Photo scavenger hunt - March

Here are my entries for the Photo scavenger hunt - March, 2011.

1.  Peeling paint

Tired old boat at Cannons Creek, Mornington Peninsula

2.  A shadow

My shadow in the early morning Western Australian sun.  Photo taken on my parents farm January, 2011.

3.  Something as old as me.

My teddy bear Leanne.

4.  A ring

This is the ring my gorgeous hubby gave me on our 20th Wedding Anniversary.  It is yellow gold and has 20 diamonds, one for each year of marriage.  Isn't he a sweetie.  Sorry the photo is so blurry, I just can't take good close up photos on my camera.

5.  A rainbow

This was taken from our backyard late last winter.  If you look close you can actually see there are three rainbows.  The main one is a double and above that is another very faint one.


6.  A lamb

Pet lambs on my brothers farm in Western Australia.  Photo taken July, 2010.

7.  A lion

In the middle of Berwick township, Victoria.



8.  Fancy gate

Rear gate entry to a local organic cafe/resturant. 
This was my hardest photo to find as fancy gates are few and far between where I live.  This building is the most historic in my local area.

9.  A collection

Some of my collection of owls.

10.  Something sentimental

My Granny's rose gold Rolex watch which was a wedding gift to her from my Grandfather.  They were married in the 1920's so it is quite old.  I use to wear it on a regular basis but some of the links have worn away.  It still keeps very good time.

11.  An empty chair

Cannons Creek, Mornington Peninsula.  I'm taking a bit of photographic liscence here.  I just loved this picnic table and seats all over grown with native habitat.

12.  Something green

A lady in a green canoe at Cannons Creek.  Thank you to this generous lady who was happy to have her photo taken.

Looking forward to Aprils list.

Anne  xx

Weekend mini holiday

Hello everyone.  Today hubby and I went out for the day as we both needed a break away from the usual weekend routine.  Hubby has been hard at work on remodeling our pergola and as it is half way to completion, I thought it would be a good time for us to have a little weekend holiday.

We had two possible destinations in mind either the Yarra Valley which is full of wineries and is beautiful in the autumn or the Mornington Peninsula which means we could drive through beautiful country, visit the sea and a mariner.  The Peninsula won our vote.

We had a leisurely start to the day not leaving super early as it is only a bit over an hours drive to the Peninsula from our home.  Our first stop was Yaringa Marina where we had coffee and a look at the boats.

This part of the coast is very swampy with mangroves growing and at low tide, the mud crabs come out to feed.  As it was low tide while we were visiting, we saw a number of crabs like the one below.  I lent over the rail from where we were having coffee to take this photo.  There were many crabs out and about but as soon as they sense movement, they run back into their holes for protection.

After coffee we headed for Flinders, a lovely town on the coast.  We decided to take some of the back roads which are far more interesting than the main roads.  When I saw this handsome fella, I asked hubby to stop the car so I could go and say hello.

We communed for about 5 minutes.  He had a super soft velvety mouth and face and was quite happy to let me pet him.  For an animal lover, this was truly one of the highlights of my day.  Further down the road we came across this quirky display of road side mail boxes.  Do you think someone was having a party by any chance with those balloons on display?

I particularly like the old green plastic toolbox being used as a mailbox.

These ducks were having a wonderful time in the water with a good deal of squabbling going on.  As soon as I came closer they all headed away out of the water so I was unable to get a closer photo of them.

This is Stumpy Gully Road where the above three photos were taken.

We passed a couple of people bike riding along the road, it was a beautiful day for it.

We had lunch in Flinders at this little place which was extremely busy although I managed to take this photo without anyone entering or exiting.  We sat outside in a little nook just behind the shrubbery on the left of the photo.  How could hubby and I resist the "Boozy Beef Pie" with salad?  It was delicious.  Hic!

 From the Flinders coast you can see a view of Phillip Island which is just 5 miles away across the water.  Unfortunately the "Boozy Beef Pie" rendered it impossible for me to take a photo with a level horizon.   Sorry.  Hic!

A pretty coastal view. 

The pier and houses belonging to some wealthy folk.

After visiting Flinders I asked hubby if we could visit Cannons Creek on the way home.  Cannons Creek is  another community on a coastal mangrove swampy area which we have visited many times over the years.  It was low tide while we were there today.  The shore is muddy and sticky rather than sandy but I love it as it's such a peaceful place.  The first time I saw this yellow house I fell in love with it and have always wanted to live in it, it's right on the water front.

Low tide.
.

This board walk on the foreshore takes you to the (my) yellow house and an old boat launching area.

This photo is an overgrown resting area on the board walk and the view seen when you are sitting on the seat.  :)  Hubby took the photo of me sitting on the seat and I'm sorry it's blurry.  I included it because I think I look ridiculous, you can't even see my head for overgrown foliage.  :)

The old boat launching area.

Look at this tired old boat.  I love the anchor.

After our return walk along the board walk, it was time to head home.  We had one more stop on the way home but you'll see what that was all about when I post the March scavenger photo hunt photos.  Stay tuned!

Now it's time to iron school uniforms and business shirts for the week ahead.  Our little break away for the day was lovely and I think I'll be planning another one soon.

