Sunday, July 29, 2012

Creative Scrappers - Sketch #218

Hi again fellow bloggers....how is everyone enjoying their weekend?!
Not alot happening here...I have one sick & sore doggy who has required a lot of TLC over the past few days :(    He's been unwell since Tuesday & only just showing some improvement today...so I'm hoping it's all uphill from here for him.

Anyways...I'm here to share my layout that I've created for Creative Scrappers, Sketch #218

Here is the fabulous sketch....


And here is my take on it....


Using a few different MME ranges.....Nostalgia, Follow your heart & some stickers from Lost & Found 2.  PLUS some gorgeous Lil' Red Rocket accordian paper flowers that are topped with those beautiful punched butterflies! <3

Some close ups of the accordian flowers....





And of my title & journaling....




I've also used my new Unity Chickenwire stamp....love it!

Photos are from our Tassie trip...and are of just some of the gorgeous old buildings in the township of Stanley.

That's it from me for now....but thanks for dropping by :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  xx

Monday, July 23, 2012

Now don't fall off your chairs....

But guess what I've been doing?
 
Creating some cards!!! 

I've been saying, for I don't know how long, that cards just aren't my thing....and I'd say that because I always kind of struggled with them.  Not sure why.

Now these are no masterpieces....but I'm pretty happy that I at least had a go, and I think they came out ok, and perhaps they will one day put a smile on their recipients faces :)

Using the leftovers from my July DT kit from Handmade by Suzanne - Websters Pages "Palm Beach", here are the 4 cards I made....



I love the flowery flourish from the Turtle Cove paper on this one





And this one was fun cutting out the cute umbrella's from the Flamingo Fun & Palm Beach Girl papers.





The fabric ticket & a piece from the Perfect Accents pack, along with some Prima flowers for the cluster on this one...plus the travel ticket beckoned for the card to be travel themed :)

And lastly.....



I've used a piece of 2crafty chipboard - Flowers Whispy.....and a MFT Upsy Daisy die cut flower using Sunset paper, plus a cute Lil' Red Rocket fabric birdie button ....with some Oriental Poppy GM sprayed on the background.

So there you have it....my attempt at some card making :)


And while I've still got your attention, I thought I'd drop a little reminder about this months sketch at HBS.....

July 2012 Sketch Competition


There's still just over a week to get your layouts uploaded to the July sketch folder in the HBS Gallery. 

Looking forward to seeing your creations!

Thanks so much for dropping by :)  xx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Products used:
Websters Pages - Palm Beach - Perfect Accents


Saturday, July 21, 2012

Ingvild Bolme Prima Giveaway!!!

OMGoodness....this giveaway is unreal!Just take a look at all that Prima goodness.....




Ingvild is celebrating her new blog design....& to celebrate, she is giving this mountain of Prima away!  How very generous! :)

You can check it out (and enter) HERE .....good luck!  xx


Friday, July 20, 2012

Get Creative


Hello again lovely peeps!
I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday night...and looking forward to  a great weekend :)

I'm back to share another layout I've created for the July sketch at Get Creative :)
Here is the wonderful sketch, created by Melenia...





And here is what I created.......


Using some yummy yummy MME Nostalgia papers...as well as a few other pieces from So Sophie & Stella & Rose - that is what I love about MME papers...all their ranges mix & go together so well!

And of course....there's some super yummy 2crafty chipboard in there as well....

 
This is using a piece from the Heidi's Vines multi pack....that I've painted with some Ranger Distress Crackle paint - Antique Linen.  I just love the gorgeous crackle effect this gives...and it is so so easy to apply, yet you achieve such an amazing transformation in your chipboard!


 
I've also done the same with this gorgeous butterfly - Butterfly Frames - which also comes in a multi pack :)...and I've added a few pearls to the spine of the butterfly to pretty it up a bit as well.  I love how both pieces curled up a little bit as they dried with the crackle paint...it gives each piece that little bit of dimension :)


 
A close up of my cluster, that has a handmade yoyo flower, some Kaiser & Petaloo blooms & a piece of a doily from an op shop.


And finally, my journaling....about our visit to The Nut, in Stanley, Tasmania.

