The devotion of dogs!!

Floods, loss of life and cyclones here, earthquake, destruction and more loss of life in Christchurch New Zealand...our friends across the "ditch" and now the still unfolding tragedy after the awful earthquake and huge tsunami that has affected Japan....so many lives lost and whole towns no longer standing. My heart goes out to all those affected. So much sadness has befallen our neighbours since the start of the year!
I'm still sorting my stash but I stop and watch the news every time I come out of the spare room or after work. Last night I saw this video via Jen's son Matthew fb page and it just made me so sad for all the animals affected as well.

The vidoe isn't showing the full screen in blogger so here is the youtube link as well.
Take care all my friends across the globe and lets hope the reactors in Japan can be cooled and fixed!!
hugs
Annette In Oz

The Move Begins!!!

Well my big stash move has begun. I think I'll just drag it all into the spare room and then declutter (if I can LOL) as I find new spots for my stash to live in. I'm hopping to have a metal work section and a paperarts, paint and fabric areas. Well that is the plan. May have a few things to give away too yet :o).

I started this card for my very ill and much loved neice Lisa a few days ago. Lisa has three kids and is in her late 30's. She was diagnosed with acute myloid leukaemia a few weeks ago and will be in hospital for 6 months. At this stage they think it was too advanced when she was diagnosed and they can't cure her. So terribly sad. Her kids are 15, 13 and 6. As she is in another state and I can't visit her I thought I would make her a card. I was relocating my Stamping and Papercrafts mags on Mon and I sat on the floor for 2 hrs flicking thru some and came across a pull tab card I used to love to make. I used that for her card. It sits flat but opens to reveal the images in a shadow box effect. Shame I got glue on the right tab but I may cover that yet.
I used twinkling H2O's to paint the butterfly frame. I gave the butterflies a 3D effect by adding another stamped butterfly to the base frame ones and some wire antennae.

The tabs at the side slide to move the front stamped section up and away to either side and reveal the image underneath. The image is a gorgeous Gothic fairy stamped and then painted with water colour pastels.

Here is the image a bit closer.

Another find when moving stuff was a beaded crazy bracelet I made many years ago in a sea theme. I really loved making them and must try to make another once I'm settled in my new art space.

Off to move some more.

hugs

Annette In Oz

Wet Season Photos

Its official we have and are having the wettest Wet Season on record. So far over 2000mls of rain  have fallen. Up here in the Nrth of Oz we have only 2 seasons....the Wet and the Dry. The Wet is our rainy season and with it there is a flourish of plants and animals everywhere. Here are some photos we have taken over the current Wet.

A rare sighting of a black wallaroo at Kakadu before the flooding cut the highway and became impassable to cars.

Berry Creek. Grant couldn't get to work for 2 days. The Wildlife Park he works at is on the other side of the creek.

Giraween Rd. My road to work. Fortunately ....hhhmm or not LOL I could get to work by driving the long way round on another road.

Croc trap in the creek on Giraween Rd. Locals usually swim in here in the Wet...not this year I hope, though we see stupid fishermen thigh deep in water next to the trap everyday!!!

Florence Falls

Tolmer Falls

Wangi Falls

Green ants piled up on a leaf trying to escape the water in my driveway.

Leichaardts grasshopper at Kakadu. We only see these for a few weeks of the year.

Litoria Microbelis frog in full song. Man the frogs have been loud this year.

and lastly a tawny frog mouth on the fence that joins our block to next doors.

Shame I couldn't suck up some of that water and send it where it could do some good. Will be a bumper fishing season to come. Our bedroom is painted and tomorrow we will go back there and then I'll have to spare room at last wahoo.
hugs
Annette In Oz

Enquiring mind here...can you help?

Hi folks
I'm having break in moving yet more furniture around and thought I would ask....I like the way some of you have added tabs at the top of your blogs....how do you do this? Any help greatly appreciated.
hugs
Annette In Oz

Pyramid Of Life

My days off have been filled with moving furniture as Grant paints the house room by room. The bathroom and toilet walls are now lagoon teal in colour. My soon to be craft room is a rich cream and these last 2 days Tim's room got painted a gorgeous sky blue. Next Saturday and Sunday Grant will paint our bedroom and after that I can claim the spare room at last and move my stash in. At the moment there are still cupboards and stuff everywhere in the lounge/dinning area where my art desk is. I've never really kept much in the way of paper crafts that I have made in the past and thought I would make myself a project to display in my new room when I move in. It took several days to get completed with all the other disruptions going on but I like the way it turned out.
I had some painted and Cuttlebug embossed backgrounds on my desk from a past project so used some as my backgrounds on my pyramid. My mind is still stuck on shrines I think as a simple triangle card got turned into a pyramid with removable little draws LOL. I could work on each triangle side while flat and then each draw and once all dry I simply popped the draws in place and glued the whole thing together. I'd been thinking about what I need in my life as a theme for this project. Not the have to haves like water or food but what I need for my heart and soul type of things. So one side was "I need creative ideas". Cogs, light bulbs, fuses and watch parts for time as well, were all incorporated into it.