Have a fantastic week,

Anne  xx

Bloggers blank

 You've heard of writers block, well I've got blogger's blank.

Photo courtesy google images

I've had nothing to blog about this week.  I suppose it happens from time to time and I think hubby and I are in need of a day away from home.  Tomorrow we are planning a day meandering wherever the road takes us.  We might visit the sea, go for a stroll, have morning coffee and lunch in some little cafe and see if we can't refresh ourselves a bit.  I'll be taking the camera so I might find something of interest and worthy of a post.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Anne  xx

Postcard swap

Hello, I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  We are enjoying some lovely balmy autumn weather today and with the rest of the week predicted to be wet, it's nice to soak up the sun.

 

I recently decided to join a postcard swap organised by i. Hanna's Blog.  I've never participated in a swap before so I thought it would be another opportunity to get creative.  Looking at the some of the offerings from last year, I'm not quite sure if my postcards are up to standard, but I guess there is a first time for everything and I'll learn from the experience.

I chose a theme around quotes about nature, one of my passions and the following photos are of the postcards that I made to send to 10 different people.  

It has been an interesting process creating postcards from scrapbook paper, card stock, watercolours, watercolour paper, ink pens, stamps, ribbon and printable quotes from the computer.  I have a few favourites postcards and a couple I'm not real happy with.  I hope the people who receive them will not mind my amateurish attempts.

Have a fantastic week.

Anne  xx

Colourful snail

Did you know that bright, colourful and glittery snails really do exist?  Well they do in my imagination.  When you have a birthday card to make for Miss G.'s friend and you know the friend loves snails, this is what happens.

I hope it brings a smile to the birthday girl's face, she could do with some light hearted nonsense in her life.

Anne  xx

Crochet gone wrong

One of the nice things about getting older is that you don't tend to take yourself as seriously as when you were younger.  That's why I can laugh at my attempt to crochet a neck warmer.  I mean seriously, how hard can it be to crochet a neck warmer even for a novice?   Apparently quite difficult for me as this neck warmer had a mind of it's own.

Do you think it looks a bit like an elephant's trunk?  I do.  This was based very loosely on a pattern I found on the internet.  I made it wider and used a different stitch.  On the up side to a slight disaster, I've learnt how to make a crochet buttonhole based on a tutorial by Jacquie.  Thanks Jacquie.  I've also learnt I need to be patient (don't anyone hold their breath please) and perhaps not go out on a limb and do my own thing while I'm still learning to crochet.  Regardless of the shape of the neck warmer when it's laid out as above, when it's buttoned up you can't see too many of the imperfections.  :)

It's going to keep my neck warm come this winter when I go out on my early morning walks. 

 Two more positives here, I love the colour of the yarn and I used three buttons from my stash.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  My thoughts are with the people of Japan as they endure and work through a very difficult time ahead.  Still also thinking of the people in Christchurch (earthquake) and Queensland (floods) as they rebuild their lives.  Take care everyone.

Anne  xx

Storage

 I recently discovered a blog called Full of Great Ideas by Stephanie who is one very creative lady.  She recently set herself the challenge of a $0 spending month other than for things such as bills and essential food items.  As she loves to create and decorate, she is looking at what she already has in her craft room to use.  I am fascinated by what she is creating and how inventive she is becoming.  I've been encouraging her because I think we can all fuel our passion to create and decorate without spending, especially if you have a well stocked craft room like me.

Can you identify what this is?

It's supposed to be a CD holder.  It's a useless piece of wire that doesn't function as as a CD holder.  Check this out.

CD's spilling out all over the place.  We don't have room for CD towers due to limited floor space and besides they are so ugly.  So what to do.  Light bulb moment inspired by Stephanie, dig out a cardboard box from the recycling bin and make something.

Cut box in half and glue top and bottom flaps and reinforce the bottom with some heavy card saved from some other packaging at an earlier date.

I've used curtain fabric samples to cover the boxes with.  I used craft glue as the hot glue gun just wasn't doing it for me.  (All tips on how to get a hot glue gun working properly would be greatly appreciated.)  The fabric has been tucked away for years (given to me by someone who had a shop) and while it's not my favourite fabric, it serves perfectly well for this project.  The boxes aren't going to be on display after all.

I have white card strips also tucked away and I stamped them with fancy alphabet letters for a bit of whimsical nonsense.  Can't have CD's out of alphabetical order now can we?

I

Here is the second box covered in outrageous fabric.  Can you imagine curtains made from this fabric about 10 -15 years ago?  Of course I used the same outrageous colours to stamp the alphabet letters on the card strips for this box.  My stamping skills leave much to be desired, but hey, out of sight again.

This is a slight improvement on what was there before. 

I just have to tackle the cassettes now.  Yes, I still have cassettes and until I find some way of converting them to CD's, they are staying put.  I probably could have used plastic boxes to store these in, but plastic is so ugly and I would have to go out and try and buy something to fit.  This was so much more fun and it cost me zilch as everything I used was in my craft room.  As a side note, the blue box contains classical music (hubby) and the big circle box is for contemporary, boppy music (me).  :)

Enjoy your weekend and if you live in Victoria, enjoy your extra long weekend.

Anne  xx