Thanks for dropping by!  xx

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Creative Scrappers - sketch #217

Hi everyone....just popping in quickly to share a layout I created for sketch #217 at Creative Scrappers.  As soon as I seen this sketch, I couldn't wait to give it a go....and knew that I just had to use some of my 2crafty chippies & a Lil Red Rocket spotty button on my layout.  And I just have to say that I love all of the DT layouts for this sketch....there's so much awesome inspiration!


Here is the sketch....






And here is my layout....




Using some My Minds Eye - Miss Caroline & Follow your heart papers, with some Prima packaging....AND the 2crafty chipboard, as previously mentioned.  I've used some of the 2crafty Iron Fence 12" border & a Vintage Key from one of the multi packs.   I have painted both pieces with a mixture of paint & mist, with some added sand for a great texture. Then I've wiped some gesso here and there with my finger...plus added a bit of black ink as well. I love the effect this has given :)





























A close up of my cluster....that includes the Lil' Red Rocket fabric button <3





A close up of the 2crafty Iron Fence piece.....with the added sand texture, ink etc




























And a better look at the Vintage Key....love how this turned out, such a great added vintage look! :)





























For the background, I've used gesso with a Crafters Workshop 12x12 template -Tile Texture, and randomly misted with TA Glimmermist - Slate.

Photos are of the lighthouse at Hells Gate...which is at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour, near Strahan, on the west coast of Tasmania....that we got to go through on a Gordon River cruise, while were there earlier in the year.


Ok..that's all for now.
Thanks for dropping by & for any comments you may leave....they are really appreciated :)
xxx

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Palm Beach step x step

Remember this layout using my Handmade by Suzanne DT kit - Websters Pages Palm Beach range from a few weeks ago?.....





And how I said it was going to featured as a step x step on the Handmade by Suzanne blog?

Well, it's actually been up on the HBS blog for almost a week now, and I've just realised that I didn't share it here, like I thought I already did!  Ooopsy :-/

So if you'd like to check out my step x step tutorial, you can find it on the Handmade by Suzanne blog HERE  :)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Websters "Palm Beach" & Sketchbook 365

Hello there everyone :)

I'm back again to share another layout using my DT kit from Handmade by Suzanne - Websters Pages, Palm Beach...which is available in store HERE

I've used the July sketch at Sketchbook 365 for my layout

Here is the sketch.....





And here is what I came up with....






I love the colours of this paper that I've used for my background - Great Travels....and thought the earthy tones would suit these photos from Pro Harts gallery, from our trip last year to Broken Hill.

I adjusted the sketch slightly to suit the 3 pics that I wanted to use.




























I've also used some 2crafty chipboard - Barbed Wire & Flower Spurts ...that I have simply inked with a brown ink.  I also used the centre piece from the flower spurt chippie in my cluster, but left this piece raw.

There is also a gorgeous spotty fabric button from Lil' Red Rocket tucked there into my cluster <3




A handmade pinwheel & one of the resin pieces from the Palm Beach - Perfect Accents pack.
There is also a D'Lish scraps wooden butterfly button as well.


My banner....cut using a Nestabilities die - scalloped circle, that I then cut in half.  The triangle flag bits were cut from the points of the chevrons on the Palm Beach Girl paper...then with a few buttons added.
























And some journaling using scraps of cardstock to make journal strips.

When I look back at the 3 layouts I've created so far with this range, I love how different they all are...not just the colours, but each of the colours within the range inspired me to create different styled layouts & different techniques as well with them.. (hope that makes sense!)
I think this range is very versatile & such a variety of layouts can be achieved from it :)

Anyways....that's all for now....I hope everyone has had a fab weekend :)
Until next time....Happy Scrapping & thanks for dropping by!  xx


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Products used:

Websters Pages - Palm Beach - Perfect Accents
Handmade Hessian flower
Handmade felt pinwheel
Pom Pom trim
D'Lish Scraps - Wooden butterfly buttons
Nestabilities - Scalloped circle die
Basic Grey alpha stickers
Carolee's Creatons alpha stickers
Buttons
Twine

Friday, July 13, 2012

Our trip to Tasmania ** Warning - extremely large photo content**

 I can't believe that it's been so long since we got back from Tasmania...and I still haven't blogged any photos!  I just never seem to get the time....but I've been slowly doing this post & adding pics whenever I can (which seems to take forever!).

