Christmas cards are now done...

I've been making my Christmas cards and today's the day I start to write them and post them too - especially the overseas ones!

 The card above features hand made paper, gold foil paper, a stamped sentiment and is finished with a button glued over ribbon.

These two cards below were made with hand made paper, recycled vintage sheet music and die cut trees. The handmade paper was made in Burnie, Tasmania, where a group of paper makers experiment with different fibres to make paper eg plants, cotton and even animal droppings from plant eating animals! Yes I've got some - and No - it doesn't smell!


Hand made blue paper made from denim fabric.

The handmade red paper made from towel offcuts from a towel factory.



The next cards are made using scrapbook papers, ribbons, embellishments and a stamped sentiment.

Christmas Greetings to my readers.

My Impressions of China

My trip to China in June-July this year - summer there - was - wonderful, adventurous, exciting, eye opening, thought provoking, humid and hot, wet and humid and hot, sun hats, umbrellas, squat toilets, marble hotel bathrooms, large screen TV's, marvellous plants, buildings, tumble down houses, mansions, traffic jams, car horns hooting, rubbish piled up in the streets, plane trees, ...China is surprising.
The ancient culture, the people's pride, magnificent landforms, vast distances, mammoth buildings and bridges, skyscrapers, Western influences, trading routes, inventions we can't do without, famous cuisine, simple lives of farmers ...so much more to say and see that I will probably go again - but in a cooler season.
Here are just a few of my favourite
things.


Looks like a cake - but it's flowers

Peace Hotel, Shanghai

Cake

Bright colours of fruits and vegetables.

Intricate designs on ancient buildings.

A great way to keep your cup of tea hot!

Art, Costumes, Pottery and colour.

Winter Crafts and Crocheting

Winter is fast approaching here in my part of Australia, after a remarkably lovely warm Autumn.

So it's time to be indoors, with...

A warming corner.

... some indoor activities - and I started one today!
Deleting out-of-focus photos in the computer - and - finding some I forgot I had!

Shop interior.

Granny squares everywhere!

These photos were taken last year in a shop in Adelaide, South Australia, in their Winter style display. I couldn't resist photographing all the beautiful crochet work. Is this Guerilla Crochet - I have seen Guerilla Knitting projects from Melbourne and around the world, and Beanie Festivals (Alice Springs) and scarf festivals.

Crocheted clothing is around this year and I have to admit that I did have a crocheted bikini in black nylon yarn when I was young and svelte! What have you crocheted that is unusual?

A finished rug for a new baby.

However I think I'll just keep to my beanies, baby and toddler jumpers and granny rugs when I'm crocheting and knitting for the time being.

Red crocheted beanie and flower for my 4 year old grandaughter.

Lovely knitted beanie for a new baby.

And pink for my great neice...

Blues for her brother.

Happy days to you all.

Junk Journals, Travel Journals and My Prize!

A while ago I mentioned that I had won a competition with a poem about one of my favourite craft projects from Bronwyn's blog - 365 days of craft - a blog detailing daily projects she completed for 365 days in 2011.
She is a such a creative young woman and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her. Her 365 day project is inspiring and to be admired. On her blog she has them all listed in month and day order. Check it out - you're sure to find something you'd like to do too.

My prize - a brand new Brother Sewing machine! Look out grandaughters - your summer wardrobe is coming up!

Bronwyn creates, recycles, up cycles and invents - and I thought she'd be interested in my Junk Journals and Altered books so out they came. She even took photos and blogged about them!
I think she has found something else to try.

And now - some of the inside pages from my Travel Journal on my recent cruise to New Zealand. I love collecting brochures, tickets, information ... and always take my glue stick, scissors and some pens so I can while away some time, especially during the cruising days.

A place fro those brochures and words and pictures I can't leave behind!

With our Autumn weather now here it's been time to look at Un Finished Projects from last year - now that the very hot weather is over. I finished this crochet rug, of four 50 x 50 cms squares, making quite a nice sized rug for cool weather to have on a couch. This one will be given to our overseas visitor to take back home as a souvernir of Australia - and me!

Lovely bright colours in very large Granny Squares.

New Zealand Impressions

My recent New Zealand Cruise is now over but I am a very relaxed person after 2 weeks cruising around the most beautiful country and scenery. I noticed many arty designs and here are a few photos of things that appealed to me.

Art Deco buildings in Napier, a city hit by an earthquake in 1931 and re-built in 1930's style, celebrated in colours, shapes and design

Wellington, the capital city, celebrates the fern design in sculpture.

In New Zealand, thongs are called Jandals because of a Japanese influence of sandals with one toe separations.
I was particularly interested in these following displays in the Wellington Museum, reminders of so many settlers from across the world arriving in New Zealand (and other countries too) in search of a better life for many reasons.

Reasons for migrating

Detail from a Maori hut roof.

This was the design on the outside of the terminal building - food for sketching there!

Superb floral displays in Dunedin Botanical Gardens - cool climate increases colours obviously, as we wouldn't have such intensity in Melbourne.

Akaroa, above, a small place near Christchurch, has a French settlement  history and celebrates the connection in various ways.

Beautifully coloured birds on the cabin TV screensaver (Takahe birds).