Christchurch, New Zealand

I can't begin to describe what it is to be sitting on the other side of the world watching the devastation unfolding in my hometown

I was born in Christchurch, I grew up there, I lived and worked in this beautiful city

the tears keep falling

the eyes of The World are on you guys, we're all behind you

hang in there, just hang in there..

Queen of doodads

The children went back to school this morning, complaining all the way, I think it's going to take a few days to get back in the groove again! I decided to do a bit of catching up whilst listening to Adele, very loudly! lurve that song! A while ago my swap buddy Jan and I did a 'winged thing' swap and I received this little beauty from Jan

Jan is my Queen of doodads, she finds the smallest, coolest stuff a gal can imagine

I think I'm in winged heaven!

a super cool tag

and a winged ATC

I went for an Asian winged card, using a few of my stash items from Jenxo

and well... there goes the wax again, sometimes it works and sometimes it comes out a little different that I expected!

I did fill my box but I can't remember with what??!!

Thank you for a great swap Jan! I love your eye for detail! fab!

Rose dunkin!

Happy Valentines Day!

Just quite why this day has to fall right in the middle of the kid's holidays when I have zero time to do anything artistic, I really don't know! But as luck would have it they've all been busy for the last nano second and I've taken a moment to have a go at an idea I saw at work a while ago, waxing old roses!

melt a pan of wax, I used a mixture of what was already in the pot, beeswax I think and some old candles, it needs to be deep enough to completely dunk your roses. The temperature is the key to success, if it's too hot the rose closes and the petals begin to sizzle! too cold and it goes all lumpy. Not unlike Goldilocks and the Three Bears it needs to be just right, I didn't measure the temperature as I can't find the thermometer (of course I can't!) but the wax was warm and the consistency of thick soup. Dunk your roses quickly in the pot allowing any excess to drip off before standing them to dry.

if the wax is quite warm the flowers will turn a vintage shabby chic yellow

you can leave them 'au naturel' or spray them with a little bit of shiny!

have fun! I'll see you next week after the kids go back to school!

On a roll!

The QB5 gals recently did a swap and Carole sent us all a lovely 'snippet roll' After seeing her tutorial here I was inspired to have a go! I decided mine would be a 'story spool' based on TAP transfers, using only fabric and embellishments.

And embellish I did! totally went to town with the lace, buttons and ribbons!

I sewed a ribbon to the top and threaded it through the reel as a hanger

once you have completed the backing it would make a great 'stitchery on the go' project! you could also create a whole story on it! Valentines, Easter, Christmas and more!

I punched some holes in a little wooden heart

I dyed the reel using gesso and tea bags. This was a fun project, thank you Carole!