Christmas time

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime. “ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family from everywhere.

Sky Watch has been a great find, to travel around the world seeing what everyone is sharing from their view of the sky is the best fun.

Sunshine

“Far away there in the sunshine are my brightest aspirations. I may not reach them all but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and follow them where ever they may lead. “ Louisa May Alcott

Sky Watch Friday is the best fun, you get to travel all over the world to see the sky from different perspectives, and apologies for all the northern hemisphere viewers who will be complaining about the quantity of sunshine we are showing off this week.

Happy Christmas

Quote from 1836 - The Pickwick Papers

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home” Charles Dickens

Our sky has been rather overcast for the last few days but thought we would share this view framed with what the locals call poinsettia tree as they burst out in red flowers the first week of December. click to enlarge

For the arm chair travel enthusiasts click links for Sky Watch Friday and her little sister My World to see what 100s of bloggers from around the world are sharing with us this week.

Thanks for your kind comments about the photo of the sky through the red trees, it has other names including Royal Poinciana and if you are in NSW they would call it a Flame Tree as in the Cold Chisel song lyrics.

A French themed card for a travelling friend.









I do like working on cards this time of year, little canvas to send messages to special friends.

Sunshine & Joy

"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the whole wide world's joy. “ Henry Ward Beecher

A bit like Sky Watch Friday, nothing but lots of lovely photos of the sky as seen from different corners of the world. I was lucky this week and got to enjoy a little sunshine.

Lots of folks are counting down to holidays, Christmas, Hanukkah and Winter Solstice, what ever you might be celebrating, hope it is a good one.

Louise from the Cape is hosting a bloggers Christmas Party and Mary Ann is hosting a flicker Holiday Party to help get you in the spirit of things.

Some of this year’s Christmas cards ready to take flight.

Happy Thanksgiving

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them” John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends. The world can be a crazy old place at times but as long as we remember to say please, thank you and appreciate all that is good in our lives it sure does make a difference.



Photo from one of the many beautiful beaches on the north coast of NSW. It was a bit of a bad day, full of rushing around and deadlines, but I knew that the sky at the beach would be sparkling and needed to be shared.

click photo to enlarge

As does Sky Watch Friday, yippie skippy what fun ! bloggers from all over the world posting their views of the sky.

And their sister site That’s My World, if I get a chance I’ll dig out some old photos from Plymouth MA (minus the turkey)

Magical Horizon

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” Dale Carnegie

One of my favourite views of Byron Bay light house (north coast of NSW and way off in the distance) on a hazy afternoon. Weather has been a bit stormy and overcast lately.





Hope you are all enjoying your Friday Sky Watching.

• Thank you to Shirley from Reflections On Life for this 'Kreativ Blogger' award. It is really sweet of bloggers to take the time to say hello and comment on the creative things we share. Now it is my turn to share with other bloggers, of which there are lots of great folks to choose from but here is a few you might like to meet.
  
  
  


• Joli Paquet a Christmas themed collective blog with all kinds of glittery things to make


• Jill of Bittersweet (yummy soaps made with great care by hand) and Calico Petals creative supplies


• Christine of Black River Designs the sweetest little paper from Saint John Canada


• Lousie of Whispering Poppies creating unique jewellery and things on Cape Cod


• Cathy of Simple Things who I found recently in sunny Queensland


• Kimberlee and the Brown Button another recent find who like me is locked in an office all day but finds all kinds of interesting creative or decorative things to inspire the muse


• Emma at White & Wander another traveller who shares all kinds of decorative inspiration


• finally ……….


• Sarah & A Beach Cottage (down under), if the Vinnie’s man ever finds out what she does with her shabby chic finds, the prices are sure to increase and that might drive inflation back up !

Thank you to Alison Gibbs of Victoria who was my swap partner for this year’s vintage stocking swap. Alison created a stocking from beautiful fabric with a story to tell. Just perfect considering the kind of year we have both had. The world might be a crazy place right now for many of us but she kindly found the time for detailed stitching and find a collecting of beautiful little beachy themed Christmas decorations. More photos to come soon as we have a moment and can’t wait till Alison opens my parcel to see what we found for her.

Mary Ann of Follow Your Bliss hosts vintage shabby swaps and itty bitty books regularly. Well worth putting her on your must read list to see what she is planning next.

Changing Skies

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mohandas Gandhi

So much change going on around the world, seasons and all kinds of things including some wild colourful sunsets lately.

But Friday still is the day we all look forward to see what everyone in Sky Watch Friday is sharing with us this week. All this sharing makes the world feel like a smaller and friendlier place. Have a great weekend everyone.

Sunshine

“I can not endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.” Nathaniel Hawthorne.

When finding a sunset like this can understand why Nathaniel might feel that way. The night of Halloween treated us to a brilliant display of colour, not photoshoped or touched up, simply a happy snap from along the road.

SkyWatch Friday is the most amazing experience seeing the sky from different perspectives from all over.

Happy mail adds a little sunshine to an ordinary day and makes it a great day. Card is the handy work of Shirley Fyfe from Reflections.

Card Teachers? If you are in Brisbane and teach cards – a job is being advertised at All About Paper in Cleveland. Or even Card Teachers who are travelling to Brisbane and would like a gig while in town it is worth a look.

Soaps are the delightful little creations of Jill from Bittersweet. Wish the internet had a scratch n sniff feature because there no words to describe how yummy these are.

The bird packet is from Calico Petals and packed full of all kinds of sweet birdie things for all kinds of craft projects.

Protecting Wilderness

“To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause within our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace.” Terry Tempest Williams

A sky watch friday photo to celebrate All Hallows Eve or All Saints Day with an old graveyard and a busy sky combining early morning misty haze and white plumes from a bush fire.

