN HIS TEETH!! 

Check out his bulging belly...that darn rabbit ate the whole lot!

Okay, so I got a bit carried away. I'm prone to that sort of thing. Flights of fancy, tall tales of adventure and intrigue. Too much Trixie Belden as a child I suspect ;-).

But in amongst it all, I was inspired to create some Easter goody boxes for the kiddos, after I saw these beauties made by Kim. Thanks for the inspiration Kim!

I've modified Kim's pattern a fair bit. My lid is just a simple square one that comes right off (along with the rabbit face and ears - all the better to access the goodies ;-). I am still only half way through the second one, but I'll try and get a shot of them both tomorrow, before the kids sit on them or something.

Have a good one!

ETA: I managed to get the second ransacking rabbit finished while Thumper was taking a nap and the kids were watching Harry Potter...

I'd like to point out here that these bunny boxes are NOT chock full of eggs. I ended up putting a whole sheet of crumpled tissue in there with the eggs. They would have packed close to 400g of eggs without the paper stuffing. YIKES!

Blogged to: Livin' Thing - Electric Light Orchestra, Overkill - Men at Work, Firework - Katy Perry.

Capturing the Reef in Collage...

I have another bright, punch art collage to show you today. This project was inspired by our sailing adventure to The Great Barrier Reef last year, and in particular, our visits to Bait Reef off the Whitsunday Islands.

Now, although the making of all those itty, bitty, corally flowers looks like it would have been tedious and boring, it wasn't!  I spent the whole time dreaming of all the places we visited that looked just like this. I might add here that my husband remarked at one point that the reef in mind mind was much healthier looking than it was in his...but I put this down to the fact that he spent a lot of time diving and snorkelling in various exotic places in the western Pacific in his youth, so he is probably accustomed to more splendiferous coral reef than I am. To me, diving on The Great Barrier Reef was like jumping into an open chest of glittering pirate's treasure.

This project has aspects with which I am tremendously pleased, but it also has some flaws which are annoying me, especially given how long it has taken me to make. For now, I'm thinking of it as a work in progress. A trial run, at the very least, and I've learned lots about collage and composition in its making, so it certainly has not been time wasted!

If I don't 'see' you again before Sunday...I hope you have a very Happy Easter!

Blogged to: Better Off Alone - Alice Deejay, Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus and Barbra Streisand - Duck Sauce.

Sailing Away - Punch Art Collage

Hard to believe that this time last year I had a two month old baby and we were packing up the house and madly getting ready to move onto Lucey Blue. Now poor Lucey is languishing in Middle Harbour alone, while we are left high and dry almost 400 km away.

The kids talk about Lucey Blue often. She is like a missing family member. I decided I'd like to make a happy boating collage, to aid our memories afloat. Lucey Blue doesn't look anything like the vessel pictured below (which is a good thing given all five of us lived aboard her for eight months), but the big smile on the little sailor could belong to any of us!

The frame is 11 x 14 inches, so quite large, but it is just an el-cheapo one from Homeworld and it fits perfectly. I did want a plain white frame, but couldn't find one quickly, so this will have to do for now. I contemplated painting it, but that's a job for another day.

I also scanned the collage at high res before I framed it. I think it might make a nice print...or something.

I  will make more of these collages I think. They are a lot of fun to make, and look cute and happy on the wall. Great for the kids' rooms.

The original idea for this little sailor dude came from Kim Score, check out her adorable card here, and my subsequent version here.

Have a wonderful weekend...