As my title suggests...there will be lots of pics (as anyone who knows me, knows that I love to take lots & lots of pics - especially when I'm on holidays!).  I took close to 5000 pics in the 3 weeks that we were there...but don't worry, I won't be sharing quite that many!!! LOL 

Anyways...here are just some of the pics taken , some you may recognise in layouts that I've already scrapped......So grab yourself a cuppa (or perhaps a pot!!! lol) or something stronger....& I hope you enjoy!


We sailed over to Tassie on The Spirit of Tasmania....from Port Melbourne.  So we will start with a few fav shots from there....



Looking at the beach & buildings at Port Melbourne from Station St Pier



Bike ride anyone???  Hire bikes all lined up ready to go for a spin



Spirit of Tasmania coming in to the pier...so we'll soon be on board & on our way :)


The sailing was overnight, so the next day after breaky on board, then exiting the ship with our car we headed off to do a clockwise tour of Tassie.... towards George Town & Low Head....



Low Head Lighthouse



A gorgeous beach at Bridport



And rocks at Bridport


Clouds starting to build up....Bridport



Tree carvings at Ledgerwood...sculptured with a chainsaw to create an Avenue of Rememberance.




Welderborough forest walk...the trees here were amazingly tall!




Very tall!



St columba falls



The gorgeous scenery on the walk down to the falls






And the path back up


We stopped off at the Holy Cow cafe & cheese factory for some cheese tasing & purchasing...YUM!




Our second night....we arrived at St Helens about 4 in the afternoon & didn't waste any time to start exploring the amazing coastline with these fantastic orange stained rocks against the white sands & gorgeous blue ocean.




On our walk we came across this cute lil guy...an echidna! 
But he was so so shy & soon scurried away into the bushes.

The next day we headed up to the Binalong Bay area, which is the start of what is known as "The Bay of Fires". I had seen pictures of this place in magazines & always dreamt of one day going there...so it was such a joy to finally be here...and I have to say that it was everything I expected it to be & more!


.
The scenery is just utterly breathtaking!

Sigh....



Double sigh



Hubby practising his photography skills....
(I won't show you the one where my head only just got in the pic! )lol



How amazing does this look?!  So much orange (Lichen) covering the rocks & they were like giant stepping stones all pieced together

This one was taken a little further north, at "The Gardens"


From here, we had to venture inland a bit to get onto the road to take us up to Mount William National Park.....and Eddystone Lighthouse


Eddystone Lighthouse



With the amazing orange rocks in the foreground...it was just spectacular!



Looking down to the boat ramp near the lighthouse



The lighthouse from a beach around the other side to the previous pics...the beach here was amazing...it had the most whitest sand.


As you can see in this pic...the white sand against the turquoise blue ocean....loved it!


We spent 2 nights at St Helens....then had a really early start the next day & headed down the east coast stopping off at a few places along the way



This was an old fence and gate at the convict built Spikey Bridge - but typical me...takes photos of anything & everything - I love rustic old stuff like this so hence the pic  


Cray pots on a boat at Triabunna
















We finally reached Richmond for a late afternoon lunch...then spent the afternoon exploring this
 gorgeous historic town............


Just one of the shots of Richmond Bridge


And now for some of the beautiful old buildings within the town....























We then headed down to Port Arthur.....



And this gorgeous little bay was just a short walk from where we stayed.....Stewarts Bay.









The next day we headed off to the Port Arthur Penal Settlement....where we spent the whole day - but even a whole day really isn't enough to spend here...so much to see & do!




The Penitentiary








Inside the Penetentiary....not much of it's internal structures are left, unfortunately.


Included in the cost of entry was a short cruise out to the Isle of the dead & this is a photo looking back at the Port Arthur settlement.



The Broad Arrow Cafe....which is now a memorial site to the 35 innocent people that were sadly killed, and numerous injured, back in 1996...this was Australia's worst massacre.

The gardens & remains of the Broad Arrow Cafe are beautifully done & reflect such a peaceful & serene aura about them....a stark contrast to what it must have been like on that dreadful day. 








The Commondants house



View from the Commondants house
























TheHospital




One of the locks inside the Separate Prison - not much chance of cutting thru this lock!



Weather worn bricks


The Church





We then took a drive down to Mangion Bay late in the afternoon...I so wished we could have gotten closer to get photos of this.....