 The lens can be moved up to see the contents of the draw underneath.

The bulb closer. It can be moved side ways or straight up and down.

 The ideas draw contents closer.

 and the lens covering the recess before the draw was put back in.

"I need love" side. Has a small bottle for my love potion number 9 mix, flowers, hearts and of course some cupids. The draw has a vintage couple embraced in a kiss and a tiny key. We all need a key to our hearts.



 The little love potion bottle closer.

 The love drawer contents closer.

The last side I chose "I need music". A troop of musicians filled my draw, notes, instruments and music scattered around.

Detail closer.

The music draw contents closer.

Probabaly wont be able to get inky for a fortnight now, till I have my stash moved. I'm looking forward to having my own space at last though so the wait is worth it. :o)

hugs

Annette In Oz

Heart card and "The Engineer" necklace

I've been sad with my second eldest daughter Melissa moving to Adelaide last Saturday to start her own life path attending University there...I've cleaned up her room and it will become my art room at last but for now it's emptiness and me missing her just brings tears to my eyes. I was sad when Carlia (eldest daughter) left too but she still lives in Darwin and while Missy was here the room was still full of life. I guess once its my room the sadness will lesson...well I hope it does.

Grant will paint it next week and then I shall move my arty crafty stuff from the kitchen table area to there and set up a paper craft desk and a metal working one. Hopefully at last this will clear space for me to create in as I usually have just a 20cm square clear LOL. Often when I am sad I have learnt that creating makes me feel better. Today I needed a "band aid" or a hug and looked to creating again to heal myself. It's my Mum's birthday tomorrow so this evening after dinner I got too and made her a card. You can't see it in the photo but the bg is very bright and shimmery as its fantasy film with Opals Franklin Embossing Enamel on the top. I also ran it thru the Cuttlebug plus added the gold adhesive lattice for texture.The purple bg is also shimmery due to me using Luminarte Polished Pigments.

 The top heart folds back to tuck under the butterfly on the inner page so the card stands up.

 Here is a better image of the bottom or inner part of the card.

Happy Birthday Mum...I'll get it in the post when the PO opens again after the small Cyclone over Darwin moves on...hopefully Friday.

I've been asked to go over "the ditch" to New Zealand in September to teach at a craft retreat. The theme will be shrines. My immediate reaction was NO WAY as I have never taught before but after loosing my sister last year I vowed I would jump both feet into life and follow new paths if they came up so eventually said YES. I'm scared and excited all at once *grin*.

Anywho I've started to think about shrines and what to teach. It was stressing me a bit...after I completed Mum's card I just decided to sit and play...not necessarily what I will teach but just get me in the shrine mood. I went for making a necklace...of course LOL. I used a small shrine necklace from Coffee Break designs. They are Masonite and I got mine from Jen's shop. These are tiny and cute at about 3.5cms high by 2.5cm wide. There is a base a mid section and the top. They are quiet deep in the end. Mine is a bit steampunkery (I love watch cogs...I do LOL). I called it The Engineer necklace.

A bit closer but more from the top looking down.

and with door open to the Engineer inside near a fuse and tiny embedded watch parts in jewellery grade resin over the top.

I'm looking forward to having 3 days off next week to get shrine making some more :o).

hugs

Annette In Oz

For The Bird Lovers and Prays For Queensland

I've made another bubble necklace with a bird theme this time. I'm getting braver with drilling and my dangle is one of Jen Crossley gorgeous caste pewter branches that I have patina coloured and drilled a tiny hole thru each end.

This is the other side. It's very hard to take photos off due to the round bubble glass reflecting so sorry these are not the best images.

The Wet season here has been very wet indeed. About ten days ago we took Ryan to Kakadu. The Arnhem Highway to there was open then with just a small amount of water over the road in a few spots. Last week when Grant went out there to release some goannas from The Territory Wildlife Park he works at, the Arnhem Highway was flooded for long stretches. Grant took this photo from the 4wheel drive he was travelling in. So much water everywhere!!!.

I suspect more water is on the way as a gigantic and scary category 5 (the severest ratting), Cyclone Yasi heads to North Queensland. It's expected to cross onto the land at 10pm tonight and be as sever or worse then Cyclone Tracy that wiped Darwin off the map in 1974. This one is HUGE with a 35km wide eye and is approx 500km + wide. I'm scared for the folks over there indeed. It's awful that Queensland people have had so much to cope with this year already with the devastating floods already. Info can be seen here where there will be hourly updates.

I'll be a bit quieter over the next month or so as my second daughter Melissa will leave for Uni in Adelaide (South Australia) on the 12th February and while I struggle with feeling I shall miss her terribly, I'm also happy to finally have a room of my own to create in. We will paint the whole house and I'll be moving my crafts stuff from the kitchen to her room. I wont have access to my materials for a bit....It's been a 20 yr wait so a month more is no biggy LOL.

Please all my friends in north QLD take care!!! I'm not religious but we are all thinking of you at this time.

hugs

Annette In Oz