And a photo of Susan Island, Australia’s largest inland island and home to the largest colony of fruit bats in the southern hemisphere. Funny how bats or flying foxes got included in Halloween and scary things.

For people in wild life care flying foxes are the most darling little creatures to raise and complain that it is all bad PR, bats need a better media manager. Link to Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers who volunteer wild life rescue in the region, to read more about animals in care.

Am working on a new creative project and putting out a call for colourful postcards from around the globe, if you are up for a swap or have one to donate, drop us a message about your colourful images.

Sky Watch Friday = the best fun seeing different views of the same sky from all over the place and their new off shoot My World in case you ever get tired of seeing the sky from different angles.

New link added to our list this week for Black River Designs a new boutique paper manufacturer in New Brunswick Canada with a delightful range of products. Wishing Christine and her team the best of luck.

Stray Gifts

“Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever may find them " William Wordsworth

Jacaranda flowers in streets of Grafton NSW are this week’s stray gifts. The Jacaranda tree might be a native of South America but it grows really well in northern NSW.

In the 1870s Grafton town council invested in seedlings to line ALL of their streets with graceful shade trees with the added bonus of a floral display celebrating spring in the southern hemisphere.

Grafton’s Jacaranda Festival celebrates spring as well as being Australia’s oldest floral celebration and largest & oldest collection of jacca’s in the country. Every single street pretty much looks like this, big beautiful shade trees that shower purple flowers in spring.

A beautiful sight in this little country town.

Sky Watch Friday is the best fun, check the link to see what bloggers from around the world are sharing this week.

Yellow Tabebuia‏ is one of the other trees that flower at this time of year, nice compliment to the purple haze of Jacca time.

Sarah of the Beach Cottage in sunny beachside Sydney is hosting a give away this week. Click the link and check out her blog full of fun ideas on creatively recycling but get a cup of tea first, you could be there a while.

Then look into the Bloggy Give Away Parties all kinds of fun things going on over there.

Another Melissa Frances project from a recent class. Aren’t these kids the cutest?

Inspiration In The Sea

“I have made friends with the sea; it has taught me a great deal. There is a kind of inspiration in the sea. When one listens to its never-ceasing murmur afar out there, always sounding at midnight and mid-day, one's soul goes out to meet eternity.” Not quite Anne but we have been liking L.M. Montgomery’s style

Sky Watch Friday is the best fun, meeting bloggers from around the world who share their view of the sky. This photo was taken on the north coast of NSW Australia.

Found a couple more links for Anne of Green Gables and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Canada’s Confederation Centre for the Arts hosts a site on Montgomery’s works including a peek into her Victorian style scrapbooks.

The University of PEI (Prince Edward Island) also hosts an interesting site on Montgomery’s works.

Happy Thanksgiving

"When I left my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best. It has a fascination of its own, that bend." Anne of Green Gables

That is the last of the Anne quotes I have but a good one to share with Sky Watch Friday, you never know what you will find bloggers are going to share this week.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family.

Inspiration for this little tart is courtesy of Victoria magazine.

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” From the television show The Wonder Years

Collage in miniature for the Vintage Christmas themed Itty Bitty Book was a challenge. The pages are a similar size to an ATC with an allowance on the side for binding. Each participant creates their tiny page from different elements and photocopies X number of participants (in this group that is 35) and decorates each page. The lucky hostess will receive everyone’s contribution in a few days to assemble the books and distribute. A huge group for this tiny little book will mean it will be bursting at the seams with creative inspiration and excited to see what the end results will be.

Road Less Travelled

Check Sky Watch Friday, where 100s of bloggers find fabulous views of the sky to share with us all.

It is amazing what is on offer in the sky when you take the time to look.

This morning we found lots of misty haze reflected on the glass calm river with streaks across the sky from a local bush fire.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood,

and I - I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost

If you have any favorite Anne quotes, do share as we only have one left now and saving it for next week.

This is a shadow box picture frame that we recycled with an assortment of all kinds of fun cast offs, dictionary pages, game peices and dolls house furniture.

Finding what you bring

"Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it is what they bring to the world that really counts." Anne of Green Gables

Having fun revisiting with Anne lately and thought we would share this quote for Sky Watch Friday, where 100s of bloggers find fabulous views of the sky to share with us all. It is amazing what is on offer in the sky when you take the time to look.

Sneak peek of some work we are doing for All About Paper kit club.

In the spirit of bringing to the party Sharon Manning in WA is celebrating on her blog with a rak for a creative tool apron and a review of a new book on making fabric memory books.

And very exciting news for those of us who will not make it to Silver Bella this year the Joli Paquet blog is hosting a month long party in November holiday kits, ideas, recipes, tutorials and more to lift to your holiday mood.

Joli Paquet, is a gathering of creative artist friends Angelina’s Beautiful Cards, Little Pink Studio, Beth Quinn, Donna’s Red Roof, Lori from Faerie Window, just a few of the talented folks who will be making an appearance. They will be selling kits but there is a lot of freebies on offer too, how cool is that ! Click the link so you can bookmark now for their opening day.

Just For Today

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?" Anne of Green Gables

Lucy Maud Montgomery, may have written the words for many of us it is Anne who said them. As we have so many Anne fans and it is her centenary, this was a nice quote to add to Sky Watch Friday where 100s of bloggers surprise us with their view of the horizon, all different but interesting their own way.







Believe – Just For Today An itty bitty book made up on ATCs, Moos, inchies, recycled prayer cards, postage stamps, postcards, and things.