Remarkable cave

The next day we drove out to Salt Water River to see the old convict run Coal Mines






















And we also went to Eaglehawk Neck, The Dogline & Tesselated pavement









The dog line


The Tessilated pavement.....It's hard to believe that these are natural formations in the rock.



Oooops....a flat tyre!



From here we are headed down towards the most southern part of Tasmania.  So we had an early start, wizzed through Hobart...only stopping for petrol, then kept heading south down to Southport....and OMG was it hot!!!  Apparently, certain spots in Tasmania had the hottest temp in Australia for that day...who would have thought that Tassie could get so hot! 


So of course we headed to the beach.  It needs to be super duper hot for me to go swimming....but it eventually got to me & I just had to go in.  Talk about a stark contrast...the water was icy cold freezing!!!  So cold that it hurt...lol.  So needless to say, not much time was spent in the water....just a quick dip then out into the heat to warm up...hahaha. 

The next day we had planned to do the South Cape Bay walk...and were dreading it being really hot again.  But someone must have been on our side, it was actually quite cool & drizzling rain :-/


The start of the track




So much of the walking track has boardwalks like this



Even in these flat open grassy plains.....there were boardwalks







We walked through lots of forest type areas too




And here we are at our destination......South Cape Bay - the southern tip of Tassie.  No roads to get here, the only way is on foot :)  Apparently we were closer to Antarctica, than what we were to Brisbane...no wonder it was so blowy & cold!

We came across a group of walkers who were on day 10 of their walk!!!  They had walked from
Melaleuca ...some 85km away...and here I was thinking that we were out on this big adventure...LOL  Imagine doing that!!
















Antarctica....this way!




The walk back out....




More boardwalks


And the official signing off from our walk


From Southport, we headed to Bruny Island, but had a stopover for the night in Port Huon on the way ....







Such a beautiful spot right on the lake.


Onwards to Bruny Island....

On board the ferry



Our first stop on Bruny....the Bruny Island Smokehouse. 
The smoked salmon & trout here was a.m.a.z.i.n.g!



Cape Bruny Lighthouse







Days end at Aventure Bay



For our 2nd day on Bruny, we had booked a Bruny Island Adventure cruise...and wow, it was awesome!

^ This is the boat we were on


And this is some of the scenery that we seen....





































We even got to see some fur seals....perched on this rocky outcrop that was just sitting there in the middle of the southern ocean....they were a bit cute, but OMG do they stink!!!  LOL


From Bruny Island we then were heading over to Strahan...with a 1 night stopover in New Norfolk.  Then we were up early again the next day with a few touristy stops along the way. 

Our first stop was "The Wall in the Wilderness".  All I can say is that this place was amazing...and it's not even finished yet!  When completed, it will be a 100 metre wall carved from 3 metre high panels of huon pine, that tell the history of the harsh Central Highlands region - beginning with the indigenous people, then to the pioneering timber harvesters, pastoralists, miners and Hydro workers.

 The carvings were unbelievable....they were so real life like...and so hard to believe that they were actually timber!

No photographs were allowed, so I don't have anything to show just how great this place was, but here is a link to the website, which has a few photos so you can get an idea of what it is like.
http://www.thewalltasmania.com/indexms.html

Ok, now we're off to Lake St Clair.....











And we came across another echidna...but this guy wasn't anywhere near as shy as the one back at St Helens.  He just went about his business like we weren't even there...lol.  I think I took about 50 photos of him...told you I am obsessed!  We stayed & watched him for about 20 minutes, until he finally toddled off from the track :)








Next we stopped off at Nelson Falls









More boardwalks to get to the falls


Another stop to stretch the legs...and the view was amazing.



Finally we arrived in Strahan, albeit rather late in the afternoon :-/
Next day we are off on the West Coast Wilderness Railway.
An all day trip on the old steam train, from Strahan to Queenstown....























We didnt get to spend long in Queenstown, as the bus was there waiting to take us back to Strahan.


Back in Strahan...& time to take a walk & explore...and take more photos. lol
































I think Strahan was one of my fav places in Tassie :)

Next day & we're off to do a Gordon River Cruise...including a visit to Sarah Island!
It was a freezing cold & super windy day....

Our cruise boat



The lighthouse at Hells Gate - the entrance to Macquarie Harbour.



Captain Linda...LOL!!


On to Sarah Island....which was a convict penal settlement.

















Our tour guide...who was a bit of a character




Not a very good photo....but the little needle pine type tree is actually an 8 year old Huon Pine!  It stood all of a few cm high.  So it just goes to show how long it takes for these trees to reach as high as what some of them are....hundreds & hundreds of years!




Back on the boat








A yacht we passed along the way










After finishing our cruise, the rain had set in & was to continue the next day as well.....we had
planned to head to Cradle Mountain, but knew that it wouldn't be much fun, nor would we get to see much, with the weather being cloudy/foggy/wet.  So we decided to head up to Stanley instead, and then we'd come back down to Cradle Mountain once the weather had cleared up.

On the way we stopped off at Rocky Cape...you can see how rough the weather & the seas were.  It was really blowy!










As soon as we booked into the caravan park, we headed further west to Arthur River & "The edge of the world".......



















Nothing between here & Argentina....hence it's name - "The edge of the world"




And now we're back to Stanley to explore some more .....



























Next day we are off to Highfield...an old historic homestead just a few km's from Stanley.

































And we're back on the road...headed for Gowrie Park...which will be our base while exploring the Cradle Mountain area




Along the way.....Port Latta


Table Cape Lighthouse....they even do tours inside the lighthouse!  YAY




This bloke looked a bit like Paul Hogan!



Back on the road....



With Mount Roland in the background



Driving up to Cradle Mountain


We get there....and there's fog everywhere!!
I was a little disappointed...but hopeful that it would lift later in the morning



A furry friend we met along the walk around Dove Lake





He wasn't shy at all....let us get quite close to him.



Still foggy!




We made a detour from the Dove Lake walk...and headed UP to Lake Wilks (a huge emphasis on the UP...lol,  as it was very steep in spots & lots of climbing up/down rocks etc)



Here we are at the end of the Lake Wilks walk (the lake is just to the right of us)....and now we're a whole lot closer to the Mountain....but there's still fog!



Looking down onto Dove Lake





The walk back down....rocky & steep






Then the last section....some timber steps



Continuing our walk around Dove Lake....looking back at Cradle Mountain, and YAY the fog is lifting!!!


Just beautiful!




I love this photo..... with the boat shed in the foreground.




A close up of the boat shed.


We stopped off at Cradle Mountain Lodge on our way back to camp.
We had stayed here on our honeymoon...almost 25 years ago, and couldn't believe how much the place had changed, although the main lodge itself still looked the same.











Next morning, we're on the road again and headed to Sheffield....the town of many murals!
Here are just some of them.....























They were all amazing...and again, I probabaly took oodles of photos, but unfortunately, can't share them all.  There was a mural of some kind on just about every building in the place!


Now we're heading to Beauty Point, our next nightly stop, so that we can go see the Beaconsfield Mine.


Green's Beach





A huge sea sponge we found on the beach



Narawntapu National Park




Next day....Beaconsfield Mine - the mine where 2 Australians were trapped inside for 2 weeks after a collapse in the mine in 2006 ...and one man unfortunately killed :(

It really was an interesting place...and we spent quite a few hours there








The 2 trapped miners


The clothes that they were wearing



Old ruins of the original mine buildings....with these amazing gardens growing in amongst them.












Mr Grumpy on the steps of the old school house...lol

Next day, and we're heading back to Devonport to catch the boat back home :(



A stop off at Port Sorell




















And the final leg to Devonport.....our amazing holiday has come to an end :(




The last time we went to Tassie, we went for 2 weeks....this time we went for 3 weeks, but it still wasn't enough to see even half of what we wanted to see & do.  We do plan to go back again one day...and maybe next time we need to make it 6 weeks...lol  Some people that we met along the way were there for 6 weeks...and one couple were there for 10 weeks!!  Oh how I wish.

Oh well....as I said, we will get back there again one day....but there's just so much to see in this amazing country of ours that there's a few other places that we want to "cross off our list" first.  So it'll probably be a few years before we get back there....but hopefull it will be well before the 25 years that it was since our last visit!

If you've made it this far....you've done well & thank you!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share some of our Tasmania trip....I hope you enjoyed it :) xx
Probably time to now go stretch your legs....


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